You can run away from anyone, but yourself (open)

[Olivia Baker]

Olivia cursed at herself for rolling her ankle the other day as she made her way out to the track. It was mostly healed, but still hurt. Normally she'd give it some more time, but today she just needed to blow off some steam and get out of her head. Hell, she should have done this days ago instead of just sitting, letting negative energy manifest inside of her, slowly consuming her soul. Ok, so that was a bit dramatic, but her signature smile had definitely faltered some recently. 

She considered running training anyway. Her abilities didn't let her show much, but they did help her run faster if she got into just the right groove, and had just the right amount of concentration, it was one of the few times she really felt connected with it. 

So she jogged in hopes that she'd get to that state. It was funny how her powers made her feel when she could actually channel them. It felt as if she could do anything, running felt like flying and she felt totally at peace with herself, like this was who she was supposed to really be. Not who her parents wanted, or friends, or her teachers, just who she was and what she wanted at her deepest core. Free.

She wanted to punch herself for feeling that. It was so lame and stupid, but she often felt so trapped in high school. She wanted so badly to please everyone and be the person they expected her to be in the past but things were changing now and it was terrifying. She for the first time in her life felt truly sad and disconnected from everyone around her.

Her jog pulled into a run, her purple sneakers pounding on the ground rhythmically. She felt as if she couldn't be stopped. Except for her ankle. Even in a full run it was hurting, and she was leaning more to the left trying to relieve the weight from it.  She needed to push through anyway. She needed to forget the stupid things she'd done the past couple days. She needed mostly to forget that she'd kissed Peyton and he returned it with Um. UM?! The word was her biggest haunting. He didn't like her. He was never going to like her and she had to get over it. He was a distraction anyway.... She was too busy, she didn't need a guy. 

She ran faster. Pushing harder against the ground. Faster still. Until her ankle gave out and she came tumbling, barrel rolling into the track. 

[Charlotte Greene]

One of the nicest things about Vermont thus far seemed to be how many plain, boring, pleasant days there were. Or maybe that was just the noteworthy lack of friends Charlie had.. Either way, she had been having plenty of plain, boring, pleasant days. She spent them walking, reading, sitting and enjoying the crisp weather and scenery.. It was hard to hide very well when Charlie had huge butterfly wings that were jutting out of her back 90% of the time, but one of the places she'd found most peaceful (strangely, since the first time she'd been here was when she'd sleepwalked out here and met Dante) was the track. Generally people here were in their own world.. training or blowing off steam.. Anything, really, but looking for a pair of green wings attached to a girl.

Today Charlie had found her way out to the track to just watch the people. It was something she had once done with her uncle when she was younger. Just pick a bench in a park and see who walked by, what they were doing. It gave her.. perspective. Of some kind. Or that was just an excuse, regardless Charlie liked doing it. Just watching people go about their day. This time, though, when she'd sat down in her usual spot against a fence, the kitty she had followed out here for the first time had recognized her and come to say hello.. and she had been holding it in her lap and petting it when not far away there was a commotion and the sound of someone falling down fairly hard. Charlie looked up in time to see someone tumbling to a stop and went a bit wide-eyed. "Oh dear. Kitty, wait here!"

She was on her feet almost instantly and scrambling over to the girl huffing and puffing on the ground, taking a quick knee when she arrived at her side. "Hey, are you alright? You --You just fell.. A-are you hurt? Do I need to call the nurse or, um.. or get you water or anything? How can I help? Do you know where you are? What your name is?"

And so Olivia would find herself staring up at a tall girl a few years younger than her.. with big semitransparent wings sprouting from her back.. looking like the worry fairy or something, fussing over her and looking from her face to her legs and arms and wrists, anything that could be broken.. and who also was probably blowing this entire situation out of proportion, but better safe than sorry, right? It was better to be there to help and not be needed, than for help to be needed and for noone to be around. Unless this person had a butterfly, wing, or female phobia.. Or was scared of the color blue. Charlie was wearing a sky blue long sleeve top and navy sweatpants, after all.

[Olivia Baker]

Liv groaned as she clutched her ankle. Things really weren't going her way this week between Katy, Peyton, her date to the dance who she got assigned who she didn't know but didn't hear nice things about... and now her ankle... though that she really was cursing herself about. She should have known better, she shouldn't have pushed herself. She should have taken it easy. But she didn't. 

As soon as it happened, a girl appeared beside her so fast she hadn't even registered it until she was several seconds into her questions. 

"You just fell.. A-are you hurt? Do I need to call the nurse or, um.. or get you water or anything? How can I help? Do you know where you are? What your name is?"

