Snow Halation [Closed]

A small town outside the boundaries of the prestigious academy's borders was filled into a winter wonderland.

Flakes of snow drifted to the ground, blanketing the town in vanilla white on the empty streets. A young girl held out her hand with the other at her chest, the crystalline snowflakes floating and melting in the warmth of her palm. The pure colors of her outfit camouflaged within the frosty surroundings - a gift of innocent blessings. A chilly whiff of air emerged from her lips, slow light breathing. City lights shone in perfect boundaries, illuminating the misty city with the perfect halation, creating a bright wonderous image.

Golden eyes followed the sky, looking up in childish naivety, pleading for the cold weather to stay. Snow was rare within those days and it was a waste of time to not find something to do within it. Lamia shuffled her feet, soundly contemplating on the thought of building a snowman. It was something she hadn't done since she was ever so young with her twin brother, Kearn, but, she couldn't necessarily do anything else. A snowball fight was another common concept, but there wasn't anyone she could play with.

Her cheeks were flushed from her pale complexion, perhaps signs of fever. It was not a thought that was foreign to her - after all, her fragile stature said much. Although she had gone through what had been her "growth spurt", she hadn't managed to gain much height. Or at least, it was incomplete.

From her entire break, Lamia had outgrown her short, side ponytail and let it go into a silky long black stream. Her powers had spread or grown a bit after a small incident in attempts to rescue her parents, but was coincidentally too small of an amount without being fatal to her own health. Now, she didn't have the same calm blue eyes or eyepatch, but rather a warm, honey yellow. The aroma of the atmosphere scented with fresh baked cookies, the kind every child knew their grandma would bake for them on a cool evening and the fresh-perked wariness was a pleasantry through the air of camaraderie and comforting cloak of relaxation.

A bag was slung over her shoulder as she stared distantly towards the academy that she had little memory of. Would it be alright for her to have Kearn away in some distant land? Letting out a small sigh, Lamia began walking, unable to keep herself in one area without much to do any longer. Bring her scarf up to her mouth, she clutched onto it, as though it was her last remembrance from before. A small, false, but delicately crafted flower was within the grasps of her small fingers now as she went through the dark streets in the twilight evening.

Maybe she should build a snowman?

The winter weather made the air frigid, and even under a thick, fuzzy-necked coat, Katsuo could still feel the day's bitterly low temperatures. It was the cold start of a new year, and no matter what House you put him in, the Winter still found going outside basically asking for hypothermia. Yet, here he was, walking through the snow out to Rosebury. Although he wasn't too fond of the air's chill constantly crawling up his skin like spiders, he--kind of ironically--loved snow and how beautiful it looked against the sky, falling gently down to rest in silence along the tree branches.

Since the cold started, Katsuo had avoided going out much, and just occasionally glanced fondly out at the snow that gathered across campus. However, staying inside too much was unhealthy, or at least it was with Aiko as your sister. If you didn't force yourself to go out every once in a while, she would do it for you. And frankly he didn't want his sister pushing him along down the halls while ranting loudly for the other students to stare, saying he needed sunlight despite the sun often being covered up by clouds and the like around this time of year.

As he walked down the sidewalk, he paused, spotting a tree nearby, and went to examine it. He wondered briefly he could find even minor sanctuary from the cold in the tree's shadow, but doubted it. Besides, he was off-campus and didn't want to spook anyone. So he simply leaned against the cool bark, glancing up at the sky. It was beautiful today too.

OOC;; I'm late. Sorry. uvu Been studying for a Biology test.

IC;; Down the stone-paved roads, Lamia steadied her steps, slowly putting one foot in front of the other. From her glass figure, one mistake would shatter her from the core to the outside. Her heart beat like an unsteady drummer's rhythm, and her palms had started sweating glistening drops that quickly froze over into an eerie frost.

The ghostly streets were filled with emptiness, almost as though it was some sort of facade concealing a haunted mansion. It seemed more frightful and too ancient, as though in ruins with no civilization around. Taking a few paces forward before turning her back, reversing her position, her eyes stayed steady on the distant school.

Until she just so happened to bump into someone from behind, her skittish movements causing a chill to go down her pine, golden eyes widening. Bowing an apology to the person behind her, it just so happened to be Katsuo. "O-oh...!" From the way she was frightfully pleading for forgiveness, someone might assume she just killed his sister. "I-i'm s-so sorry..."

Running out of words to speak, the only thing she managed to utter was, "I-i...j-just...U-uhmm..."

