Pups fed and watered as much as she could bare, Absol stood up and trotted into the kitchen while Latias and Latios followed. Absol mew'd when she arrived, and Katie looked down.
"You want to go outside?"
Absol went to the doorway and yipped a 'Yes', and Katie did the honors. The moment there was enough room, Absol and her 6 pups gained a new level of speed and clumsy running, as they galloped outside and ploughed headfirst into the thin layer of snow that covered the grass in the garden. The first thing Absol did - which completely conflicted with Latias' and Latios' opinion of her - was to lie down and roll over and over. Both Eons and both humans watched from the kitchen window, giggling at Absol's expense. One moment she was fiercely guarding her pups, the next, she was jumping around in the snow and happily mewing with them.
"Aren't you two going to play in the snow too?" Katie asked, looking up from the window at the underside of the dragon's snouts. Bianca answered for them.
"Er... Them? Snow? Ha, no! They can barely stand ice cream. They definitely don't like snow."
"Oh... Well..." Katie mumbled, but then started laughing as every one of Absol's pups copied her, rolling over and over in the snow. Clumps started to form on their fur, but they carried on anyway.
"They're going to be all miserable when that melts and makes their fur wet..." Katie noted. She watched for another few minutes before going to the door.
"Imma' throw some snowballs at them, Banksie. Want to join in?"
"What kind of a question is that? Duh, yes!"
Bianca zipped her coat back up and Katie went to get her shoes from the hallway. She was beaten to it by Latias, who shrieked all the way to the boots, grabbed them in her mouth and flew all the way back, dropping them at Katies feet.
"Ignore the dragon drool. It's harmless," Bianca muttered, which set Latias off again.
"I DIDN'T DROOL IN THEM!"
"Yeah, whatever Latias! Are you sure you don't want to join in?"
Bianca opened the door, and Latias drifted away from it slightly, as if the cold was physically pushing her.
"No! Too cold!"
Bianca raised an eyebrow at Latios, but he shook his head and floated to Latias. He was staying, that much was clear.
"Suit yourself!" Bianca and Katie practically jumped out of the door and it slammed behind them.
Latios watched from the window as Bianca and Katie both scooped up some snow, formed it into a ball, and threw it at each other, both with the intention of surprising the other. Bianca's hit Katie in the thigh, and Katie's hit Bianca in the arm, where it splattered into a large amount of cold pieces that hit her in the face. She shrieked and giggled, which made Absol turn away from her pups. She saw Katie pointing at laughing at Bianca and decided to have some fun herself.
She leant on her front legs in preperation, then lept two bounds and jumped at Katie, front paws aimed at her midsection.
Katie didn't even see her friend until it was too late, as her fur blended in well with the white surroundings. Absol's paws connected and sent Katie falling to the ground. She landed on her back with a thud, laughing.
Absol loved the sound of Katie laughing, because it almost always meant she'd start playing with her, so she went down on her front paws with her rear in the air, like if Bianca was throwing a ball for her.
The pups saw the human lying on the ground with their owner looking at it, and ran over too, yipping.
Mac felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around. He took off his headphones when he saw Lorenzo smiling at him.
"Mac, Break time. Take five, bring your friend with you."
Mac turned around and tapped the Smeagle's shoulder, who took off his headphones and looked at Lorenzo without prompt. Lorenzo made an 'eating' gesture.
"Smee, eat-ums!"
Smee nodded but stayed where he was. Mac was hungry though, and Smee didn't seem dangerous, so he hitched his arms under the surprised Pokemon's shoulders, and sat him on his lap. The action surprised Lorenzo too; he was expecting the Smeargle to walk alongside them, but since Mac had opted to have him pushed along Lorenzo took the handles on Mac's wheelchair and wheeled him out of the door.
"You having fun, then?"
Mac 'um'ed and Smee turned his head to look at the pair.
"It's relatively fun, I guess. Better than being shot at, exploded or having to jump out of a plane."
Smee raised an eyebrow and Lorenzo chuckled slightly.
