(Untitled)

[sallyslingshot]

Alex had never seen snow before. For that matter, she'd never really even experienced cold weather before, at least not by most people's definition; there had been chilly evenings, days that seemed cooler than the rest, but she knew full well that it could have been much, much more than that. Having spent all her life in a climate so similar to

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[agirlnamedchuck]

The facts were these: it had been slow going for Charlotte Charles the past few weeks and the sudden appearance of snow did not make it any easier. It was not to say that she did not enjoy it, for she did. The snow reminded her of when she had first arrived here and of snow men and hot chocolate and other various things. It also reminded her of several sad things, but she wasn't going to dwell on that.

Stopping on the path to catch her breath as another minor stretch of pain hit her stomach. They were normal and nothing to fret about though worry was natural the closer she got. Even pretend contractions were alarming when realising they led to the real thing.

Smiling as she saw Alex, she waved with one hand still on her abdomen. "Having fun?"

[sallyslingshot]

For a split second, Alex felt nothing but self-conscious upon realizing that she had been seen. While this was the first time she had ever seen snow in person, the same wasn't true for the girl she was pretending to be, the one who had been born and raised in Portland, and easily though it came to her, she didn't always like lying, at least not to someone like Chuck. There had been a moment of letting her guard down. At least, she thought, she could cover without a problem.

Besides, it was simple enough to shift her focus. Still grinning, she walked closer to Chuck's side, the tip of her nose turned pink from the cold. "I missed this," she explained, which wasn't entirely true, but came close enough. "How are you?"

[agirlnamedchuck]

The girl named Chuck smiled a bit brighter as Alex came nearer. She liked the girl who reminded her a bit of herself. There was just something about her, maybe the sudden disappearance of her father that made Chuck want to reach out. There was a sense of kindred spirits.

"I'm good. We're good. Just tired, but the snow is nice isn't it?" She liked it, enjoying the fluffy whiteness and the strange quiet it brought to everything.

[sallyslingshot]

"It's beautiful," Alex agreed, nodding, with some combination of enthusiasm and reverence, more of both than was wholly necessary. Her guard was lowered, though, and it was the first time in a long time that she didn't mind it quite so much. For the moment, at least, it didn't matter. "Are you heading up to the Compound? God, I wonder what it looks like, if the huts are all different."

[hightail]

It had been years since Kate last woke to such weather, since she'd last peeked out from under her comforter to a bright, white-washed world outside her window. Though far from the best of students, Kate had never counted herself among the majority of her classmates, who went to bed nightly whispering prayers for a Snow Day. She'd never had the luxury of preferring home to school, and it made no difference to her whether class was officially canceled or not - if she wanted to skip, she would. (None of these were thoughts she regularly entertained, but the sight of a snow-covered island had brought with it memories of Kate's childhood which were far from welcome

[sallyslingshot]

While it was a voice that Alex thought she would have recognized anywhere, she was startled nevertheless by the sound of it, her reaction time not quick enough for her to register the snowball flying towards her until it had already hit her. After a sharp, audible intake of breath, as she dusted some of the snow off the sweatshirt that served as her outermost layer, she let out a laugh, turning in the direction the snow had come from. Under any other circumstances, it was the sort of thing that she probably would have noticed, but as it was, she'd been too distracted; given the cause of it, she had trouble minding.

"You know you're not gonna get away with that, right?" she called, already crouching, long sleeves pulled over her hands to keep the snow from making contact with her bare skin. As such, the snowball she formed wasn't too well-shaped, but it did the job well enough; her aim made up for it when she threw it in Kate's direction, teeth pressing to her lower lip in excitement.

[cibosity]

Sawyer, for one, hated snow. He'd seen it before, of course, not only in his youth but also in his travels, having gone literally halfway around the world to try and find the man who had tore both family and childhood from him. But it had never really been accompanied by pleasant memories. Snow just made him think of Christmas, as he was shuffled from distant relative to distant relative, none really knowing how to deal with a slightly sullen-faced child who couldn't be cheered up even by the most extravagant of presents. It made him think of slush lingering on a dock, and of icy rain falling, gray and dreary scenes

[hightail]

It was pure luck that had Kate escaping Alex's aim just seconds before the snowball hit, grazing her right shin before she could dodge in full. "S'that all you got?" she called out, words colored by a flow of giggles that slipped out quick and easy, the most genuine laugh she'd had in weeks (maybe even months). Any other time and the sound of Sawyer's voice would have had a different effect altogether, causing her heart to sink into her stomach and her breath to catch, thoughts fogged by an onslaught of conflicting emotions and memories better left buried, if only for the time being.

But this wasn't any other time, and upon setting eyes on Sawyer, Kate decided that the only thing wrong with this picture was how little snow there was decorating his person. Kneeling down slowly, she began constructing her second snowball, eyes still fixed on Sawyer as she worked.

[giftless]

"Look out!"

