Day 55: Courtyard [4th Shift]
Talking with friends usually put Anise in a better mood, but the subjects that she, Guy, and Tear covered at lunch were so heavy that Anise couldn't help but feel weighed down afterward. It was hard to think and talk about the terrible things that came about from her lies. She wasn't going to cry, not now, but she felt like she needed a little
( Read more... )
That thought made him shudder.
Though his stomach pains weren't completely forgotten as his soldier helped shove him into a big black coat (his hat still didn't fall off), they certainly were when the door outside opened and he was greeted with his first eyeful of -
Snow, he thought. Snow. He had never seen it before, but he knew exactly what it was. Even in the memories that were disconnected from himself, Roxas didn't recall ever seeing it. It was like a big white sheet had been dumped over everything and the air smelled cold. He shuddered visibly this time from the effect of the frigid air hitting his wet hair. Roxas had seen ice - he'd been in the Organization with Vexen - but snow was not exactly something Vexen had ever made. Besides, Number IV had kind of hated everything (for people with no hearts, Nobodies were good at disliking things) and he hadn't spent time with Roxas when he could help it.
The Nobody's first few steps were cautious as he wasn't sure what to expect. The snow looked fluffy, but he couldn't be entirely sure... until his whole foot sank into it and wet the end of his pants. It looked like a powder but it clumped together when he crouched to press his fingers into a pile of it. Luckily, his escort at least had the niceness to grant Roxas a pair of gloves which blocked most of the cold. He actually liked them; it was almost like he was in his Organization outfit during the day, a luxury he hadn't been granted for a while.
When Roxas stood back up, he examined the entire courtyard. The snow seemed to be never-ending, blurring everything together in a sea of white. The patients stood out particularly well in their dark coats, so it was no surprise that one really caught Roxas's attention. Once he took a few more steps and became confident enough to do so without slipping or something, Roxas ran over to Sora with a big wave.
"Hey Sora!" Roxas noticed the balled snow in Sora's hands and tilted his head curiously at it. "What are you doing?"
Reply
He couldn't help noticing the name that was stitched into Roxas' coat, though. It said "K. Lawrence," which was the same last name that he had. The institute really was acting as if they were brothers, weren't they?
Then again, it wasn't like the relationship between a Nobody and their original was something that would be easy for most to understand. It wasn't something that Sora could put into words, either; the feeling he got when he was around his Other wasn't something that could be defined. It was just that it was simply right, for them to be together.
It wasn't like he was going to get all hung up on that, though. Roxas had asked a question, after all, and the other boy actually looked pretty excited about the snow. That was no surprise, if they were as similar as everyone said they were.
"Oh, I'm just trying to make a snowball!" he explained, opening his hand to show the small, round clump of snow that he'd gathered there. "Though I guess there's not too much I can do with it now..." The soldiers had been nice to him, but there was probably no way they'd let him get away with tossing a snowball at his so-called brother, even if it was just part of a game.
Reply
Roxas stared at the snowball for a moment before he went back to Sora's face with his own full of perplexity. "Are you going -" his stomach growled loudly, making him pause for a second to sigh, "to eat it or something?" Okay, so part of the blame for that question could go to the fact that it was really hard to think about anything besides food, but part of it also came from the fact that Roxas was thinking that it... looked pretty edible, really. He wasn't sure why that came to mind, but he figured it was a relatively safe feeling. It's not like he got urges to eat grass or other inedible things.
"I mean, what's it for?"
Reply
"Well," he started to explain as he bent down to gather more snow, packing it in as an attempt to make the snowball larger, "normally you're supposed to use them in snowball fights. You just throw them around at your friends because it's fun, and they don't really hurt if you're wearing the right clothes." These leather jackets would probably provide more than enough padding, for instance.
"Sometimes I think you even make little barricades to hide behind and then throw them back and forth like that!" He knew he wasn't describing it that well, but if anyone would be able to follow his train of thought, it would be Roxas. That was how he thought it worked, anyway.
Sora then made an attempt to toss his larger snowball up into the air and catch it, but it pretty much fell apart on the way back down, which only made him laugh. That hadn't gone so well, had it?
Reply
Er. The answer was yes. And they didn't look particularly thrilled about anything, though he didn't know if that was was just them or it was because of his rank or because he was with Sora or whatever. Or maybe they could read his thoughts.
"It sounds fun, at least. I've never been in one, but I don't think they'd like it if we tried." Maybe the snow didn't actually make the best ball considering how easy it fell apart. The Nobody bent to pick his own handful of snow up, curving his fingers like he'd seen Sora do, packing it as tightly as he could as it crunched under his gloves. "Does it help if you do it harder?"
Reply
Sometimes it was hard being responsible...
Sora watched as his Other started making a snowball of his own. Roxas definitely caught on fast, that was for sure! It was something they shared in common; he hadn't even taken that long to learn how to use magic, for example. "Yeah, I think so! But you don't want to crush it, either. I guess it's about putting the right amount of pressure into it." So it took practice, just like so many things. Sora held back a sigh.
There was something more tame that they could do with the snow, though. Sora had never tried it, but... "Hey, Roxas, have you ever heard of a snowman?" he asked the other boy with a tilt of his head.
Reply
"A snowman?" he asked, looking up from his hands. They were cold now, the fingertips kind of losing their feeling a bit, and his cheeks were red and cold, just like his ears. Why couldn't he have a cap or something? (Did they have caps?) The coat was warm, but the rest of him really wasn't! Even his feet were getting cold, but at least the snow stayed out of them pretty well. Cold and wet wasn't exactly working out well for his hair, anyway.
"Um... I think I've heard of it. It's kind of like..." he held his arms out, leveling his hand right next to his head. "This high, right? And they're like giant snowballs?" Why did he know this? He'd never seen snow before, but once Sora had popped the question into the air, it was like he could visualize one. "Do you want to make one?"
Reply
Luckily, it seemed that his Other had some idea of what a snowman was, and was also following along with Sora's train of thought. No surprise there, though. "Yeah, well... I'd like to, but..."
He paused then, pulling a hand up to rub at the back of his head awkwardly. He somehow managed to do it without knocking his beret off, though the hairpins he'd been provided definitely helped with that. "The thing is, even though I know how one looks, I don't really know how to make one." He'd seen them all around Christmastown, but he'd never had the time to ask someone to teach him.
It was definitely a shame, but maybe if the two of them worked together they could figure it out? He wondered if it was even a two person job. Just how did you make snowballs that big, anyway?
Reply
Leave a comment