I Need to Run (Iridian)

@"Iridian Death"

Charlie shook his head a little. "I figured you could do something or other," she said drily. "I mean, this is Starlight Academy. Magic land." He pursed her lips and considered the state of his arms, and then glanced at the nearby lake.

"I'll just rinse off and then I'll be fine to keep going," she said even while heading over to the water. He hauled his hoodie off, shivering in the cool air in just a t-shirt even before she shoved his arms into the seriously unpleasantly cold water.

Well, it would help clot the scrapes and stop the bleeding. That was the important part, and she'd warm up running. And then probably go have a really hot shower. When he couldn't stand the cold anymore, she backed up and shook as much of the water off and pulled his hoodie back on.

"Ready?" she asked Natsumi.

@"Iridian Death"

Char flushed at bit when he heard Natsumi repeat the phrase. It had sounded so much less awkward in her head. Why had he actually said it?

But she was too cold to show much colour, and definitely not to show it for long. He still held his arms a bit carefully, but they'd be fine. She needed to run, not just crawl back to his dorm and mope. That was what had put her in this state. Well, not really but kind of. It was what had allowed the situation to take so much control.

"Then lets go," he said, without any more discussion, or more warning than the conversation itself. She rolled into motion again, jogging back to the path with no particular regard for route. He was just going to run for a while, and then work things out from there.

@"Iridian Death"

Honestly, Charlie's arm was throbbing. She was tough, though. Between a sport that was honestly more contact than the rules implied, the amount and terrain through which he ran, and a general resistance to damage that... honestly had something to do with dragon, Charlie could handle this.

As long as he warmed up. Cold was. Uh. Not a favourite thing of hers.

He shook her head and smacked his cheeks a few times to warm them and break himself out of the thought-funk. That wasn't why he was running. He was running to get out of his head, not wrapped up into it more.

She picked up the pace a bit. "College is. Really about the same here as before. In a lot of ways." He needed to push himself more. Leave no space for thoughts. That left less space for words, but she could handle that. Banish the thoughts. Squeeze out unrelated words.

"Classes. Profs. Basic subjects. I'm not in anything magical this term. Might not ever. I dunno. You kind of get over the physical variety in the room when everyone's just scribbling notes as fast as they can. People still go to class in pyjamas and slippers and housecoats."