If you are ever angry, and I mean boiling-hot ready-to-erupt angry, for any reason in the middle of a winter night, I encourage you to go out to the wilderness, find a frozen stream and stomp on it as hard as you can. You'll fall down into the freezing waters. Then you'll know what it means to chill.
When you chill, you suddenly become aware just exactly how reckless you were. I know I did. That's not all though; the rest of your body shuts down, unable to move, and all your brain is thinking about is how excruciatingly ice-cold it is everywhere. There's an emergency alarm that goes off in your head blaring, "COLD COLD COLD COLD COLD SO COLD I CAN'T MOVE!" so you're pretty much useless at the moment. That, my friend, is what it means to chill when you're pissed off to any degree.
Steven and I were stunned with coldness; we were both frigid to the bone. After I recovered slightly, I finally processed what was happening: the water was not deep, so we weren't drowning. It came up to my neck, while it only came up to Steven's upper half of his chest. Alas, we were practically cemented to the river waters, the cold making us move more slowly than an aged Torkoal. It seemed impossible for us to get out.
As quickly as I could potentially go, I took hold of Steven's arm in the water. "H-how are we going t-to get out?" I meant to yell at him, but the lack of air in my lungs made it sound like an angry Glameow's hiss.
He was shivering, badly. "I-I'll lift you up f-first to the th-thicker ice. H-help me b-break the thinner ice."
At least Steven was thinking; I was still too caught up in my own agony to figure a way out. We moved toward the same direction, the other side of the river, doing our best to crack the ice with our arms. It would have helped to call out our Pokemon, but under current circumstances, I didn't want my Pokemon freezing to death, and it would have been difficult to reach them from behind my belt anyway. Steven, I assumed, was thinking the same.
"H-here." Steven pulled me in the water closer to the edge of the ice. "Jump up i-in the water. I-I'll lift you up."
I tried doing what he said, forcing my feet to push me up from the bottom of the river while trying to hold a solid grip with one hand up on the ice. I wasn't successful the first time, and it took me multiple tries for me to jump within the water high enough so that Steven could grab my waist to help me out. I nearly fell back in the river a couple of times, but I was persistent in my determination to escape the cold waters.
After landing clumsily, I turned back around to help pull Steven out. He landed flat on the ice, and we sat there for some time, breathing in freezing winter air.
We were out.
"D-Dammit," I muttered, doing my best to stand up. Steven did the same, but he seemed to have a better balance than me first. He caught me with an arm while I was still trying to stand properly, preventing me from taking another involuntary dive to the river waters.
"We're... c-close..." Steven said as I weakly started for the other side of the river. "J-jus... a little... fur...ther..."
I crudely threw my duffel and shoulder bag across my shoulder, my legs wobbling as I kept proceeded in the snow. My breath was awkwardly crass and shaky, my eyes stinging with the blowing winds and relentless snowflakes. Soon, as I continued walking, I made multiple stops, feeling ready to give into the blizzard. Steven noticed, and he grabbed me, pulling the both of us closer to the direction of his house. If he hadn't dragged me, I didn't know if I could ever live through the snowstorm.
It felt like an endless spacetime loop just walking to Steven's house within the persistent weather; as soon as we both saw a faint, dim light illuminating from the distance, I cried out internally of happiness and relief. The last bit of our walk had never been more heavenly, and when we stumbled into his home through his unlocked back door, we were in absolute nirvana. Warmth enveloped the both of us, and I smelled what I thought was piquant, savory soup from the kitchen.
Waiting at the backdoor was an Aron and a Beldum; I guessed they were Steven's pets. They greeted him excitedly, clearly jubilant that their Master had come back from the frightening blizzard outside. Steven greeted them with as much energy as he could, but he wouldn't stop dragging me until we reached another door. Looking in, I saw a bathroom with a shower stall, to which he pressed me into.
"Shower. Now." Steven breathed. "Talk. Later."
With that, he exited himself from the bathroom, slamming the door and leaving me alone. Immediately, I dumped my bags to the floor on the side, stripped myself naked of everything I was wearing, stepped into the stall and turned on the water, setting the shower knob to hot. Looking out from behind the glass door, I saw that all of my clothes were completely drenched with water and snow; my Pokebelt was placed next to the wall. I reminded myself that I had to feed my Pokemon with me later — they hadn't eaten anything since I was at the Twinleaf Hotel this afternoon.
