Welcome to Gaia! ::

Avery came charging up through the snow, disturbing the peacefulness of the snow with his shouts of joy. He was carrying a saucer sled over his head, hands encased in bright red mittens. His head, scarf and boots were also red, but his coat and snowpants were black with gray accents. Being outside in winter was the one time he acknowledged the need for lots of clothing.

Behind him, pulling the string on a sled carrying Sybil, was Rime. Sybil was bundled up so much she could hardly move, and she still looked cold. Rime thought they might have to go home earlier than planned to warm the little girl back up. All you could see of the girl was her half-closed eyes through the purple of her scarf and hat. Her coat was a light blue, and her snow pants were a darkblue. She held a big insulated thermos filled with hot chocolate close to her body.

Alida and Ritsu came last, dragging or carrying their own sleds behind them. Ritsu wasn't too enthusiastic about this outing, but everyone else was going, and he didn't want to be left out. So he came, decked out in his white coat and light blue snowpants and mittens. Alida had a green coat with a fuzzy hood up, her floppy gray hat somehow stuffed underneath, with gray snowpants and mittens, and green boots.

They plowed through the snow, and finally came to the hill, which Avery was already most of the way at the top of. "Okay, kids, go have fun. Go sledding, or make a snowman. I'm gonna sit here." She made a motion at a picnic table, and moved to sit.

Alida frowned, and shook her head, pointing at the hill. Rime grinned and said, "Ah, but you see, sweetie, I don't have a sled... and I don't have snowpants. You go have fun. I'll watch." Her grin grew, and she pulled something from her pocket. "And take pictures!" She waved the camera around, and then returned it to her pocket.

Alida sighed, and then continued on up the hill with her sled. Ritsu stayed where he was. "Uhm... Rime-san... do I have to? Can't I just sit by you?"

"Well... you should go play... but you don't have to sled if you don't want to. Have you ever made a snow angel?" At the shake of the boy's head, she said, "Well, we can't have that. Sybil, would you like to as well, honey?"

Sybil woke up a bit, and appeared to be considering. Then she nodded slightly, and clambered ungracefully out of the sled, setting aside the thermos. She waddled over to where the Rime and Ritsu were sitting.

"Okay, lay down with your arms out to your sides in the snow. And then do this." She demonstrated in the air, looking like she was flapping her arms. "Move your legs, too, scissor-like. Yeah, just like that!" As the children complied, she whipped out the camera and started taking picture after picture, grinning the whole while.

"Momma... how long do hafta do this for?" Sybil looked worried. She thought she might have to spend the rest of the day laying in the snow, at this rate.

"Ah, sorry! You can get up now. Carefully...! See, there? You have a Ritsu angel and a Sybil angel. Let me take a picture!" Ritsu tolerantly waited for the picture, but Sybil began to pout, though you couldn't see it under her scarf.

Rime put the camera back in her pocket, and said, "Well, wasn't that fun? Now you can never say that you haven't made a snow angel." She sat back down and said. "Go on! Make a snowman, or a fort, or throw snowballs! I bet Avery would like that.... On second thought, no snowballs." She smiled, and the two kids went off to make a snowman.

Avery had made it to the top of the hill, and he stood there very excitedly, looking down. Then he sat down in his saucer, and gave himself a shove down the hill. He shrieked delightedly as he went down, but a bump at the end flung him into the air and deposited him into a nearby snowbank. He came up grinning, and looked about excitedly for the sled.

"It's gotta be around here somewhere!" Then he spotted the red plasitc, and pushed his way through the snow to it. He was about to pick it up when he saw Colette a ways off.

He cupped his hands, and shouted, "COLETTE! HIYA!" and waved furiously.

Alida, on the other hand had made it halfway up the hill when Avery came careening down, and she watched with dismay as he fell in the snow. She looked up the hill and chewed on her lip.

Do I really want to? Well... maybe a couple times. She thought as she considered the snowy hill.

