So here is a current visual of the Nehszriah: a brown haired, skinny, pale-skinned, androgynous-seeming lump sitting in front of either a television set... drooling over the Turin Games (that have finally come! -squee-) or sitting in front of a computer typing fanfiction like the mad creature that I am whilst various animeand Slayers soundtracks play in the background. This visual is pretty much how I decided that I have a pathetic speck for a life. I do not own Slayers, Major League Baseball, Detroit, Portland or slithy toves. -geek banner waves in background-

Story Update: When the preseason "Spring Training" is brought up, disregard it fully. There is going to be no Spring Training this year. Instead there is going to be the World Baseball Classic. Andreu Jones! Go Jones! Go Netherlands! -dances-

Shichi

Only In Detroit! Why Can I See My Breath?

"It is how cold?" Lina heard Amelia screech on the other side of the cell phone connection. The earpiece volume on the device was so loud that Lina had to hold it a few inches from her ear so that Amelia's outbursts did not kill off her hearing.

"Nineteen degrees," she repeated right before a preptory wince.

"Please tell me that is Celsius you are talking about..."

"Are you sitting down?"

"Yes..."

"Fahrenheit."

"WHAT! Are you seriously going to play baseball in that weather?"

"Of course I am," Lina shivered as she stood outside the players' entrance to Comerica Park in Downtown Detroit. "It would not make for any show if we cancelled because of a little bit of chilly weather..."

"A little bit of chilly weather! My kitchen freezer isn't even that low! I bet there won't be any spectators to watch you play!"

"There are," Lina sighed, looking over towards where there was actually a fairly sizeable line to get into the ballpark. "There are quite a few people nutters enough. I see a bunch of Red Wings apparel, so these creatures might be used to the cold of ice hockey."

"Is there snow on the ground?" Amelia asked. Lina looked down at her feet to the puddle of oily-grey snow she was standing in.

"I wouldn't call it snow per se. More like... okay, I don't know what to call it. Amelia, this city is nothing like Nowhere and it freaks me out!"

"Well, it is a really big city Miss Lina," Amelia said.

"The manhole covers are steaming, people are panhandling in front of the park and on the news this morning, I heard about five different gun shootings..."

"Isn't Mr. Kurt with you?"

"Not right now..."

"If you are so afraid, then stick with Mr. Kurt," Amelia said frankly. "You just think of Detroit as scary because you have never really been that far away from home before. The whole experience is probably making you more aware."

"I hope that's just it," Lina shivered, her teeth starting to click together. "Listen, I see Kurt now. I have to go."

"Talk to me after the game," Amelia demanded.

"Of course. If I didn't have to report back to my keeper after every single freakin' thing I did, I would most likely die."

"Now that's the spirit!" Lina heard Amelia say right before she flipped the cell phone shut. She put the device in her pocket just as Kurt jogged up to her, his big duffel bag slung over his shoulder awkwardly.

"Let me guess... that was Miss Amelia on the phone?"

"Of course," Lina sighed. She looked over at Kurt and noticed that his ears and face were nipped red and his lips seemed to have a slightly blueish tint to them.

"Where have you been?" she asked, examining her brotherly friend through a cloud of their own visible breath.

"I ran here from the waterfront," Kurt explained. "It really helps to train in extremes you know."

"You idiot. Let's get you inside and warmed up before the 'extreme' stupidity of your brain causes you to turn into an icicle," Lina moaned as dragged Kurt down into the depths of the visitor's locker room area. It was heated, to Lina and Kurt's pleasure, and there was no one else there. Under the circumstances, the locker room was in perfect condition for Lina to transform into Liam.

"Do you think we are still going to play today?" Kurt asked as he stood guard outside the bathroom stall Lina was changing in.

"I should think so," Lina replied. "The home team should at least be used to this kind of whacked-out weather. The fans seem fairly used to it too."

"Those people are just off their rockers."

"You said it. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a polar bear or two in the stands."

Kurt laughed as Lina exited the bathroom stall dressed in her uniform. They flashed each other smiles that simply screamed that they were having fun making jokes about the native baseball fans of Metro Detroit. Going back into the main of the locker room, they were taken by surprise by a certain purple-haired manager of theirs as he stood there in all of his eccentric glory.

"Ready to play today boys?" Xellos said, taking a very large and fluffy pair of purple earmuffs from his pocket and putting them on, not quite covering up all of his ears. Lina and Kurt restrained themselves from falling into a laughing fit.

