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 Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 1:40 am
The snow was falling steadily, much to Mayu's delight. She had been taking more and more of her walks recently, wanting to get away from the noise and commotion her family made more and more as much as she loved them. She had managed to evade the ghosts quite easily, they being still intoxicated from the wild new years celebration that her family had held the night before. Yes, peace and solitude was just what she had been needing for the past few days...
...Which had led to her wandering into Barton once again, preferring the more relaxed feeling of the town to the raucous partying that had taken place in Durem City around the clock tower. She continued down the sidewalk, passing a familiar-looking redhead teen as she passed store after store. Her pacing halted suddenly as she looked up in surprise, doubling back to see exactly who she had passed. It couldn't be anyone she knew, she was almost sure of it...
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Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 2:03 am
Demare stared blankly at the wooden door in front of him, slightly annoyed at the sign hanging on it.
Closed for the holidays.
GREAT. Now what was he supposed to do? A let out a clouded sigh, his wings shivering slightly in the cold. A little snow had built up on his black coat, indicating that he'd been standing there for some time. Perhaps it was time to go home...
Turning on his heel, the halfling began to walk, but stopped as he realized someone was staring at him. Blinking twice, he looked down to the girl on the sidewalk, bringing color to the dull surroundings. Was that...?
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Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 2:16 am
Mayu had scooped up a handful of snow by the time Demare had noticed her, and was beginning to pat it into a large snowball as she continued to stare up at him. Upon noticing the wings on the teen's back, the child had immediately decided upon at least an eighty-percent chance of him being the Clare that she had met several months ago --- although he had grown much taller, by the looks of it. She would take her chances.
Face spreading into a large grin, although slightly covered by her scarf, the child hurled the snowball at him and began to run off in the other direction. Knowing the chances that she had thrown a snowball in the face of a possible stranger, running was presumably a very good idea.
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Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 2:27 am
Demare, although having enough time to react, did nothing. His wings shot up, extending to their full length, in shock as the snowball hit him right in the face, the snow exploding against his warm flesh and falling back to the gound. ...That... was... COLD.
His eyes twitched slightly as he unpocketed his hands, smirking as he watched the girl begin to run away. The branches gave her away... That was definitely Mayu. Crouching down, he collected snow into his black gloved hands, forming it into a ball, and then bolted after her.
"I'm afraid I'm a little faster than you," he called out, able to catch up in no time. "Longer legs and all, my dear!"
Playfully, he threw the snowball at her.
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Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 2:44 am
The snowball hit Mayu in the back of the head, the mass of snow sticking to her silver hair and falling off in clumps as she ran. She slowed for a moment as she realized how cold the snow could really be, hand reaching to the back of her head to dislodge any other pieces that were there.
"That's not fair!" she returned, twisting around so that she was running backwards to the best of her ability. She leaned over as she ran to scoop up another handful of snow, hastily patting it into a snowball and tossing it without thinking of aim, being more focused on not falling and cracking her head open on hard concrete than accurate targeting.
However, being focused on not tripping wasn't enough, as it seemed. The child stumbled over a meandering tree root which had broken through the concrete in the tree's old age, falling back onto a large pile of soft snow which cushioned her landing exceptionally well. It was still a bit of shock to her as she lay there with her arms spread in the snow, staring up at the gray sky with wide eyes.
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Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 2:55 am
Demare barely managed dodging the snowball, almost losing his balance with ice hidden underneath the snow. Faltering in his steps a bit, he slowed down as Mayu tripped over the branch, huffing a little bit from the run. It was hard running in the snow...
Stepping up to the girl, he smiled down at his friend, figuring she was alright. She didn't seem hurt, at least.
How long had it been...? Since... that day...
"What're you doing down there?" he asked, crouching down a bit and holding a hand out to her in case she wanted help up. "Making a tree angel?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 2:24 pm
"And getting snow down my pants, yes," Mayu replied with a laugh, lying there frozen in that position for a few moments before reaching up to take Demare's hand. Instead of pulling herself up, however, she gave a hard yank on the teen's arm, attempting to pull him down into the snow besides her. She perhaps had not factored in her own strength and Demare's weight, however, somehow managing to sink deeper into the snow from the force of her own pull.
"It's cold," she started, letting out a large yipe as the newly dislodged snow from above her fell upon her face, covering her mouth especially so her words were barely a whisper above the chatter of the people walking the streets. With a mad flailing, she shook the snow off of her face and closed her eyes to take several deep breaths. She wasn't quite getting the peace and quiet that she had been hoping for before, but she didn't quite mind it now for some reason.
