we are so fragile {mathias}

[CHARITY CLARKE]

Charity Clarke had been given a gift from God, and it would have been rude of her to refuse it.

It wasn't her life or family - those were not the gifts she was talking about. This gift only came ever so often in New York City, as she knew from growing up here, and she planned on accepting the gift with kindness. With a quick prayer of thanks, she closed her locker and made her way through the crowded halls with more "pardon me"s than she could count. No one else was going where she was, and she didn't understand why.

Because what God had given her and the rest of the area was a cloudless, sunny day.

With Charity's condition, she needed all the vitamin D she could get. The lack of made her journey slow, as her arms were almost as weak as her legs. She felt like she could run sometimes, if she only tried, but she knew it would end up disastrous and she would end up with more broken bones than she achieved than the usual year. And that was quite a lot, given how weak her bones were.

It was just after two-thirty and this was when the sun was highest, and when Charity could soak up as much of the sweet sunlight as possible. Only her arms and legs would show in her floral dress, and she didn't have time to change, but it was enough, hopefully.

Since she didn't want to go all the way to Central Park, she decided to just sit in the courtyard of Baum Academy, with only one tree to block the sunlight and no benches within that shade. It was close and would provide just as much sun and it wouldn't hurt as much to go there.

With an awkward but gentle push of the door with her crutch and shoulder, she squinted her eyes and smiled at the brightness of it. She very much loved the sunlight and made the rest of her way through the door and spied a perfect bench that was empty and in full view of the sun. Oh, she was so happy! Nothing could bring her down as she slowly made her way to that beautiful spot in the beautiful sun on this warm day.

[/justify]

{ outfit }
{ this is short but i wanted to wait to write her falling until the next post }

[MATHIAS MIDAS]

The only time Mathias Midas appreciated the warm, sunny weather was when he could be on his parents' yacht, surrounded by alcohol and girls in bikinis. When he was stuck at fucking Baum Academy, it served absolutely no purpose. As far as Mathias was concerned, the sun needed to stay behind the clouds all day every day until he had the chance to enjoy it. There was honestly no need for it if Mathias Midas couldn't make use of it, or make money off of it. Well, actually, looking at it from the money angle, he could always decide to throw a small dorm party and charge people to come to "cover alcohol costs" when in all honesty he got the booze for free and just liked making a quick buck. People liked to celebrate the oncoming summer, so why the fuck shouldn't he exploit it?

But considering he had a damn meeting with his father and other business associates over dinner tonight, there would be no monetarily beneficial party tonight. No, just boring talk about the political climate over filet mignons. It irked the living hell out of Mathias. Sure, he definitely wanted to take over the family business and run America's biggest corporate bank. Mathias would be making money for handling money, his dream come true. It was the horrendous side things that came along with the job; attending benefit dinners, going on golf trips with the board members, donating money to charities. Mathias just wanted to already be comfortably sitting atop a large pile of money like a happy dragon. The desire to one day be married and have children never even occurred to Mathias; that was people to take care of, to pay for! Surely he didn't want to rot away in jail for refusing to pay for food for his family. It was also the notion that bringing children into the world would require him to care for another human being that prevented the idea from ever crossing his mind. But unfortunately, his mother was breathing down his neck about the socialites who would be eligible bachelorettes the moment he graduated from college.

Yanking his bag off the floor the moment the bell rang, Mathias shoved his way through the halls of Baum, eager in a cagey, angry way to get out of the hell hole. Why couldn't people just get out of his damn way? It was like his fellow students were willing to lounge about in the halls for the rest of the day, idly talking and standing by their lockers. Mathias just wanted to get outside so he could go to his dorm, change into something much more formal and get to his house. As he nearly reached the door, he felt a soft hand grip his wrist. "Mathias, I just found out my parents are going to the Hamptons this weekend...and I'm staying home alone!" Her voice had the distinct whine of the needy, which Mathias detested. "That's nice, Chelsea. I'll call you." Pulling out his Gucci aviators, Mathias broke out of the girl's grip and walked away (#dealwithit). In the same annoying whine, Mathias called her yell out "But my name is Amanda!" but he couldn't care less.

