WINTER WONDERLAND -- TEDDY

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

As he woke up that morning, Joshua glanced out of the window and groaned at the sight. Snow. Of course, during winter it was a common thing, but this was just ridiculous. On top of the foot and a half that they'd already had, it looked like winter had decided to leave the Hollow a little late Christmas gift—an extra two. He had things that he had to be doing for school in order to get the year off to a good start and he was not looking forward to doing these when the sidewalks were piled high with blankets of white. Still, Joshua wasn't the sort of person that felt comfortable putting off his business for a later date. It may have been the first weekend after school had gone back into session but that didn't change his dedication to his work. He was one step closer to receiving the bachelors degree he needed—just two more years—and he wasn't going to let a bit of cold stop him from getting it. Winter was here to stay, at least for a while, and December had already helped him get used to it. This was the most snow they'd had in a single night for the winter season but it wasn't uncommon for Maple Hollow to be buried in the flakes. Irritating, but not uncommon. He shrugged on his beige-coloured jacket, stuffed his hands into the pockets and left the apartment.

As it was still quite early, the ploughs had not yet come around to clear the snow from the sidewalks. Luckily the roads were a bit higher of a priority and so he didn't have too much trouble getting his Lamborghini out of the parking lot once he had (carefully) used his powers to melt the snow that covered it. He would have walked to the place he was going but it was too chilly and miserable for that today. His car had already been fitted with snow-tires for the sake of avoiding accidents—the roads could get real icy during the winter and he'd seen many a people spin out and crash into lamp posts, signs, trees, each other, the like. Some of the accidents were just fender-benders but there had been bad ones, too. At any rate, he wasn't willing to risk so much as a scratch on his precious Aventador. He was careful when it came to driving as he was careful about anything that could be a danger to his health—pessimism was a pain at times, but in times like these it was more help than hindrance. It might have been more practical to put on bursts of speed on the empty road to reach his goals faster but he maintained the speed-limit and made it to the parking lot of the mall in one solid piece, his car faring the same way.

It had started to snow again during the drive and so Joshua kept a carefully maintained aura of heat around him. He didn't allow it to get too warm so as not to melt the snow where he walked—it would be a dead giveaway to the mortals in the area—but it stopped the snow from landing in his hair or falling down the back of his coat, as it did not have the hood attached. Joshua did not like wearing bulky winter clothing, hats, hoods, none of that. He liked the jacket because it was comfortable but as a Fire elemental it was all unnecessary evil for keeping up pretences. Sometimes he did wish that their kind could expose themselves without risk or fear of the government finding out. Wouldn't it be nice to just melt the damn snow and be happy about it? He shook his head to himself and dispersed the heat as soon as he got into the mall. The place was a maze but he was able to find the bookstore quite quickly. As per his request, they'd held copies of all the books he needed until he was able to come and pick them up. He'd ordered most of his books in advance through the Academy's system but these were extra things that he wanted for himself to help his studies. Going above and beyond was practically a habit.

I'm hungry, he realised as he passed the food court. It couldn't hurt. He pulled his bank card from his wallet, still getting used to the fact that it was his again, that he could use it without the access being denied. He got a large poutine with a vegetarian gravy and a bottle of water to go along with it—though delicious, the food was absolutely packed with calories thanks to all of the cheese. Eh, he didn't care. He watched his diet carefully the other nine out of ten times and so he could afford to indulge, literally and figuratively. He sat down at one of the many empty tables despite the fact that he had no company with which to share a conversation, not caring that it might look a bit strange. He'd never been the type to hit up a mall with a group of friends. When he went out for fun, it was usually to a bar or to the theatre, occasionally to parties or the house of whomever he was hanging around. He did most of his shopping on the strip in the upperclass neighbourhood with all the pricey and designer stores—force of habit, he supposed. Still, he didn't consider himself 'above' shopping in a mall. After all, why would he be here if he did?