THIS GRACE BESTOWED UPON ME

last post on this journal.

Sat, 22 Apr 2006 17:06:40 GMT

I will, from now on, be posting icons in theairwaves. This journal will be kept for archival reasons. I appreciate everyone's support, but you can feel free to defriend this journal, and if you want to see more stuff from me, head over to theairwaves, which is Lins and I's uber journal (so you get two people posting icons instead of one!)

But.

x28 Guilty Gear
x16 Devil May Cry
x18 Tenjo Tenge
x15 Utena

Head over this way, plz.

nef

Sat, 15 Apr 2006 21:33:43 GMT

You guys have been awesome hanging in with me. I appreciate the support. Let me just say that I haven't posted a lot here lately, as all my creative juices were kind of being sucked away by portfolio and senior project. I just updated my friends' list with everyone, and I have another slew of Guilty Gear/Firefly/Devil May Cry/Tenjo Tenge icons to post!

Mostly old stuff that's been sitting around for a while. However, I'd like (emphasis) to thank all the people who've supported me all this time with an icon of their own, just for them! So, I will be taking the requests of people off this particular friends' list. Icon of your choice.

Toodles. ♥

edit. I wanted to say more, but I have to run to work. I'll be back later tonight.

two icon posts in the same week?

Thu, 22 Dec 2005 19:32:25 GMT

In light of the holidays (and while I was going through fanart to make icons for Aly), I got inspired to make a few others. Hard language in quite a few of them.

x14 Devil May Cry

Devil May Cry
1	2	3		4
5	6	7		8
9	10	11		12
13	14		xxx		xxx

Credits go to inxsomniax, and bunny_icons.

icons and wallpapers

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 19:20:34 GMT

Sorry guys, it's been a while since I posted anything, but my senior project almost destroyed me. Luckily, it seems that it didn't totally suck up all my creative energy. gender ended up posting a ton of inspiring textures, so I fiddled with them.

x14 Tenjo Tenge
x6 Final Fantasy X / X-2
x11 Devil May Cry
x3 Magna Carta: Crimson Stigmata (Tears of Blood)

Tenjo Tenge
1	2	3		4
5	6	7		8
9	10	11		12
13	14		xxx		xxx
Final Fantasy X / X-2
15	16	17		18
19	20		xxx		xxx
Devil May Cry
21	22	23		24
25	26	27		28
29	30	31			xxx
Magna Carta: Crimson Stigmata (Tears of Blood)
32	33	34			xxx

In addition to all the icons, here are two [Devil May Cry] Wallpapers, both of which were supposed to be layouts, but ended up with either no places for text, or actually did become a new layout. The first one is in celebration of the new layout I'm creating for the 99th Floor, the second one was going to be used for a layout for a new Devil May Cry domain that Amanda and I are creating. Unfortunately it has no place for text, and looks a lot better as a wallpaper. If you'd like the wallpapers at a larger resolution, leave me a note and I'll see what I can do.


1024 x 768	1024 x 768

Credits go to gender, inxsomniax, __lindy, bunny_icons, grafikitty and ewanism.

maybe i'll just pour out my heart and soul

Tue, 08 Nov 2005 06:28:24 GMT

Another tutorial I've been wanting to do for a while. Photoshop, make sure you know what I'm talking about before you get into anything. This one's pretty simple.

>>

I can't find the full image, so you'll just have to deal with my crop

Set this light texture, by floorshow, over it on lighten, 100%
>>

Set the type over it, Book Antiqua, kerned when needed. I tucked it specifically against the light texture so it would be somewhat legiable.

I set this texture over it by lvlwings on hard light, 100%
>>

Set this gradient, screen, 64%
>>

yeah, still looks ugly, I know. Grab the base layer, bring it to the top, desaturate it, sharpen it, and set it at overlay 100%
>>

While you're at it, grab the text layers and set them above the desaturated base, setting them to overlay 100% too

Next, take this texture by dearest and set it at soft light, 100%
>>

Then set rgb color #0F2339 at exclusion over the top, and behold, a fabulous icon.

Again, I love to see what you guys do with my tutorials. If you love it/hate it, want me to stfu up. Please tell me. I like to know these things because I'm nibby.

so you wanna know all of roni's secrets~

Tue, 08 Nov 2005 05:45:07 GMT

Since I was asked by Amanda so very nicely. I figured I'd make a tutorial and show you how I made a few of my favorite manga icons. Keep in mind that you'll need to know Photoshop pretty well for this tutorial, I'm not going to show the template of what your layer palette should look like. It's going to be reletively quick because I'm tired.

>>

First, I went through my DMC manga scans to find a suitable image and a suitable crop. I came across this wonderful picture where Dante looks like he's wearing eyeliner.

I cropped it, and took a good look at it. There was no good place to put text, and I already decided that I wanted there to be a larger headline with a smaller one atop it. So I cut out the bottom of the image by using the box tool, and then used free transform to tip it at a very slight angle.

So now I have something that looks just like this

To make sure I had enough room for the text, I set it right away, using Book Antiqua. The larger type is set at 14 pt, kerned at 100 ems, while the smaller type is 4 pt. All of which is set in caps lock. I tucked it nicely in the corner of the icon. I wanted some of it to be pushed off, but I still wanted it to be legiable. I used lyrics from Jucifer's Memphis, as this is the part in the manga where Dante and Virgil meet again for the first time since their mother died (hence "tell me again why you left").

So you have, this, ta dah~

The text is a little light, so just copy the layers above it, so it looks like this

Take this wonderful gradient and set it to screen, 100%
>>

Set this next gradient above it to multiply, 100%
>>

This next step is the fun step. I used a variety of Recife's brushes to produce this wonderful texture, color #230F45. Make sure the background is transparent. I then set it on overlay, 100%.
>>

Copy this gradient again, set it to the top. (Multiply 100%)
>>

Take the same gradient, reverse it 180 degrees, and then set it on lighten, 45%
>>

Copy the bottom layer, and bring it to the top. Copy the layers of text that you have, and bring those to the top show they're showing, and once again look like this

Link the upper text levels and the image together. You now have your layer linked together, set it on soft light, 100%

And you're all set! Now you know my secrets. If you do decide to use this tutorial, please show me the results. This is one of my favorite (and purely original) techniques. I'd like to see what you guys make out of it. Remember to keep your negative (black) space so the texture of the brushes show through.

to the hearts you break

Thu, 03 Nov 2005 18:03:59 GMT

Here is a post that is a bit of a jumble. Included are a few random icons I've been working on (some that I didn't know where to put), and some cutesy ones that were requested out of me. The first batch of four are based on a song called Dramamine by Modest Mouse, given to me so wonderfully by Jojo. The art is from Wolfina's board. The song fit pretty well to the mood of the picture, I've included the lyrics at the end of this post for anyone who was the least bit curious.

1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16

Texture (yes, just one texture on the whole batch) by inxsomniax. Brushes by bunny_icons, ewanism and dearest. Art from here and here. Everyone support the artists, please. ♥

Travelling swallowing Dramamine
Feeling spaced breathing out listerine
I'd said what I'd said that I'd tell ya
And that you'd killed the better part of me

If you could just milk it for everything
I've said what I'd said and you know what I mean
But I still can't focus on anything
We kiss on the mouth but still cough down our sleeves

Travelling swallowing dramamine
Look at your face like you're killed in a dream
And you think you've figured out everything
I think I know my geography pretty damn well

You say what you need so you'll get more
If you could just milk it for everything
I've said what I said and you know what I mean
But I can't still focus on anything

This song actually images for Dante and Trish in a game I'm in; but the picture imaged so well that I couldn't help myself.

popping the texture cherry

Sun, 16 Oct 2005 23:16:39 GMT

I finally got off my ass and finished these textures that I've been meaning to finish. All of which are 100x100, jpg format, and taken from pictures that I've taken previously. Please comment and credit if you do decide to take them.

[104k][download]

[97k][download]

[126k][download]

Finally, some Advent Children icons (not like everyone else isn't doing it)

Tue, 27 Sep 2005 03:37:10 GMT

x 15 Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
x 4 Devil May Cry
x 3 Gungrave

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12
13	14	15		xxx

Devil May Cry
16		17		18		19

Gungrave
20		21		22			xxx

Textures by Thia. I think all I used was Univers and Arial on these. Maybe hints to and fro of Baskerville. As a side note, whoever knows what "Dementia 13" is (what I scrawled on one of the Dante icons) gets a super prize.

Three subjected-based icons

Mon, 12 Sep 2005 19:55:56 GMT

These three icons are supposed to be seen together:

The first one, "Antenora" is of Sparda, the second, "Ptolomea" is of Virgil, and the last one, "Caina" is of Dante. I originally came up with this concept while I was looking for new local CDs at Kiss the Sky, I came across a band called "the Antenora". It was five bucks, funds went to the band, so I picked it up. Now the type of music they played wasn't as important as the name (even though the music rocks). I became curious as I was listening, and went to look up what "Antenora" meant. Dictionary.com didn't have it, nor did Wikipedia (which is odd), so I had to delve a little deeper. I finally found what I was looking for, and it turned out to be an interesting tidbit of information:

In Alighieri's Inferno, the ninth and lowest circle of Hell is known as Cocytus. It is a huge lake that is frozen by the constant flap of Lucifer's wings. Dante described it as being the home of traitors and those who committed acts of complex fraud in completely knowledge that they have done so. Lucifer, himself, is constantly devouring the three greatest traitors in history: Cassius, Brutus and Judas. They are being chewed in his three mouths.

The traitors that reside in Cocytus are broken into four categories.

Antenora after Antenor from the Iliad; traitors to country.
Ptolomea after Ptolemy, governor of Jericho, who murdered his guests (1 Maccabees); traitors to guests.
Caina after the Biblical Cain; traitors to blood relatives.
Judecca after Judas Iscariot; traitors to masters and benefactors.

Of course I've read Inferno before, but a lot of the terminology still goes over my head. It's a little hard to get everything at once when you read it. Now, to why I chose to represent each icon with each specific round:

Sparda This one's pretty simple. Sparda betrays his demonic blood by sealing off the demon world from the human world and taking pity on humans. Was it the right thing to do? Probably. Did he still betray the demons? Yes. If I was a demon, I'd probably despise him.
Virgil I had a hard time choosing between "Judecca" and "Ptolomea" for him. I ended up choosing "Ptolomea" because he's a traitor to Dante in the sense that he invites him to Temen-ni-Gru and then fucks him over pretty bad. I still don't see him as a traitor to the family (Caina) because what he did was still in Dante's best interest, and I don't think that thought ever left his mind.
Dante I can't see him as anything less then a betrayer to Virgil—which is odd, because he's the protagonist of the game series. He goes through DMC3 blindly following his brother, either to get revenge on him or demand attention from him. In the end, because of Dante's own inability to make the correct decision until the last minute, he loses Virgil. Virgil falls into Hell and becomes Nero Angelo. It's sort of cause and effect. While Dante didn't directly betray him, he did a lot of things that he could have done with better intention, and he wasn't there when Virgil needed him the most.

In the original, Dante doesn't know who Nero Angelo is until the end, and still ends up killing him. Could something else have been done about it? Probably. Again, this isn't a direct betrayl, but Dante doesn't seem to really understand the importance of family.

Anyway, that's it. All thoughts and comments are welcome. Votes for Virgil to be "Judecca" instead of "Ptolomea" and arguments for it are also welcomed.

icons that i love way too much

Sat, 10 Sep 2005 18:06:11 GMT

x 10 Virgil
x 11 Dante
x 5 Virgil & Dante

1	2	3		4
5	6	7		8
9	10	11		12
13	14	15		16
17	18	19		20
21	22	23		24
25	26		xxx		xxx

Credits go to a lot of people. bunny_icons for some of the little extras on the icons, Thia for the textures, crumbling_walls for the gradients. (I love textures so much.) And a few mixed-up tutorials that I sort of smooshed together.

edit I'm reposting this because people were having direct-linking problems.

Typography Tutorial

Sat, 27 Aug 2005 05:16:34 GMT

So! Nyx wanted to know how to set type, so I'm going to create this little tutorial and teach you every crazy thing you ever wanted to know about using typography on icons. Before you read this, though, be aware that I'm going to be using quite a few of typographic terms, such as "leading" and "kerning" and "serifs" and so on and so forth, if you don't know what those are, please refer to this former post that I made a lo~ng time ago about typography.

Yes. I know way too much about typographic design. I'm just a little crazy when it comes to stuff like this. If I use a term you don't know, or that I didn't explain, please tell me so I can tell you what it means/fix it.

