heavy checkered winter coat pulled tight over a pastel pink, too large jumper. light grey woolly hat with a bobble on atop over long, braided hair. big, mitten type gloves keeping too delicate fingers toasty. there was an undeniable chill to the air, and noémie had reacted as anybody would - bundling herself up past ALL sense. she was taking her time walking the streets of auradon, almost excessively so ; each step taken in her huge winter boots carefully deliberated, all the better to avoid a catastrophic accident. if anyone would have one, it would be her, and if she were going to suffer the first topple of the winter months, it would be when one hand was clutching the strap of her sports bag and the other was holding on tight to the portable ballet bar that she hauled out for private lessons.
she was ACHINGLY self aware. always had been. while noémie could rely on natural elegance on STAGE, she couldn’t trust it to keep her safe in dire times such as these. if there were a single patch of well hidden black ice along her route home, her footfalls would almost certainly find it - and as so, she was taking every precaution that she COULD to avoid a painful tumble at an inopportune time. just five more minutes. five more minutes, and she would be ( relatively ) safe within the walls of theta pi. it was a comforting mantra.
the unfortunate tragedy, of course, was that while she could control her own movements well enough - she had no power over others. five minutes had turned into a projected three when the sound of a bicycle bell from behind startled her, and noémie spun on her heel ; realizing that she was in their oncoming path in just enough time to jump out of their way with a STARTLED, “merde!” their cackles, audible over the crunch of tire on gravel and icy sleet, was the background music to the rather spectacular events of the next moment. she failed to catch the right footing in time to avoid the fall she had been avoiding, and weighed down by her gym bag, it was over in seconds. the ballet bar clattered across the ground, and she let out a little ‘humph!’ sound as her body met the pavement.
“asshole!” she shouted after them - throwing up a middle finger, though they were now PAST seeing it. further rage bubbled, but she decided to channel it, instead, into the new challenge of righting herself, once more.