"Well, good for you. Are you two getting along?"
This time, Mac didn't hesitate and Smee even made a positive grunting noise, which was something considering he was normally silent.
"Oh, yeah. Like peas in a pod. Where are we going?"
"Here..." Lorenzo interrupted, leading Mac into a room which he opened with the footboard of Mac's chair.
The canteen was a mixture of fancy and standard. A few low tables, a few more waist high tables with tall chairs, most of them surrounded by people in overalls or tracksuits, all of them with "CREW" printed on the back. Lorenzo wheeled Mac to the breakfast buffet. Mac was delighted to find sausages, bacon, hash browns, mushrooms and everything else required for an English breakfast. He looked up at Lorenzo and gestured the ample foods.
"Yep, that'll do nicely."
"I thought so. Which do you actually want?"
"How much are they?"
"I'm paying, have whatever."
"Oh... Well then...in THAT case, I'll have a full English."
"And Smee?"
Smee looked up at the mention of his name, and Mac looked at him to pass the question on. Smee pointed to a fried egg that was sizzling behind the glass on a heated plate.
"Is that it?"
Smee nodded his head.
"Excellent. I'll get that, you grab a table."
"Oh, okay then... Thanks!"
Mac leant his arms over the edge of his wheelchair and started to wheel himself around. The chair had to be big enough for both his casts, and it was quite bulky. This wasn't on Mac's mind, though, as he noticed that the only table which wasn't occupied was a tall one, which Mac's head didn't even clear.
"Oi! Lorenzo's lad! Want a seat?"
Mac was looking at the person who had shouted. He was sat at a table with a few other people, but it had seats. The man didn't look particularly friendly either, but he clearly was close to Lorenzo to be able to know who Mac was.
Mac wheeled himself over to the end of the table of the man who had shouted. There were three other people sat down around the rectangular table, and each of them cast alternate glances at Mac, Smee, the wheelchair and the plaster casts.
"Cool casts! Did Lorenzo's daughter do them?"
Mac nodded, feeling increasingly self-conscious. The men introduced themselves.
"Sorry... Yeah, I'm Mike, this is Craig, Dan and Steveo. We're the guys you would have been working with if your you hadn't fuc- I mean, broken you legs."
Mac smiled when he realised the guys were just genuinely having a chat, though now he had to make up an excuse for having broken legs, since he could hardly say a tree fell on them.
"Ah. Climbing accident."
"Climbing?"
"Yeah, you know... One minute I was climbing, the next...I wasn't. A few seconds later I broke my legs..."
The men all nodded.
"Just as good you're not in our line of work for a while, then."
As the men chuckled in agreement and Mac sat there awkwardly. Lorenzo turned up, balancing three plates: one with just an egg on, one with what appeared to be a sausage sandwich, and the last, which appeared to have the entire breakfast buffet display on it.
Mac grinned when the latter plate got put down in front of him.
Back in Katie's kitchen, Latias was sniffing around the surfaces and complaining at Latios, who was still looking out of the window at the humans. He wanted to join in, but Latias really didn't want to go outside.
"My teeth hurt! Latios!"
"You're not going to chew on me like last time... Find something else."
Latias knew full well that Latios wasn't going to just 'let' her bite on his wing, but it was worth asking, she reasoned. Bianca's grandmother had told her why her teeth sometimes hurt.
"It's because you get new ones every ten years. It'll go away..."
After that, she was given a nice bit of hardwood to bite on. The block of wood worked well enough for that particular occasion, but she'd left it somewhere when the new teeth had stopped hurting, and now there was nothing to alleviate the pain.
Latios gave up looking out of the window and turned around to see Latias trying to get her jaw around the edge of the marble counter top.
"No, don't do that, that's a stupid way of doing things! Find something else...like..."
Latios looked around the kitchen, stopping when his eyes rested around the handle of a spoon which was made of a solid looking rubbery material. He flew to it and delicately lifted it from the container, metal spoon bit clacking against his teeth, rubber handle facing Latias.