She slogged her way to the top, and was settling herself into the sled... when it went down the hill with her only halfway on! She fell on it on her side, and screamed silently all the way down, clinging to the sled for all she was worth, getting her teeth rattled by small bumps on the way down. She reached the bottom wide eyed and breathless, and just lay there for a moment after the sled slowed to a stop.

She had just caught her breath when a familiar voice spoke. "Are you okay..?"

Yuki? She made her fingers let go of the plastic sled, and rolled over to look up at him. She swallowed hard, and then nodded a bit shakily, her pupils still dilated from the adrenaline.


Avery grinned and ran to meet Colette. He held up the sled that he had brought with him. "I'm going sledding! It's really cool, and fast, and there're bumps that send you flying! It's okay, though, you land in the snow. What are you doing, Colette?" He craned his neck to look past her, but didn't see anything.

Alida took his hand, and used it to steady herself as she stood up. She smiled at him, still a bit shaky, and then let go. As she calmed herself down, she noticed that he looked... scared.

Scared? Of what? Me? The hill? Oh, I wish had something to write with... Her eyes returned to their normal dilation, and she took one last deep breath, and sighed with relief. I'm glad that's over. I'm not doing that again. Not for anything.

She shot the sled a dirty look and kicked some snow at it before ignoring it completely, and then turned her attention back to Yuki. She looked at him questioningly, and then gave him a worried look. What's wrong?


Avery's face lit up. "Snowman? How far did you get? Do you want me to help? Or would you like to go sledding? I think I can get one of the other ones from Mom. Sybil and Ritsu don't seem the types to go sledding." He nodded solemnly before he started to grin again.

Alida smiled happily when Yuki remembered her name. She had only seen him a couple times in class, but she had learned a bit about him from Ritsu. Well, only that they were cousins, and that Yuki was adopted by Arafel, but it was better than nothing.

She shook her head to deny being offended. It was a part of her, no reason to feel bad about it. She smiled again, smaller, but just as genuine, and gave him a questioning look as she pointed to where he had come from.

He came from all the way over there to rescue me. Wow. I hope I didn't interrupt anything... She was glad that her Mom had taken to carrying around a small notepad in her pocket, so that if Alida had something urgent to say, she wasn't caught empty-handed. She'd have to go retrieve it, so she could hold an actual conversation.

Colette smiled "Uhm.. we'll we were working on the body base! You can cmoe help if you want.. but i think Yuki-onii-san is busy. So we could sled?" she smiled, trying to make a decision for once.. she knew it bothered people when she repeatedly told them that she'd do what tey wanted to do.. though thats really how she felt.

Yuki followed her finger to where she was pointing "Oh we were just building a snowman.. Colette got called off by Avery." he smiled a bit, blinking suddenlly when he thought he saw someone else falling.. not attached to a sled or anything but, still, falling. What was it with people and falling out here?

Arafel was a bit away from where she had left Colette and Yuki, Yuki could take care of Colette if anythign happend right then.. and she could still see them both from where she was now. She blinked watching someone tumble down the hill, a child obviously.. or a midjit. She shrugged and pushed herself to her feel scooting over to him.. yep child.

"Ah, Spiro." She smiled, waving up to Hatori "Hi hatori!" she turned her attention back to the boy, tail wagging back and forth as if it had a mind of its own. "You okay?"

Avery nodded, absolutely thrilled that Colette had made the decision, and that it coincided with what he felt was more fun, too. He pointed up the hill, and said, "Okay! Let's... Actually, hold on a sec! I'll be right back!" He left his saucer where it was, and ran over to Yuki and Alida.

Alida turned to look at him, and didn't bat an eye when he snatched up the sled and grinned at her. "I'm gonna borrow this, okay, bye!" and dashed off with it held over his head, like a portaging canoe. She shook her head slowly, and then returned her attention to Yuki. She smiled at him, and then pointed over by the picnic tables, where Rime was sitting. She wanted her notebook.

Avery ran back to Colette, and proudly showed her the sled he had snagged from Alida. "This way we can sled at the same time! Maybe even race!" He looked at them both, and then asked, "Which sled do you want, Colette?"