.:05:.
Jack scanned the streets below him and he paused to think for a moment as he reached the park. He'd already checked it twice, and he had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn't in town at all. Changing direction, he headed out over the forest, then quickly realized checking the forest from the air would be pointless with the heavy snowfall coating the trees. This was going to take forever.
"Wind! Take me to Sophie!"
It was a long shot, but he didn't feel like combing the forest just to see what Sophie was doing with her snow day. Jamie had been so preoccupied getting his friends involved with rolling a giant snowball, Jack had slipped away unnoticed to see what Sophie was up to with her camera.
He was snapped to the side abruptly and cried out in excitement as the wind answered his call and threw him out over the forest. Letting his body relax, he floated along like a leaf. The wind tossed him and spun him around for a few long, thrilling minutes, then suddenly he was falling. Tucking his staff close to his body, he righted himself and shot down through the snow-laden tree branches. Jack landed gracefully, and a moment later a rather impressive amount of snow avalanched down around him from the disturbed tree branches. Sophie let out a started shriek and fell backwards over a log. Jack cringed and hurried over to her.
She was sprawled out on her back in the snow, her legs still resting on the log. Her hat had fallen off and her hair tumbled around her face. Though she looked a bit flustered, her camera was still gripped safely in her hand. She glanced up at him as he leaned over her, expecting her to kick him or something. Instead, she smiled and laughed.
"You scared me." She explained, as if he might not have noticed.
"And here I thought you were just clumsy." He mused. Sophie scowled up at him, and for a fleeting moment he thought she looked absolutely adorable. Then he was shoving the thought from his mind and offered her a hand up.
"What are you doing out here?" Jack asked curiously.
Sophie readjusted her clothing, brushed the snow from herself and pulled her hat back on. She held up her camera and beamed happily at him.
"I was taking some pictures for my portfolio." She said delicately, putting her nose in the air and turning away from him. She looked around and seemed to choose a random direction, then took off through the trees. Jack shrugged, rested his staff on his shoulder, and followed her lead. Anything she was doing had to be more exciting than watching a bunch of sweaty teenaged boys push a gigantic snowball.
The branches curved down toward the forest floor, heavy from snow. It was still snowing heavily, but the trees blocked it out. Jack was thoroughly enjoying the scenery, strolling along and listening to the occasional click of Sophie's camera. Every so often they came across an opening in the trees, and it was like it was only snowing in that one, secluded spot. Sophie took a lot of pictures of those places, and Jack smiled to himself. He liked that she was getting so much enjoyment out of something he did on a daily basis.
She found something that she wanted to get a few pictures of, and as she was clicking away Jack crouched down to look at a tangle of brush. He inhaled deeply, then blew out over the thin branches and watched ice coat the twisting tendrils of unidentifiable plant life. As the ice finished forming, he noticed that it no longer looked like brush, it looked like an ice sculpture.
"Hey Soph, why don't you take a picture of this?" He called over his shoulder to her.
She moved over and kneeled down beside him curiously, and her lips parted as she gazed at the mess of brush he had so easily transformed into art. He felt pretty pleased with himself when she started snapping pictures from different angles, and he looked around for more things to cover in ice.
He found a pine tree and snapped off a small branch. Shaking the snow from it vigorously, he coated it in ice and found a scenic view of the forest to use as a background. By now Sophie had caught on to what he was doing, and she rushed over to investigate. Approving of his choice in imagery, she took a few close-up pictures.
Suddenly realizing the possibilities, Sophie seemed a bit overwhelmed. She glanced around them hurriedly, as if he might leave if she couldn't find something for him to freeze. Somehow, she managed to find a little stream and followed it until she came to a tiny waterfall. It was already fairly iced over, and she took a few pictures before asking Jack to finish the job. Feeling like he'd earned the opportunity to show off a bit, he made a show of sticking his fingertips in the water and slowly freezing it solid. Sophie was beyond thrilled, and Jack couldn't remember the last time he'd had so much fun. She made him feel like an artist.
He followed her through the woods for at least another hour before she finally started to slow down.
"How many pictures do you have?" Jack asked tiredly as he leaned his weight on his staff. Sophie clicked a few buttons and grimaced.
"Seven hundred and twenty." She gave him a small smile and a shrug.
Jack sighed and held out his hand.
"It's my turn to take pictures, you freeze things. I'm tired." He said, struggling to keep a straight face.
To his surprise, Sophie nodded in agreement and handed him the camera. He stared at it for a moment before realizing that Sophie had taken off into the woods. Hurrying to catch up, he found her crouched down, her hands cupped around a little frozen knot of twigs. She was breathing heavily into her hands. Jack watched her with his head tilted curiously, and after a few moments she straightened up with a smug look of accomplishment on her face.
"There, I've melted your ice. Take a picture of it." She grinned at the bewildered look on his face.
He shook his head in dismay, but crouched down and fiddled with the camera until he figured out how to snap a picture. He took a few more, then breathed frost back over the twigs, just to spite her. Sophie put her hands on her hips and flashed him a challenging smirk. He took a picture of her, too.
"Okay, give it back!" Sophie shouted out, darting at him and trying to snatch her camera away.
He dodged her easily, then hopped up and caught a low tree branch. He pulled himself up into the tree and snapped a few more pictures as she stood down below, looking slightly irritated but still amused.
"Please?" She ground out, and Jack laughed.
He slid down from the tree and carefully handed her camera back to her. She immediately snapped a picture of him, then shut the camera off and put it back in her bag. Jack rolled his eyes, dragged his staff through the snow, and headed back toward town. Sophie fell into step beside him, a gentle smile gracing her lips.
"Thank you." She said quietly.
"You're welcome." He replied politely. "It was nice to have someone actually enjoy having everything iced over." Sophie laughed at that and put her hands in her pockets.
"Portfolio, huh? What's it for?" He asked.
"My photography class."
"You want to be a photographer?"
Sophie wrinkled her nose, and he snickered at her expression. "Nah, it's just a hobby. I don't want to turn my hobby into work."
"I can respect that." He grinned and she elbowed him playfully.
"Do you have any hobbies? I mean, besides wreaking havoc?" She asked. Jack snorted, then sighed thoughtfully.
"Not really, that's pretty much my thing."
The snow crunched softly beneath their feet, and Sophie seemed to be lost in thought for a few moments.
"I have an extra camera at home, you could get into photography with me." She said brightly. Jack let out a bark of laughter, thinking of all the unbelievable things he could take pictures of.
"I don't know how well that would go over with the other Guardians. I don't think they'd like me sneaking around taking pictures of all their secret Guardian stuff." He grinned at the thought, though. He was definitely considering it.
"Well, you don't have to take pictures of them." Sophie giggled, but an evil grin spread across his face and he looked over at her.
"Ah, but if I had a camera I wouldn't be able to resist."
"Come on, you go all over the world! You have to see some amazing things. Take some pictures and bring them back to me, I want to see what it's like to be you." Sophie said thoughtfully.
"Alright, I can do that. It'll make things more interesting, at least. Just do me a favor and don't give me a camera until March, I don't want to be hiding from North all winter when I could be hanging out in Burgess with you and Jamie." He said with a chuckle.
"It's a deal." Sophie said happily.