The next morning, Tina and Tino were already in the kitchen to start off the day.

Tina was his twin sister: They could practically swap places for each other for the day if it weren't for the fact that her breasts actually show a bit. She was busily making food for the day, watching the snow cover up the whole place while listening to the radio that was installed on her clock. She was listening to the weather report and felt like her mood had been slightly dampened from all of it. Finishing up the Open Sandwiches that she was decorating with various fruits, she walked over to the table and set it down, walking towards the window and pulling the curtains out of the way.

"Kiitos~!" Tino spoke in a sing-song voice, now noticing the distant expression on her face. "Hm? I-Is something wrong, Tina..?"

"Well, aren't you kind of disappointed that your school closed down this morning?" She muttered, placing her hand on the glass that was as cold as ice. "You miss some information, don't you..?"

"W-Well, it is a bad thing to a certain extent.." He scratched the back of his head, placing his pen down after working on a few more pieces of paperwork to eat. "However, it does give me more time t-to finish all the work that's been put in a stack that I haven't been able to complete yet."

"Well, don't forget that you have to go Grocery Shopping today too..." She walked back to her chair and sat, munching on some of the bread and strawberries that were sliced. "You didn't seem to have much food left in store; Why is that?"

"Ah, well I'm used to picking up certain ingredients and then just eating what I bought for that day!" He gave a small laugh, biting down on the food and swallowing it before talking some more. "I-I need to remember that you will be residing with me, so I'll have to stock up for certain days."

"Especially now! There is so much snow outside, I don't even think we'll be able to go out anywhere else if the snow gets worse." She began to hold her head, standing up and pacing around the room while muttering nonsense in Finnish. "O-Oh no.. T-That means, I can't work o-on t-the days o-of horrible s-snowing! W-What if I-I'm caught in my job..!"

"..Tina, c-calm down!" He shot up from his seat, running to the other side and grabbing his sister's hands that were practically freezing. "Y-You never told me what job you might have been accepted into.. And, even if that does happen, there's nothing we c-can do! I-It's snow; I-It's a part of life – we can't stop it, y-you know.."

"Still.." Tina's voice trailed off as he said this, allowing her to take a deep breath and release it in order to stop herself from trembling or shaking. "..If you're going Grocery Shopping sometime soon, remind me to come along with you! I'm not letting you drag your feet in the snow and possibly die there!"

"Y-You get too paranoid sometimes..." He chuckled nervously, letting go of her hands and crossing his arms over his chest. "I'll be fine, sisko.. Really! I'm too used to going out in the snow alone, anyways. I'll just take the streets and stay to the side unless there are cars coming our way!"

"I'm still not convinced for as to why I should let you go alone..."

"Well, I also need to get Hana's hair trimmed; Not to mention, I need to send all these applications and such into the mailbox in the city!" He pointed out, slipping the ones that he had finished into separate manila folders and then walking to his room to get a rubber band from the drawers. When he found one he ran back out to the table and began to wrap the finished folders, creating a small stack of what he needed to send in before sitting down again to finish the rest of his breakfast.

"..You really want to leave the house alone, don't you?" She gave a small smile, taking the files in hand. "Does Hanatamago have her records somewhere in the place? If she does, then I'll need that before I take her to get what she needs done."

"Tina, I highly doubt a groomer needs to know our social security number."

"T-There are some that need it depending on how professional the groomers are!" She winced, a bit hurt at his comment. She shrugged it off quickly, though. "...If you say so, though..."

"Right! I just need you to drop those things off, then drop off Hanatamago at the groomers!" He walked inside his room again, digging for his wallet in the pocket in the jeans he wore yesterday, and pulled out a couple of bucks that he kept inside. "I-I don't have much, so if you can't afford the groomer, just bring Hanatamago back!"

"Don't worry about the money, Tino!" She gave him another warm smirk with a nod that she understood his orders... Until he mentioned the prices. "I will pay for it with some of the money that I have. We'll just split it!"

"Will that be alright with you..?" He muttered, unsure if she was being serious about it or not. "I can just pay the whole amount!"

"I'll be fine~" She waved her hand off, picking up the files and grabbing the pink leash Hanatamago had for taking walks outside. If the floor got any colder, then Tina would have to pick her up and carry her due to the excessive cold that could touch her paws and practically harm them. "Is it the Mailbox Office down a few blocks?"

"Well, that's where you stop to get to the Office that I need to deliver them in.." He pulled out a map from the drawer, handing it to her and beginning to explain what routes and what directions she had to take in order to get to the destination. It wasn't that hard, considering it was just a few curves in the bus and then walking towards the building. If she followed directions, she would be able to get there without spending so much money on a single trip.

"Oh, and just make sure Hanatamago doesn't disrupt any of the people on the bus – that can get you kicked off!" Tino winced, remembering the first time he took a bus to his old school, but ended up getting kicked off because Hanatamago kept barking at the lady that was sitting right beside him. He was so flustered that day; It was the only reason he walked anywhere with Hana in hand.

