Frostbite (Open)

[sarashadow]

Crux laid down on the snowy ground in what used to be a field. Since the cold came in, though, it was all ice and snow. He had on his trench coat, which was his personal favorite clothing, and his boots. He used his hands as a pillow and he stared up at the bright, almost pure white sky of snowflaked clouds.

The snow started falling again and he just let the snowflakes cover him. He never minded being cold. If he wouldn't get hypothermia, he'd feel fine in the freezing temperatures even without his thick, gray trench coat. His bright green eyes clashed with all his dark clothing, but he honestly didn't care. He never looked into anyone's eyes, anyway. He couldn't afford to.

He put his hands down by his side then, hearing a click behind him. His head lay flat on the snowy earth, soaking his hair in the slush. But he only hoped whoever was sneaking up on him wasn't planning on touching him. Crux didn't budge, but only because he felt too lazy to sit up. He was too comfortable and at peace to worry about whoever was coming up behind him.

[ace]

Ace hadn't even noticed that Crux was there. She hadn't spoken to him since their encounter at the hide out. She had been intending to ask him if his name was really Crux or something else, but they sort of...drifted apart before she had the chance to. She was certain that she was alone, which was exactly what she wanted, even though life with the Runaways was increasingly lonesome.

For some reason, Ace was in a very...Yuletide sort of mood. She had a feeling that all the snow had something to do with it. She hadn't ever had a Christmas where she wasn't surrounded by snow. However, this would be the first Christmas where she wasn't surrounded by her family. She was unsure of how she would handle the season. Sure, the holidays could be hell with all the chaos, all the stress, and of course all the drama, but it just wasn't Christmas without a little bit of Hell brought up from the pit of the earth.

Ace shook her head, as if pushing the 'next' button on her brain, getting it back on track as to why she wanted so badly to be alone in the first place. Nearly forgotten in her hand hung a CD player, equiped with a battery and her musical selection. Today she wanted to sing The Christmas Waltz, dispite the fact that it was the middle of October. She pressed play on the CD player and turned up the volume and an symphony rang out just for her. She was certain that her audience was merely the open space and chilly air, still fully unaware of Crux's presence.

[sarashadow]

Crux didn't think anything of whoever it was approaching him. But then he heard music, from a CD player perhaps that had been turned up too loud? Crux had great hearing, he always had. And then singing, and that voice he couldn't forget. That was the sang voice he'd heard sing "Strangers Like Me." He smirked slightly and sat up straight, seeing that she was right behind him. But she hadn't noticed him though.

He chuckled lightly, knowing that her music was probably too loud for her to hear it. Then he stood up in front of her, knowing it would probably startle her. But why was she singing a Christmas song...? He'd have to ask her. He'd wanted to be alone, that's why he came and let the snow bury him. But if he was going to have any company, he would have liked it to be Ace.

Crux began to remember then the last thing they'd been talking about before they drifted apart. His real name. He wondered if she'd ask him about it again or just forget. Most people, if they brought up his real name, forgot about it before asking again. No one, no one that was still alive, anyway, knew his name. No one had bothered to ask. Either that, or no one wanted to get close enough to someone who murders people to ask him.

Getting his mind back to the real world rather than his depressing thoughts, he waited for Ace's reaction to his popping up in front of her out of nowhere. This should be interesting.

[ace]

Ace had almost gotten lost in the song, which actually happened quite often, but before she could, something jumped out of the snow, almost out of nowhere. She was expecting that she was alone. In fact, she had been hoping that she was, but she was clearly wrong. Startled so much but the sudden appearance of Crux, her song turned into a scream and she leapt back reflexively, tripping over her own feet in the process. Her scream silenced just as she sunk into a drift of snow, all but her feet vanishing under the substance.

She looked up at the sky past the fresh canyon of cold powder that now held her and she exhaled a huffy breath before clawing her way out of the chasm. The process, she found, was much easier when there wasn’t a pair of skis, or her preferred snowboard fastened onto her feet.

