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Avery had been gulled by the seeming reprieve, but shouted out loud when a ball of snow plopped onto his head and down his shirt. He jumped up, doing the "I have snow in my shirt and it's cold" dance, attempting to shake it out of the bottom.

"Oooh, you.... take that!" he growled playfully once he got it out, and sent another one almost point blank towards Aqua after stooping to scoop up some snow.

Alida smiled cheerfully, and waited while Sere got herself set to go. She wrapped her arms around herself, the notebook trapped between them and her body, and was glad her own wings were hidden under the shawl she had over the long, knee-length coat she was wearing. It kept the snow off, even if it did make her look a little odd... but it's real purpose was hiding those wings of hers. People tended to judge her harshly, not even paying attention to how polite and patient she was.

When Sere was ready, she gestured towards the shop and started walking.


Ritsu smiled hesitantly, but when it didn't seem as if it would be met with a scolding, it grew to a real smile, though never a very large one. "It is good to meet you, Zuko-san," he said, and bowed slightly, his hair falling over his shoulders.

Sybil was growing bored, but she was also warm, sitting here in Zuko's lap. So she tugged on his coat a little, and asked, "Can we do something... that isn't too cold? Is there anything like that?"

Ritsu heard the question as well, and encouraged by the conversation so far, tried to come up with ideas. Things for Sybil-san to do that aren't too cold... Snow angels? Maybe a snowman... that would only get her gloves wet, wouldn't it? he thought, and submitted the idea to Zuko for his approval.

"Do you... do you think a snowman would be good?" he asked, already starting to doubt himself now that he was saying it out loud.

Avery had been sniggering at Aqua getting snow in her pants, but gave the stick a glare when he was poked with it. "You're gonna hafta catch me first!" he called, and dove behind the snow pile he'd come out from behind not too long ago.

But he didn't stay in one place. As soon as he was over it, he got back up and charged towards an area that had more trees. She apparently had the advantage in close combat, but if they were dodging behind trees, that was more equal, wasn't it?


Once they were in the shop, Alida started to take off her coat, but quailed, because some people had taken notice of their entry. So she tugged the shawl a little closer, and looked around for a place to sit.

When she found one, she motioned to it with a questioning glance at Sere, and started towards the table. It was near the windows in front, and she could still see what was going on at the park if she cared to.

A coffee would be wonderful right now. Should I go order, or did you want to? she wrote, and showed it to Sere. She had no qualms about showing a written order to the man at the counter.


Ritsu boggled for a second, not taken back at the praise, but at the simple fact that he'd had a good idea. He had a lot of them, but never seemed to realize this fact on his own.

Sybil however, smiled, and nodded. "Okay!" she said, and slid down again, waiting for someone to show her what to do first.

(( Sorry for the delay again. I'm so bad about checking the guild... We need to implement subscriptions for guilds! gonk ))

Avery was in among the trees, and he already had two missles readied in his hands as Aqua came running in his direction.

"FIRE ONE!" he shouted after he let fly with the first one, and skittered over to the next tree over while she would be dodging the snowball. Then he let fly with the second one after a quick peek in her direction. This one was stealthy.

Alida made a small, amused smile at the gesture Sere gave the other patrons and at thier reaction to said gesture, but didn't make any other move until she got her response. She nodded cheerfully and wrote, What do you want?

She wrote out her own order on the slip; a double mocha cappucino with whipped cream and cocoa powder sounded like pure bliss to her at the moment. She passed the paper over to the other teen, and waited until Sere returned the paper to her.


Ritsu knew what to do, and helped Sybil start her own little snowball before making his own. He was fairly confident that this was something he could do without messing up. As long as he didn't trip and land on the snowball, squashing it, or something equally disastrous.

Sybil, for her part, caught on quickly, and soon was pushing her small ball around in the snow. She was delighted in how it left a little path behind for her to walk in, and how the new snow it encountered clung to its sides.

"It gets big so fast!" she exclaimed.

Avery held his lips together to keep from laughing, and edged around the tree as Aqua neared the other one. Once he cleared the other side of the trunk, he launched a third snowball, one that had been prepared while hiding.

"I'm over here, Aqua! Haha!" he taunted, and turned to dash away again. But he tripped over something in the snow; whether it was a low, buried branch, or a upraised root wasn't certain. But the result was that he yelped, then landed face first in the snow, laid out flat on the ground, face down. A muffled groan emerged from the snow in which he was half-buried.

Alida nodded, and wrote that down as well, before getting up and taking it to the counter. The man there didn't seem to realize she was there at first, and after several seconds looked up from the counter he was wiping and started.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't hear you come up. What can I get for you... miss?" he asked, putting on the too-bright smile that service employees tended to adopt.

Alida held out her list, and pointed to them as well to get her meaning across, and he gave her a look before taking it and reading it. He nodded then, and smiled wide, saying with over-enunciation, "That will be just one moment, okay?"

Alida simply put on a patient face, and nodded. People tended to assume that because she couldn't speak, she also couldn't hear, which wasn't the case at all.


