Breaking Fast ( Open!)

[Christian Colt]

Christian's eyes snapped open at the electric buzz his radio alarm clock combo was making. Instead of music it was an horrible, electric buzz. Sluggishly his hand thudded against the top of the radio and the electric buzzing was replaced by Kansas playing Wayward Son. With a loud yawn Christian threw the covers back and rolled out of bed. Stretching he shuddered as the bones in his shoulders popped and cracked sending a wave of pleasure down his spine. Allowing himself to fall forward Christian thrust his hands out to break his fall and began preforming push ups. Lowering his body slowly untill his nose nearly touched the floor Christian pushed back up, enjoying the lack of faituge he felt. After twenty the burn set in, and by thirty his arms were starting to shake. Pushing himself to his feet he strolled into the bathroom and turned the tap on.

" Masquarading as a man with a reason.." He sang, ptting a dab of paste on his toothbrush. " My charade is the event of the season... and if I claim to be a wise man, It surely means that I don't know.." Bringing the brush to his teeth he went through the daily routine of cleaning himself up while the music played. Spitting into the sink he cupped his hands under the tap and splashed water onto his face, evaporating the last traces of slumber and freshening himself up. Dabbing his face drywith a towel he glanced up into the mirror at the man staring back at him. The lightly coloured eyes and sculpted features were still at the height of youth, his bare shoulders and chest well defined. The black tattoo of the pentagram within the black sun a stylish piece of body art, but one he constantly regretted none the less. A thin, jagged scar ran across his abs, a token from sone long forgotten scrap as a kid. Turning off the tap Christian strolled into the main room of his cabin to get changed.

Boxers, a pair of light blue jeans, socks and a pair of polished black work boots, a snug, form hugging dark blue t-shirt amd his rosary beads made up his attire. It wasn't much but it was at the least practical. After all every day was a working day and Christian didn't really go for dressing up at the best of times. A deep seated rumble within his stomach reminded him of the gnawing hunger in his stomach. Turning off his radio he strolled out of the cabin into the soft morning light, locking it behind him.

The mess-hall wasn't all that far away and already Christian could smell sizzling bacon and eggs. The scent made his mouth water considerably. Pushing open the doors Christian opened the mess-hall up to find it more or less empty save for the kitchen staff. usually the place would be busy even at an early time like this. Without questioning his good fortunes any further the young man grabbed himself a tray and his helping of bacon and eggs before finding a quiet corner fof one of the tables to enjoy the farm-style feast.

[Adrienne Dionas]

Outfit

Adrienne let out a groan when her phone started blaring the little set of piano cords she set as her alarm clock on her phone. She lifted her eyes, her hair in a while array from her sleepless night. She sighed and hit the dismiss button of her slide phone and stared at it for a moment before she rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling for a moment. She closed her eyes tiredly, yawning for a moment before she sighed. Those violet pools fluttered open when she heard someone open and close the cabin door. She slowly sat up, looking around for a moment. She was going to be the straggler again today apparently. That seemed to be a re-occurring patter recently, but she didn't really care.

She sighed and threw her black and pink comforter to the side, revealing her short shorts and tank-top clad self. It was probably the only time she didn't wear something with a long sleeve. Her cabin mates were the only people who ever saw the scars that marred her arms. She walked into the bathroom and studied herself thoughtfully for a moment, taking in the scars from her self-mutilation days. She lifted a hand and looked at her wrist thoughtfully studying the puckered scars from her last suicide attempt. She sighed and ran a finger along the pink puckered scar before she dropped her hands and went about washing her face and coming out her hair. She rinsed out her mouth with mouth wash before spitting the blue liquid into the sink. Though she was in a make-up mood, she wasn't in much of a hair mood, so she threw on some make-up and tossed black locks into a messy bun and then walked out of the bathroom. She rummaged through her trunk and the closet before she found her clothes.

