Who's the Prey Now?

Millie dragged her feet across the hot sand. Her lips were as white as the non-existent clouds, and her skin was flush with the burn she would feel in the morning. Her fragile body found the transition from her Ireland home difficult. As the strength left her her to be replaced by fatigue, her eyes became gradually duller, their predatory sharpness fading.

Millie stumbled into the front entrance, rubbing her hand, which she had broke punching the witch Alec. She didn't have the focus to dull the pain, but she had dealt with worse. She winced as her bare feet met the hot pavement. Bending over, she huffed for a while in the shade of the wall. "Now what?" She muttered to herself.

Andre had been strolling along through the city, delivering some baked goods for a job that he was running. As he came near the entrance of the city, he noticed a woman, who appeared to be...slightly older? She seemed as if she was in dire need of assistance, and, despite his hesitance to generally interact with any woman, he ran over to her, setting down his basket. "Ma'am you look highly...harmed? Do you need medical attention?" His eyes ran over the several details he noticed, white lips, red tinged skin, and a hand which she had appeared to be holding a few seconds ago.

Millie glanced up to the boy with glazed eyes, before her head dropped back down. She wanted so badly to say no. Oh, how badly did she want to say no, and kill the boy for nourishment. This wasn't an isolated town in Ireland though, and this boy could where her out, or kill her if she wasn't VERY lucky. "J-ust get me some water." She managed through a raspy voice. She already hated this. If she found her mother after this, she would kill her.

Andre awkwardly scrambled away from her gaze, digging around through his basket to pull out a cople condensation covered plastic water bottles. He held them towards Millie in a cautionary fashion, as if testing if she was going to bite, figuratively. "Will these work for you, m-ma'am?" Everything about her seemed to give off this air of general intimidation, and Andre found himself sweating horribly despite not being warm in the slightest.

Millie slumped against the wall, while the stranger retrieved the water bottles. When he offered them, the look on Millie's face could be described as the exact situation. That is to say, like one looks at water in a desert. She snatched one from the boys hand, and quickly drained it into her stomach, coughing once, or twice. "Thanks kid." She said, a sigh of relief rolling from her mouth. She could only just sense the anxiety coming from the boy, and smell it in the air. "Maybe I should be asking if you need help." She laughed weakly, and slumped over slightly. She was still malnourished, and dehydrated, but at least she could feel better for now.

Andre observed as the girl drained the water bottle in an almost desperate fashion, and became surprised at her comment. "Help? Why-why would I need help? You're odd, silly even." He blushed lightly in an embarrassed fashion, diverting his gaze from Millie. How had she figured out he was nervous so quickly? What was she going to do to him? He ran over several situations which didn't go to well, whilst waiting for her to make a response.

A smirk formed on Millie's tired feature's. "Odd I've been called before." She began, as she struggled to her feet. Taking the other bottle, she drains it quickly as well. "Silly, though. That's a new one by me." She took a moment, striking back at the fog in her head, her eyes becoming vacant for a moment. After a moment of mental preparation, she finally looks up at the boy, noting that he was avoiding her gaze. It's a shame where they were. He would have been fun prey with his anxiety such as it is.

Millie checked her pockets for anything her parents left her. Nothing. Steadying against the wall with her hand, she reels from the pressure, gripping the broken part. "I don't suppose you fix broken hands do you?" She said with another tired smile.

The question struck Andre as slightly odd, although he had noticed her showing signs of a damaged hand earlier. He nodded lightly, turning to look at her, trying not to stare. At least, not too hard. "Broken hands? Uh, well, I CAN, I guess. But I wouldn't be able to do it out here, I'd need to bring you..with me..back to my house.." As soon as it exited his mouth, Andre instantly regretted saying that. He could've just taken her to a hospital of some sort. Damn my good nature. He thought at himself angrily.

Millie's eye twitched a bit at the statement. His house? She was too exhausted to care. "Oh good." She stated in a short fashion, with a modicum of sarcasm. "You lead then." her head bobbed, as her neck struggled to support her head. Her lungs felt like they were on fire. The dry, sandy air setting them ablaze. She let out a singular cough, and stood back to her feet. "I'm good to go." She reassured herself, then began in a random direction, as if she had forgotten what she had asked of the boy.

Andre awkwardly held his hand up to try and call her back. "Uh. My house is...this way." He pointed the opposite direction, with his free hand. And, quietly, began walking towards his home, still carrying some of the deliveries he had to make. He quietly sighed, knowing he was going to get reprimanded for this. He quietly said hi to the various females who greeted him in various ways. Andre tried his best to keep his head down and not make too much conversation, hoping that the girl was following him.

