April 4th, 2009
During the frozen heart of winter, a young girl plays alone.
Her name is Xeno, and she is perfectly content with how she is. Bundled in a trench coat too long for her short frame, a scarf haphazardly wrapped around her neck and a beanie on her head, the eleven-year-old girl attempts to make a sculpture from the powdery snow.
Her snowman was lumpy, sand-like-snow falling off the sides, changing the classic three-ball look into a mushy triangle.
Her back was turned towards the treeline, having known the area well enough that she had no need for fear.
Today, however, something felt different. Small dark wisps lingered in her peripheral, an odd tingling sensation crawled up her back, and a loud static-buzzing rang from a distance, but her childish brain kept her feet planted on the ground in defiance, an unspoken message; "You don't scare me."
"I'm a big girl," she thought, "I can take care of myself." But it didn't stop her from breaking out into a cold sweat, small heart beating against her lungs, and she felt as if she couldn't breathe.
The crunch of snow behind her blared like warning sirens in her paranoid ears, and she turned around to face it head-on.
Frigid wind came from the direction of the forest and she had to squint her eyes.
"Oh."
"It's just a kid."
They stood a slight distance from her, stumbling like a newborn deer through the snow. Xeno could make out a short mop of messy brown hair atop their head, and the brightest red eyes she'd ever seen.
She let out a sigh of relief, it wasn't a monster or a scary old man, the kid looked just a year younger than her and probably just wanted to play.
Xeno walked closer to them, "Hey! Wanna be friends?" She yelled through the roaring of the winds.
The kid fell flat on their face.
As soon as they did, the winds and buzzing stopped, the dark wisps vanished, and the tingling disappeared.
Xeno rushed over but stopped in her tracks when they came clearly into view.
"Where yo' clothes at?"
This dumbass kid was butt-ass naked in the dead of winter.
They laid still for a moment before lifting their head, and letting out an honest to Astrophel fucking bird noise of all things.
"Oh, ok." Xeno nodded as if she could understand. She removed her trench coat and beanie, heaved the kid out of the snow, and brought them home.
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