from trance to happenstance {reserved}

[Skye Malizia]

Skye was bored. Only she didn't realized she was bored. Today was just another day at the Academy. She attended classes, went for lunch, did her homework, etc. She drifted from one place to another, with barely anything going on in her mind. It was one of those days. She'd grown accustomed to a routine, and could shut off her brain to let her body do all the work.

So while she was pretty zoned out within her regular ol' world, Skye walked into a door. Or rather, the door ran into her. She hadn't been paying attention, and was walking a little too close to the side of the hallway when a door leading from outside swung open and clocked her right on her unsuspecting nose.

The girl let out a shocked gasp, both hands clutching at her face while her eyes watered. Skye hadn't bothered with make-up this morning, so nothing would smudge, but that was probably the last thing on her mind. Was she bleeding? Was her nose broken??

She gingerly testing its sensitivity.

"OW!" Skye yelped. She looked down at her hands, and miraculously she wasn't bleeding. Maybe it wasn't as bad as it initially felt. Perhaps the surprise of it all was what made her react so forcefully. She gently touched her nose again, and whimpered. Okay, maybe not.

She was so absorbed in her pain, she wasn't even bothering to notice who'd inflicted it.

[Gabriel Rhys]

Gabe didn't actually go over to the academy often. In fact, he had only set foot on the campus once or twice…and not even inside one of the buildings. But the wolf was here on a mission. In the Academy’s library were several books on lycan. He wanted the information for his paper that was due in just a few days. The trek to the school wasn’t bad. Short walk, nice weather. His figure towered over most of the youth. He was close to their ages but he had hit his growth spurth well before they did or even would.

He looked up at the main building. The tall man would find out where the library was, once he was inside. Pools of green and blue scanned around. He wished he had been sent here when he was younger. But he had been locked away. Giving a deep sigh, Gabriel shook his head. There was no point dwelling on things he could not change. He was free of his father. The man could do nothing else to him now. Hell, there would be no way his father could ever find him again.

Lost in thought was a weakness of the lycan. Not realizing your own strength is also a draw back. He had shoved the door open, harder than he had meant to. It wasn’t till he felt the resistance on the other side of the door and heard the yell that he snapped to. Turning quickly around the door he saw the “thing” that gave resistance. Oh shit….his eyes widened. It was a student.

She was small, hell anyone was small compared to him. Pretty girl too. He might have been a bit shy with her if panic hadn’t set in. “Oh god I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you their and pushed the door too hard. Hell, are you ok?” He hesitantly reach out to her, to guide her to the nearby bench. He couldn’t smell blood. That was a good thing, but he could tell it still hurt badly from her whimper. He felt terrible. One week at school and he was already taking out students. “I’m really sorry.” He leaned down to see if she was ok.

[Skye Malizia]

Skye bit down hard on her lip to refrain from cursing. Swearing wasn't a very ladylike pastime. The brunette might've swatted Gabriel away if she didn't need him. Instead, she looked left and right to assure herself no one was around, then asked, "How does it... it looks bad, yes?"

Her usually alluring Italian accent was strained from the throbbing on the bridge of her nose. She removed her hands so the boy could judge for himself how devastating the damage was. It didn't feel swollen, but she had an awful feeling that her eyes would grow dark for a few days.

Her nose was bright red, and the skin just beneath her eyes was beginning to bruise in response to the blow. She felt so unattractive, but thankfully she wasn't looking to attract anyone. Right now all she was concerned with was how much medical attention she might need. It would be easy enough to cover up, but she needed an unbiased opinion. She wiped water from her eyes so she could see the boy's face clearly, and so she could decide for herself how terrible it was through his reaction.

"Be honest. I don't want pretty words to make me feel better." The girl grimaced and braced herself for the bad news.

[Gabriel Rhys]

The terrible feeling he was having was not leaving anytime soon. God did he wish he had waited just a few more minutes outside. He wouldn't have smack the young woman in the face. No, he would just seen her just in passing. He wouldn't be stooped over her now. He wouldn't be trying to make sure he was all right. Her question made him look a little more closely. His own sight was improved by his lycan condition. There would be a bruise. He couldn't help but think that it was a shame that her pretty face would be bruised for a time.

"It's not too bad." Gabe was used being bruised up. But for him they healed so quickly that he paid injuries no mind. For everyone else, it was a little more difficult. He looked around the hallway. His ear picked up movement but it was far away. Sniffing softly, he was trying to locate the cafeteria. It was somewhere down the hall.

The wolf stood up completely. "It's going to bruise." he paused and looked down at her. "I'm really sorry again." He offered his hand to her. Being concerned that she was hurt or might want to kill him, kept him from being shy at the moment. "Lets get you some ice. It will keep the bruising from being too bad."

[Skye Malizia]

Skye nodded, a very somber expression within her eyes. It was as she suspected - an imminent bruise waited for her on the horizon. His apology was accompanied by a hand, and she looked at it, confused. He wanted her to shake his hand for smacking her in the face with a door? But then she understood his meaning, when he mentioned using ice to lessen the swelling.

"Oh. Yes, good idea," She admitted. Skye didn't take his hand - she straightened up on her own and peered at her faint reflection in the corridor window. The Italian girl couldn't see the bruising yet, just a red nose, and she made a minor color correction with her telepathic projection.

When she turned back to look at Gabriel, she'd look good as new. As though the incident with the door never happened.

"Let's go?" Now that she looked okay, she wondered if he'd feel obligated to accompany her to retrieve the ice. Skye was no longer panicking, and she was the portrait of a calm, collected, somewhat adventurous teenager. Perhaps Gabriel would believe she didn't need his help anymore. The University student took this time to study him - he was no doubt American, unsurprising given their current location - and he had that sort of endearing, bumbling kind of charm she always found so attractive. Not only was his awkwardness appealing, but he was very easy on the eyes - perhaps a bit bigger than she usually went for, but handsome nevertheless.

Which left her wondering - why wasn't she feeling any sparks? Was it because he'd hit her with a door? She didn't think so. He was the picture-perfect American boy she'd described to her friends as what she was looking for, and it turned out she wasn't attracted to him. Go figure.

Looking a little put-off, she decided she wanted to get to know him, at least a little more, to get to the bottom of this. She had to know why he wasn't her type, when he very clearly was her type. With a slightly perplexed expression, she looked down the hall to where the Cafeteria was located, then back at Gabriel.