Plan B (OPEN)

[Error]

Piper watched with mild detachment as the boy a behind the counter fidget under her cool emerald gaze. The boy was older than her by a year or two but still coward under Piper's height. In the back of her mind Piper remember the same boy living with her at the orphanage. She tilted her head ever so slightly to the left, watching the boy's hands move like frantic spiders over the shelves. He finally reached the gears she had asked for and thrust them at Piper's face without so much as naming a price. Piper wasn't even surprised by the boy's behaviour as he quickly darted into the back room, likely to stay there until she left.

Piper swept her free hand through her long strands of red hair, contmeplating just staying there to unnerve the boy but decided against it. The old hag, as Piper 'affectionately' called her mentor, would be doubtlessly waiting on her for one thing or another. Piper huffed to herself as she stepped out into the cold spring breeze. The massive windmills that surrounded all of the district were spinning fast today and were followed by the silhouettes of a few birds in the sky.

Piper stood for a moment in the middle of the street, gazing up at the sky with a thoughtful expression.

[Allison]

The vivid blue sky, vast and opened to anything that had wings or wasn't controlled by the Capitol's cruel dictation. Crisp, chilled air signaled that spring had finally showed up the the land. Finally, winter was over and the elderly could stop complaining about the possibility of slipping on slush snow. Now only if summer was here instead so all the sun's warmth would shine down upon the town and kids would finally be out of school. Christopher Spark, the clown of his class as well as a joker at work, finally had finished his long, grueling hours of engineering and could finally wander the streets until he reached his destination. Home.

Chris stopped at one of the small markets stands that was selling pasties. He stopped and pulled his gold from his pocket, quickly shifted through the few then sadly put them away. Today wasn't a day he could buy anything super sweet for his baby sister and the family. Gently he waved farewell the the stand keeper and broke into a run. Better off going home and saving his money instead of wasting it.

Chris! Hey Chris!

Briefly Chris turned his head to see who was calling his name. A friend from school. Politely he smiled and waved before turning around. He could feel his heart quicken as he was just inches away from running into something. Despite his effort to try and stop he couldn't. He closed his eyes and braced his hands for the fall. Maybe if he was lucky they wouldn't collide.

[Error]

Piper heard the sound of hurried footsteps right behind her but didn't pay much attention. A small nightingale had caught her attention. It was soaring lazily with the breeze, avoiding the tops of buildings with an enviable ease. The breeze the bird was gliding on disturbed Piper's hair, sending it wheeling around her. The girl scowled and used two hands to flatten the strands to her head. She suddenly wished that she had a hair band to put her hair up.

All thoughts of her hair flew from her mind as something large and heavy collided painfully with her back. The gears in her hand went flying as Piper jerked forward and instinctively put one hand out in front of her. Using the single hand Piper rolled in the cement road and pushed herself to a crouching position. Piper's eyes flashed darkly as she glared at the boy that had collided with her.

Piper had a sudden memory of the boys back in the orphanage shoving her to the ground and kicking dirt in her face. Piper's body tensed and she instantly went on alert. "What," she hissed in a dark voice, her hands shaking slightly from adrenaline and anger. "Do ya think you're doin'?" Piper asked, deadly calm. She felt her face go slightly red, if she hadn't been daydreaming about some birds this whole incident could have been avoided. But really? Who just crashes into someone like that?!

Piper turned all her irritation on the boy. She didn't even know his name and she already felt some hostility towards him.

[Allison]

Christopher heard the clinging of metal hitting the ground as he fell, hands sliding out from underneath him and his face smacked down on the cement. He let out a moan while sitting up, so much for getting home right away. With dark amber eyes he surveyed the damaged, shreds of skin from the palm of his hands. Then reached out to grab the gears before someone could step on them or even kick them farther away.

"What do you think you're doing?"

He looked up to the girl he had collided with and frowned at her anger. Did she really think he ran into her on purpose? Girls. They never seemed to understand what accidents were until it was something caused by their self centered selves. "Falling. You know the process of being forced down by gravity after being in the air for a split second. It's really fascinating. You actually managed to do so as well." He said sarcastically while in the process of getting up.

Slowly he walked over to the red headed Piper and handed her the gears but also a hand to get up. "I'm sorry. You see I was running home to meet my sister. She's five and the cutest little thing." He replied finally, "Someone called my name and I turned just for a second to see who it was but when I turned around there you were. I'm sorry but there was no way I could stop in time." With his free hand he pushed his brown hair away from his eyes. "I'm Christopher by the way. I don't believe we've met before. Fun way to get to know each other, huh?"

[Error]

Piper just stared at the boy in front of her with a very confused, and flabbergasted look on her face. He may as well of slapped Piper in the face with a fish. She gave him a dark glare at his sarcastic comment.

"Thank ya for clarifyin'." Piper drawled with her own touch of sarcasm. "How could I possibly had mistaken ya for some sort of flying, babblin' chimp impersonatin' a walkin' fish." She shoot right back at the boy, still tense and watching him warily. Completely bypassing he offered hand, Piper rose to her feet and brushed some dirt off her pants. She took a few steps away to put some distance between the two of them and inspected herself for any cuts or scrapes. Thankfully she found none, she shot the boy another glare. If he had damaged her in any way this would have ended very differently.

