Beware The Frozen Heart (Open)

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Morning, 5:00AM

The only reason why Oriel wasn't skipping down the long wooded path that led to the lake was because it was 5AM in the middle of winter and there was fucking ice every-fucking-where! One could not fathom the rage this instilled in the volatile, quick-to-anger delinquent who usually used his morning runs as a way to get out all that pent up stress before he unleashed it upon something breakable in the middle of the day.

Classes would be back in session soon, and Oriel needed to get himself back on a regular schedule, the whole thing having been completely thrown out of whack over the holidays. His lack of schedule meant a lack of exercise which meant he'd let the holidays make him blissfully fat and out of shape. While he knew a month off wasn't really going to make that much of a difference, Oriel was dreadfully obsessive about such things. Like he was about cleaning. Or learning a new dance. Or doing anything else he had to be good at no matter fucking what, otherwise what was the point of trying?

That's why Oriel was out here on the field, running circles around the track like a damn hamster on a wheel. He felt like he was getting nowhere. That's why he never did his running here. But he didn't have the luxury of being picky.

He was dressed vastly inappropriate for the current weather, which was a blistering 20 degrees Fahrenheit, and dropping tiny clumps of powder from the cloudy sky. The sun hadn't even thought about rising yet...not that it would matter, it was supposed to overcast and snowy the whole fucking day. At least he wasn't out here with bare legs again. He did that once last month and actually got some frostbite. Phoenix made him get a proper set of running gear, the whole fucking piece of shit taking up most of his last paycheck(which honestly was a fucking goldmine considering how many shows he had to usher over the holidays). His poor wallet bled, and Oriel shed a tear or two in mourning. At least he wasn't going to have to amputate a leg or something from frostbite now. Probably.

Oriel sucked in the chilled air and released a breath, frozen into a white cloud that billowed out into the winter morning. Another came and went as he tried to catch his breath after doing...how many laps was it? He lost count. It was so fucking tedious to keep track and by the time he reached the end of one, he was already starting another anyway. Just run. Until he couldn't anymore. That's how he usually did it. He bent forward, resting his hands on his knees with his back rising and falling with each breath. Was he done yet?

....Meh, he could do one more.

[Cianna "Cici" Rivers]

Cici couldn't sleep. A pain, considering how early in the morning it was. Sighing, she blearily sat up and rubbed her eyes. The sun wasn't even up yet...the sun wasn't even up yet! Struck with a sudden idea, Cici jumped out of her bed, all traces of sleep now gone.

Quickly getting ready for the day, she quietly opened her window and climbed out, then jumped off the sill. Catching herself mid-air, she hovered for a second, before flying up higher. It was exhilerating, as always, flying, and she laughed when she saw soft powder. Snow! How pretty! Smiling, she spun in the air a few times. It was cold, but she had chucked on a jacket and beanie, though she still would have preferred it if the weather was boiling hot.

Flying over some buildings in the school, Cici decided to touch down somewhere, and play with the snow for a bit. Was it normal to do so at her age? She had no idea, but that had never stopped her before! Landing on the field, not noticing anyone, Cici took a step, before immediately stumbling. The floor underneath her wouldn't stop moving, and the world was wobbling alarmingly. Throwing her arms out and flailing to try to keep her balance, Cici stumbled more, probably looking ridiculous and like she was drunk, before she finally lost her balance and fell, landing on her back. One of the annoying side effects of her ability; sometimes, it felt as if she was on a boat during a storm, as the floor would never stay still. Not getting up, she simply lay there, slightly dazed as she stared at the sky. How pretty indeed. It brought another soft smile to her face.

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Oriel hadn’t noticed anyone else come onto the field. With the current lighting, and snow falling, visibility was actually pretty low, even with the lamps that surrounded the training field. Oriel wouldn’t have even though to look for someone up in the air, so imagine his surprise when a girl plopped down just inside the track about a good 50 feet in front of him.

A girl who landed….and quickly fell onto her back.

Most people would have expected Oriel the Dick to point and laugh at such folly…but instead he was very quickly reminded of how his one-and-only had fallen in a very similar way on the ice last year, landing him in a cast for several months after. This person wasn’t Phoenix, but remembering that was enough to have Oriel dashing through the snow and over to the fallen girl.

