His Kingdom (Open)

[Gleam]

The microwaves: disconnected.

The dishwasher: unplugged.

The ovens: cleaned out, humming with heat.

Jacob Khorwa smiled and mixed the essentials of the muffin mixture: flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder. The egg, milk, and vegetable oil went in next, added steadily so as to prevent improper seasoning. Then he carefully folded in the blueberries, and clapped his hands to rid them of the clinging white flour.

Nothing was so excellent as food made by your own hand.

['Ace' Julia Dale]

Julia slothed her way into the café that morning to grab a donut in a plastic wrapper and lazily pressed the button on the machine for hot coffee. Her dorm room was around the corner and down a hall inside the building facing the café's side, so breakfast here was simply convenient.

Her scruffy hoody had long sleeves in summer to hide the scars on her arms, and her jeans were ratty and torn from excessive use. Her slightly curly blond hair as well was messily tied up into a ponytail just to keep some of it out of her face. Bags dwelled under her eyes, outlining her restless sleep from the night before.

She reached into her pocket to pull out her pack of cigarettes for the morning. She gave an exasperated sigh as she looked into the box. There were only 4 left. How am I going to survive the week... she wondered to herself. She felt around her hoody pockets for her lighter then with her free hand, moving to hold the cigarette between the fingers of the hand holding the box.

"Shit..." She mumbled, realizing she must have left the lighter in the room. She then turned to the guy near her who was doing something with dough or something. "Hey, got a light?"

[/justify]

[Gleam]

Jacob glanced over, ran an eye over the newcomer, and offered a bland smile before he unplugged one eye of the stove and tweaked the burner beneath it, which caused an open flame to flare up. Then he filled a tablespoon with cooking oil and lit it on fire.

Jacob offered the incendiary spoon to the newcomer. "Help yourself, miss." he says, mild. "Please don't swallow any of it. That would be unhealthy."

His other hand slid the oven open, donned a mitt, and then slid the oven tray with the future ovens onto the top rack.

['Ace' Julia Dale]

"Cool." was Julia's response, and she went to hold the flaming spoon while she brought the cigarette to it in her lips. She put the spoon onto the metal table, not caring about what would happen to it after, just figuring it would run out of oil with time.

After taking a grateful drag of the cigarette, she put away the box into her pocket and started to relax, grabbing her now-filled coffee cup and taking it to his counter, which was where he had taken the sugar.

She took a sip of it black, squinting as she did so at the strong bitter flavour. After the rush of both nicotine and caffeine entering her blood, she managed to realize what was going on. He was baking something. She glanced with a curious expression between the blueberries in the plastic wrappers in the trays, and his bowl of mix. She reached for another spoon to scoop heaps of sugar and toss them into her coffee.

His words finally hit her. "Unhealthy? Is that what this is all about then? You're trying to be healthy?" She stifled laughter, "Dude, you only live once, grab yourself a slice of life, and maybe a morning where you don't have to cook stuff yourself." She said, gesturing to the donut in the wrapper on her end. "There are worse things than bad health." She added, taking another smoke and feeling her arms itch and memories surface. Okay, some things were a step too far down the road to self destruction. Ace, however, always found it hard to draw the line...

[/justify]

[Gleam]

Jacob's lips quirked irrepressibly upon hearing her words. "Perhaps that is true." he replied. "But swallowing lit cooking oil is an event I would classify as worse than bad health, even if that tends to be concurrent."

He shakes off the oven mitt on his hand and leans against the counter as he faces the new girl. "I prefer to cook for myself." he says. "It is comforting. And I dislike the taste of preservatives, which, inevitably, comes along with processed foods. It is like licking styrofoam - unpleasant."

A light shrug. "And if I were attempting to not be fat, I assure you I would not be producing baked goods. I understand they are lethal to the unwary and vulnerable."

['Ace' Julia Dale]

"Well no shit sherlock." Ace responded quickly to his little quip about swallowing lit cooking oil, "I'm not a complete dipshit." She snapped, though she was half-grinning at the time. Julia opens the donut package quickly, cigarette still between her fingers, as she takes a chomp out of it.

She simply listened as he gave his spiel on his cooking hobby, enjoying greatly the preservatives in her own breakfast. "Styrofoam must taste amazing" She responded.

Julia smiled at the mention of weight. She herself was perhaps a tad underweight, seeing as she never ate properly, and everything she did eat hadn't an ounce of real nutritional value. She paused her donut to take another drag, then let it out in a stream of cloudy grey smoke. "There are much bigger fish to worry about in terms of 'health' " She used air quotation with her free hand, "than baked goods, trust me."

Julia placed her donut on the plastic wrapper it came in on the table nearest to the counter, and took another sip of her coffee she had had resting on the table. She wondered despite herself what this person's power might be, and for what reason they might have come to the island. She didn't mention these thoughts though, instead glancing him over, as though his person might carry some sort of vital clue.

