.Wintry Remains.

[aoibayta]

The skies were eerie in the simple fact that they were darker. Warped in a way. Multitudes of blue and grey still streaked through the gloomy black of night. Restless clouds began to shift with the strong wintry winds. Branches from a nearby oak tree swayed fiercely. Scratching against the window of a timid home.


Aoi Bayta looked up. He was surrounded by books. Or at least, the pages of books. He began to skim over their contents. Ancient runes. Forgotten scriptures. Secret messages. It seemed that they were all there. He noticed a spider crawling across up the window glass. He began to wonder. First he was amazed about how this litte spider survived the winter. Then more dominant thoughts took over.


Look at how foggy the glass is getting! I wonder how cold it is out there?


Aoi tossed aside a paper entitled The Amazing World of Optima. It floated slowly to the covered floor. He walked over to the window. Running his fingers over the dewing surface. He squinted. Peering through it. The falling flurries made it hard to make out images in the distance. He sighed heavily.


When will this end?!


[Sorry it took so long. I also hope it's long enough]

[Kitten4u]

Winter was Cirno's heaven, and to make things better it was snowing. The frosty landscape was paradise to the little ice fairy, who thrived in these kinds of harsh conditions. She never understood how anyone could find this kind of weather to be unbareable. Today, Cirno was continuing her quest to find interesting things to freeze since frogs and all the things around the misty lake were getting very boring. Like most fairies, she was easily amused, but even she could only freeze the same thing for so long before getting bored.

At first, Cirno was a little afraid to get this close to a village. There were a few torches around to keep the area well lit, and she didn't just hate fire, she was also very afraid of it. If a person was carrying a torch or a flame of any kind she would generally leave them alone, and Cirno enjoyed attacking anything that moved. However, she couldn't help but be interested in the beautiful frost patterns forming on the windows and the icicles hanging from the roofs of the houses. They were unlike anything she had ever seen before, and she was always intersted in seeing new frost patterns. So, she went in because of that simple fascination despite the people and the fire.

There weren't many people out for some reason. Cirno figured that there would be many people frolicing in the snow much like she did. Spring would be coming in a few months, so they wouldn't get too many more chances like this. How could they spend it indoors? She thought it was weird, but she honestly didn't mind. She didn't like large crowds of people much, and the fire throughout the village already made her uncomfortable. Her icicle-shaped wings buzzed as she swiftly flew through the village until she was only a few inches away from the nearest house. It looked like someone was inside of it, but Cirno honestly didn't care. This window was about to become her new play-toy.

The air around Cirno was always cold since she was an ice fairy. If any normal human touched her they would get frostbite, but Cirno rather liked the chilly air around her and she also like all the interesting things she could do to things just by touching them, and in certain cases, just getting near them. In this case, she touched the window, and a bright, child-like grin appeared on her face. The frost spread out like tree roots from where she touched the window. They were quite pretty in her opinion, but she could do better. Cirno began to poke the window in various places and watched the frost spread from her fingertips. Now this was fun. She may have to come to villages like this more often. It was far more interesting than watching frogs thaw.

[aoibayta]

Aoi Bayta noticed something strange. The foggy windows remained foggy. Even if he ran a hand or a sleeve across it. Curious...vey odd... Aoi thought. He watched the snowflakes collect on the window. Well. Until he couldn't see anymore. He then decided to get back to his reading. Aoi then picked up his copy of The Amazing World of Optima once more. It was a rather interesting read. Very informative. Detailed. Innovative. Traits found in the best of works.


Aoi couldn't help looking towards the window every now and again. He wasn't a very curious being, but it seemed very odd to him. How the window froze before his very eyes. Time passed. And Aoi finally finished his story. He hated the ending. He disliked surprises. Especially life changing ones.


Disappointing. Still...it did keep me interested until the very end.


A tiny figure then fluttered by the window. Just for a moment. But it was enough to catch Aoi's attention. Taking him away from his thoughts of impressive literature. Aoi hated winter. He hated cold. But he still attempted to up the window. It wouldn't budge. He tried harder. It began to make faint crackling noises.


What could it be?

[Kitten4u]

Soon, the entire window was covered in frost. Cirno thought it was "art," but it looked more like a seven-year-old's fingerpainting. She giggled as she continued to poke at the window, only to realize that as she continued the patterns that she had already created were just getting covered up with more and more ice until it didn't look interesting at all. Cirno stopped, crossed her arms and pouted for a minute until she got a different idea.

Laying in flowers and watching them freeze around her was a lot of fun, perhaps this window would also be fun if she leaned against it? There was only one way to find out! While she was small, the window was still smaller than she was, so she couldn't actually fit her entire body on it. Her face, chest and hips would have to do. Sure, enough the window did do something intersting, though she couldn't actually see it since she pressed her cheeck against the cold surface. All she heard was this cracking sound, but the only thing she could think about was how funny it sounded. It never even crossed her mind that this could be potentially bad.

The intial crack started spreading slowly but surely until it nearly split the window in half. Cirno backed away to look at her work, but she wasn't quite sure what to think of it. It was just a line, there wasn't anything intesting about that! The sound was fun though, and that alone would make it worth doing again, so that's exactly what she did. Who knows, maybe the pattern would become inetesting if she continued to make more cracks.

[aoibayta]

Aoi Bayta continued with opening the icy window. Shattering and cracking noises could still be heard from the other side. The flattering figure remained close to the glass. Its shadow faint. The window opened a little. But not enough to see what was hidden. Or hiding. I’ve got you now! Aoi sighed impatiently.


A violent wind crept into the room. Both frigid and reassuring. The pages of open books began to turn back and forth as the wind changed direction. In moments it eased. Aoi didn’t seem to notice the mess his room was becoming. But then again, he probably wouldn’t care. He’d read most of them multiple times, even able to recite random quotes at random times.


Aoi wiped his hands on the sides of his attire. He then tried again. The window opened a little more. Wait! What is that?! He squinted.


[Sorry for how short it may seem...]

[Kitten4u]

Much too Cirno's displeasure, it seemed like those sounds were more than just funny sounding. They were actually making the window fall apart! She didn't actually notice until a large chunck of glass fell into her lap. Surprised, she jumped back, and watched the rest of the window just fall apart.

She could clearly see the guy now, but attacking someone in their own home just didn't seemed smart. After all, whenever someone attacked her at the misty lake she always won, or at least she convinced herself that she did. After all, it would be rather silly for the strongest being in Gensokyo to lose in her own home. Regardless of her own experiences, she really didn't want to attack this guy right now, however she couldnt' help but want to continue playing with the window. It would just grow back like all the flowers she froze right?

So, she would just wait for him to leave. Or maybe Cirno would find him interesting too, it was hard to say. She hid beside the window, but she wasn't exacly well hidden by any standard. Sure, she thought she was, but she was peeking at the guy through the window, so her face was clearly visible, as was about half her body.