“Hey!” he said with a hint of panic in his voice. “Hey, you alright? Don’t just fucking lay there, say something so I know you ain’t fucking dead!” Not exactly the best way to express concern, but it was his own way. When Oriel finally caught up with the girl, he stared down at her with a breathless face, sweat dripping from his face from all his running, and ears, nose, and cheeks all blistered red from the cold. “Heey!” he said again, softly pushing the ‘dead’ body with the toe of his shoe.

[Cianna "Cici" Rivers]

As Cici was lying there, watching the snowflakes dance around each other, something odd occured; a loud masculine voice made her jump. Staring at it's owner, she blinked at him for a second, before he nudged her with his foot and she finally registered what he said. Smiling cheerfully at the boy, she didn't even notice she was using New Zealand slang that he might not understand, when she spoke.

"Chur, I'm all good thank-" Cici's eyes widened in concern as she took in his appearance. "You...no way! You're- you- aren'tchu cold?" Sure, he was sweating, but it was snowing! Sitting up abruptly and quickly brushing the snow off her back, Cici floated up, so that she was no longer sitting and her feet weren't touching the ground, then quickly touched back down. Quickly pulling her beanie off her head, she held it out to the boy. "D'you need it? Please don' freeze!" Her New Zealand accent was still strong, even though she had been living in America for awhile now.

Biting her lip at the height difference, Cici blinked up at the boy. He was tall, and she wondered why he was out here alone at this hour. Wasn't that kinda weird? Then she realized she was being hypocritical, and laughed inwardly at that.

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Okay, there was a twitch. That was a good sign, right? And blinking, even though the body was staring off into space and had yet to acknowledge...ohh, there it was. Talking. That indicated some level of sentience, right? Not necessarily intelligence, as Qui-Gon had once said. Because this person couldn't possibly be intelligent, the way she was speaking, and poking at him over being cold out in the snow where any reasonable person ought to be.

Oriel stared at the girl, who was uttering off some flavor of what might've been English at one time, and raised an eyebrow as he regarded her. Ability to float...fly. Wooow. Was he supposed to be impressed? (Oriel was working off very little sleep in addition to being exhausted from running, so his ability to social was puttering along at only 2.5% capacity).

He blinked at the offered beanie, then took it calmly in both hands, stretching it slightly. With a quick movement, Oriel stepped forward and stretched the beanie right back on the girl's head, pulling it down over her eyes. "I'm fine. You need to warm your brain 'fore you start speaking in tongues or something." The New Yorker was being playful...in his own special way.

[Cianna "Cici" Rivers]

As she found her beanie back on her head and over her eyes, Cici started in surprise. Pushing her beanie up so that she could see, she peered at the boy. "So...you're all good? My brain's pretty warm...And tongues? Whaddaya mean?" She tilted her head to the side in confusion, trying to decipher his meaning. Did he mean other languages? Sure, she knew a little bit of Maori, from her old school, but otherwise, she could only speak English...

"So why're you out 'ere a' this hour? You look kinda knackered, aye," Feeling more snow fall onto her face, Cici looked at the sky another time. Feeling the floor begin to wobble once again, though not as bad as last time, her eyes widened and she stumbled a bit, holding out her arms to try to keep her balance. She didn't want to fall over in front of this guy! Although, it was pretty common for her to fall over in front of people. But still! But alas, the world tilted dramatically, and Cici fell back again, landing in the snow. Blushing, she hoped she hadn't accidentally hit the boy in front of her when trying to keep her balance.

Gasping as some snow found its way inside her shirt, she shot to her feet. Squirming uncomfortably at the cold, Cici shivered and was glad when it finally disappeared. Yeah, snow was pretty, but she wished there was some way to have warm snow.

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Oh, he’d found a smart one here. A real genius….Oriel had to keep from rolling his eyes. It was too stupid o’clock for hostility anyway. And he was tired. “Never mind,” he said bluntly, staring at her deadpanned. Besides, it was pointless insulting a person too dumb to pick up on it. What a waste of his clever wit.

