(Untitled)

[princeduality]

FIRST SNOW.Before the cold is long and bitter, snow falls once, gently, and comes to rest over the fallen leaves and chilled land like the softest blanket. It's not much, and certainly the sun will dry it away before dark, but until then all is white

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[redesert]

[scurries under a tree, trying not to touch the snow]

[her eyes are wide, surprised and in awe, but they seem awkward - as if she's not used to being surprised more than unused to the snow]

...so white.

[princeduality]

[someone else stands, wide-eyed, but certainly not surprised by snow. wide eyes are the norm.

he takes a few steps and stops, looking up and contemplating something--trees or sounds, maybe--then moves again. he keeps doing that: step-step-step-stop, pause, step-step-stop, pause...

his head turns and wide eyes regard wide eyes, acknowledging her but...not quite sure why she's there.]

[redesert]

[she just stares back at him, head tilting, hands slipping out of her pockets]

[princeduality]

[hands, he sees. sometimes that's bad, he knows that. he freezes, watching carefully.]

[lagopa]

[ She also seems like a part of the landscape, she's so pale-- so thin. Like a slender tree with whiting bark, leaves long gone. She hardly even seems to breathe. Just the faintest puffs of foggy air from her mouth and a tint of pink on her face show life, besides her movements.

A winter phantom, lost perhaps. But less concerned with where she is than the falling snow, the frosty chill. She seems enamored with the weather, wandering along the dirt path in a thick fur coat with her eyes tilted upwards toward the sky. ]

[deer_eyed]

[Forest creature, dear one, she watches with brown eyes, admires the flighty grace of her sister's pets. Her own steps are quiet, cervid.]

Keep yourself warm, little one.

[lagopa]

[ The spirit tilts her head to the sound of that voice-- the shape of a woman, but the movements of a timid beast. Still, for a beat, before her gaze finds brown eyes. A hesitation, then quiet response: ]

Thank you, but I do not mind the cold.

[deer_eyed]

[Lydia smiles, warmly, leisurely. Her steps out onto the road are nervous, looking around herself with the alertness of the hunted. She is never to know when Man might be lurking, waiting for her hide.]

She has not yet reached the pitch of her cruelty.

[chionablepsia]

[Black-eyed girl, eyes like death, her ghastly bone white smile. This is hers. Blizzardseason, accepting the scepter her sister passes her.

The hunt has only just begun and she glides over treetops and through the gray ash of cities, a gown of crystal and perfection.

She is sleepy yet. She exults, each breath condensed in the dry air: apotheosis to herself.]

Ah, I am coming. Feel me in your bones, for I tread your veins like ice.

[princeduality]

[he can hear winds gossip and breezes chatter where others only hear whistling between branches. he can hear, too, the sigh of greater spirits and tilts his head up to attention. their voices are so much more beautiful.]

[chionablepsia]

So rare that I am heard as I am. [She murmurs, cold breath caressing ears.] So rare that I am seen. [Chill touch running the lines and worries of a prince.]

[She stands before him, eyes dark and wet, red lips quirked.]

Do you wish to be mine?

[princeduality]

Ah--[shoulders lift up against the cold. he blinks and she's there, and he's a little startled to say the least. most of those kind don't bother to make themselves that well-known, let alone--]

Oh. Nn. No, madam. [stories of mortals tempted away by the other side--well, that's what happened to Father, wasn't it? but it was still dangerous. he knows.]

I. Only heard.

[wantsakitteh]

[it's a habit when he tugs the collar of his black turtleneck to cover his mouth and nose - with the lack of a scarf to dampen the vapor slipping out in white clouds with each breath - but he makes no motion to indicate that he actually feels too cold]

[in fact, his blue eyes are gleaming with something akin to amusement as he digs his feet and legs deeper into the thickening snow]

[yourpainismine]

Ha! Hup!

[it repeats.

the boy's trying to make perfect footprints, hopping up and landing hard, lifting his feet up one by one to make sure no excess trailed along. if it did, he does it again.]

[wantsakitteh]

[he watches him quietly - oh, hey, that looks like fun. But instead of immitating him he drags his feet on the ground, knees close to each other, making a trail in a zig-zag--

--and falling into a slump, snow up to his waist]OHSHI--

[yourpainismine]

[he jumps--not to make footprints, but because of the noise, and turns his head.]

Oh! [suppressing a giggle at the sight.] Mister, are you stuck?

[justsqueeze]

... Hm.

[sonofguns]

[eying you from against a tree.]

[justsqueeze]

[Eying you back. He looks like he's nothing but fascinated.]

Excuse me. Do you mind?

[sonofguns]

[raises his cigarette to take a lazy drag.]

Mind what.