Ooc: It's alright. I'm several months late xD

Ic: Katsuo reached in his pocket, taking out his iPod when suddenly he felt someone bump into him from behind. The device nearly jumped out of his hands into the snow below, but he managed to catch it and push it back into his pocket before turning to see who was there. A familiar voice began apologizing, and he immediately gasped, then covered his mouth with his hand to fruitlessly block out the sound he had already made. "L-Lamia...!" He breathed, rather shocked that it so coincidentally happened to be her that had bumped into him. The Winter blinked once and then put on a small smile. "I-it's alright, really. I...Um, it's b-been a long time!" He stammered, finding himself in a situation that he least expected to happen. Sure, he expected to see Lamia again once he got back since, well, they went to the same school and such, but out here randomly in the cold? It definitely took him by surprise.

However...He was also a little glad. Katsuo hadn't talked to her in a long time, and he honestly missed seeing her in person like this. Yet, something seemed different. He could recognize her by face, but her eyes seemed to have changed, as well as her hair. She had also gotten a little taller, which he had as well. For a split second, he worried that he was talking to the wrong person. No, he reassured himself. It's got to be her...I hope...

"O-oh... H-hi..."

Her voice was filled with doubt, and honestly... She didn't exactly remember who he was. It might've been trauma she had gone through after learning she lost her parents or the bad hit to her head a few days before the trip when a book shelf fell over her. Bringing a strand of hair behind her ears, tucking it gently back, Lamia kept her eyes on the snowy ground below, scuffling bits with her toes. The Winter student had actually thought of returning the statement back to him, but even attempting to speak brought her tongue into tangled knots and the words were caught in her throat. What was she supposed to tell him? What did he want to hear?

Anything she said was pathetic anyway. No air of confidence ever seemed apparent from her, and more importantly, Lamia wasn't actually capable of being powerful no matter what. Her powers... she could truly take advantage of them if she wanted, but that would be proving to be people the monster she was told she was.

Her hands stayed close and cozy in the pockets of her jacket, the gloves doing little good when she was freezing to the core. She felt as though she was so light-headed, dizzy, fainting possibly. Perhaps she was just running a fever? A bit of Jack Frost late into the season? Hopefully, she wasn't the only one feeling sick... Her heart was bereft of something, but still, Lamia couldn't figure out what it was.

Am I missing something?

Her memory loss at the moment was temporary, according to Kearn, but when it'll recover depends for the time-being. The golden eyes swiftly changed to a blue color and back to the bright sunny yellow, the sporadic color changes a bit apparent to her at this point... While her powers had spread out more evenly, it tended to stand on the cracks of ice, tipping down and sinking to a lower pressure or rising like the tracks of a roller coaster to a tad too high.

OOC;; I am so bad at this. :D

Ooc: Nahhh

Ic: The silence that held out between them began to make him feel uncomfortable. Perhaps he had said something wrong? What if he had truly named the wrong person? Though, if that were true, this girl would correct him, right? She seemed to have the same personality as the Lamia he once knew, the one he had sat in cafe with all those months ago.
And he found himself staring at her briefly, just in time to see her eyes flash from gold to blue and back again. Blinking in faint surprise, he decided that it was, indeed, Lamia. This conclusion, however, introduced more questions to his mind. For instance, it almost seemed like she was nervous. Yet they had become friends--perhaps closer at one point--hadn't they? Surely she couldn't have forgotten him over the course of a few measly months...?
The thought made him cringe slightly, and he visibly shook his head.

"I, er...how have you been...?" He managed to force the words out, hoping to continue the conversation. Was she sick? Had something happened while he was away? Despite just meeting her again after a long period of time, Katsuo suddenly felt very worried for her, and was only barely able to avoid showing it. Perhaps the cold had a hand in his feeling of being on edge, since when he thought about it, he should be happy to see her. And he was...Or, thought he was. But then where did he get this feeling of dread from, hiding in the back of his mind? A feeling that made him somehow feel like a burden to her?

The aura around them felt so tense and the weight of the pressure to keep the conversation going bothered her immensely. It was such an arid conversation to synchronize with the unmoving, dull city. She didn't exactly feel comfortable for some reason and couldn't keep her eyes off of her thumbs as they played around, fidgeting in the slightest of movements. There felt like there was a vaguer, deeper meaning to all of this, but while she is aware of it, Lamia just couldn't figure it out as much as it bothered her that she didn't know what it was. Pursing her lips to prevent herself from faking a smile, now trying her best to keep level with him in eye contact in a hesitating manner. It was so difficult to manage a steady gaze at another person during another conversation... How did most people do it so naturally?

It felt like she was in some sort of air-suffocating trap, a prison holding her down in chains. Lamia felt as though she was simply being too cynical or perhaps even paranoid about the entire situation, but the voice in her head told her otherwise. She felt so nervous, resorting to a careless of stream of words as her expression switched quicker than the channels on television, "You...U-uhm...I-i..."

