Civilisations experiencing snow were usually depicted in an especially picturesque manner, regardless of the medium they were depicted in. Cities under snow were usually shown to be at rest, the only sound being the gentle crunch underfoot. Pristine white flakes were to be cast down from equally perfect clouds, drifting like feathers before gathering to lie like icing on a cake. On evenings like tonight, the sun already set, that seasonal magic was supposed to be all the more amplified. The snowfall was to catch streetlights or streak across public decorations, making indoors appear all the more homely. Snow was to coat windowsills, having been carried by a gentle but chilly breeze that might cast the flakes to twirl in the air before landing. This imagined, picturesque, ideal had lasted for all of a single morning almost a full week ago.
The slushy reality that Blaze the cat, age twenty-two, had come to accept was presently soaking her calves while her hood held strong against the sky's nigh perpetual sleet-spit. Rather than perfect white, the cold mass on the ground was tainted a veritable rainbow of grey to orange by a combination of dirt and the salt used to defrost the roads. That was necessary of course, but it was rather robbing her surroundings of their festive value. The shear abundance puddles, both on the pavement and by the roadside, were aiding in that tarnishing. Evidently the constant snowfall was taking its tole on Station Square's storm drains, a fact that was exemplified as a taxi sped past and a slushy spray splashed her left side. The cold couldn't irk the pyrokinetic of course, but the occurrence brought her fist to clench and teeth to grind.
Due to the flavour of her surroundings, today had been an especially exhausting Tuesday. In her right hand, thankfully away from the roadside, she carried her filled violin case. This evening had been the third to last practice prior to the big holiday performance; a concert that, until today's decision, was set to be held at the heart of Twinkle Park. Unfortunately however, given that it was set to snow more over the coming week, the event had been downsized and moved indoors. What was meant to be a public charity event, openly accessible, was now looking to fill a small theatre with raffled tickets. Despite the price point of those tickets, the feline wasn't hopeful about generating a donation even close to those made before her arrival.
This revelation had come near the end of an already tiring day, a ten-hour shift at the library where she'd managed to find stable work. While she usually loved her job, from helping children find the books they wanted to the mindless busywork of restocking shelves, the recent weather had again made things difficult. Their janitor had apparently slipped on his steps, landing himself in hospital with a broken leg.
Being the youngest among the staff, most of whom were more than double her age, Blaze had been made to take up his role. While she had no issue with cleaning, mopping up ice-water that was constantly being trekked inside was mentally and physically exhausting. It was a matter made all the more infuriating by her unwillingness to use her power to simply evaporate the slush.
Speaking of which, the feeling of her left shoe's sole releasing a watery squelch reminded the feline that, the moment she was home, she could undo this pesky weather's effects. She could see her building, despite the city's bustle, just a few blocks away; her small, shared, apartment above a forever struggling pizzeria. Despite the wealth of hints she'd accidently dropped regarding her pyrokinesis, she and her first friend in the city hadn't ever discussed it. The hedgehog was remarkably oblivious, but perhaps that was for the best.
As she alighted main pavement, making her way away from the crowds and out of direct view, she pulled her left hand toward her chest and allowed it to ignite. Maintaining focus on it, the heat continued to rise while the flame maintained its small size. With that in one hand, she fumbled with her right to reach into her coat and draw free her keys. She stood outside for just a moment, bending down to evaporate much of the sogginess from her shoes, before pushing her way inside.
The usual dark of the entry hallway was lit by her continued flame, it aided as she climbed the stairs. She quickly arrived at the landing; home of the shoe rack she'd insisted be put in place. Blaze managed one-handedly untie her winter boots and set them in their proper space before shedding her jacket, hanging it on one of the several coat hooks fixed to the outer side of the kitchen's glass door. Curiously, there weren't any lights on in their living space. Her flatmate was supposed to pay the electricity today, perhaps he'd forgotten and run out to top it up? Considering her luck today, that'd hardly be surprising.
Either way, seizing the secret opportunity, Blaze again drew her flame close and ran it more thoroughly across her outfit. In the four months since she'd started living here, the feline had successful sold and replaced the majority of her overpriced wardrobe. Today's outfit was primarily sourced from charity shops, a long sleaved maroon polo shirt and a set of black suit trousers. Deciding they were sufficiently dry; Blaze snuffed the flame and pushed her way inside.
A flick of the kitchen light-switch proved that her flatmate hadn't forgotten his task, "Silver, that's me back. Are you in?" She called down the hall.
No response came. The psychic had work today, but he'd only been scheduled for a short shift at the museum. Even if he'd been kept in, the museum wasn't open past five on weekdays and a glance to the clock showed that it was already half past seven. It wasn't unlike him to spend time away, but usually he'd let her know if he had plans. There was a certain scent of baking in the air too, implying he had recently been present.
The feline slipped further inside, rounding the counter and finding the kettle half filled with water. She pressed its switch, allowing its rumble to fill the kitchen, and made her way to the fridge. The front of the white obelisk was littered with magnets, as it had been when she'd left, with a single curious addition. Pinned beneath a likeness of the Soleanna Hotel was a small sheet of paper, seemingly torn from a journal.