OVERVIEW
—Fonts I Commonly Use (and why)
—The Character Palette
—Anti-aliasing
—Layering
—Small Lines of Type
—Typographic Flourishes
—Resources

Fonts I Commonly Use / Since the differences in these were already explained, I decided to include this to show the difference between various serif fonts and various sans serif fonts. The most important thing about using a font on an icon is the mood that that certain type of font shows. Serifs are more elegant and antique (depending on the style). They portray a more romantic part of design. I usually use them to make things look like books, or like they're telling stories. Some of the serifed fonts I'm particularly fond of are:

ITC New Baskerville	Times New Roman

Bookman Oldstyle	Book Antiqua

Book Antiqua is my personal favorite. When you put them all side by side you can notice the small, subtle differences in them. Bookman Oldsyle is the easiest one to pick out of the group. It's heavier and more extended then the rest of the serifs. Times New Roman is the most commonly used, it's a little more condensed and has a higher x-height then the other serifs. It has darker strokes, which vary moreso then the other fonts that are pictured here. Book Antiqua is the most subtle of all of them, if you look carefully, you can see that the serifs at the end of each stroke actually curve upward.

Arial	Arial Black

Century Gothic	Futura

Univers

These are the five different sans serif fonts I usually choose from. Since they don't have serifs, they're cleaner, and geometric as opposed to organic and elegant. Arial Black is everyone's favorite, and by putting it in caps, you can create a clean look. It's actually a darker style of Arial (hence the name "Arial Black"). If you choose Arial and change the style to "bold", it has the same effect, except the strokes of the font themselves are a little lighter. It's nice when you don't want the font to look as heavy, or when you only have a certain amount of space and you want to make it a little smaller, but still legible. Both Century Gothic and Futura are similar, and if you have Futura, it should come in a variety of different styles, ranging from "thin" to "black". You should even have a condensed and extended version of it. The more styles you have, the easier it is to create a hierarchy on your icon. For example, for smaller type, a bolder face would be more legible. Futura Light could be used as a headline, while Futura Bold Condensed goes beneath it to create a subhead. Fonts with thinner strokes are better used as one-word headlines on icons, and thicker faces serve better as smaller type.

This is all incredibly important for creating an overall "mood" of an icon. If you choose the wrong font, then the meaning can easily be lost. It's also nice to know when you're choosing a font and are having a hard time choosing between two. Simple fonts are the best if you want the type to be read, otherwise it'll look busy and over-done.

Kerning and Leading / If you head up to the tab that says "window" when you're in Photoshop, you'll get all the options of the different palettes you can pull. Since the one we want to use isn't open automatically when you start Photoshop, you need to open yourself. Go down to "character", and something along the lines of this should pop up.

This will tell you everything you need to know about the type that you're setting. Everything from the font type to the kerning. On the far right side, beside point size you have two options. One with the letter A and an arrow moving horizontally, the other with a letter A and an arrow moving vertically. The one with the arrow moving horizontally is your kerning.

Kerning is basically the space between the letters, the more you widen it, the more elegant and bookish it looks. For example, here's the same font over and over with different kerning.

They range by 50's. So the one at the top is -150 ems while the one at the bottom is 200 ems. It's a very convenient way to check and see if the letters need to be farther apart. With smaller type, it's easier to read letterforms that are farther apart.

The option beneath the kerning, the one with the arrow moving vertically is the leading. The leading is the space between one line of type to the next, it's always better to customize it rather then leave it on auto (it will default on auto). When you make smaller lines of type, using the leading is amazing, because it's easier to line it up with only one pixel between smaller lines of type.

Beneath are the different Photoshop styles of type. The first one (marked with a bold letter "T") is bold automatic, and as much as people like to play with that, I'd suggest just using the bold style in any given font that you're using. Using the bold automatic can screw up the kerning. The one beside it is automatic italic (marked with an italic letter "T"), again, most fonts already have an "oblique" or a "bold" style as an option, I'd suggest just using that.

The two besides those are my favorite. The automatic caps (marked with two majuscule T's side by side, it looks something like this "TT") and automatic small caps (marked with a T and then a smaller capital T beside it). Both of these make it really simple to switch between minuscule (lower case) and majuscule (upper case) letterforms easily to see what looks best, you can compare the kerning above to the same font (Book Antiqua) below.

Looks a little bit different. The kerning is kept the same, so you can see how you need to opening the kerning more if you choose to use automatic caps.

Anti-aliasing / This is incredibly important when you set type in Photoshop. Since Photoshop works in pixels instead of vectors (like Illustrator), it makes set type look smooth by mixing the edge pixels with the actual image. Using anti-aliasing tells Photoshop what way you want the pixels to mix with the surrounding image. This is incredibly important to the way your type will look after it's set, if it'll break up or have a ragged edge. There are five different ways to anti-alias type in Photoshop.

None	Having no anti-aliasing method means that the edges of the type will be cut and ragged, and the pixels will not be mixed to the image behind it. This works best with bitmat fonts such as 04b and Sevenet 7. It gives everything the look of being on a computer screen.
Sharp	This is what I usually use for small lines of type. It mixes the pixels around the edges of the type just enough that it still remains dark and crisp, but doesn't look blurred or bold.
Crisp	This one makes the type just a little sharper, still blurring the edges somewhat. This is better for thinner fonts like Century Gothic and Futura, depending on the use in the icon. You can start to see the differences almost right away, if you can't pick them out, look at the counter (hole) in the bottom of the "g" in "typography".
Strong	This is what I usually use since I use a lot more serif fonts then I use sans serif. This makes the type look heavier without making it look as blurred. It's a nice medium to modify once it's set and can be sharpened nicely.
Smooth	You know, I've never used this, but it makes the edges along the type smooth and blurred. (Perhaps that's why.) It's the smoothest of the five, and tends to look almost illegible.

You can find the different ways to anti-alias your type at the top of your screen after you choose the type tool in your tool bar, and it looks like this:

It's the fourth option over. Remember to select the type before you use it, or you'll get no effect at all.

Layering Type on Icons / This is a massively simple technique, the reason I'm including it is because Lins actually didn't know it existed until I told her. After your type is set on your icon, all you do is pull another layer of the same type by grabbing on to the layer of type, and dragging it down into the icon beside your trash icon in your layer palette. It'll create another layer above or beneath the type that you just set, and will make it darker and fuller.

After you pull the layer and make a copy, you can go back and link them together and rasterize the layer to use it to your whim. It works best, I think, with the anti-alias set at either crisp or sharp. (Sharp, of course, being my favorite.)

Small Lines of Type / You can, of course, take the easy way out and get a brush to start making lines of type, and then use the sharpen tool to sharpen it up so it looks crisp.

Or you could make your own. Personally, I like to have my little rows of type say things even if it can't be read; as an artist, it just kind of makes me feel better about using it as an element if it actually has something to do with the piece (even if the piece is a 100x100 square). So I find a long string of type that I like, and make my own. Once again the mood of the icon comes in to play—and how dark you want the little line of type. This will determine which font you use. The line of type will be lighter if you used a serifed font, and darker if you use a sans serif font. You can opening and close the kerning to your leisure to make the line of type the desired length, but also remember that the more you opening the kerning, the lighter the line will be. Changing the style of the font can also make it lighter and darker, obviously choosing Times New Roman Bold will make the line darker than Times New Roman. I suggest that you play around and find a setting that you like and reuse it.

I usually set the anti-aliasing to "sharp" to make the type sharper and more legiable. Setting it to "none" also works well, depending on the pixel layering around it. You can also go in and sharpen it to your heart's content with the little triangular sharpening tool; or you can just filter it with a sharpen. You can also set the anti-aliasing to "strong", and then pull another layer of type over it by grabbing the layer and pulling it down to "make layer copy" (near the trash can in your layers palette) and then linking them and merging the layers.

Small lines of type can usually be set around anywhere between 1 and 3 points. I usually set mine at 1.5 points. You can go as small as 0.5 of a point if you want to make rows of it. If you use all caps, you can make the line of type level, so nothing dips below the baseline. If you choose to keep it minuscule, you can get an interesting effect with the descenders and the ascenders, depending on how wide you set your leading. You can see that in the Ky icon I used in this post.

Flourishes / Flourishes are the last touch you can tie into using type. There are many different kind of flourishes you can pick from! You can use little fading squares to little curlies. There are even complete fonts of ornimentals that you can use, like I used on this Virgil icon:

Fonts like that can be found at House of Lime, she has A-Z of art nouveau-ish ornimental fonts.

There are also little flourishes you can use to tack onto fonts to make them look more elegant, like I used in this Mathias icon:

These little flourishes inparticular were made by bunny_icons, and can usually be found on iconextras community. You can also make your own. Brushes usually need to be sharpened, however, as they're a little blurry. The one I used on the Mathias icon, I choose to lay over the cross in the "H", so it looked as if it were part of the font itself.

Resources / The best resource I have (something that I think everyone should read, no matter what field they're going into) is called The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst. It's one of the best resouces on typography that there is. I just skimmed the surface about differences with different fonts, he goes into indepth detail, and even tells you how many characters to put on a line before it becomes unbearable to the eye.

Other resources include:
icon_extras
photoshopextras
icontutorials
Misprinted Type – There's a little of everything here, fonts, brushes, and so fourth, I love his brushes. They're usually all I use brush-wise.
House of Lime – Where I get all the Ornamental fonts, A-Z.
Typo 5 – Fonts like whoa, along with a lot of really interesting layouts.
Fenotype – MORE FONTZZ.
Astigmatic – And more and more fonts.

Is there anything else I've forgotten/anything anyone else would like to add? I always like to know if those helped or not, or if you already knew this stuff. :3 So drop me a line and tell me, I'd appreciate it.

making your amends

Fri, 26 Aug 2005 04:11:32 GMT

While the rest of the manga uploads, I figured that I'd make some icons with the new scans that I just did. So, a super special treat for all of you while I work out these thumbnails and working at super dial-up speed! Rawr!

Remember, please, if you take comment and credit. Much love. Credits to lvlwings.

1 2

3		4
5		6
7		8
9		10
11

Just as Skuldchan requested ...

Sat, 20 Aug 2005 20:26:08 GMT

I actually suddenly have the urge to make more of those simple black and white/colored icons with the picture in the center. Perhaps I will post some later today. But! As Skuldchan requested, Sol (from Guilty Gear) icons. Remember, if you're nabbing, please comment and credit—so people know where you got them. (And please don't direct link.)

7 x Sol Badguy
1 x Axl Low

1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8

Credits for the textures and lights go to floorshow, halicons, and lvlwings.

anime icons, rock.

Tue, 16 Aug 2005 03:53:47 GMT

Now if I don't kill Photoshop and Image Ready all at once, I'll post some icons. The first few are FLCL, the last ones are of Souchirou and Aya from Tenjo Tenge.

x4 FLCL
x8 Utena
x16 Tenjo Tenge

Please remember to comment & credit. Criticism is always welcome. If you'd like the lyrics to what I used (yes, everything says something) or if you'd like to request it say something different, feel free to ask, I always keep psds, and it's not much trouble to change it.

1 2

FLCL
3 4
5 6

UTENA
7 8
9 10
11 12
13

TENJO TENGE
14 15
16 17
18 19
20 21
22 23
24 25
26 27
28

i sparda fangirl

Sun, 07 Aug 2005 17:05:04 GMT

Sparda. Sparda. Sparda. Sparda. Sparda. Sparda. Sparda. Sparda. Sparda. Sparda. Sparda. Sparda.

Ow, go my Sparda-fangirl.

1 2
3 4
5 6
7

Comment, take and credit. I am going to Fairy-fest.

Feel the power of my smutty icons.

Wed, 03 Aug 2005 05:29:31 GMT

WHAT? What was that? Yes. YES! Smutty icons glore. Well, not so smutty that ... well, anyway. If you're squeemish about twincest and Dante and Virgil macking I suggest you don't look at these or use them as icons for obvious reasons. BUT IF YOU WANT TO YOU CAN GO AHEAD AND TAKE A LOOK. If you wank me, I'll sic Mr. Domino on you.

AS always, comment take and credit.

1

2

3

And of course, my pride and joy.
4

And I have to show this off because I made it for Nyx's new community. Feel the love. (You can't have this one, no!)

I should make more. Maybe I will. Again, any suggestions as to what you want the text to say I will obli~ge.

and in Roni's life ...

Mon, 01 Aug 2005 19:27:45 GMT

I realized that I haven't made icons in a really long time, and that, of course, completely depressed me. So I actually got off my ass, stilled in my work on the 99th Floor and all my cosplaying endeavors and sat down and actually made some icons. I actually lost one of I made of Dante, and I really liked it, and now I can't find it. It's hidden in the depths of my computer. Guh.

Rules are all the same, please comment and credit. I will put different words on the icons if you request it (I always keep my icon psds). I actually need to make some icons that are not Devil May Cry. *laff* Any suggestions?

TEASERS
1 2

DEVIL MAY CRY
3 4
5 6
7 8
9

THE SANDMAN
10 11
12 13
14

Credits to halicons, katrin_folly, my_wonderful and Yamato.

Wow, It's Roni's first tutorial.

Sun, 08 May 2005 02:32:28 GMT

After all of this pizza and apricot brandy and sushi and... well, all the other things I just so gracefully sampled, here's the tutorial I promised both odangoatama and ranearia.

How to get the following in Photoshop & ImageReady. It works best with black and white images.
to

I started with this picture of Virgil from the DMC manga that I scanned at the 99th Floor. To get the perfect placement, I used a fix-size of a marquee and sort of moved it around with the arrow keys until I got the exact crop that I wanted.

