while the rest of the girls are drowning in roses and songs

[lucked]

While Mr. Muggles had long since learned better than to step foot outside with the streets filled with puddles and ice alike, Claire was starting to think of the whole change in terrain as an experience that she couldn't let herself miss out on. If everyone's predictions were right, then London wasn't likely to last longer than the month, and after

Comments

[not_so_smooth]

Sam had just been heading to get a bite to eat from the Compound, or what the Compound had turned into, when a snowball hit him on the side of the head. It wasn't necessarily a hard throw, but it wasn't a gentle lob either.

He immediately spun around to see who it was, only to lose his balance on the frozen ground and fall sideways into a pile of snow. Sputtering and shouting he jumped back up, dusting himself off.

"Oh, it is so on!" Sam called out. "Once I find you. And make a snowball. And get close enough to hit you with it? It will be on. And then off right away so you can't retaliate."

[not_so_smooth]

"Hey, if I was your size you would have missed my face!" he laughed, turning so that any of her snowballs that struck home would hit along his back.

Sam crouched, turning and throwing the snowball he had gathered up. Perhaps his one main advantage was that she couldn't run quite as freely as he could in her skirts. Of course, he wasn't going to run away and make her chase him. That would be a little bit ridiculous.

"And you are so going to owe me a hot chocolate after this."

[lucked]

Squealing at the snowball which hit her shoulder with a sudden burst of chill, Claire shivered and bent down as best she could to gather another, a second snowball soon hitting her between her shoulder blades. "Dude, I've been to like... three places already that serve hot cocoa," she pointed out, quickly packing her snowball and throwing it his way, before holding her hands up. "We could go there now. Because, as much as I do love my winning streak, the cloth gloves I brought are so, so ill-equipped for this kind of heavy fighting."

Pursing her lips and hoping to earn a bit of pity, Claire breathed on her fingers for emphasis. No doubt that they were probably pink underneath all of that nice forest green.

[not_so_smooth]

"Okay, I agree that we will stop now while a winner is yet undetermined," Sam called back. Sure, one of them was a lot more wet than the other was but that really didn't mean anything. It could go either way at any moment. Maybe.

"But how about I treat you to some cocoa because I'm a gentleman like that and you're a lady like that. A sneaky, sneak-attack type lady, but still a lady."

[lucked]

"Yeah, keep on telling yourself that," Claire replied with a bright laugh. In truth, she could see the fight going either way, probably. As much as she wanted to claim that she was the definite victor by anyone's standards, the truth was that Claire had the worse clothing for the activity by far, and she didn't trust herself to be capable of holding her stamina up for the entirety of a snowball fight.

Her only intention had really been to throw him off, anyway.

"But, yes, you are a gentleman. A gentleman who likes taking snowballs to the face, but hey, I'm not one to judge when it comes to free cocoa," she grinned broadly, curtsying at the end.

[not_so_smooth]

"That's because I own a top hat now, isn't it?" he said, giving her a short bow before heading over to offer her his arm. Gentleman were like that, right?

"I mean, it's at home, but I still own one. I think that automatically makes me a gentleman of the first magnitude."

[lucked]

"No, it's because you offered the cocoa. I think the top hat just kind of makes whatever you originally are more extreme. Like, if Ebeneezer Scrooge wore a top hat, he'd be twice as miserly and twice as Grinchy. He'd practically turn green," Claire argued in turn, although her hand easily settled on Sam's arm as she offered a wide smile, heading in the direction of the street again, sure that they'd come across a café sooner or later. "So I guess with you, being a dork, a top hat just makes you dorkimus maximus."

[not_so_smooth]

"Oh yeah? Well it would make you... cutimus maxi- shut up, Claire."

Sam didn't really mind, he knew the teasing was all in good nature and he was a bit of a dork. Okay, maybe a huge dork but he liked who he was and proud of it.

"Besides, I think I'd like to be Dorkimus Prime."

[lucked]

"Dude, I can't be cutimus maximus- which, by the way, doesn't even sound remotely cute, so I don't know if it's really the appropriate term to use- but I can't take that title from you, because it's supposed to be Cassie's, right?" Claire let her lashes flutter as she pursed her lips, shaking her mind. She wasn't too worried, of course. Sam seemed the type who enjoyed throwing compliments out there, but he was devoted all the same, and it made being around him a great deal easier than some of her other guy friends. There was never any doubt, never any uncertainty.

"Dorkimus Prime also sounds way too... cool," she added, narrowing her eyes. "For a maximum-level dork."