"This!"
Latias swooped to take it off him, then maneuvered the handle so it was across her mouth and that she was biting with the teeth that hurt. Her teeth punctured the rubber like it was so much as paper maché, but stopped at the solid aluminium core. She gave a coo of content when the pressure nullified the pain in her gums.
"Ahh! That's much better!"
Satisfied with having something to chew on, Latias flew back to the window and looked outside. Absol looked like she was having fun, and she was running in circles around the garden, either chasing the pups or with the pups chasing her, it was hard to tell. Bianca and Katie were both throwing snowballs at each other.
"How does that not hurt them!? They've not even got fur or anything!"
Secretly, it looked like fun, and he wanted to join in, but it also looked very cold, and while he could get used to it, it wouldn't be nice doing so. It wasn't even the cold, so much as the snow. The cold didn't bother him, but the snow... That stuff crept under your feathers and chilled you to your core.
From outside, Latios heard Absol bark. It had appeared that her pups had caught up with her, and were now playing with her tail, curiously batting it around and yelping at it.
"I'm going outside." Latios decided. He flew to the door and opened it with his mouth, then flew out, cooing to Bianca.
"Hi Bianca!"
Bianca and Katie both smiled as he flew right up to Bianca, who quickly tickled him behind the ears. Her hands were cold, and if Latios ever felt his own paws that cold then he would be worried, but humans were better with that kind of thing.
"Do you want to play catch?"
Bianca laughed at how excited the single sentence had made Latios, who started fussing around her, then flying further away so he could actually catch whatever it was she was going to throw.
Bianca leaned down to the ground and scooped up some snow, compressing it into a ball at the same time. She then picked it up, and threw it directly at Latios.
Latios moved his head to intercept the ball, and bit down to try and catch it, but the ball disintegrated immediately, and though he felt like he'd caught it, his mouth was empty.
"Where'd it go? Bianca?"
Bianca was smirking and Katie laughing, but Latios continued to search for the ball, sniffing the ground for the scent Bianca would have left on the ball.
"Latios!"
Latios turned towards Katie, who had somehow managed to get the ball without him noticing.
"How did you do that!?"
Katie was a bit more friendly in throwing the ball and threw it under-arm at Latios. To him, it felt like it took an age to get there. Fed up of waiting, he flew towards the ball, determined to catch it this time.
It disintegrated in his mouth again, and he let out a cry of disappointment.
Inside the house, Latias was growling at the sink. She'd turned around away from the window to look for something to eat, and in the process the sink had somehow managed to spray water over her rear. It hadn't hurt, but it was still a surprise and a dishonor.
"No! Don't!"
She squealed at and spread her wings out to try and intimidate it. The tap, being inanimate, didn't respond and continued to insult Latias by spewing more water out.
"I'm warning you!"
Latias continued to growl, but it wouldn't stop and the sink was beginning to fill, so Latias attempted to stop it and teach it a lesson at the same time. Unfortunately, her method composed of taking the faucet in her mouth and shaking it until the entire unit ripped out of the sink.
The faucet tore off where it was attached, and the previous downward dribble that the tap was producing turned into an upward fountain, right into Latias' snout. She wheeled back and clattered into the other side of the kitchen, scattering various miscellaneous kitchen utensils to the floor.
Latias was angry and barring her teeth, but there wasn't much to be done. The tap was destroyed, the floor was covered in the stuff that was previously waiting on the side, Latias' teeth still hurt and now her snout and tail feathers were all damp.
She shook herself to get rid of the water droplets, but the severed connection for the tap continued to spray water half way to the ceiling before gravity brought it back down and splashing into the overflowing sink.
It looked pretty, and though it smelled slightly metallic, Latias realised she was thirsty, and flew back over, hovering her mouth over the fountain and letting the water jet into her mouth. It was like the fountain thingy at home, but more convenient because the force of the water meant less effort to swallow.
Suitably refreshed, Latias flew back and looked around the kitchen for something to eat. She was - after all - still hungry...