She plucked it free and was immediately met with the hedgehog's somewhat scratchy handwriting.
"Hi Blaze, I'm up on the roof right now, just had something to do, head on up if you need me. There's a cherry pie in the oven. Assuming I've timed it right, it should be ready by the time you're back. If not, then hopefully I've come down and taken it out… but if I've done that then you probably wouldn't be reading this, hahaha. Hope work and practice went okay! From Silver."
She set the note on the counter, placing her violin beside it, before retrieving the milk from the fridge. That grabbed, she ducked down and peered into the oven. Sure enough, a sizable pie tray was sat at the appliance's heart. Hearing the kettle pop, she quickly grabbed a set of oven gloves and opened the oven door. Immediately the scent of cherry and freshly browned pastry filled her nose. Though she was no baker herself, the pie looked to be a success, the top was smoothly swollen and the crust was uncracked.
Setting it down to cool, she poured both herself and him a cup of tea. Hopefully whatever the hedgehog was doing wasn't too drastic. It was nihilistic, but she couldn't help assuming that a leak had sprung in their ceiling somewhere. The roof was chiefly accessible through a hatch in the hedgehog's own room, perhaps the winter weather had revealed some kind of fault in it? He apparently hadn't stayed in this building for long before she arrived, this was probably his first Winter in the flat.
She wasn't planning to head home for the holidays, regardless of her parent's nagging, and he hadn't mentioned any plans. Perhaps they'd end up spending it together? They both lived fairly busy work-lives but, whenever mutual moments of freedom arrived, they'd managed to go out and get to know each other better. He'd usually suggest that they take advantage of the moment, but she'd be the one to form the plan. One of their first had been aiding her in clothes shopping but more recently he'd joined her on walks and to the cinema.
Though she'd been tense at first, especially with Silver being the first individual she'd truly met after moving out, the pyrokinetic had quicky come to enjoy the psychic's company. Just as she'd assumed upon first meeting him, Silver very much wore his emotions openly; the hedgehog's blunt and outspoken nature had been rather useful as a crutch to help her somewhat emerge from her shell. Honest smiles and wholehearted laughter had been thoroughly absent from much of her life, it was embarrassing to admit that those aspects had fused to form the spearhead and busted through her cold armour.
A teaspoon was drawn from a drawer and the teabags were withdrawn from the water, quickly being flicked into the bin. Though she simply added some milk to her cup, she'd come to understand the white hedgehog's sweet tooth. Before adding his milk, three spoonfuls of sugar were mixed into his brew. He'd add four or five if he was the one making it, but Blaze wasn't about to feed that habit.
The feline darted back to the entryway and slipped back on her boots. With the cups lifted, filled just low enough to avoid any potential spillage, she began to move through the hall and toward his room. She'd find him, talk for a bit, then come back for the pie after asking if he wanted a slice. It was the polite thing to do, hopefully the desert would have sufficiently cooled by then. With time, she had become accustomed to the smaller scale of this building as compared to her family home. She could usually get his attention with little more than a shouted word, that or rouse his excitement with a few notes on her violin, but, evidently, the roof was just too far.
It was only as the feline reached their parallel bedrooms that she noticed his doorway was wide open. Outside the briefest occasions poking her head around his door, she'd never actually been in his bedroom and he, of course, had a similar amount of experience in her room. This view however, through his open door, was one she knew well and could help but notice a small change in. The framed space consisted of two parts; a chest of drawers, currently closed, and a corkboard. During her first day in this apartment, while they'd sat and eaten cheesecake, she'd summed up the courage to ask about that corkboard in the hopes of learning about a specific item.
It was a certain curled and gnarled notebook page, the item she could recall best out of all the notes on his board, which had disappeared, much like its owner. As a result, a certain imagined puzzle she'd set to the back of her mind threw itself to the forefront of her thoughts. During their talks, he'd only revealed that he used the board to keep his scatterbrain in check, setting himself daily and weekly reminders, not mentioning that note in any detail. A note that she was fairly certain she herself had written around ten years ago. Its apparent absence sent her tail to flit and a heat to her cheeks.
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, stepped inside, and sharply turned away from that wall. The remaining room interior was about as she recalled, neat but not as neat as her room. His bed wasn't properly made, and his work clothes were strewn about the place, but that didn't hold her attention. Instead, her eyes were drawn to a large staircase that had been pulled down from a panel in the ceiling. Even though she couldn't feel the cold, the sharp wind the exit let in was clear to her.
Despite making her aware of the roof access through his room, even offering to show her it during the evening of her first arrival, he'd never actually mentioned using it. For him to use it now of all times and procure that note, with the weather as it was no less, was only serving to amplify her curiosity. Without thinking, she threw a glance backwards and confirmed it; the note she'd become fixated on was nowhere on the board.
Why had he taken it down?
Her grip tightened on the mugs. Why had she looked back? Couldn't she stop snooping and just do what she intended? Even as she thought that, her eyes landed on his bedside cabinet. On top of it sat a reading lamp and a book about the history of Spagonia. Between his job, his powers and his cooking, it was no wonder she'd become so flustered upon first identifying him, he really did match what was written in her own note. But then, surely many people did. Besides, that was ten years ago, whoever wrote that letter might have changed; she'd expect them to in fact. Just because he was looking at what she thought was the letter she'd sent, didn't mean it was; let alone that they were somehow supernaturally connected.