I stayed in the shower for a long time, washing myself for the first minutes (the bathroom was well-equipped with shampoo and soap) and then relaxing as I sat down, leaning my head against the wall. I had filled the bathroom with so much steam that it even began filling the shower stall itself. A couple of times, I felt the water temperature change slightly; I assumed that Steven was taking a shower somewhere else in the house.
Eventually, deciding that I had had enough of water in general, I turned off the shower. I stuck my head out of the shower stall to find towels neatly folded on a towel bar and I grabbed them freely for myself, wrapping them around my hair and body. I was thankful that I had dragged my duffel with me inside, even though it barely gave me enough room to move around freely inside the bathroom.
To my surprise, I found that most of my things had survived the weather outside; my clothes were not wet, only retaining some coldness from having spent such a long time outside, and the neatly wrapped gifts I prepared were squashed, but not terribly. Meanwhile, everything in my shoulder bag was still functional. Only my cellphone, which shared the same fate as I had in the river water, was still holding on for its dear life. I probably could make calls with it, but that was as far as it got; everything on my screen was distorted.
I would figure out what to do with everything later, as I knew Steven would eventually help me settle down in his home for the night. I took out some of my clothes — underclothes, PJs, socks and a sweater, quickly putting them on and finishing myself up. Just as I had finished brushing my hair (how I manage my knee-long hair, I don't even know myself — I just manage it and I'm able to live with it without giving myself agony), a gentle tap came from the other side of the door.
"Steven?" I said.
The response was unexpected; I heard an amiable, electric whir instead.
I opened the door, peering out to find Steven's Beldum greeting me kindly, floating elegantly at my chest level. On top of it was a steaming mug; it seemed to insist that I take it, moving back and forth to indicate it was for me.
"Oh, thank you," I said to it. I took a single sip out of it, tasting warm, exotic tea.
Beldum didn't seem to be finished; now it seemed to want to tug me along to the direction of the kitchen. Had food been prepared? Was Steven already done taking a shower? How would I take care of my own Pokemon?
Nonetheless, I followed it to the kitchen. There was a small table with two seats, each prepared with a large bowl of fresh, steaming soup and what looked like leftovers from some meal before. I heard a happy yipping coming from behind me soon after; Aron had joined and greeted me as well.
Seeing the food made my stomach rumble. At this, Beldum was lightly pushing me to the table. I sat down at one end, half-ready to dig into the food, though I was curious where Steven was. It felt improper to begin eating without him, but I was still raging over the fact that he was the one who provoked me into making the both of us sink into the cold, river waters.
I turned to both Beldum and Aron. "Is Steven still in the shower?"
Aron seemed to comprehend, nodding and barking cheerfully at what I read was a yes. Meanwhile, Beldum had begun using telekineses as he lifted up Steven's mug from the table. I sat there, astonished momentarily — Beldum, by nature, only knew Take Down as its only move. Steven must have taught him telekineses, I concluded.
Eventually, after having begun drinking my soup, which was another unfamiliar but delicious nourishment, I heard Steven walking down the stairs from somewhere. When he came into the kitchen, I saw that he, like me, was dressed warmly and comfortably, wearing what appeared to be an oversized sweater with plaid pajama bottoms. He looked excessively weary; at the same time, I could sense an overwhelming amount of gratitude emanating from him. Whatever former ego I saw from him before, it had all gone now in the present.
Besides, he was actually very... handsome. It wasn't like outside, where the dark sky and snowstorm had obscured a lot of my vision, or Samir's Grill, where the lighting wasn't the brightest or the most clear-cut in making out someone's distinguishing features... It was in the comfort of his own home, where the calm, fair lighting modestly accented his richly ethereal blue-green eyes, his currently-messy, silver hair, and his well-defined, attractive jawline...
I resumed eating to avoid staring at him any longer, giving him a natural hello. He greeted me in return, and began eating with me. His Beldum droned warmly, as if satisfied that the both of us were at the table eating. It buzzed away, bounded away swiftly elsewhere, and returned with a pile of blankets stacked atop itself.
"It means for us to take the blankets. Probably noticed that we're still cold," Steven said with a smile, noticing my confusion. "You go first."
I thanked it again, graciously taking one and draping it around myself. Steven did the same, patting Beldum's head in appreciation afterwards.
I sighed, feeling inexorably exhausted as I resumed eating. Yet, I was finally, blissfully grateful for one thing: after going through a long, tempestuous day, I had at last found temporary peace.