"Awww, look at his face..."
Bianca half sighed, half giggled as Latios searched in vain for the snowball which had disintegrated.
"I'll fetch him a proper ball!" Katie offered, and ran back to the back door of the house.
Latias heard someone at the handle of the back door and instinctively turned invisible. She was going to turn visible when the door opened and she saw Katie, but stopped at the last minute when her aura flipped from playful to alarmed.
"What?! WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE KITCHEN!?"
Outside, Latios and Bianca both heard her shout and ran to the door. Bianca saw the wreckage and gasped, but Latios stayed silent, already working out what must have happened. It was especially easy when factoring in the smell of an alarmed Latias.
Bianca couldn't smell that smell, but she could still figure out who was responsible for the destroyed sink and scattered utensils.
"LATIAS, GET HERE NOW! VISIBLE!"
The kitchen remained still, bar the overflowing sink. Katie spoke much quieter to Bianca.
"I'll just turn off the sink. There should be a valve or something underneath."
"Good idea."
As Katie dealt with stopping the fountain, Bianca called to Latias again.
"LATIAS, THE LONGER YOU HIDE, THE ANGRIER I GET!"
Lying on the floor, one foot away but invisible, Latias was feeling very sorry for herself. She knew what she'd done was wrong, but Bianca wouldn't see it that way and showing herself wasn't exactly going to make Bianca happier.
The 'hide indefinitely' plan failed when Bianca decided to take a step forwards, and her leg managed to kick the side of Latias' neck. Bianca looked down at the invisible animal and Latias knew she was rumbled.
"Latias, visible. I'm not talking to you while I can't see you"
Latias composed her face to look as apologetic as possible, and turned visible, flipping her feathers the opposite way round so the reflective side was no longer visible.
"Bianca, I'm sorry!"
Bianca just stared at her for a bit and Latias felt even worse.
"Latias, how did you make all this mess?"
Latias started to explain, but she was just explaining in Lati and Bianca stopped her.
"I was watching you playing in the snow and then I turned around and the si-"
"Psychic and English please, Latias"
Latias stared again, still explaining from the floor.
"I was watching you playing with the snow, then I turned around and the sink attacked me and splashed my fins, so I told it to stop, but it didn't, so I wanted to make it stop, but then it threw water at my snout and I panicked and... I'm sorry, Bianca..."
Bianca sighed and went down on her haunches until her face was only a few centimeters from Latias'. Latias took this as a good sign and looked up.
"It's not me you need to be sorry to, this isn't my kitchen."
Latias made a disappointed noise and Bianca softened a bit more.
"I know you're in season and everything, but you need to think a bit more: it's a sink. It's not going to attack you or try to embarrass you or anything."
"I was just surprised and..."
"Are you tired?"
"Yeah..."
"Okay then. You fly back to the garden with Latios, I'll sort something out here... Don't you have something to say to Katie first?"
Latias paused for a second, the slowly lifted off the ground and hovered just behind Katie, who was reaching into the cupboard under the sink. The gush of water suddenly stopped and Katie let out a sarcastic "Yay". She turned around and suddenly came face-to-face with a very apologetic Latias. The dragon managed to get the first word in.
"I'm sorry for attacking your water Katie..."
Katie was angry, because it meant she'd have to spend the afternoon she'd planned on giving Absol and her pups a walk, buying a new faucet part and finding some way or someone to fit it. But Latias looked genuinely sorry, so Katie settled for just looking angry, but not actually yelling.
"It's okay. These things happen, just... Don't do it again."
"Sorry!"
"It's okay..."
"Really sorry!"
"You can stop apologising now"
"Sorry... SORRY!"
Latias' facial features jarred for a second as she figured out what to do next, then she suddenly turned around and fled the room by the back door. Latios followed immediately afterward, leaving Katie and Bianca alone, standing in the centimeter layer of water that had collected on the kitchen floor.
"I haven't taught her to apologise properly yet..." was all Bianca could think of saying.