"Yeah... yeah." Liv said waving her hands around saying it was alright. "No I'm ok. I'm Olivia Baker, that much I remember though wish i didn't." She propped herself up on her elbows, her vision seemed a little fuzzy, had she hit her head? "I'm sure i'm fine." She said blinking a few times. "Thank you though." She offered a smile, though it was a bit off, all things considering. 

She blinked a few more times and took in the girl. "Woah cool wings!" She said really seeing them for the first time. She'd seen this girl around but not at close. 

"Sorry... I'm all over the place right now." She admitted, sitting straight up and looking around. Great. Everyone out there was staring at her. As if she didn't feel enough like a social outcast this week. 

[Charlotte Greene]

"On the contrary, you're still definitely in one piece.. which is a good thing. That looked like a pretty nasty fall." Of course, speaking of those wings, Charlie would circle quickly around so that the majority of those staring people would be blocked by them. Sure, her wings were fairly translucent, but they aught to do a decent job of blocking Olivia from view nonetheless. It was the least Charlie could do.

"Olivia.. My name is Charlotte, but only my parents call me that. You can call me Charlie. Is your ankle okay? I can help you back to the locker rooms or wherever if you need..?"

Despite looking like she was a bit stressed and obviously a bit of a mess after taking a pretty decent tumble, Olivia at least seemed nice. Even under duress she wasn't short or mean or abusive. She was even distracted enough to compliment Charlie's wings. Charlie didn't pay enough attention to the comments she got as she passed by people, but in her head more people completely ignored her and her wings than said nice things about them.. so that was a positive for Ms. Baker.

As Charlie had offered assistance, and was already kneeling so that her wings could best block Olivia from prying eyes, she would also be offering a hand. Charlie wasn't strong but she wasn't as weak as someone might expect someone of her height and build to be. Even low-impact little exercise like walking did wonders for one's core and cardio and all those little underused stabilizer muscles.. and Charlie did a lot of walking. Not to mention that sometimes books got heavy, and she had lots of practice holding them up to read them. Either way, she was prepared to help Olivia up and give her a shoulder to lean on all the way back to the locker rooms or dorms, wherever the girl needed to go.

"Or.. I can go get the kitty I was petting? He's really nice. Makes me feel better, maybe he could do the same for you."

[Olivia Baker]

"Thanks Charlie" She said managing a smile, both to the blockage of eyes and to the offer to help her back to the locker room. She, was propped up on her elbows and rolled her ankle around a couple of times wincing. It definitely wasn't something she should put weight on. Uhg, if only she'd thought five minutes ago to use her stupid ability she could turn it back. But of course she only remembered that when enough time had passed to make her ability completely useless. 

She silently cursed herself for not practicing more. She really needed to start spending more time on her ability than on her other subjects. "But your ability won't get you into college Liv! Only the real subjects count with applications." she could hear her fathers voice perfectly clear. Poisoning her chances to be a great time master... a name she came up with herself. 

Liv took Charlie's hand with a strong grip. She normally wouldn't be that aggressive but she was actually kind of nervous about getting up. As she pushed off the ground she winced, feeling the stinging in her hands. She'd scaped both of her palms pretty badly and was now bleeding. She had a nice size scape on her elbow as well. 

Up, and up, they worked until liv was on her good foot. She for a moment put her bad one down on the ground and let out a yelp before quickly retracting it. "Y-you have a kitty?" She asked looking at Charlie, that last moment had tears welling up in Liv's eyes. "I love kitties." She cared more about the cat than her own physical pain. 

[Charlotte Greene]

Before Olivia had risen, Charlie hadn't noticed that she was actually bleeding. This was no longer a case of just scrapes, but cuts and scrapes. Charlie wasn't all that comfortable with blood.. but it was only as bad to her as say.. motor oil. As long as it didn't get on her it was whatever. Though.. on the subject of blood and how falling on the rough track surface seemed to draw it fairly easily, Charlie couldn't help but wonder how much blood had been spilled out here. There were full contact sports as well as runners and all sorts of other training. Yeesh, maybe a lot over the years.

"Oh, I don't have a kitty.. I always wanted one but my parents never let me get one. There's a stray kitty that I play with out here, though. I call him cloud. Cause he's white, but he had a silver lining." She turned to where the kitty had been left and her shoulders dropped.. she didn't see him. then she felt him rub his side against her leg and grinned. "Aww, hi there, Cloud! I didn't mean to leave you like that but Olivia needed some help. You understand, right?"

..Cloud didn't seem to care either way, so Charlie leaned down quickly to pick him up.. He was happily purring as she held him snugly against her chest facing Olivia. "Mister Cloud, this is Olivia. Olivia, Cloud." Charlie would take Olivia's arm and wrap it around her shoulders, standing up straight so that she was basically lifting Olivia almost off the ground. "If your ankle hurts that bad, I'm taking you to the infirmary, not your dorm. We can bring Cloud with us, but you need to get that looked at and those cuts disinfected.

