the gauntlet discussion

After his lunch with Lyca, Dan had dropped his bag off in his room, and then taken off at a jog for the woods, specifically the Tree Tunnel. He had always preferred real trees and dirt to the polyester and leather of gyms. The woods always felt real, and calm. Here, Dan could do and be whoever he wanted. He could climb up a tree and jump from branch to branch, with no one to watch or judge. He could run and duck around rocks and roots, or do handstand pushups in the middle of a fallen log. Anything he wanted to do, he could do here. The only people who would be out here were other people with an Earth Affinity, and Dan had figured out fairly quickly how to avoid seeing them. Go deeper into the forest. Being that this was the training for the Gauntlet, some were afraid that they would get picked off if they wandered to deep. Not Dan. He ran for probably fifteen or twenty minutes before he considered himself sufficiently deep enough in the forest to be alone.

Once he was there, he took a look around to gather himself. There was a long, winding path stretching out in front of him, with plenty of overgrown branches, decaying debris and decent sized rocks to give him something to do. With a grin, he took off at a sprint. He slapped the rocks as he vaulted over them, took a few steps before somersaulting under a fallen tree, only to take up sprinting again as he headed down the path. The wind in his face, the power of his legs beneath him, his feet catapulting him forward.

Dan had no idea how long he’d been running like this, shifting gears to climb over obstacles when it happened. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something move up ahead, but he didn’t have time to register it until a girl jumped out into the path, right in front of where he was headed. Dan immediately put on the breaks, just barely avoiding running into the girl by forcing himself to fall into a tuck and roll so he could pop back up to his feet just to the right of where the girl had jumped out. “What the…” Who was this girl? Better yet, why was she jumping out of the woods?

It had been a lot harder than Nora thought it was going to be to find Danny Boy. Okay, well it had been easy to find out about him and actually find out where he was going, but just as she'd shown up to the woods there he was, running into them. And really going far into those trees, she probably would have lost him entirely if she hadn't taken some short-cuts and ended up cutting him off- hoping that he was going to stick in the direction he was going, because wouldn't that have sucked if he'd turned around during the time she'd taken her attention off of him? But nope, her prediction had been pretty accurate and she'd just jumped onto the path - going for the whole shock and awe thing - and then promptly realized what a mistake that was.

Homeboy here was charging like a bull and even with the best brakes it was pretty obvious he was probably going to ram her - when boom. He dropped and rolled and then sprang up again at her right like a jack in the box. "Nice moves, Danny boy. Seriously, color me impressed on the fancy footwork and the fast thinking," Because she'd been so wrapped up in 'stop the guy so you can talk to him' she'd kind of just jumped in the path without thinking about the whole cause and effect thing. Not her finest moment. She definitely should have eaten less pancakes this morning, cause she was still feeling that pain especially after running however many miles through these trees.

Sweaty out of breath Nora with stomach cramps from too many pancakes was not the best thinker, apparently. "Just, hold on a minute, I went through a lot of effort to find you," Especially considering it was still the first day and not many people knew who Danny here was. But she needed to catch her breath, so doubled over she sucked wind pretty desperately for a few moments before finally straightening, "Alright. I'm sure you have questions, but mine first...you're an earth element, yeah? That's why you're out here running rather than on the track?" Oh the track. The nice track. With nice even ground where she didn't trip on a tree root. That had happened earlier when she'd been following him. Which explained why she was covered in dirt along with her sweaty appearance.

The things she did for Cassie.

As he stood up from his roll, Dan looked at the girl like she had two heads. What the heck? He nodded at her compliment, a confused and surprised look on his face, but then she doubled over and started sucking air, to which Dan could only smile in amusement. Dan crossed his arms and looked at this girl with a bemused smile. He was slightly out of breath himself, partially from running, partially from the insane adrenaline rush he was now feeling from her jumping out and scaring the crap out of him. At least he knew that his reflexes were quick, if nothing else, he thought to himself. So they stood there-or he stood, she doubled over- catching their breath. Part of him wanted to know why that was necessary, and the other part of him was just amused. There had to be a good story behind her jumping out at him. There just had to be. Especially when she looked like she might loose her breakfast over it.

