run no more (robbie)

[Piper Crumin]

When the days take you by storm, they begin blending together. Like when you pour water onto a painting that has not yet dried. Your forget what the painting was and why you painted it. What did it mean to you in the first place?

Piper lay in the snow, shivering, but not letting herself go back indoors. She was tired. The days lately had been stressful, with all that was going on at the school. Even though it wasn't talked about much, the deaths in the city had brought forth a new kind of fear in all the students. At least, that's what Piper felt. She didn't have the same powers as her roommate, but she was good at being in places that people tended to let the words that were never supposed to come out erupt from their mouths. Worries and fears that fell right from the heart and to the ears of those that they trusted. Then there was those that she knew were not exactly “good” people.

But no one knew that she knew these things. Piper was almost invisible.

And she would never tell her dad about it. He would have her shipped back to him in no time, but for the first time, Piper really felt that she needed to stay at Hammel. Something was on the verge of happening, a new beginning or a change. Something that could change the way that people saw Piper and those like her.

Her coat was getting wet, though it had not seeped to her skin quite yet. She lay like she was making a snow angel, but she hadn't. No angels and no saviors for her; Piper was the type to save herself, to look after herself. It was probably this that made her lonely all the time. Always alone. She was terrified of the viruses and bacteria people had, and put a wall between her and them. She wasn't like the Piper from the stories who could enchant hundreds of people and make them follow him.

She was upset that she wasn't in love. She was fifteen, and she really felt that no fifteen-year-old girl hadn't been kissed. It was upsetting.

The sun was going down, sending brilliant streaks of orange across the school campus. It turned the trampled snow bright and Piper sat up, folding her arms in front of her. The cold was getting to her, and she sniffled a bit, but she didn't want to go in. For some reason, the sickness that she knew she would get from this didn't scare her. She didn't want to be afraid anymore. So, in that moment, she decided not to be.

[Robbie Wilkes]

Classes were over and Robbie didn't want to go back to his dorm. And the student lounge was, as always, filled to the brim and the pool table was occupied. So he was left with either leaving the compound, heading to the library or trekking through the pretty and snowy courtyard. He had to get Reeve out here one day. Bury him in the snow so he wouldn't feel so...out of touch with the world.

Tugging the hem of his light blue sweatshirt he wore over his plain white t-shirt, Robbie trekked down the hallway to the courtyard. He passed by a few people he recognised, waving at them and some he didn't quite recognise and waved at them too. What was the point in saving his waves for only people he knew?

Once he was out in the courtyard, he smiled as it was practically deserted. The people who were even there were sparsely placed all over. He was about to run across the thickly snowed in ground when a head popped out from the snow. "Piper? Piper Crumin? Is that you?" He called out, inching closer. When he confirmed that it was indeed the girl he had a few academic classes with her, he bounded across the path and waved down at her.

"Hi! What are you doing here?"

[Piper Crumin]

Piper let her face become buried in the hood of her coat, her hair-ends making the sides of her face itch. Her eye remained closed until she heard her name being called.

Her blue eyes flicked open, the sun hitting her pupils hard. It made a flash of a headache jot through her skull, and as quickly as it came, it went, and she focused upon the person calling to her.

Robbie Wilkes. Though most people didn't know it, Piper sucked up information on people and knew them better without even interacting with them. Robbie was popular and self-absorbed, but in a different kind of way. He was one of those guys that she didn't question his popularity.

Was this some kind of joke? Piper watched her company with slitted eyes. No one from her classes knew her name, even if she worked with them. She sometimes wasn't even sure if her roommates knew she existed. Yes, Piper Crumin had perfected the art of being invisible without it relating to her powers in the slightest.

So how did one of the more popular people in her group of classmates know exactly who Piper was? It was a nice change of pace nonetheless, so she smiled up at him, and pushed herself upright, kicking up a mist of powdered snow as she did so. "Piper Crumin, present and accounted for." She smiled disarmingly, mentally congratulating herself on being a more social and kind person. Then again, there was something about Robbie that she just liked. And Piper Crumin was not known for her ability to like people. At all.

"I'm waiting for sickness to befall me. It shouldn't take long. You want to wait with me?"

[Robbie Wilkes]

Robbie closed the gap between them before plopping down in front of the girl. This seemed to be a habit Robbie was picking up these days, sitting in the snow with girls. First it was Ann and then it was Avery and then there was Tae and now Piper. Well, it was an awesome combination of two of his favourite things so he had no complaints. He was just lucky all four of the girls he had met were pretty.

Piper's smile made Robbie's widen. As much as Piper seemed to be taken by Robbie, the weather manipulator felt the same sort of kindred spirit kind of vibe coming off her. He knew the girl was cool. And when she answered his question, he laughed, punching her arm lightly in play. "No way. Unlike me, you have no heat tolerance. We're going to get your warmed up. Get hot chocolate anywhere away from the canteen for sure."

Robbie nodded decidedly before pulling Piper up into a standing position. The girl was younger and shorter than Robbie but it didn't stop him from slinging an arm over her, pulling her wet self to the direction of the entrance. "Hey you want my jacket?" He offered.