She pulled on a simple tee-shirt with black and white stripes covered by blue zebra stripes. Then came the jeans tattered jeans. Then of course the hoodie. If it weren't for the scars she would have just worn the tee-shirt and go on, but she didn't like people to ask. It was a mistake she realized that now. They were mistakes she would spend the rest of her life regretting, but that regret didn't fix any of the pain she still felt. She pulled one of her beanies over her head, covering up the messy bun of hair and then she sat on her bed as she started putting on her sandals. yes, sandals. Not her usual converses. She just wasn't in a converse mood this morning.

She looked around and made sure she had everything before she stepped out of the cabin and headed for the mess hall. She could smell the warm, delicious scents of breakfast. She wasn't really all that hungry, but she knew she needed to eat. So she did. She went into the mess hall and got her a biscuit sandwich and an apple, which was really for Calliope later when she went to the stables, and some orange juice. She was just about to sit down at an empty table when some of the camp bullies, who Adrienne had made "great friends" with yesterday, decided to step in front of her. She looked up to the boy and girl duo and studied them nervously for a moment. "If you two don't mind, I would like to sit and eat." She said conversationally as she tried to push past them, but the boy stopped her and grabbed her apple. Deep violet eyes flared angrily as she snatched the apple back. In the same motion as Adrienne's snatch for the fruit, the girl shoved Adrienne away from the boy, sending the breakfast and juice splattering all over Adrienne as she stumbled into Christian. She gave him an apologetic look before she whirled back to the bully duo, her violet pools flaring angrily

"What is your fucking problem!?" She snarled at the girl. Adrienne and the girl were so about to get into it all out. Adrienne wasn't one for violence, but when someone did something for no reason she was happy to oblige them and give them a piece of her mind. She was about to go at the girl, but a few workers decided to break it up before anything could happen and they hauled the two off to the offices. Adrienne frowned, watching them go for a moment, shaking off the hand that had wrapped around her elbow. Now she was going to have to not only skip breakfast, but go and change her shirt and hoodie and probably be late to her first class. Not that she would complain about that, but she hated missing classes if it could have been avoided, and this... could have been avoided.

[Christian Colt]

Rubbing his hands together with undisguised glee Christian raised his claped hands to his face, knuckles touching his forehead. " Blessed be the lord, The provider of feasts for the flesh, and nurishment for the soul. Amen." And with that grace away Christian tackled his bacon with vigour. So much so that he didn't see Adrienne slip into the mess hall. Even if he had it wouldn't have held his attention for long. People were in and out of the place all the time.

Seperating the stringy fat from the meat Christian licked his thumb before piling another side of bacon into his mouth. It was then that he noticed the pair of troubled kids stalking around the mess hall looking for someone to prey on. While everyone in Willow Brooke was to some degree dsyfunctional those two ranked somewhere close to the top. Of course like all bullies they had the heart of a corward and only looked for trouble with people that couldn't really stick up for themselves, unfortunatly also like all bullies they had a real nose for picking those type of people out. Christian kept an eye on them as they marched towards the end of the mess-hall cue.

Naturally they had an intended target which happened to be the same girl which had earlier slipped in undetected. With a sigh Christian put his fork down and dusted his hands on a napkin. As it turned out this was a good thing as Adrienne fell back into him, ,forcing him to take a step back. He managed to stop her from falling over but not from ruining her outfit with her intended meal. He kept his hand wrapped gently around her elbow to keep her from lunging at the other girl. Luckily some other staff were on hand to break things up. Adrienne shook his hand off her arm.

Christian watched the pair untill they were marched out of sight before shifting his gaze back to Adrienne. " Hey..." He started, lowering to pick up the dropped plastic packet of sandwhiches. " You alright?" He asked as softly as he could manage. People at Willows Brooke had enough to contend with without bullying and frankly, Christian hoped to make up for the little event. Hell he wanted to shake her and scream 'We're not all like that!' but he'd probably just look silly and scare her. " Don't worry about those two... come from a long line of in-breedin'. The family tree's a circle if the stories are true." They say laughter is the best medicine so hopefully a little humour would ease the anger out of her and make her forget about the bullying she'd just experinced, Christian felt bad she'd probably be carrying that like a weight around her neckfor the rest of the day.

