April 15th, 1992

It was another grizzly day in Augusta when Christy woke to her alarm buzzing the nine AM alarm. She sighs and gets up to turn the alarm off. It's not though she really had to get out of bed to do so, her dorm was so small, but she did anyways. If she didn't, she'd roll over and miss her last class before Spring Break.

Her dresser/desk and bed, both school supplied, took up most of the room, leaving a narrow walkway between the two. Her dorm's phone was beside the school-supplied desk on the wall. There were some shelves that she'd put up with permission of the R.A. and they were almost warped from the weight of textbooks, other books, newspaper articles she'd appeared in so far, and various other knick-knacks.

Her Brother's Grimm compilation still occupied a place of honor on the shelves, next to the ancient snow globe from her childhood. A few books were scattered with papers on her desk; a small laundry basket was half-filled with crumpled clothes was on the floor next to it. The shallow center drawer of her desk/dresser was slightly ajar, the tape used to keep the sliding drawer shut still attached to the drawer front.

Christy sighs and closes the drawer and pressing the tape back down. It would slide back out if she didn't and it had caught her hip a few times before.

"Thrice cursed school furniture…" Christy mutters as she gets dressed. It was Wednesday and the last day before Spring Break so she only had her ten-thirty AM lecture that day. Her usual lab for that day had been cancelled since the professor had left early on break.

After dressing, Christy grabs a breakfast bar and the text book for her British Literature class and skims over the reading for the class today, refreshing her week-old-memory of it. At ten-fifteen, she dusts the crumbs from the book and closes it.

She gets up and picks her messenger bag from the floor at the foot of her bed, putting the book inside, before heading out the door to class.

"Well that was dry as usual," Mari comments after their class.

"It could've been worse. It could've been Professor Sulson," Christy replies as they exit the building, heading towards the cafeteria. The mention of the Native American Lit professor brings a shudder over Mari.

"Speak not such evil around me," Mari says dramatically, mock shuddering again. Christy laughs at her.

"So what've you got planned for break, Wispy Christy?" Mari asks, giving her friend a conspiratorial nudge. Christy rolls her eyes.

"You know I hate that nickname…"

"But it suits you so perfectly! Now spill! You don't have anything planned, do you?" Mari persists.

"No I don't… I have nothing planned beyond writing up last weeks' lab experiment for Chemistry."

"Well I was thinking, if you wanted and since we live in the same town, we could go home for the week… Y'know… Be lazy college kids for once…" Mari says, nudging Christy again.

"Alright, sure…" Christy responds, trailing off as her eyes catch on a vague feline shape in the fog up ahead. Without another word to Mari, Christy takes off at an easy jog after the shadow.

"Christy? Christy! Wait up!" Mari calls before chasing after her. Christy pays no heed, continuing after the vaguely familiar shape.

Christy hauls up short and peers at the shape, distinctly feline just outside the range of visibility. The shape made a dart to the right and vanished into the fog bank.

"Christy! What did you see?" Mari almost demands to know after catching up with her eccentric friend.

"Nothing… Thought I saw something familiar…" Christy says, glancing back at where the shape had disappeared to before turning back to Mari. "Let's grab lunch and then pack and go."

"Now you're talking!"

It was just a little after four when the pair of colligates made it back to New Gwynedd. Mari offered to have Christy over for dinner but Christy wanted to ditch her bag at the first convenience so Mari dropped her off in front of number 39 Mayfield Way. Christy smiles at the home she hadn't seen since early January, idly noting that her mother was home as usual, as she walks up to the front door and lets herself in.

"Mum? I'm home!" Christy calls as she opens the door. Her mother had always had a delayed response to anything so she set her bag down and pulled her light coat off and put it on a hanger.

Fiona Frank was not a very reserved woman, and her emotions were frequently on her sleeve, so Christy knew her mother was more than just shocked that her only child was home.

"Christy! What are you doing here? I thought you were staying at school?" her mother states questioningly.

"Didn't you get the message I left? I called around noon to tell you," Christy responds on edge. "It was kind of a last minute decision and Mari offered me a ride this morning after British Lit." Her mother sighs.

"Well come on… Put your bag in your room. I guess we can put up with you for a week before summer," her mother says, smiling slightly.

Christy smiles back, quickly heads up the stairs, and sets her bag on her bed. Her room was barer than she'd ever kept it while she was living there full-time, but most of the personal items were kept at school except for during the summer. She deftly opens her bag and pulls out the Brothers Grimm compilation and sets it in its usual place on the shelf above her desk.