Right?
The heat on Blaze's face had only been growing as she sank deeper and deeper into thought, resulting in the inevitable. Given that she'd been clenching the handles of the mugs, it was on her palms that the spark lighted. Almost immediately, both of the prokinetic's hands were on fire. Wincing, she reclosed her eyes and blew on her hands, focusing on the effort in an attempt to bring herself back to neutral.
At least the flames might have rewarmed their tea, she'd let herself linger here for far too long. Getting up and into the cold would hopefully aid in abating her heat, not to mention the distraction brought on by conversation with Silver.
It was still spitting sleet, a fact she noticed around halfway up the stairs. Jostling their mugs into her right hand, she raised her left to act as a cover. She had been rather foolish not to have considered the weather and grabbed her jacket, but it likely meant that the hedgehog was freezing up there. He didn't have the grace of her powers after all. She pushed her way to the top, feeling the wind glance across her fur and tug at her ponytail. Immediately, her breath was visible in the air.
Rather than steeped, the rooftop was almost perfectly flat. During the day their building hid in the shade of a nearby office building but, given that sunset had passed and the sky was cloudy, the roof was as poorly lit as anywhere else. The space itself was remarkably big, having more floorspace than their actual flat. Regardless, as she climbed up to fully stand on the roof, she scanned her surroundings for the hedgehog.
She'd expected him to be working up here, if not fixing a leak then shovelling snow, but the reality was much stranger. Silver was sat at the far edge of the building, feet surely dangling off the edge, looking out into the street. Blaze felt her stomach lurch at the mere sight of him out there, so close to falling. A thin psychic veil hung over his head, thickly covered with snow. If it weren't for his precarious position, she might have better been able to take in the roof itself; piled deep with more typical snow than slush, likely a result of the lack of salt.
"Silver, what are you doing?!" She called out, taking a single step in his direction.
As he turned, clearly surprised by her voice, she managed to get a slightly better look at him. His quills were in their usual formation, but he'd clearly failed to fully keep the snow from his form, so they were beginning to droop. At least he was wearing a hoodie, a dark green pullover with a pair of dangling red chords, and what looked to be a set of thick brown trousers.
"Hey Blaze!" As he called out to her, she couldn't help noticing that he'd very quickly folded and shoved a certain note into his hoodie pocket, "I'm just taking in the sights, the view's great from up here! Come take a look!"
The feline managed another step closer, but imagined the fall behind him as she did. Immediately, she froze in place, "Can you just come away from the edge instead?"
"Oh, don't worry, it's perfectly safe. Besides I'd catch either of us before we fell, you don't need to worry!" He beamed, entirely oblivious.
"No, I'm sure you could, I'm just, um," She hadn't even broached the subject of the note, yet embarrassment was already flaring, "C-Can you just come over here instead?"
She winced at sound of her voice, she'd practically snapped at him, but at least it got him up and away from the ledge. He paced over, bringing his psychic barrier with him and quickly expanding it to shield them both from the snow. Despite her harshness, the psychic was still grinning at her.
She fumbled slightly, reaching out with a mug, "This is for you, I took the pie out the oven to cool. Thank you by the way."
"It's no problem, I hope you like it. It's a new recipe so hopefully I did it right," He took a quick sip but, judging by his expression, her flaming outburst had rather overheated the porcelain. He fought his confused wince as he spoke, "Thank you for the tea, how was today?"
"It was," She tried to put it delicately, "Eventful. A lot of surprises, none of them good. You might struggle to make it to the concert now."
"Oh?" Concern overcame the remnants of pain in his gaze, "Do you want to talk about it?"
"I don't want to bore you or…" Without a moment of hesitation, he'd reached across and put a hand on her shoulder. In the months she'd come to know Silver, the psychic's contrarily physical nature had quickly been revealed.
While it'd made her skittish at first, the offered contact now only served to bring her comfort, "It's okay Blaze, I asked. If you want to talk then we can talk, don't worry," Despite the kindness of his words, a certain seriousness had overtaken his face.
A sigh slipped from her lips, "I spent the whole day mopping in the library, the place was practically waterlogged because of the snow. Practice was okay but, towards the end, they decided we'll have to change the concert venue due to the weather. There's going to be a lot less space so the tickets are being raffled off," She relayed, "I'm just exhausted to be honest, mopping then playing the violin for hours really tired out my arms and I've been soaked all day."
"I'm sorry, that sounds exhausting," She felt the hedgehog tighten his grip on her shoulder, "Did you manage to get dinner? I made a curry when I got in, there's a portion in the fridge if you want-
"No no, thank you, Silver," She cut the kind hedgehog off before he could become too set on the idea, "I managed to microwave yesterday's leftovers at work, between that and the pie, I should be fine," He didn't look especially convinced, but she'd learned to stop him before he got carried away, "But what about you, how was your day?" She asked, taking a sip of her tea.
