All nice and warm (Tanner)

[Deleted]

December 28th. So close to the end of the year. So close to Kiara getting extra confirmation that it was just sad to be alone during the holiday season. Of course none of this had been planned for there had been the assumption that Jackson would be right by her side, ready to be kissed as the clock hit midnight. Those plans had come crumbling down not too long ago though, and had been stumped even further down the drain as the truth began to unravel itself. It hadn’t even happened at a slow pace. No, it just hit the girl right in the face like a train of bricks as she went to Jackson’s apartment where a woman, only clad in his bathrobe, opened up the door. All Ki had ever been was a puppy struck by love, too blind and too happy to even realize it was too good to be true.

Jackson did leave her a text before that. I’m sorry. I love you. It had been her motivation to check where he had disappeared of to, but she now understood it must have been out of precaution for when she met Natasha. The latter words did leave a bitter taste in her mouth; it had been heartless to add that. Nevertheless, Ki had the habit to opened that text multiple times a day. It made her feel slightly more alive again, all fuzzy and warm, and it helped to let go of the tears and emotions piled up.

All wrapped up with a scarf twirled multiple times around her neck, a fox mitten-covered thumb (matching the raccoon ones she had bought Jackson) ran over the screen of the cellphone. Just remove it, Ki. But she couldn’t. Instead she forced herself to tuck the mobile away again, placing both hands in the pockets of her coat as well as she stepped through the snow towards Hammel. Maybe Ravyn was free to spend time with.

But instead of making it to the entrance, blue eyes drifted ahead and landed on someone heading outside. It brought a soft smile to her lips, recognizing him right away. Kiara didn’t head over though. She made sure to stay out of sight while bending down, forming a snowball in her hands, standing to the side while he, not expecting it at all, passed by. At that moment, the blonde threw the ball of coldness, hitting him right on the back of his head. As he spun around, he received a goofy grin.

”Now who did that?” She mused, innocently scanning the surroundings.

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner had woken up later than usual that morning; now that classes were over for the semester, the boy had no real reason to wake up earlier. That, combined with a rather exhausting day the day before, had convinced him to sleep in a few extra hours. Once he had finally awoken, the blonde, with nothing really to do on campus, decided to head into town to get some shopping done, or perhaps visit Ceri at her shop.

As he walked through the courtyard, the boy's thoughts drifted to the previous afternoon. He had gone on a date - one of his first real dates, really - and it had gone pretty well. The boy, whose name was Noam, had seemed prettyclearly nervous at first (a feeling Tanner had shared), but he was cute and a bright kid once he opened up a bit more. He certainly wouldn't have minded seeing him again, that is if the brunette was interested. He would have to tease that information out of Michael, who had set them up.

Thursday evening was, of course, always busy, as that was the night Tanner performed at the House. He had only done one number, but it had taken a lot out of him. Suffice it to say that he had been all too happy to get home, collapse into his bed, and fall quickly to sleep.

As the blonde man walked through the courtyard, it occurred to him that this would be one of the last times he would do so; he was moving off-campus come January first, to an apartment near the club district, so he would only ever really be on campus for classes for his last semester. This was fine by him - he felt that he was pretty much done with Hammel, at any rate - but it was a bit bittersweet, he supposed.

It was in the midst of that thought that the boy suddenly felt a snowball hit him from behind. It wasn't all that cold to him, but the sudden sensation did give him a shock. "Hey!" He called out with surprise, wondering if it was some random act or if the snowball had come from somebody he knew. Turning around quickly, his eyes soon found Kiara grinning at him. "First strike, eh?" He asked, the nerdy side of him coming out as he kneeled down to scoop up a snowball of his own into his bare hand. "I'll have to take retaliatory measures!" He tossed the snowball gently in Kiara's direction - he didn't want to hit her hard, after all - and waited to see if it would make contact. Normally, the snow would practically melt in his hands, but he had formed and thrown it quickly enough to avoid that. He moved to put on his gloves so that he could continue doing so.

