January 2nd, Monday

                                                                                                            The Lone

                                                                                                               16:14

She lifts her head as the cold leather strap of her satchel digs into her rough palms. "Ansidara," she mumbles softly like a warning.

Her eyes are cold, even the way she spoke was brittle ice cold. She could see it reflected in the way his eyes didn't want to waver but felt obligated to glance somewhere else. Even if it was for just a second.

She meets his eyes in order to give him her full attention but she is unable to hide the hint of confusion that crosses her face. She can see that there is no uneasiness in his eyes but a sense of nostalgia like he was trying to recall a distant memory. She knew this because a similar feeling washes over her like a warmth she has long forgotten. She would dive deeper to find out where this sense of melancholy is radiating from but just as fast as his wits he notices the slip of her façade.

She tilts her chin up.

He grins very lightly. "You're strange." He is straight to the point.

She sizes him up clutching her bag strap tighter as she displays her bravado. "So are you."

He is obviously pleased by her reaction as the corner of his lips curl and his eyes crescent. "You know I can't let you just get away with theft." He smiles. "If you're not going to return my property I have to punish you someway," he shrugs. "Right?"

She speaks bluntly her face calm and reserved. "No."

He musters a laugh she never thought could come from his voice, it's soft, gentle and sweet like a child's. Nothing compared to his playful, deep voice girls fought over. "You're funny." He pauses moving his hands into his pockets. "What was your name again Sol-, Vola-" he snaps his fingers while he looks away.

She restrains herself from rolling her eyes, his lines felt far too cliché. So cliché she was almost sure that he was acting naïve. After all they had at least one class with each other for the past six years.

"Solaforma Inlustris." She informs him.

"Ah," he snaps, tucking his hand back into his black uniform pockets. "Inlustris, now that's an old one," He peers off thinking. "I think Inlustris is Latin for shining star and then Solaforma is Sol as in the sun, and forma as in shape. So your name means something like Sun shaped by-"

"What do you want?" She asks with edge so slight most wouldn't catch it.

He catches it. The fine lines nears the center of his brows contour as he turns his expression into a glare that is just as cold as hers. "Since I'm so gracious I'm giving you two options," He takes one step forward while she forces herself to stand her ground. "You either give me my holo-tab back while I'm asking nicely or," he places one hand against the wall which makes her whole body fill with revulsion. "Or you can face the legal actions."

She glances at his arm that moves just an inch against the brick wall. She takes a slow meticulous breath in as she releases her satchel and sets it on the floor. She now knew that with someone like him, someone who was so straightforward and dominating, she would have to do the same otherwise he would never get the hint.

She crosses her arms with confidence as she leans back against the wall. "In other words your just saying the cliché rich boy line, 'You'll be hearing from my lawyers.' Am I mistaken?"

He drops his hand then slouches. "Wh-what?"

"I'm not doing either." She clarifies for his pea sized brain. "I didn't take your strangely precious holo-tab and I am ready to follow this so called legal action if I also need to. I may have no money but the evidence proving my innocence is compelling just as I have said on the bus. I don't think you will do it unless you have the concrete evidence."

He smiles wide. "I can always have you expelled." He thinks he's won now but she knows the exact answer that will get him off her back.

She pierces his eyes as she leans forward. "Fine." Whether he would take her bluff and really have her expelled was all up to him but something told her he wouldn't go that far.

"Excuse me?"

"Do it if you want." She reiterates.

He peers closer as if he is reading her like an open book. "Your bluffing, because you think I really won't."

The comment feels like a punch. How did he know that? Was he really just that good at reading the facial expressions of a person or was he also bluffing?

She scoffs then turns away. "Doesn't matter if I'm bluffing or not, what you do is something I can't alter"

"Wait," he grabs her wrist and she flinches with the undeniable urge to let her instincts kick in. "I wasn't done talking."

She pulls her arm but he clamps onto her tightly. "Well..I am." Anxiety rises from her chest.

He still does not release her as panic rises in her eyes emanating enough for him to see. He has to see, why can't he see? He has to hear and feel the sharp coils of pure panic that course through her nervous systems.

He smiles holding tighter. "Are you sure about that because-" his voice becomes distant as memories of a time long, long ago, forgotten and erased from her mind come flooding back in a tidal wave of emotions.

Without so much as a warning she hit Ansidara in a total of five pressure points, two on his neck one on his bicep, one on his chest and the final one on his hip. She catches her breath watching him fall to the floor in a heap but before his head can hit the cement she is behind him holding his upper body that was strangely light.

"Wh-what did you do to me." He asks with a slight slur.

She hates this, she hated human contact. She was repulsed by it . The strange warmth of another body against the delicate skin of her own, every single fiber in her being coming alive in a way her body screams get ready to fight. She hates the way she is holding Ansidara's head up against her chest so that his hair tussles against her nose. How both her hands are holding him by his armpits where she can feel his arm sockets. So delicate she can dislocate one within five seconds. Most of all she hates the way he was looking at her with eyes that were both awed and horrified all at once.

"You hate this." He states it like it's a fact and not a question.

He turns his head back just enough to look up to her. Bright cold eyes meeting dark warm eyes. The feeling returns and he breaks contact.

"Put me against the wall and talk." He demands but the fact that he couldn't move was a bit foolish of a demand.

She obeys anyways and places him against the brick wall acting as if carrying almost two hundred pounds was as easy as lifting a toddler.

Ansidara leans against the brick wall his leg and arms spread across the pavement as he struggles to keep his head up. It flops from one side to the other before leaning back almost like he was absurdly drunk. His beady black eyes watch Solaforma as she struggles to smooth out her now wrinkled black blazer.

His voice cuts through the silence smooth yet unsure as he speaks in a strangely calm voice. "What did you do to me Solaforma?" He gives a slight glare that dares her to lie.

She looks at him, truly looks at him as her eyes sparkle soft blue in the gray afternoon light, no longer cold but rather curious. She honestly has no idea what she scientifically did to him but knew she had done this many times before.

She speaks her eyes fading back to cold and emotionless. "I pressed five pressure points." She turns to her satchel and tenderly picks it up. "You will be immobile for less than ten minutes." She changes her course to the stairs that lead to the house's back door. "Go home." She commands.

She expects him to say more but he simply leans against the wall staring into space as he clenches his jaw thinking to himself. An empty expression placed on his statue like face.

"Please." The last word is whispered like a prayer she hopes he will answer.