So while she took a moment to catch her breath, Dan tried to size her up. She knew his name, which was only slightly less creepy than the fact that she had found him this deep in the woods. He had never seen her before, but it was obvious from her current doubled-over position that she wasn’t as used to running as he was. Or the woods for that matter, otherwise she wouldn’t have started asking about the track. So she wasn’t an Earth element. So, to sum up: a girl who knew his name had tracked him this deep into the woods, to jump out at him and accomplish… Hm. Dan just smiled to himself. This had be good.

“Uh, yeah, I am.” He said in response to her question, pushing his sweaty hair away from his forehead before dropping it back to his other arm crossed in front of him. “And you are…? ” He asked, still pondering how much sass he could give this girl for tracking him down at least five miles away from the school. Because c’mon. Unless she was out here trying to seriously hurt or maim him, which he highly doubted, given her entrance, there were some seriously good jokes he could make.

Before Nora could even consider revealing her identity she was holding up her hand, cutting off any more words that he could say. "No, see I don't think you have quite come to terms with how impressive it is that I ran here and beat you here. I mean, when I first got to the forest you were already heading in and I had to follow behind you on the vague idea that the back of your head was the back of Daniel Moss' head- you have a nice butt by the way," Because what else was a girl to look at when she was running but the butt of the person in front of her. It was a good butt, a butt worthy of her best friend's attention. But she was quick to continue, "But it was fast apparent that you were going to always be ahead of me, and there was a growing distance considering the fact that you're basically a giant,"

Seriously, what was this dude fed as a kid? Four dozen eggs every morning? Why was he this tall? There was no reason for human beings to be taller than 5'10". "And so I had to cut you off by running off in this other direction, and finally here I am, although I am very appreciative that you didn't mow into me; Good job with the roll thing there. Very...secret agent." But now, finally was the moment he was waiting for, where she held out her hand with that introduction. "Nora Greene. Not an Earth affinity. And you've been hand selected by a board of trustees who shall remain anonymous to be my new buddy here," The way she said it made it sound like he'd been chosen to be a Guardian just for showing up on the first day. Now why didn't she tell him her friend Cassie thought he was cute? Well she couldn't make Cass out to be desperate. No, no, no, Nora had to go about this in a strategic manner.

"Of course, you could always deny this honor, but considering that I just beat you in this race I might be a good ally to have." Granted, Danny boy here didn't know it had been a race. Or he probably would have won, "And sure you can deny that it was a race, or that I won, but I think that we both know the kind of reputation killing rumor this could be if it got out. Everyone thinking you got your ass kicked by a girl in a race during the first day. What a shame. Of course, I could be persuaded to keep it all a secret. Yes, I am blackmailing you, but it's for a good cause, I swear." She smiled then, a 'i have a secret that you want to know' smile, "I swear I'm a great friend."

Oh, this was so much better than he could have predicted. Dan obliged her and shut his mouth when she put her hand but found himself biting his lip to keep from laughing. She had gone to the woods and followed him with only a vague idea of who he was? And she had followed him for miles. That was rich. Truly dedicated. Dan did his best to listen politely, but when she complemented his butt, he let out an involuntary snort. He was about to open his mouth and say thank you, but she continued right on, so he let the comment go. Sure he was tall, he was a freaking Moss. There was a reason the family joke was that they all grew like trees. Which even Dan himself thought could be a little on the nose sometimes. But whatever, he and his brothers had all been over 6’ when they stopped growing.