[Adrienne Dionas]

She just watched until the two were out of sight before she turned to him. Deep violet eyes for a moment as she studied him then looked down to her clothes. Her shoulders bobbed lightly in a gentle shrug. "I'm fine." She mumbled in a rather gruff tone. She looked over the juice stained clothes and quickly realized she would have to do a complete wardrobe change except for maybe her shoes and beanie. Her face creased into a frown at this very thought, but only a few short minutes. Her face actually lit up slightly at his attempt to perk her up, but then she realized once again that she would have to change her entire outfit.

She gave a soft huff and looked up at him and the remains of her breakfast. She frowned, really not in the mood to eat anymore. She rubbed the back of her neck for a moment before she looked up at him then down at the apple she'd managed to salvage. "Just chunk those. I won't have time to eat now." She said gently as she carefully tucked the apple into her hoodie pocket. She sighed and looked around the mess hall, a blush rising on her cheeks when she realized the whole thing had drawn attention from the diner's breakfasts to Adrienne. She frowned and turned to run out of the mess hall, momentarily forgetting about Chrstian. She bumped into him again, grunting softly. She looked up at him, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry... I should... go change." She said weakly, glancing over her shoulder for a moment. Anything to get away from all the staring and watching. It made her nervous.

[Christian Colt]

With the drama over and done with and Adrienne okay ( by her own description anyway) Christian busied himself picking up the things that had scattered from her tray, placing them on the table ready to salvage what could be salvaged and bin the rest. He frowned when she spoke. " You have to eat somthin'." He added, hell the girl was skinny enough as it is. She didn't look like she could afford to miss a breakfast.

Somehow in her haste to escape gawking eyes Adrienne bumped into Christian again and gave him another sheepish smile while backing towards the door. At a loss with the right words Christian just replied " Yeah..." Watching her untill she was out of sight. Smirking he shook his head and took the remains up to the bins, dumping them and placing the tray down on the counter. The woman working behind it, dishing out the food gave him a squinted glare. " Hey, 'aint for me." Piling on a fresh packet of sandwhiches, a little plastic container of assorted fruit and a can of cola Christian plucked up the tray and nodded thanks before strolling out of the mess hall, careful to avoid droppiing the meal balanced on his tray.

After stopping to ask which cabin Adrienne shared he made his way to the student cabins, avoiding the crowd and making his way up to the front door of the one Adrienne shared with a few other students. Keeping the tray steady in one hand he rattled on the door a couple of times. Hopefully he had caught her before she headed out to class. The last thing the staff needed.

[Adrienne Dionas]

She frowned when he told her he had to eat something. That's where he was wrong. She wasn't hungry, and she didn't have the time to eat. By the time she changed her jeans, shirt, and hoodie, and gathered up her stuff for classes she just wouldn't have time to eat. She would survive without breakfast. She would just have to make sure she grabbed something for lunch. She studied him for a moment longer before she swiftly and gently moved around him and quickly moved to the exit closest to the cabin she was staying in. Once the door shut she jogged off towards her cabin and quickly made her way inside.

She tore off the beanie and chunked it to her bed and stuff in a flurry of anger. She heard it knock something over because of the force put behind it, but she didn't bother looking to see what it was. She didn't have time. She would worry about it later. She slipped out of her shoes and started stripping out of the clothes while she rummaged through her dresser frustratedly. She grabbed the first pair of clean jeans she happened upon and she quickly stepped into them, closing them one handedly while she continued to rummage for a shirt and hoodie. She didn't have the time to change her make-up so she was going to have to find something that wouldn't clash with the make-up too much. She gave a soft aha as she found a pink-ish/purple top with a cross on the front. She quickly pulled that on over her head and grabbed the first hoodie she came upon that would go with the shirt alright and started pulling it on. She quickly threw her hair back into a messy ponytail holder as she started for her school things.

