American Horror Story - Coven

Stupid

Kyle wasn't stupid. He reminded himself of this fact often because sometimes he felt stupid. It wasn't so much that he was stupid as much as his memory had been warped a bit. He had certain flashes sometimes, like when he saw the tattoos on his body that weren't his, or when Misty tried to bathe him and he had flashes of the abuse his mother put him through. That was about it in terms of memories, small flashes of feelings, thoughts, or images that helped him on occasion. For instance when he first started cooking and he remembered not to put his hand on the hot stove, a simple thing, common sense really, but he couldn't quite remember who had first told him that or where that cautionary thought came from.

His mind also worked differently now, his memory seemed to fade in and out, he had occasional anger issues, and he zoned out a lot. Cordelia had helped him get through this though, the issues could be worked around. She had him meet her in the morning, when he was up because he didn't need as much sleep as a normal person, and she was up because she was making sure everything was in order for the day. They would sit at the small table in the kitchen, the one Fiona had taught Kyle how to play gin on, and talked.

Ms. Cordelia had very simple methods for helping Kyle remember the little things he often forgot. She wanted him to look professional, so he wore white gloves. Often he forgot to take them off when doing something particularly messy and they got stained. Ms. Cordelia said he could remember by looking at his hands before he did a task.

"Look at your gloves, what color are they?" "White" "What color should they be when your done?" "White" "How do you keep them that way?" "take them off".

Sometimes he would say it out loud, quietly and when no one else was around, just so he could remember. He also needed to remember to keep his tie tied, "If you forget to tie it your collar will become loose and people could see the scar on your neck", and that was enough for him to never forget to tie it, though he sometimes needed help from Zoe.

His zoning out was a bit of an issue. While it mostly happened during gatherings when they went over things that didn't really concern him, Cordelia said it was best to help fix it before it got in the way of his work. "What if" she had said, "You zoned out when someone pulled a knife out on one of the girls? Or when you were cooking and the stove caught fire?" Kyle didn't have a response to that.

The Supreme had told him that one method he could use was rubbing his pointer finger and thumb together behind his back. Let his subconscious fidget a bit and help his mind focus on other things. This worked most of the time, though he still found himself staring off on the odd occasion, it was a step in the right direction.

His anger was another thing. "Deep breaths" the Supreme had said, "Deep breaths and think about peaceful things." He thought about Zoe and his time at the swamp with Misty, Stevie Nicks Landslide had become a favorite song of his. He supposed Misty had unintentionally programmed a love for Stevie into him when she played her music 24/7 while he was healing.

Cordelia had found that Kyle did certain tasks that helped calm him down a lot and ground him. Little things that took time and only slight concentration; polishing silver wear, tending to the greenhouse plants that was his favorite, and often she would find him up early and just sitting at the kitchen table, shuffling cards and mumbling to himself the lyrics of a Stevie Nicks song. None of these things were on his chore list, Cordelia would happily tend to the plants and the silver didn't need constant attention, but he did them anyway.

The way Kyle saw the world and how his mind worked was mostly a mystery to Ms. Delia, but she liked it. She found herself smiling when she went to the greenhouse to find Kyle playing a Stevie Nicks song as he made sure all the plants were okay, occasionally she even found him making some sort of medicinal mixture for burns or scrapes that she had no doubt he had learned from Misty. She would sometimes play gin with him in the evenings when neither were busy he never lost a game, and she found herself on the odd occasion just standing in the doorway watching him do one of the not-actually-on-his-to-do-list chores with a smile of pride on her face.

Kyle wasn't stupid, quirky and odd in his habits, but not stupid.