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The streets were beautiful with snowflakes falling in between the cracks of the cobblestone. The newly fallen powder sparkled in the midday sun, and stuck in Katelyn’s tightly wound up bun. She huffed at the colder air and drew herself even deeper into the warm undergarments of her armor. The loud merchants seemed disinterested with the cold, continuing with their advertisements of goods and products.
“Katelyn your hair looks paler than usual,” Travis chuckled to himself and pulled his hand through the loose locks of hair resting on her shoulder, “The snow looks like crystals on you.”
“Alright then casanova. Tone down the poetic language there,” She stepped closer to him, trying to siphon off some of his fiery warmth. “Geez are you sure you’re not a living furnace?”
“Pretty sure love,” He looked over her and gave a disappointed noise, “Are you sure you aren’t cold?”
She raised an eyebrow, “I’m a guard, why the hell would I let myself be cold? Seems impractical considering my line of work.”
“Maybe because you’re like any other person who gets cold?” He sighed and stepped back to take off his long coat, “Here take this.”
“Don’t you need that?” She shook her head in refusal, he was ridiculous sometimes.
He smiled wide, “Katelyn I used to bathe in ice water when I lived on Enki’s Island, I don’t get cold unless it's like, colder than all the layers of hell combined. Please, just wear it? I promise you’ll be warm.”
She sighed and let him wrap the suede and sheepskin coat around her shoulders. Although she wouldn’t admit it, the material was comfortable and definitely warm. And it swamped her, the broad shoulders fell all around her body. Pulling herself back into a closer space between her and Travis, he pulled her next to himself, hip to hip, and rested his arm around her shoulders.
“You look very much at ease in that Katie,” He looked around the market and rested his eyes on her, the green sparkling.
“I look miniscule in it you mean,” She tilted her head up to peck his cheek, satisfied with the blush that quickly followed. “Thank you.”
The white snow really was lovely, and she silently laughed at how she couldn’t even see the flakes in Travis’ hair or on his eyelashes. Instead it simply just disappeared into the mess of curls and frizz. They continued walking through the streets, steadily traveling towards the edge of the town and to the base of the mountains.
“So why are we going up the mountains again?”
“You said you wanted to get away from work at the academy right? At least for the season?”
Katelyn tugged at Travis’ hair, watching the locks straighten to their full length then spring back to his head. “Well yeah, but I really shouldn’t be away for too long. Just cause most of the students left for the break doesn’t mean I don’t still have plenty of work to do.”
Travis jumped and climbed over a large boulder, then reached down and helped Katelyn up, “I’m sure the academy won’t be destroyed while you’re gone love.”
She rolled her eyes and followed after him on the trail, “It could be though, besides I really only need about a day. I’ll be fine you dork.”
“I highly doubt that Blue, so I’ll give you a choice: either come relax with me for a few days or I’ll tease you mercilessly when you finally pass out,” He grinned and walked off the worn path and into the trees, treading lightly on the fallen leaves and branches.
Katelyn copied his movements, keeping her steps as quiet as possible with her heavy armor. “Your idea of teasing is laughing at me for five minutes then passing out on my lap, so I see no repercussions from that option.”
“I do not pass out like that,” Travis pouted, “However if you decide to vacation with me you will definitely see more benefits than anything you could get from the other option.” He waggled his eyebrows before snapping his head back around to face the forest in front of them. “Ah there we are, come on we’re almost there.”
“And how do you know that?” She frowned and continued after her light-hearted lover.
“I heard it of course, I mean I do have excellent and heightened senses.”
“Don’t puff up with pride, you look like a peacock.”
“Peacocks are gorgeous though Katelyn. They seem fitting for me.” He moved his head, flipping his hair like he was actually one of the dramatic birds.
“Gorgeous? Absolutely. But you are not one for pompous flirting and seduction. You’re more like… a poetry and roses kind of man. Like the kind of stuff you see in the romantic plays you like going to see.”
“Oh so you know how I romance someone now? Anything else I should know about myself?” He stepped into a small clearing and turned to face the blue-haired woman, arms crossed and brows furrowed.
She took the challenge and proceeded, “You won’t ever admit it but you hate swordsmenship, you think its awkward and painful. You also have hundreds of half-finished paintings and drawings lying all over your rooms at Brightport, not to mention all the sketches you seem to enjoy living in every room you have to be in for longer than ten minutes,” She felt highly rewarded by the pure insulted face Travis had. “Should I continue?”
