Homemade Winter

[Iowan]

The theater was empty of life, save one. The people had all gone home after the show had ended. It had been a wonderful play, full of music and a tale about a young maiden and her prince, truly magical and so it was, the crowd had left please with loads of chatter and happy smiles on their faces as they clutched to their pamphlets with tired hands from clapping so vigorously.

The actors and stagehands had, had their little celebration party and the cleanup crew had just finished and locked up for the night. Locked up, but hadn’t, as was usual, checked to see if there was anyone still lingering about.

Now however it was her turn, her turn to do whatever she wished up on the huge stage, her turn to cool off from the summer heat and to skate in a wonderland of snow and ice.

Iowan climbed the stairs to the stage and walked into its center where she closed her eyes and smiled as she imagined a great frozen lake in her mind surrounded by trees who’s limbs were swollen with snow and the land about her frozen, white snow covered hills and a frosty mist all about. She thought then of a giant cave with great ice sickles hanging from its ceiling glistening with a bluish shine that glimmered in what light was let in by its massive mouth-like opening.

She opened her eyes after she had gotten it all settled in her mind and watched, as the entire theater turned into am inside winter wonderland for her to enjoy. The picture she’d painted in her mind coming to life by the second, though without her knowing, the lock on the great theater doors snapped with the cold, leaving her exposed to visitors, should they come. That however, wasn’t something she really cared too much about.

Iowan moved over to the side of the now frozen stage and slipped of her shoes, replacing them with a pair of ice-skates she’d had draped over her arm and with a smile, she began sliding across the ring, her feet gracefully moving her body along the smooth surface as she spun around, her white-blonde locks flying out behind her while the loosely fitting silken gown she wore flipped about in the wind that she created as she swiftly moved about. Should one come in and see her, they’d think she should be freezing by the looks of the place, but not Iowan, this was her environment, and here she was more comfortable than anywhere else she could think to be.

[natalie]

Natalie had watched the play that night. She always did enjoy a good play, and this one had been quite good. When she left with the crowd out the front doors, at the back of the auditorium, Natalie had gone to the coffee shop across the street to have a couple cups to kill some time. She was watching the doors to the theatre from inside the coffee shop and as soon as she saw the clean up crew lock the doors, Natalie finished off her last cup and went back across the street.

There were still people around out front, so the main entrance would have been too obvious. Natalie walked around the side of the building and ran up one of the walls, pushed off it across the narrow alley, and pushed off that wall as well to grab onto a window sill about twenty feet off the ground. Once she had pulled herself up onto the windowsill and slid the window open, Natalie climbed inside. She hadn’t known the front door was unlocked, but this was easy enough. Inside the window was a hallway outside of the auditorium. Natalie closed the window and walked down the hall to the auditorium entrance.

Natalie often liked to visit the theatre after hours. She had performed there so many times as a child that she had grown to be comfortable there. It was a place where she could be alone and at home away from the guild full of people as callous as herself. Natalie had not expected to be walking in to this winter wonderland that had been created in the time it took her to have three cups of coffee across the street. She stood at the top of the stairs in the center of the auditorium and looked around. Natalie saw the woman skating around down by the stage and stepped forward onto the steps that were then an icy slope. Natalie slid gracefully down the slide on her feet, he summer dress blowing in the wake of her wind.

[Iowan]

Iowan of course thought she was alone in the theater and had no idea the girl had shown up but when she saw her slide down the, what used to be stairs, she stopped her twirling and gliding to turn and watch her for a moment.

Iowan didn’t care that she had company, she just wasn’t expecting it though she didn’t look it, she was a bit shocked as this was indeed the first time she’d had company and probably the reason for her initial stare at the girl who was there in front of her now. Though after a moment, she shook her head. “Sorry for staring.” She apologized. “I just wasn’t expecting company.” She continued and offered the other a slight smile. “Do you like it?” She then asked the other, figuring she might as well ask seeing as though there she was in the middle of the winter wonderland Iowan had created for her enjoyment.