She grabbed her book-bag, pulling her shoes back on as she jumped up. She quickly stuffed several books she had taken out back in as well as homework assignments. She stopped in her tracks when she heard someone rap at the door. She frowned and opened the door gently. The frown on her face only creased across her face more when she saw Christian. She studied him for a moment then noticed the tray of food. She closed her eyes and her body sagged a little as she looked up at him. "Thanks, but no thanks." She said gently as she shouldered her book bag. "I told you, I don't have time." She said gently as she stood there, waiting for him to move out of her way. She had a feeling he wouldn't be doing that so easily though. She shifted gently, violet eyes looking him up and down before they met his face again. "Would you please move?" She asked gently, looking away from him.

((Just click on the outfit link in my first reply if you want a good look at what she changed into))

[Christian Colt]

Christian spared a thought to the bacon, eggs and juice that was swiftly getting cold in the canteen room but he had eaten a cold breakfast before and the need to make sure Adrienne had somthing in her stomach before she went out was far more pressing. He whistled the tune to House of the Rising Sun by the Animals as he waited, tapping his foot lightly. " The hell's she doin' in there?" He muttured, rattling on the door again.

This time she opened and gave only a brief glance to the food, obviously in a hurry to get out. She seemed a little frustrated about it and seemed near ready to shoulder past him like a line-backer if she had too. " Nuh uh" Holding the tray out for her to take. " Not untill you eat somthin'." He told her before walking into her little cabin and placing the tray down on the table.

" I know you got places to be, Me too.. But those places can wait ten minutes untill you eat somthin'. If the staff give you any trouble just tell 'em I needed help to shoe a horse or somthin'." Dusting his hands off he strolled backto the door and when she didn't seem like she was goingto move he smirked. " C'mon, sit your ass down and eat somthin'."

[Adrienne Dionas]

She was about to just shove her way past him like a freaking football player, but then he decided to come in and make himself at home. She blinked at him, watching him as a frown drew her brows together. Who was this guy? She remembered that his name had Chris in it, but that was about it. Adrienne wasn't all that great with names. She tried. She really did, but she still had issues. He sure did have some confidence that she would sit her ass down, as he suggested, but she wasn't so sure she would. She sighed and walked over to the table. She let her book bag fall with a thunk and picked up a strip of bacon from the tray and nibbled on it.

"Okay, I ate. Now I have to go." She said as she picked the bag back up and hefted it onto her shoulder and picked up the other strip of bacon, bringing it to her lips. It wasn't like she was that hungry anyways. Surely it had occurred to him that if she was hungry she would have grabbed something on the go. But then again, he was a man and they had a knack for being hard headed. She walked to the door and held it open for him, her set of cabin keys dangling in her hand. "Which means you need leave." She said as she made a motion for him to go with her head.

[Christian Colt]

Talk about being hard-headed. Adrienna seemed sttubornly intent on keeping herself half starved. It was irritating that someone could show such a quiet disdain for ones own body. She might not have been THAT hungry but she was better eating it than letting it go to waste, besides she'd be thankful of it in an hour or two. Clicking his tongue in frustration as she nibbled two strips of bacon then decided that was her he shook his head, placing his hands on his hips. " M'kay.. Suit yourself." Picking up a stirip of bacon Christian broke the yoke and soaked the bacon in it before wolfing it down and sucking the yoke off his index finger and thumb as he strolled to the door.

" You know... A man might get a little offended when he bring s over a lunch makin' sure you get out with somthing in your stomach besides air and good hopes. So uh..." He glanced to the side and then a roll of his shoulders. " Get somthin' to eat the minute your class is over." With that and a small fleeting smile Christian nodded. " Ma'am." He said with as much respect as he would give an older woman before he strolled down the steps to her cabin and headed back out towards the mess hall to finish his own meal.