She smiles fondly at the familiar surroundings before heading back out.

"Mum, I'm going to go to the library. I'll be home for dinner!" Christy calls as she grabs her heavier coat from the closet and goes out the door. Faintly, she heard her mother respond with a time but Christy knew that dinner was always at six thirty.

She takes the straight route up Third Street East, passing the various small town stores, houses, and warehouses on her way to the northern edge of town where the library was located. A few people recognized the 'citified' version of the Christy they'd seen grow up and felt the need to talk to her just to make sure that she really was the same person.

Christy didn't feel she'd changed particularly; she'd just gone to college in the capitol. Thankfully the people that talked to her didn't have long to talk and went back to their errands after commenting on the duster-length single-breasted coat she wore.

She wasn't far from the library when she sees Andres, Mike, and Phil up ahead, leaning against a building façade like some bad parody of the gangs she'd occasionally encountered in Augusta. She hesitates slightly at the sight of them, but quickly opts to go with the 'ignore them' approach so that there was no visible hesitation.

As she got closer, she realizes that they were smoking, Mary Janes from the smell of it, and she represses a sneer. They hadn't changed one bit from high school, staying around New Gwynedd and content to live like so many others in this fishing town. She allowed herself a small swell of confidence that, even though she'd be coming back to help the Spinners with the library, she was at least furthering her education so she could make a better life for herself if she ever wanted to leave.

She had hoped, albeit she knew vainly, that her carefree confidence would've thrown them off of cornering her for an encore performance of the various torments they'd inflicted during their school years. However, Andres seemed to have a second sense for when his favorite target was near. It was considerably dulled by the joint between his lips, but there never the less and went off no sooner than Christy had passed the trio.

"Hey… If it isn't Christy, the city bitch… How's it been?" Andres leers. Christy feels a chill go down her spine at the tone he had used, continuing to walk on as though she hadn't heard.

"Come back here you little bitch! I asked you a civil question!" Andres snaps, catching up before Christy had anytime to form a plan of action, and grabs her, roughly shoving her against the brick face of the building, not ten feet from where they'd been leaning before. Christy let her whole body go lax; one of her biology classes teaching her that tension only increased the severity of injuries suffered.

Christy opens her mouth to scream only to have a fist catch her in the jaw, slamming her head back against the wall. 'Biology be damned, the statistic was probably only for car accidents anyways,' Christy thinks with a curse as she was dragged back some distance and thrown to the ground.

Christy looks up and realizes that they have her trapped in the alley they'd been standing next to before. She looks around frantically for an exit, seeing only fire escapes and the alley entrance. She looks back at Andres and his little gang, her mask almost slipping to reveal the pure fear she was feeling at that point.

"I think it's high tide I taught you some manners, bitch…" Andres leers down at her, seemingly appreciating that her coat had fallen open to reveal the conservative navy blue turtleneck and long black skirt. Christy's eyes widen ever so slightly, reading his body language and not liking the foreshadowing. His friends were still higher than the Rolling Stones on the opening night of a tour but they were still quite capable of stopping her should she try to make a break for freedom, so she takes the only opportunity she had…

Without giving away her intent for tensing her whole body, she swiftly kicks her right foot up and it connects solidly with Andres's groin. He immediately doubles over where her foot would've been, had Christy not immediately rolled to her feet, and sags to the ground. Mike and Phil were too shocked, at first, and too stoned a moment later, to do much more than stare as Christy makes a running leap to the top of a garbage dumpster and uses that extra height to swing herself up onto the fire escape.

For what seemed like forever to Christy, she sits up on the roof of the three-story building, waiting for the loud retching sounds and angry curses to die away, staring into the distance in a state of shock.

After she felt it was safe, she risks a glance down to the alley she'd just escaped. The only evidence that Andres had been there was a puddle of vomit near the alley entrance. She climbs down, shakily at first but calming as she descends, from the rooftop and continues on to the library.

Author's Note: Many thanks to Peter for being my ST. This will be an ongoing bit, I think, just to keep track of how my Changeling game goes. Christyana Adyna Frank is of my own creation and I'm rather proud of her so please ask if you'd like to use her at all. I rewrote this because I wasn't too pleased with the two days separate… Oh well… It could've been worse. Thank you muchly and please review!
Slytherin Shaman