[Piper Crumin]

The universe seemed to be working in Piper's favor. Robbie's natural charisma was really making her feel better, especially since she had been so deep in her depression. She couldn't even deny how awful she felt for no good reason. Comes with the territory of being a misunderstood teenager, she supposed.

Robbie's offer was sounding better by the moment as the wet soaked through her coat and began to make her inner layers of clothing dampen. "Hot chocolate? Sounds good, but I really had hopes of catching some flu or pneumonia, but we can't always get what we want, can we?" she smiled as he helped her off the ground. For some reason, talking to Robbie was easy and words came out in witty ways and she never missed a beat with him. He didn't make her uncomfortable, like so many guys did, but that was probably because Robbie was so damn nice. Someone must have forgotten to put the injection of douchebaggery that Piper assumed every guy was given at birth, with a few exceptions here and there.

His offering of his coat was something else that she just couldn't help but smile at. She shook off her own wet coat and took his, wrapping herself up. "You, my good sir, are a scholar and a saint." The coat still had his heat in it, making it feel wonderful against the chilled brunette.

"So, Robbie Wilkes, what're your most recent plans?"

[Robbie Wilkes]

Robbie revised Piper's words before cracking a smile. "Well at least you get me. I'm pretty sure you want that at least." He gave her a sideways grin. It was nice to talk to someone new that made you feel like you've known them forever. Even though they only knew each other from class, Robbie felt as normal with Piper as he did with Estelle. No extra feelings, no nothing. It was mostly because he saw a lot of himself in them. Not the crazy flirtatious stupid side of him for sure because Piper and Estelle academically exceeded him on so many levels. It was more...he didn't know exactly what both of them shared something with him that he could relate to. And he liked it.

He shrugged out of his coat and draped it over Piper's shoulder, letting her snuggle into it.

"Scuse me? Scholar? Saint? What is that? I don't even..." he kept up his act for a milisecond before laughing. "You crack me up, Piper Crumin." He grinned, keeping up the full name antics. He smiled at Piper's question. "Plans? Me? I'll excuse the fact that you don't know me that well Piper Crumin because I never make plans."

Which wasn't quite true but Robbie could easily say he had never been restricted by plans before and he was pretty much fine with it. Not having plans meant he could hang out with people who interested him. Like Piper. Piper was all kinds of interesting.

"And you, Piper Crumins? You have plans?" He nudged her gently with his elbow as they neared the entrance.

[Piper Crumin]

"I don't, actually," she laughed. Piper was suddenly remembering why she liked Robbie. She liked his wit, and she was glad to see in conversation he was very good at keeping up with her banter. Not many people liked it much, and couldn't keep it up for long.

And she was finding a lot of fun in the way they kept addressing one another with full names.

Piper waved his words away. "Well, Robbie Wilkes, it's good that you don't. If you have no plans, then you can plan to chat with me." She turned to him, smirking, "Then again, since you never have plans, we can just pretend that the plan for us to have plans never existed, and we can still go have some hot chocolate." She paused. Sweets weren't exactly good for her immune system. "Well, you can have hot chocolate, my body won't be too happy if I stay out in the cold and have sweets all in the same day."

She looked sideways at him, smiling to herself. This was one of those conversations with someone you know on a superficial level, but the moment they started talking, an ease set over their conversation. Piper loved this. It reminded her of something she had heard once.

There isn't a word to call old friends who just met

"And since I know next to nothing about you, you should definitely get me caught up. Tell me about Robbie Wilkes."

Usually, Piper would try to lose the company, but lately, she hadn't been feeling quite herself. She figured it was probably a good thing. Letting herself open up to the people she would usually hide from, talking to those that reminded her of days a harder time in her past. It was wonderful and scary. It was just what Piper needed.

[Robbie Wilkes]

"Oh you wound me. You wound me greatly." He clutched at his chest and dropped to the ground on his knees while his other hand closed around Piper's forearm. Yes, the boy was full of dramatics but he hadn't received any complaints yet so why stop now? And Piper seemed to be enjoying it so what could be wrong with it?

He sprang back up and laughed it off. When the younger girl went into a spiel that involved a repeated usage of the word plan, it had Robbie laughing until she paused and turned down the offer for hot chocolate. His smile dropped. "Aw. I don't like drinking hot chocolate alone!" He stated with a slight pout. Not one to keep himself down too long, Robbie shrugged it off. "Oh well, we could get something else you can drink then."

"Tell you about Robbie Wilkes? Man. The dude is legendary." He chuckled. "I'm a jerk, so I've heard." He pointed out in a matter of fact tone of voice. "I'm a chill guy though. I obviously don't make plans but you already knew that." Robbie had to really think on what he could say. As much as he was an expert in talking, when it came to talking about himself, the blond weather manipulator was at a loss.

"I don't know, I'm just too awesome for words." He popped his collar and smirked. "Or maybe you could always ask the questions or something."