“You just messed with the wrong snow bunny.”

A light glow began to engulf her body, but she wasn’t going to use her powers on him. That just wouldn’t be fun. As she rose from her knees to her feet, she scooped up a ball of snow and hurled it in his direction. If her aim was on, as it nearly always was when it came to snowballs, the white cold sphere would collide right into his face. She had been in more than enough snow fights to know how to hold her own.

[sarashadow]

Crux just smiled in her direction, not making eye contact with her, of course, as she fell to the ground. He hadn't expected to startle her that much, but it still entertained him. He hesitated a moment then. Snow bunny. He actually thought that was kind of cute. And even though snowball fights weren't really his thing, how could he not fight back when he was smacked in the face by one? The snow dripped off his chin, but the big clump of it he had to wipe off with his hand.

He just looked at her then, making sure it wasn't straight in the eyes, with kind of sly smirk. He had to admit, she had a good arm. And good aim, too. He gathered a clump of snow into a lumpy sort of circle in his palm and tossed it toward her. His arm was pretty good, too. But she could look straight at him, though, and would probably see it coming in enough time to dodge. Either way, she couldn't dodge all of them.

He got more snowballs in both hands and threw a few more at her. "Snow bunny?"

[ace]

She arched a brow at him and cocked her head to the side when she realized it was Crux who had risen forth from the snow. She was a bit confused by this, but she was pulled out of her daze when a lumpy hard sphere slammed into her stomach, causing her body to give way and a muted ‘oomph’ sound to push out of her mouth as she collapsed onto her knees.

Acelyyn’s icy eyes narrowed and as she stood, she scooped up another handful of snow and hurled it at him again. “You’ve never even told me your real name.” She picked up another handful of snow and pulled her arm back, ready to hurl it at him once more. “Tell me your name and drop the snow and we can call it truce. I’m not dressed for a snowball fight and I don’t want a cold.”

When he questioned her calling herself a snow bunny, she exhaled a sigh. “If dressed properly, I thoroughly enjoy playing in the snow. My preferred sport if snowboarding, believe it or not. Most people think I’m a delicate little girl who loves being graceful all the time so skiing should be my snow sport of choice. There is nothing graceful about skiing when you end up in a tangled mess of skis and poles."

[sarashadow]

Crux only smiled when she spoke of calling a truce. But she seemed kind of surprised at seeing it was him who has popped out of the snow. And he really hadn't meant to knock the wind out of her like that. He wasn't throwing that hard. But he did manage to dodge the next one she threw at him, and pulled his arm back with a new snowball just as she did.

"Howard," he said simply, and the snow slipped through his fingers and onto the slushy ground a few feet below.

He was interested to hear how much she liked snow sports. He didn't imagine her snowboarding or skiing, though. But he hadn't ever thought she was delicate. Well, maybe a little fragile, but only because of the way she'd vomited the first time they talked. But after she'd slapped him in the face with that snowball, he'd known she was tougher than she appeared. He liked that.

But Howard was tall and muscular, so no one ever underestimated him. Girls were definitely more underestimated than guys were, even though that didn't seem very fair. He knocked excess snow off his shoulder, and looked back in her direction. "I am sure you can make any sport appear graceful." Even though he might not sound it, he wasn't being sarcastic or anything. Then he smirked slightly, "You can even make falling into a tuba graceful."

[ace]

“Howard.” She repeated, more to herself than to him. She pursed her lips together and released a brief ‘hm’ noise before dropping her own snow bullet onto the ground. “Fine, Howard. That’s what you will be called by me from now on, Howard. Or maybe I could call you Howie like Howie Mendel. Howie of the snow!” she released a low and malevolent chuckle before the low octave caused her to cough. She was a soprano. Baritone was not her thing.