But that wasn’t where she stopped. Nora Greene. Not an Earth affinity. What a shame, Dan thought as he reached out and shook her hand firmly before dropping it and returning it to his crossed arms in front of him. It could have been so punny. He clearly wasn’t going to get a word in edgewise, so he just listened as she continued to speak. With growing amusement, he might add. So he had been chosen to be her new buddy? Was that code for girls were getting special treatment this year? Dan had never heard of a buddy system before, but then again, this was the first year girls were allowed to compete. Still… Sounds fake, but okay. Dan thought to himself. Ooh, blackmail made more sense. That Dan could understand. Except, there was a flaw in her logic, but he kept that to himself. She wanted to be his buddy, because she was a great friend, as she put it, and if he didn’t oblige, she would spread a rumor that she had beat him in a race, even though if anyone could see the two of them right now, Dan was pretty sure that rumor would squash itself.

When she had run out of words to say, Dan took a moment to consider his possibilities. He shifted his feet and looked down at the ground, working his tongue around against his cheek. He could… or he could do that…hm. There were a few possibilities here. If he was thinking like a champion who wanted to win, he could take this opportunity and find out how to crush her. But Dan was not here for the sole purpose of winning. It was a full year before the Gauntlet. Having a new friend could make things interesting, and break up the tedium of training. Plus, this gave him a ton of new material to work with. And why do anything, if not for the fun? Satisfied, Dan smiled at the ground, and let out a small chuckle. He cleared his throat, and raised his head to look at Nora. “Alright, Nora Greene.” He started, looking at her as if he was still unsure of what to make of her. “If that’s your version of the truth, so be it.” He highly doubted she had followed him miles deep into the woods to tell him that they were new besties. But if she wanted to keep that information to herself, he understood why she would want to. “But eh, why the heck not. Could be fun!” He said. “So, you may tell the board of truntees that I accept their gracious offer.” He said with a bit more flourish than was necessary. “Besides, if you really are messing with me, it’s not like you could really beat me in a race.” He finished, giving her a saucy wink.

Hey now, she saw that smirk of his and heard that chuckle, like he doubted that she was saying the truth or telling him the truth or whatever. "Hey, hey, you try eating your weight in pancakes and then running twenty miles in the woods, and that would be a ton of pancakes. Seriously though, what's your diet like and do you think it's too late for me to shoot up a couple inches?" Especially with this race, the tall had their advantages and Nora needed that leg length. Short people didn't really have any advantages in the whole gauntlet thing, in fact thinking of the history of the Gauntlet it had been almost thirty years since the last winner of the race had been under 5'9". All the more reason that Nora needed to win this year. To prove that the little people could do it too. That she could also be a winner, even if she was short.

"I could definitely beat you any day of the week, Danny Boy." Was she being over-confident? Yeah. Joking? Most definitely. "But hey if you're so sure that you can run circles around me then that will be our number one bonding experience. We can start running together, every day. Twenty miles." Oh dear- someone save her now what the hell was she even saying? Twenty miles everyday? Where was Cassie to stop her from making these ridiculous statements and deals? She was seriously hoping he didn't call her bullshit right now by saying they just race back to the school. Hahaha sure if he carried her. "I'm impressed though, you're taking this whole adventure thing in strides. Major points there. Most guys probably would've freaked out a little more that I'd chased you down. Especially considering we'd never met."

Really he was doing remarkably well on all this. Major points for the boy. She'd give him credit where it was due and if he could handle all the eccentricities of Nora trying to set up Cassie in a subtle way? Well he and Cassie were going to hit it off swimmingly well. Which was great. Because as Cassie's best friend, Nora had to approve of and get along with the boyfriend. Looks like Moss Man here was going to be the first boy of the year to get lucky.

Lucky him.

“I did once, and it was a lot of pancakes.” Dan answered truthfully. Granted, he had been much smaller at the time, and it had been on a dare from his older brothers, who, unbeknownst to him, and been slipping theirs to the dogs under the table. They had then gone out and raced to their favorite river crossing, and his three older brothers had laughed until they cried when he had fallen over and puked up the entire mess. That was the day Dan learned to not mix food with running. “My diet, if your curious, consists mostly of foraged roots, berries and the dew off the morning grass.” As if. “As for growing, I’d suggest stilts. Or heels.” Both of which would be hilarious to watch. Dan just grinned at Nora, fully knowing how much of a smart-ass he was being, also fully aware that if he had said that to anyone else, he’d get smacked across the face. Fortuantely, Nora didn’t look like the type to hit. At least not yet.

