[Fin] Frozen Toes

[TawnyAngel]

"Let us walk," Zevran decided aloud with a nod. "I would like to take the time to appreciate everything properly including your company, if you are not driving you can pay more attention to me!" With a grin and a wink Zevran collected six of his own pokeballs and pocketed them, he didn't know if all of them would like the snow but if they didn't they could go back inside at the press of a button.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"That's very true! You know how much I enjoy giving you my attention." Abel smirked as he headed out into the living room, returned Caleb, Elizabeth and Tania, then passed all five pokeballs to Sonia for her backpack for now. Tabitha would stay with Vanessa, while Isaac and Sonia would want to walk. Granted the other three would as well - or at least Elizabeth and Caleb would - but they could walk or run around plenty at the park. With that done he headed to the closet where he donned his coat, hat and gloves, though he backtracked to the kitchen to fetch a few essentials to stuff into his coat pockets, and to grab both thermoses of hot, delicious coffee. "There," he said aloud, "I think I'm ready."  

[TawnyAngel]

"I had noticed!" And he enjoyed receiving it. Everything was... everything was easy with Abel, he didn't know how else to explain it to himself. He didn't have to think about what he said and did - unless it was one of those complicated things - because Abel liked him regardless. It was a good feeling, one he would not readily relinquish.

When Abel stepped out of the kitchen with the coffee Zevran was just fastening his coat and he greeted his returning friend with a brief smile. "I am also! Let's get outside before the snow stops, I would be sorry to miss the chance to walk in it."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Good! Let's go then," he said brightly as he moved to the door. He took a minute to let Isaac jump into his arms before helping him get situated around his neck, then opened the door and headed out into the hall. Once he fished his keys out of his pocket and Zev and Sonia had exited the apartment, Abel locked the door behind them. A brief walk saw them down to the first floor and out through the lobby.

Snow still fell in large, fluffy clumps, but the streets had been more or less plowed. The sidewalks, meanwhile, had not been. The snow in some places measured over a foot deep, deeper alongside the street from where it was plowed, and a few sets of footprints had been left by previous passersby.  

[TawnyAngel]

It looked like a different world.

Zevran stepped outside slowly, one hand held palm up in front of him to allow the tumbling flakes to settle on it. It was cold, and the air smelled strange. The snow squeaked under his feet and the strange noise drew a chuckle from deep in his chest. After a moment of consideration Zevran jumped forward to land in one of the deeper drifts. Now calf deep in snow he turned around to grin at Abel. "This is so strange!"

A moment later Clara charged across the pavement, launched herself into the air, and landed with a thump in the drift near to Zevran.

"Ah, we are a fan of snow are we?" Zevran turned his grin down onto her. "You will just be in a big puddle soon with how warm you are!"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Since he'd seen plenty of snow at his parents' ranch, Abel felt no need or desire to stand around and stare at the snow. Instead he did what he'd intended to do; he paid attention to his friend, studied his face, watched just how mesmerized he seemed by the snow. A grin alighted on his face as he chuckled. "D'you think so? And she definitely is, if you couldn't already tell."

Isaac snuggled closer around Abel's neck to stave off the cold, while Sonia stepped carefully into the snow and waited expectantly, the small bag settled on her back.  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran made a soft noise of amusement and kicked at the snow, sending clumps of it flying along the sidewalk away from them. "I could tell!" he replied as Clara jumped after the flying snow and tried to catch it in her mouth; Zevran kicked up some more and she bounced again and snapped her jaws with a happy 'bwurf!'

"To the park then?" Zevran suggested, stepping out of his drift and shaking his feet to get the snow off his boots. "Will there be more there do you think or about the same? Less?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"To the park!" So saying, Abel turned and joined his friend, slipping his free arm around the shorter blond's shoulders. "I'm sure it'll be about the same. They don't plow the park, so it might be pretty untouched there. Maybe some footprints from other people or pokemon, but definitely no plows." He lifted his thermos to his lips and took an experimental sip of his coffee to see if it was too hot still; yep, too hot.  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran laughed and walked over to Abel so that he could catch hold of his elbow. "Mind you do not burn your lips now, I would be very sad if they were too sore to do anything interesting!"

Most of the rest of the walk passed in silence, and thicker silence than he was used to here in the city. The snow seemed to muffle the sound of traffic and other people, a little like the trees of Sandalwood did.

"We should go back to Sandalwood sometime," Zevran mused aloud as they approached the park. "It must be an interesting place in winter, very different to autumn with all of its colourful leaves." Was it only a couple of months ago that they had been to that fair, kissed on the ferris wheel and then that and rather more in the hotel? It felt like longer than that and he felt... different. It was a good change, at least he thought it was, he was happier and he had confided a few things in Abel he had never thought he would tell any outsider and in a couple of days they were going on a date. He didn't know if that would mean anything in the long run or if perhaps it was just a one time thing but for now he was just excited, nervous but excited.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Perish the thought!" The taller blond said with a chuckle and shake of his head.