I then set this gradient over it (by the wonderful crumblingwalls), and set the blending option to "multiply". You generally want to keep the light in the gradient in the position you want to be the most lighted in the image. It serves as a fab focal point.

It should then look like this:

Likewise, put this wonderful gradient also made by crumblingwalls, over it, and set it at "screen".

It should look like this:

Copy the background layer (the original picture you began with), and drag it to the top of your layers palette (above the two gradient layers), and set it as "soft light".

Phew, it should then look like this:

It's then time for another gradient, and it looks like this . Again, by crumblingwalls (the best gradients in the world plzkthnx). This time, I used something with a redder tint to it, to make the entire piece harsher. I set this one to "screen".

It should look like this:

Next it's time for the exclusion layer. Make a new layer, and use the paint bucket to fill it with a dark blue color. I choose color #0B0730. Then it looks really crappy, like this:

Pull another copy of the original image and set it, once again, at "soft light"—and put it at the top of your layers palette. It should look like this:

Woo! We're actually close to being done. So, now that you have all of these yellow-brightish colors, it's time to set the red bar over the center for the text animation. I chose to put it on this layer, specifically, so it'd have the subtle hints of the next gradient. This part is easy, use the shape tool (any shape you want, I used a square) and pull it as far as you want over the image. If you want to tilt it like I did, go up to "edit" and down to "free transform" and move it/squish it as much as you'd like. I simply used something like this:

The next gradient I used (again, from crumblingwalls wee!) was this one and I set the blending option to "saturation". It looks like this:

Your layer palette should now look like this.You can also play around with the fill and the opacity if you want some of the bright red/color to show through. After that! Bam! Just stick some text on it and you're good. See the next part of the tutorial if you want the text to animate.

Now comes the easy part: laying the type so it animates. While you're still in photoshop, lay your type. All the layers of type. I mean everything. Every verse of the song you want, every stanza of the poem, whatever. Pick your font (I used Baskerville SSI Bold)—smaller type usually looks the best set on "strong" and used in their bold face. Larger type can be used as "book"/"roman"/"regular" or some form of light. You can add dynamic by making the "of"s and "the"s italic, like in an old book, depending on the look of your icon (I really like the old book/photograph look myself). 04b works well as a bitmat font if you want to use something that's really legiable. Century Gothic and Futura work for a more modern look. Keep your type in the mood of the icon, and always check your leading. Using one point more than the point size of the type (depending on the font) works. Also pick your alignment. If one verse is aligned center, they all should be, or it'll start looking weird and crappy. I chose to align everything center. Lastly, pick your color. You can use the color picker on the toolbar to do so.

So once you pick your font, color and your placement, you set it. If you're centering, it's best to pick your placement, and then pick "paragraph" and "center" at the top so all the text is in the same place when you multiply layers. It's easier in the long run since you don't have to keep aligning things. For the Virgil icon, I used a part of the chorus from Brand New's Okay, I Believe You, but My Tommy Gun Don't, and it goes as follows:

This is the grace
Only we can bestow
This is the price you pay
For loss of control
This is the reason
You're alone

I broke up the song so it would fit on the icon, and then I placed it in the center like so:

So you should have all different layers of your set text in order. Now look at the type and pick which ones you want transitions between in the animations.

For example, I chose that I wanted there to be a transition between each of the verses of type. So I pulled copies of all the type I wanted transitions between, and linked them together by pressing the button to the right of the eye (you can turn off all your other type by pressing on the eye on the left side of your layer palette), so your layer palette should look like this:

Once linked, go up to "layer" and "merged linked", you can even just press control + E and get the same effect. Make sure that no other layers are selected/linked or they will get linked too, and it'll look weird.

Once you've created the layer of the combined type, go up to "filter" then "blur" then "motion blur", and you should come up with a option that looks like this:

Here you can set both the angle of the blur, and how wide you want the blur to be. You don't want it to be too wide, or the color will run too thin. So blur the type how you'd like, and repeat for each transition of type that you want until you have everything transitioned and blurred through. Make sure you keep your layers in order, so it'll be easier to animate when you get into ImageReady. So your palette should now look like this:

And your icon should look like this with just that one layer visible:

Now you're all set to go into ImageReady! Look on your tool bar, and go down to the bottom where this icon is

and click it!

So now you're in image ready—make sure that your icon has come with you! Make sure that both your tools and your animation palette are open. If you need to open your animation palette, since it's not there by default, go to "window" and then "animation" and it should pop up. Once you have it on your screen, go to the arrow on the far right side and hit "make frames from layers", and suddenly the whole animation palette will be filled with every individual layer that you have made. The nice thing is that every layer that you make visible on the first frame of animation will be visible throughout the rest of the animation. So while you have the first layer selected, go back through your layer palette and make every layer that's not a type layer visible so you have your original icon. Now, go through the animation layers one by one and turn on the layers of type that you want visible on each layer.

When you have everything you'd like turned on, go down to the bottom where it signifies the time that each frame is on the screen and choose how long you want each frame to stall. I put 1 second on the frames with type and 0.1 second that have the frames that the blur is on. At the end, my animation palette looked like this:

Just to make sure that everything is hunky-dory, you can go to "file" and "preview in" and check your preferred browser. If you choose "no delay" between frames, realize that it's different on Macs than it is on PC, and you'll have some uber fast icon when it's viewed Mac-wise. If your icon is too big, you can always condense it by going to "window" and "optimize" and using the minimum amount of colors necessary to make it look good. When you're ALL done, go to "save optimized as", and make sure that you choose "images only" and then save it to a place where you know it'll be! Now you have a fabulous icon.

Since this is my first tutorial (and it turned out kind of lengthy o_O) any feedback would be great! You don't have to credit me, but remember to credit all the people where you used their borders/gradients/etc. I'd like to see what you guys come up with—I'm very eager to see all your creative skills. But please tell me if this helped you or not!

icon-chans

Sat, 07 May 2005 06:04:35 GMT

I was just playing around with my manga scans and got some things that I thought were interesting. Honestly, the Virgil ones are still my favorite. Man. Remember, comment, take and credit if you used. Thanks all, love.

Seriously, why did I close Photoshop? I need to make a Soma icon.

icons?

Wed, 04 May 2005 19:46:00 GMT

First up are all the icons that I've been particularly proud of in the last... ugh, year. All of the ones below are Devil May Cry, some of which are for the challenge on demoncest, huzzah for demoncest. Rules are as always.

And the Dizzy set, of course.

Along with Mars Volta icons.

Most credits go to lvlwings and katrin_folly. And of course, god bless Yamato. Lovelove.

Revived!

Wed, 04 May 2005 18:18:40 GMT

So it has been revived. I'm thinking that I'm going to start using this journal again—not just for writing, but for icons and drawings as well. I updated it with a list of my fandoms, I just need a Soma icon and we can get with it. I have stuff that I'm going to post here later—so, yes! Artsie journal-thing. I may update it with a pretty layout later, I'm not exactly sure.

two pictures :D yay!!

Tue, 18 May 2004 17:48:25 GMT

Because of my current Demon Diary obsession, here's a picture of Raenef and Eclipse. It's just a sketch that I screwed with in Photoshop. I'm having fun with the colors.

Lisa's going to kill me for this one after all the discussion about furries... >>;;

http://pepsitwist.darkless.net/illustrations/freddiecat.gif

.... heehee? XD;;

more for Eikechan...

Wed, 12 May 2004 02:43:35 GMT

Since livejournal cut it off, here's the rest of the Frederick/Ky snippet: beginning with Ky's "refusal to masturbate".

( haloradio ) Ky was thoughtful, not to mention depressed; and on top of that he was getting quite sexually frustrated. Since he refused to masturbate, all he could do was roll on his side at night and think about all the things he was going to do to Sol when he got back.

If he got back. The notion that he may never see Sol again sort of disturbed him; and though this boy he sat across from was merely a memory, well, perhaps then...
Oh, dear Lord, he was getting horny. He hoped that he wouldn't give Frederick any strange sexual messages. Frederick was just so Sol-like that it was hard not to give him the same signals as he gave Sol. Especially when he was sexually frustrated.

Ky watched as the waiter headed off, and then returned shortly with his wine. Whatever Ky's mind had wandered to, he was not doing a very good job watching himself. (Frederick smelled like Sol, it was hard to remind himself that it was not Sol). Ky sipped his wine a little suggestively, even as there were no words between them. Ky ran his tongue along the edge of the glass before sipping the wine again -- and then realizing what he had just did.

Whoops.

( skuldchan ) Frederick thought it best not to stare at Ky when he drank out of the wine glass in that very sophisticated, decidedly French way, but he couldn't help himself. Not when the guy just licked the rim of it and he couldn't help but lick his own lips.
Okay, timeout. Bathroom now.

"Excuse me," Frederick said, perhaps a little too rushed, "I have to go to the bathroom." Really bad.

He scooted his chair out too quickly, walked too quickly, and shut the door a little too quickly in that way that only jumpy sixteen-year-olds can.

Frederick sighed and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked no different than he always did, shaggy brown hair, glasses perched on his nose, always slipping down a little further than he liked them. He'd only known Ky for less than a day, and already he was tripping over himself in all sorts of ways.

"I bet he doesn't even like guys," he said to his reflection as he washed his hands, collected himself, and stepped out of the bathroom again as smoothly as he could manage.

( haloradio ) (Ky decided that if Sol was here that he'd be getting it in the bathroom about now.) Ky's legs shifted beneath him, and he offered Frederick a slight smile as he excused himself to the bathroom. Yes, yes; that was fine! The blonde had becomed slightly more responsive since he had poured out things about his life that no one else had ever heard.

Ky blinked a little as Frederick approached him, waiting until Frederick sat down before reaching across the table and pushing his glasses back up his nose gingerly.
"You don't want them to fall off." Ky murmured as he sipped his wine again (trying very hard not to sip it too suggestively). He wondered how bad Frederick's eye sight actually was.

( skuldchan ) Frederick had to try hard to keep his mouth shut as his RA reached over and pushed his glasses back up on his nose. He had to resist the urge to breathe out something incriminating.

"Oh," he managed to say after Ky sat back and raised the wine to his lips, "don't worry, they won't." Well, his glasses wouldn't fall off, but certainly his body would go and do something utterly idiotic like...get another raging hard on. This was obviously not going to be the last time that he was going to damn his teenage hormones.
He smiled a bit at Ky and tried to start up the conversation again. "Three fourths of MIT wears glasses, you know."

Yeah, real smooth there...

( haloradio ) Smooth, perhaps not, but adorable, certainly. And Ky was more infatuated with the 'cute' that was Frederick rather than the sophistication. He never liked men who looked too culturally inclined; there was something charming in Frederick's... inexperience and clumsiness. Something that Ky seemed very fond of.

Even the way that Frederick was trying to act smooth and sweep him off his feet. Perhaps Ky would let him, just for kicks; just because... (though, he thought that it was a bad idea. He didn't know how this would effect Sol in the future, nor did he know if he would ever be going home...)

"Is that so?" He asked, tipping his head forward and biting the end of the wine glass, just enough that there was the soft sound of the glass against his teeth. "Did you do a study on it?" he asked, curiously, quirking his head to the side.

( skuldchan ) Frederick shook his head. "Nah, I couldn't ever collect all the data for that…" but someone else did, he said with a wink. "There were stats on someone's T-shirt, though that data's a couple of years old."

He certain did wear glasses, and he was quite blind without them. He had considered getting contacts once, but since they required so much more upkeep than glasses, not to mention easier to lose, he opted for the old school. Frederick took a strange pride in being 'old school.' Hey, he was a big Queen fan, despite the fact that Freddie Mercury had died some twenty years ago. His friends still made fun of him for liking the 'old shit.'

"But I can't imagine," Frederick continued, "that the numbers have really skewed that much. Of course, the data includes people who wear contacts," he said with a shrug.
( haloradio ) Ky cocked a brow at him quizzically and smiled. "Is that so? It's interesting." He didn't know that Sol wore glasses once. How intriguing! He'd certainly have to tease him later.

The blonde lifted his wine glass to his lips, and then thought better of it, offering the glass to Frederick with a soft smile. The boy needed some wine to go with the meal that they were going to receive soon. "If at all, don't they grow?"

Ky was continuously amused at this boy -- and how he winked at him, and his subtle body language, that was a lot like Sol's. It was hard to keep himself from giving back the same signals. It probably... wouldn't be... in his best interest to get involved with Frederick... despite what his body told him it wanted...

( skuldchan ) Frederick shrugged, "Maybe, but either way, the number is very high." He was on his best behavior here, trying to be nice and fairly docile, and not like his usual college student, teenage self.

Frederick was sending him what he thought was all the "right" signals, namely that was interested, but sine he was just a kid (and still obviously thought of himself as one), he was a little clumsy, and maybe a little too obvious. But even so, he couldn't tell (whether it was out of his own inexperience or disinterest on Ky's part, he did not know), so he figured that if brute force wasn't enough, he's wasn't using enough.