"...You were kicked off a bus?"

"H-Hana did it!"

And then sighs and laughter spread throughout the room.

~x~

...Tino had gone separate ways after an hour of getting Tina to memorize directions and rules when it came to handling the puffy dog. He was walking along the sidewalk now, extending his arms like a toddler and walking with his wallet in the puffed up jacket he was wearing. Humming a similar Christmas tune, while beginning his childish skip down the sidewalk's road.

It was snowing, no doubt about it. The winds made it much colder than it should be, but the only thing he was worried about was tripping himself up in the snow itself. Whenever he did, he would laugh and continue walking like if it was a casual occurrence. He made sure that he kept the wallet in his pocket, and that he didn't forget it on the way home. It would have been a nuisance to run back to his house and then have to run through the snow in order to get to his destination; He tried not to think about that possibility.

The snow itself was coming in quick, and that was giving Finland some obstacles when he got into the store. While the place had stocked up bread and many other things to heat up for the wintertime, there were just too many people up front that were trying to rush in and out of the place. This was such a troublesome moment for the Finn; He needed to go in and out of the storm before the snow got any worse. He wouldn't be able to walk back home.

He began to walk around the aisles once he finally got inside, picking out things like Paper Towels or plastic utensils that he and his sibling could share as they lived in the apartment together. Tina wasn't the one who used a lot of dishes when eating, but they were still only human. Anything could happen, and they could most likely use the utensils for anything else – Like a person using a butter knife to get something after it was lodged into something else.

Yep. Tino had tons of ideas when it came to being resourceful about something; He didn't like wasting things, so why should he start now that he's out his parents' home?

It took about a half an hour that he finally made his way to the meat and produce section. He carried the basket filled with what he needed in his hands, and looked at the many sections that came up before him. He dug into his wallet a couple of times, price-checking while looking at the amount of money he could spend at the store. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to go shopping alone... He would have to spend more than he normally did on items; Not to mention, it wouldn't be for just one person and a dog anymore. He let out a hesitant sigh, before getting the generic products that the store created and sold.

"Oh, Tina... I love you and all, but I was actually awaiting the day that I could finally l-live alone..!" Was all he could say after he picked out a large package of meat, and a small box of eggs that would most likely last them for one or two weeks. He took awhile on choosing the meat – deciding if he should get either pork or poultry – and then decided on taking home ham and the rest of the things that he was able to pick up on the way out of that aisle.

Kiitos ja on kiva päivä: That was the familiar phrase that Tino was so very used to whenever he exited the store with the goods he bought in hand.

~x~

He thought everything would be okay; Tino thought that he could get home before the snowstorm hit the entire city. He was expecting the snow to have stopped or at least have the wind die down to cease the amount of snow hitting him in the face. When he walked outside that night, he didn't expect to almost trip and fall into a large amount of snow that surrounded it. Many of the customers were now advised to stay inside for the night, but he refused to do so; He was going to go back home to Tina and Hanatamago, both who were most likely scared shitless of his actions.

"I-I always knew that the snow was horrible h-here, but..." He carried a sturdy brown bag as he pressed his legs through the snow; The cold dirt brushed up against his legs inside his boots, and that made him tremble. He had to be careful not to get too much snow in there; What if he got frostbite on his feet? "T-this is ridiculous..! I-I'm shivering, a-and I won't be able to get home that fast.."

There was another obstacle coming his way: The Sun. The large star of light was now setting in the distance, and the fact that he couldn't run did not support the fact that he might have a chance of getting out of there. He had heard of many people dying getting trapped into these big piles of snow; Was he going to be one of them? With grit teeth, he knelt down and jumped over an incoming pile of snow, thinking that it was safe until he saw what was coming towards him.

"D-Dammit!" He yelped when he felt his foot connect with a rock, the packaged items now flying out of his hand and the bag, and into the white flooring below. Tino then tumbled down the hill, his body rolling over things a good two or three times before he fell into a hump of two piles of snow.

"Ow..." He winced, trying to make himself stand back up, but to no avail. He scratched up his hands when trying to grasp onto something; Why did they have to be stones that could have scarred him? Why couldn't they have been something softer – like leaves. "There's too much... Just too much snow for me to move through.."

He stayed there for about ten minutes, rolling around and receiving more snow to the face or to the back. Tino was now curled up into a ball, his hands barely touching the cell phone that had rang numerous times, but he decided against it to answer. It rang once more, and gave him a third missed call – the fourth call coming with a voice mail and text message all the while. Normally, he would be as cheery as could be in these situations and find a way out; Why was there so much stress being pushed against him now?

"T-Tina..." A cracked voice finally erupted, and the violet orbs were now hidden by the lids above them. "..Forgive me... I-I should have listened.."

But, then there were footsteps... Those footsteps stopped in front of him as he blacked out, and the stranger's gloved hand picked up the light blue phone and answered it.

"..H'llo..?"