He sighed and rose his hand to scratch at his head that was totally not freezing - after all, he had a whole mane of curls to keep him warm, that should be more than enough, even if it was pulled back in a mid-way ponytail. “And yeah…I’m fine,” he said, finally replying to the first part of her question.

Oriel groaned again at her sudden onslaught of questions(it was only one) and was half tempted to just walk away and forget about this brainless yodeler. “Knackered?” he asked, once again wondering if it was even English she was speaking.

And then she fell….again. Was she a cartoon character? The thought made him snort in amusement. Which lasted all but a second.

He didn’t have time for this, there was a bed with his name on it just waiting for the delinquent to curl up in for the rest of the morning. Now that he’d stopped running, it was starting to get a bit nippy. “I’m going back to bed,” he announced, turning away from the girl to head back to the dorms. He took about three steps before he stopped and massaged his forehead a moment. God fucking ‘have-a-heart’ tendencies! Oriel glanced back to the girl, who had finally stood up again. “I might make some hot chocolate ‘fore I do, though. I always make too much.” Was he really doing this sort of stupid excuse? Was this a fucking abc prime time movie or something? “Wouldn’t want any to go to waste, now would we?” he continued, laying it on about as thick as the fucking Oxford dictionary.

[Cianna "Cici" Rivers]

When the boy said he was fine, Cici nodded, somewhat relieved, but still a bit unsure. When he groaned, she tilted her head in confusion. Was something wrong? Perhaps he really was cold? However, at his confusion of the word 'knackered', she blinked, before realizing that it wasn't a word they used in America. She'd had the same problem a ton of times before, using words that Americans didn't understand from New Zealand, and vice versa, but she could never seem to erase New Zealand slang from her vocabulary, so she'd simply given up with it altogether. "Oh, sorry, like, um, tire'?" She said to clarify it's meaning.

When he announced however, that he was going back to bed, then proceeded to march away, Cici paused. Had she...offended him? Uncertain of what she should do, she bit her lip, hoping that that wasn't the case. She really hadn't meant to! His next sentence, however, made a smile bloom across her face. Hot chocolate? Nodding at him, and knowing what he meant, the feeling of wasting delicious hot chocolate, she caught up to him, happy. "Shot," She said happily, as a New Zealand way of thanks.

As she looked up at the boy, she realized she was getting hot chocolate with him...and she didn't even know his name! Eyes widening, she spoke up. "Oh, m' name's Cici! You?" Her voice was light and cheerful, and she softly began to hum a song from the movie 'Lord of the Rings'. It was that one sung by Pippin the hobbit, and she rather loved it, barely even realizing she was humming, if only softly. 

[Deleted]

“Tire’…..” Oriel knew he sucked at speaking English correctly, and often dropped the beginning or ends of words, but at least he never had a problem being understood. He didn’t, right? At least, he’d never had anyone complain before, not since middle school when the teachers just would not lay off on his inability to pick up a ‘simple’ thing called phonetics. “Don’t matter,” he said. “I’m always ‘tire’’.” Yes, Oriel was childish enough to make fun of someone’s unusual speech patterns.

The girl hadn’t exactly offended him. He just didn’t have the time nor energy to put up with someone with the mentality of a baby animal. Oriel didn’t even like animals that much. Especially dogs.

Why he extended a hand to this puppy, Oriel had no idea. Guess it was easier to be nicer to stupid animals than it was to people. He creased the space between his eyebrows, further confused by her use of unfamiliar slang. Shot “….through the heart?” he finished with a raise of his eyebrow.

He was going to lose patience with this girl real quick, wasn’t he? Sighhhhh. “Oriel,” he replied, eyes forward as they walked towards the dorm. He wouldn’t say anything more unless directed with more questions, but Oriel did flit his eyes down on the short girl when she started humming a familiar song. A small smile reached his lips. Why not? Oriel started mumbling along with her, quietly, and about an octave lower.