"Oh, yeah, it was fine. I only had a half day at the museum, I gave a couple of tours and helped around the place. I'm on the nightshift tomorrow though, filling in for one of the guards," That job seemed to fall on Silver almost as often as his assigned role, perhaps as a result of his powers, "I got back around three, did some cooking, and headed on up here."
It was surely approaching quarter to eight by now, meaning that he'd been home for five full hours. Making a curry did take a lot of time, especially in conjunction with the pie, but Silver had implied that he'd been up here for a couple of hours at least. That thought sparked further ideas in Blaze's mind, considerations about just what he'd been doing up here with that note. Had he managed to draw some parallel between her and the writer? And why today of all days, when the sleet was coming down and it was freezing cold? There was no way he'd spent all that time traffic watching. Opportunity had struck, this was probably her one and only chance to take advantage.
"So, you've been up here for a while then," She pretended to think aloud, hardening her expression, "What are you actually doing?"
"O-Oh," The hedgehog's hand slipped from her shoulder and into his hoodie pocket, "Just kind of observing a Winter tradition I have."
"Oh? What kind of tradition?" She enquired, almost certain that she already knew; it was bound to have something to do with that letter.
"It's really stupid, you'll probably laugh at me for it. A lot of folks have before," He obfuscated, scratching his chest fur.
She looked him dead on, fully maintaining a serious face, prompting him to continue without having to speak.
"Well, see, there's this superstition I've kind of believed in since I was a kid. It's like how people make wishes at the start of a new year or when they see a shooting star," He trailed off, glancing to the horizon, "Well, I do those too…"
"Stay on target, Silver," She prodded before drinking from her mug.
"R-Right, well, this superstition is about soulmates; the person you're supposed to spend your life with? You're meant to send a letter in a bottle out to sea and, if your soulmate writes one too, you'll get one back," As Silver explained, Blaze felt her heartrate skyrocket, "I sent a message out back when I was twelve, after my friend Amy told me about it. Once every year I read the note I got back and consider if I've met the person who wrote it."
"O-Oh?" She'd had an expectation upon the mention of superstitions, but that hadn't kept her from spluttering, "So you did get a letter back?"
"Yeah, and it seems like whoever wrote this letter was being honest in what they wrote," Silver elaborated, only further increasing her temperature. Ten years later, Blaze couldn't even hazard a guess at what she'd written, "I'm not supposed to tell anyone what they wrote, it's like how you're not supposed to tell people what you wished on a star, but they seemed really nice and I can't wait to see how they've changed."
"You really believe in it, don't you?" Blaze hummed, taking another sip of tea.
"See, I told you it was silly," He pretended to smile into his drink, but the expression was easy to read.
"No, no. It's just," She fumbled for the right words, "Ten years is a long time to believe in a superstition like that. How are you certain it wasn't just a random bottle that'd washed up on the shore?"
"I don't think I would if it wasn't for how it happened," He began to elaborate, "I'd just put my bottle in the water. I was scared that using my powers would break some kind of rule, so I'd walked out into the ocean and put it out there by hand. On my way back though, just as I was about to reach the sand, another bottle washed up on the shore. It slid right between my legs."
Blaze's heart when from beating wildly to skipping beat after beat. On one hand, that was almost exactly the same as her story. On the other though, his story implied the exchange of their letters was literally impossible. She had encountered a reply bottle almost immediately too, that letter surely had to travel miles to reach the Sol Estate's private beach. Both of their stories were so miraculous, it was so bizarre. It did though give Blaze an idea about how to find out more.
"You said it was a message in a bottle, right? What happened to the bottle?" Blaze struggled to delicately question.
"Oh, well, um," The hedgehog took a big swig of his tea, looking even more sheepish, "I wish I'd kept it, but I was a kid and I couldn't get the bottle open. I used my powers to break it against a rock," He admitted, far too honestly, "I think there was something weird covering the top of it that I just couldn't get off, no matter how hard I tried," His gaze flickered above them, to the mounting pile of snow gathered on his psychic shield, "The reason I'm up here today is because it's been exactly ten years since I sent out my letter, realising that just made me a little nostalgic I guess."
And just like that, the odds of him receiving her bottle had redoubled. Even though she didn't remember much of what she wrote on her note, the feline could remember the bulk of that day well. She had written the note per Vanilla's instructions, sealed the bottle with a cork and then melted wax over its top. How many people would have gone that far? Surely a few but certainly not the majority.
She glanced down at their feet and found that the snow surrounding her had significantly thinned. This was all so conflicting and complicated, his note and story seemed to match the one she sent out, but the timeframe just didn't line up. She knew that the letter she'd received matched him perfectly at the very least. He wouldn't want to break superstition and discuss the letter's contents, but wouldn't he have implied in some way that the letter he'd acquired matched her? The psychokinetic was taking this all very seriously.
The feline took a sip from her cup only to find the tea had gone rather cold, a change likely spurred by their surroundings. If her cup was cold then his surely bordered on being frozen, but rather than complain he was still drinking. This couldn't go on forever, she had to get to the bottom of this. But if he wasn't willing to explain the letter's contents, and she certainly wasn't willing to steal it, then what could she do?
"Blaze?" By the time she'd turned back to him, Silver's eyes were already upon her, "Have you ever been in love?"
