01/25 Instance: Kyle, you've been Farouk'd!

[steyn]

Timeline Current


Ahmal Farouk was sitting in his office, a few centerpieces of his collection spread out on the desk before him, some of them bristling brightly in the afternoon sun, others seemingly duller.

At the moment he was contemplating whether an old damascus steel dagger needed another layer of polish, even though its reflection already was challenging the light that caused it to begin with.

Kyle picked at his teeth and sucked between them a little while staring at the door. He finally knocked, and the thought of maybe being late for the appointment was a bad thing. He did get a weird mental nudge to get a move on a couple minutes ago.

"Come in, Kyle." He didn't even look up. Somehow, though, he was fixating the dagger in a completely different position now, meaning the tip pointed at the entrance now.

Kyle opened the door a crack and then restof the way. "Um....sorry I'm late." Kyle apologized as he closed the door behind him and stepped up in front of the desk.

"Do sit down...please." Farouk still didn't look up from the seemingly fascinating piece of steel in his hands.

Kyle did as he was told. His eyes eventually went down to look at the knives. He had this strange feeling their pointy side were following him.

Finally, he looked up. "Now, I believe you want to join the ranks of my rag tag group of..." He pondered the next word for a moment, but it seemed appropiate. "...miscreants?"

Kyle grinned and nodded, "Uh-huh, I wanna help, and err, the only thing I can do is fight, so, yeah." his grin turned to a smile and finally faltered as Farouk kept watching him.

"Hmmm..." He put the tips of his fingers together and had his eyes fixated on the boy in front of him. "And you want to go all the way, be our ace in the sleeve, as to say?"

Kyle shrugged, "Well, um, I am the best fighter here, and, err, it is kind of hard to stop me. So yup, I do." Plus he also found the idea of a fighting competition very tempting.

"Well then, I think there is nothing else to be said." He put his hands down and stood up, the dagger miraculously remaining in mid air.

"If you would follow me out please?" Farouk walked over to the door.

Kyle got up, eyes still looking at the flying dagger, then finally turned to look and follow the mountain in front of him.

He opened the door, which, surprisingly enough, didn't reveal the corridor in front of Farouk's office, but a lush and lively garden. "after you."

Kyle was rather surprised at what he saw when Farouk let him pass. His mouth was a little open as he looked around, standing on the nice soft grass, fresh air, smells of different flowers invading his nose, light cool breeze and some birds chirping from somewhere.

"This, my boy, is the astral plane. It is the dominion of the higher echelons of telepaths and the likes, and I would welcome it if you don't piddle on the trees, in case you do things like that."

"Um...no I don't." He lied rather horribly while blinking from tree to Farouk. "Is this place always outside your office?" he asked quickly and looked back to the study.

"No, I made this especially for you." He stepped forward and pushed a few branches of a bush aside, revealing quite the idylic scene: A house with children playing in front of itwhile the parents watched.

Kyle peered at the people and house. That seemed kind of nice. "Who are they?" he asked. The more he watched them, the more they seemed familiar.

"Those are the McGintys. And the little boy over there..." He pointed at a small boy, playing with his little sister and laughing happily. "...is Kevin. You."

Kyle's brows furrowed with total confusion. "I'm...I'm not Kevin, I'm Kyle." The more he looked at the boy, the more the boy seemed to resemble his old self before he was turned into his current form.

"You are/aren't." Two voices seemed to speak at the same time. "A happy childhood in New England. Warm summers, colourful autumns, laughter and happiness."

The scene in front of them turned into sepia, like on old, faded photograph. "Now, to install a completely different persona, one needs completely different emotions and circumstances. Traumata present themselves. And in your case, there is one that is especially jarring." The scene started to burn around the edges and flames licked their way across it.

Kyle blinked and tried to look away, "Um, can, can you stop that please?" he asked. He could feel the warmth of the flames as they took over the memory. Every bit of him just wanted to back away from the flames.