[Gleam]

"Two mentions of shit are enough to be going on with before my first bite of breakfast, thank you." Jacob replied, rather dry. "Speaking of which: styrofoam does have a memorable taste, but amazing is not a word I would choose to describe it with."

Jacob's apparel was singularly nondescript - brown pants of Indian style, and a white shirt. He had no watch, no hat, nothing in his pockets, and no jewelry or piercings. He said nothing of her inspection, and instead began to inspect the drink machines in a doomed attempt to find something uncaffeinated. His face soured as he progressed down the wall of soft drinks and sugary beverages.

"I am terrifyingly aware of the human propensity for self-endangerment." Jacob answered, distracted, as he reached out and hesitantly poked a lemonade dispenser. "Though, should I find myself in need of a refresher, I can always recertify my parachuting license." What came out of the machine was lime green and not yellow, and he stared at it with the same expression one uses to regard a litterbox.

"Progress." he said, droll, and flicked his fingers at the cup. He took a sip anyway.

['Ace' Julia Dale]

Ace kept up a half-grin at what he was saying about her bad language and styrofoam. "I take it that you've actually had some then? I'm not even gonna ask why..." She shook her head.

The whole shindig about the 'refresher' and 'parachuting license' made no sense to her, and she responded to it with a quizzical look and a tilt of her head to the side. She squinted at the man a little. "Dude, what the hell are you taking?" She paused for a second in her train of thought to take another sip of warm sugary coffee, the smoke from her tobacco rising from her hand.

"Anyway, I have no idea what you're talking about..." She said, confused by the conversation so far. Ace wasn't the brightest spark in the matchbox, and hadn't realized that he was referring to whatever power he possessed. "Well, anyway, I've been eating processed food since I was born, and I turned out okay." She didn't turn out okay. That was a blatant lie, and anyone with eyes could tell.

[/blockquote]

[Gleam]

Jacob paused and glanced over at the girl, then grinned and shook his head. "Pardon me." he said. "I ramble." He took another sip, and his face twisted. "Even the tap water has flourine in it." he said, annoyed. "Additives. Everywhere. I'll have to make some real lemonade later on, presuming lemons can be procured."

Abruptly, a few moments later, he barks a laugh. "I apologize." he said, as he relaxed back against the counter. "You're not seeing me at my best. I'm accustomed to the kitchen being my citadel, and discovering that I'm expected to give that up here does not sit well with me. It feels like someone's sprayed graffiti in my closet."

['Ace' Julia Dale]

"You even make Lemonade? You know that Lemonade is just sugar and lemons right, I mean, other companies don't really fuck that up too much..." Julia said, slightly annoyed at how finicky he was with all his 'home-made' 'natural' crap.

Ace shrugged, "I wouldn't really know, would I. I don't even know who the hell you are." She mused boredly, taking yet another sip of the coffee. It was roughly half finished now.

"So I assume you just got here then, eh?" She wondered aloud, just making conversation for the hell of it. Perhaps she didn't really care, in the end, and she probably wouldn't even remember this boy in a few hours time, but for now, it was something to do. "I've been here for the year so far... It's okay."

She thought about the lessons she had been taking with Mrs. Zede, learning the basics of education in order to half keep up in the rest of her classes. No one else knew about these, because they were a bit of a touchy subject for Ace. Her illiteracy was slowly fading though, and she was getting to the stage of almost being able to read full pages of text without assistance. It just took a while. She blinked twice realizing that she had been a bit out of it for a few seconds there.

"Yeah, I'm not really a morning person either." she replied.

[/justify]

[Gleam]

"Okay, so I was just being an ass when I said that." Jacob conceded, as he trotted to the stove and pulled it open to peer at the muffins. He hummed, satisfied, and pulled back long enough to don a mitt, and then extracted his creations, and left them piping hot on the counter.

"You are correct; I only managed to land here the previous night." Jacob continued, as he sprinkled the muffins with ginger for a final touch. "While the thought of - school -" he made a face, " - does not inspire any great enthusiasm in me, it's at least better than fighting through the emancipated minor laws and then attempting to find someone who would hire me full-time."

Then he sat on the floor and unabashedly basked, catlike in the heat that flooded from the open oven. "If you wish a muffin, feel free, but leave me some, native."

['Ace' Julia Dale]

Ace shook her head. "Alright then." She said, "I'll accept that you were being an ass." She joked, smirking a little at her words. She finished her donut quickly and left the plastic wrapper on the table.

"I thought as much. You seem like a newbie. So what's up with you anyway, eh?" She wondered, raising a brow. "Yeah, laws suck." She agreed simply, not mentioning anything about the idea of looking for work.