It took all the focus she had not to catch alight, she very almost bit straight through her tongue. She knew the hedgehog could be blunt, but never quite this blunt. How could he stand to ask that, let alone after all they'd discussed? Anyone else would have shot him down there and then, decided this was all some elaborate pick-up scheme, but Blaze knew both him and the reality far better than that. He was earnestly and honestly asking; the psychic was genuinely curious!
They hadn't remotely breached the subject of their love lives before this, but Blaze doubted Silver could hide if he was in a relationship. Then again, despite having that note pinned to his noticeboard and in view of the doorway, he hadn't discussed either sending out a letter or the superstition surrounding soulmates until today. Matching that though, other people weren't supposed to read the letter you received. Still, she would be surprised if romance was the one thing he kept close to his chest.
Tail flitting and head spinning, as if being on the rooftop wasn't bad enough, Blaze managed to stutter, "No, I've never even been on a proper date. My parents would try to set things up, but they would always… no."
"What? Really?" Silver's look of shock briefly roused her from panic, "But you're so kind and pretty, Blaze! I'm surprised that tons of people haven't asked you out."
"You have a very," She was certain more of the snow had melted around her feet, "Unique perspective on me, Silver. Th-Thank you, but I suppose going on many dates also doesn't equate to being in love."
She didn't have the guts to ask about his history. Silver was, undeniably, charming, she'd noticed as much even upon first meeting him. There was something about his unique, almost ethereal, appearance, coupled with his genuine and excitable nature which she could easily see being a draw. If she could recognise that at first sight, then others surely must have too. It wasn't just her, was it?
She felt his hand return to her shoulder and almost jumped out of her fur, "That's right, it doesn't. If there's someone you're pining for then just say, I'll do my best to help you!"
He was beaming, wildly, her heart was still pounding. She rolled her eyes, turning away, "I'm not at the moment, but I'll be sure to let you know."
Was she actually attracted to him? Ignoring all of the flustered feelings about the notes and soulmates, was she? It was a question she hadn't dared to ask herself; he was the best friend she'd made ever since she'd moved, a misstep in that direction would spell disaster.
But, if she had to answer, Silver was almost certainly the closest she'd come to having a traditional crush. Even just thinking that was enough to spike her temperature, but no one else really came to mind. It was probably a step too far to say she had an actual crush on him, but she knew she liked what she'd seen from him.
He was kind and honest, he fit with her like a jigsaw puzzle. They didn't so much complete each other as make up for the other's shortcomings; her seriousness matched his obliviousness, her cautiousness accounted for his excitability. It was perhaps a strange thing to be attracted to but the way he used his power so freely often ensnared her attention and gave her hope for her own ability.
What was she supposed to do now; what were they supposed to do now? She looked back to him. While her breath still hung in the air as wispy clouds, his breath hadn't been visible at any point since her arrival. The hedgehog had to be freezing cold up here, no matter how bundled he was beneath that hoodie, but she'd also interrupted him in the midst of a yearly tradition.
Remembering her potential part in that tradition sparked a handful of ideas, each more embarrassing and difficult to achieve than the last. She bit her lip, feeling herself boil. How much could she stand to tell him; how much could she stand to do? What could she gain and what might she lose?
"Aren't you cold? You've been out here for hours," She asked, building herself up to acting.
"Oh, um, yeah, a little," He conceded, clearly realising he was being slightly chastised, "I thought you would be too, but you feel so warm; you're not even wearing a jumper," The hedgehog seemed to realise, sending Blaze into a small panic and her temperature even higher, "I guess your name is Blaze for a reason."
"Y-Yeah," If that was really the best reason he could come up with after all this time then the hedgehog was even more oblivious than she thought. If he did hold the note she'd written, it was no wonder that he hadn't equated it to her, "I've always been a naturally warm person I suppose, I don't really feel the cold."
"Wow, you're so lucky," The gears in his head seemed to turn, "No wonder I'm always the one turning the heating on…"
As he trailed off, throwing a glance to the roof's edge in response to a beeping car, Blaze saw her opportunity.
"If you want to stay up here a little longer, I could go get us some of your pie. I kind of want to see the view you were talking about at the ledge but, um," She swallowed, about admit something to him that she'd only ever told Vanilla, "I'm afraid of heights…"
His gaze immediately snapped back to her, "I-I'd love that," For a moment she swore she'd seen a stunned expression on his face, but his expression reformed into a strange smiling combination of excitement and seriousness, "And you don't need to worry about heights with me around, I promise. I'll catch you before you could even fall. I'll help you beat this fear, I'm the perfect person to help you."
"I don't doubt it," She managed to cut in before he could suggest something more drastic, taking his cup from him. Though she'd not seen him up here before, she'd seen the hedgehog fly into the treetops and felt her stomach drop on a number of occasions, "I'll just be back in a moment."
As his hand fell from her shoulder, she alighted the rooftop and made her way down the stairs. Almost immediately, she felt the heat that had been overwhelming her body dull down to a simmer. She took a deep breath, her plan still formulating as her head stopped spinning. It was simple, it was easy; she'd told him that she'd go and cut them some pie before heading back up, that was all.