[Cianna "Cici" Rivers]

Through the heart. Huh? He'd added it onto Cici's phrase, and she blinked in confusion. This boy had a weird way of saying things, and she chuckled slightly. Shot through the heart? It sounded like some cheesy breakup song. Actually, it was an interesting phrase for a song idea, and she filed it away for later song writing inspiration.

Oriel, he had a name that reminded her of...grinning, Cici mused absently. "Oriel oreo." She said cheerfully in a singsong voice, referring to the yummy biscuits that were ever popular back in New Zealand. She would probably call him something along those lines, or forget his name and call him 'oreo' in the future if she ran into him again.

As she was humming, she heard a lower voice join hers, and she glanced up in surprise at Oreo- sorry, Oriel- then smiled, still humming. So he knew Lord of the Rings, huh? Awesome! He was rather good at harmonizing too. She loved to harmonize when singing, and she really liked the sound. As they finished, letting the notes fade away, she gave him a big smile. "Eeeehhhh, so ya know the Lord 'f the Rin's, aye? Trippy! One 'f th' only things my countries known for! Well, that, Lorde 'n' rugby! Speakin' of, American rugby's weird, aye? All the prote'tive gear 'n' stuff, they don' do that 'n New Zealan'!" Realizing her mouth was running away with her, Cici stopped, grinning sheepishly. Oops. 

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Oriel sighed internally. Hadn’t she ever heard of Bon Jovi? Oriel wasn’t a music buff by any means, but did know some names, and that happened to be one of them. It was hard to ignore the really good shit. But if she didn’t even know that much….why was he wasting his time with this chick?

Oreo snorted at the nickname. He hadn’t been called that in years. It grated on him but at the same time there was the smallest twinge of nostalgia pricking his chest. His foster granny used to call him that, and would often buy him endless amounts of his nickname for him to eat whenever he wanted. She was one of the few good memories Oriel had of the New York foster system.

Yes, he knew Lord of the Rings. Who didn’t? Oriel especially did, since it was one of the many many films he’d binged on during his first couple years at Hammel. He always had issues being out and about around masses of people, but also detested being locked away in his room, alone, all day. So he all too often found himself wasting his money on random movies and watching them over and over in the common room of his dorm apartment. He didn’t know(or care) that it was filmed in New Zealand. Trivia wasn’t something he cared about either.

Rugby? “I don’t play sports.” Which was his way of saying he didn’t know shit about rugby. They were about halfway to the dorm building by now.

[Cianna "Cici" Rivers]

He didn't play sports? Fair enough. Cici only knew as much about rugby as she did because New Zealanders were so obsessed with it. Shrugging her shoulders, she asked curiously, "Well, whaddaya do?" She was referring to his hobbies, and tried to guess by looking at him. He'd hummed along with her, so something musical maybe? Although, considering the fact that she had found him running so early in the morning...Cici stopped that train of thought. He'd just said he didn't play sports! Shaking her head, she wondered if he was just one of those guys that liked to keep fit. Sure seemed that way.

As they walked, she realized she could see the dorms now, and smiled. The thought of hot chocolate already had her mouth watering, especially in this weather. She could see her breath! Anytime when she Cici could see her breath misting out in front of her was far too cold, in the short girl's opinion. Humming more tuneless songs, she slowed a bit to let Oriel lead the way, and found herself wincing at his attire. Sure, he'd said he wasn't cold, but...ah well.

Poking his back to get his attention, she blinked curiously. "So d'ya a'wayz go runnin' this early? Tha's ki'na weird." She smiled to show she meant no insult, though thought he must seriously be dedicated to his fitness for that. She'd already asked him a similar question, but hadn't exactly gotten an answer. Maybe he didn't like talking as much as she did, Cici mused.

[Deleted]

What did he do? She sure had a lot of questions for this early in the morning. Shouldn’t she still be in bed cuddled up to some stuffed animal or something? Meh…Oriel was in one of those ‘I don’t care’ moods anyway, so while he was mildly annoyed by her presence, he was also more receptive than if he was in his ‘I hate everyone, go away’ moods. Oriel flit his eyes down to the dwarf then reset them forward again. “Dance,” he said finally. “….I’m a dancer.” And a lover, and a fucker, and an overall dick, but he didn’t need to go into all of that.

