Frosty Follies

Riel had been minding his own business, doing his best to ignore the snow and the biting weather, when a snowball landed right between his hairline and the neckline of his jacket. It shattered on the impact, oozing down his clothes across his skin, and he hissed and ducked on instinct. It was a good instinct, too. Another snowball whizzed right past the stop where he’d been standing. Maybe it wouldn’t have landed right in his face, but Riel was glad that he didn’t have to find out the harder way. Whoever was aiming for him obviously had some experience.

“Show yourself!” He shouted from the his prone position, and then decided to crawl along the forest floor.

It was really too bad that he couldn’t even take a simple walk in the woods without being accosted, but well. Someone was aiming snowballs at him, attested by how another one flew right over the place he’d been hiding in just moments ago. And yet again, it was just some snow. He wasn’t too worried about the weight of his misdeeds, all things considered, and that meant he could start preparing to strike his unseen attacker back.

“Don’t make me hurt you!” He threatened. A snowball shattered against a tree not two paces away from him and Riel let out a curse. Holy shit, they were good. He couldn’t really guess which one of his friends seemed like they’d pull something like this (really, any of them seemed like a good choice), but he supposed that he’d never seen any of them attempt to take a shot for anything other than a trash can. Even when they did have snowball fights, they’d been so chaotic that he’d never really paid attention, not to mention that these happened years and years ago.

But this someone had a pretty steady hand and good aim.

Riel crawled along some bush, careful not to give himself away. The only reason he still couldn’t see his assilant was because he was so deep behind the bushes that he couldn’t see anything at all. The forest road he’d been using was nearly gone from his sight, but at least he still knew where he was.

A few more snowballs landed around him, but they were pretty scattered. Whoever was attacking him had no idea where he was, although some of their guesses came a little too close to the target for Riel to actually relax. He bent down, collected some snow in his hands and started shaping his own little frosty weapon. The snow in the meadow was sparse, but there was still enough for a proper fight. Maybe not for an all-out war, but for two people? More than enough. But Riel had to figure out where his opponent was first.

Another snowball whizzed to his right. He steeled himself.

“Therasia!” He shouted, “I know it’s you!” And then, he jumped out of the bush, hand up and ready, and tossed his snowball at the only moving target in the snow-covered forest.

He’d been bullshitting his guess, but the snowball did land on Therasia. Or maybe it would be better if he said it exploded, because it shattered into fine dust when the impact brought it against Therasia’s chest. She closed her eyes tightly to avoid the fine dust and tossed the snowball from her hand blindly. It missed Riel completely, but it was a valiant effort. A fine last stand, if he could say so himself.

It took him a while to come down from his adrenaline-induced high. Both him and Therasia were laughing a little too loudly, but there was no one around to attest to it, so Riel supposed it didn’t matter. He approached her slowly once he’d managed to calm down, and he hugged her lightly. They were still knew friends, despite all of their familiarity. He found that he liked Therasia, and he didn’t want to overstep or offend her in anyway.

Judging by the way she was hugging him back, Riel had a hunch that Therasia liked him too.

“How’d you know it was me?” Therasia asked once they separated. Now that he was calm, Riel could feel the snow crawling down his spine where the snowball had melted onto his clothes.

“Oh come on,” he teased, “You seem like the gutsy type. You are, aren’t you?”

Therasia smiled brilliantly.

“Sure,” she said. Her ginger hair was dark where it was wet from the impact, and it seemd to him that her teeth chattered a little. “Also you’re an easy target.”

“Hey!” He berated. They were walking one beside another without any specific destination, and they weren’t trying to accost each other with snowballs anymore. Riel hadn’t felt like a kid in years; it was funny how she brought him back so easily. He turned out, and realized that he was the one accidentally leading the way. They were moving towards his house. “Hey, do you want to come with me? I live nearby in a small building just twenty minutes away. I have some warm clothes and food.”

Therasia didn’t look pensive. Instead, she just nodded.

“Of course, I’m freezing out here,” she said then. Riel laughed, and then kept walking. He felt a little awkward because he hadn’t said anything, but he also thought it was for the best. After all, what if he’d said something embarassing? Better to seem aloof, he supposed.

But Therasia, it would seem, didn’t agree with his sentiment. If she throught he was being awkward she didn’t show it. Instead, she followed him easily through the snow, back on the forest trail, and she made some small talk as they went. Riel was happy to let her fill the silence.