Edmund himself did not like snow overmuch, but Honour, being a direwolf and therefore naturally equipped for the environment, had a much different sentiment on the matter. Today he had decided to steal one of Edmund's gloves before he could put it on and dashed down the boardwalk, taking enough of a lead to leave his human half-walking, half-running after him. Having lured Edmund very close, Honour had just taken off on another sprint, Edmund following. The direwolf was headed straight for the girl when Edmund shouted his alarm, but took a sharp turn to the right and into the foliage before hitting her.

Edmund, not nearly so agile, skidded and fell backwards, saving himself from hitting the ground completely with one hand. He blinked up at the girl, cheeks flushed and a bit out of breath, and smiled. "Sorry," he said. "He's a right troublemaker."

[sallyslingshot]

Attention pulled from the falling snow by the commotion in time to see the very large animal running towards her, but not to react, Alex was noticeably relieved when it veered off the path, exhaling heavily with one chilly hand pressed to her chest. More than anything, it had just been startling, not so scary as to leave her too shaken, but still trying to catch her breath. It wasn't, after all, the sort of thing that she could have expected.

"Don't worry about it," she said anyway, teeth pressing to her lower lip to hold back a smile as she looked down at the boy who'd fallen, holding her hand out. "Just took me by surprise, is all. Need help?"

[giftless]

"A little, please," he said with a laugh, reaching up to take her hand with his ungloved one. Edmund was not nearly so proud that he could not laugh at the ridiculous position he was in.

On his feet again, he brushed the snow off of himself. "He's so used to the tropical climate, I think he gets silly when the snow appears again. It's what he was born for, you see."

[sallyslingshot]

"Oh yeah?" Alex asked, her eyebrows lifting along with the corners of her mouth, genuinely interested. It seemed understandable enough to her; in terms of climate, she might have been exactly the same, but the arrival of the snow had her shedding some inhibitions, able to do nothing but marvel at how fresh and beautiful everything looked all covered in white. "He must really be enjoying this, then. I think it's gorgeous."

[noonelaughed]

There'd been snow in Bristol, but definitely not every year like he'd heard they got it on the island, and never this much. Chris had mostly spent the day walking about in it, looking at how all of the huts and buildings had turned pink and curved and right weird. People'd told him that strange things happened on the island, but somehow, several feet of snow and pink buildings hadn't entered his mind as something that could actually happen.

On his way to the compound for something to eat-- he'd already been there once, earlier on, to look for a coat and a hat-- he found the girl standing about in the snow, arms out.

"You've got to stick your tongue out if you're gonna catch a snowflake on it," he said.

[sallyslingshot]

"I wasn't trying to," Alex replied with a laugh, head lowering so she could look at the boy who'd spoken, mouth set in a crooked grin. It had, admittedly, been a little tempting, but she had managed to stop before going that far. Besides, as far as anyone else here was concerned, this wasn't actually the first time she'd seen snow; fortunately, it was easy enough to dismiss her excitement as just having missed it. "Just looking, I guess."

[noonelaughed]

"Lot to see," Chris remarked, taking in the snowy surroundings himself, hands in his pockets, as he'd yet to find a pair of gloves that fit, "We'd never get snow like this back home. More like a kind of rainy slush sometimes."

They'd never ended up with pink, mental buildings either, Chris thought, but decided against saying. They reminded him of something, but he hadn't been able to put his finger on it yet.

[sallyslingshot]

"We got some of it," Alex replied, somewhat thoughtfully, thinking back on all her father had told her - and all she'd managed to read for herself - about weather in Portland. "This, though, this is just gorgeous. I mean, I heard we got snow around here, but it's still so unexpected, you know?"

And, okay, so some of it was a little weird, the way the houses had all changed, but it was hard to focus on that with how beautiful, how new this was.

[a_royal_bastard]

The return of the snow brought mixed feelings in Alistair. In a way, it was the first time since he appeared that the island truly felt even somewhat like Ferelden. It was comforting as much as it made him homesick. He'd been taking a walk in the snow with Duncan, who took to the snow as well as any mabari ought to. He stopped when he noticed a familiar face standing among the snow.

"Enjoying yourself?" he asked with a small smile when he realized she hadn't noticed him yet.

[sallyslingshot]

"Yeah, I am," Alex replied, still grinning as she turned to look in Alistair's direction, lifting one hand to brush snowflakes off her hair. She remembered him, had liked him well enough when they'd first met, and now, was kind of glad for the company. "I love this, the snow."

[a_royal_bastard]

"I'm still not sure what to think of the redecoration of my hut, but I have to admit, I don't mind the snow either," he said, glancing up at the sky. The snow seemed different here - cleaner, maybe, and the snowflakes were certainly bigger. "I haven't really seen it since I left Ferelden, when I was up in the mountains."

[sallyslingshot]

"Yeah, the pink is... a little weird," Alex allowed, nose wrinkling. As far as she could see, though, there was nothing about it to mind. The redesigned huts were warm enough, if lacking in right angles, and everything else looked nice enough to make up for it. "They had a lot of snow where you're from?"