Lotus // open

Stepping outside, Leticia was hit by a thick wall of cold. It was freezing out here, but she was determined to go to the lake today. The thick December air made it difficult to breathe, and Letty slowly sucked the air in, as if to filter and heat it before it was transferred to her lungs. Wrapping her green scarf tighter around her neck, the little figure battling the drifts of snow was an odd sight for a passerby. In some places where the path was not fully beaten, she had to hop and kick around. She felt ridiculous, of course, but how else was she supposed to get to the lake? Stumbling across the school campus, Letty finally made it to what she assumed the lake was. She should probably have come in warmer weather ... Right now, it just looked like a giant block of ice, and that wasn't very pretty at all.
A frown crossed her face as Leticia tested the ice, before jumping around. Well, it didn't seem like it was going to crack. Carefully lowering herself onto the frozen expanse, Letty put her arms out in a circle and began to pull lumps of snow in closer to her. She heard at one point that this was supposed to help keep the body heat in. So far, she was still frozen. Leaning too far, her tied up hair fell forward and immediately tangled with one of her horns. Pausing to untie herself, Letty hissed in anger as she couldn't part hair and horn in one move. Her temper slowly heating up as the knots got worse, a temper tantrum was beginning to show itself. Smacking down the pile of snow that she had accumulated, Letty sat and fumed at her inability to fix her appearance. Taking a deep breath, she reached back up once more to rip at the impossible knots.

After trying somewhat unsuccessfully to untangle herself, Leticia was about to go find scissors to get rid of it all when a voice startled her. Getting to her feet quickly, Letty faced the stranger with a startled expression. She had not expected to be interrupted today, and this was somewhat of a surprise. An indignant frown crossed her when the stranger asked if she needed help. Ha! She never needed help! She wasn't weak!

Then again, perhaps she could accept. Just this once, she might accept help. Of course, she would never speak of it ever again. Squinting up at the woman, Leticia nodded slowly. "I suppose... If you want to help, you can." Pointing at her horns, she felt compelled to explain herself further. "It ... got stuck. I can't get it without a mirror." She didn't really want to go back home looking like a wildebeest, and so she had sat down here to try to get it out herself. Of course, that didn't go over well at all, and seemingly made it worse.

After taking a minute to pout, Letty finally gave into the stranger who had offered to help. Leticia's ears pinned to her head as she felt a hand touch on one of her horns. She hadn't quite gotten used to the sensation of weight on top of her head. On a knee-jerk reaction, she wanted to butt this stranger's hand very badly. The initial moment of uncertainty passed, and Letty found it much easier to relax.

"I'm Leticia. You can call me Letty. What's your name? Nearly tossing her head, Leticia fought the urge to shake off the helping hands. She knew that she would only make the mess worse if she did, but her instinct was smothering her rationality. "Are you almost done?"

Frowning when the stranger provided her name, Leticia studied the girl with surprise. She didn't look anything like she came from Eastern descent. Didn't they have black hair or something? Maybe this person bleached it to cover up. Heaving herself up to her feet, Letty could feel her hair trying to navigate itself back up over her horns and into more impossible knots. Hopefully it would stay down for longer this time.

"But I don't want to get off the lake. I like the lake." A stubborn pout twisted her lips and set a frown in place. She didn't like listening to people, especially not strangers. "I want to stay here!" She couldn't very well make her leave, now could she? Yes, foolproof plan. A satisfied smile replaced her previous pout, and she congratulated herself mentally for being pugnacious.

Rapping her knuckles on the ice, Leticia flinched when it made a dry cracking noise. Scrambling quickly to her feet, Leticia stood a bit unsteadily as she watched the little crack she had made. Slowly scooting away from it, she wondered if her body heat had further weakened the ice. "Um ... M-maybe you're right." Shuffling with as much speed as she could muster, Letty quickly tried to file off the ice. Even though her little legs were working pretty hard, she didn't move far or fast.

"Why aren't I moving?!" Falling down to her hands and knees, Leticia skittered around for a moment before managing to drag herself closer to safety. She could hear the ice whining under her weight, and she didn't want to stick around to see what would happen if it broke. "Ahhh! I can't die this way!"