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The weather was rather mild for it being the dead of winter, but the loitering of cloud cover still halted chill breezes from leaving. At least the wind wasn't blowing very much through the park, but just to be safe, Sterre insisted that Xanthe keep her puffy coat on. And a scarf. And a hat. Unfortunately, she couldn't convince the toddler to keep her mittens or ear muffs on. Good gods, she wasn't cut out to be taking care of a child; she didn't like all these awkward, maternal instincts that seemed to be cropping up.

"Staaaar, it's too warm!" the young child complained once more, her ears tilting back in frustration as she tugged at the sleeve of her coat. The sun was out most of the time anyway, and she had yet to feel any cold breeze!

Sterre's eyes didn't lift from the pages of the newspaper as she read it, scoffing at some of the articles she ran across. "Keep it on, you'll need it," she replied again, without so much as reiterating her words from a few moments prior.

Xanthe pouted, but it was apparent that her guardian wasn't paying enough attention to notice it. Instead, she turned her attention back to the slightly-stale half-loaf of bread that she clutched beneath her arm, tearing off a small piece of it as she strode closer to the edge of the pond. "Must be hungry! Eat up!" she called to the ducks lazily swimming about, crouched down as she held out her arm with the bread crumb. She waited for a moment before remembering that they were still wild. Placing the half-loaf onto her knees, she started tossing crumb after large crumb into the water, attempting to get it as close to the ducks as she could manage. Did they have to be so far out?

Noticing the bread crumbs hit the water before the voice of the one that tossed them, Xanthe managed to slap a pout on her face. "Heeey, no fair! They like you better!" she complained, though it was hardly a heartfelt comment. Green eyes rising from the surface of the pond to meet violet ones, she tried to hide the smile -- unsuccessfully -- as she pointed toward the ducks, "I hafta throw them reeeeally far before they eat any!"

By this time, it was obvious that she wasn't angry in the least. In fact, she was probably more curious as to how she could do the same-such thing. Gripping the loaf of bread with either hand on their corresponding end, she rose from her crouched position so that she didn't have to crane her neck uncomfortably in order to look the older spawn in the eyes. Slipping the half-loaf under her arm once more, she used her free hand to wave at the little naga, "Hiya, Seth! I'm Xanthe!" She was beaming at this point, ecstatic that she was able to talk to someone around her general age group. She never got along with the few friends her guardian had, anyway.

Pulling the scarf her mom had made her wear away from her mouth, she made a spitting sound, as if she had a piece of the fabric in her mouth. Grumbling, silver ears pulled back in irritation, she noticed that Seth had a similar coat on as she did. "Aren't you too hot, too?" she asked, indicating that she felt their guardians were going a bit overboard with the get-up, "It's not cold!"

"Ooh, you think that's why?" Xanthe asked, curious as she grabbed the offered piece of Seth's loaf of bread. She sniffed at both pieces of bread to try to test them out herself; unfortunately, her specialty was sound, not smell, and they both smelled just like bread to her. Then again, most bread just smelled like bread unless it was a fancy type, like cinnamon raisin or something. Buttermilk, potato, white... those just smelled like bread. Did they taste any different?

She decided not to test out how well her sense of taste fared, as stale bread tended to taste like moist toast. She could handle that taste sometimes, but it wasn't important, and she wasn't hungry. Instead, she set her own half-loaf of bread onto the grass and attempted to chuck Seth's piece out as far as possible. Her arm wasn't spectacular, but it did the job. "Maybe you're right. You think they can smell it better than me?" she queried, pausing briefly to remember her manners, "Oh! An' thank you for the bread!"

As she was yanking on her scarf, trying to get it so that it didn't feel so itchy, she tried to imagine what it would be like if everything felt much colder than it was. Unfortunately, her mind tended to exaggerate, and so she found herself imagining instead what it would be like if everything always felt freezing. She was about to say something to that effect, a pensive, worried frown on her face, but jumped when Seth stuck his tongue out. "Ooh! Ooh, that was cool!" she exclaimed, immediately trying to do the same thing. Her tongue was nowhere near that long, and because she couldn't see it very well past her nose, it seemed even shorter, "How you do that!?"

Suddenly remembering what she was going to say, she glanced to Seth's lower half, admiring how interesting scales were. In frustration, she ripped off her scarf, but turned around and tied it like a belt around Seth's midsection. "Does that help at all?" she asked, still thinking he might be freezing. Tilting her head, she tried to determine if it looked alright being worn as a belt, and then came to the conclusion that it did with the puffy coat. After a pause, she responded, almost sounding out of the blue, "Pants can get annoying, because they take the longest to put on. I bet that's nice, to not have to wear 'em!" She giggled in reply, but stopped herself abruptly once she saw something in the water, "Oh no! My bread rolled into the pond!" She pouted, upset that it was such a waste and worried that Sterre may get mad at her for being so wasteful -- that is, until she decided to do something about it herself. "I'mma go get it. Think it's very deep?" she asked as she hopped down closer to the water's edge.