Iowan was actually quite glad for the company and hoped the girl would stick around and should she want, the Ice Mage could even fix her up with a pair of true Ice skates to join in the full use of the place as it was now.

[natalie]

Natalie had slid to a stop in front of the stage, in front of the skating woman. “It’s alright, I don’t mind. I stared a little myself; I wasn’t expecting the place to be frozen over.” Natalie looked around some more, this time from the bottom of the auditorium.

“It’s a prettier winter than I’ve ever seen.” Natalie answered the woman’s question. Every winter was beautiful and every winter was fun, but the little winter in the theatre then was simply magical.

Natalie had in fact broken into the theatre that night for a little down time all alone, but there was nothing in particular she had wanted to think about, only the regular every day things; her whole life was questionable after all. Since she had no pressing need to be alone, only the soothing habit, Natalie decided she would play in this magical winter-land. The woman, obviously a mage, seemed quite nice and not likely to cause a conflict so Natalie thought that shouldn’t be a problem. It had been hot outside almost every that time of year, so a little frozen fun was a refreshing thought.

Natalie turned and bolted off in an upwards bound. She was headed up the frozen slopes over what used to be seats and then was a bumpy frozen hill. Natalie climbed swiftly in leaps and bounds, her summer dress lifting at the bottom as she did, revealing the small knives and tiny pouched she had strapped on her thighs. Natalie hadn’t slipped once; her natural footing was strong and graceful enough to carry her over the ice with no worries. Once Natalie was high enough on the slope, she turned in her landing and started again to slide down the hill on her feet but this time over the bumps that used to be descending seats.

[Iowan]

Iowan smiled at the other as she spoke. She seemed nice enough as people go. This was pleasing, as Iowan did not feel like being angry or frightening at this moment, that definitely was not what she’d come in here for, no, she’d wanted to simply get out of the heat and have a little fun whilst she was at it.

“Thank you.” The Mage replied in her soft voice, her ice-blue orbs sparkling with pride as to her accomplishment. “And, ya, I don’t suspect that any would expect it to be frozen over should they care to come in at any point, such as yourself has done.” The Mage then added with a wink thrown the others way.

There was no doubt the other girl had obviously broken into the place to gain access to the theater, expecting more than likely to be alone only to find she wouldn’t be. To this, Iowan honestly had no problem, save for the fact that she might have denied the other her alone time.

“Names Iowan.” She stated just before the other girl took off over her makeshift wonderland hills. She took note of all the small daggers and many pouches the other girl had strapped to herself, but beyond that, she didn’t care.

Iowan turned and began to skate some more, twirling and jumping with such grace one would have thought her an angel, of course, that was ridiculous, she was only human after all. A human with powers that allowed her to live a long time and have fun like she was now, but human all the same.

[natalie]

Natalie smiled and giggled at the other woman’s short ramble of expectation. This seemed a fun and casual setting, so there was no need for Natalie to be tough and boring. “My name is Natalie.” She said when she got to the bottom of the hill again. Natalie slid around on the icy floor, using her shoes for as close to skates as possible. When she passed near where Iowan was skating, Natalie held out her hand in an offered greeting with a girlish smile on her face.

Natalie had grown up fast with her work, but she had never truly had a childhood through all her training and competitions. In some ways, Natalie was still a child. She had never had the schoolyard friends and she had never played the silly games that children played. When she was in a serious setting, or even a casual but adult setting, Natalie performed perfectly well. This though, was a magical setting, literally in fact, and it seemed closer to a child like fantasy than an adult one. In the snowy hills of the theatre hall, the lost little girl in Natalie came out to play.

[Iowan]

Iowan took up the hand in greeting and as they turned around together in the meeting of hands, she laughed. “Nice to meet you Natalie.” She stated still with quite a happy smile on her lips.