"Um..so," Frederick said, sipping more of his manga lassi, "you uh...come here with anyone? Or just uh... by yourself? You got like...any friends here?"

( haloradio ) Ky cocked a brow at him as his wine was not taken; perhaps the boy didn't drink? Somehow he hardly thought it was that. He put the glass of wine down and leaned back against the chair, glancing out at the patrons around the restaurant. "No... no one that I know. I guess it was just a spur of the moment decision that I made." He lifted his wine glass to toast that.

"I thought I needed a new start." He reached up to brush a few strands of blonde hair from his eyes. Ky did pick up on his advances, though he wasn't sure if he should actively pursue them. He didn't think it was right. He didn't know how long he'd be here and... yes...

"I'm... not sure how long I'm going to stay, either. I suppose it all depends on circumstance." He offered a slightly sadder smile.

He did not want to break this boy's heart.

( skuldchan ) "That's gotta be tough," Frederick murmured. He glanced the glass of wine, but didn't feel like it for the moment. Wine wasn't quite his thing. "It's nasty to go places where you don't know anyone," Frederick said seriously. "But you've got people back at home, right?"

Hopefully not any significant others.

"So uh...how long you think you gonna stay? Where you off to next?"

( haloradio ) Ky's expression softened, and he leaned forward. It was no or never, he supposed; he did not want to lead this boy on. He reached across the table very carefully, taking both of Frederick's hands in his, weaving their fingers together intricately. "Listen," He said, very softly, "alright?"

The blonde's expression was soft, and his hands were cool. "I don't know where I'm going from here. I don't know if I'm going to stay a day... or if I'm going to stay for the rest of my life. It may be better if..."

Oh, well, Ky wasn't able to finish, as their food had come, and he was forced to withdraw his hands from his companion's to allow the waiter to serve them.

( skuldchan ) Frederick listened intently as Ky brought their hands together...good news, or bad? Or maybe, at this stage in his life, it just didn't fucking matter.

"Look, Ky, I know..." he had begun to say, cutting off Ky when the waiter arrived with their food, and reluctantly, they parted hands.

"Tandoori Chicken," he said, setting the small plate down in front of Ky, "and your rice."
He turned to Frederick, set down his naan and vindaloo. And with a slightly raised eyebrow he turned away from the pair.

No, Frederick glared at his back. We aren't a couple...yet. Or maybe never. He took the moment to distract himself with the food.

( haloradio ) Yes, distracting himself with food sounded good. Ky went about eating instead of talking, slicing his food in that delicate French way. It was probably better if they didn't interact... at all. It was probably better if Frederick stopped falling for him and he stopped wanting to touch and embrace the boy. Hold him in his arms and tell him how wonderful he used to be. Tell him all these problems that he had inside. Because finally, finally, there was someone who'd touch him gently and embrace him and tell him it was okay.

Someone who did not feel his pain.

It was different than telling Sol, who had known loneliness and hardship. It was different because between them it was mutual, with him and Frederick... it was only Frederick's sympathy and emotion for him. Something that Ky had been looking for. But it was better if they...

He ate quietly, occasionally sipping his wine; mulling over what he was going to say to this boy.

( skuldchan ) Well, whatever he had been wanting to say, Ky was certainly not going to say it anymore. So Frederick kept his mouth shut, and kept shoveling vindaloo into his mouth. He was glad it was spicy.

But one of his problems was that he'd never really been good at keeping his mouth shut for very long, especially about talking to people who he thought he could get together with.

Finally, halfway through his meal Frederick put his fork down, washed his food down with a mouthful of mango lassi.

"Look," he said, "I know what you're going to tell me. And...I don't care."

( haloradio ) Ky continued eating as Frederick spoke, pausing and lowering his fork down to his plate. The blonde's expression softened and he turned away. He was about to get into a lover's quarrel with a man who would not be his lover for another hundred and fifty years. How ironic.

"No... It's... not just that. There are things about me... that no one should have to deal with. Things that you'll say are alright at the moment, but would overwhelm you. You don't... want to get involved with me. It was my mistake to lead you on..."

Was he leading him on? No... he truly did want a relationship with this boy, for Frederick to snuggle and hug him so flippantly... but...

( skuldchan ) Frederick shook his head.

"Okay, okay," he said, having his fork around in circles, "I'm sorry I asked you about your past. I don't know what else happened, that you happened to go through, but look." He jabbed his fork at his food. "I don't care."

And he had to take special care to keep his voice low, so that he would not seem angry (because he wasn't, Frederick was notoriously difficult to really get angry) or too blunt (he was blunt all already).

Well, at least Ky admitted to leading him on, which gave him a couple of pieces of vital information. If it hadn't been for the fact the moment was so serious, he would have jumped out of his seat and given a whoop.

"Let me say this again. I don't care what happened, or what will happen. What matters is now."

( haloradio ) "No, it's not just that." He replied, lowly. This boy... he was a kid. He was Sol as a child, and he couldn't take that away from him. He'd regret it forever. "...it's the things that may come back... that will, eventually, come back." He said, quietly.

Ky had dealt with an angry Sol before, and he doubted that he'd have trouble with an angry Frederick - but... god, this boy was making it so damn difficult! Why did he have to be so stubborn? Why couldn't he just accept it and walk away?

"You should care." He said, after a moment. "It should be your prime concern." He was just a child... wasn't he...?

( skuldchan ) "Okay, one more thing." Frederick picked at his food. "I really don't want to sound like an asshole, but here's look number two, no one tells me what to do...or what I should do."

He wanted Ky, he really wanted Ky, and wouldn't even mind whatever usual emotioal baggage went along with homosexual relationships. Hell, he wouldn't even mind whatever emotional baggage Ky had.

But in the end, it was Ky's choice.

"I don't care what comes back, what comes forward, what comes and goes around in circles. But you know, in the end, it's your choice."

He forked a chunk of meat.

And I'm not hungry anymore.

( haloradio ) Is this what Sol had once been like? Is this... how he had lived? Ky looked at Frederick in wonder for a moment, so taken by his sudden idealistic nature that he almost forgot what they were arguing about. It would have worked on Sol. It did not, however, deter Frederick.

He supposed that's what happened when you destroyed the world, forcing it into war, because of your creations.

God, if he only knew...

"Sometimes... it's not someone telling you what to do - but someone looking out for your best interest. You've known me for a day," Ky looked at him oddly, eyeing him, "I'm anal, I don't work in messes, I get up early, I won't drink tea out of bags, I expect you to drop whatever you're doing to pay attention to me, I expect the same respect from you that I give - I'm highly affectionate when I want to be. I get sexually frustrated easily. I play games, you see.," He lifted the glass of wine and smirked, "But I don't allow games to be played on me. Everything that I do turns into a drama." He sipped the wine.

"I don't think you have enough time to pay attention to me." He concluded, after a moment. See, Frederick? He had this down.

( skuldchan ) Under a normal circumstance Ky might have succeeded in being a distinct pain in the ass, a turn off, but Frederick was so roiled up now (it was his youth, and his stubbornness which had got him this far in life after all), and he wasn't just about to let up because of a few little hurdles he had to jump. Frederick got what he wanted. Because he wasn't the type to just go the easy way.

Drama? He could deal with drama? Dropping his work? Well, he was a slacker anyway. Tea bags? Fine, he'd grab one of them tea balls. Sexually frustrated? Best kind of frustration. Games? Frederick had been gaming since he was a kid. He could deal with fucking games.

"I already told you," Frederick replied firmly, "Don't tell me about myself. I will decide whether or not I have the time, the brains, the sex drive, the maturity, or what the fuck ever.

You either want me, or you don't. I sure as hell want you."

That was the first time Frederick had ever said anything at all like that. There was always a time for firsts.

( haloradio ) Could he trust Frederick to deal with him. If he had to leave? Was the boy really being serious? Could he deal with it? Ky softened. He didn't want to be the root of any problems. "You've never gone out with a guy, have you?" He said softly, looking at him a little wonderingly.

This boy here... it looked like he was getting a little pissy. He hoped to turn him off, but... he supposed Frederick was just going to pursue him more than ever now. And he wondered what the best thing to do in this situation was. Because saying he wanted him too was dangerous... and it was tipping at the end of his tongue.

Ky supposed he was the one who started it. "...you've barely known me a day... if it's my body that you want... then I can't live with that." He frowned a little bit and narrowed his eyes. "If you want me, tell me what part of me you want."

( skuldchan ) "Wrong," Frederick said with a wry grin, "I have gone out with a guy. I just haven't fucked one."

Oh, so Ky wasn't happy with just exchanging body fluids? He stayed in places for short periods of time, had wonderfully full-blossoming relationships cut short by rapid and abrupt departures, a psychosis all caused by some trauma he had experienced in his childhood.

I'm sixteen. I'm goddamn sixteen. And he had a whole lot of life and a whole lot of men (and women) to look forward too. And the harder they were to get, the more Frederick wanted them. And the harder they were to keep, the harder Frederick would work to keep them. Because he was just the type to push himself to the very limit of everything he did.
Which was why he was here now, at the age of sixteen. Which was why he did his work last minute, because it was no fun, when the deadline was far away now, was it?
"I want your eyes," he said, staring deeply into Ky's blue eyes. "Because they say the eyes are the window to the soul. And I want that too."

( haloradio ) Well, no, Frederick wasn't exactly right, but Ky couldn't tell him that without explaining that he was having sex with what he would be one-hundred and fifty years in the future. Ky tended to stay in one place, but here, now, he couldn't be so sure. He didn't know what would happen. If he would see Axl, or if Sol would come and get him (he was sure... that Sol would come and get him). But if he did stay...

His heart swelled, and he was silent for a moment. There was something about his face that turned soft. If he stayed he could stop Frederick from joining the Gear Project. (He had that much faith in himself, no matter how difficult Frederick was.)

"How can you know you want someone after knowing them for one day...?" He asked, very softly. It had taken him seven years before he figured out that he was in love with Sol. Then suddenly... all of a sudden... this boy knew that he wanted him.

Perhaps he was the honest part of Sol.

( skuldchan ) Frederick shrugged, and the room around them, or rather their conversation and aura that surrounded them, grew hushed.

"Sometimes," he said, "you just sort of know." That 'love at first sight' bullshit was silly. But what was not silly was 'I want you at first sight.'

"Sure, I've known you for a day," Frederick smirked just a little, "but for us to be having this sort of conversation on a first date, I have a feeling we know each other better than we think we do."

( haloradio ) If he could stop Sol that much pain... then he had to try! Even if it meant never seeing his lover again - Sol would understand, wouldn't he? For that Sin to never be committed would be the best gift that he could ever give to him. Perhaps he should be rational and think it over some more (never seeing Sol again pained him - and knowing he may never see Frederick again pained him as well).

The blonde smirked and shook his head. "You are... an impossible man. And I hope to the Lord in Heaven that you are not speaking with the thing between your legs." He knew what it was like to be sixteen. Vaguely. It troubled him at that time. You see, Frederick... he knew you too, probably better than you suspected - and he just recently discovered these wonderful little loops that you decidedly threw him for.

"You have a week to impress me. Understand? If you don't by that time, then it's going to be my choice to leave you." He said, very firmly.

... and for Eike!

Tue, 11 May 2004 02:33:52 GMT

The next part of Frederick/Ky snippet thing that Skuldchan and I are doing. This is like... four logs put together, so it's a rather large hefty one. Just a warning. :3 I'll post the rest soon.

( haloradio ) Oh, well, Ky wasn't certain that he really meant to pretend he was French because he wanted to trick Frederick. No, he supposed Frederick's expression was just too entirely cute for him to pass up. The way he spoke slowly, and his overly-exaggerated bodily expressions. Yes. Ky loved it. His lips quirked up slightly and he offered the boy a charming smile.

(Somehow Ky's expression was softer as he regarded Frederick. He looked a little lighter, a little more comfortable. He was so high-strung since his trip that he hardly noticed the subtle shifts in his tones and his body language. The way his expression melted when he looked at Frederick. How painfully adorable the 16-year-old boy was, sitting there, trying to look like the badass that he was doomed to become. How ironic.)

Ky nodded slightly, "Yes, perhaps we can change that; French is language of love, you know." He said, cooly, turning to the next student beside Frederick as they listened to the next few people list of their names, and their majors. Some even listed their hobbies; and Ky nodded, occasionally making a little comment on the side. The blonde clasped his hands as the last person finished, "It was a pleasure to meet all you. I'm sure that you all know where I'm located, so don't hesitate to come find me if you need me." And with that, it was over.

( skuldchan ) "Well," Mark said, as the collective group got up to meander back to their rooms, "that was a fairly short and painless hallmeeting."

"But," Gabriel said in reply as the three of them went into the kitchen to make their dinners, "we don't know whether or not he's cool yet."

Frederick grinned, reaching into the fridge to grab a jar of spaghetti sauce; the usual fare. "We'll know when we see him react to the next flaming tennis ball that comes down the hallway."

Mark laughed. "Or the next time Abe decides to cook up flash charges and move all the snow from East to West."