Cloud seemed to agree.. any time Olivia tried to pet him, he would tilt his head around to try to lick at her palm.. seemingly trying to give her first-aid.

And since Olivia was in no position to protest, Charlie would start hauling the girl toward the infirmary, one step at a time.. "Ya know, I have no idea if Cloud here belongs to a teacher or a class.. or if he lives in town.. or heck, he might be a student who can shapeshift.. I just know he is super sweet and pretty and affectionate and he's a good kitty.. so I bring him food and I pet him when I need a friend or a distraction. He's my buddy."

[Olivia Baker]

Cloud was quite possibly the cutest thing that Olivia had seen in a while. His white fur and pink nose with those big eyes looking up at her and Charlie made several tears roll down her face with excitement. She didn't know what it was, everything that happened lately or maybe PMS that had her so damn emotional but the kitten was breaking her heart into a thousand squealing pieces. 

"Mister Cloud, this is Olivia. Olivia, Cloud. If your ankle hurts that bad, I'm taking you to the infirmary, not your dorm. We can bring Cloud with us, but you need to get that looked at and those cuts disinfected.

Liv wanted so badly to hold the kitten but how she was propped, it'd be a bad idea. Her and the kitten would undoubtably be on the floor in moments. She sighed listening to Charlie speak. "I know, you're right." She shrugged. She hated the infirmary. She also didn't want to be told any bad news like a sprain or something. She doubted it was broken. Liv chuckled at the kittens reaction to her trying to pet him.

"God, he's so perfect." She chuckled. "He reminds me of the kitten from Alice in Wonderland." Which was funny because Charlie herself for some reason reminded her of Alice. 

"Ya know, I have no idea if Cloud here belongs to a teacher or a class.. or if he lives in town.. or heck, he might be a student who can shapeshift.. I just know he is super sweet and pretty and affectionate and he's a good kitty.. so I bring him food and I pet him when I need a friend or a distraction. He's my buddy."


"If he's a student that shapeshifts I have to admit i'd be a bit... startled." She said as they hobbled along towards the building. The eyes were coming back their way, and one asshole decided to clap, like during a sporting event. She shot them a look and they stopped. "He's probably a stray though... I"ve seen a couple over the years around here"

[Charlotte Greene]

"He is perfect, isn't he? Cloud is best kitty." Talking about kitties always put Charlie in a good mood. Cause kitties were awesome. It really was a shame that her parents had never allowed her to have one. That cat would have been so spoiled it may have been a legitimate crime. "I always figured if I got a kitty I would want one that was either solid black, grey with stripes, or one that was white just like Cloud. He's the closest thing I've ever had to my own kitty, and I think I would like him even if he wasn't one of my color choices.."

Seriously, though.. Who chose a pet based on colors? Silly little girls, that's who. Silly little girls that didn't understand there was more to the world and to love than appearances and stereotypes and breeding and stuff. Charlie hadn't been a silly little girl like that since she'd lost her uncle.. She'd just never revisited the idea of having a pet since her parents wouldn't have let her have one anyway. The more Charlie thought on her choice of words, the more it made her feel shallow. "Wow, I've never said that outloud before.. It makes me sound really childish and.. bleh. Kitties are kitties and kitties are good. And Cloud is an especially good kitty." A quick nod to herself had Charlie back on target and focused... but holy crap carrying someone this way was slow and awkward.

"Uh, hey.. don't freak out or anything, but.. hold Cloud for a sec?" She would pass the cat to Olivia's free arm, then ease down so that the injured girl was holding her full weight... then lean down, slip an arm behind Olivia's knees, and lift. With a grunt from Charlie, Ms. Baker would find herself suddenly in the arms of a pixie, Cloud resting on her stomach and chest and looking like this was his plan from the get-go and quite proud of it.

"Oof.. You're a little heavier than I planned, but.. Urg. I think I got this." Charlie didn't even know it, but her wings were fluttering quite a bit behind her.. taking quite a bit of Olivia's weight. It was fairly automatic.. As long as Charlie's arms held out, she would make it to the infirmary in no time now that she could walk at a quick pace rather than a slow, shuffling, hobbling one.. And she would just start carrying the girl.. just like that. Someone heavier than she was like it was no big deal. Call it maternal strength if you must.

"Yeah.. he's probably a really nice stray. I gave him a flea collar though, so hopefully nobody chases him off the grounds.. I think if he's a student, urh, by now he would have told me. He knows more ab-ghh.. about me than anyone else on campus by now."

The infirmary would be approaching fast. In a matter of a minute or two, Olivia would be sitting on a table with a kitty to hold her hand if she got scared.