Instead of going to do that, she moved across the hall and unlocked her own bedroom door. Stuffed away in her side table, obscured beneath an extra towel, lay an old glass bottle. Without so much as blinking, she unscrewed the lid and frantically shook free the note within. She hesitated for just a moment, debating taking the bottle too, before opting to return it to the drawer. Note now in hand, she rushed her way down the hall and back into the kitchen.
Before she even looked at the pie, she went straight to the counter and held the coiled cardboard up to Silver's recent note. With every step of this plan, the feline could feel the heat on her face burning hotter and hotter. Her eyes franticly bounced back and forth, looking to match exact words and letters.
If her bottled-note truly had been written by Silver, which she could still scarcely believe was even a possibility, then he'd have written it over a decade ago. Both notes opened with the word hi, but drawing a conclusion based on that was the height of foolishness. This supernatural nonsense, she'd told herself she'd never believe, now had her performing detective work, trying to match words and lettering from a tempest tossed note she'd received as a child to a quickly written message.
Both sets of handwritings were scrawly in a similar manner, a few letters seemed to match up well but certainly not perfectly. Having inspected for a good minute or so, she was reasonably convinced that the hedgehog's modern penmanship could have evolved from that in the note she'd received. Having to compare the notes did though mean reading the one she'd received all those years ago, parallel after parallel regarding the likes of special skill and cooking were forced to the front of her mind, not to mention Silver's personality. Quite quickly, she rolled the note back up and planted it deep in her pocket.
Their mugs were set in the sink and quickly filled with hot water, left to steep as she hurried. A pair of bowls were drawn from an upper cupboard and a knife was retrieved from the drawer beneath it. As she pressed the blade into the crust, steam rose from the pie's centre and the sweet scent became all the more palpable. Even without having tasted it, Blaze could tell that the hedgehog had outdone himself; the pastry had crumbled so cleanly and the crimson interior was so vibrant. Unfortunately, her mind again racing, the dish couldn't hold her attention.
As Blaze plated two reasonably sized portions, adding a spoon to each bowl, she caught herself hesitating. In hindsight, attempting to face her greatest tangible fear while simultaneously plying Silver about a superstition she'd told herself she didn't believe in was a bit much for a single evening. She tried to play through their conversation in her head, dragging herself from the worksurface with a bowl in each hand. He had encountered his bottle at a similar time to her, during winter ten years ago, but it'd been just after he set his letter free, which was also the same as her experience. It was as she'd thought before and it refused to leave her mind; without some kind of divine intervention, their exchange was literally impossible.
She again hesitated outside his door, eyes colliding with his corkboard and its empty portion. While the actual exchange of their messages was a barrier to her theory, it was last hurdle on what had been a smooth drive down an exceptionally bumpy road. For the bottles carrying their letters to simply not crack in the ocean and sink to the depths, or for them to even encounter messages in bottles, these were less impossible things, yet they were still highly improbable. Who were they of all people to disbelieve in this potential connection, one born able to manifest flames and the other with psychic powers? Just as this superstition was a supposed quirk of nature, they themselves bordered on the supernatural.
Somewhat stabilised by those thoughts, the feline took to the stairs with gusto; immediately identifying the light of the cyan swirl above her as Silver's power. Curiously though, there was no sign of the actual hedgehog. With every step the tension seemed to mount, approaching its prior place, but that all scattered as she reached the roof.
Blaze alighted the stairs only to find herself face to face with a large, relatively simple, snowman. Its eyes were formed from little stones, seemingly broken pieces of pavement, and its single-line smile was formed of the same material. Looking past the figure and around the roof, she found various other snow-people of similar make and form, a single orb for the base and one for the head, but of varying heights. All but one, a figure near the edge the hedgehog had been sitting, looked to have completed expressions. The rooftop itself had been cleared by the creation of these figures, it was undoubtedly an act performed using the psychic's power.
"Silver?" She called out, scanning her surroundings.
Just before she could begin to worry, a new flash of cyan light floated upward from the roof's edge and arrived to land next to her. Sure enough, in an instant, the bioluminescence faded from his body and pooled into the symbols on his hands. Already, he looked far too enthusiastic. With a wave of his hand seven rocks were sent spiralling into the air to plunge one by one into the head of the final snowman, forming its face and thus completing it.
"I've been meaning to do this all day, I just got too distracted by my note," He smiled, taking his bowl as she presented it, "Thank you. Do you want to eat first or should we try the ledge?"
Despite her prior trepidation, Blaze didn't so much as blink, "Dessert with a view sounds like a good idea. That and I'll have a way of distracting myself if it does become too much."
"Alright," Without so much as blinking, he slipped his hand into hers, "Let's do it then!"
She almost stumbled as he led the way, in an instant she'd gone from confidently suggesting a plan of action to being pulled along for the ride. The pyrokinetic tried to regain her footing, striding forward alongside him. They passed snowman after snowman, with every step closer to the edge the feline became more and more aware of the streets beneath them. The sounds of cars passing in the street, people talking to each other and even the splash of footsteps into slush became all the more apparent. Before they could reach the very edge though, he stopped and seemed to have realised something.
He let go of her hand, pacing around her before pointing past her head and into the middle distance, "Try not to look down, just look that way. That's where the best view is."