[Deleted]

Kiara could have made the effort of moving aside as the snowball was being tossed in her direction, but instead she reacted like possibly any women would and held both arms up in defense. It didn’t need to be said that her coordination was off and that he ended up hitting her shoulder anyway. As hands came down from shielding her face, a pout was visible before eyes drifted to the faint white circle on her coat, delicately brushing it off. By the time she looked over again, she observed him putting on his gloves. Perhaps the girl hadn’t really thought this through.

Nevertheless, her grin was genuine and Ki immediately squatted down again to form two snowballs. ”Where were you going?” She called out to him, knowing she must have interrupted something since he had been heading away from Hammel. In the meanwhile a couple of steps were taken to back away from him, attempting to maintain some distance because she was no expert at ducking away. ”Other than provoking me to hit you with a snowball.” Yes, seeing him had done just that. But not in a mean way. It was actually nice to see him again, and it formed a pleasant distraction as well.

”How was Christmas?”

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner had a feeling his snowball might make contact: Kiara was a thin girl but he'd never heard of her engaging in any athletic pursuits, so he merely grinned as she brought up her hands defensively and the ball pelted her on the shoulder. "Success," he stated as he put on his gloves. However, he didn't move to fetch another snowball, as the other blonde wasn't making moves to do so either and he didn't want this to be a one-way snowball fight. So instead, he walked over to her.

"Well, that wasn't my sole intention," he explained, watching amusedly as the girl backed playfully away from him. "Was just going into town," he added with a shrug of his shoulders. In truth, the boy didn't really have a reason for leaving campus that day; he had just been a bit bored with hanging around Hammel and had figured he would go see what was going on downtown. Now that he had run into Kiara and was no longer bored, he no longer had a reason to go anywhere. "What brings you to campus?"

The blonde male shrugged yet again. "Christmas was good," he replied with a nod of his head. "Spent it back home with the family." It had been a relatively nice few days, though nothing all that noteworthy had occurred. "Oh, how was yours?" He asked, lips spreading into a grin. "Spend time with the beau at your winter cabin?" He added with a smirk. Surely hers was a bit more interesting than his had been, for obvious reasons.

[Deleted]

Given Tanner didn’t elaborate any further on where he had been going, other than heading into town, she figured his plans had not been specific, and thus there was no reason for her to feel guilty about the unannounced interruption. ”I just came to check who could be bothered with my presence today.” Kiara mused while squeezing the snowballs in her hands to have them crumble down onto the white carpet again. While Tanner didn’t make any indication of going to hit her with another one, she still remained cautious.

It made her happy to hear the festivities had been pleasant for him so far. She should have gone home as well and accompanied her parents to her uncle and aunt. The past couple of days wouldn’t have been filled with so much misery then. The smile did falter as the question got retorted though – something she should have expected – and it made her stop backing away as well while forcing a little curl to her lips again. ”It was okay,” Ki decided with a small nod.

Nevertheless, the blonde did struggle with her emotions and keeping her face straight. It’s what got her to squat down again, forming another snowball. Slowly, ever so slowly she gathered snow into a pile and scooped it in her hands, keeping her gaze from drifting back to the man. She just needed a moment to get herself together again, to make sure no tears would be brimming because it would not be fair to ruin his day with her sobbing and sulking.

[Tanner Larson]

An eyebrow arched on the boy's forehead as Kiara replied to his question. Just okay? That didn't sound right? Tanner had to take a moment to process this, as he felt there might be more to the answer - wasn't there always with a woman? - but at the same time, he did not want to overanalyze her words. "Oh..." he replied, shoving his hands into his pockets; he really didn't know what else to say beyond that. The more he thought about it, the more certain he became that this girl wasn't happy with something, but that it wasn't necessarily any of his business.

Not that that had ever stopped him before.

"Well, did you... have fun?" He asked, trying to get a sense of how the girl was feeling without being too blatant in his questioning. He watched as she knelt down on the ground; he figured she was just picking up another snowball - which made him feel unwise for leaving himself defenseless - but then noticed that the girl didn't really seem to have any intention of throwing it. Her mind seemed to be someplace else, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to deduce that his question had led her there.