[Adrienne Dionas]

She watched him for a moment as he left before she sighed, shaking her head. If she wanted to freaking eat she would have missed the damn class and eat, but she wasn't hungry, so she wasn't going to eat. She was going to go to class and just barely be on time. She made a double check for her stuff before she shut the door. She locked it and then headed off for her first class of the day. History. She was glad they gave her history first thing in the morning. She wouldn't be able to survive if she had to do English or math first thing in the morning. After History was Science and then Math and last but not least, English. She was so glad they saved the worse for last. She hated English. You would think after taking it every year since first grade that it wouldn't be a required course, but alas, it was.

(Two Classes Later)

Adrienne walked into the mess hall, looking around for a moment before she looked down at her stomach when she heard and felt the rumble of hunter in it. She felt like it was about to eat itself. That's how hungry she was. She knew she would regret only eating the bacon, but she really hadn't had the time. She had plenty of time now though. And if the stupid bully twins knew what was best for them they would keep away from her.

She went to the line and soon enough she was at the bar. She gave a genial smile and nod of thanks when they served her some fishsticks and coleslaw. She picked up a small cup of hush-puppies. Once she reached the end, she got herself a fork and some tartar sauce and ketchup packets and she went to find a nice secluded table so she could dine by herself. She sat down and pulled out her history book so she could go ahead and get started on her homework while she ate.

[Christian Colt]

He glanced over his shoulder at her as he walked across the yard before glancing down to his watch. Not much time left and he had things to do, then again he had a big breakfast to finish and it would be a damn shame to waste all that hard work the fine kitchen staff put into it. He glanced to his watch again, pondering for a moment before concluding... " Fuck it."


( Two Classes Later)

The hammer beat down hard, smashing the iron on the anvil into shape. Angry orange sparks bounced off, flying onto the anvil or back into the forge of glowing coals. Christan squinted both against the heat and the angry glow. The horse-shoe was starting to take shape nicely. Thrusting it back int othe forge with a pair of tongs Christian waited untill it glowed before he pulled it out and began beating the thick, black collections of slag out of the iron. Leaving them in would make the horseshoe brittle and probably crack. When it had taken shape he thrust it into the barrel of water, watching the cool liquid bubble before he pulled out the smoking piece of iron. Not bad for a mornings work. Time for lunch!

" Livin' Easy! Livin' free.. Season ticket on a one-way ride! Askin' nothin'..." Christian sang inwardly as he marched into the mess hall, his leather jacket slung over one arm. Grabbing a tray he joined the cue and frowned when he was served fish-sticks. He wasn't a big fan but he was hungry enough to eat a double portion. Picking up two apples, a bottle of flavored water and a yogurt he glanced around for an empty spot. The place filled up pretty quickly and while technically a member of staff Christan prefered to sit by himself, or with people just a little closer to his own age. He soon spotted Adrienne sitting by herself, nose stuck in a text book. He smirked and shook his head. Walking over to her table he smiled. " Hey!" Then wit hthe small nod to the stool. " This seat taken?"

[Adrienne Dionas]

She wasn't really paying attention to be honest. She was just relaxing, working on homework while she nibbled at her lunch. She was so caught up in the homework that she almost didn't hear whoever it was that decided he wanted to join her at the table. "Nope, not taken." She answered him flatly, not really caring if he sat with her or not. She scribbled down an answer in her notebook before she looked up.

Her shoulders slumped when she saw who it was. Her mysterious farrier man. She sighed and looked back to her work, making an emphasis on the fact that she was eating the hush puppy in her hand. "Tell me... are you enjoying your little stalker adventure?" She asked as she scribbled another answer down then looked up to him with a curious look in her eyes. It was true enough. He was there when the bully twins tried to start mess earlier this morning. Then he showed up at her cabin with food, and now here he was, asking to sit with her. Although stalkers were more known for stalking from a distance, but some were known for their... intimate relationship with the stalkee.

Of course she didn't really think he was a stalker. It was just sort of her way of teasing him. Most of the time it came off as a smart ass remark or sarcastic though. She didn't used to be like that, but witnessing the death of a parent tended to change a person.