"Yes," Kurt snickered. "Isn't it a bit cold out though?"

"Of course not!" Xellos said haughtily. "You two do have long-sleeved shirts for under your uniform, as I can tell Inverse has already discovered." Kurt looked over at the tight, spandex-like green material that covered Lina's arm all the way up to her wrist.

"...but it is below freezing!"

"I do not care about that now Inverse," Xellos replied. "You two kids had better dress warmly if you don't want to freeze out there." With that, he walked off and left Kurt and Lina alone.

"Was he really necessary?" Lina asked as she sat down on one of the wooden benches.

"Maybe... but my money's on that he wasn't," Kurt said as he started digging into his own bag. As he pulled out his uniform, Lina turned away so that she did not witness Kurt dressing.

"I told Amelia how cold it is," she said while she still had her back to Kurt.

"How did she react?" he asked, pulling on his creamy uniform shirt over the long emerald undershirt.

"I think she fell to the floor," Lina laughed. "She even asked if I was using Celsius or Fahrenheit."

"That's not good," Kurt snickered. He nudged Lina with his stocking foot to signal that things were safe to view again and so she turned around to find him lacing up a cleat as he rested his foot on the bench.

"She really did want to come with us," Lina said softly, remembering how hard it was to tell her best friend that she could not come.

"That sounds like Miss Amelia alright," Kurt observed. "She seems like the kind of person who would demand to come along. I am glad you introduced the two of us back in Portland." In his mind, he recalled the time between Spring Training and the Season Opener when he went over to Lina's new Portland apartment and met Amelia. From the very start they enjoyed each other's company and got along splendidly. Lina liked that her friends got along because they could easily help her masquerade as a man in the Major Leagues, no bickering between them or anything.

"Yeah, well, Amelia's most likely not the best person to have around while we travel. It's bad enough that Daniel thinks she is my girlfriend."

"Right. Almost forgot that part."

"Well, well, if it isn't my favorite two rookies," said a voice suddenly, making Lina and Kurt jump. They looked over to the locker room door to find Daniel White standing there, a smug grin plastered on his face. "...and what brings the two of you here so early, hmm?"

"What brings you here so early?" Lina snapped. Daniel shut up, not really sure about how to counter her. He went off to the opposite end of the locker room and began to get ready for the game.

"Heh, so I guess it is true that if you speak the Devil's name that he comes," Kurt chuckled as a few more of their teammates came into the locker room, not really wanting to be there at all. Lina joined him in laughter and just hoped that the game was going to be called off due to the cold.

80808080808080808

"The clouds don't look all that swell," Aaron Reeds noted as he looked up at the sky from the dugout. It was the top of the first inning; Takashi was up at bat and Aaron was just getting ready to go into the warm-up circle for a little bit of practice swinging.

"If it wasn't so cold, I would say that it was going to rain," Kurt added. A ripple of frigid wind played with his hair and blew some of it into his face.

"Why is it so cold?" Lina whined. She was huddled up on the bench, hugging her knees and rocking back and forth in an effort to keep warm.

"It is just a different climate than you are used to, that's all," said outfielder Jan Oisterwijk, chuckling with delight. "I come from Curaçao. Think of how much of a shock this country's weather was to me when I first arrived. You at least are from Oregon, where there is such a thing as a cold winter to begin with." His bronze skin and vocal accent proved his point, convincing Lina that he was telling the truth.

"Does this mean that you are immune to the cold or something?" she snapped harshly, noticing how Jan seemed quite relaxed and comfortable.

"Nope. I'm so cold, my balls might fall off."

Lovely, Lina sardonically thought as her eye started to twitch. If he knew I were female, he would not have put it that way.

"I agree! It's colder than a well digger's ass out here!" Kenny Rook piped in as Aaron walked up the stairs to go and take his place in the batter's box, Takashi having got on first base. "Playing like this must be some sort of cruel and unusual punishment!"

"Shut up and pay attention to the game!" Xellos ordered, right before starting to recite Lewis Carroll's poem Jabberwocky. Kurt laughed and nudged Lina in the side.

"I say we wail on him for being such a prick and wearing those damned earmuffs. "What do you say?"

"Good idea," Lina smirked. "Maybe a little beating will warm me up." She and Kurt stood up and were just about to creep up on Xellos when the worst thing that could have happened, happened.

The wind blew... and brought a burst of snow with it.

"What the hell?" everyone seemed to shout in unison. The Tiger's pitcher even balked in mid-pitch at the blast of cold air that surrounded him. The wind did not die down though, the cold, blustery weather continuing at full force.