Normally, the blonde would just stay away from the topic, feeling too awkward to really talk about anything all that serious. But Kiara was his friend, and he liked her a lot; it made him feel bad to think that she might be upset, even if just a little. He walked over to her through the snow, kneeling down in front of her. "Is there... anything you want to talk about?" He asked gently and, he hoped, kindly.

[Deleted]

A bitter, yet reminiscing smile settled down for a second as Kiara recalled the evening at the cabin. It turn it led to a weak nod, but there was a chance it had not been obvious enough for Tanner to take notice. Yes, it had been tons of fun. Until all the dots got connected and Jackson appeared to be nothing more than a heartbreaker. Perfect had come crumbling down, leaving nothing but dark clouds to haunt her these holidays.

Crunching of snow could be heard as Tanner stepped closer, making her grow aware of just how slow her action had been. Blue optics focused on his legs for a couple of seconds, only to drift upwards, peeking through the curtain of blonde curls, as the question got asked. For a moment she considered to shake her head, but that wouldn’t be fair to either one of them. Instead a weak sigh developed into a little cloud slipping past her lips. ”He… already has a girlfriend.” She frowned and turned her head away again as tear ducts indicated that they were ready to explode.

The snowball got ignored as she rose to stand, wiping snow-covered mittens on her red jeans before an obviously forced, yet sad smile appeared. ”I don’t know what I was thinking. She’s so stunning. He bailed on me after… you know.” The chuckle that followed was weak and full of heartbreak as Ki contracted her lips together to keep it from developing into a sob. Arms uselessly flailed away from her sides before hands came back to rest on both hips.

”I really am the luckiest girl in the world.” She mused, which only added the the bitterness given her ability.

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner had been kneeling on the ground in front of Kiara, balancing carefully on the toes of both feet, his knees up by his chin and his hands clasped together around his legs. It was a precarious position, which he found he could not hold for long, particularly when Kiara said that this boy she had been so excited about was already seeing someone else. Lips parting slightly in surprise, the boy fell back, his butt hitting the ground and sinking softly into the snow. He'd have a pretty embarrassing wet spot there, but he wasn't thinking about that. He looked down at the ground, wondering what on earth he could say to comfort the poor girl. "I can't believe it..." he said ultimately, knowing that wasn't at all helpful but finding himself unable to resist the urge to voice his shock.

The blonde watched helplessly as his friend rose to a standing position. He frowned deeply as she remarked on the other girl's beauty. He longed to disagree, saying that nobody in the world could possibly be prettier - which he genuinely believed to be true - but feeling that it would not help matters. So he simply listened. He didn't really understand what she was getting at, but he stood up, wiping the snow off his jeans as best he could. He could tell that she was on the verge of tears, which made him feel awful. Under normal circumstances, he would be much too shy to even consider embracing her. But it was clear that she was highly upset, and didn't most girls appreciate a good hug during times like this?

Throwing caution - and his own insecurities and confused feelings - to the wind, he brought his arms around her. "Hey, it's okay," he encouraged her gently. "I mean, forget him, right? He doesn't know how lucky he would have been." And it was true: any guy would be fortunate to get to say they were dating Kiara. Tanner didn't really know how to comfort someone who was upset, though, so he hoped maybe just hugging her would be enough.

[Deleted]

”Welcome to the club,” Kiara mused with yet another weak chuckle as Tanner expressed his disbelief. Out of anyone, she should have been the one to see it coming. But no, her fairytale-consumed mind had to get all girly and label him as the prince on the white horse. Jackson was handsome, funny and knew exactly how to stir her confidence. Had it not been obvious enough? Right now it was so easy to gain transparency on the romance they had experienced, but even then she rather kept on the pink glasses regarding Jackson. It probably wasn’t his fault that it came crashing down; it must have been her own doing.

