Welcome to Gaia! ::

Really, he was getting maddening! Audrey had told him clearly that morning that she'd already come up with her New Years' Resolution: to punch him in the arm every time he so much as mentioned ruining Christmas. It didn't matter that she had tried to physically assure Elzo at every opportunity that she was not unduly upset by the fact that he'd run off and gotten hurt by the flying ice shards from that b***h Ice Queen. It didn't matter that she told him with great enjoyment about locking Marlo in the backseat of his sporty car. It didn't even matter that she herself was entirely unharmed...on the outside. Christmas had been ruined and Elzo Xanis was determined to be miserable about it.

Well she wasn't about to let him ruin another holiday by bitching about the last! Even though the most drastic of freezes had gone away with Kaguya it was nonetheless chilly outside and wool stockings were beneath thick jeans tucked into lined boots. Two shirts were on beneath Audrey's favorite navy blue wool and she looked...awkward. Like a penguin at the very least. All but waddling to the car the teen tossed her blue curls and huffed in the cold.

"I wouldn't worry about it. I'm scary and I can scare people away by just glaring. See? I glare." Brows furrowed and her cheeks puffed out into what was evidently supposed to be a rather menacing look. It only lasted a moment before teeth flashed in a wide grin. "See? Scary!" Hopping forward to make imprints in the rapidly browning snow Audrey kissed Elzo lightly and with excitement. Christmas, even with its problems, had been absolutely beautiful. If he was going to try even harder tonight was bound to be wonderful!

Fingers were snappy at the buttons of her coat to let the heated air flood in against the lilac and cream flannel shirt that was beneath. "Soft and vulnerable core? That's silly and you know that I'm hard as steel at the center! I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Me? Soft? Hah!" Audrey being joking and silly? Yeah, she was in the best mood humanly possible apparently! Fingers were even already combing through her hair to put them into two pigtails and keep her ears warm as the night went on, tying the second bow even as he asked about dessert.

"Dessert? Are you really asking?" Deciding that the car was dark enough to hide her blush, she dared a glance down below where the curve of the wheel rested against his lap and a wide grin that bespoke her embarrassment at such a forward thing. They were sleeping together rather often now so it was silly to be embarrassed wasn't it? Especially after what she'd done on Christmas Eve! Silly or not, she was nonetheless blushing and couldn't look for more than a second. "I think Heaven is open tonight. It better be. Otherwise I may just perish in the cold and you will have to howl at the sky while holding my lifeless body." A giggle filled the darkness of the car.

"Or, you know, just find something else to take my mind off the lack of glorious cinnamon rolls."

To be entirely truthful would be to say that Elzo had that effect on most people and Audrey was no exception. Thinking of Audrey as innocent was something that both Victoria and any of her Negaverse associates had not done for quite some time in any case, for two very different reasons. One was that the bluenette was not an innocent but simply incredibly shy. The other was obvious. The mention of dancing superceded everything though and had the teen beaming into the car. "I love dancing with you, you're the only one I can really get it right for. I tried to get Vicky to teach me something once and I think she was ready to kill me when I was done mangling her toes." It had ended up with her cousin all but picking her up by the hair and dumping her out a window in a moment of incredible frustration.

It was somewhat amazing that Audrey could only ever really be somewhat graceful when it was Elzo's arms around her and his steps leading them through the tapestry of music. It still wasn't really elegant by any means and any child at Crystal was probably taught to move better than her, but it was absolutely a personal victory. Pulling her thoughts back to what he'd said, a snort was triggered on the front of a downright girlish giggle. "You're kidding yourself if you think you won't end up doing that anyway. You've got idle hands Mister Xanis, don't even try to deny it. I sleep with you every night and your hands always seem to move." Up, down, it didn't matter. More often than not his hands always ended up against her skin somewhere, though it was often not inappropriate. They just liked to be close and she'd come to terms with the idea that sneaking out in the middle of the night was just not going to happen.

Eyes got just a little dreamy, though he wouldn't have been able to see the molten honey look as Audrey watched the city go by. "It's too bad we can't see too much from our spot. The cold seriously killed how often we go and I miss it." Away from the world, where none of the conflict could get them and she could just be a girl happy and in love? Who wouldn't miss it?!

It always came so easily from his lips that the simple 'I love you' humbled Audrey to the very core. She'd been difficult, had technically betrayed him with someone she should have never even given the time of day to, broken up with him, and constantly put him in danger just by them being together. While Elzo was not even aware of a third of that he still loved her for being her strange, silly self. Glowing with delight her fingers twisted under his to link their hands together lightly as she sat up in her seat and so very softly kissed the skin at the corner of his jaw. She rested there a moment with her forehead against his temple, voice a murmur. "I love you too. I don't deserve you, I swear." It had to be said quietly...Audrey wouldn't have admitted to anyone else that there was something she did not deserve.

Sliding back in her seat she kept their hands loosely joined and her smile undimmed. "If you only want a million dances, we might have to slow down. There are a lot of years to fill yanno. I don't think even a billion dances could make me dance like the goddess you see in your obvious delusions. I think even a tauren dances better than I do." And their cow-shuffle wasn't anything to be proud of!

Her free hand pressed lightly against the glass, pulling back quickly at the cold. "I hope we don't sleep out here tonight, otherwise I'll wake up to an Elzo popsicle...and not the one I'm used to. I don't hold heat that well, remember? But snuggles are good until we get too cold. You're better than most scarves. No, really, I mean it!" Really Audrey was pretty set to snuggle right now, but the car simply wouldn't allow it.

Dumb car.

"Are we almost there? I don't think you were entirely clear on where we were going. But it's okay. My boyfriend will kill you if you take advantage of me!"

Eyes looked out at the night with all of the snow covering the trees and making overall a rather lovely picture. It also looked incredibly cold out there, and Audrey was never the sort of girl to throw herself eagerly into either extreme of temperatures. The car was warm, the car was comfortable, but being outside meant that she could snuggle as close as she wanted with the excuse of keeping warm. Not conductive to eating though, unless..no. Elzo would have absolutely gone for feeding her and vice-versa, but that was not something the bluenette was comfortable with even when they were alone. Being fed by someone in public?

She wasn't five and the answer was clear.

"Eat in here until near midnight, then move outside and have the hot chocolate while we stay warm until next year? I'm sure we can just listen to the radio or...something." The idea of what Elzo could come up with for 'something' generally made her cheeks hotter than the chocolate. But they were in somewhere public so it wasn't really a big deal.

Audrey was sometimes painfully naive.