Piper smoothly swiped the offered gears from Christopher, cringing slightly at the sight of blood dirtying the gears. She grumbled under her breath as she stuffed them into a pocket. Doubtlessly the old hag would complain of "infected merchandise".

"Ya ability to multitask astounds me. How is it that ya can even breath and walk at the same time?" Piper snipped coldly, not at all impressed by this Christopher character in the slightest. "Ya might also want to get your head checked. This is hardly my idea of a fun way to be introduced to a person." Piper knew for a fact that she had never meet Christopher before, which wasn't a feat by any means. Piper barely every strayed near people and barely knew anyone in her district. Although they all knew her from rumors of her exploits.

[Allison]

Clayton glanced towards the nightingale which Piper had been distracted by when they collided, well when he collided with the small, fiery red-head. "You're welcome." He replied lightly dropping his gaze back down.

"How could I possibly had mistaken you for some sort of flying, babbling chimp impersonating a walking fish."

Nice one. Chris smiled a gentle smile at her attempted insult. "I don't know," He started looking at his arms, "I am rather harry that might make up the chimp aspect of your crazy theory. I suppose if I ran fast enough I could get the flying aspect as well but I can't swim to save my life." There was no way he was ever going to be insulted because he had to much fun with everything and could easily twist any insult into some sort of joke.

He listened silently as she grumbled something under her breath but he couldn't actually make out any words. Oh well, clearly he wasn't meant to hear what she thought. Slowly he tucked his bleeding hands into deep pockets and looked at his dirty pant legs. He'd clean them later, no point in soiling his blue jeans with new blood stains.

"You ability to multitask astound me. How is it that you can even breath and walk at the same time?"

She spoke in such a cold tone one in which Chris didn't like. If she was a guy he would have thrown a punch all ready but sadly she at least had the appearance of a girl. Lazily he spat at the dirty streets and looked up at her.

"You might also want to get your head checked. This is hardly my idea of a fun way to be introduced to a person."

Finally he had enough and kicked at the ground. "Why don't you double take about what just happened or what I even said." He replied coldly. "Last time I checked I said sorry for running into you. Accidents happen every day and nobody else seems to make such a big deal but you. Sarcasm is just the way I try to lighten the mood after I do something stupid. So lay off!" Just because he was a guy and couldn't officially hit here didn't mean he had to sit through her cold words with out some way of defending himself.

[Error]

Piper crossed her tan arms and gave Christopher a clearly unimpressed look. She cared little of what Christopher would think of her, as she did with most people's opinions of her. When Christopher snapped at her, Piper didn't so much as blink. Normally Piper would just scoff and walk away from such an irritating situation but Piper defiantly did not appreciate being yelled at. Plus if she walked away now everyone would just view her as a push over. Piper could feel her very short temper start to fray at the ends.

If there was one thing Piper was really known for it was her short temper. And this boy seemed to be pushing all her buttons in one go. Piper rose to her full towering height, the light catching her eyes causing them to lighten considerably, and her lips pulled into a deeper frown.

"Ya think I'm the one makin' a big deal?" Piper hissed icily. "Look who's the one yellin' at me in the middle of the market. Watch your tongue, Christopher. I have neither the time or patience to deal with you so I would suggest ya Back. Off." Piper balled her hands into fists, ready to fight at the slightest movement Christopher would make towards her. Piper could hold her own, she was not worried about that. To be honest Piper was more worried about the old hag yelling at her for being late than a possible fight.

Piper could remember all the times she had come back to the shop bruised and battered after a fight with the local orphanage children. She was not afraid then, and she was not afraid now. Piper was used to the hard life.

[Allison]

Christopher watched as Piper crossed her arms and just looked at him apparently very unimpressed. Man this girl had an attitude like no tomorrow and all because of a stupid accident. Couldn't she just move on from the encounter? Clearly not and he probably wasn't helping any by snapping back at her icy, cold tone. He rolled his eyes at the stupidity that washed over him. Stop arguing because its not going to get you anywhere. He thought and repeated the sentence in his mind.

"You think I'm the one making a big deal?"

Yes, clearly she was making a big deal about this. The simple way out of this whole bicker would have been just to accept his apology. But no. She had a huge ego about her and couldn't accept his apology let alone his attempt to help her up. Girls. Hopefully his sister wouldn't get like this when she was older.

"Look who's the one yelling at me in the middle of the market. Watch your tongue, Christopher. I have neither the time or patients to deal with you so I would suggest you Back. Off."

Did he really yell? Calmly he retraced the string of words he had spoken. Nope, no yelling, just a few emphasized sentences. Maybe she was tone death or didn't understand what yelling really was. "I did not yell nor did I say any words that I regret. Look girl, if you didn't have the time or patients you should have just accepted my apology and not insulted me. Then we both would have been on our ways." He replied lightly. There was no point in raising his voice again, especially here in a market full of people.