The walk to the park was much quieter than usual thanks to the snow, and Abel found it rather more enjoyable than he usually did - though that very well might've been due to present company rather than the snow - and he spent it alternating between sips of coffee and pulls from the new vape pen Zevran had gifted him for Christmas. Each puffy white cloud of vapor left a mild scent of vanilla in the air. Abel wasn't entirely sure how he felt about smoking vanilla, in essence, especially since he'd never cared for flavored cigarettes, but, well... There were 11 more flavors in the box, and even if he didn't like any of those then there were almost assuredly many more available to buy somewhere. Zevran wanted him to try it, he wanted him to be healthier, had bought him a very thoughtful gift, so the absolute least he could do was give it a solid try. Especially since he really should quit smoking regardless, though he couldn't help but wonder if he would've quit on his own... Maybe eventually, perhaps, but he had a very good reason to do so sooner rather than later walking alongside him at the moment; if for no other reason, he'd at least try for him.

Mention of Sandalwood all of a sudden made him a bit curious what caused Zev to think of the treetop city, but he didn't bother to ask what it was. "We should, yeah," he agreed easily with a nod of his head as memories of their fall festival outing slowly flitted back into his mind. "Maybe in a week or two? Definitely when there's snow. I think that'd be fun." Even if they didn't do a whole lot, it would still be nice to take a break from work - even if he'd just got back - to spend some time with his friend in what he could only imagine was some kind of wintery forest wonderland when it snowed.

Another kind of winter wonderland awaited them as they rounded the corner to the park's entrance. As Abel had predicted, a couple meandering paths of footprints wound their way through the park, but the vast majority of the grounds were covered in a thick blanket of pristine, untouched snow. Mounds of white coated branches of the trees scattered around the park, and even though benches rose up out of the blanket of fluff, their snow-covered forms managed to blend in regardless. The delighted giggling and occasional screaming of children some distance away hinted that they weren't the only ones in the park at the moment, but no other patrons were visible from where they stood.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Yes, that sounds good; just a little weekend getaway. Also after all of the schools have gone back so it will be less expensive; I would definitely like a room with a hot tub again," Zevran said with a smirk and a squeeze to Abel's elbow.

And then here they were. Zevran lowered the thermos of coffee and looked around, he had been to this park many times but blanketed in snow the expanse of grass seemed to hold a lot more promise and excitement than usually did. "So, what do we do first then?" he asked of Abel with a slight cant of his head. "It is a shame we do not have a sled, or a hill to slide down for that matter."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Mmmh, hot tubs... "Absolutely, that sounds perfect. Maybe we could take a trip to the hot springs up in the mountains too sometime," he suggested, glancing down at his friend curiously. Talk of little vacations was good, especially ones he could go on with Zevran. "I think there's a ski lodge up there too?" Perhaps that could be a nice weekend trip also?

As Zevran took in the wintery scene before them, Abel lifted his thermos to have a sip of hot, delicious coffee. "Mmn," he replied with a frown, swallowed his coffee and then said, "That's a good point, we'll definitely have to get one sometime and go sledding. Maybe on a toboggan or something. But, I think it'd be nice to walk around the park for a while, maybe under the trees? First though," the taller blond passed his thermos to Sonia before taking a moment to reach into the bag on her back, "I'm gonna let out my pokemon." So saying, he pulled out three pokeballs and released the three occupants before dropping the pokeballs back into Sonia's bag. "Alright guys, go have fun, stick together, don't get lost, all that jazz." With that said he waved them away; Caleb turned and bounded off with Elizabeth in hot pursuit, while Tania held up the baggy skin around her hips as she tried as best as she could to keep up. Isaac huffed and hopped down from Abel's shoulders and hopped through the snow to get to the wayward Scraggy so she wouldn't be all by herself. Sonia watched them go but didn't move to join them, and instead stuck near her trainer as he took his thermos back and gave her an affectionate scratch behind the ears.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Oooh, yes!" Zevran's alright bright demeanour brightened a little more at the mention of hot springs. "I had quite forgotten about those, we shall definitely have to go. I am not certain about any actual skiing but there is nothing to prevent us enjoying the lodge and the area." Crackling log fires came to mind, mugs of cocoa, wine.... Yes, that would be perfect.

Today was perfect too.

Zevran sipped his coffee and waved a hand at Clara. "Go on and join them!" A moment later he released Copper, Stardust, and Vision to join the fun, they didn't need much prompting to take off in pursuit of the other pokemon.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Oh yeah no, I don't really want to go skiing either," Abel said hastily with a shake of his head. "I'd probably break my leg or something. Both of them, even! No, I think it'd just be fun to spend maybe a weekend there, wandering around, using the hot springs. I think they have fireplaces in there we could use..." Throw in some hot chocolate or coffee and a comfortable place to curl up in front of the fire and that would be perfect... It was funny how many trips he wanted to take now that he actually had the money and freedom to do so.

When all the pokemon had darted off, Abel slipped an arm around Zevran's shoulders as they started to walk down what was probably but not definitely a designated path though the park. Snow made it a little hard to tell. It looked so picture-perfect here, everything seemed so peaceful... "Y'know, sometimes I feel like I'm dreaming," he murmured, his gaze drifting across the snowy area; apart from their own rambunctious pokemon, the park seemed so quiet and serene. "If I am, don't wake me up."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Mmmmh?" Zevran slid his arm around Abel's waist and squeezed him gently. "Is this really so pleasant?" Zevran paused for a moment, realised what that might sound like and then continued quickly with; "Ah, I meant for you. I didn't mean I was not- What I mean is that I am having a wonderful time and it does feel a little unreal to me. This is... this is not the sort of thing I have really done before and not just because of the snow." Zevran laughed briefly at himself and looked down; he had made a terrible mess of saying that and he was glad that his cheeks were already flushed from the cold, hopefully he would not blush any further. "I hope that made some sense," he mumbled.