The boys laughed and joked as they dug their boxes of thin spaghetti out of the cupboards, grabbing handfuls and dumping them in pots while Frederick emptied an entire jar of sauce into a small pan. He washed a box of mushrooms and cut them up, and decided it was a good time to go out on a small stroll about the hall. "Watch the stuff," he said. Mark and Gabriel nodded and shrugged. "I'll be right back."

It was under the pretense to go to the bathroom, but Frederick found himself wandering past it and down the furthest end of the hall, where the RA's room was. He nonchalantly shuffled past it, his eyes darting curiously inside the sparsely furnished room. He had never seen an RA's room so...well...bare. Turning around, he made another pass past the room, and it was same as before. Very little furnishing. Not even a computer. And Frederick didn't know whether or not this Ky person had finished moving yet, if he just plain didn't own a thing.

Well, he had met stranger people but he was hard pressed to name any. He shrugged, and made his way back to the kitchen.

( haloradio ) Ky wasn't sure what he was going to do with all these college students. He supposed he'd have to observe their natural college behavior before anything could be done. He had only gone to college for a limited amount of time, anyway, it'd be interesting to see how things in the 20th century worked. (Especially these computer things - Ky still wasn't sure what he thought about that, but... he supposed it was all, eventually, put to good use.)

The blonde passed the boys in the kitchen, carrying a book in one hand, and rummaging through a few of the cabinets for something or another. When he didn't seem to find what he was looking for, he grabbed an orange off the counter and examined it.
Was this orange any different than the oranges in the future? (He didn't even seem to notice that there were other people in the room.)

( skuldchan ) Frederick looked up from the stirring of the sauce as Ky walked into the room, looking very much absorbed in his book, and also very confused. Perhaps confused wasn't quite the right word, a little more disoriented. No doubt Tetazoo was an intimidating place for those unfamiliar with the height of nerdy MIT culture.
"Are you looking for something?" he asked, putting the wooden spoon down on the counter and turning away from his dinner, for the moment. He offered Ky, a lopsided grin. "Can I help you with anything?"

( haloradio ) Yeah, it was... pretty disoriented in the way that Frederick would probably never know - or never really come to understand until much, much later. Ky needed to do research on this time period before he really felt comfortable in it (oh! Now wasn't that funny?) Ky lowered the book and glanced over at Frederick, his brows knitting together.
"No... I think I'm alright," He perked up and tilted his head back to smile warmly at him. "It's just been a long day, I suppose; being in a new place has its effects on the human psyche..." He trailed off, looking at the orange again, flipping it up into the air and catching it as it fell back.

( skuldchan ) "All right," Frederick shrugged, not quite sure how to attempt conversation with this man. They'd gotten started off on the wrong foot (not his fault), and he still thought Ky was hot (again, not his fault) and that was already several points not in his direction. But nevertheless, he felt that it would be worth it to befriend his RA, because there seemed to be a particular warmness about him that Frederick felt comfortable around.

"I think everyone has a hard time," he said, turning back to his sauce. "Even I had a hard time adjusting to living full-time on campus." He shrugged again. "It's a little hard, I guess, having to be on campus all the time. It's really stressful, and even in my own room it's hard to get away from the stress. I mean, IHTFP and all that."
"But," he added, when Mark and Gabriel were shooting him some strange looks, "I don't think I'd rather be anywhere else. So...what brings you to a place like MIT? And to RA at Third East?"

( haloradio ) Perhaps it was just Frederick's voice that calmed it down. It was because it was familiar to him, he told himself, because he'd lived with it for so long -- and now this boy hadn't a clue who he was. It was discouraging and thrilling at the same time. His lips quirked up fondly as Frederick spoke, and he seemed to be listening to him earnestly. Frederick had already earned his own place on Ky's priority list... high above most anything else.

"You speak like you're a veteran already!" Ky teased slightly, smiling. He opened his mouth to say something, and then, strangely, closed it. There were things he could and couldn't say, and right now, he found that he probably had to watch himself, even around Frederick.

"...heh..." He glanced back at the orange in his hand and threw it up into the air. "Lots of things. What brings anyone here? It's not like we all just fall out of time warps, right?" He grinned ironically, "I have people depending on me back home - and when you're the only one in your family that has enough experience to support them, then you have an obligation, I suppose."

( skuldchan ) "So that's it, huh?" Frederick said, walking over to the fridge and taking out a leftover package of ground beef. He dumped what was left into the saucepan, and continued to stir as he talked. "Just happened to be in the area? Decided this was the cheapest way to live?" He shrugged, a little disappointed perhaps. Some peopel would give their limbs or internal organs for a chance at going to, studying at, or even teaching or doing research at a school like MIT.

"So it's all about what you gotta do, huh?" Frederick preferred not to live that way, but who was he to say about someone else's lifestyle? "I don't see it a problem with that." He lifted the spoon up to his mouth to taste the sauce. Needs more oregano. "So are you actually French? Or were you just pulling my leg for kicks earlier?"

( haloradio ) "Oh, I was... really pleased when I got accepted." He smiled a little and quirked his head to the side. "Don't get me wrong. I just have other obligations as well." Geniuses had their pick of the litter, he supposed, and manipulative geniuses got in for free. "I do enjoy being here."

Frederick was an idealist, wasn't he? And very much a Leo; though Ky usually did not believe in those things. Sol said he was born on August 14th, yes? The blonde managed to look somewhat amused. Well, Frederick, he was glad that you didn't have any problems with him. (He was achingly cute, wasn't he?)

Ky managed, somehow, to look even more amused as Frederick brought up this afternoon.

Ky shrugged up his shoulders slightly and tried to look innocent. "No, I am French. Born and raised in Britney. As for that..." His fingers locked around the orange. "I suppose I should apologize, but..." And he said, with a perfectly serious tone, "...you looked so cute when I spoke in French that I couldn't help myself."

( skuldchan ) Frederick raised an eyebrow. "Cute? Is that a European thing?" he reached for the herbs, indiscriminately showering a bit of dried oregano on the sauce and putting in a few bay leaves for good measure. "I don't think it's standard to call college guys 'cute' in this country." But he smiled anyway, because he and Ky were suddenly at ease, and even though he knew the blond must be at least seven or eight years older than him, the difference didn't seem that much.

"But...well..." I think you're cute too. But he didn't say that, because that was being too forward, and definitely into territory he did not yet want to tread. So his hormones were getting the best of him today, but he was also the end all be all master of them, and there were certain things you did not say to your RA on the first day you met him, especially since his sexual orientation was ambiguous.

He heard Mark and Gabriel snorting behind him, and he turned around and glared at them. "Guys, knock it off," he said, "I'm trying to actually carry a conversation here. Not like you two would talk to anyone outside Third East."

Frederick turned back to Ky. "Anyhoo," he said, "want some food?"

( haloradio ) Ky laughed softly as Frederick corrected him. So, college boys weren't 'cute', huh? That either meant that Frederick wasn't in college, or Frederick wasn't a boy. Ky amused himself terribly with that thought while Frederick's friends snorted behind them. Well, those boys were certainly a little more in tune with it then Frederick was.
Ky was seven years older than Frederick. Just turned 23. It was amazing what could be breeched in such little time. Ky knew that he was not one to trust people easily, and it could be seen in the subties of his body language. But he had known Frederick, and he had come to trust Frederick - and thus, the Frederick that was inside Sol was someone that Ky had known for over a decade. So he had no trouble making himself at home with this young boy with high ideals. (Ky did wonder if Frederick found him attractive, as he knew that Sol did; but Sol's tastes could have changed. He was curious.)

"I think this orange will be fine, actually. I picked something up for myself after I played with you this afternoon." Well, now if that wasn't the most ambiguously sounding thing in the world, Ky didn't know what was.

"We should play again sometime," He smiled, as he headed toward the door. (Maybe Ky was doing this on purpose.) "You are rather good." His smile grew, "Maybe you'll be less nervous next time." And with that, the boy headed down the hall with his orange.