“You’re on.” He nodded, dropping his arms to his sides. “Were you thinking twenty at once, or breaking it up? I’m down for either. It could help you work off all those pancakes.” He pointed out. Twenty miles a day was a bit excessive, but considering the impression he’d gotten so far, excessive seemed to be Nora’s MO. But if she was really down for twenty a day, he’d do it. He ran about ten to fifteen a day, depending on the week and how he was feeling, twenty wouldn’t be that much more of a problem. It would help with speed, which was always a plus. And if Nora was his new bestie, twenty miles a day would give him plenty of time to get to know her, if she was actually being serious about that.

Dan smirked at her last comment. She had no clue. She had a point, most guys here would label her a creep or something worse, tracking them down through the woods, but not him. “Trust me, there’s not much that I won’t try.” He assured her. Nothing could really faze him anymore. He’d seen too much to be put off by someone (even if she wasn’t telling the full truth) wanting to be friends with him. Besides, this wasn’t even the strangest thing he’d done that week. “Life’s an adventure,” He said, spreading his arms wide to the forest around them, only half-joking, “we might as well try to have some fun with it.” He dropped his arms and shrugged. “So, Nora-the-explorer, now that we’re besties for life,” He said, turning the conversation back towards her. “what are we going to do? Continue running through the woods? Or did you have something else in mind?” He asked, raising one eyebrow slightly.

Nora tried for a moment to picture just how many pancakes it would take to equivocate the weight of the Green Giant, but the very idea was almost enough to make her sick right then and there so she quickly waved away that concept. "Oh yeah? Well you should invite me the next time you go get breakfast, because I would hate to miss the chance to see you face down in the grass, slurping at the blades with a straw. Or do you skip the straw and go straight for the slurping?" Face down, ass up, that's the way Dan likes to fuck suck- dew drops from grass. Really though, his little suggestion was cute. Stilts or heels. "Well maybe when I run next I'll wear some heels and then it would be an even match,"

Arrogance. Such a charming quality. Was it not?

Woah. Woah. Woah. Work off those pancakes?

And that's when Nora's fist found Daniel's arm. Not in a 'punch the shit out of your arm' way but in a friendly warning kind of way. "Damn Daniel! Aren't you charming? Barely knows a girl and already calling her fat." Shaking her head she sighed for a moment, as though truly disappointed in him before nodding in affirmation. "Don't worry. Stick with me kid, and I'll make sure that you lose that v-card by the end of the year." Did it matter if Danny really was a virgin? No. No it did not. From this point on he was a born again virgin. "Twenty all at once. I'm more of a can't stop wont stop, kind of gal,"

Hmm, so Danny boy here was up and eager to go for anything huh? Well that was going to be useful. "Oh. Well you see, we've already ran our twenty miles for the day. So I was thinking more or less we could meet up again tomorrow. You can be the ingenious one this time and find my dorm and meet me there at....6 am? Unless you need your beauty rest, Princess." Because six sounded like a good time for running. Well...it sounded like the time someone would say when they actually knew what they were doing. Also she had decided to settle on Princess as Danny Boy's official new nickname. It suited those princess blue eyes of his.

Dan just gave her a mysterious smile and a shrug. “You’ll have to join me next time to find out.” He said. Although it’d take quite a few roots and berries to fill him up. They’d just have to settle for the dining hall. But the site of Nora scavenging in the woods would be quite a site, he had to admit to himself. But he kept that observation to himself.

“Ow!” He said as her fist connected with his arm. It didn’t really hurt, but it was more of a surprise than anything. He hadn’t meant to call her fat, only to make a joke about running. But she was a girl, and girls didn’t like comments about their weight. That’s what he got for growing up with three brothers, he guessed. He was about to apologize and try to dig himself out of that hole, but what she said next stopped that apology short.

