(Untitled)

[pere_noel]

If this was a vacation, and despite the fact that Nick had been keeping himself busy with his old occupations it really seemed to be, then Nick was going to do some of the things he always wished he had more time for. He'd already read a book, toasted his feet by the fire and been introduced to a remarkable device known as a television set, but not

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[nevergrowsup]

After a long afternoon of making snow forts and preparing snowballs for the next great snow battle, Peter was trudging back to the Compound. When boys play that hard they require lots of cocoa, after all. He waves a gloved hand to the old man going down the opposite way with a pair of skis.

"Hullo. Where're you going with those?"

[pere_noel]

"Well, I thought I'd go up the mountain," said Nick, pointing up at the ski lift, and to parts unseeen beyond that. "Skiing's much more fun when you start at the top."

[nevergrowsup]

"I went sledding," Peter informed him matter-of-factly. The time with Lucy had just been the first time, but he hadn't quite worked out the mechanics of skiing just yet. "I've gone on the chairs a bunch though. What'll you do if you fall off it?"

[pere_noel]

"Well, I suppose I'll ski down to the bottom and start again," said Nick thoughtfully. The lift didn't run too high off the ground, though he still wouldn't want to fall from it. "I don't expect I'll have any other choice."

[che_freeman]

Huey had spent the last hour or so behind the compound. He'd been spending the last few days researching for a newsletter that he planned to hand out in the rec room of the compound-- on the mass delusions associated with Christmas-- and needed a break. Besides, even future black revolutionaries could make snowmen. And if Huey's snoman happened to be wearing an aso oke instead of a top hat, then so be it.

When he saw the old man walking nearby, he paused in his work of adding rocks to the snowman's disapproving expression.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He said.

[pere_noel]

"What, go skiing?" said Nick, pausing to look at him curiously. "Oh, it's a good day for skiing, especially after having been blessed with a fresh blanket of snow. But I see I'm not the only person taking advantage of it. My, that's a fine looking snowman you've got there, young man."

[che_freeman]

"He's contemplating his cultural identity." Huey explained. Of course he didn't actually think that the snowman could contemplate anything, but the fact that a snowman was dressed in garb traditionally worn by people with dark skin tones was ironic.

"Did you know that there were approximately eighty-one thousand ski injuries in 1998?" It was more a rhetorical question than anything else. He hated working with outdated data, but it was the most recent thing the bookshelf would give him.

[pere_noel]

"Oh, that's so far ahead of my time I don't think I need to worry about that too much," said Nick. "They probably have all kinds of newfangled devices to get themselves in trouble in 1998."

[hunts_treasure]

There is a snowboard in the closet. Correction: There was a snowboard in the closet. I have confiscated it for the day. The clothing box was kind enough to provide me light weight and tightly fitted ski pants that tuck into my own boots, which are all-weather appropriate, as I tested in both the Himalayas and the Gobi, and a resplendently turquoise ski jacket. My sunglasses will do just fine instead of goggles, and I actually went through the trouble of braiding my hair down its entire length.

I am only carrying one gun.

There's a gentleman whose demeanor seems somehow familiar to me heading in the same direction I am, and offer him a smile and nod.

[pere_noel]

"Going up?" said Nick, nodding at the ski lift up ahead. It's a fairly safe question, given what other options lie ahead of them. "Now what's that you've got there?"

[hunts_treasure]

"Before going down, one has to," I reply, nodding, then hesitate and look at the holster on my thigh, then the board in my hands.

"This is a slightly more reckless and newfangled version what you have there," I tell him, nodding to the skis.

[pere_noel]

"That's exactly what it looks to be," he had to admit as he studied the snowboard a little more closely. "Now how does one manage to ride on something like that?"

[mediumprodigy]

Pearl was beginning to really enjoy the snow. While Bob always made sure she was always dressed properly and it was a little harder to walk in the puffy outfit, she still found ways to have a good time. It was after class, and she had gotten the okay to go out and have some fun. She had just gotten close to the compound when she noticed a man walking towards her with big stick things. Curosity got the best of her.

"What're those?" she asked, her voice soft.

[pere_noel]

"Why, these are fine downhill skis," said Nick, showing them to her. "Have you never been skiing before? It's quite the enjoyable sport."

[mediumprodigy]

"No," she admitted, looking up at the man shyly. "This is the first time I ever saw snow, too."

[pere_noel]

"Never seen snow?" said Nick, feigning astonishment at her pronouncement. "Well, we're going to have to get you well acquainted. Snow is marvellous stuff to have fun in."