The silence that arose was almost as painful as snow could be when you let it touch your skin long enough to sting, and Kiara momentarily considered to excuse herself after having apologized for the sad topic of conversation. But almost as if on cue, Tanner stepped forward and held her close in a hug. It was very much appreciated. Her own arms snaked around him while hands held onto the fabric on the man’s back. ”Yeah,” she whispered weakly. ”Forget him.” Except that she couldn’t. ”He was… just too perfect to be true.” Digging her face into his chest, Ki hoped he could deal with his clothes absorbing her tears as they made an appearance.

She just stood there like that for about a minute or so, savoring the embrace before she finally shifted again and sobbed back the tears. Tears got wiped away before Tanner got a chance to see them, not wanting him to be burdened with that sight. ”I’m sorry,” she whispered while a futile attempt at smiling was made.

”Do you want to make a snow angel?”

[Tanner Larson]

Too perfect to be true? This guy certainly didn't sound perfect at all to Tanner. But he figured Kiara didn't want to hear him protest or disagree with her, so he simply let her say what she wanted to and cling to him for a little while. He was frowning: he really didn't like to see any of his friends this way, but it was particularly heart-breaking when it was her. She just seemed... fragile to him. The man knew it wasn't right to assume that, though. And she had been so excited to see this guy. Damn.

Tanner watched Kiara carefully as she pulled away from him, and while he didn't see any tears, he could only assume that she was still upset. He couldn't blame her, either: it was natural for someone to get their hopes up, especially when you first started seeing someone, so it only made sense that she would be disappointed. He shook his head when she apologized. "No, don't be," he replied; if he was another kind of guy, he'd find this kid and make sure it was he who was sorry. "I'm sorry. For my gender. We... kind of suck." He rubbed the back of his neck with one of his hands, giving a small, nervous chuckle.

When Kiara asked if he wanted to make snow angels, he smiled, nodding enthusiastically. "Yeah, that sounds like fun," he replied. Honestly, it didn't sound like loads of fun, but he figured it would take the girl's mind off her troubles if only briefly, so he felt it was a good idea. He got back down into the snow, wishing he was wearing something a bit more weather-proof, and proceeded to do just that. Some of the snow began to melt around him, but only a little bit; as it were, it sort of ended up being more of a slush angel. "How'd I do?" He asked, rolling over to reveal his work.

[Deleted]

His apology genuinely rose her cheeks, if only slightly, during a little smile. Of course Tanner didn’t have anything to apologize for, but it was sweet and thoughtful of him to word it like that. If her nose had not been red due to the cold by now, the sniffing and wiping at it should have done the trick. The hint of enthusiasm warmed her heart to a certain extent, momentarily embracing herself while watching Tanner get down on his back. It didn’t take long for her to mirror him, waving her legs and arms about in the coldness before attempting to get up again without ruining the perfection.

Or, well, at least it looked better than Tanner’s.

”Um… good.” Kiara decided with a soft nod, giving him a small goofy grin while dipping the tip of her boot in the slush. Ever so slowly, without her growing too aware of it yet, the snow sticking to her backside was starting to get absorbed. While Tanner might me capable of dealing with this, having the wet spots evaporate, it would only lead to coldness on her part. ”I couldn’t have done it any better.” She added as a hand moved up to shake her curls slightly, realizing snow was stuck in there.

”I’m… not keeping you from going into town, right?” Head dipping to the side while she worked on getting rid of the cold bits. If he wanted to leave, Ki would understand.

Her mind and gaze drifted off, down the path that led away from Hammel, only to shift back to the man. ”Do you like making a snowman?”

[Tanner Larson]

When Tanner compared their snow angels, it was fairly obvious whose was the better work. "Well, hey, no fair," he protested with a grin. "I melted all my snow, and you actually are an angel, so..." he trailed off, suddenly aware of how awkward that must have made Kiara feel. He hadn't meant for the compliment to sound so sappy... though he supposed there was no other way for such a thing to sound. He really wasn't flirting, though - he just thought very highly of the other blonde and wanted her to feel better.