Don't worry. Stick with me kid, and I'll make sure that you lose that v-card by the end of the year.

Wait. What?

So she had followed some random guy to the edge of the woods, tracked him for miles through said woods, jumped out at him, almost gotten run over, told some ridiculous story about being assigned to be his best friend, all so she could help him get laid? And not even with her? This wasn’t just good. This was the best. You couldn’t fake this, this had to be legit. “You should add yourself to a growing list of people trying to get me laid.” Dan said. His mother, Lyca, and now Nora. The better question was why all of these women wanted to get him laid, but he left that to the side. If Nora wanted to introduce him to members of the female contingent, who was he to say no? Even if he didn’t sleep with them, it would be better to make allies with as many people as he could. And if he could get laid in the process? Added bonus.

“Alright.” Dan said, his smile growing more and more genuine. “You’re on. I’ll make you a deal: you find me a good date, and I’ll let you keep up with me tomorrow. 6am, in front of the dorm hall. Don’t be late, or I might not save you any grass dew.” He said, and gave her one last wink before taking off at his previous speed down the path.

Straying off the path, Ophelia was indeed. She'd intended to say somewhere in semi-view of the Academy, but it seemed her legs had other plans. And just like her feet were wandering, so too were her thoughts, to a certain tall VanKent and the possibility of getting a smile on that face. He did smile, didn't he? And it was kind of strange, the way her idle thoughts almost seemed to summon him. Though judging from what little she knew about him, Pierce wouldn't like that thought very much. He didn't seem like the type who would much appreciate being summoned by anyone - certainly not her. But the moment Ophelia's eyes found him, she blinked, eyes going almost comically wide as she scanned his face. It likely wouldn't be hard for anyone to tell just looking at him that his nose had been on the receiving end of anger of some kind, but being who she was only made her that much more aware of his injury.

"Are you okay? What happened?" The words were blurted out before she could help herself, voice carrying even as she hurried over to him before she would control just how much worry he could read. Though even if she could control if, she probably wouldn't have the mind to. Back home, her neighbor had constantly been coming over to see her mother with a broken nose. He had been a mean little kid, a couple years younger than her, always making comments about her hair. Maybe broken noses were a snarky boy thing? Her hands on instinct went up to touch his cheeks but she stopped herself just in time, fingers curling into a fist and letting her arms drop back to her sides instead. "Training get a little too intense?" Ophelia tried for a smile even as her eyes continued taking in his face. And here she'd been hoping to see him smile.

Instead of going to the infirmary like he should have done, he decided to go trekking through the woods instead. Pierce didn't want to see Dae again, as in ever, and he knew that the wimp had probably run off to the infirmary to get his wrist checked out. Which was smart, but still, Pierce was just bitter because if that's where Dae was going, he needed to wait. The last thing he needed was to get punched in the nose a second time before resetting it, or getting into an actual fight with the kid. So where did he go? To the woods. After first washing off his face in the fountain as he walked by -- he didn't really care if the thing was bloody, the red water would filter out eventually anyways.

Before long, Pierce found himself walking down the tree tunnel with his head tilted back slightly, since every once in a while he could taste blood. Disgusting. He was just started to enjoy the nature around him when an annoyingly familiar voice cut his serenity like a knife -- jfc so she hadn't died in the tunnels under the school? What a shame. Was it really that bad? He hadn't looked in a mirror yet, because believe it or not, Pierce wasn't all that vain. "It wasn't training, some kid just got pissy that I didn't want to spar with him, and then I broke his wrist so he got all butt hurt about it." he answered, probably the most she had ever heard him speak at any one time. He was angry, it sort of just spilled out.