There was a blissful silence for a (stupidly) short while before she started rattling questions again. Oriel sighed. “Yeah, I do.” Though not as often as he used to. On one hand, that was good, it meant he didn’t need to as much. On the other hand, it meant he was going to start getting fat soon. Oh, well….that was okay, he supposed. “Ain’t that weird. Lot of people who run do it early,” he explained. It was a good way to wake up for the day for some. It was cooler in the mornings, and often dark, so they didn’t always have the sun pounding down on them. He remembered seeing a lot of runners start even earlier than Oriel did back in NYC. Sometimes, that was also the only time of the day they could get it done at all.

They reached the dorm building, and Oriel held the door open for her. “In. Now. It’s cold,” he demanded, pointing in the proper direction. He’d follow her inside and then proceed to the counter where they had all the coffee and stuffs. Oriel would start preparing the drinks almost immediately. If Cici had noticed, the hot chocolate was made from powder packets. Just add water. One packet for one cup. There was no way he could have ‘made too much’ like he claimed.

[Cianna "Cici" Rivers]

Her eyes lit up as he said he was a dancer. How cool! Of course, when he first mentioned dance, her first thought was, as always, people back in New Zealand, performing the haka, a traditional dance for the indigenous Maori people of New Zealand. Then, her thoughts snapped back to America. She doubted Oriel knew any haka. "Mean! What kin'a dancing?" She tried to picture the boy doing ballet, and laughed. But, who knew?

As he explained about early morning running, Cici nodded. She knew people ran in the mornings, but...seriously? It was snowing. He must be really dedicated to his fitness, she decided with a shiver. Why though? He looked like he was in good shape? Although if she said that, he would probably say it was because of his dedication to fitness. Maybe she should start running in the mornings? Hmm...nah. At least, not until it stopped snowing.

Cici stopped when he opened the door for her, then nodded and hurried inside. She went to the counter with Oriel. "D'ya need any help makin' it?" She asked. It felt weird for her to just sit around while someone else was making a drink, especially considering how they had just met. She saw him using sachets, and for some reason this struck her as a little odd, but she couldn't remember why, so she just shrugged.

[Deleted]

'Mean'? What planet was this girl from again? Oriel had been called that before, though usually with a lot more spite and spit behind it. He pushed it aside with a shrug, deciding to ignore her strangeness(though once he was more awake, he'd definitely make fun of her for it). "Anything, really," he muttered. Oriel didn't have the luxury of getting formal lessons. Anything that the school taught itself, and anything that Ms. Mae was willing to teach him in private lessons, was the best he could hope for right now. He wished he could afford something better, but...nope, not happening for a penniless street punk like him.

Oriel shook his head mindlessly. Dr. Sean probably wouldn't approve of him thinking like that....feh...

It....probably was about as crazy as the chick thought it was, jogging out in the snow. It was either that or try to get back to sleep when his room felt like a sweltering sauna after his brain spend another glorious night of torturing his subconscious. Well...he hadn't had one of those nights last night(luckily), but he had them often enough that it'd become routine to run in the mornings, rain or shine, just to get his mind off that shit. Problem? Sue him.

......squirrel. That's what this girl reminded him of. A pet of some sort, but definitely not a kitty and too.....dumb for a puppy. Squirrel, he decided, watching her scamper inside from the cold. It brought a twitch of a smile to his lips as he followed her in. At the counter, when she asked her question, Oriel shook his head. "Ain't exactly rocket science," he commented, keeping his eyes on the cups and packets. Seriously, though, how hard was it to boil water and dump in some powder? Surprisingly, Phoenix could barely do it, so maybe it was harder than it--- No, this was Phoenix, he got lost in his own sheets when he wasn't paying attention. Oriel stirred the cups and then handed one steaming beverage to the girl, Cici. "So.....what...p--" No, Oriel shouldn't say it like that. "Where'd you say you were from? Where people are shot and mean or whatever?" He took a healthy sip of his hot chocolate. Mmm....he felt the frigid within him start to melt...and he was slowly starting to wake up. A good thing? Who knew...?