Chapter Five
Abstract Painting
The twilight wind ruffled John's stubbornly stuck up hair and whispered through the trees lining the pathway. Murmuring quietly, stone cherubs spit water into a water basin, and birds hushed their young ones. The sky stretched, blue elastic, over the horizon, and John's feet tapped quietly across the stone path.
In a word, it was peaceful- the most peaceful scene John had ever seen. Massive trees stretched upward, their arms embracing the sky. Their leaves fell silently, littering the ground with gold and red droplets of color.
Amid all this beauty, couples were found kissing, the occasional student studying, and friends murmuring quietly. Rory and John's footsteps fell on the well-beaten path, hands at their sides.
"So…" John murmured, "You and Amy then?"
Rory's head jerked up from his feet, "Hum?" he scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed, "Oh, no. We're- we're just friends…" He said it lightly, like it didn't matter, but longing and disappointment, the color of dust and sand, leaked from his eyes.
Nodding slowly, John waited for Rory to continue.
"I mean- I've known her for forever and she's great- really great."
"But?"
Rory shrugged, "She wants to be friends, and if that makes her happy, then that's what I'll be."
John blinked. That was probably the most selfless thing he'd ever heard.
Smiling sadly, Rory dismissed the subject and pointed at a large tree with lush grass beneath it. "Let's stop here."
"Alright."
John lowered himself down into the grass, enjoying the sight of fireflies around him. "It's beautiful here." he murmured.
With a smile, Rory agreed. He patted the tree next to him, "It is, isn't it? I always stop here."
John glanced at him, "Why?"
Rory thought for a moment, leaning against the rough bark of the oak tree. "I like the way the light falls in between the leaves and how the fountain is a sort of white-noise factor. If I climb to the top of the tree, I can see the whole university at once. It's amazing." Rory was silent for a moment, unpacking his backpack, "Course, I've only been up there once- Amy convinced me."
"Not a fan of heights?" John offered, leaning back. He felt the dirt under his hands, cold, dew-covered and soft.
Rory shook his head, almost looking embarrassed, "You could say so."
Nodding in understanding, John took his schedule out of his pocket, "Yeah, me neither." He often had dreams of falling to his death and they terrified him. Then John would wake up, but the fear never went away.
"That your schedule?" Rory asked, pointing at the laminated page.
John nodded, shaking away the depressing thought and handing the paper to Rory.
Rory's eyes ran across it, mild interest on his face. The schedule looked something like this:
Weekly Schedule:
7:00 AM: Math- taught by Adric
9:30 AM: Physical Training- taught by Strax and Jenny
11:00 AM: Reading/Writing- taught by Wilfred Nobel
12:00 AM: Lunch
12:45 AM: Specialized Training
2:00 PM: History: taught by River Song
3:00-5:45 PM: Free Time
6:00 PM: Dinner
9:30 PM: Bedtime
Rory gestured John closer and pointed at his first class. "Alright. I've heard about Adric. He's…"
"He's what?"
Shrugging, Rory leaned against the tree, "For one, he looks fifteen, but he's much older than that. He's a math genius, but he doesn't quite understand the finer points of socializing, ya know what I mean?"
John thought about that for a moment, "Yeah. I get that."
And he honestly did. John was a bit of a genius himself, and socializing had never come easy growing up in his isolated state with only Sara to talk to.
Rory pointed at the next class, "Rose said you already met Strax. He's pretty cool, not the smartest potato, but brains aren't needed in his line of work."
"And Jenny?"
"Jenny is the most hardcore maid I have ever met." Rory laughed, "She's got crazy fighting skills." he paused conspiratorially, "there's a rumor going around about her relationship with Vastra being more than just professional, but-" he shrugged, "No one has any evidence."
Nodding, John pointed at a name that caught his eye, "River Song? That's an odd name…"
"Yeah," Rory nodded, "And there's an odd woman to go with it." Smiling, the sandy-haired boy seemed to sink into a memory for a moment, "She can tell the future, so I find it sort of strange that she would dig into the past so intensely."
"Well, if she sees the future, then maybe she's tired of it," John mused, "Like, maybe she's exhausted by all of this indefinite knowledge. It's probably grounding to know something that can't be shifted- changed."
Blinking, Rory sat up. "You should be a psychiatrist, John. You've got a unique view of people."
John laughed, dismissing the subject. "I've been around shrinks a bit." Then he pointed at 'Specialized Training' on the paper. "What's that mean?"
"Oh," Rory waved dismissively, "It depends on your anomaly. Everyone either joins a class with abilities similar to their own or has individual training."
John nodded, wondering how to phrase his next question. He started slowly, "So… what do you do?"