( skuldchan ) Mark and Gabriel could hardly hold in their laughter as their new RA exited the kitchen. As soon as he was out the doorway and a good ways down the hall the two boys burst in to peals of laughter, much to Frederick's annoyance. They fell over the counter, scattering various assortments of chopped vegetables and small jars of herbs.
"Oh my god," Mark said when he finally calmed himself down enough to breathe, "I think you did a little more than play the piano with him today."
"I bet the keys are sticky now," Gabriel managed before he started laughing again.
Frederick frowned at them both, picking up a knife and shaking it in their direction. "Did not. And the keys aren't sticky either." He scowled sullenly, returning to his cooking and tossing the vegetables in the sauce. "It's not my fault if an RA says sketchy shit at me."
"That's well..." Mark said, "really sketchy."
"Well, he's European, right?" Gabriel elbowed Frederick with a wink. "I bet he's gay and experienced."
"Shut up," Frederick growled, "or I'm going to toss this sauce in your faces."
The joking died down after the meal had been eaten and the dishes washed. The three boys went off in the direction of their different rooms with various excuses like, "I need to check my e-mail," "I need to call my girlfriend," or "I want to sleep."
But Frederick didn't sleep well that night, and why he couldn't quite figure out, except that there were too many things on his mind, one of which was their new RA.
( haloradio ) Ky didn't seem to understand if he said sketchy things one way or another, and he spent his night in a strange bed; in a strange place that was oddly familiar to him. There was no one beside him, no one to cook for in the morning, no one to roll over and kiss. It had only been a day. Ky smiled a little to himself, ironically. "Here... I always thought he was the one who needed me..." He murmured.
Ky was laying quietly upon his bed, his arm over his forehead. "I already miss you." He sighed indigently and turned on his side with a slight scowl, holding the pillow tight. "...or I'm just really horny." He hissed in displeasure. Somehow, eventually, he had managed to lure himself into slumber.
Ky found out quick that no one in the dorm woke up before 9... and for the most part 10. So around half past eight he made breakfast. For everyone. Perhaps it was a welcoming gift for them, or perhaps he just felt like getting all the anxious energy he had out of his system. Nontheless, Ky had managed, somehow, to make the entire dorm breakfast by the time most of them had gotten up.
He made crepes, omletes, made a fruit salad and already brewed both tea and coffee and... he had a lot of energy, still; and it was sort of discouraging. No one got up early, and thus, he made use of himself!
( skuldchan ) Frederick rolled over and smacking the snooze button to his alarm clock when it beeped loudly. And the only reason he was up and awake at all was that he had agreed to clean up his room so he and his friends could sit around and have a marathon video game session before classes began next week.
Still blinking away the sleepiness, he pulled his ass out of bed and flopped into the computer's chair, checking his e-mail. Nothing new.
Yawning, he grabbed his toothbrush, his towel, and his soap, and went into the bathroom. He emerged ten minutes later to Mark shouting at him.
"Dude! The new RA made us breakfast! Get your ass out here before the food's gone?"
"Dammit!" Frederick swore, shutting off the shower and almost slipping in his haste to wrap a towel around his waist, "tell me these things earlier, dammit! I'm starving!"
Mark shot him a weird look as he jogged down the hall. "You're just in your towel, Frederick."
"Yeah, I know," Frederick replied with a grin. "My stomach doesn't wait for stupid things like clothes."
( haloradio ) It was harder to keep up with everyone once they all realized that Ky had made breakfast. Didn't these kids make breakfast for themselves? ;_; That was awful! He'd have to make breakfast for them everyday! Breakfast was the most important meal, and thus, every college student should have one.
He was flipping sausages when a girl asked him for a blueberry crepe, which he made between the sausages and another omlete. He instructed someone to go make another pot of coffee (very charmingly, as his hands were full) while he served up the rest of what he had made.
Wow, it was gone in less than a few moments. Ky was... struck between impressed and horrified.
He cleared the plates of the people that had gone, rolling a few more crepes for the people who had just joined the table and were pouting about most of the food being gone. He had been up so early that he even had the time to go shopping (getting up at a quarter to six with NO ONE up really gave you a lot of time to yourself).
And they had already eaten half of what he thought they were going to eat in a week. Aah... oh well. He'd have to be a smarter shopper next time. He gaze Frederick a strange look. "Why don't you... go get dressed? I'll make some more." He looked a little exhasperated. These poor children!
Who fed them before this?
( skuldchan ) Frederick frowned when Ky told him to get dressed. No. Not when there was a limited supply of food and he was here to partake in it. Besides, his clothes would be waiting for him when he got back. The food wouldn't. So ignoring Ky's suggestions, and giving into the temptation of immediate gratification he grabbed a plate and dug in, helping himself to spoonfuls of omelette, a couple of pancakes, and half a crepe which he split with Mark.
"Damn, I hope he does this during term," Mark said through a mouthful.
"No shit," Frederick nodded as they both stole seats at the lounge table, making the rest of their hallmates scoot over to make room.
"He'll probably make us help clean up though."
Frederick grinned. "That's why I'm not dressed," he smirked. "I have an excuse to go back to my room to 'get dressed.'"
Mark mock-glared at him. "You suck," he stuck his tongue out, which still had some chewed-up bits of egg on it.
The glare did not phase Frederick at all, who managed to hold his smug expression through a forkful of sausage. "Yeah, I know. I swallow too."
"Do you?" Mark's glare shifted into a questioning look.
Frederick laughed and shrugged. "I don't know, actually, I've never tried it before." He glanced surreptitiously over at Ky, who was running to and fro from the kitchen, taking requests and looking very frazzled, like he had too much on his hands. Before the blond could turn his head to stare back, Frederick shifted his gaze back to his plate. But the look was noted by his best friend, who grinned and elbowed him in the ribs.
"You're gonna get freshman-slimed. And I think I might mean that literally too."
Frederick wrinkled his nose. "I'm not sure whether or not that's a good thing."
( haloradio ) What? Yes, Ky had tried it. Lots of times. Is that what that look was for? The blonde was trying so hard to keep up with everyone, that it was hard to tell. When most of the people had dispersed, Ky leaned against the counter; and managed to shoot a glance directly at Mark and Frederick.
"I suppose someone should help me clean up," Aa, yes, there it was. Ky managed a quite charming smile after that. "And do not think that I will excuse you just because you're in a towel, Frederick. If you can eat in a towel, then you can clean in a towel." The Frenchman looked horribly amused.
"If everyone wants breakfast, then, well..." He smiled. "I find it proper to help clean up, don't you?" Ky's smile turned warm. It was a face that was hard to say no to.
Ky was good at that sort of thing. He used to be good at that sort of thing with Sol too. He could wear him down eventually, even if it took a while, Ky was persistant! And thus, Sol got dragged down and eventually gave in to stupid things.
You know, like not drinking tea out of bags. Now it was extra work for Ky, but it was just a bad, stubborn habit to break his lover out of.
Ky headed over to flop at one of the empty chairs, holding a mug of tea in his hands. He was dressed and washed... and somehow ready for the day. It was a wonder how early Ky could function.
( skuldchan ) Mark grinned at him. "Nice try, Einstein."
Frederick scowled back at him. "Shut up, you're cleaning too."
"Yes, but I'm dressed." Mark smacked Frederick upside the head lightly and went into the kitchen to wash his dishes.
Frederick kept the scowl on his face, though most of it melted away when he turned his attention to the new RA sitting at the table, sipping from a mug. He was a nice guy deep down, if a little lazy and a bit of a slacker, so there was no way he was going to refuse. Even if he was in a towel. Not that he cared that he was completely naked beneath it. Not like he'd be able to turn the guy down, when the blond had so obviously overheard his conversation with Mark.
He wolfed down the rest of the food, cleaning up the dishes, and spooning the remainder onto his plate.
"Thanks for the food," he said with his mouth full as he got up, carrying his plate a few other dishes into the kitchen.
He went to sink to start soaping up the dirty dishes, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"Hold up," Mark said with a grin, holding a bowl in his hand. "There's no towel to dry the dishes so, just stand still..."
"Goddammit!" Frederick smacked Mark across the head. "Knock that off!"
Mark just grinned at him. Frederick scowled. "Touch me or my towel and I'll kick your ass into orbit."
"Huh-huh," Mark stuck his tongue out, handing Frederick a sponge. "You scrub, I'll rinse."
( haloradio ) Ahh, there was something wonderfully endearing about listening to them. Something that warmed him inside. Perhaps it was just the steam from the tea. This Sol that was here, that he forced to do dishes in a towel, who was squabbling with a friend... this was the piece of Sol that was hidden so far down that it could no longer see any light; perhaps it was extinguished completely.
Ky brought the tea to his lips quietly, letting out a soft sigh. "Are either of you doing anything today?" He asked, innocently, after a moment, moving to glance up at the two boys. His azure eyes were large beneath the pale lashes, perhaps it was part of Ky's charming manipulation.
"I hate to ask more of you..." His lips quirked up and he looked slightly amused watching them. "...but I don't know the city that well at all."
( skuldchan ) "Dude, why isn't he helping?" Frederick hissed quietly, looking over his shoulder to glance at Ky outside the doorway.
"He fucking cooked breakfast for us, you idiot!"
"Well, why isn't everyone else helping?"
"Because they all ate and escaped before we dumbasses could. Now shut up." Mark gave him a kick in the shins.
"Ow! That hurt," Frederick punched his friend in the arm with his soapy hand as Ky asked his question. He cleared his throat and scowled at his friend.
"I don't think we do either," Frederick said, handing a dish to Mark to rinse, "we've only been here a term and we don't go out much."
"But we know where Chinatown is," Mark said helpfully. "And we know all the good places to get food around here."
Frederick nodded. If there was anything college students knew about Boston, it was where all the good food. Or rather, how to get there. Since they lacked cars, they made up for lack-of-transportation with good knowledge of how the subway and bus system worked. Even if they didn't precisely know where in Boston the best restaurants were, they'd at least know how to get there.
"I think we're free for the day," Frederick said non-chalantly.
"No we're not," Mark elbowed him. "We're gaming today, remember?"
"Oh yeah...dammit."
( haloradio ) Ky twitched slightly as they whispered to eachother, and he pretended that he wasn't listening. The blonde sipped his tea quietly. His eyes went flat and he sighed. Yes... remember that wonder that he was talking about a few moments before? Yes, that had nearly diminished now.
"Good places for food, huh?" He asked, after a moment, looking rather amused. It figured. He guessed they probably didn't know where the clubs were, as they were... more than a bit nerdy. His smile lightened at that.
"Oh... well. I don't have any furniture, and I was hoping someone could help me with it." He looked a little exhasperated. "I'd have to treat whoever helped me to lunch, anyway. So maybe you can tell me where some of those good resturants are." He leaned against the table, and then quirked his head back at them.
Now came the test.
What was more appealing to the college students: gaming or free food?
( skuldchan ) "Awww shit," Frederick slapped a soapy hand against his forehead and immediately regretted it. "He just had to pull that out."
"No no no, he's already fed us, you see," Mark said with a sneaky grin, "so the answer is obvious." He paused, and gave Frederick a look over. "But maybe not for you."
Frderick sighed, knowing that with his weird priorities, the equation was slightly difference. In addition to the free food variable, there was also the "hot guy" variable, which may or may not be lessened by the additon of the corollary "hot guy is also my RA."
"Hey," Mark said, taking the last dish from him, and seeing his obvious indecisiveness, "the games will still be waiting if you get back quickly."
Mark glanced out the door and whispered in Frederick's ear, "Besides, you're not going to pass up a date with a hot guy are you?"

( haloradio ) Well, at least someone here was intelligent enough to see through his manipulation. Ky leaned his chin on his hands as the boys chattered privately. Did they think he wasn't here or something? Ky was, once again, horribly amused.
Ky wasn't aware that it was a date! Only getting funiture that he couldn't get by himself! Perhaps it had something to do with Frederick being one of the only people here that Ky trusted. It was hard being in a new place; but he supposed that he'd survive. One step at a time.

Ky didn't mean to sound sketchy all the time. But Frederick reminded him so much of Sol that it was hard not to rub your scent all over someone who... would be your lover in the future! Besides, Frederick was very energetic and cute and floofy that it was very hard not to love him, or make him look embarrassed, or take advantage of him, or take his clothes off and... Ky paused in his thought, mid-sip of tea; and then snorted.

No, none of that! His sexual frustration would have to wait until he saw Sol again. Then Sol would get all of it.

Ky's lips quirked into a slight smirk. Aah, would Sol be able to handle it? Ky wasn't sure~! Ha ha ha... (Ky was off in Ky-land being amused.)

( skuldchan ) "You know I want to game today," said Frederick as he washed the detergent from the sponge, "you know I've been looking forward to this all week."

"Yeah, and I also know you have a weak spot for hot guys."

"He's the RA, Mark."

"So? Just don't tell anybody."

"He's ages older than me!"

"See above."

Frederick grumbled in frustration. Mark was clearly not helping the situation. He could swear his best friend got the biggest kicks out of setting him up with the guys that would suit him the worst. But Frederick suspected that might be partly revenge for the girl he'd set Mark up with during Orientation...that had ended in fiery hell and nearly an entire week of disaster and doom and all that.

"You really like doing this to me, don't you?"

"Yes," Mark grinned, bending over and wiping his hands on the edge of his friends' towel.

"I told you to knock that off, you fucking bastard!"

"At least I'm not fucking you."

"Die. Now," Frederick growled, throwing the wet sponge into the sink and padding back into the lounge.

"Yeah," he said to Ky, leaning against the doorway, "I'm free today." He ignored the big grin and the thumbs up from Mark's direction. They better not be drunk already by the time he got back.

( haloradio ) Now, Ky wasn't looking for a boyfriend. He had a boyfriend! A boyfriend that he enjoyed inside and out, but that boyfriend wasn't here -- er, well, no, that wasn't entirely true. That boyfriend was here, and he was leaning against the doorway, in a towel, trying to look suave. Ky eyed him carefully, and then went back to his tea with a smile. "If you want to game, that's alright; I didn't mean to interrupt your rendezvous with you and your friends."

He promised himself that he would not fall for this boy. He would keep any desires he had to himself; any part of him that wanted to touch him and pet him and snuggle beside him at night. This boy was young. Really young. Neither of them could afford it. And what happened when Ky would have to leave...?

If he ever... had to leave.

The blonde let out a sigh. Maybe... he could stop it, then? What Sol had told him of the Gear Project. For a moment, Ky's gaze wavered, and there was something horribly sad that lay dormant beneath the bright azure eyes. This wonderful boy would... to himself...
He could feel his chest tightening, and he had to allow himself to breath, to relax, before it passed. Perhaps... perhaps he could... or maybe he was just looking for excuses to take care of this boy.

( skuldchan ) Well, now that was quite a pickle, wasn't it? Since Frederick wasn't actually gay, he didn't have what was the gay man's sixth sense, so he was quite confused by the sudden switch in signals he was getting from his new RA. Maybe...he was being a horny bastard and he really ought not to be trying to hook up with his Residential Advisor. Emphasis on "advisor." The definition of which definitely excluded potential relationship material.

Frederick shrugged. "Whatever you want, man, but it's okay. The games will be here when I'm back."

...and thanks for eavesdropping.

( haloradio ) Ky pushed up from his seat in a single, fluid movement, standing up perfectly straight. He offered the boy a fond smile. It was horrible standing beside something that you couldn't touch.

What could Ky say about the eavesdropping? He was an awfully paranoid person. Most of the things that did not pertain to harming him sort of slipped his mind anyway. Ky padded up to the boy, looking up at his face curiously. That last sentence was kind of cute.

Ky's lips perked up and he brushed a few bangs from Frederick's eyes, sort of how a mother would. "...go get dressed, then, I'll meet you back down here. I appreciate it, you know." He said, sliding past the boy and brushing against him very gently.
He had to stop himself with the subtle body language... but he knew what Sol liked, and he knew what Sol read as what and...

( skuldchan ) Frederick felt himself blush as Ky touched him. It was a gentle gesture, not sexual in the least but his body had problems interpreting it that way.
He took a deep breath when Ky was gone, and made for his room as fast as the towel would allow him to go.

"How'd it go?" Gabriel poked his head out of Mark's room as Frederick dashed past.
Frederick turned around, running backwards and flashing the thumbs-up sign. "Score," he mouthed silently.

He threw his towel on the floor, and out of his clean clothes pile, picked up whatever shirt and pants he could immediately find, and jumped into them. He laced his sneakers up quickly, grabbed his coat and his wallet, and was ready to go in less than two minutes.

Record time. Rock.

( haloradio ) Aw. He blushed. How adorable. Ky had to try very hard not to swoon as he walked away. This was getting more difficult. It was obvious now that Frederick liked him. Then... they were also living together in the same house. But Ky... Ky was the RA, so he could always use the excuse that he was the RA. But Frederick was someone that Ky had a hard time keeping his hands off of.

Ky hardly had a moment to think, and Frederick was already wobbling down the stairs. Ky stared in awe at the boy's enthusiasm. It was sort of... endearing; but... merde! He would've had to have flown up to his room to change.

Ky smiled a little, weakly at first, but it grew after a moment. "That was quick." He commented, quirking his head to the side.

( skuldchan ) Frederick leaned against the doorway, trying to be his adult best and not act like he was at least two years younger than everyone else here. He had bright smile on his face, and though his friends had probably all grabbed their systems and helped themselves to Mark giant, filched projector, he was hoping to get some more little tidbits out of the blond who was now his RA.

RA meant bad news of course, but Frederick didn't care. As long as the people who were supposed to know didn't know, then all would be fine, right? Right. Good.
"I'm a quick dresser," Frederick grinned, sticking his hands in his pockets and looking nonchalant. He cocked his head in the direction of the Goodale door. "Whenever you're ready."

( haloradio ) Ky looked at him a little quizzically, obviously amused by Frederick's display. He was really trying to impress him, wasn't he? How adorable. Luckily for Frederick, it didn't take much to sway Ky's opinion of him, as the hardest hurdle with Ky had already been far cleared. Ky trusted him, which was hard to say of a lot of people. It was hard for Ky to trust people; but he knew... knew that he could trust Frederick, and that put him at ease.