"When doesn't it stick? I didn't know snow had different kinds, just like Dragons and Elves!" Sybil exclaimed, and laughed.

Ritsu, working hard, had managed to make quite a robust ball, and took a breather from rolling it. "They get heavy fast, too." he said.

Avery had been just about to come up for air, but the weight of the girl on his back simply made him sink a little further into the snow. "Klmrph?!" he said, startled, and began to try and squirm out from underneath, muffled laughter could be heard periodically. At least he hadn't landed on his wings. Even folded against his back, that would have hurt.

Alida covered her smiled, and glanced back at Sere, amusement shining in her eyes. Of course, she could never bring herself to do that, but the statement seemed almost close enough to the actual deed.

The man hemmed and hawed momentarily, before going off to get the drinks ready, thoroughly embarrassed now.


Sybil listened intently, absorbing the knowledge of many types of snow, and nodded when Zuko finished. "You know a lot, Zuko. How do you know so much?"

Ritsu nodded, and continued to lean on his snowball, where he was kneeling. It was rather comfortable... in a cold, wet sort of way. Soon, though, he was ready to start again, and pushed the ball around a litte more until it had collected enough, he thought, to either be a base or be put on top of a base.

"Uhm... did you want to make the base, Zuko-san? Sybil-san? Or should we use this one? It's all up to you, of course." He wanted them to make the decision, because it meant he couldn't make a mistake. And he knew he was prone to making a lot of mistakes, despite the nice way others tried to reassure him that he wasn't.

Avery shot about a foot into the air, and danced around the trees, shrieking. But it was no use, the snow was melting, and had no place to go anyway. He stopped still and gave Aqua a heartfelt glare before wiping the dripping cold water off his face, too.

Suddenly this wasn't seeming so fun, not now that he was cold and wet and starting to shiver. He considered simply stalking away, but that was too much like running, and that was something that he would never do, so he simply said, "That wasn't funny," in as flat a tone as he could muster.

(( Which is saying something for the exuberant little guy. ))


Alida gave no sign of hearing the low grumble, but if she had, it wouldn't have made any difference anyway, since she had no control over how long it took to make the drinks.

It wasn't very long before she had two mugs, one in each hand, and carried them over to the table. She set the hot chocolate down in front of the Angel, and resumed her own seat with her mug in front of her. She took a deep, approving breath of its aroma before sipping the piping hot drink carefully.


Sybil raised her arms up high. "We'll make a big one! C'mon, Ri, I'll help, too!" she exclaimed, and got close to the other boy, who shied away when she almost touched him.

But a moment or two later, they were working together to make the ball larger, until Sybil finally declared it the right size. It was almost as tall as the little girl!

Ritsu sighed deeply, his cheeks pink with the effort. "Uhm... now we start on the middle? Or do you have one, Zuko?" he asked, deferentially.

Avery shook his head. "It really wasn't, Aqua..." he made a face as another bit of snow turned into a trickle of ice water. She seemed oblivious to his discomfort as she made a snow angel.

And after about twenty or so seconds, Avery plopped down beside her to make his own. He was still cold, but he wasn't really capable of staying angry for very long, unless it was a truly serious situation.


Alida was almost the mirror image of Sere in that moment, raising her mocha to her nose to take a deep, appreciative sniff of the steam, then taking a drink, and finally a sigh of contentment.

Nothing like a hot drink after you've been in the cold, she thought, and returned the small smile Sere had let escape.

She set down her mug, and pulled the notebook over to her to write down what she had just thought to herself.


Sybil pushed somewhat ineffectually at the side of the snowball, but smiled a big smile of accomplishment when it got to the top of the larger snowball. Ritsu was on the other side to stop it from rolling down the other side, and when it was all atop, he began to pack handfuls of snow into the crevice between the balls.

"What are you doing, Ri?" Sybil asked, mystified.

The boy stopped almost immediately, as if he'd been caught doing something wrong. "Uhm... I... it keeps it from getting jostled off..." he said, worrying that they'd scold him for it.

Sybil took him at his words, and said simply, "Oh!" before packing her own small handfuls into it. Ri was still looking to Zuko for approval or a scolding.

Avery got up; he didn't mind ruining the bottom of his angel. He grabbed Aqua's outstretched hand and hauled, leaning backwards to bring the girl to her feet. "Just no more snow down my clothes, okay?" he asked.


Alida wracked her brain for something to talk about. She didn't really know the other angel well, and she was just a bit nervous about her quick temper. So she was hesitant with what to break the ice with. Finally, she wrote, So what would you rather be doing?

It seemed safe enough. It would let the other teen vent, and Alida would find out about more of her preferences.


Reassured, Ritsu went back to packing the snow with Sybil. he looked at the snowman, which already came up almost to his neck. It was going to be tall.

"What will we use for eyes?" he asked, and looked around.

Sybil stopped, and frowned, thinking. "Like what, Ri?" she asked.

"Uhm.. something... round... and solid... and... darker than snow... rocks?" he suggested. That was kind of like charcoal.