Who: Katou and Finn What: Playing in the snow When: Backdated to when Elsa made it snow (July 12) Where: A park Rating/Warning: Low/None Status: Complete
Katou’s body was not a huge fan of the snow, as he’d learned over the last few years. Apparently the plant material that he was now made from prefered heat to the cold. Shapeshifting grew more difficult the colder things got, and moving a little more sluggish, but it was something he could deal with. Because, in a not physical sense, Katou kind of liked the snow. It was like it made everything new again. Besides, winter had generally been a pretty decent time for Katou so far.
Not that it was winter, and not that he expected the snow this time around to last for more than a day or two. He didn’t know how long whoever could do this could maintain it for, but he wasn’t going to complain. And he wasn’t going to waste it either.
He took himself to a park, brushed the snow off one of the benches, and laid down on it, watching the snow fall from above as he smoked a cigarette. He didn’t hear the dog coming, it’s footsteps muffled by the now, until it was almost on top of him, and even once he noticed it his body was slow to react. Not that he really minded having a dog practically attack him, its tail wagging happily.
“Ugh, get off me, you crazy mutt,” he muttered, pushing the dog off with his right hand - he had the feeling the metal of his left would be uncomfortably cold - and sitting up. “Where the hell did you come from?” he muttered, scowling at the dog even as he scratched behind its ears.
Finally some weather Chewie could enjoy! Finn had probably never been happier to see snow in his life than right now, no matter how odd the circumstances. It had just been an epic heatwave yesterday after all, and his dog, Chewie, had been miserable, refusing to go out. As a Bernese Mountain Dog, his element was snow, not a California heat wave.
So as soon as he'd seen the snow starting to fall Finn knew the plan was to run around in it as much as possible. Once enough was on the ground he'd taken his dog to their favorite park, where he'd let the pup (who was approaching nearly thirty pounds by now) run off leash to roll around and leap in the snow. He'd never seen Chewie so happy.
In fact he'd been a bit too excited and had bolted off deeper into the park. When Finn realized he wasn't coming back he chased after him, running through the snow in his Storm Trooper boots (looked like they were handy for something after all) and calling out his dogs name. After reaching the summit of a small hill he saw him affectionately begging for attention from a homeless guy on the bench. Or, Finn assumed the guy was homeless because who else would be sitting on a bench in the middle of a snowfall?
“Chewie!” He called, breathless, and trotted up to the two. “I'm so sorry. We were just playing and he took off.” Finn said between breaths, leaning his hands on his knees. Now closer, he realized the guy didn't look homeless after all. Chewie for his part, was practically trying to climb into the guy's lap for more scratches and love.
Katou glanced up from the dog, Chewie apparently, and at the man who was evidently his owner. There was a part of him that wanted to sneer at the newcomer and tell him off for letting his dog just harass anyone it wanted to, but it was hard to even pretend to be angry when it was slobbering all over his face.
“No problem,” Katou said, not able to hide his grin. “Guess being mauled by some fuzzy beast on a snowy day mid-July isn’t the worst thing that could happen.”
Finn breathed a laugh, standing up straight. “Sorry again. C’mon, Chewie, that’s enough.” He went over and clipped the leash to the pup’s collar. “You don’t seem freaked out by the snow.” He wondered if he was part of the Network. Most people he’d seen were tentatively stepping outside to explore the snow. Otherwise mostly it seemed everyone had decided it was a snow day and were staying off the roads.
“What, like snow in July is supposed to be weird or something?” Katou asked, giving a lopsided smirk. “Naw, nothing worth being freaked out about. Global warming or something, right?” he asked, waving a hand airly in front of him. He knew better, but probably best to feed the general Agency line on this kind of thing. “You and Chewie don’t seem too weirded out neither.”
Finn tilted his head to one side. “I thought global warming meant less snow?” He shrugged. “At least this place doesn't look like Hoth.” Unlike the last time, where it showed up in the desert. “Nah, this place… Well, it likes to throw curve balls.”
Chewie in the meantime had busied himself sniffing Kotu’s feet and then started eating the snow near him. He stopped suddenly and crouched as if a sudden bolt of hyper energy was about to hit, and suddenly started flipping snow with his nose all over him, as if asking to play. “Chewie!” Finn reprimanded.
Katou shrugged. “I ain’t a scientist,” he said. But he grinned a little at Finn’s Hoth comment. Katou was hardly a Star Wars nerd, but he did like movies and he had watched them a couple of times.
“Feels like that’s an understatement,” he said about the curveballs, and then turned to the dog. “He seen snow before?” he asked after a moment, bending down from the bench to scoop up a handful of snow. The pup sure seemed excited about it, whether he’d seen it before or not.
Finn decided not to out himself too much as being a part of the network in case he was reading the guy wrong.
“Nope. He was so excited though. He's technically a snow dog so this is his thing. I couldn't not take him out, especially after this heat wave.” The puppy was at that funny awkward stage where he was all gangly, legs flopping everywhere as he jumped about, puppy fuzz still on his ears, and he was slim, for now until he matured into the big fluffy working dog that was his breed.
“With all that fuzz, that mutt must’ve been dying,” Katou said fondly, watching him. It was difficult to make a snowball when only one of his hands managed to give off body heat, but he managed it somehow, and then lobbed it at the dog as if it were a regular ball.
“Someone out there must’ve been looking out for us with all of this,” Katou said. Someone being that woman on the Network who had taken credit for it, but, well, he didn’t need to go into that much detail.
“Seriously.” Finn agreed, watching as Chewie, with plenty of lead on the leash, managed a high enough jump to catch the snowball in the air. He bit down on it gleefully, the snowball breaking in half between his jaws. He settled down to eat the remnants as if somehow that snow was different and worth chowing down on. “I'm a native and even I'm grateful.”
“Same,” Katou said. There was hot, and then there was hot. This summer had definitely been the latter. “But I guess I’ve always liked the snow. Even if I have only seen it these last few years.”
“Same here. Don't exactly get this in Cali. Or well, other parts of Cali.” He smiled. Chewie, having finished eating the snow suddenly saw another dog and started pulling, nearly dragging Finn off his feet. “Whoa! Okay, buddy!” He twisted around and nodded at Katou. “Nice talking. Gotta go!” And Chewie pulled, barking enthusiastically.
Katou smirked as the other man was dragged away by the dog. He raised a hand in goodbye, more to the dog than its hapless owner, and then laid back down on the bench to continue watching the snow fall. /