It also notably changed his body language around Frederick, there were more relaxed subtlies, more soft giggles that parted from his lips, a different way that he treated Frederick, a different way that he looked at him. Certainly more in the way that he looked at him. Sometimes, like it had been in the piano room, he gazed at Frederick in wonder, other times with a soft fondness that he hadn't mirrored for anyone else.

"Then let's go," He smiled, shooing Frederick out the door and heading out after him. "I appreciate you coming with me, I don't think I'd have such a good time in this city lugging furniture back here." He commented, watching a few cars pass, his voice trailing off.

( skuldchan ) Well, Frederick was no good at lugging heavy things (he despised physical labor, like a proper, lazy, slacking college student should) but he was willing to give it shot, especially if Ky was going to feed him more food. Amongst maybe, other things. Frederick was not quite adept at reading subtle social signals from other people, but if he was correct, Ky was at the very least curious about him. Sexually? Maybe. If not? Too bad. Take a number, have a seat, Frederick will be available soon.

"Nah," Frederick said, his hands in his coat pockets, wrapped up warmly as he headed out the door with Ky behind him, "I don't know the city too well."

They made their way through campus, in direction of Massachusetts Avenue, the city's may through street. "There's an Economy at Central Square," he explained as they walked the comfortable, warm interior of the school, "they sell some nice things there. Nothing fancy, hope it suits your tastes."

Frederick found himself smiling a lot, despite himself, and occasionally, out of the corner of his eye, he would give his 'date' a good look over, and think to himself that despite how slender the blond was, those were real muscles under that shirt. He would likely not need much help in terms of lugging furniture, so much as a hand to carry the lighter, smaller things. Oh well. It was a good excuse.

"So," Frederick said, his mind ever curious about their new RA, "where are you from?"
( haloradio ) There were certainly hints of Ky's muscular structure that could be seen in the shadows beneath his shirt. It was apparent in the way he walked, in his posture and the way he squared his shoulders. He walked, oddly enough, like a soldier; his strides long, and his expression trained as he glanced about the usual patrons.

There was a thin, golden chain hung around his neck; though the charm was tucked beneath the collar of his shirt. His jacket was very long, and slightly effeminate; but Ky didn't seem to be bothered in the least.

"From? You mean exactly?" Ky quirked his head to the side and offered a slightly ironic smile. "France, in a city called Le Mans on the north side, near Paris." Whenever you knew that whoever you were talking to probably had no idea what part of France you were talking about, 'near Paris' worked wonders.

( skuldchan ) Oh well, Frederick wasn't at all familiar with France, but he did know where was Paris was. He smiled. He had no clue what type of place Le Mans was supposed to be, but hey, it was close to Paris, and he did visit Paris with his parents a couple of summers ago. "Oh, I've been to Paris," Frederick replied, "nice place. Nice cathedrals. Nice art museums." Not that was much of an art connoisseur.

"What..." and Frederick paused for a moment as he followed behind the blonde, browsing through the store's various lamps, chairs, couches, electronics, tableware and bookshelves. "What...do you do here at MIT? Since you're actually an RA, and not a GRT."

He was curious, there were things he wanted to know. After all, the first way to get to know someone better is to ask questions, right? Right. And besides, he liked the Ky's smooth English...his almost flawless accent.

( haloradio ) Ky figured so much, as it was rare when someone actually knew where Le Mans was. "You have? Well, yes, art capital of the world." He still had a few of his own French habits (which seemed to come out even more in this time). He had to refresh himself on the current history of France, and of the World for that matter, so he didn't seem strange when he was speaking of recent events.

Ky was examining a book lamp as Frederick asked him a question. "Well... I went to Oxford for a while and studied poetry and linguistics. Then I studied music at Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Techniques du Théâtre in Lyon..." He murmured, his French accent pushing at the ends of his words as he spoke the last sentence in his native language. "I found that I really enjoyed music, so I came here to lecture on it; perhaps I just wanted to see what the top schools in America were like." He looked amused, he seemed to like his little lamp. "It reminds me that the world is a lot larger outside of Europe." His English was completely flawless, and if he didn't give away his heritage, it would've been hard to tell otherwise.

( skuldchan ) Oh, yeah, that cool. Frederick nodded. He'd heard of it of course, as the top schools in France, but he didn't dare say the name lest his horrible Americanness mangle it. And he knew how the French were very protective about their tongue. Eccol Nationale Superior, yeah, he'd heard of them. "Oh, that's a very nice school," Frederick said. "I've heard of them, but I don't know anyone who's ever been there."

He smiled, perhaps a little nervously (he was under pressure to make conversation here!) as he eyed a nice couch that he would like to haul back to his room...had it not been to expensive. "But," he continued, trying to transition smoothly, "I don't think you'd want a place like MIT for a top music school. We're all science, math, and engineering nerds here." Frederick laughed. "I doubt half of us would know one end of a keyboard from another."

But...he was glad Ky was here. Because he made damn good breakfasts.

( haloradio ) Ky looked amused. "Oh, it really wasn't about MIT being about music, I don't suppose... I just wanted to see what one of the top universities in America was like." He smiled flawlessly, padding up to examine the little couch with Frederick. Ky seemed natural enough, even when Frederick was not making conversation, his motions were fluid, and he looked as if he was under no pressure at all. But then again, that's how all the French were.

"I could've headed to Harvard, but I don't fancy law as much as I do technology, you know." His smile grew; yes, he supposed he could've done that too. Or perhaps it was just a twist of fate that he had met Frederick here.

"I'm not sure..." He looked thoughtful, drawing back and tapping a finger on his lower lip. "What do you think my room needs?" He asked, glancing over at Frederick curiously.

( skuldchan ) What did Ky's room need? Everything. There was absolutely nothing inside. It was lacking nearly all the bare essentials.

"A computer and a bookshelf," Frederick answered without a pause. Because everyone need those two things, everyone at MIT, at least. Which was unfortunately hardly representative of other American schools. "But you won't get a computer here, and unless you have books, a bookshelf is pretty useless." Ky seemed to travel light. Very light, if he had hardly brought anything other than a meager bunch of clothing. That's what international travelers did, Frederick supposed.

( haloradio ) "Perhaps I could get some frilly pillows." Ky clasped his hands, looking absolutely thrilled for a moment, glancing at the most darling pillows across the store, he headed over as Frederick spoke to him about a computer.

For a moment, Ky looked confused, before his lips pursed into a little "oh", and he remembered suddenly that the nice library lady had helped him with his resume on one of those things. "Oh... yes, one of those. I suppose... that will be essential. I was hoping for some plants, as well. As lovely as your city is... it isn't green enough." Ky complained, frowning, and finding the most darling fluffy chair to go with his frilly pillows.
Perhaps he'd get the lamp, too...

( skuldchan ) Frederick raised an eyebrow. Hey, a computer was a big deal! You just didn't brush a computer off like it was yet another piece of furniture! But then again...if Ky was one of those hippie music types, he supposed a computer wouldn't be that large of a deal, despite the fact that he himself could not even fathom living with one. What would he do then, when he didn't want to tool?

Frederick smirked at the idea of frilly pillows. "They better be big frilly pillows," he grinned. "Big ones. As for plants...I don't know where to get them." He shrugged. "The Home Despot is way to far away from here."

He followed Ky around the store, half like a puppy, half like a friend or lover, trying to make the best use of himself, and wondering exactly how much he was going to have to haul halfway down Mass Ave and over to campus.

( haloradio ) Frilly pillows were certainly higher up on his priority list than a computer, and then the plants were above that. So it went: plants, frilly pillows, computer - and that was it.

There were some of Sol's habits and gestures that he could pick up from Frederick; and some threw him off guard, and made him wonder just a little bit. But all and all, Frederick was a sweet boy, and Ky was very glad. "Home Depot?" He glanced back at his companion with wide azure eyes. "What's that?" he asked.

Maybe it was a French thing - or maybe it was a from-the-future-thing, well, whatever it was, Ky was absolutely clueless to a lot of the usual customs. Luckily it could easily be brushed off as a cultural gap.

Ky instructed the man (who seemed to be an employee), that he wanted the chair and the frilly pillows; and the man gladly obliged, leading them both over to the register, where Ky looked... awfully proud of himself.

( skuldchan ) "Home Depot's a...um...hardware-ish sort of store," Frederick explained, "but they mostly have you know, home improvement things like lumber and doors, and toilets and stuff like that. My friends and I call them Home Despot." Frederick grinned as he continued following Ky around the store.

Pillows and plants before he bought himself a computer? French music hippie indeed, Frederick raised his eyebrows a little in surprise. Definitely not your usual MIT fare. Well, good, as long as he didn't scream at the first site of something exploding in the lounges. That too, was something regular in Tetazoo. What else were you supposed to do with all the explosive things hanging around campus?

Well, a chair and pillows were certainly a positive start to things. At least Ky had a bed on which to put the pillows on. Frederick grinned, and imagined him and Ky on those pillows a little later in the day... Oh yess...

( haloradio ) Ky stared at him a little blankly. "Despot"? He didn't understand, maybe it was an American thing. What in the world was a Despot? Ky continued to stare, though his gaze averted to the man that was helping him. Ky seemed to have paying down, which was good (and it wasn't too different from his own time; so it wasn't entirely difficult).
He wasn't usual MIT material at all; but he was caring, nonetheless, and he did seem earnestly determined to help as an RA at Tetazoo.

"Oh, could I have some candles too, please?" He smiled to the man that was ringing him up. "Five to start off with, white, if you have them." He chirped. Perhaps he was reading Frederick's mind. Or perhaps he really was a hippie in disguise. Yes, pillows, a chair, and some candles...

( skuldchan ) "You know," Frederick shrugged his shoulders, "Despot? Tyrant sort of person? Yeah?"

Oh well, he was too distracted to give a really good explanation. He added candles to his mental picture of him and Ky, on the frilly pillows...and they were making out all over the place, and since there would be nothing in his room besides the chair, the closet and the bed there was nothing to knock over, nothing broken to discover in the morning...
Okay, snap out of it. Frederick's rational size wiped the grin off his face. He hasn't expressed sexual interest in you yet, so don't get your hopes up.
Right, no hopes up. He was the RA after all. And several years older at that. Think about gaming...yeah...gaming...

Frederick blushed a light pink at his indecent thoughts, and turned around quickly, hoping that Ky had been occupied and hadn't caught whatever nasty thoughts had been going on in his head. He was sixteen, after all. Usual teenage hormone stuff. But then again, usual teenage boys didn't lust after men several years their senior.

"I'm gonna...uh...take a look around."

( haloradio ) Tyrant? Oh! Well, he hadn't heard that one before; but it was always good to learn new vocabulary, especially English vocabulary. There were so many words that it was hard to keep up with all of them. He laughed softly at the joke, just because it had taken him a while to understand it.

Ky looked a little perplexed as Frederick turned away from him. Had he done something wrong? (Ky was not one to promote the use of electricity. To him, candles were much more efficient, and cleaner - and he could easily read a book to them just as he could a little lamp.)

"Frederick...?" Ky's brow furrowed, and he lifted a hand to catch the boy by the shoulder, touching him lightly. "Are you alright?" He asked, hoping he hadn't said anything offensive.

This twentieth century thing was getting more and more difficult as he went along. Computers and lamps and hormone-prone boys...

( skuldchan ) "Oh yeah," Frederick said, feeling his body respond as Ky touched him. "I'm fine. I just...wanted to take a look at new TV." He grinned at Ky, and really hoped the guy didn't glance down past his waist, because he had one mother (father?) of a hard-on right now, and he knew that as long as he didn't get away to cool off, he was going to have a hard on for the next few hours.

He slipped away as quickly as he could without giving Ky the wrong signals, and wandered off into the electronics section, where he felt the most comfortable. They didn't have much in the way of televisions here (he'd have to beg a nice 36" off his parents this summer), but just looking at something that was...technological made him feel at ease. Machines...were comforting. He wasn't a big nature buff or anything like that. He liked his technology, and the more he had of it the better he felt. After all, he had grown up in front of a computer and glued to video games, so it was expected that he expected such things in his natural environment.

And they...well...at least didn't turn him on as much as being in Ky's general presence did.
Dude, that man was sexy. Sexy with a capital "sexy." And damn his hormones giving him away.

( haloradio ) Oh...? Well... Ky blinked a little as Frederick headed off. If the boy wanted to look at a new television, then the boy wanted to look at the televisions. There wasn't too many of those in his time, a few, but they were few and far between. Black tech, all outlawed. Which was strange to think about, as there seemed to be so many of them here...

Ky, oblivious to Frederick's raging hormones, paid for his things, quite happily (he was going to have a chair! A chair and a bed, well, he'd be spoiled before he got back to Sol!) Ky wrinkled his nose and chuckled to himself.

Ky wasn't one who was intune with using technology. It was fascinating, but using it was not his cup of tea, literally. He had grown up in a world where technology was deemed the incarnate of Satan, and thus he was accustomed to not using it.