Even as Pierce was wishing she had died in the tunnels, Ophelia was genuinely concerned for his well-being. There was no question in her mind that regardless of who it had been, she would have wanted to help, -she'd helped that little neighborhood jerk in resetting his nose plenty of times- but with Pierce, it was a little difference. The need to assist in whatever way she could was a little more urgent, even as it seemed there was less she could do to help him. He seemed so unflinchingly independent in everything he did, a confidence that needed nor wanted anyone's approval. It was as intimidating as it was inspiring. The idea was so foreign to Ophelia though, this notion of never answering to anyone else. After all, this was the girl who'd expected to answer to patients for the rest of her life - and there was nothing wrong with that, it was sacrifice if you asked her, but seeing a different way of approaching things was nice too.

And then Pierce was talking about breaking someone's wrist and all her thoughts screeched to a halt even as she stepped closer, eyes going from his gaze to inspecting his face once more. "I don't know if I can blame him for being upset. Broken bones generally don't feel too great, as I'm sure you're aware." Smiling even as she said the words, she had to stretch up in order to be able to touch his jaw, fingertips gently angling his face down a bit. And no, the contact definitely wasn't distracting, she certainly wasn't marveling a little internally at the fact that she was touching him. No. Definitely not. None of that here.. "Did you go to the clinic to get it reset yet?" She already knew the answer just looking at his face but she was hoping maybe the question would gently nudge him in that direction.

"I know what it feels like to have broken bones, his will heal, if anything it was a minor fracture, I didn't even twist it as far as I could have, so he should consider himself lucky." he snapped, not liking the way Ophelia had framed her response. It was almost as if she were implying this was his fault, which it most certainly wasn't. It wasn't Pierceton's fault that some stupid gay boy didn't know how to handle rejection, so she could just take her judgemental ass right back into those woods and snuff it. Nothing about that entire altercation had been his doing, the kid had touched his cheek and not expected what he got? Dae's problem, not his.

Pierce rolled his eyes, wondering how yet again she could be so incompetent - a thought that clearly displayed itself on his features. "No, Dae went to the infirmary, what am I supposed to do, sit next to him in the waiting room? Maybe let him take another swing at me?" honestly, this girl, did she have grass for a brain? He reached up to touch his nose, not even flinching at his harsh touch (he had long since learned how to control pain). "I can reset it myself, I was just waiting for a mirror and a sink, since it's going to start bleeding all over again." Annoyed.

Eyes going a bit wider at his harshness, Ophelia's blue gaze flicked up to search his for a moment before looking somewhere a little safer - his nose. Smiling softly, she nodded. "I wasn't there, obviously, so I don't know the situation. I'm sorry, I wasn't - trying to judge. I'm sure you had your reasons." She tried not to let it affect her too much. He was surely in pain, after all, so she couldn't blame him for being a sharp with her. Though that seemed to be his natural tone of voice - at least when he was talking to her? Looking up into his eyes once more, she bit her bottom lip, unsure of whether or not she should open her mouth again.

In the end though, she couldn't resist at least offering to help.

"No you're right. And I have no doubt you can do it yourself but," Offering a sheepish smile, she brushed her hair back behind her ear. "If you need a hand, I can help you reset it." She was pretty sure she knew his answer before even offering to help, and it was probably for the best if he said no anyways. She didn't like resetting bones in general, but the idea of causing Pierce more pain was enough to make her feel more than slightly nauseous. Of course, she'd do it if he wanted her to, but she was hardly going to press - he'd said he was more than capable of doing it himself and she believed him.

Pierce wasn't trying to be overly rude, this was just how he usually was, and if that's something Ophelia couldn't handle... well, she needed to stop finding him places. Or letting him run into her ass, or asking him for help in the tunnels. He almost voiced this, but she was already biting her lip -- so exercising restraint for once in his goddamned life, Pierce decided to stay silent instead. He could see visibly that he was hurting her, but he just didn't understand why. Maybe she was just one of those super sensitive people that couldn't take it.

But whatever the reason was, Pierce decided to lay off. For once he felt like maybe he shouldn't be taking his shit out on someone else. She was just trying to help, so maybe he should take a chill pill. He didn't need to be nice to her or anything, he just needed to not be so excessively rude.