Millie barely heard the boy. The sounds were fading into a cacophony of incomprehensible babble to her. "Right." She affirmed, turning to follow. The world was beginning to twist in turn like her eyes were filled with tiny snakes. She was still astute enough to notice the number of people talking to this boy... More importantly... Females... The young kind. Millie considered the odds that this guy was some creep who wanted to take her home, and... It didn't matter, she has more than enough strength to break some creeps-.

Millie fell to the ground mid thought. Even in her unconsciousness the world seemed to spiral. Even there in the pitch black, sensation-less abyss. She let out a light groan, her subconscious trying to will her awake. Her body, and mind were down for the moment though, and she had no hope of moving.

Andre turned his head back when her heard a thump kind of noise against the ground, noticing the girl's collapsing and quickly rushed to his knees, dropping his stuff. "Oi, oi!" He lightly slapped her cheek. "G-get up!" He tried his best to avoid touching her as best he could as he hefted her up and started to attempt to carry her on his back, with more success than he thought he'd have. He dragged her along the dusty road towards his house which was still a tantalizing mile away.

With annoyance, he could already hear the cries from the side-lines. "He's so kind!" "So helpful!" "Carrying a random stranger to help!" The young meister ignored them, if not out of complete spite for the girls. He tried not to let this hinder his movements though, and hummed something sounding dangerously close to Rap is a Man's Soul from Gurren Lagann.

Millie could feel the world flowing by, and just barely have glimpses of the voices that floated by them. Eventually those faded as well, and she was left completely indisposed. In her mind, she was at home, in her own bed. If you could call a place where everyone constantly struggles for dominance home. That wasn't important now. What mattered was that, even now, she could feel soreness developing in her dehydrated body. She felt ready to crumble. Muster one last groan, telling him to move faster.

He took the hint rather quickly. Andre, without second thought, hooked Millie onto him as best as he could, and began to scale a building, a bit slower than he would've normally due to the extra weight and the extra care he had to put into it. Upon him actually making it to the top, he began leaping from building to building, catching ledges barely and almost twisting his ankle at one point to hurry and get her to his home. Upon reaching the modest house, he opened the hatch on the roof he used to get inside from his regular parkour runs, and dropped down the ladder, setting Millie on his bed after landing on the nice light blue carpeting of his bedroom.

"Alright..first aid.." He thought for a few seconds before shuffling off into his bathroom to go find some of the supplies he used to aid himself when he screwed up.

Millie audited in discomfort from the rough travel, still hanging onto a pseudo-awake sensation. Instantly with contact, Millie melted into the bed. She felt like moving would crack her body like a delicate porcelain. Still she would claw at her will to grant her one last action before she had to give in completely to rest. "If I-... Wake up in different clothes... I'll kill you." She barely managed in an exhausted tone, before her neck finally went limp in surrender.

Andre blushed brightly at the notion, bringing the supplies back to the room. "I..I don't even own a pair of women's clothing." He stared blankly at the wall, finding himself imagining it and felt a warm liquid running from his nose, confirming it to be blood. Stuffing a tissue into his nose, Andre took a cooled fluffy towel, dipped it into a bowl of water, and strained it before laying it on her forehead quietly. He began to work on her hand, rubbing some muscle relaxant cream into it before popping the bones back to the way they needed to be to heal properly. "That'll hurt later.."

Millie relaxed even more at the cool touch of the water, and the relaxing massage, only to writhe lightly when the bones were moved back into place. She was far too tired for it to bother her for long though. She soon slipped past it, and back into sleep. Though this was by far the nicest thing someone had done for her, it was also the most humiliating. Better to have died in the desert, than her family know a human helped her survive her trials. Turning her head to the side, she growled at her own sleeping thoughts. "What... gonna..?" She began to mutter in her sleep.

Andre took no notice to what was going on, rubbing a bit more of the relaxant into her hand before putting the stuff off to the side and washing his hands. Remembering earlier, he grabbed the largest glass he had and filled it to the brim with cool water. He set it next to his bed on his nightstand, remembering to freshen the water on the towel before heading into his kitchen.

"Okay. She might be hungry and I want to get her something to eat before I let her back out.." He said quietly, wondering what he should make. He decided to make something to replenish her stamina, so he got to work cooking a rice omelette, shoveling some beef into the middle to give extra protein before setting it on the counter to cool while he waited for her to awaken.

Millie's instincts granted her only minimal rest. Her body gaining some ability she jolted into an upright position, like she was going to fight when she got up. "Guy?" She wondered softly, and looked down to make sure she was in her own clothes, and wouldn't have to be fulfilling any promises. With a sigh of relief, she downs the glass of water, and follows the taunting smell of food.

Turning into the kitchen, she brought a hand to scratch her head, and was reminded with a sharp pain, her encounter with the witch. Holding her own hand again, she addressed the student. "Thanks for the water, and whatever." She tried, this sadly being the most polite she had the experience to muster.

