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Ever since the night in the warehouse when she and a small group of others mounted a rescue mission to retrieve their abducted princess from the knight that'd been haunting her nightmares since late summer it felt like a weight had been lifted from Cassie's thin shoulders. The nightmares persisted--at least once awake she'd awake to cold sweats and aching ribs--but the suffocating fear had been drawn back, and it felt like she could actually breath again.

Which meant she was no longer trying to chase away reality with substance or distraction, but she still certainly enjoyed both.

So she didn't need the distraction Austin offered her anymore, not in the way she had, but that hadn't kept her from keeping up contact, because essential or not, the man was fun, and Cassie was always up for a bit of fun. Especially on New Years.

In truth she'd half expected him to be busy already when she'd texted to see if he wanted to hit up the bar scene as the ball dropped. They'd danced, they'd drank, and there was definitely a kiss shared at the end of the countdown. Now, half an hour later and eager to get back to his place, they were left with the task of figuring out the logistics of getting there.

Thigh length coat wrapped tightly around her, Cassie huddled against his side as they stepped out of the warmth of the bar and into the cold. "s**t, was it supposed to snow tonight?"

Was tall and warm and as the wind started to pick up to the point of blowing snow from the nearby drifts into their faces she was thankful to have his steadying presence to handle into as they started picking their way across the icy sidewalk to where Austin thought they'd left the car.

And it just seemed to get worse as they walked. The wind got stronger, the falling snow increasing to near white out conditions until finally Cassie felt something hard smack her on the top of the head. Then the shoulder. Then the check. Brows creased she looked down at her feet and found hail bouncing off the icy concrete. "********, really?"

What was with this ******** city?

Last year there were unmelting ice crystals, this year? Well, she'd been hearing a lot of weird things. And there was that bullshit with her hands turning blue and freezing her a** off with her twin.

She tucked her face into Austin's side to protect it, shoulders hunched up against the hard lumps of ice raining down on them. The risk of twisting an ankle on the icy was weighed against the barrage if hail.

"This is ******** nuts," she commented, muffled, her face still pressed in against his side as they moved slowly through the sudden blizzard.

When Austin declared they were abandoning the search for the car to seek shelter instead Cassie didn't protest. The wind was whipping around them them, cold sting any exposed skin, and since she'd opted for a dress there was quick a bit of exposed knee and thigh between her boots and the bottom of the dark skirt.

As he tugged she followed, an arm up to protect her head and face from the hail. She couldn't see where they were going and she didn't even try. Instead she kept her eyes on the ground to make sure she didn't fall on her a** as they trudged on. Austin was having at least slightly better luck, because after a moment or two she felt him pause to pull open a door before ushering her inside.

She paused just past the threshold, eyes wide and features puzzled, because it looked very much as if they'd just walked into a log ******** cabin, and the last she knew there wasn't even so much as a rustic themed restaurant anywhere near the bar they'd been at. "I know this city is ******** weird, but..."

This was a whole other level.

"I'm gunna go out on a limb here and say that wasn't a normal storm." Things were never really normal anymore. That being said, Cassie couldn't recall ever having walked off a city street into an entirely different sort of setting. Destiny City did not have log cabins in the party district. Or anywhere else for that matter. This looked like something out of Deliverance, or some kitch camping thing.

But they were, as Austin observed, out of the storm, and that was something at least. With a small huff the girl brushed fingers through her hair to shake free any snow or hail that might have been clinging, then folded her arms as she gave the interior of the cabin a proper look.

At his gesture she glanced towards the fireplace and smiled, arms unfolding so she could dig around in her coat pockets. "How about a lighter?" It was a cheap two dollar gas station BIC, but there was plenty of fluid left.

With the lighter in hand she crouched down beside the fireplace so she could lean over the grate, looking up the chimney to see if there was a flue that needed opening. There was, as expected, but after a quick search of the fireplace itself she found a lever and got the thing open.

"Think there are any blankets tucked away anywhere? It's gunna be cold for a while even after the fire is lit." And she was still in a very short skirt.

The wood was old and dry and with a little kindling in the form of peeled off layers of bark and a few old receipts from her coat pocket Cassie got a fire lit pretty easily. It started small, but as the flames rose up, strong and sure, she leaned over to grab a larger log to set on top.

She was poking at it meaningfully when she felt the tug on the back of her skirt, and it had her glancing back at him over her shoulder with a raised brow before a devilish little smile curled her lips. "I'm sure you could." And she wasn't opposed to his methods in the least, but first...

"What's that you found?" She pointed at the bottle as she sank back to claim a seat on his lap instead of the dusty old floor, attempting to preserve her dress, at least for now.

At a certain point, if they were there long enough, she knew she'd stop caring about it, but she wasn't there yet.

With a thoughtful hum Cassie settled more comfortably into his lap, small hands taking the bottle from him so she could turn it slowly, look over the faded label. It was undeniably old, which didn't necessarily mean anything at all, and specifically not when it'd been found in cabin that'd just ******** appeared in the middle of the city. "It's probably fine." If it wasn't she supposed it'd have an off oder.

Cool hands settling on her thighs were a distraction, and she shivered as they slid inward, eyes closing for just a moment and bottle lowering. He definitely had a good point, but it did spark a fragment of an idea and she drew her phone out of her pocket to check for a signal.

There wasn't one, which she'd expected, and the phone was set aside again before she reached up to cup the warmth of his cheek. "Make the most of things and hope for the best," she agreed warmly.