October 15th, 2020: Qurairu
There were a soft snicker. "Ice one," a young Snowdrake stated, hiding his laughter with a wing.
His father gave an exasperated sigh. "All tah jokes you could 'ave learned…"
"Sn...o...wy…" came an amused tone. "...nice...er…"
"Sorry, Mom…"
There was a low groan from under a pile of snow, and a moment later a red-and-gold feathered head poked above the whiteness. A few flakes still stuck to Frisk's head, which he attempted to dislodge by shaking it. Then he craned his neck around so he could see the family.
"You saw, right? That tree snuck up on me out of nowhere! I swear it wasn't here a minute ago!"
"Maybe the trees should 'leaf' him be?"
The amalgamate laughed while the father came forth, helping him up. "Ere ya go, Lad."
The Phoenix shuddered from the cold, ruffling his wings and shaking his body as he stood precariously on his talons.
"Stupid trees… stupid cold Snowdin…" he grumbled under his breath.
"Ah least tah snow cushions yah fall, eh?"
"Well, I guess there's that," Frisk relented. "Still. Apparently Phoenixs are not built for cold weather. Who would have guessed, huh?"
"Built well for cold weather like an igloo to tah desert. Alas, tah warmer areas do not provide places for yah crash landings. Less yah want tah swim in watah...or lava."
"Still think I could handle lava… if I could figure out how to swim like this." Frisk sighed and shuffled himself, lowering his head to inspect his body, checking for damage from his crash.
"True, but no one could get yah back out."
Frisk snorted, but made not reply. Satisfied that he was mostly alright, he ruffled his feathers one more time before looking up again.
"Then I guess… today's lesson is over? I managed to stay up there for a while this time, so... Progress?"
The Snowdrake patted his back gently, but a smile was upon his face. "Good progress-didn't have us running for my brothah, and-"
"And you didn't immediately kiss the earth with your beak!" the youngest supplied. "Just the tree."
"Sn...ow...y…"
The father deadpanned. "There's a good joke in here somewhere at yah expense, Son."
"I dunno," Frisk turned to the black-barked tree he had hit, making a show of looking it up and down. "It's a pretty fine looking tree…"
"Hah! And non-judgemental, quite worthy of that kiss, eh now, Laddy?"
"Yeah…" Frisk waved at the tree. "Hope I wasn't too forward, but… call me, okay?"
The teen made a gagging sound, while the Amalgamate gave a breathy laugh. "Hah, how 'bout we go tah Grillby's fah something warm tah eat? Tah young spitfiah should be there for yah as well."
Frisk perked and nodded.
"That sounds like a good plan. Something warm would really go good right about now."
He made a point of blowing the tree a kiss before leaving though.
"Yah keep flirting with that tree..."
The tavern in Snowdin had its quiet clamor as they entered, with Fiona stepping out from the back, trays and plates along her arms that had everyone making sure to give her clear passage as she delivered food to everyone's respective places.
"And here I thought babysitting me was the hardest thing you had to do," Frisk called, impressed. "You're really good at that!"
Fiona finally drew an arm over her head in exhaustion. "Watching Uncle Grillby and four years of practice pays off," she stated-was that a hint of another color in her flames? Just for a brief moment, a flicker almost.
"How did training go? Want something?"
"Oh you know. Got like five minutes of airtime before getting smothered in snow and making out with a tree." The Phoenix shrugged. "Pretty standard, figured something warm to eat wouldn't go amiss, if you're not being run ragged over here…"
"Five minutes is far more than what I can do," Fiona replied, and then clapped her hands. "If you work on your landings, you'll be an ace in no time." With that, she moved toward the counter. "Anything in particular everyone? Or do you want to risk suprises?" There was a merry crackle as she spoke.
"I like surprises," Frisk grinned, making his way through the establishment and up to the bar, managing to perch himself on one of the stools after a few tries.
The Snowdrakes made specific orders, and the elemental vanished, but at surprising speed, she returned, placing a hamburger and fries before Frisk. "Want any sauce?" she asked as she slid the other orders to the other avians. The youngest slipped off to take some food to his mother who had long ago given up on getting through the door.