Once outside, Mathias didn't even pay attention to where he was going. In a straight beeline, he strode towards the dorms. Mathias always walked with a bit of a swagger and always with extreme confidence. No matter where he was, Mathias always walked with ease and purpose. Unfortunately for him, that "purpose" today was knocking over something. Mathias walked right into a short, small girl, completely taking her down. Pausing in his stride, Mathias glanced down at her. Shit. She was on crutches and obviously looked like she was in pain. The Midas family didn't need an annoying lawsuit at the moment. With an annoyed sigh, Mathias said "Are you alright?" in an obviously forced manner. He didn't care about the girl's well being, as could be clearly seen by the fact that he hadn't moved to help her up.

outfit!

[CHARITY CLARKE]

With every step taken outside, the chill from the air conditioned inside faded away. Her skin almost tingled with it, and her cheeks flushed with just a little bit of color. In the sun, she didn't look as sickly as she did under the florescent lights. She still looked rather frail, but not so tired. The warmth surrounded her and wrapped itself around her and made her happy. When Charity was really happy, it was hard to chip that chipper air.

So instantly sensed when she felt something cold approach her. Maybe someone had opened the door? She heard it shut but didn't tuen back because it took too much effort to do so and she knew it. But it got closer, like it was almost coming towards her, and she paused. That was preposterous of course, so Charity pushed off on her crutches and -

Bam, that cold caught up to her, and hit her like a moving iceberg. It was strange, because the body that ran into her was a normal human being, with a temperature around 98.6 degrees just like anyone else. Still, there were goosebumps on her arms as she hit the ground, landing on her crutch and arm, while the other one fell forwards with a clatter. She shivered, though she wasn't cold, and looked up to see who had knocked her over. Her face wasn't accusing or angry, but apologetic.

"I-I'm sorry I was in your way," she mubled, just barely loud enough to maybe reach his ears. "I think I'm okay?" He wasn't much of a gentleman, but that was fine, Charity could manage. It wasn't like she had never fallen before. Maybe she hadn't been knocked on the ground, but she had fallen, and she did recognize the throbbing pain in the wrist she had landed on.

Charity reached over and grabbed the other crutch, but it was too tall to help her stand up, so she looked around and saw the bench she was going to sit at right next to her. God worked in mysterious ways, didn't he? She crawled a little towards it and hefted her crutch onto it, using her good arm to support her as she pushed her way up from the ground to the bench, until finally she got herself seated upright. It was a long, awkward, painful affair, so she took a few deep breaths before standing up on her crutches, leaning on them with her underarms like she did when she needed her arms free, and rubbed the throbbing wrist with her other hand.

"Again, I'm really sorry, sir. I should have been watching where I was going!" Her voice was meek and pathetic and quiet, but she neither noticed nor cared. Looking down ar her injury, she mumbled, "I actually might have fractured my wrist again..." as if it was more of an annoyance than a serious injury. It hurt as much as it always had, but she could handle the pain by now.

"My name's Charity..." she said, thanking God that it was her left hand injured and not her right hand, as she held the latter out to shake. She instantly regretted it, as she knew it wasn't really how teenagers introduced herself, but she was being polite as she had been taught. She didn't say her last name, which would have been more formal, and she regretted that, too. It was too late now, though, and she had to get this treated. "I'm very sorry to make this hasty, but I think I may have fractured my wrist again and I must get to the nurse." She blinked a couple times, her big blue eyes still a little wide from the shock. "Again, I apologize for any inconvience."

[/justify]

[MATHIAS MIDAS]

Meek insecurities honestly made Mathias sick and angry all at the same time. When the girl on the ground opened her mouth to talk, Mathias wanted to pull his hair out in annoyance. He would rather kick a puppy than help her up now that he knew what a quiet, meek person this girl was. And why the hell was she so apologetic? Like, what the fuck? If Mathias had been pushed down he would've already called his lawyer and then demolished the punk who thought he could get the best of a Midas. But unfortunately for the whole damn situation, Mathias had been the one to push a girl down and there were witnesses, which meant that if he didn't do something, there would be bad press for his father. God forbid the Midas family got bad press.