Ky didn't seem to understand that he was sexy to anyone except Sol. Go fig.

( skuldchan ) Calm, calm, be calm. The guy could be straight, he could already have someone, he's just being nice because it's his first couple of days here, and he wants to get to know someone because he already knows you a little. So Frederick stop acting like well...a hormone-crazed sixteen year old.

Except...I am a hormone-crazed sixteen year old. I hate how reality works against me.
But Frederick did manage to tell his hormones and his erection to go shove it, only by his iron well, so he wandered back over by the time Ky had finished purchasing his things.
"That it?" he asked. "Pillows and a chair?"

( haloradio ) It was very difficult to figure out exactly what Ky was thinking, or if he was completely asexual. Ky never expressed interest in much of anything. Though it was very hard to tell whether his fondness for Frederick was romantic, or merely some sort of protective parental feeling. "Yes, what? Did you expect me to pick up an entire living room set?" He looked awfully amused.

He turned toward him fully and smiled, "They said they could deliver the chair, so I guess you coming with me was sort of moot..." He frowned a little, apologetically; "But I can still treat you to lunch." He said, after a moment.

Yes, that was the least he could do for this boy who went out of his way for him.
( skuldchan ) "I can take a pillow at least," Frederick said with a smile, taking one off Ky's hands and hugging it to his chest as if it was some oversized stuffed animal. "Least I can do to not be completely useless."

Least he could do if Ky was going to treat him to some lunch. He wasn't going to turn that offer down, not by a long shot. "Where do you wanna go?" he asked as they exited, his arm sweeping the length of his vision. "I know all the good places around here. Chinese, Indian, Mexican. Have something in mind?"

Lunch, alone, with Ky. This was most certainly a date now. Frederick tried not to grin too widely.

( haloradio ) Ky blinked a little widely as Frederick took the pillows from him; and Ky returned Frederick's gesture with a soft smile, watching him hug his pillow to his chest. The blonde shifted his grasp on the candles, walking out of the shop casually.
How cute Sol used to be. He wondered, absently, if Sol could still be this cute. Sol certainly did some cute things at time, but he did not bounce around enthusiastically hugging pillows to his chest.

"I am up for some curry," He replied, trying to sound moderately modest. Ky watched Frederick's overly exaggerated gestures with a fond smile. Ky seemed to just enjoy watching him. "If you like Indian food," Ky continued.

Was it a date? Ky wasn't so sure. He'd never been on a date before. He wasn't sure what a "date" ensued. Well, Frederick seemed to be happy, anyway, and thus, Ky was happy.

( skuldchan ) "This way," Frederick cocked his head in the direction back to campus. "There's Royal India on the way back to campus, they've got pretty good lunch buffet." He smiled at Ky, and led the way.

It was cold outside, for the Boston's weather was at its worst behavior in January, but Frederick didn't seem to matter so much as he and Ky walked down the street, chatting about various things. Frederick explained his childhood, his parents, and why he had chosen to come to MIT in particular.

"I grew up on a computer," he chuckled, still hugging the pillow to his chest. (It served great for blocking the sharp, cold Boston wind.) "My parents swear I could type before I could speak. And well, y'know, modesty aside I was always one of the smartest kids, even if I was two years younger than everyone else." Frederick shrugged. "Guess I just wanted a place to crack my nerd jokes where they would be understood." He smiled at Ky again. It had been a long time, since he had this much fun on a 'date.'

"So, tell me a little about yourself."

( haloradio ) Wow. Ky stared in awe for most of the story, nodding every once in a while with a cute little "mmhm" or a "ouioui" to urge Frederick to keep speaking. He was certainly a chatterbox, and he even waved the pillow when he got to a part of his story that he really enjoyed.

Well, he would've never gotten all of this out of Sol, no matter how long he tried. It was cold, but Ky was used to it, and thus he didn't seem to mind too much.

Ky looked a little taken aback for a moment, and his brow furrowed a little. "What... would you like to know?" He was unsure of what Frederick wanted to know - there was so much, and it was hard to make up details and force them into one big story.
The war. The Gears. The Holy Order. Sol. They were all things that he could not tell this boy...

( skuldchan ) Frederick shrugged in answer to Ky's question. What would he like to know? Anything the guy was willing to tell him, he supposed.

"Anything, I guess," he said with a smile and a shrug. "Where did you grow up, what were your parents like, you know, stuff like that."

Frederick had noticed that Ky did seem to carry almost an air of mystery about him, as if he did not quite fit in with this place, nor would he anywhere in this world. He seemed a little detached from it, and even as Frederick observed it by the way he carried himself, so differently from everyone else, he brushed it aside as inconsequential.

Of course Ky was special, he was the guy Frederick currently had his eye on. So he convinced himself that nothing else about the blond Frenchman was out of the ordinary.

( haloradio ) Perhaps it was that mystery about him that attracted Frederick to him in the first place. Ky had figured that it was probably very difficult to properly capture Frederick's attentions, and thus some part of him was thrilled that the boy wanted to spend time with him. Ky's expression melted, and he glanced in front of him, shifting the grip on his bag and hugging the jacket further over his shoulders.

"My parents..." He paused slightly and let his head roll to the side, an ironic smile quirked on his lips. "...my mother died when I was very young. She committed suicide. In many ways I don't blame her, you know... We had a lot of money. My mother and father used to hire tutors for me. That's where I learned to play the piano, to cherish writing, the humanities in which I adored. But we... we weren't happy. My mom wasn't happy. She used to get up at five in the afternoon, and sometimes..." He closed his eyes for a moment, "I'd crawl into bed next to her just to assure myself that she was still alive.
"It still feels so close... even though it was such a lot time ago. And I wonder if I've changed at all since then. I wonder... if I really could have done something to save her, or if she was doomed from the beginning. I loved her, still... and now, I want to believe that there was some way I could have saved her - but then I have to live with the regret. My father, he... he couldn't care less about me, I was a catharsis for him, a way to run away from everything." He laughed softly, "Whoever says that the French don't get drunk lies." His voice dropped. "They're damn liars."

After a moment he paused slightly, and his eyes opened wide. "Oh... God, Frederick, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go off like that... I..." He paused again, looking quite apologetic. He hadn't even told Sol anything of the sort.

( skuldchan ) Frederick's eyes got wider as Ky continued to talk, and the more Ky spoke of his mother, of his family, his past, the mysterious he seemed, in some way that Frederick could not fully fathom.

He listened intently; surprised, disturbed, an odd concoction of varying degrees of surprise and curiosity. And then Ky finished with an apology, and still blown away the by story, Frederick stumbled over himself to get the words out of his mouth.

"I...uh...oh...oh no, don't be sorry..." he grinned wryly, reaching out and touching Ky on the arm as they walked, "it's...it's okay." Such a strange thing Ky had said, but he said it so sincerely that Frederick could not doubt, that it was true. He was lucky to have come from a healthy, supportive household himself, and there were a lot of people who didn't have that kind of fortune.

"I guess," Frederick began a little awkwardly, "I guess...if it came out that easily, you really needed to talk about it, right?" He smiled, a blushed a little, because of the words that were hovering at the tip of his tongue.

"I suppose," and Frederick stopped mid-step, "I should give you a hug." And he reached over, and embraced Ky, hooking his chin over the blonde’s shoulder.

( haloradio ) Maybe he did need to get it out. Maybe all this time he needed to say it, to express it; maybe all this time he just needed someone to listen to him. As expressive as Ky was at times, there were thousands of things that he kept hidden inside, many, many things that he did not openly talk about.

"I'm... not usually like that, you see. I don't usually say things like that so easily..." He trailed off, glancing over at Frederick's hand a little shyly as the boy touched him. Maybe this was the reassurance he needed, maybe, to him, this was also the way that Sol showed that he cared.

"...maybe that's right..." Ky murmured slightly as Frederick slipped into the space between them. And Ky allowed his body to relax, and he allowed Frederick to embrace him close. And it was a little awkward at first, and Ky was a little tense as Frederick first touched him.

But after a moment, he melted into him; his arms drew up around him and he embraced him in return. Perhaps in thanks... glad to know that someone would listen to him.

( skuldchan ) Frederick was still as they hugged, one hand still holding onto the pillow at his side, the other wrapped around Ky. There was little warmth between them for they were still outside and it was cold, and they had their coats on, but Frederick enjoyed the silence while it lasted.

"Excuse me," someone said with a cough behind them, squeezing out of the door of the Royal India.

Red-faced, Frederick stepped away from Ky and nearly hit the person behind him.
"Oh, sorry, sorry," Frederick said as the man walked away.

"Well," he said with an awkward smile, "Let's go...uh...get some lunch."

( haloradio ) Ky had rested there for a moment, his head tucked against Frederick's. It was comforting here, familiar. Frederick... smelled like Sol. And even though Sol was a Gear, they still had the same scent, and it was comforting and warm. So much that Ky had lost himself there for a moment.

He had become so distant that the blonde looked disoriented as Frederick drew back from him and the man gave them a weird look and went on his way. Ky's hands were still upon the boy's arms, and he stood like that as the man passed, watching him go.

"...lunch..." he repeated, and glanced up at his companion with a slight nod. "Yes, that sounds wonderful." His expression had reverted, but there was something that was lingering behind his eyes, still; something that had been mirrored in the desperation of his words not a moment before.

He collected his things and swept through the door to get a table.

( skuldchan ) His arm reluctantly detached from Ky's as they walked inside the door, to the small jingle of a bell.

"Table for two," Frederick said a waiter gestured to a small table on the far wall. They sat down, Frederick setting the pillow down the floor and propping his elbows on the table as he thoughtfully gazed over the menu, not really reading its contents.

He was puzzled by what Ky had said, and why he had said it. The guy had seemingly divulged a great secret, and so Frederick was not sure what to do about it. He did not want to seem insensitive, yet he did not want to dwell on it.

Frederick heaved a sigh and resolved to get more from Ky later, if he still needed to talk about it. Much, much later, hopefully.

"What are you getting?" he asked, trying to steer the conversation onto more mundane topics.

( haloradio ) Well, if Frederick resolved it, Ky supposed that he'd tell him. It certainly depended on Ky's mood, and whether or not he wished to share, but Ky had decided that he was going to be gentle with Frederick, ever since the beginning. Thus, he took particular care in being quite open with the boy in ways that he was usually not quiet open with him.

Ky seemed a little withdrawn as the both sat down, as Ky picked up the menu without a word and scanned its contents.

Ky was not open about his feelings; and that much was apparent even at their hallmeeting. Perhaps he did need to get it out, it had been so long, and he hadn't told anyone...

It seemed like an eternity before Ky replied, and even as he did, he did not look up, "...Tandoori chicken and a glass of Verdello..."

( skuldchan ) "They've got good Tandoori Chicken," Frederick said with a nod, glancing up at Ky who seemed to be studying his menu very intently, "you should try the Mango Lassi too. It's really good."

And they lapsed into silence again, and Frederick wondered if he'd said anything wrong, or if it was just Ky who may have accidentally overstepped his comfort boundaries by telling him something he wasn't supposed to hear. And if it had to do something with Ky, then Frederick was powerless to do anything.

Oh goddammit, he said to himself silently, decided he just wanted the Lamb Vindaloo and some Naan, and spent the silence scanning his menu and hoping the rest of the date wasn't to end catastrophically because he was too socially clumsy to say the right words.
( haloradio ) It had nothing to do with Frederick, and in fact, Frederick had probably done all the right things. But it was Ky who was unsure of himself; who was now feeling ill with his existence in this time.. in this place that he was not supposed to be in.
So he was silent, thinking over what he had said to Frederick, and how long it had been... because he hadn't remembered telling anyone else. There was a certain comfort in telling Frederick, in knowing that in less than a few years it'd all be swept away as it had come.
Because he knew what was going to happen.

What had Frederick said, something about the Mango Lassi? Yeah. Something like that. Something about it being good. Ky thought that he really ought to be listening to his companion, but he kept drifting in and out of memories.

( skuldchan ) Frederick's eyes eventually got bored of the menu and went to wander about the small restaurant, seeing if there was anyone he knew eating here. There was no one he had ever even seen before, which meant no one to save him from the uncomfortable silence.

He glanced at Ky, careful not to stare, and since the older man had a thoughtful, faraway look on his face, Frederick thought it best not to disturb whatever reverie he was currently in, and so it was up to Frederick to amuse himself until the waiter came. He fidgeted around, made sure his scarf was securely draped about the chair and wouldn't fall off, wondering what games his friends were playing without him while he was stuck in a very awkward situation.

He was about to excuse himself to the bathroom when the waiter came with a small smile, set down two cups of water for them, and asked them for their orders.

Frederick breathed a small sigh of relief.

"The Lamb Vindaloo, the garlic naan, and a manga lassi please."

( haloradio ) Ky was thoughtful, not to mention depressed; and on top of that he was getting quite sexually frustrated. Since he refused to masturbate, all he could do was roll on his side at night and think about all the things he was going to do to Sol when he got back.