Yes, that was it. Just a few words exchanged between friends.

He was thankful when the other girl's question interrupted the awkward silence. "No," he replied quickly, fervently. "No, not at all. I was just hanging out, really." He smiled. "I'm happy I ran into you. Or, your snowball ran into my head."

He shruged at the next question. "Uh, I'm not sure I've ever made one before," he admitted. "We could... if you wanted?"

[Deleted]

Hey, not her fault his ability was working just fine compared to her own. ”You shouldn’t have melted it then.” Kiara easily retorted while inspecting the puddle that began to form where his butt had once been. His compliment, on the other hand, was appreciated and it did earn him a grateful smile. She even caught a small glimpse of a blush, but brushed it off and felt herself instinctively gasping at the reply to her snowman question. ”You never made one before?!” What world did he live in?!

Taking a couple of steps to where she had initially squatted down, the blonde focused on the half-formed snowball again and began to make it into a bigger one. ”All you have to do is roll it around. We probably need two of these.” Blue eyes drifted to his gloves. ”But maybe I’ll just show you now, so at least you know how to make one?”

With that said, not sure if he wanted to make an attempt for the snow might melt, Ki began to follow her own advice and soon ended up with one big snowball. ”The belly.” She labeled it. By now she was growing aware that her jeans was clingy though, and that each movement made the coldness more obvious.

”And the head.” Starting to work on a second one.

[Tanner Larson]

If Kiara noticed him blushing profusely after his little 'accidental' compliment, then she sure didn't show it, for Tanner was unaware of any such observation. This was for the best, as any immediate remark would have made him feel truly embarrassed. As it was, he was already a bit uncomfortable, feeling as though he had said something that a friend should perhaps not say to another friend. It was a bit love-dovey, after all.

Thankfully, Kiara was already on another subject, and the pyro was happy to follow her there. "Hmm, I might be able to help," he mused aloud; so long as he was wearing his gloves, the snow wouldn't all melt in his hands. He began forming a snowball of his own, making sure that it ended up being slightly smaller than hers; even though she had said they needed two, he had seen them made with three balls before, and he figured that might look nicer and that way they could both say they helped. It took him a little while to get the powedery substance to pack together, but once he did it was fairly easy to roll it all up.

"There we go," he said, lifting it with ease onto hers. "The chest." He grinned. The blonde was already working on the head, so he left that to her. Watching her closely, he noticed that she seemed to be shivering a lot; perhaps they ought to go inside after the snowman had been completed. Her jeans - he simply couldn't help but notice - also seemed to have gotten rather wet from their snow angel creating; he looked away respectfully, not that there was anything to see, really, but not wanting to appear as though he were staring at her.

[Deleted]

Okay, well, three required a bit more effort. Luckily Tanner was there to help, participating despite her initial assumptions, so the snowman gloriously stood there (without added details of course) within a matter of minutes. Kiara didn’t have to stretch to place the head on, which was much to her relief, and took a tiny step back to observe and give an approving nod at what they had accomplished. She should be doing fun stuff like this with Jackson. It was shaken off soon though, knowing sulking and mocking about that wouldn’t change the situation. Besides, it wasn’t fair to Tanner who actually did enjoy her company.

Not busying herself anymore, the shivering became more obvious and Kiara felt herself obligated to acknowledge just how cold she was having. Standing next to Tanner, the blonde took a step to the side to have their arms touch, but of course that provided anything but a decent warmth. ”M-maybe we should go inside.” The girl whispered while attempting to keep her teeth from clattering due to a lack of physical activity. She didn’t demand this; if he wanted to stay out, she would.

But luckily the man agreed and she almost felt herself warm up with relief. The backside of her red jeans were much darker by now and perhaps her coat had been less waterproof than she had expected. It did become better once they were within the building though, yet Ki kept embracing herself while jogging up the staircase and down the hallway until they reached the door of his dorm.

She could not stay in these clothes if they wanted to effectively ban the cold.