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Among her public Blaze tended to her emotions as one would consume a selection box during a lecture, secretly, so as not to alert the lecturer, and blindly, so as to remain focused and maintain the aforementioned guise. Blaze often hid not only her displeasure as negative emotions snuck upon her but pleasure too, lest people read too deeply into her emotions. This resulted in what Marine referred to as her princess face, a professional face that was as neutral as she could stand to keep it; no grimacing at bad emotional flavours and no smiling at the positive. Of course, though this steely guise could be cracked away if the pressure built too high and she could drop it at her own discretion… but more often than not that was too embarrassing to do. Her cat-like traits, coupled with her flames, amplified her expressive responses far beyond what was regular, let alone what was acceptable for a princess in public. Her body forced her to deal in absolutes; zero response or a clear response, responses that might lead rumours to spread. Silver though, as she knew him, couldn't hide his emotions; through his loudness or otherwise, he always wore them openly. Of course, it was naïve to show such strong emotion so plainly in public, even for a non-royal in public, but…

The two were walking side by side, a bristly crunch underfoot but snow had stopped falling. While the scenery surrounding them was idyllic, not a rooftop without snow and icicles hanging from every windowsill, the city was incredibly busy. The snowy streets were topped with koalas of every shape, most commonly shorter than her with of course some key exceptions. Children were running this way and that, pulling parents clearly annoyed by the cold and accustomed to the winter sights, while young adults made their own fun peppering each other with snowballs, generally being loud and rowdy. One young couple sat sipping hot chocolate, an elder pair slowly shuffled down the street; arm in arm and eyes locked upon each other. While these were sights she'd seen before, and before this year she'd likely have treated it as those parents, she'd been granted new excitement by remembering a past without them. Every sight and every action now stood in stark contrast from her time in crisis city; from what was natural, the cold air and the snow on the ground, to what was personal. But then a defining aspect of that last thought was keeping her face stony despite the warmth this was bringing her.

Every single person they passed not only recognised her but knew her by name, position and temperament. Not all of them actively acknowledged her but a good quarter or so did. The elderly couple took off their hats in pause to pay respect and often the younger of the population either tugged at their parents to show them or were tugged at by their parents to be shown. It was another bizarre contrast against her first life, one she enjoyed far less though at least her curse was more feared than reviled here. And, well, she had her newly established constant by her side. Even if she couldn't find the will to smile beneath the strain of their stares he was doubly making up for her, with every new sight came a grin and a light in his bright yellow eyes; often tossed to her after being flung at the source of his excitement. The hedgehog would point out and embrace sights she would have thought mundane a few months ago; houses' coloured doors contrasting against stonework coated white, snowmen gathering at bus stops and bird's footprints, perfectly preserved in the snow.

He was making it especially hard to maintain her façade, every time she met those shining eyes it would chip away at her stony guise. Blaze thought that maybe if she took his hand her reliance would be reinvigorated, she'd be subtly giving in to herself and in doing it allow herself to express her emotions in a way less extreme than her common reactions. It was a rather elaborate way to justify her want to take his hand but she knew that, even if she was trying her best to ignore it. She wanted to warm him against this cold weather and to be warmed by his grasp, this was the season best suited to sharing her power; she didn't want it to slip away. If she'd kept the clothes from him, just for a couple days longer, then she wouldn't be having this internal struggle. Blaze did internally scold herself for that thought, though that only drove her steely face closer to the cracking point. It wasn't that she couldn't do it because of his clothes! Well, at least, not mostly; it was because other people were watching! Marine, Amy and (assumedly) Gardon were enough, for citizens to know that she-

She felt heat in her face, her eyes shot down to her boots. With a rise in temperature her breath had become far more visible, to her it looked like fully fledged clouds were leaving her mouth but she reasoned her interpretation was being amplified by embarrassment. What wasn't being amplified was the melting of snow beneath her, the pavement surrounding her drying to the bone. The princess maintained her pace for a moment longer only to collide with something... someone. Fortunately (or perhaps, unfortunately) it was indeed Silver, as she raised her head she found he'd turned to her and was leaning in; his longer nose almost touching hers. Did he have to lean down? "Blaze, are you okay? Are you sure you don't have a fever? You've been red since we got into town but you just got even redder."