Her voice trembled and was so shaky, causing her to lower her face in shame, her cheeks tinging red. The entire conversation made her feel so awkward and embarrassed that she couldn't handle such casual talk. It was so hard not to feel uneasy around Katsuo, but still, Lamia didn't understand why. Her heart was beating rapidly, almost ready to burst out from such a fast pace, and she could've sworn someone could hear it if they listened carefully. Was she still being awkward somehow?

"I d-don't th-think anything bad has h-happened recently..." Pausing a bit as she stammered her words out as she gently spun on the sole of one leg, sweeping a path of snow in an unnatural manner. Her eyes widened up a bit as she recalled one small bit though, "U-uhm... Unless y-you count a b-bookshelf f-falling on you a-as bad..."

"W-what about you...?"

OOC;; Typing from school is suffering

Katsuo felt lost, waiting for an answer, his heartbeat increasing as if something heavy above them were about to fall at any second and suffocate them. That heavy thing was there in reality, but not in such a threatening manner. Anxiety. Tension. Discomfort. Perhaps fear, even. When Lamia finally said something, it was a jumble of sentence bits again, causing Katsuo's worry to increase slightly. The awkwardness seemed to decrease ever so slightly however as the other Winter spoke up again, this time with an audible answer. Before he could respond, she continued to add onto her answer, and what he heard caused his eyes to go wide with shock.

How she was able to switch from such an answer to return a casual question, he wasn't entirely sure, but wondered if it was a moment she wasn't particularly comfortable talking about. Yet he only realized this after he had subconsciously blurted out, "Wh-what?! A bookshelf?" He forced himself to keep relatively calm, though by now his worry was obvious. His cheeks turned a faint red from a bit of embarrassment, and he continued in a much quieter voice. "A-are you alright?"

Ooc: I know the feel >.<

It was dark now. Scarcely a speck of sunshine left. And it was still just the two of them... Standing where she was, Lamia glanced at any place she could except for directly at Katsuo, nervously adjusting her gloves. Her scarf was draped over her shoulders so loosely, melted snow creating a soaked, tenderly frosted fabric. Bashfully glancing a quick shot at him, her eyes averted from where they were as her blush deepened. Biting the bottom of her lips, she knew it was impossible to relax at the moment. Yet, she felt her unease unwind slightly.

Giving a sheepish smile, nervously giggling, Lamia only let out a small mutter, "O-oh... I-i'm fine..."

Why am I so... relaxed?

OOC;; Screw it. >;c I give up on writing anymore atm.

The boy slowly calmed down again, and released a sigh. "S-so you are...That was k-kind of a stupid question then, since I'm guessing it d-didn't happen recently...Eheh..." His awkward, yet caring little smile returned, and he scratched the back of his head, his embarrassment increasing. Dang, I'm sure making myself look stupid here...At least she's laughing, he thought to himself, suddenly realizing that Lamia had giggled. Katsuo looked off a little to the side, not really knowing what to say.

And then, as if the worrying had blocked out his other senses temporarily, he was suddenly aware that it was getting darker, and colder. He was freezing, and looking back at Lamia, wondered if she was too. "H-hey, Lamia...Would you like to go to the cafe?" He found himself asking in a voice laced with a sudden calmness that surprised even himself. The cafe wasn't too far, and he was sure that they had a heater going during such frigid weather. Yet, there was also that old memory from what seemed so much longer ago that prompted him to suggest the cafe. Now, he found his cheeks a visible rosy red as he realized how sudden his request could have sounded. At the same time, he couldn't bring himself to correct himself, and just looked down at his shoes as if they were the most interesting things in the world.

Ooc: *Flees to get a brownie*

OOC;; uvu Got kicked off the computer and just got home.

IC;; Blankly staring at the aisle, the day getting so late as the snow continued to fall harder than before, as though it was ready to pound onto the two of them. The first stars began to slow emerge in the murky gray skies as wisps of white littered the world above them, the sun sinking down the horizon.

Vacantly nodding beside him, Lamia murmured back, "I-i-it wasn't st-stupid..." It was only a feeble attempt at reassuring him, but she couldn't say much more than that. Her heartstrings tugged at an invisible force that she didn't believe existed, longing for something. Resorting to playing with the flower in her hands, she embraced the silence for a moment. Even though it was getting ever so cold outside, her eyes closed as she felt a small sense of serene tranquility around her - a frozen Garden of Eden it seemed. It was so idyllic and peaceful that time seemed to stop for just those few seconds that she grasped.

Clutching her sides, she was brooding over some distant thoughts, and the sudden elation was replaced with a slight depression as small bits of memories flooded gently into her mind. Blinking a bit, she felt a rising sense of dread come up her throat before changing to a plain smile, her fingers crossed that everything would be alright.