Iowan always played, or as often as she could at any rate. She loved skating as well as that was something she’d done perhaps about as soon as she could walk, and that was a very long time ago. She also loved to make up places like this very one in her mind and redecorate buildings of greater size when they were not occupied, but mostly during the summer as she simply couldn’t stand heat.

She let go of the other girls hands in mid circle and allow herself to fly outwards and twirl around a bit more, coming to a haul for a moment to watch how Natalie moved without a pair of skates and figured it was due to a great amount of training of some sort, but once again, she wouldn’t ask, and wouldn’t dwell on it, she was here to have fun and that was about it.

“You been here long?” She then asked. “In Celesta I mean.” She added, as she obviously knew how long she’ d been in the theater.

[natalie]

:”All my life.” Natalie said with a shining smile. She loved the city Celesta and though she would have loved to travel, was actually very happy with where she lived. Certainly Natalie had left the city many times, but never too far and never too long. “How about you?” Natalie asked, still with her smile shining brightly and she spun around on the tip of one foot three times and then kicked off with the other foot, sending her sliding across the ice in the direction Iowan had headed.

Dancing and gymnastics had given Natalie the balance and the strengths to do the things she could do and ice just made it easier to move around. When she was dancing on wooden floors, the motions were all only what she made of them. Here, on the ice, she could slide all over with ease and sculpt the dance moves she had grown up with into a more vibrantly flowing form of life. That’s what dance was to Natalie; dance was life, not only to her, but she believed it was a form of life in its self. So was music for that matter, and in fact any expression of art.

Natalie was having a wonderful time on the ice, though her light summer dress was not covering her from the cold. She was tough enough not to care though, and she was moving around enough to keep her blood moving and her body warm.

Natalie jumped as she neared Iowan and twirled in the air, landing and sliding fast enough to catch up. Natalie giggled on her landing; she was having a wonderfully fun time. Play was not something she often did, and it seemed like a lot of fun. She should have guessed. Iowan seemed playful and fun though, not like her self and not like most mages were made out to be. Natalie hadn’t met too many that she was aware of, but mages were always said to be dull and dry academic enthusiasts; geeks and nerds in short; a stereotype obviously that Iowan did not match.

[Iowan]

Iowan continued to play, to dance on her skates, winding about, jumping into the air as well, doing a back flip at one point, landing and taking off again the moment her feet touched solid ice again. She was having a blast, and now, to enjoy it with someone who seemed to be having just as much fun with it, made it all that much more enjoyable.

“Well.” Iowan started as she spun around to face towards Natalie. “I was born North of here actually, in a small town that is no longer there, it would seem it is now a part of Celesta, so in a way, I suppose I was born here, yes, though not in a sense that someone so young as yourself would recognize.” She stated with a laugh as the other giggled so happily in her play.

Natalie was a very talented and strong girl, this, the Mage took note of. She was handling herself very well on the ice, able to not only stay upright without the use of skates, but as well still able to do the same things the Mage was performing, and that, took not only talent, but a very great show of control as well. She would put the girl down as either a simple dancer, or something more along the lines of assassin type, as she had met plenty in her time and each one seemed to have the ability to control their bodies in this manner, or at least the good ones could at any rate. Once again though, the Mage would make no judgments, she seldom did, she cared not what a person did for a living, so long as it wasn’t hurting her.

Iowan was moving backwards now, as she spoke to the other, avoiding the edge of the ring she’d made and still gliding effortlessly over the ice with her hands clasped behind her back as well. “Yes, I like it here, the city is pleasant enough, and it seems to have a lot of places one can make for fun days out of the heat during the summer as well.” She added with both a wink and a grin thrown at the other.

[natalie]

Natalie watched as Iowan leapt through the air and performed her back flip. She giggled at the mage’s story of origin; not that it was truly funny in any way but Natalie was being childish in the magical setting and the thought had struck her that this was an old lady she was playing with. As if Natalie hadn’t been raised competitive enough already, the thought of an old lady doing a back flip was both amusing to imagine, and challenging to watch. Natalie would have to show this woman up.

