Welcome to Gaia! ::

Up at the pass children ran around screaming, flailing their arms as they fled from incoming snowballs being thrown their way. Winter break was upon them and though it would have been easy for James Pennington to find a babysitter or daycare for his young daughter, he had chosen for the first time to actually take a two week ‘vacation’. Well it wasn’t really a vacation in the full sense of the word since he still answered some phone calls or retreated to his home office area to send out some e-mails. Still, the fact of the matter is that he wasn’t at work.

A three days trip spent up at the snow covered mountain was only the beginning of what he had planned. Jasper was invited of course but something told him his son would either decline or arrive on his own. Either way Amelia seemed as carefree as ever gathering snow with her adorable little purple mittens. She stood out from the crowd because of the bright pink winter coat he had bought her a few days prior since she had outgrown the one from the previous year several months passed. Plus, a color as bright as that made it incredibly easy to spot her when she decided she was done building a snowman and started wandering around aimlessly till something else fun caught her eye.

Despite having been invited to join in a game of tag, Amelia respectfully declined with a simple ‘no thank you’. It was not often she got to go outside in the cold weather which instilled in her a determination that went unmatched; more than anything she wanted to build something. Undecided on what exactly that something was, James suggested she try to make herself a little Olaf which she found to be the most amazing suggestion ever. However, she did point out they didn’t bring a carrot with them.

Still, the missing piece left her undaunted when James reminded her that Elsa’s friend didn’t get his nose till after Anna and Christoff found him. “Oh yeah!” she replied in a way it suggested that she recalled that specific scene; though, in all honesty, didn’t remember that part at all.

Little feet shuffled through the few inches of fresh powdered snow as she wandered a bit away from the other children in order to find a place enough away that nobody would accidentally knock it over or run into her by mistake.

In her own little world the little girl with lavender colored hair hummed the all too familiar song from a frequently watched Disney film ‘Do you want to build a snowman’ all the while attempting to compact the freshly fallen snow so she could do just that.

Attempt after attempt the handful of frozen flakes crumbled till finally she stood up with a rather perturbed look on her face. Lips pursed and brows furrowed Amelia approached her father with all the determination a Kindergartner could muster. “Daddy…” her lower lip stuck out in the most dramatic style pout. “Can you make me a snowball?”

It took an amount of willpower to not chuckle at his little one that only a practiced parent of more than one child could obtain. “Promise not to throw it at me?” James looked down and though his voice sounded stern the expression he wore was nothing but amused. One brow raised expectant of an answer while his upturned lips left little room to doubt that he was only having a bit of fun of his own.

“I promise!” she replied with a quick nod of her head causing the ball of yarn tied to the top of her snow hat to bob along with her.

“Good, because you know what will happen if you do right?” Her father lowered himself down to both be more eye level with his daughter and to pick up a handful of snow.

“No,” she replied sincerely. “What’ll happen?” Wide purple eyes looked at him with such innocence it made James feel an amount of guilt that hadn’t struck him since the outburst he had with his son earlier this year. How much of her life has he already missed out on he wondered.

“Well I’ll-” Before he could so much as begin his reply a fairly solid well compacted ball smacked him in the side of his face effectively knocking the older man off balance.

“Huh?!?” Amelia’s eyes became as wide as saucers when her father went down. “Daddy!?!” she gasped then turned her head to see who had hit him.

There, several feet away was someone lowered down on one knee with welcoming arms opened wide. The smile on his face was unmistakable and just as quickly as her father's words of warning had been cut off, he had been forgotten; at least for the moment. “JASPER!!!” She near squealed in sheer delight

Amelia all but abandoned her father as he tried to regain some semblance of balance and get back up. Brushing the snow out of his hair he listened as the snow beneath her feet crunched with each excited step she took as ran into the open arms of his son.

“Jasper!” she repeated his name once more before plowing into him with enough force to knock them both over. Giggling, with cold kissed cheeks, she beamed a smile up at him “Jasper! Jasper! Do you want to build a snowman?” Amelia asked excitedly, all but forgetting her father was just about to help before her brother showed up.

Before he could answer though a shadow fell over the siblings just seconds before an armful of snow showers the two frozen flakes eliciting a rather shrill yelp of surprise from his youngest. “That’s what happens when you throw a snowball at me.” James laughter was full of so much mirth it made him wonder how long it had been since he had laughed quite this hard.

Seemed this was really going to be a happy New Year.