Hearing his question, her flaxen eyes widened into shock at the suggestion to head into the cafe as they transitioned as swift as a fox from blue back to lemon. Muttering some halfhearted statements to herself, Lamia's smile faded and she was a bit surprised. Her gaze lingered on his figure for a few moments before she abruptly diverted them, breaking any eye contact. There was a rush of slight excitement in her, but she simply said, "S-sure... I-i mean... I-if y-you want..."

Honestly, she meant to say that with a little more cheer. However, it came out as a simple, queasy whisper that was muffled by her scarf. Adjusting it a bit to cover her mouth, Lamia had begun shivering a bit much and looked absolutely shaken. Stupid stupid stupid...  Why are you so nervous anyway?

A small stream of words bounced slightly out of her mouth in an unsteady pace, "U-uhm... K-katsuo? Th-thanks..."

Idiot... Idiot... Is that really all you can tell him?

The Winter blinked, for some reason a bit stunned that she had agreed. His gentle smile from before returned, and he moved to stand by her side for when she was ready to start walking. It was then that he paused. She had thanked him...For what? Katsuo then noticed that she was shivering, and, almost subconsciously, held out a hand.
"Let's go. You're shivering out here." He murmured, his body blocking some of the chilly wind that came their way. Out of no where, the feeling of dread had shrunken considerably, now a barely noticeable speck of negativity in the back of his mind. It was suddenly replaced by determination, like a random sensation of protectiveness that would last for as long as he was with her.

Ooc: Lame short post because I'm really out of it today hnnnng
Sorry ;n;

OOC;; No worries. So freaking tired after updating WCC's Allegiances. I'll just be happy it was short this time. ;-;

IC;; Without another word, Lamia quietly followed, treading with care across the snow. Nodding with a slight sense of blush, her fingers wrapped around his hand as best as they could in their small stature. "Mhm..." It seemed so comfortable at the moment to just be like this... For how long could it last though? It really seemed so perfect at the moment, it made her forget why she was so nervous about this in any possible way.

Even though it was just a small gesture, even if it was out of simple, common courtesy, made her heart flutter just a bit more than usual. There wasn't much she could say at this rate, nothing that would express her gratitude.

When he took her hand, Lamia pursed her lips to attempt to hide her elation. When he had came to protect her from the amount of cold striking at them from all sides, her nervousness arrived once again. Of course I'm nervous... I was deluding myself. Doing her best to avoid looking at him, she hoped simply that she wouldn't lose herself before they arrived at the cafe.

Although he had made the gesture in the first place, his blush had deepened some as she took his hand, and they began walking in the direction of the cafe. Katsuo looked forward, unable to make eye contact with her knowing that his face had heated up. After a brief moment of silence that seemed to last a lifetime, he chanced a glance at her, realizing that she was avoiding his gaze as well. Suddenly feeling a twinge of worry once more, he looked forward again, pushing the feeling to the back of his mind. He probably shouldn't be worrying so much. Instead, he focused on leading them both to shelter from the cold.

The walk was peaceful, and once they had reached their destination, he found himself feeling a little disappointed. However, it was quickly replace by relief since this meant they'd be out of the freezing cold. Much longer out there in the merciless lashes of the snowy wind, he was sure he would have lost feeling in his face. Katsuo opened the door, holding it open for Lamia in a polite gesture, before he would follow her in and hope they had a heater on or something.

A small sigh of relief escaped her mouth when she took her first steps into the cafe. Admittedly, it was much warmer and cozy than the outside desolate, gray world. The trip had been so silent, both Winters avoiding each other. It had made that brief moment that seemed like an eternity last much longer than it should've. And why was it that she couldn't be brave enough to start up a simple conversation? What exactly was wrong with her? Compared to other girls, she seemed so plain and nothing spectacular - the females at this school all seemed so flawless with their beautiful figures and confident nature. As for her... she couldn't speak a sentence without stuttering and helplessly trying to keep up a conversation.

Though it seemed late for her to realize, Lamia had noted one particular thing. He smiled often with her. She couldn't tell if he was just trying to mock her and make her feel useless or if it was a way to tease, but that queasy smile made it all a bit cuter to enjoy his companion. It was such a confusing smile that portrayed too many different things. Confusing, but cute and simple.

Working up her courage briefly as they sat down at a table, embracing the heat and solitude the cafe offered that day and its aromatic cloak of sweetness filling the air, Lamia asked, "Why a-are y-you s-so k-kind to me...?" In her head, she added to herself, Me... of all girls. It's stupid to like someone like me.

The situation she brought up made her realize a few things - it was brave. Reckless. Insane. And absolutely stupid of her to bring up the topic. What was she supposed to say next? What was she supposed to do? It was impossible to rewind the current situation... Butterflies were rising in her stomach - she felt biliousness. Her heart was racing. Words choked in her throat. It was stupidity. All of her confidence quickly washed away as she lowered her head in shame and embarrassment.

"I-i u-uhm... N-n-never m-mind!"

Please don't hate me...