Inhuman Places Breed Human Monsters

Chapter five

She had managed to make the monumental trek of five whole steps before she found herself landing with a thwump in a mound of thankfully soft snow. With a cheery, earnest giggle upon her lips, she looked up to see that Edmund had managed to make it an impressive few meters further than she had before he joined her with a tumble of his own. Given that she hadn't expected to move at all, rooted to the ground like a silly tree, the fact she had been able to get even as far as she had was a success as far as she was concerned. She'd never used snowshoes before, but she could say with some certainty that they were fun, even if it was just because she could see the look of slightly confused determination - or determined confusion, depending on how one might want to look at it - on Edmund's face as set about the task of moving around with what was little more than over glorified tennis rackets.

Setting about hauling herself to her feet, Mina wasn't ashamed to admit it was more of an ordeal than it should have been to regain her footing, all the clumsy stumbling and unsteadiness included. At least she had decided to get up, rather than accept her fate and just lie there, much as the man had been.

"Come on," she chirruped, blushing the snow that was so determinedly clinging to her away, this being a somewhat less than successful venture, "We're not gonna get anywhere just lying there, up at at 'em!"

He did, at the very least, make an effort to try and bring himself to his feet. It wasn't all that successful and  landed him back down on the ground in a far from elegant sort of way, a sigh accompanying this as he went right back to simply lying there.

"I'm not gonna come out here and dig you back up, you know?" said she, trudging awkwardly across the ground, almost losing her footing more often than she made successful steps, but at least she managed to keep herself from tumbling right over a second time. When she had gotten close enough, she held a hand out to him, moving into a shaky sort of crouch.

Things did not quite go according to plan. She did manage to pull him up, which was the intention, but ended up losing her balance in the process and fell back, pulling him back down with her, giving him a whole of ten seconds of being vertical.

At least the cold wasn't bothering them all too much, given that they were spending an awful amount if time getting their entire body covered in the snow.

Letting out an audible breath that could have come in any reason between irritation, amusement, and simply because he'd wound up face first in the snow once again, Edmund rolled himself over, a sort of a smile on his face.

"Did that go according to plan?" he asked in a way that seemed flat to anyone who wasn't accustomed to his speech patterns and mannerisms, but to those who were close enough to him would have come across as being mere seconds away from laughter.

"Oh, hush you!" she returned, the more obvious nature of his good humour coming through tenfold in her response, a sparkly laugh lurking within her words in a way that was plain to see and warm to hear. What was less warm, however, was the snow that she dropped onto his face and proceeded to harmlessly rub into him with a far more victorious trill to her laugh.

Before he had the chance to retaliate, she rolled away, popped up into a sitting position, and proceeded to haul a snowball at him. Despite the fact it had missed quite completely, it was an impressively smooth action all things considered, and so she considered it an honorary hit.
What came from this was, of course, a snowball fight for the ages, with what felt like all the snow in the world at their disposal and no one to see them and think them silly - a concern more pressing for Edmund than it was for Mina - they were free to laugh as they played with the enthusiasm of children that were experiencing their first snowfall. It delighted Mina terribly to see the other brought to such a state of laughter that he was wheezing, breath coming short and with undeniable delight.

The wind unfortunately sent them scurrying back inside before all too long, the bite of the wind providing more of a chill with their damp clothes than the snow was managing. Settling herself down in the warmest nook by a heating vent, a blanket draped over her in favour of having to change out of her clothes, there was a consistent smile curling up her face quite pleasantly. The promise of a hot cocoa that Edmund had wandered off to the kitchen to make for them both had her excited, the weather perfect for such a warm treat. It was almost a stereotype to come in from the snow to enjoy a hot cocoa, but there was a reason it had become a stereotype and she certainly wasn't complaining.

Her attention drifted, eyes landing upon the book that sad discarded on the table. Perhaps, when he returned, she might ask him to read the next chapter or so while they enjoyed their drinks. She was quite sure that he wouldn't say no, even if it had been more than a couple days - they were getting slack! - since they had touched the book, leaving it there all by its lonesome in the big old room.
She was also alone in the big old room, and he was taking his time to return. Drawing her blanket around her like a cloak, and feeling a little like a weary queen wandering the halls of her castle, she strolled off to try and find the other, cheerily humming along with the music she could hear floating down from further down the hall.