"Free food? Pfft. Lunch, or breakfast in this case, is never free." She said glaring over to him. She was very wary of people offering her things at any sort of discount. She felt that meant she owed them something. She wasn't sure if she was comfortable with that. She realized as well that he never introduced himself after she mentioning having never met him before.

No use getting in debt with a face that had no name. "I'm not exactly a 'native'. Haha, I'm no Atlantean or anything." She said making a face at the concept.

[/justify]

[Gleam]

"Solstice Academy is the most advanced center of metabiology in the world." Jacob answered, nearly purring, as he leaned back against the oven door and savoured the last flickers of heat. "I hope to study it here. Learn the hows and whys of the Knacks that come here."

With a sigh, he heaved himself to his feet, and extracted a muffin from the tray. Jacob bit into it, and his lips curved in satisfaction as he downed the rest of it shortly. "There is no free lunch, true." Jacob replied, unbothered. "Undoubtedly, all of the ingredients of these muffins were paid for by the school budget, and I do not much mind the thought of a meal at their expense. I just - unwrap the packaging, as it were."

He frowns. "They are most adamant about me taking a standard schedule. There is also no work-study program, which would remove at least half the full schedule and allow me something I can feel halfway competent with. I am not and was never an ideal student. I deal poorly with lectures."

A sudden wry grin flickers across Jacob's face. "Ironic, I am aware."

['Ace' Julia Dale]

Ace shrugged, "Well yeah, I guess it is, if by Metabiology you mean us 'Gifted' types, and if by Knacks you mean 'superpowers' for," She nearly laughed, "Crime fighting and whatever, then yeah... but to be a student here, a 'Knack' is needed, right? I mean they don't let in people off the street..." She paused for a minute, "Without powers, I mean."

Ace finished off her coffee by throwing it back to let the dregs of it enter her throat, swallowed it gratefully and then smoked to the very end of her cigarette, thankful that it didn't burn out very fast. She threw the butt on the ground and stepped on it with her sneakers, only glancing down to it.

For a moment she just looked over to the muffins, then she went over to them cautiously, taking one from the tray. The hot muffins smelled sweet and welcoming, and felt so warm in her hands. They weren't sticky and plastic feeling like the ones in the wrappers she usually got. Ace wasn't sure how exactly she felt about this. Something about it put her at an unease, all this homeliness. It wasn't something she was used to.

"Look, that's great that you want work and everything..." She said, pigishly taking a chomp out of the muffin in her hands, "But why work when you can just laze around and do nothing? Why do things the hard way?" She wondered, referring to the mentality that was instilled to her by both Lucas and Will. She hadn't ever known much else.

Still feeling slightly off about having the free muffin, Ace did something she wasn't that comfortable doing. Ace pulled out a dollar coin from her pocket and placed it on the tip of her thumb. She flicked it into the air gracefully, having it fall down heads on the place where the muffin she took had been.

[Gleam]

Jacob grimaces. "I try not to think of that way." he says. "Feels too arrogant. I don't know what grants these abilities or what, reliably, they cause. They don't consume calories or nutrients that can be detected. As you said - no free lunch. I want to know what it costs before I use it."

Jacob reached out and snagged a muffin of his own. "As to your other question - I have always tackled the hard way." he replied, and bit into it. He paused to chew and swallow. "Not smart, truthfully, but it's a lifelong habit. I like definites. No wondering 'what if'. And going the easy way, in my experience, leaves one pondering a great many of those."

['Ace' Julia Dale]

Ace listened to him talk about the origin of powers. "Honestly? Who cares." She said, perhaps slightly rudely, though she hadn't meant it to come across as such. She shrugged, "I mean, in the end, we have knacks or we don't, and it's a simple case of yes or no. That's it. I mean... What difference would it make if we knew why. Would it change anything? Would you want it to?"

Ace was surprised at how much she was actually saying, almost giving a little rant. It was unusual for her to have so full a conversation, but she believed she had a point and wanted to speak it. "Well, Maybe we're just dying faster. Maybe that's it. Maybe we have these 'perks' before we fade fast and hard. I don't know about you but there are worse things to happen." She said with a half-grin, as though the idea living hard and dying fast was in any way something to smile at.

Ace took another full bite of the muffin in her hands that she had just paid for, "Well, I don't know. I stopped thinking about 'what if's, and started making shit happen for myself. That's what I'd suggest really. Don't question the outcome, just go for it." She said between bites, leaning her weight onto one leg casually.

[Gleam]

"I need to know." Jacob answered, his voice sure. "I'm certain of that. I can't ignore it and I can't get away from it. So I've got to take it head on. There are no other answers."