The fire spread out more and more engulfing them finally. "I think not," the calm figure among the flames proclaimed.

"Please, please don't...it's gonig to burn me, it's going to burn..." he couldn't even yell out the words.

"What is going to burn?" The red hot white of the flames suddenly got replaced with the sterile coldness of a hospital room. A small figure was lying in a bed, tubes sticking out from behind bandages, the monotomy of the room only being enhanced by the regular *beep...beep* of a heart monitor.

Kyle's panic stopped. He looked around, and only after making sure nothing was actually on fire, that he turned his attention to the person in the bandages. He edged closer. "Who...who is this." he said almost in a whisper.

"It's Kevin/you. The fire killed everybody but him/you." Farouk stepped up next to the bed. "All alone, burned closer to death than life...oh yes, and the hospital bill hs been increasing since for a bit more than five years."

He looked over to Kyle. "But there is good news: Today is his/your birthday." The bandages started to move, as flesh and skin started to reform themselves more rapidly than they had for years. "Happy sixteenth."

Kyle kept watching as the person started shifting and moving and groaning. He wanted to help Kevin, help him out of the bandages, but the second he reached out to touch him, Kevin was starting to rip them off by himself.

"You know, this reminds me of an old horror movie...I wish I had some popcorn." The boy finally got out of all the bandages, panting heavily. Then he looked around with a haunted look on his face, only to then jump out of the window.

"Wait! Wait, wait!" Kyle yelled as he tried to stop him from jumping, and then stood at the window, watching Kevin lie on the ground a couple floors down, crouching and then ran off. "Where's he going?" Kyle asked.

"Why don't you tell me?"

"I don't...I don't know," Kyle said a little distressed and turned to look out the window again. The view was different, he was looking at the familiar suburb where Kevin lived.

His home wasn't there anymore. Long gone, new house built, another family there, and Kevin sitting on the curb across the street, dressed in old secondhand clothes, watching with disdain.

"One would think, if he/you could build the house again, and the garden, exactly as it used to be, everything should be alright again, right? But you need money for that..."

Kyle nodded, "But...but it's hard getting money. I...he tried to work...but it never worked out." That was putting it mildly.

Kevin could clearly remember the time someone bumped him while he was doing his dishwashing job at the restaurant and he had to end up paying for the broken dishes. He got so angry. That was the end of that job. Things always ended like that, always turning against him.

"But...what if there was a way to earn some money? A way only you have, with your special talents and abilities?"

"...There is, isn't there?"

"Yeah, yeah I heard it from someone." Kevin rubbed his eyebrow with his palm, "There's a guy. He's looking for people that can fight. People like me. And if you win, you win money. Lots of money."

"Yes." Farouk nodded, satisfied. Suddenly, a door appeared before the two. "This is for you." He gave Kevin a key. "If someone says 'Free for all.' This door will open, understood?"

"Yeah, understood, whatever you say big guy." Kevin said, looking at the door, then back down at the key in his hand. The phrase kept repeating in his head everytime the light glinted off the key.

"Good." Farouk shut the door. "...And this is why we can't have you continuing to chase the birds around the mansion anymore, understood, Kyle?"

They were back in the office, unmoved from where they had started, Farouks still with his dagger in his hands.

Kyle blinked and just nodded, and there was an awkward silence. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he had a feeling he just had a good talking to about chasing the stupid pidgeons. "Um...should...should I go? Sir?" he asked, thumbing towards the door.

"Yes, please."

Kyle got up and walked towards the door, opening it and giving the hallway a confused look before closing the door behind him. He picked at his teeth again and decided lunch wasn't enough.

[puppygirl]

[Raven Hare]

Screw the greater good!! Farouk is one fat DEAD man if Hepz finds out what he did to Kyle!

[stjohn]

lol, nice! Hm.. I wonder what J looks like in the astral world... Gonna be awesome! great job guys.