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Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 12:22 pm
'Luckily' for Mayu, has wasn't expecting to be pulled on, and the teen came down face first into the snow. She was actually more lucky that the now much heavier legend didn't fall on top of her, only his shoulder and arm as he shivered from the sudden cold. Demare couldn't help but laugh a little bit at the obvious statement, pushing himself up a little bit, kneeling over the girl.
"Considering we're sitting in a bunch of ice, I'm sure it is," he said a bit idly, lifting a hand to brush some of the stuck snow off of her face. "You okay?"
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Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 12:50 pm
"I'm fine," the girl managed, lifting her head out of the snow to shake some of the pieces of ice out of her hair. "Thanks." She gave a smile before moving to get up, sneezing as she rolled over to push herself up to a standing position. She was cold, and that was putting it lightly.
When she finally managed to get up, Mayu trotted over to face Demare with her hands on her hips. She extended a hand, grin on her face as she looked down at the teen. "So are you going to get up, or are you going to sit in the snow all day?"
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Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 12:59 pm
Demare couldn't help but smirk slightly. "Actually, I was doing you a favor. But if you insist..."
Resting a hand on his left knee, the halfling stood himself upright, towering over the tree girl. His wings shivered and shook, trying to get the snow off of themselves, while he brushed more off from his front. When he was finished, he ran a slightly wet hand through his reddish hair.
"You sure you don't want me on my knees again?" he asked, bi-colored eyes looking down at Mayu, a smile on his face. "I told you I'd look different..."
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Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 2:01 pm
"You got taller, that's for sure," Mayu laughed, taking a step back and tilting her head back to see Demare completely. "Way taller." After a moment of thought, however, she smiled. "It's not a bad change, though."
She crossed her arms over her chest and shivered, giving a meek chuckle before pulling her scarf tighter around her neck and mouth. "Do you want to get some hot chocolate?" she suggested, rubbing her hands together to get them warmer. "You must be cold too from that snowball and me pulling you down into the snow."
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Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 2:11 pm
"Eh?" Demare blinked, feeling his cheeks burn a little bit. Not a bad change? Did that mean he was still okay to her?
"Ah! Sure, that sounds great," he said, chuckling a little bit. "Should warm us up a bit... I think I saw a cafe further down the road that was open."
Readjusting his more colorful scarf, the teen stuffed his hands into his black coat pockets again, beginning to trudge his boots through the snow once more. What a way to begin the new year... A slightly awkward meeting with the girl he still cared deeply for.
"So what are you doing way out here, anyway?" he asked curiously.
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Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 2:41 pm
"Lead on then," Mayu proclaimed, slowly following after Demare all the while trying to get all of the snow out of her clothes. This was a tiring process, especially while trying to keep up with someone else, and the girl found herself falling behind ever so often as she stopped to shake a large piece of half-melted ice out of a piece of her clothing.
"I wanted to get away from the house after the big New Year's Eve party that we had after the celebration in the town square... not just to avoid the cleaning up, but also because it was getting too noisy. It was giving me a bit of a headache, especially after all of that noise last night. Durem's still pretty noisy with the people rearing up for a New Year's Day celebration, so I thought Barton would be the best bet for some peace and quiet." She shook her head, then looked up to Demare with curiosity. "Why are you out here? Shouldn't you be celebrating with your family?"
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Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 2:56 pm
"What family...?" came the bitter mutter, hardly audible as he continued to walk, making sure to be slow so that Mayu wouldn't have a hard time keeping up.
"I thought I had to work today, actually," Demare said, speaking up. "One part of the house is hung over while the other is cleaning up. I'm beginning to wonder if Domonic's even serious about moving to the bigger house, because after last night..."
The halfling shook his head, sighing lightly. "Well, I hope your head's feeling better, at least."
It wasn't much longer before they reached the cafe, a small line beginning to form outside. It wasn't that long, perhaps only 5 or 6 people, but one could only imagine how many were inside.
"I guess there were a lot of people with your idea..."
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Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 3:11 pm
"Ah," Mayu replied, giving a thoughtful nod. "Well, most places are closed on New Year's, since I guess the workers are out celebrating with the rest of the people." She looked up curiously for a moment, then back down to her feet as she decided to let it go.
"Thanks," the child smiled, "It is getting better."
She looked up in surprise as she noticed the line outside the store, trying to see past the people to count the amount of people inside. "I guess so," she muttered, stepping into line with a dumbfounded look. "I wonder how fast the line is moving..."
As if in response to her question, the line moved up one spot as the person at the head walked away, sipping at their cup of hot chocolate happily. There seemed to be quite a ruckus going on in the kitchen, as muted shouts for more cocoa could be heard over the curious chattering of the crowd.
"I hope everything's going on okay in there," the child muttered, scratching idly at the side of her head with her gloved hand.
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