All the Cool Kids

It's an odd day when Kylar eats alone. Normally he's surrounded by people, anywhere he chooses to sit automatically becomes the cool kids' table. And most days Kylar doesn't mind that either. It feels nice, being popular, having everyone look to him. But then there were days like today when enough was enough and Kylar just needed a break from all the hangers on and the supposed friends who all wanted something from him. Would there ever be anyone who was different? Kylar didn't think so, that was just the way the world worked in his eyes. People only hung around for what they could get from him, and never just for him. He didn't really make it easy to be genuinely liked, either, of course, not with an attitude like his.

Today, Kylar had grabbed his food and sat at a small table, one of those only meant for two people. With this lack of space, a crowd of people was effectively discouraged, and Kylar would be able to find the kind of peace and quiet he could only find when he did things like study in the library. He sighed softly, enjoying the lack of giggles and meaningless chatter he was so used to being surrounded by. People never seemed to be quiet, and certainly not around him. Kylar flustered people, and flustered people rambled on and on. A lot. Kylar dug into his food, holding his fork like he was dining with royalty and chewing everything carefully. He liked cooking, himself, not that he would ever admit to liking something so girly. He could appreciate how good the meals were here.

Occasionally people would come up to him as he ate, looking like they wanted to be that one person to sit next to him and so be singled out as special. But one hard look from his eyes was all it took to turn them away. Kylar wasn't sure why this mood had suddenly come over him, but it had been happening more and more lately. A sort of impatience with people in general, a lack of hope almost. He could definitely do with some cheering up about now. In the brief space of time he had taken to look down at his food, Kylar heard someone slide into the open seat next to him. Either the dining hall was so full they were desperate, or some bimbo couldn't take a hint. "If you don't mind," Kylar said, his words accented as Britishly as they could be. Everyone's a sucker for the accent. He didn't even look up from his food as he spoke. "I did want to sit alone today." Except that wasn't really true. Being alone was too lonely for someone like Kylar. At least in the middle of a crowd he could pretend he wasn't still alone.

     Dirk had spotted him a few days ago, he had seen him surrounded by friends. Dirk couldn't remember his name at the moment but Dirk knew from one look at his eyes that he was alone, not in the sense that he was "alone" physically but mentally there was no doubt about it. Dirk had thought about his stay at foresta academy and wondered if it was worth approaching him, but he dismissed the idea at the time because he was particularly against crowds.

    As Dirk walked into the dining room Dirk saw him trying to sit alone while people were trying to sit with him. Dirk had watched as a person sat next to the guy (Kylar) and then leave as if the person didn't want to annoy him at all. Dirk sighs and goes over to the chair in front of him and pulls it out, making a point to make some noise to get the guy's attention. At that point he heard a voice with a British accent, which he found very annoying, say  "If you don't mind, I did want to sit alone today." Dirk looks at the person in front of him and says in a equally annoying Asian accent "well tough beans, I don't really care." He hears people gasp and say "That GUY insulted Kylar!" Dirk mutters in an undertone to Kylar "If you need someone to talk to meet me outside" Dirk then proceeded to leave the dining room.

((sorry if you don't get what the pronouns are referring to, I've always had a little problem with that)

What made Kylar finally look up was the tone in the person’s voice. He wasn’t used to being insulted so abruptly, though it was known to happen. If someone was looking to pick a fight with him, then it would be better for Kylar to pay attention. But he took his time in that glance up, showing how not bothered he really was. The reactions of the people around him were bothered enough. Kylar set down his fork softly and was about to make himself perfectly clear to this idiot when he said an even stranger thing. If Kylar needed to talk to someone? Now what could possibly prompt him to say such a thing. Kylar found himself interested in this guy, and it was a rare thing to catch his interest. Maybe this situation was worth exploring a little. He smiled to himself, just the briefest quirk in his lips, and watched as he walked away, thinking all the while. He took his time finishing his meal, drawing it out just to see how long that guy might wait for him.