Currently, Silver was just pointing towards the corner of the large office building two blocks along the road. Its tall frame blocked any potential view.
"Okay," she sceptically responded as the hedgehog resumed his pacing, quickly taking his place on the edge of the roof.
More cautious now, she shuffled forward. At first the steps were small but, as she neared the very edge, she quickly came to understand why he'd repositioned himself. The street they lived on wasn't perfectly straight, it tended slightly diagonally into the city; so, as she crossed towards the rooftop ledge, all of the street was revealed. For a moment she stood there, any fear of heights totally forgotten.
They were above the streetlights by a good metre or so, meaning that golden light was basking the slightly snowy streets and not obscuring the view. Though it was still busy, the traffic beneath them had been slowed by a combination of congestion and the cross-junction just a few blocks away. She could see people for miles, the nightlife was starting but hadn't yet reached the drunken shouting she'd occasionally hear from below. The lights in every house and on every car were shining, those in the far distance almost appearing like stars in the night sky.
All that was marvellous, a beautiful culmination of city life, but it was the snow that truly completed the scene. From ground level it'd seemed murky and frankly disgusting, the chill of water and its propensity to splash had been highly irritating at best. From up here though, the snow accentuated the glimmer of every light and granted contrast to both the dark of night and the paved landscape below. Even the glisten of the drenched roads shone far prettier than she'd experienced on the street.
It was only as she reached the very ledge that the mystique of the view faded away, she went to turn to him and caught sight of the dramatic distance between them and the ground. Her immediate response was to step back, but instead she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When her eyes reopened, his hand was reaching up to her. She gingerly took hold and slowly lowered herself, soon coming to sit beside him. As intended, she turned her eyes to her food as a distraction but, before she could raise a spoon, Blaze had one question.
She threw her eyes towards him, "And just when were you planning to show me this?"
"The day you arrived," He sheepishly reminded her, swallowing a chunk of pie, "But I didn't know about your fear of heights and stuff. You refusing to come up here makes a lot more sense now… do you like the view?"
"I would more if it didn't mean being so close to the edge," It was only as she said that, turning from him and reaching for her spoon, that Blaze realised they were still holding hands, "But it is rather enticing," She managed to hum, using her other hand to scrape up a spoonful.
Baking and preparing deserts seemed to be one Silver's passions but, perhaps due to the view or the general circumstances, this cherry pie truly was exceptional. The crust was perfectly buttery, acting to wonderfully compliment the sugary sweet nature of the cherry filling. She had no idea how he'd made it all, assumedly some aspects were store bought, but it all meshed so well. It wasn't too sweet either, a fact that showed the intent behind the dish. It had always been made to share, specifically with her in mind.
Just as she had tailored her next moves to specifically ply and better understand him. Still eating, she threw him a glance from the corner of her eye. Now that they were sitting and the boon to height of her boots was lost, their difference in height was apparent. Silver's habitual floating always made him seem taller, but it equally allowed her to ignore what difference there was between them. He was at least a head taller than her, perhaps just a little more, but sitting had almost halved that difference.
"Silver?" He turned to her with a psychic globule of pie hovering near his muzzle, rather than a spoonful raised to his mouth, "About that superstition you mentioned, sending a message in a bottle to your soulmate…"
He quickly swallowed, "Oh, yeah! I was going to say, Blaze; if you wanted then we could go do it sometime. I know it's late in the year, but I love taking trips to the beach! The sunset on the water always looks so nice."
"Well, we can go to the beach at some point, but, um," She reached into her pocket, producing the still curled letter. Her mouth felt dry, "When I was twelve, I partook in the superstition too."
"What, really?! That's the letter from your soulmate?" As Blaze nodded, Silver produced his own note, it'd clearly been folded hundreds of times over the years, "We must have done it around the same time, that's so cool! Did you like the response you got?"
"Well," Blaze bought herself just a moment to think of a response, "I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I certainly did at the time. They seemed really kind and honest; I can't help wonder if they've changed much since they wrote it, it was a long time ago..."
"I'm sure they will have a little, just like mine," He said, much too seriously, "But if they're supposed to be your soulmate, it'll only be for the better, right?"
"I suppose," He'd clearly thought about this more than she had, "But didn't you say you check your letter yearly, to see if you've met the right person yet?"
"Ah, w-well, um," Seeming to catch himself, he quickly tucked his note away, "I can't really describe it, because that'd be like letting you read it, but there are little things about them that I should be able to pick up on, things that probably won't change. Isn't that the case for yours?"
"There are, but they're a little vague," Blaze conceded, tucking away her own note. Her letter's mention of a certain skill being held by her soulmate was all she could think of. What would she have put in her letter that he could aid in identifying her?
Silence, save for the sounds of life below and their eating, came to consume the space. They were still holding hands; his fingers were gently slipped between her uncurled ones, surely he could feel her heat? Was he just toying with her? Had he realised something she'd long assumed? Was he too embarrassed to speak up about it, or was he just as scared of worrying her with a revelation as she was of worrying him?