So her guise hadn't worked as well as she'd thought. "I'm fine it's just… I'm really enjoying this but I have a princess's reputation to uphold. A-And well… there are a lot of people looking at looking at us and they might think that this is some sort of…" Marine's jests ran in the cat's head, she felt herself grow warmer still, unable to fully break away she locked her eyes on his chest fur. "…D-Date." With that, her eyes locked back to her feet, his now in view… the ground surrounding them had become bone dry. She regretted her choice of words; it wasn't as though she considered this a date… but equally, she didn't consider it not a date. They'd failed to make it clear; this outing lay in some phantom space between being a date and not being a date. Blaze tried to better what she said, "N-Not that there's… n-not that I wouldn't consider… it's just…" Her face, her tongue and her mind were out of synch. She'd kept up barriers for so long, she was struggling to pull down her walls as they crumbled in on her. She felt like she was going to say too much or too little; make it seem like she wasn't interested or reveal she was before she was ready to. "I-It's more that word will spread about it than… th-there being a problem with it?"

When she built up the capacity to look him in the eye Blaze found he couldn't meet hers, his complexion matching her envisioned own. His right hand was fumbling with his chest fur, eyes locked on his wrist or the ground passed it, reddened cheeks holding back a steamy breath. As he spoke it was unleashed, almost entirely obscuring him; "O-Oh, sh-should we g-get out of town? I past some hills on the way t-to the castle; they l-looked pretty. Th-There'd be fewer p-people there, r-right?"

She could feel the eyes upon them; even discounting her status and their abnormal appearances they'd been standing in the middle of a crowded street for much too long. Her eyes meeting his through their visible breath she managed to nod, "Yes, let's… let's go." Able to breathe a sigh of relief she turned only to find her senses had been correct, a sea of beady black eyes was upon them; koalas stood just beyond the radius she had melted. Blaze steadied herself as best she could, forcing her tail to wrap around her waist lest it flit wildly and giving a stern nod to the small crowd as she forced herself ahead; Silver's footfalls behind her rather than beside her. She couldn't help feeling he might have got the wrong impression, that thought came from a place of paranoia but it didn't prevent it spreading. The strange state these maybe-dates existed in was taking a toll on her far greater than if they were explicitly one or the other. Blaze hoped an opportunity would appear soon, she'd keep searching for an excuse to take his hand.

Exiting the city westward the sight was wonderful, outside the perimeter of the city the snow was just a little deeper and the wind a little stronger; carrying with it a sputtering of the slowly restarting snowfall. They weren't quite alone, a small family were taking turns sledging down the tallest of the hills, but they were alone enough. Once she decided they were far enough removed Blaze stopped and turned back to him. She saw the brightness and wonderment had returned and pushed embarrassment from his eyes. Clearly, he'd noticed the newly falling snow. Curiously though, eventually, his brow raised as his eyes met the ground ahead. Following them, she found a small gathering of snow angels.

"It looks like a bunch of people fell over here, was there an earthquake when I was in the air? Couldn't have been a big one." Ah, so either this wasn't shared between dimensions or he'd never heard of the practice.

"No Silver, they're snow angels. People lay down in the snow to make an imprint; moving their arms to create the angel's wings and legs to create a gown." She'd forgotten to mention it was more typically a children's practice, oh well.

"Oh, so it's a tradition then? I guess that makes sense, people throw snowballs and make snowmen, I bet there's tons of stuff people do with snow." There was a pause and, for a moment, he walked ahead; just beyond the current cluster of angels. With a resounding, "Well, better try it," he flopped face first into the snow. Blaze held back a snicker; perhaps her explanation should have been a little more in-depth. Well, this guaranteed he'd be primed for warming.

Before he could begin moving his arms Blaze called out; "You're meant to lie on your back Silver."

Utilising his psychokinesis he quickly flipped over, perfectly realigning himself with the crater, but she found his face thoroughly pinked. "R-Right, that makes more sense." Clumps of snow already hung from his chest fur and clung at various points of his body. Wearing his shirt and jacket open was going to bite him, but that would further justify her actions. He wasn't moving though, instead looking up at her. "Are you not going to…"

The princess scanned their surroundings once more, only that family were in eyeshot and they were clearly distracted. Blaze focused to reduce her body temperature, lest she melt the snow she'd be reshaping, and lowered herself beside him; just outside of his reach. As she did a thought dawned upon her. Alike how she now saw the world with renewed vigour there was an element of almost lost nostalgia to this, it was childish no doubt but if he had been reborn here as she was then they might have done this as children. Fourteen years was a lot of time to make up and while this was a childish step toward that she supposed it was still a step. Beginning to move it took a conscious effort to push against her heating reflex, especially due to the childish nature of the activity, but now free of this city she allowed herself a smile; especially as he cried out in shock.

"It's going up my back! I-Is it meant to go up my back? Is that part of the tradition!" Hearing his shuffling grow more frantic her grin grew further. "Am I doing it wrong? Is it meant to be this cold?"