Crossing his arms and scowling, Mathias said, "Yeah I hope you're okay, I don't feel like getting involved in a lawsuit unless I'm the one pressing charges." Watching her struggle to get up, Mathias briefly considered helping her but inwardly chuckled at the thought. She wasn't asking for help, and even then, he wasn't one hundred percent sure he would give it. As the meekness continued to seep out of her mouth, all Mathias could do was give a little righteous nod at all her apologies. Yeah, she better be sorry for getting in his damn way and everything. People didn't just "get in Mathias Midas's way". Obviously she was new here or something. Actually, this girl (what was her name anyways?) looked vaguely familiar. Mathias had seen her face from somewhere before, he just couldn't place it. Some instinct was telling him not to search for the memory though, because he wouldn't like it. Fair enough.

"I actually might have fractured my wrist again..."

Aw, hell. Just what the Midas' needed. Now Mathias knew he couldn't just abandon the girl; he had to take her to a doctor to make sure her family wouldn't come after them. Mathias audibly groaned, gritting his teeth over the annoying fact. Well, there went his day. Fantastic. Looking at the girl--Charity's--hand, Mathias thrust out his own and gave Charity a firm handshake; or, perhaps, a little too firm. Mathias didn't know his own strength, or he knew that he was exceptionally strong. What Midas wasn't? Geez. "Mathias Midas, yes you are thinking of the right Midas family." How could people even question that we was the heir to the Midas throne? His face was practically plastered all over the newspapers. Or, the only newspapers that mattered (because they Mathias). "Wait, you said your name was Charity? Charity what, exactly?" Shit, he knew she was familiar. The name only set off more bells, and now Mathias wanted to know where the fuck she was from.

"I'm very sorry to make this hasty, but I think I may have fractured my wrist again and I must get to the nurse."

As Charity's big baby blues stared up at Mathias, he shook his head. "You're not going to some stupid school nurse. The nurse here doesn't know shit, honestly. I'm taking you to a nice doctor; there'll be no bad PR disasters on my watch." Mathias grabbed Charity's wrist, no scratch that, her meek wrist (the uninjured one, of course) and started to lead her out of the campus. If the girl didn't want to be dragged along like a rag doll, she would have to keep up. "Can you please pick up the pace?" Mathias groaned, turning around to look at Charity. Oh. Right. Crutches. Scowling even more, Mathias said, "Just be quick on those things." Except...shit, she had a broken wrist. "Jesus Christ why can nothing go right for me today? I'm Mathias Midas, like what the hell?" Without asking for any sort of permission like he probably should have, Mathias scooped up Charity in his arms like a puppy. I have places to be tonight, and x-rays take way too damn long."

[CHARITY CLARKE]

"Oh, I would never do something like that! It seems pointless to me sue someone for something that was my fault," she replied when she was on her feet. She would never do something like that, and besides, her family couldn't afford a lawyer to do it. He had a very firm grip, and her arm flailed about in such a way when he shook her hand that it was almost embarassing how weak she was. But that was the way God made her, so she couldn't exactly complain. She couldn't work out for obvious reasons, so she was stuck being this small and very weak girl. Luckily, it was her left wrist that was throbbing, so that one wasn't assaulted by his grip. Oh! That was mean, she was sure he hadn't meant to... oh dear, she had mentally accused him of being a bad person. Which she was sure he wasn't! Some people just had bad days, that's all. Some more bad days than others.

And Nurse Lawson was very nice, and knew about her situation and had everything prepared. She had quite a few splints and wraps and things prepared because Charity broke bones often. Why did he think she didn't know anything? She was the nurse, after all. Maybe he was just having a bad day.