He stared at her the entire time he was coming to this conclusion, choosing not to respond to anything she had said. Pierceton kind of just did that sometimes. But for whatever reason, he was going to give her a chance. Maybe it was because he felt bad for constantly being a dick to her -- but the more likely reason was that he didn't want to have to reset it himself later, because it was probably already healing crooked, and he had not intention of rebreaking it. "Yeah, fine, do it." he stood in front of her, dropping his hands to his side and standing straight with clenched fists.

As one could probably imagine, being under Pierce VanKent's intense gaze like that? Wasn't the easiest thing in the world. It wasn't that he didn't have nice eyes, -quite the opposite, his eyes were pretty distracting actually- but his stare was so unflinching. It was enough to make her want to squirm every so slightly and she could feel her cheeks heating up in a very unflattering way, enough to make her look down at her feet instead. Clearing her throat after a second, she brushed a curl back from her cheek, looking back up at him at his go ahead. Breaking into smile, she grabbed his hand, leading him over to the shade under a tree.

Hardly thinking about the fact that he'd just admitted to breaking a wrist over an unwanted touch? And her hand was utterly tiny in his before letting go, nodding to the ground. "Can you sit for me, please? I'm sure you won't get dizzy, but it happens sometimes."

Turning away from him, she glanced down at her shirt -like Pierce had said, these things tended to get bloody- before tugging it off, pulling down the edge of her tank top that had ridden up ever so slightly in the process. "I figured," Turning back around to face him, she smiled, folding up her shirt for him. "Since I ruined one of your shirts, it's only fair of you to return the favor, right?" Handing him her shirt, she bent her knees, touching his nose gently. "I'm really sorry." Hopefully he wouldn't hate her? And she had no reason to be nervous, -she'd done this plenty of times- but she was. Fingers gentle in finding the proper placement on his face, her eyes met his before shifting the bone as quickly as possible. Internally wincing even as she kept her face as even. "Okay?"

Having expected her to get right to it, he was rather stiff and was slow to move when she grabbed his hand to bring him somewhere else. Pierce wasn't a wuss, he could handle the pain and he most certainly wasn't going to pass out. She was probably just trying to get him to sit down because she was so small, she couldn't reach his face. Okay, obviously she could reach it, but could she see what she was doing? That was the real question.

Either way, Pierce followed her, sitting as instructed and rubbing his hand where she had touched him as if to somehow brush her warmth off. He looked away when she pulled off her shirt, his eyebrows actually lifting in surprise. His shirt was already ruined, he just as easily could have taken his off and used it to stifle the bleeding. But he stayed silent, letting her press her shirt into his hands as he found his eyes straying to her shoulders and chest. He looked away as soon as he caught himself, not wanting to give her the chance to catch his stare.

Nothing like a puncturing pain in your face to keep you from checking out a girl's rack. Pierce closed his eyes and breathed out slowly, lifting the her shirt to his face to keep from dripping on to her lap. "Yeah, it feels great." he said sarcastically, before catching himself yet again, "I mean -- uh, thank you."

Ophelia was completely oblivious to what he could be thinking, that she could be doubting his ability to withstand the pain. Of course, that wasn't it at all - there wasn't a doubt in her mind that Pierce could handle things. Everyone here, as a matter of fact, looked like they could handle just about anything thrown their way - which was slightly worrying, concerning Ophelia didn't know how to block so much as a punch, much less anything else. But that was a problem to think about for another day, and instead she watched him lift her folded shirt up to his face.

The idea that he might have been -what? checking her out?- was hardly even in the realm of possibilities to her. After all, she was - Ophelia. And he was Pierce. So that thought wasn't even a possibility on her radar and instead she sat in front of him, gently worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, wishing she had something else to offer him. "I'm sorry I don't have any painkillers. Maybe in a few minutes, you can check out the clinic? I'm sure that other guy is gone by now."