Without a word, Natalie turned on one foot and kicked off the ice with her other, increasing her speed as she slid towards the stage. Then, with one hard thrust from her legs Natalie soared up into the air, gracefully making one full backwards rotation with her arms spread out like wings as she soared far higher and far farther than most people would think possible from a human, and landed with her feet on the very edge of the stage placed still about five feet from the ground level. Without hesitation, Natalie thrust again from her legs off the stage and completed with just as much grace but with greater speed, her arms still outstretched like human wings three full back flips in stead of the one slow one she had just done before landing on the ground not far from where she had leapt off seconds before. As she landed halfway in a bow with her arms outstretched, Natalie slipped forward on impact, never having performed such tricks before with ice under foot. Natalie easily salvaged the fumble as she took in one swift surprised breath and quickly ducked into an incredibly fast forward flip without a jump, landing again on her feet in a mostly curled position. Letting out that swift breath from a second earlier, Natalie swiftly stood up thrusting again and finished her set with a mind spinning quadruple Lutz before landing softly onto her feet again and sliding in a ten-foot circle with a bow.

Natalie was glad for the sake of her competitive nature that she had always kept up her gymnastics and advanced dance training even in recent years. It was what she loved after all; to perform and compete. That had been ground into her since before she could remember and fortunately, she actually liked it.

“Try that Old Lady.” Natalie smirked and giggled, retorting to being called so young though she really was, quite confident a mage couldn’t compete with her intensive gymnastic skills, as graceful as Iowan seemed to be.

[Iowan]

Iowan simply watched the girl as she continued to skate backwards around the ice. She smiled as she watched the intricate and most talented tricks being preformed. She held her breath when the girl almost fell forward on the ice and let it out again when she recovered nicely into the frontal flip. And then when the other finished with the statement of a challenge the Mage simply laughed for several moments.

“I think this old lady will stick to what she knows she can do, I’ll leave that sort of thing up to the likes of someone who is built for it.” She grinned from ear to ear at the others ‘old lady’ comment. “These old bones aren’t made for such acrobatics as your young ones are after all.” She replied, bending over and pretending to hold a cane in her hand as her feet now sailed her slowly and purposely shakily forward in jest.

“Though…” She then started as she straightened up and spun around on one foot, holding the tip of her raised skate behind her back as she did, making the spin faster and faster until she allowed her other leg released and came to a sudden halt facing the assassin. “I would like to see you look this good when you’re seven-hundred years old.” She winked and then laughed as she pushed off again to continue simply skating about the ice in a leisurely pace.

[natalie]

Grinning widely in pride at her shallow victory, Natalie giggled at the mage’s returned old lady jokes. It had never been a competition of course, but Natalie couldn’t help but make one of it; everything had to be a challenge for her.

“I don’t plan to grow old anyways.” Natalie replied smugly to the woman’s challenge, which Natalie would surely never be able to defeat. It was silly, but Natalie was almost hurt that she was bound to fail the woman’s challenge, even though it surely meant that way. She was being honest though; though Natalie had no plans drawn up to bow out of life any time soon, she didn’t delude herself into thinking that she was likely to live forever doing what she did.

Natalie paused briefly before continuing after the other woman. It was obvious even to her that she was failing in this social atmosphere; it wasn’t the kind she was used to where she could slyly get by on her good looks and calm demeanor. She wasn’t supposed to take the fun and games as a taunt. Failing didn’t sit well by Natalie, so she decided that she would need to strive to succeed. Perseverance had helped Natalie through all other things, so why not this? She figured if she could press on and keep a stiff upper lip about her vein sense of defeat in a casually social atmosphere, she should be able to learn what she should have learned all those years before.