Once he had finished eating, Kylar stood up from his seat and threw his trash away, exiting through the same door that guy had left through. Huh. There he was, still waiting. Well, he might as well see what this was all about. But Kylar was a cautious sort of person, and based on a first impression, he didn’t know what this guy intended. So he took up a position behind a large potted plant, so that he could see the person, but couldn’t be seen himself. And that was when Kylar concentrated. Creating an illusion of himself was actually fairly easy. He couldn’t know anything the way he knew his own body, so of course the image would be nearly flawless. The field was cast just in the area that the guy could see, and specks of light quickly colored and came together to form a near perfect duplicate of Kylar. This illusion should feel and sound real to anyone looking. Kylar directed the illusion to walk with his same gait, confidant and closed, over to where the stranger was waiting for him. “If I needed someone to talk to, you said,” the illusion spoke, echoed by Kylar’s whispering of the words behind the plant. “Now what makes you think I need to talk to you?” The illusion crossed his arms, and even though it wasn’t the real Kylar, he appeared no less intimidating.

    As Dirk walked out of the room he knew he had caught Kylar's attention. He smirked to himself, people we so easily intrigued... and manipulated. As he reaches the outside he leans against the wall and waits to see what his new "friend" would do. Dirk had seen Kylar walk out of the Dining room, and his recognition of Dirk. Dirk then watched in amusement, out of the corner of his eyes as Kylar hid himself behind a plant, and then what was ... a copy (at least that's what dirk thought it was).... walked up to Dirk and spoke in almost seemed like a condescending tone. “If I needed someone to talk to, you said, Now what makes you think I need to talk to you?” Dirk started to chuckle and then outright laugh as Kylar's copy had crossed his arms. After Dirk calmed down he replied to the copy, "Well first things first, I'm not a person who cares about charisma or appearance and its obvious that you need someone to talk to.",Dirk smiled,"First of all if you liked to be surrounded by fan girls and boys trying to take a place in your view, then you wouldn't have sat alone. Another thing is that you seemed to appreciate the cooking from almost looked like a cooks perspective, what I mean is that you seemed to be hiding something from people that might be considered to be out of the norm, so I figured that you might want to talk to someone who could keep their mouth shut.

    Dirk studied the copy, and was amazed at the accuracy, he knew he would not be able to discern the difference if he had not seen Kylar as he left the dining room. Dirk pondered the idea of letting the copy talk some more but then he dismissed the idea, he hated when people tried to trick him, but he still respected the copy's accuracy. As a result of his decisions, he looked straight at the potted and and aimed straight at it, His right and left eye sparkling, and again, unexpectedly, a piece of bacon shot from his eye at a high velocity at the plant, throwing grease everywhere. As Dirk watched it fly he said "damn that was supposed to be the laser pointer!" 

Kylar listened to his reasoning, an amused smile echoed across his illusion’s face. Oh, this guy was full of himself, in a way Kylar was pretty familiar with. He thought he had him all figured out, didn’t he? Well he was more complicated than that. However, he was taken off guard when suddenly a piece of bacon was shot right at his real self. He flinched, but no one saw since the bacon hit the plant and fell to the ground, sparing him. Hmm, well, it would seem Kylar had been found out. This guy had to have seen him exit the dining hall, otherwise there was no way he could’ve know he was not talking to the real Kylar.

He smiled cheekily to himself and walked out from behind the plant, hands slung unworriedly in his pockets and stepping on the bacon as he walked over to join his illusion. A pretty strong metaphor, that. Kylar stood next to his double, and it would’ve been impossible to tell them apart had it not been known which was the fake. But he swiped his hand carelessly through the illusion, scattering the colored lights into a million sparks that flew around him and faded into nothing. The guy clearly didn’t believe in the illusion, and it became almost useless if he couldn’t make that connection to the observer’s mind.

“If you want me to talk to you honestly, shooting bacon at me probably isn’t the best way to go about it,” Kylar advised him, the look he was giving him clearly one of someone who knew himself to be superior. “But never mind that,” he said, dismissing the whole incident with a flick of his wrist and a shake of his head, like it had never happened. This person might not care about appearances, but that didn’t deny the confidence and assurity with which Kylar acted. He wasn’t some empty headed popular bimbo. He was popular because he was a leader and he knew what he was doing. “I believe you misunderstood my question. I may enjoy talking to someone about things you mentioned. But why should that person be you? I don’t know you at all. Why do you expect me to trust you so suddenly?” It was a challenge, and a more straightforward one than he usually issued. Kylar would need convincing before he opened up.

OOC; Thread Retired, almost a year old and no response. Message Seren or I to have it reopened.