“Yeah no you can stop now, I get it. Happy with yourself Katie?”
“Definitely,” She cupped his face and pecked his cheek to apologize, “Now how are we supposed to have a nice holiday in the middle of the forest?”
Travis raised his hand slightly, using his pointer finger to draw out a rectangular shape in the air. The atmosphere shivered and bent to form a doorway standing by itself. He kissed Katelyn’s cheek in return, “Well first off we aren’t going to be in this forest, so let’s actually get out of here.”
“If you were just going to open a teleport gate, then why did we even walk all the way out here?”
“Probably because using magic like this in town would be a terrible idea. Also I just really like walking around with you so there’s that as well.” Travis walked through the doorway, Katelyn in tow.
She blinked at the sudden white sunlight dancing on the forest floor. She looked around at the different scenery surrounding her. Instead of softly dusted trees and chilled air, She saw trees covered entirely in snow and ice. The snow under her feet crunched loudly, protesting her disturbing its long time resting place.
“Are… are we even in Ru’an right now?” Katelyn wrapped the coat even tighter around herself, trying to keep the cold air from reaching her.
“Absolutely not, but what better way to have a nice vacation then to go to an entirely different region of the world? And what better place then the place your one and only wonderful boyfriend came from?” Travis held his arms out, presenting the land around them with a wide smile.
“You dragged us both to Enki Island to freeze in its subzero climate?”
He dropped his jaw, overly shocked. “No! I dragged us here to really enjoy the wonders of winter, this is definitely better than any of the meager powder Ru’an calls snow. We can cuddle, throw snow at each other, cuddle some more, drink hot tea and coffee while cuddling, the options are limitless!”
“Yeah most of those sound fairly similar, wonderful but similar. Are you sure we can’t just, I don’t know, stayed back at my place and done all of that there?”
“Yeah no I’m entirely positive on this. Just trust me ok?” He ran up the mountainside, paving a path through the thick layers of snow for Katelyn to follow.
“You should really stop making me run after you Travis! It’s getting slightly annoying!” She yelled after him, trying to catch up to him.
He stopped and shouted back at her, “And you don’t know where we’re going! So I have to lead the way!”
She groaned and stepped over the crest of the mountain, “Well that’s a first for you.” She sighed and held her hands to her hips, “You brought me all the way here to your house?”
Travis scratched the back of his head and shrugged, “I mean no one’s going to disturb us here, no one down in the village even comes this far up the mountain anyways. It’s perfect!” He pushed the door open and flopped on the couch inside.
“Fair enough,” Katelyn shut the door behind herself and curled up to her boyfriend, then cringed at the discomfort from her armor. “Give me a hand in taking this off then, will ya?”
He sat up and started untying the knots holding the metal plates to her body, “I honestly didn’t even think I could persuade you away from your desk.”
She moved over each piece to a side table after it was removed, careful not to drop it on her feet. “I have a terrible time trying to resist your cute face alright? It's kinda fun to indulge you, my love.”
He pulled off the last few pieces of her backplate and palendrons, then reached his arms around Katelyn’s neck and pulled her close. Dotting small kisses on the sides of her cheeks and behind her ears, Travis rested his jaw on her shoulder and sighed happily, “Well that’s something you should have never told me. Now I have a secret weapon Katie.”
“It’s really not much of a secret you dork,” She held onto Travis’ wrists and guided his hands to her legs, where he gladly held on and ran his hands over the well-fitting material of the undersuit. “So what’s the plan then mountain man?”
“We stay here all night and fall asleep. This right here is utter bliss,” He leaned back and straightened himself out, taking Katelyn’s body with him, “Nothing else could be more enjoyable, alright?”
Katelyn stole one of the many furs lying around and pulled it on top of them both, “Yeah I guess you’re right,” She stretched out and pecked underneath Travis’ jawline, indulging in the soft rumble from his chest. “Should we actually do something later then?”
“Later. Definitely later, I’m suddenly very tired and need to sleep with my lovely girlfriend for a few hours,” He yawned to prove his point, and closed his eyes.
Katelyn tucked herself even deeper into Travis’ chest, and let herself drift off in the warmth of the thick furs. He was definitely right, this was actually quite peaceful for her overworked self.