He shook his head and smiled. "Thank you for the perspective though, miss . . . "

Jacob snorted and grinned. "Well, I'll just call you Jane Doe for now, as that seems as suitable as anything else I know. Unless you have an objection, that is."

He snatched up another muffin and bit into it, his posture a little more relaxed than previously, as he leaned against a column.

['Ace' Julia Dale]

Ace laughed, "Jane Doe, eh? Nah, Name's Ace. I don't really mind either way, but I might not respond to you if you call me Jane." Julia said with another half grin. "I think I'll call you the Muffin man. It seems appropriate, but it also sounds very..." She racked her brain for the word, "Well, you sound like a dealer, lets be honest." She laughed.

She began to take the final bites of that muffin, leaving only the little wrapper behind. She took a seat at the table where she had been eating, drinking and smoking previously, turning towards him. "Unless you have an objection?" She replied, somewhat mocking him in good jest.

[Gleam]

Jacob snorted and clapped a hand over his face briefly, while he turned away. When he looked back his face was straight again. "That may be applicable, Ace." he said, quite solemn. "But, I think, if you ever address me as Mr. Man, I will have to disavow knowledge of you."

His lips continued to twitch as he gathered up the last of the muffins, placed them in a tupperware container, and left them on the table. The pan he took back to the sink and began to wash. "So, what kind of dealer do you speak of?" he called, over the hiss of running water.

['Ace' Julia Dale]

Ace grinned, "What about Mr. Muffin, hm?" She wondered with a raised eyebrow. Her hands felt awkward having nothing to do, so she found herself pulling at her fingernails, fidgeting. She glanced down at them, watching them work to find and tear hang-nails and drag out any unwanted dirt as she had her conversation. It wasn't exactly pleasant, honestly.

"What kind of dealer? Well, what kind of dealer do you think? hm?" Ace shook her head, casually. She spoke in a regular voice, not raising it like he did over the sound of running water from the sink. She didn't like the way he seemed to almost be pushing the issue. Did he want her to say it? Surely he knew what she was referring to, she didn't want to go into detail, her tone might reveal too much. Instead she remained quiet and hoped that there might be a change of subject.

[Gleam]

"I am not oily enough to be a car dealer; not sneaky enough to be a poker dealer; not smooth enough to be a weapons dealer; and not old enough to be a Fair Dealer." Jacob listed practically, as he set the baking sheet out to dry. "Therefore, I can only presume I am an art dealer, as I am, I must admit, quite posh."

He turned to Ace and posed, one leg crossed over the other and his hands up behind his head, tangled in his hair.

"Am I not?" he asked, archly.

His lips twitched again.

['Ace' Julia Dale]

Ace listened, growing slight more annoyed with every word as Jacob listed off all the different types of dealers except the ones she was obviously talking about. She rolled her eyes at his ridiculous pose at the end of his little spiel.

"No dipshit, you aren't 'posh'. You're just up your own hole, and you knew what I meant." She accused bluntly, crossing her arms. Then she noticed his lips twitching, "Anyway, do you have some sort of spastic problem dude?" She wondered in a brash tone, glancing over to him before returning her gaze to her fingernails, which she made a point to seem far more interested in.

After a minute, she gestured to her mouth, "I mean, this issue you got there... or is it just a nervous habit" She sounded quite annoyed, and unreasonably so. Regardless, it was her attempt to change the subject.

[Gleam]

"It is me attempting to not smile." Jacob answered. His face remained straight. "I am of middling effectiveness at this pursuit, but to not try would be to renounce my Englishhood."

He bowed deeply to Ace, deep enough that he faced the floor. "I apologize for this affront to your sensibilities, and beg your indulgence in my continued efforts to retain a measure of self-control."

['Ace' Julia Dale]

Ace glared over to him at his comment about trying not to smile. She hated that he seemed to be keeping some sort of knowledge from her, as though he was hiding things. It was a horrible trait, she found. Then again, she herself hid her own real name. Complaining about a lack of trust would have simply been hypocritical.

"So you're english... I knew I was hearing some kind of accent there," She said, somewhat lying, as she hardly noticed any accents at all, unless they were legitimately speaking another language. Ace actually leaned back with surprised when he bowed to her. What age did he live in, the victorian era? Ace raised her eyebrow, slightly weirded out by this behaviour.

"Ehm.... Whatever." She responded, taken aback. "What would have been making a smile at anyway?" She said, hoping that it wasn't the whole business about dealers, although thinking about it, she wasn't quite sure what else it could have been about, really...

[Gleam]

Jacob raised his head. He was grinning again. "You." he said, incredibly frank. "I'm sorry, but right now you're being quite adorable. And I was raised in England, yes."

Still smiling beatifically, he propped himself up against the counter. "So where would one go to find out his classes?" he asked. "I only arrived last night, and I have not had time to situate myself."