At his thanks, she smiled over at him before grabbing the hair tie around her wrist to pull back her hair in a bun of messy curls. "Of course. I'm glad I was able to help." Small shoulders straightening a little, she took a deep breath, looking at the trees around them with sparkling eyes. The place was absolutely gorgeous - it was a shame it was a little ways away from the Academy. "The bleeding should subside soon." Oh jeez, she sounded like her mom.

Pierce went from actually being thankful, to being completely annoyed all over again. The last thing a VanKent needed was a little ginger girl telling him what to do, or how to deal with his nosebleed like he hadn't had a million before. He had let her help him once, he hadn't signed up for a subscription, so her two cents was most certainly unwelcome. She might have thought he was grimacing from the pain, but it was just because this girl honestly didn't know when to stop talking. She couldn't have just let him be thankful, she had to go and ruin it with her nervous little when I'm anxious I say unnecessary things because I can't put a lid on it like a normal person.

He had to give her credit though, even though he was slightly annoyed, he was considerably less annoyed with her than he would have been with someone else doing the exact same thing. Maybe it was the way she was annoying? Like with that little smile and her curly hair? It did something to his irritation -- almost like a little calming effect to agitation, like thinking of a happy place or deep breathing. Not that he needed anger management exercises, or did them regularly... ahaha. No.

Disregarding her health suggestions, Pierce decided to change the subject in an attempt to be civil towards her. "What's the mark from on your shoulder? Bone go through your skin or something?" he asked, shifting her shirt away from his face so his voice wasn't as muffled. The bleeding had already slowed considerably, though his face probably still looked disgusting.

Ophelia had absolutely no idea as to the change in attitude that occured within Pierce in response to her suggestions. She hadn't meant to overstep, but it was hard not to be concerned about him either. It hadn't felt like anything that needed a doctor's hand, but she didn't know everything. There was a very real possibility she was misjudging the state of his injury completely. But she did pick up the grimace as she was talking and considering he'd hardly reacted to her fingertips poking and prodding, something was indicating that was hardly any response to the pain he was undoubtfully feeling. Which is why she didn't say anything more: Pierce was smart. If something didn't feel right with his body, he'd pick up on it.

At the shift in conversation, Ophelia looked over at him, gaze still shining after taking in all the beauty around them. His voice was enough to pull her back though, keeping her from getting lost in everything around her - it would be so easy to do out here, where it seemed like the trees were a never-ending view. Smiling at him, she shook her head. Bone breaking through her skin? Her mind could hardly even comprehend what that would look like, -her mom had worked with a couple of these situations, but Ophelia could never stomach the idea- much less how something like that would happen. "No, nothing with nearly that interesting of a story behind it. It's just a birthmark. As a kid, I use to refuse to wear anything that meant showing off my shoulders because of it." Seemed silly now, but back than Ophelia had looked for any explaination for the bullying. A birthmark didn't seem entirely out the realm of possibility. "Do you have any birth marks?" It may have seemed like a question asked out of mere politeness, but she was genuinely curious.

Pierceton automatically assumed that scars were related to injuries, since that's where all of his had come from. He would never have attributed her little mark to have come at birth, since his family had definitely come from the mantra of every mark you have you have earned. She hadn't earned that. He didn't think it was a bad thing, it just wasn't something that made a whole lot of sense to him. Maybe it was just a VanKent thing? "Uh, no, I don't have any birthmarks. All of my scars are from... other things." he wasn't sure how to phrase that in a way that didn't seem like his parents hit him. Because that hadn't been exactly what it was. "It's just from training and stuff."

He rubbed his arms, as if he could make some of his markings disappear form view. They weren't bad, just thin white lines that had healed over the years. Pierce had never been embarrassed from his scars, he had earned them, but sitting here and front of Ophelia under her scrutiny kind of made him want to dissolve from view. Pierce wasn't ashamed, he just didn't want her to misinterpret the situation and pity him or something like some people did. All of his training was necessary, it got him here. Whatever methods his parents had used had worked, so they hadn't been wrong.