...

The snow was becoming rather heavy, but it was perfect to play in. Off to the side of the pathway was an empty area devoid of trees, a suitable location. The area lacked animals, most likely because it was the season of hibernation. It was a chance to spend some enjoyable time with Raven, he needed to relax and have fun, too.

"Hey, Raven. Can we stop by over there to do some fun activities?" I asked, pointing over to the vacant area.

He glanced at me with his serious, golden-orange eyes, then at the empty area filled with snow, then at me again.

"I suppose so. Just for a little while, though." he agreed.

"Okay! Thanks, Raven!" I beamed, taking his hand and running over, away from the path.

...

"What do you want to do first?" he asked. 

"Let's see... How about we make snow-angels?" I suggested.

He nodded.

"Alright!" I laid down on the snowy, chilly ground, as Raven did the same beside me.

I stretched out my arms, and started moving them up and down vertically, as if I was flapping my wings like a bird. The shape it made was going to be the wings of the angel. Raven glanced at me, and followed my example. Was this his first time making snow-angels? I wonder what he did during the wintertime as a child.

After a few minutes, I moved on to spreading my legs apart and together repeatedly to make the angel's dress. Again, Raven followed my example.

Several more minutes passed, Raven and I stood up to look at our masterpiece.

"It looks great!" I complimented. "Good job, Raven!"

He looked away from me for some reason, embarrassment, perhaps? "Th-Thank you." he stuttered for the first time.

I giggled. "It's kind-of cute when you're flustered." 

"It is not." he protested.

"Is too."

"Is not."

"Is too."

"Is not."

"Is too."

"Are we seriously arguing about this?"

"Yeah, I suppose we are." I laughed.

"Let's just move on to the next activity you have planned."

"Okay! Let's make snowmen!" I cheered.

"Very well."

...

I started gathering snow to roll it up into a huge ball for the base of the snowman. I was doing well, in no time, a gigantic snowball was made for its lower-body. I glanced at Raven, his snowball was still small, so I walked over and guided him.

"Thank you..." he said quietly.

"No problem! I'll help out with the rest of your snowman too!" I offered.

"I wouldn't be able to call it my own snowman then." he countered.

"Well, that's somewhat true, but we'll call it our snowman instead!"

"I guess." he sighed.

I helped Raven with his snowman while making my own. I rolled up a medium-sized ball for the torso, and a small snowball for the head. Then, I walked over to Raven and helped him with it, stacking all of the balls up. After a while, we had two blank snowmen structures. Our task now was to decorate it.

"We could use fallen twigs for the arms, and berries for the facial features." I suggested, glancing around at all the materials we had available in the nature environment.

Raven nodded, and began gathering the items, while I helped. We carried the stuff in our arms, bringing them over to our snowmen. I plucked the berries into one of the snowmen gently, creating eyes, a nose, and a smiling mouth. Raven did the same with the other one.

"Ta-da~! It looks great!" I gave him two thumbs up.

A very small but noticeable smile formed on his face, as I grinned at him. "You should smile more often, Raven! It makes you look cuter." I slightly blushed.

"It does not." he replied, his smile fading.

"Does too!"

"Does not."

"Does too!"

"Are we really doing this again?"

"Haha, yes." I laughed.

"You're hopeless." he sighed.

My stomach grumbled, and it seemed loud enough for Raven to hear.

"Hungry, hm?" he asked.

"Y-Yeah. I can tell that some of the berries here are edible though, so that's good. You should eat, too. We haven't eaten anything all day." I said, taking his hand and dragging him over to the bush of berries. 

I looked around, picking the ones that were edible and placing them into my hand. A few minutes later, a large amount of the fruit had piled up. I popped a few of them into my mouth, handing some to Raven.

"Thank you, Rena." he took a handful and started chewing on them.

...

After what seemed to be a long while, we were stuffed and full. I looked up at the skies, it was becoming darker by the second. 

"I guess we should be going to sleep now. It's such a shame, I was having so much fun." I said, trying my best not to sound upset in my tone of voice.

"I'll admit that the activities were enjoyable for me, too. We were 'playing' in the snow for a long time, so tomorrow we'd better get back on track." he replied.

"Okay." I smiled.

"Where will we be sleeping for the night?" he asked.

"Right here, I guess. Don't worry, I'll summon the Flaring Fairy to protect us from any dangers overnight. It'll take most of my mana to have her summoned for such a long amount of time, but I should be fine." I answered. "Just make yourself comfortable the best you can, Raven."

He nodded, then started laying down on the snow, shutting his eyes.

"Airelinna!" I shouted, as the fairy came to my aid. "Please protect us for the night." I requested.

The fairy nodded as a response. "Thanks!" I gave her a thumbs up, and laid down beside Raven.

His coat provided warmth to me, I really hope he was okay without it. "Do you want me to give you your jacket back?" I asked.

"No, I'll be fine, Rena. Just go to sleep." he responded.

"Thanks a lot for today, Raven." I smiled. "I promise we'll be working hard tomorrow. Today's break was really nice."

"Yeah." he agreed.

...

---[CHAPTER 8 - WINTERTIME FUN : END]---