She smiled slightly, unsure of what to say when he commented on her ability to make things graceful. Then…he brought it up. The reason she was called Tuba Socks for over a year. She bit her bottom lip and shook her head. “ There is no way in hell anyone could make that graceful. I may be talented, if I do say so myself, which I do, but I’m not that talented.”

Ace bent over and picked up her cd player, which by some odd miracle was still playing, shut it off and dusted off some flecks of snow that had managed to get on its surface durring their 'fight', before returning her attention to him. “What’re you doing out here anyway?”

[sarashadow]

Howard listened as she repeated his name. Why did she seem so thoughtful about it? Was Howard a weird name or something...? He had no idea, maybe she knew another Howard or something. Anyway, he shook his head slightly when she talked about calling him Howie. There was no way he was replying to that nickname. No way at all. But "Howie of the snow" he had to admit was kind of cute. Not that he wanted to go by something that was cute.

I'm not that talented. He shrugged slightly, "That's debatable," he admitted, giving her a small smirk. His eyes were glued to her CD player though, no matter how strange it felt not to looking into her eyes as she spoke to him, and as he spoke to her. That always felt awkward, but at least she knew why he did it.

"I let the snow bury me when I'm bored," he admitted, running his hand through his hair slightly. He only did that when he was embarrassed about something. Not that lying in the snow was embarrassing. It was just that he didn't know anyone else who let the snow completely bury them just because they had nothing better to do.

[ace]

From his expression, it was clear to see that Howard was not very fond of the idea of her referring to him as ‘Howie of the snow’. She honestly never would have considered calling him that. She may have been a soul with a love for teasing, not in the sensual way, but the playful one, but she wasn’t that odd. “Don’t worry. I’ll just call you Howard. Maybe if we’re all alone and for some reason I need to get back at you I’ll call you Howie of the snow, but you don’t have any reason to worry.

Ace rolled her eyes when he said her extent of talent was debatable. “Trust me, if I didn’t have my voice I really wouldn’t be that talented. I can dance ok, or at least I used to be able to. I haven’t danced in ages. I always fall when I’m on the slopes, but I’m having too much fun to care and…I don’t think knowing a lot of Broadway trivia counts as a talent, but other than that I’m really just mediocre.”

She noticed that his gaze was on the cd player and she bit her bottom lip. She had to admit, it felt a bit awkward him not being able to look at her, but then, she suddenly got an idea and a loud surprised squeak came out of her mouth. “Have you ever considered wearing glasses? It might be a way for you to cheat your way into looking at people because you could look at them, but you’d be looking at the glass first. I could be your labrat if you like, and I’m volunteering so if something happens then it’s because I’m stupid, not because you’re different.”

[sarashadow]

Howard had hoped she'd say that. He knew she was the teasing type, he'd gotten that out of their first conversation. But he didn't really say anything when she told him she'd only call him that to get back at him for something.

And then she went and started rambling about her talent, which he'd expected. Once he got her started on her Broadway skills, she could talk for at least a minute about it. That was the exact opposite of him. You'd have to ask him a direct question that needed a lot of explaining for him to say more than a few words.

But then, before he could do anything else, she squealed. He couldn't help but look up then, just too see if it was a bad squeak or a good squeak. So he ended up staring directly at her nose. To her it probably just looked like he was looking into her eyes, but his eyes were off focus. But at least he couldn't hurt her this way.

Then she brought up the glasses idea. "I've never tried that before," he admitted. He'd never had the guts to look someone in the eye on purpose. "But I don't like the idea of testing it on you." He hadn't meant to make "you" emphasized, it just sort of came out that way. But knowing Ace, she'd probably talk him into to it, despite his hesitation.

[ace]

Acelyyn couldn’t help to but to exhale a sigh when he didn’t have anything to say. He looked unsurprised by her sudden rambling, which honestly wasn’t something that surprised her. She was sorrowfully aware of how her tongue had a tendency to run away with itself. It wasn’t as if she meant to ramble. The more she got to know Howard the more aware she was of the differences between them. He was like the strong and silent type and she was and loud and riotous type. Granted, she knew that identical people never got along for long and it was normally the ones she was different from that she grew closer to, but she did wish that it were easier to get him to talk about himself.

