xp_logs | Monet and Kurt, Friday night.

Monet shares her general dislike of winter with Kurt.

Monet was curled up on the couch in her suite. "Dude, you know that it's the middle of February and it's still winter here? This is wrong on so many levels. Someone should complain."

Kurt gave her an amused glance from where he was standing by the window, then wandered over to join her. "It is winter in Germany, too. You are missing Australia?"

"Snow, Kurt. And not pretty fluffy Christmas card snow but more God and the universe hate you and want you to suffer and by the way, there's this concept called 'sleet'. I hate sleet!" Monet paused for a moment. "I'm not missing Australia so much as I am warm and sunlight and a lack of frozen crap coming out of the sky. Maybe getting Grandad to give me a lift to the tennis was a mistake." There was a second pause, while she dragged her hands through her hair. "And! And! No-one in the entire universe has ever managed to design a coat that doesn't look crap!"

"Is that really true?" he asked patiently, trying not to grin. "Surely someone must have created a fashionable coat. And... warm and sunlight are not so long away, I think."

"No. They haven't. You've got no idea. And this is New York. We're in the middle of the bloody Arctic circle. It'll be warm for like, an hour, one afternoon in August. And then, guess what? It's going to be winter again!"

"Would you like to go somewhere else?" Yes, maybe he was finally getting the point. "It could be arranged."

"Will it be warm and sunny? I'm not going anywhere if it's going to be cold and crappy and probably going to try to kill me with snow again." The worst of winter, as far as Monet was concerned, was that no-one else seemed to view the weather as a hostile force and one out to kill them all with bad coats. "You know, Laurie's going on some Contiki trip."

"That would be the point of going away, yes." He considered this. "She is. And she did say she would welcome company."

"Good, because she'd probably do it wrong. Where's she going to, anyway?"

"Many different places. She plans to be gone for a year, I believe, travelling the world."

Monet nodded. "Right. We're going along when she hits someplace warm. Maybe she's doing North Africa? That's a cool area." It never even occurred to Monet that Laurie might not want the two of them joining in.

"It would not hurt to ask", Kurt agreed, a little more guarded but still cheerful. Laurie had brought up the idea of people tagging along, after all. "You do wish us both to go, then?"

"The more the merrier. You're totally coming." Monet's crankiness fading, she said, "God, imagine if we went to Egypt and got attacked by mummies. Actually, I hope that doesn't happen."

He half-crossed himself, laughing. "You should know by now not to tempt fate that way! Clearly I must go with you to protect you from the mummies."

"You mean to protect the mummies from me." She nodded firmly.

"That too." He smiled at her. "So, a trip to somewhere warm it is, the first time Laurie reaches such a place."

"Yay!" She smiled back.

"And in the meantime, that is what we have blankets and central heating for. And I do have fur", he pointed out.

"Not the same." Monet stood up. "I'm going to go hang out on the fake beach in the boiler room. Coming?"

"I have seen what you wear on the fake beach. I would be a fool to turn that down."

"Fantastic."