Andre jumped a little bit when he heard her, as he had his back turned whilst writing something onto a notepad. "O-oh. It's nothing. I left some food on the counter there, for you, in case you're hungry or anything.." He said, his head still facing his sketchbook. He reminded himself that he was doing a good thing and that he shouldn't worry, but the hell he knew he was to face at the bakery left him shivering.

Millie could sense the anxiety off of the boy. She moved to the food, and brought it over to the table. She dreaded the idea of eating something properly for face, so she decided she wouldn't... But first. "...You hiding something from me?" She asked in an incredibly blunt tone. If this guy had some stash of drugs that was his business, but if they were working their way through her system, she wanted to know. "I'll know if you're lying." She added nonchalantly, before digging into the food with a bestial rage.

"Hiding something? Me? Th-that's preposterous, what would I have to hide from you? And even then, what does it matter?"

Half telling the truth isn't that bad, right? He didn't technically have anything to hide from her, but he assumed that it was obvious from the way that he acted. He was, honestly, deathly afraid of her. The way she carried herself, the way she acted, even when receiving aide. "O-oh. Um, my name's Andre. Nice to...meet you? I guess? Not that I'm saying I'm glad I found you dehydrated like that, I mean that I'm glad that I...I'm not doing a good job here, am I?"

Millie smirked a bit. This was one of Death Cities protectors then? A funny joke. He obviously worked one of the shops here. Probably making pastry, or some other la-de-da task. She snickered to herself for ever thinking he was a threat. "Relax, I'm not gonna kill you." She said, assuming that thought was in his mind, and making no considerations for if it wasn't. "So, you're the town bicycle?" He asked, referring to the number of female voices still ringing in her head. "It's no wonder. You look like a push-over, and act like it too."

"I'm not a fucking push-over!" He instantly snapped, scowling deeply, lines wrinkling across his brow as he furrowed it. Andre was visibly infuriated by the notion judging by the frown, the stout brow and the clenching occurring in his teeth at the moment. "I just...don't do much. I prefer to stay in my house and not bother people."

"Like I said, you're a pushover." Millie would say, her mouth with full. After a harsh swallow she put the plate in the sink, and walked back over to the table to take her seat again. "So what's with taking me home then? It isn't like a shut-in to take someone into their house... Or not a stranger with a poor attitude anyways." Yeah, she knew she had one. She was almost proud of it too.

"I'm not a fucking push-over." He mumbled with intense disdain beneath his breath, before returning his attention to the girl. "You were injured, by the looks of it, or in dire need of help so I did the right thing and took you to my home so that I could administer first-aid and feed you. Y-you should be thanking me." Andre pretty much regretted saying that almost as soon as it flew from his mouth, but it was too late to take it back at this point.

Millie rolled her eyes a the comment. "Yeah, yeah. Thanks, and whatever. You're my hero.~" She ended in a sarcastically chipper tone. In all seriousness, she WAS grateful, but showing such a thing would only make him comfortable, in turn making her comfortable, and ultimately making her lower her guard. Millie looked down to her hand. It felt much better now, thanks to him. A small silence fell over her.

Andre grumbled under his breath, tossing his sketchpad to the side casually before sinking into his seat to try and calm his nerves slightly. "The sarcasm isn't appreciated." He looked up at Millie, noticing her look at her hand. C'mon Andre, you can do this. Don't make yourself look like an idiot. "I-i, quite obviously, noticed that your hand was broken while I was helping you. Uh..how'd you..break it?" Andre said, the questioning tone in his voice taking a backseat to him trying way too hard to seem collected.

Millie kicked the brief calm from her head. No room for it in the den of her enemy. "And why's that your business?!" She asserted, leaning over Andre, and locking eyes with him. This kid was like pure joy repellant. Just some goody-two-shoes student stumbling over every thought, and probably getting all of the attention he could want because of it. How she would love to tear off his stupid nervous face, and feed it to him. Too bad she was where she was. Millie placed two fingers on Andre's head pushing it back, and forth. "People like you make me sick you know that? You think I owe you answers, or something?" She continued, her tone becoming ever distant, and cold. Her eyes beginning to peer through his in a gaze that could stop bullets.

Andre tensed suddenly at the physical contact between her and him and attempted to make no sudden movements. Why did Andre have to help her? Could've just left her out in the desert to die. He took a deep breath, looking directly back at Millie with about as much confidence as he could muster. "I never said you owed me anything. All I asked was "How did you break it?" Y-you could've just said you didn't wanna talk about it. And secondly, stop touching me." He awkwardly attempted to swat her hand away with the back of his own. "I'd appreciate it."