"In Specialized Training?"
"Yeah."
Smiling in embarrassment, Rory chuckled, "I'm learning Latin."
John blinked, "Uh, why?" then he realized that might come off as rude. "I mean, Latin is cool and all but-"
"No, no. I get you." Rory smiled, "I'm learning it because occasionally I'll touch people and they start speaking Latin instead of English. Vastra thought it would be a good idea if I at least knew what they were saying..."
"Seriously?" John grinned, "How's that even work?"
"I have no idea." Rory laughed, "But the side effect is I turn into a Roman."
Now John was confused, "Wait- what?"
"Full on Roman- with a bunch of Romany stuff in my head." he paused with a smirk, pointing at his head, "When I was little I was totally convinced my name was Roranicus Williumus." Rory shrugged, "I've been training, and I don't forget who I am any more, but the desire to wear a battle skirt and rush into war tends to linger."
"Falling stars, Rory!" John collapsed into laughter along with Rory, "That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!"
Laughing, Rory couldn't respond for a few seconds, "I know!"
The two boys snorted for several minutes and then lay panting, "Dang." John murmured, "I've never laughed that hard in my entire life- I swear."
"Oh shut up." Rory answered without malice. He yawned and sat up again.
Back to business.
"Tomorrow you'll be tested, ya know, to see what your abilities are," he said.
John frowned, "But I don't have any abilities."
"Oh don't give me that," Rory rolled his eyes, "Modesty is always appreciated, but seriously, you expect me to believe Vastra pulled you for no reason?"
John shrugged, "I already told you. I'm schizophrenic, but I don't have any weird abilities."
Rory leaned back and crossed his arms. "I don't believe you."
"It's not like I'm lying!" John knew he couldn't tell a lie worth anything. Every emotion could be read in his eyes clearly.
Huffing, Rory got to his feet and paced, "Alright. If you're not lying, then that means you're just unaware."
"I'm pretty sure I would know if-"
"Not necessarily." Rory interrupted. "So that means we've got to figure it out." Suddenly he paused, turned, and sat back down. "Schizophrenia, you said?"
"Yeah."
Nodding, Rory bit his lip, "Tell me about it."
John frowned. What sort of question was that? "Um-"
"Like- what do you see that supposedly isn't there?"
How unusual. Most of the time if someone wanted to know about his hallucinations, it was so they could make them stop, or so they had something to make fun of him with. However, here was this boy who wanted to know what he saw because he wanted to help John personally.
John scratched his neck, considering how much to tell him. Then he let his eyes land on Rory and watch yellow honestly sparkle around him. Rory would do nothing to hurt him- at least, not on purpose.
"Alright." John said, pulling up his knees. Might as well get this over with. "I hear voices when no one is speaking." he murmured, "And I see colors."
"Okay…" Rory nodded, "So does everyone else."
John rolled his eyes, "Not just normal colors. It's like... " How did he explain this? He sighed, putting his hands forward. "Think of an abstract painting."
"Alright."
"Good. So in an abstract painting, the people aren't the way they're suppose to be, right?"
"I guess."
"They might have dark, bluish skin or hair. They might be a light color like yellow, or an angry color like red." John paused, "That's how I see people. I walk around and each person is different shade of a color- it's all around them, and each color is…" John honestly had never put what he saw into such detail, and now he found it was much more difficult to do than he thought.
"It's like an emotion?" Rory finished, catching on. The last word rose in pitch and made it a question.
John hesitated, "I suppose." Excuses flew into his mind and he spit them out. "Course, I don't know how that helps me."
They're just delusions.
Rory snorted, "I don't know… it's certainly something."
"What do you mean?"
Shrugging, Rory handed John back his schedule, "I'd say you were psychic if psychics existed."
"You're telling me you can make people speak Latin, but one one here is psychic?"
Rory shrugged and stood up. "No one functional. It's a rare anomaly as it is, and anyone with the slightest inkling that they might be psychic- truly psychic that is, is absolutely bonkers. So yeah- in that sense, it's impossible."
John thought about that for a moment. Psychic? Him? That was ridiculous, even Rory thought so. Shrugging, John stood up. "We should probably get back."
"Yeah," Rory agreed, "It's almost curfew and you've got a big day tomorrow- well actually, you have a big day everyday from now on." He smiled lightly, enticing a reluctant smirk from John. "I'll see you around, John. Don't worry, you'll figure out where you belong in no time."
John nodded and started walking back to his room, "If you say so, Roranicus." He heard a lingering sigh and then a chuckle from behind him. John smirked.
Sure he might be a delusional, schizophrenic, orphaned inventor with some sort of personality disorder, but… now he had a friend.