It wasn't uncommon for Silver to eat using his power, but the choice to do it rather than release her hand and draw his spoon was playing on her mindset. Was it possible that they were both fools; led along by a twist of fate combined with a silly superstition? Could it be that they were both imagining things? What if this was all nonsense? What if she was just overthinking the significance her relationship to the first person she'd ever seen in a more than platonic light? How often did people meet their supposed soulmates in such a casual manner?
She'd run through all these thoughts multiple times, from trying to embrace the supposed mysticism behind their meeting to ignoring it and judging him for who he was. What was the right thing to do? How was she supposed to fall in love, how was she supposed to find the one? Outside these scant moments of supernatural consideration, she hadn't even been looking for love; she'd been too focused on work and living. Turning her eye to the past didn't much help either, her parents hadn't been especially forthcoming about their courtship. Only one person had discussed love with Blaze in the past, both earnestly and in terms of superstition.
Vanilla's words from all those years ago rang in her head, a reminder of something she could invest in above this supposed occurrence. Shared bottles sent overseas weren't indicative of a good future relationship. Only the purest bearing of who they were was; the only sign she could truly trust was his reaction to her true self.
Blaze swallowed, hoping he'd take the sweat on her forehead as melted snow, "I've been thinking."
She heard him hum in acknowledgement, his mouth likely filled with pie.
"There's something else I've been meaning to tell you about, ever since I first started living here," She wiped her hand on her trousers and felt her temperature spike even hotter. Surely, he had to anticipate what she was about to show him?
"Oh? What is it?" He questioned sounding so oblivious.
Her left hand still holding his right, Blaze reached across with her own right hand. The feline still couldn't look the hedgehog in the eye, even as the hand caught ablaze between them. She hoped the flame was small, just a burgeoning flame in the centre of her palm, but given her emotional state, it was more likely a fully grown flame.
For a moment she tried to focus on anything else, the sounds beneath and the tase of desert, but a shift from the hedgehog killed that endeavour. His grasp left hers, causing but a moment's panic, before both of his hands clasped around her wrist. She turned in his direction, eyes falling upon that new point of contact. Despite the suddenness of his movement, the hedgehog was being so gentle. He hadn't grabbed her, he wasn't pulling her, so what was he doing?
Blaze's eyes drifted up to finally reunited with his face. Through the glow of her flame and the upward flickering of his embers, unbridled curiosity and amazement shone in yellow eyes tinted orange. The moment she saw his expression, the soft joy on his muzzle and his slightly damp quills slicked backwards, something went off in her chest. That internal change manifested externally, what was a palm sized fire burst and expanded to double its prior height.
She quickly pulled her hand away, flailing her hand in an attempt to snuff the heat. When that failed her, she reached across and palmed the back of the nearest snowman; with a hiss and some steam, her power was quenched. Before she could even think of turning back to him, Silver's hands were already on her left arm.
"Blaze, that was incredible! Could you do that this whole time?" A realisation seemed to dawn upon him, triply confirming his obliviousness, "Now your name makes even more sense."
"It took you long enough to realise," She half grumbled, already feeling her heat return, "I wasn't obvious, but I don't think I hid it especially well."
"I guess I just didn't want to assume anything. People have all sorts of names for all sorts of reasons," When she finally managed to turn to him again, Silver had shuffled even closer and was still glowing with excitement, "Is it the reason you're not cold?"
"Yes, obviously. It's also why I always come home dry, even when there's a downpour," The feline huffed, "You're so naïve. I'm almost certain that anyone else would have noticed."
These naïve interactions seemed to have the most profound effect on her. Something about being so very honest with him had made her fully revert to a haughtier attitude. It was as if she couldn't stand exposing herself without simultaneously unveiling or scrutinising some aspect of him, trying to prove or find something for herself. This was all so new to her, but she immediately regretted each and every misstep. Despite her feelings though, nothing but excitement and admiration were shining on his face. Regardless of how he'd made the pie, the hedgehog himself was too sweet for her.
"So, your power isn't a secret then? Am I the last person to figure it out?" He asked, so genuinely. She swore that he'd shuffled just a little bit closer.
"Well, no. It is supposed to be a secret, but we've just been in such close proximity and…" She hesitated, catching herself before she could say anything else she'd regret, "Regardless, I'm just glad you know now. I was worried that I'd scare you off with it."
His head cocked, "Why would your power scare me off? Aren't we just the same?"
She wanted to call him a fool or naïve again, but she managed to bite her tongue. She knew what he meant, even if she didn't agree. Trying not to think so much, she slipped her hand back into his.
With that as fuel, she found the right words, "If you think we are, then I suppose we are."
"Either way; don't worry, I won't blab about your secret. I'm great at keeping them," He promised, squeezing her hand, "In ten years, I've not told anyone what my soulmate wrote for me; I can keep quiet about something as simple as your power, don't worry!"
As he kept prattling on, speaking his naïve assumptions and making verbose promises, Blaze couldn't help but lean against the psychic. The combined force of her long day and relief at his response had broken the dam holding back her tiredness. Yawns broke past her lips as the conversation drifted back to work and the days ahead; eventually, her head even came to rest on his shoulder. Soulmate or not, Blaze had found the person she wanted to be with. He was no prince but, in a certain naïve way, he was certainly charming.