"To freakin' hell with it all! Get into the dugouts you guys," the umpire yelled at the freezing cold athletes. To their delight, everyone scurried into the warmth of the underground dugouts where they all warmed up, grateful for the umpire and his disdain of the snow.

"'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves, did gyre and gimble in the wabe," Xellos recited in delight as he watched his team rush into the dugout. He continued the poem as he went and walked through the members of the team in the locker room main. "All mimsy were the borogroves, and the mome rath outgrabe."

"Damn, what a creep," Kurt muttered out loud, just loud enough for Lina to hear him.

"You've got that right," she replied with a grin as she took her uniform shirt off to replace it with a sweater, thankful for the protective spandex and flattening girdle she wore.

What a story this will be for Amelia, she thought privately. She'll get a kick out of it for sure.

80808080808080808

"Did you just say that you are snowed out?" Amelia yelled into the telephone. She nearly dropped her mug filled with tea when she heard what Lina said.

"Yeah, you heard me say that alright," Lina sighed on the other end of the line. "The wind won't stop blowing and there's a whole bunch of snow that it's bringing along with it. I think since we called off the game an hour ago there has been about a half a foot of snow. There is talk about calling off, even cancelling the entire series."

"That's just plain freaky," Amelia said in an awed voice. She sat down at the table in the homey kitchen of her father's house and took an oatmeal raisin cookie from the plate in the center. "I don't think I have ever heard of a baseball game being snowed out before."

"Yeah, well, it has happened here in the past, so the whole thing was taken alright by the fans. They did seem a bit... disappointed though that the game was called off. I know I'm actually jumping for joy."

"Really?"

"No. I'm kind of in the locker room right now. Wanker's giving us all a lecture about something or other..."

"Do not use me as an excuse to not listen to the manager!" Amelia shouted after quickly forcing down an unusually large bite of cookie. "...and stop calling him a wanker! He might hear you for heaven's sake!"

"Jeezum crowe Amelia, chill out," Lina said defensively. "I'll let you go now if it would make you feel better."

"Really? Well, I was about to hang up on you."

"I knew it." There was a short chuckle and the sound of voices in the background. "I'll talk to you when I get home then."

"Good-bye."

"Good-bye."

The line went dead as Lina hung up her cell phone, leaving Amelia with not a soul to talk to. Amelia then slowly got up, untangled herself from the telephone cord as she hung the receiver up on the wall and sat back down at the kitchen table with a sigh.

Miss Lina, Amelia thought as she sipped her tea, I don't think I will ever get why you are you. I should have come to Detroit too. I will make sure that you stay in line from now on though, whether you like it or not.

Taking another oatmeal raisin cookie and a large sip of tea, Amelia grinned wider than even the Cheshire cat.

Things To Know

The Coldness: Yes, temperature gets to be that friggin' cold over here. In the summer, we'll reach over 100E, but then in the winter... things get to the single digits. This, of course, is all Fahrenheit system, so that would be what... 23 to 0-ish degrees in Celsius... That's a pretty broad range. Ah, I love Michigan weather. -sarcastic laugh- Lately, the weather has been a bit screwier than usual. Go figure. Most of January was in the 40s and 50s, while right now there is snow on the ground. At least it is not raining while it's sunny out... again.

Red Wings: For those of you out there who might not know... it is the professional ice hockey team here in Detroit. -huggles Legace jersey- They're on Olympic Break right now. -grins- Olympics.

Curaçao: That's a Dutch-owned island in the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela.

Snowed-Out Game: Last season, there was at least one snowed out game for the Tigers. It was supposed to be my brother Zanbato's birthday present, going to the game. When he came back home, frozen stiff, without seeing a baseball game and depressed, I gave him a "This Kind of Thing Happens Only In Detroit" speech. Most of those speeches involve the weather being shitty, but that is how I got part of the chapter title.

Jabberwocky and the Cheshire Cat: Both inventions of Lewis Carroll... one awesomely cracked-out guy. Nehszriah's guess is that he was similar to Poe... in that he needed to be high or drunk or depressed or something like that to write really well. If I am wrong, do tell me so that I get my facts straight. I admire those authors' works too much to allow myself to make a mistake.

Nehszriah Just Realized Something: -looks at reviews and laughs nervously- Heh. Lina, Kurt and Amelia are all the same age as Ivan Inverse. -prod- That was an accident, I swear. -sweatdrop-