"Sure, so long as you don't pour ketchup over the whole thing," Frisk joked, eying his food hungrily.
Fiona made a sound of disgust at the idea as she grabbed some ketchup from under the bar, and gave a moderate amount. "There. Not like our Frisk."
"Thank goodness. Someone with control!" The phoenix turned his gaze to the elemental, a twinkle in his eye. "I mean, I like ketchup as much as the next guy, but come on! If it was all I wanted to taste, I'd order a bowl of it!"
"Eh," Fiona replied. "I don't know how you can have that much like that and not be sick…"
"Yeah, can't say I'm a fan," Frisk shook his head before snatching up a fry in his beak and wolfing it down. "Bloody Sans…"
"He is rather odd with the ketchup."
"Wouldn't mind so much if he could just keep it off my stuff." Frisk perked suddenly as a memory came to him. "One time, my family and I were having a water-balloon fight, and Sans volunteered to help keep the balloons coming. Except some of them were water… and some were water and ketchup…"
Fiona shuddered for more reasons than one. "Oh dear…"
"No kidding… not so much fun." The Phoenix sighed. "Ah, well. How's running the bar going? You seem to be managing pretty well without Grillby around. Is this like, the thing that you do?"
"Well, Grillby wanted to keep the tavern here opened until we all moved out-but it was also a good idea to get one open in the city, so, here I am. I don't mind it though. I grew up with Grillby's cooking, so it's kind of second nature. Not sure if it's something I plan to do forever, but, I like it well enough," she said, glancing up only with a small family and their children came in.
"Yeah? Is there something in particular you'd like to do someday?" Frisk questioned before tearing another bite out of his food.
Fiona shrugged. "Not sure. All of this just happened right as I was wrapping up high school...everything's really up in the air right now since we can't tell for sure how well the Human city will work out."
"I guess that makes sense…" Frisk took a moment to chew thoughtfully, then swallow his food. "Well I mean, if everything does go wrong you all could move over to my side!"
"Heh, who knows, maybe-"
A sudden hissing sound caused Fiona to jump, her flames going wild to the point that the Snowdrake yanked his food away from her as she whipped her head to the source-only to stop abruptly when she found a cat monster holding his tail, glaring half-heartedly at the two children who had come in.
Frisk turned as quickly as he could in his seat, relaxing a little as he realized the situation.
"C'mon guys, you gotta leave people's tails alone," he admonished gently.
"We're sorry," the children murmured apologetically.
"Don't be sorry, just be careful," the feline replied. "Your short bunny tails aren't that sensitive, but…"
The youngest patted it with a soft coo in response as Fiona's flames slowly died back down to normal.
Situation once more under control, Frisk turned back around, frowning in concern at her.
"Are… you okay?"
She nodded. "The sound surprised me, is all," she managed, inspecting the bar.
"Just be careful of your fiah," the Snowdrake chided. "I prefer my food crispy perhaps, but not burnt to ah crisp."
"Sorry," she apologised with a slight bow, sighing as she collected herself fully.
"Duly noted. Don't make sudden hissing sounds around the elemental." Frisk threw a sloppy salute with one wing. "Maybe I can remember that at least, without bumbling around with my words around you."
"Good thing you're not a bee monster!" the young Snowdrake called from the door of the tavern.
Fiona snorted as she took her attention back to the Phoenix. "Shouldn't be too hard after that display."
"I hope not. I think I've had enough of making a fool of myself around attractive people, thank you very much."
Fiona tilted her head, but before she could say anything, the Snowdrake snickered. "That tree didn't seem tah mind ya none, Lad."
"Sure brought me back down to earth quick, if nothing else," Frisk grumbled, lowering his head and focusing on his food.
"Guess the tree and the ground are just fighting over you!" the youngest Snowdrake called.
Fiona's flames crackled, before she moved, grabbing menus and heading off to the other family.
Frisk cast a glance after her, then sighed, digging into his food a little more aggressively than normal.