When he emphasized her volunteering to be his guinea pig, she shook her head. “I’m flattered that you don’t wanna hurt me, I really am, but let’s be realistic? I doubt you’ll be able to find someone else willing to be in pain for you to have a chance to at least look at people, and if you even think about testing it on an animal then I will cry and probably lose some respect for you. It’s not like you’d kill me. I would tell you if it didn’t work so you could look away and I could try to see if I could find yet again another idea. I consider you to be my friend and I’d like to help you. It wouldn’t kill you to just do an experiment.”

She bit her bottom lip and looked down before a sly smile etched itself onto her face. “I’ll start calling you Howie if you don’t at least sleep on it…Howie.” Ace pursed her lips together to fight back a chuckle. She had a way for making sure nicknames stuck. “Or I could just find a way to make you do it.” She was kidding of course, but he didn’t need to know that…yet.

[sarashadow]

Howard didn't mind her rambling. It was usually normal for a girl to find herself rambling, and even though she did, he listened to every word she said. He was very good at listening to what other people were saying and yet sort of tuning them out at the same time. That sounds impossible, but he could repeat everything that Ace had told him a few minutes ago, even though he'd zoned her out half the time. Being able to do that always came as a mystery to him.

And then she went on to explain about how she would lose respect in him if he tested it on an animal instead of her. And she threatened to call him Howie, too. That he might not mind that much as long as she didn't do it in front of a bunch of people. He definitely didn't want any attention brought to him. He was an introvert to the end, and he only sighed when she said she'd force him.

Since there was no way around it, and actually would really love to able to look her in the eye, even if she couldn't look into his. He nodded then, defeated, "Fine..."

[ace]

Did he ever talk without being coerced to do so? She bit her bottom lip as she thought about this. Sure, some people were less likely to talk, but he just had a tendency to say one thing and then shut down. Ace told herself that it was probably just his personality and probably nothing to be taken personally, but then she became less sure. Maybe he thought she was annoying. Hell, he wouldn’t have been the first to think so. Acelyyn discovered that she was the type of person that was either loved or hated. There was hardly a gray area, and it was so rare that it normally altered to one side rather rapidly.

“You know I was kidding, right? I think Howie sounds kind of stupid so I wouldn’t ever call anyone that and I’m not smart enough to think of a way to force someone to do something they don’t want to. I’m not that mean either. However, I would be very upset if you tortured a bunny or something.”

Ace unzipped her coat, revealing a plain white v-neck tee shirt, which house a pair of silver and gray aviator sunglasses. Her eyes were sensitive and the sun could grow bright against the pearly blanket of snow. She extended the glasses to him.

“You wanna try it now and get it over with? I can tell you’re not too fond of the idea.”

[sarashadow]

Howard knew he seemed kind of rude, the way he only said one or two words before shutting up. But it wasn't his fault. Not entirely. His abilities were much more dangerous than Ace thought. It wasn't just pain from eye contact. It was much, much worse... and just the thought of it made Crux hate himself for it. And he'd known she'd been kidding about the Howie thing, and he smiled slightly when she mentioned torturing a bunny.

He watched her as she pulled out a pair of sunglasses that she just so conveniently had with her. He sighed and hesitantly and took the glasses by the side that her fingers were the farthest from, making sure he couldn't touch her for any reason. He knew she'd probably think the way he took them from her was weird, but one day, when he got the guts to tell her the rest of his mutant abilities that she would understand then.

He slid the glasses onto his face, but kept looked down for a moment. He clenched his teeth slightly, setting his jaw and praying that her idea would work, and looked into her eyes for the first time since the day he'd met her while she was playing her guitar. And then he just waited to see her reaction.