“Iowan,” Natalie started timidly curious, “will you be my friend?”

[Iowan]

Iowan laughed at her remark at never meaning to grow old anyway as she continued to move along the ice, not really doing anything huge, just simply enjoying the others company as well, the calming effects the simplicity of sailing over the smooth surface offered. “Usually, those of us who believe they will not live to grow old are the ones with the fullest lives in the end.” She replied to the others statement, something that Natalie would have probably expected a Mage to actually say, and in a way she was correct in that line of thinking, for the most part even though Iowan was still quite young at heart, she was as well still most intelligent and wise as well, she’d already lived far to long not to be.

The two continued to skate and Iowan smiled over at the other and smiled. “You know, you certainly are very incredible on your feet.” She stated in compliment to the other. An honest remark as there truly was no doubt that Natalie certainly was very talented. “And really quite beautiful to watch, you could have been a great performer in the theater you know.” She stated also most honestly and with a warm smile as she moved over the ice. The last comment was double edged though, Iowan wanted to put to rest the question that the other might have as to rather she’d figured what the girls' chosen profession was. Iowan was not assuming, there truly was no doubt this girl was an assassin and nothing less. She was far to thoughtful and calculating to be anything less. She certainly had all the right tools about her person after all.

After Natalie asked the final question Iowan stopped skating and turned to gaze at the girl, a warm smile on her lips, warmer perhaps than ever before and she then gave a half laugh. “My dear Natalie, I thought that was what we were working towards to being with.” She stated simply giving the girl a wink as she pushed off once again and twirled then continued on her way around the ring swooping in towards the other then out again. “I do believe we are well on our way to being just that too.” She finished as she came closest to the other and before she moved on.

[natalie]

Natalie furrowed her brow and slowed her pace to a stop at her skating partner’s first response. “That’s pretty bleak.” Natalie grumbled under her breath. She didn’t really want to grow old. Life was a dark thing to her and it seemed getting old would be an awful pain.

Her frowning face quickly turned to a smile again and Natalie kicked off the ice one more time to hurriedly catch up to Iowan after her next couple comments. Natalie was proud of herself after all, and she always had loved to be praised. Competition had given her that habit too. “I was, actually.” Natalie replied with a broad smile and a reminiscent look in her eyes as she looked over at the stage platform. “I used to perform here a lot growing up.” She explained, staring at the stage while sliding side by side with her new friend. “I danced in plays and danced for sold out shows, even solo ones where I was the only star.” Natalie looked at Iowan then and continued to smile broadly. “I used to compete too, all across the continent. People used to pay decent money to see me perform.”

It had been a while since Natalie had gotten to brag like that. She really was proud of the things she had done growing up, and even sometimes missed those days. She was usually alone in the theatre when she thought like that, so reminiscing usually want so vainly rewarding.

Natalie didn’t say anything back about the friendship response; she would probably throw a hug around the mage later instead. Natalie hadn’t ever had a friend to be honest; she had never had the time.

[Iowan]

Iowan continued to skate next to the girl; the entire time she held in her appearance that same, calm demeanor along with that ever-warming smile that somehow fit her icy look. She tilted her head to the side at the comment of living a full life and then grinned somewhat. “I hear that growing old is not so bad.” She offered. “But as I might be ancient in terms for most people I know, old I have never become and so, I can not advise you as such, though truly, it can’t be that horrible as humans seem to enjoy themselves even in their twilight years, or they seem to at the very least.” She then stated, her head righting itself as she turned around to now skate backwards, her hands once more clasping themselves behind her back in a casual manner as they had previously.

She didn’t say much for a bit, contemplating the others admission of her previous profession.

“If you don’t mind me asking.” She began, her ice-blue orbs sweeping over Natalie for a moment as they continued to skate and slide about the icy realm she had created. “Why did you stop?” She then asked, quite curious as to why the other had decided to put away the spotlight in place of the shadows.