"You're so naïve, just enjoy yourself; don't think so hard about it." Having said, as his movements did calm, Blaze couldn't help taking her own advice. This was childish, yes, but as flakes of snow cascaded onto her face, fluffy white clouds rolling above; she couldn't help but feel at peace. The zone fully smoothed out Blaze sat up, for once feeling the cold the edges of her limbs and back of her head were painted white. She got to her feet, turning to Silver she found him still going, though the zone he'd chosen was already flattened. It was difficult to tell, his fur blending well with the snow, but there couldn't be an inch of him without some smattering of snow. He did stop as she met her eye, taking her hand as she extended it to him; "I think we're done."

Stepping free of their imprints they were… certainly personalised. In the case of her own, there was a notable tail beneath the angle's right wing, Silver's meanwhile had been far more impacted, most notably by his quill shape. All five of his front quills had imprinted but the likeness of his back quills had been corrupted by his movement, almost creating a second set of wings behind the figure. He looked content with their creations though already he was shivering, now she could see patches of fur that were soaked to the skin. With a steamed breath Blaze allowed herself to reheat, his response was immediate; awkwardly stumbling as he was reminded of their grasp. Did it feel so natural to him that he'd forgotten?

"It's rare that I can find a will and place to use my power peacefully so, if you'll let me…" It was rather embarrassing but then it was always going to be when she'd first considered gifting him winter clothes this was one of the moments she'd sought. She led him back from their creations and then, with a thought, she raised the heat in her free hand, higher and higher until a thin layer of flickering flames began to lap from it. From that hand small embers began to trace across her body, dramatically raising her overall temperature, the snow and wetness were already beginning to steam from her. Before she could look to him for confirmation he'd stepped in closer, there was no hesitation. Blaze fully closed the distance, first gently pressing into his chest fur before tracing around his fluffy scruff and up into his quills.

He leaned down slightly; she felt his hand on her back and his head against hers as she worked her way through the cold wet mess. Though they were still in a rather public place, her guise lowered and her face obscured by his shoulder, the princess mouth curved into a fully fanged smile and her tail slowly looped around their waists. She felt her ears gently fold forward, only flickering straight when he finally spoke. "Th-Thank you… f-for all of this Blaze. I… umm…" Reaching the base of his right quill she began to trace up the left, their still held his but due to their closeness and them both clasping with right hands the grasp was raised between their chests. She couldn't see his face but she could imagine the pinkness as he continued stuttering his way into talking. "If you're e-ever uncomfortable, l-like earlier, j-just say; a-alright? I-I know it's my first time experiencing a-all this but please don't make yourself uncomfortable."

Blaze shook her head rather immediately, now reaching up to his front quills. "No, if you're going to stay here I need to handle our public appearances better. You're my partner, you being by my side should make me feel more comfortable rather than less." She pulled back slightly to get a better grasp of her work, from the shoulders down he appeared mostly dry save for his face. Feeling herself redden further she pressed a hand to his forehead before slowly tracing down to cup his cheek, warming it as gently as she could. His complexion was matching hers; he would meet her eyes only to quickly glance away over and over. When he had the strength to meet her stare she continued. "I need to better maintain my temperament rather than duck away." A thought from earlier crossed her mind and she felt herself warm further, perhaps a step too far, she pulled her hand away but focused to maintain the one that held his. "If I ever look… strained, please just take my hand. Hopefully, I'll be able to focus on that rather than whatever I'm thinking."

"B-But won't that make things worse? And won't people th-think we're… you know…" Blaze did but, to be honest, part of her enjoyed seeing him flustered like this. It was a little cruel but seeing him wear his embarrassment so plainly, failing to hide it, reminded her these feelings were normal. That and, while she didn't trust herself to read into it, it perhaps… suggested something. "D-Dating… l-like you said."

Feeling cooled she moved in again, gently warming the other side of his face. "I care about being comfortable beside you more than that." Marine's words rang in her head again, that she'd set these winter outings up as dates. While part of her still contested that these weren't explicitly dates a part of equal size wanted to make them explicitly that and a small but ever-growing section accepted that they basically were dates in all but name. These potential dates existed in a phantom space yes but that simply meant they could change what they were. "I'm more comfortable when my hand is in yours, I may still be flushed but I'm not stuttering am I?"

She felt his grip on her hand tighten; some sort of determination had steeled his gaze. "I-If that's what it takes then I'll do it! A-As long as y-you're certain it helps." There was the heart on his sleeve again; plainly embarrassed he'd forced his way through it by making a promise. So naïve. She realised she'd been lingering too long on his face but, due to her close proximity, he'd almost entirely dried. She traced her hand down his face and off of his cheek.

Snuffing her flames but maintaining some warmth Blaze eased her right hand from his grip to be replaced with the left, allowing them to better walk side by side. She'd got what she'd wanted, she'd warmed him and had her heart warmed by him. Blaze looked to the hill, the Koala family had left, without a word she began to lead the way, thoroughly warmed by his concern and the promise between them.