Oh, she had missed what he said. Why did she overthink these things? Hadn't he asked her last name? "Oh, it's Charity Cla-" she winced as she tried to move on her crutches with one bad wrist and one wrist being pulled. It wasn't working out too well, but she was trying, as she was too soft-spoken and shy to tell Mathias Midas to stop pulling on her - Mathias Midas? Oh goodness! Yes, she definitely knew who he was. He was the son of the man who owned the company her father worked for. She wondered if he recognized her? It didn't appear so, but that was a very long time ago. She was about to ask him when Mathias spoke.

She was starting to get frustrated. She couldn't pick up the pace, and she had tried! She was being as quick on them as she possibly could! But maybe she could go a little faster... No, she couldn't. Her ears and nose turned a bright red with frustration. Not so much with Mathias, or herself, but both. Her next words came out snippy by Charity's standards, but most people thought her 'snippy voice' was more cute than serious. "I'm sor- whaa?" And her feet were off the ground and he was... carrying her.

Oooh, if she weren't a Christian...

Still, she shot him with a hot glare that equaled the temperature and intensity of a cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter's day, and pouted. Her face was red and she wasn't sure what happened to her crutches and... was this a kidnapping? She didn't even know what to say. Her tongue was like lead and she didn't even know what to say. Because what was frustrating was that he was being very helpful in a very rude manner and she didn't know if she should correct him or not. So she just glared, dumbfounded and utterly confused as to what Mathias Midas's intentions were.

[/justify]

{ this was too fun to write }

[MATHIAS MIDAS]

As Mathias strode across campus to get to the street and hail a cab (it was a short walk, really, but for a cab? His standards sure were low that day that he was willing enough to ride in a taxi cab with this girl Charity), his annoyed scowl only broke to smirk at friends, or really, in Mathias's eyes, acquaintances, as they passed by. Confusion would fill their eyes because, really, what was normal about Mathias carrying some small nobody girl around Baum?, and he would just shrug and roll his eyes as a way of saying--"what can you do?". Mathias assumed no one would be dumb enough to interrupt his obviously important task to ask what the hell he was doing, and, like everything Mathias did, he was right.

"Don't worry, I'm not taking you off to some dark alley to get rid of you." Mathias's lips slipped into a slight grin as he chuckled, apparently amused by his own dark humor. Stepping long and wide, Mathias was already hailing a cab down in record time, even with Charity stuck in his arms. Not like she weighed anything, and even if she did, Mathias could obviously handle it. As the nasty abomination of public transportation pulled over, Mathias slid Charity into the seat and climbed in next to her. The leather was dirty and cracked, exposing the old foam stuffing. Mathias did his best to suppress a grimace as he pulled the seat belt across his chest. That nasty thing was greasier than any burger he'd ever eaten. Shuddering, Mathias told the cabby "Lenox Hill Hospital." Ugh, why wasn't there a divide between the driver and Mathias himself? This whole situation was so lower-middle class.

Turning to Charity, he checked to make sure she was buckled in. Not for her safety, of course, but because "Just want to make sure I'm not associated with any more bad press today." As always, Mathias rolled his eyes in annoyance. This whole damn world was beneath him. "My driver would not have been able to get here in time, and look, your wrist is already swollen." Mathias felt the need to explain their shabby conditions, aka, the yellow monstrosity. He definitely was not in the least bit sorry or apologetic, though. Not his fault. Mathias's hands were squeaky clean. Except for the fact that he had to pay for this girl's wrist. Ugh. The thing Mathias hated most was spending his money. Oh, money. Crisp, fragrant bills in thick, paper-bound stacks. Mathias could just dive into a pile of it. And he didn't even like spending it, he just loved having it. Mathias was like a hoarder. His parents paid for everything and while he was independent in all other matters, Mathias didn't mind relying on his parents as long as no money left his Swedish bank accounts.

"I'm getting that wrist of your's fixed. Can't have anyone coming after me for it." A self-satisfied grin settled across the New York banking fortune heir's face; Mathias was convinced he was like an angel coming down from Heaven to help this girl out. After all, Mathias was just doing this out of the good graces of his heart. Or, more accurately, because it inflated his ego.