Initially, she thought she may have passed out as opposed to sleep.

No; she felt much too rested. Refreshed, for once. Had finding a friend done her some psychological good she wouldn't have been able to ever anticipate? Tegwen shrugged off the possibility. It was too simple.

She opened her right eye first. Everything was white. Her left eye promptly followed. Still white. Tegwen realized she was facing the wall on her mattress and had awakened to a frost-coated window. She sneaked her hand out from beneath the cover and tried wiping the condensation away.

Gasping, she bolted upright. "It's snowing!" She squealed.

Megavolt groaned something in response to her declaration and thrashed violently on the couch to turn away from both Tegwen's voice and the encroaching day.

Tegwen was grateful he went back to sleep; it would be easier to get out of going to the Fearsome Five's stupid meeting if he wasn't awake to argue with her about it. She stretched beneath the covers before quietly selecting an outfit from among all the new clothing Gabriel had purchased for her. She then tiptoed to the bathroom where she changed, spending surprisingly little time in front of the mirror. Once upon the time, Tegwen had the luxury to be vain, but homeless and on the streets dictated very different behavior from her. She hated to see herself looking so awful, so she did her best to avoid any reflective surfaces. In the dressing rooms at the mall, however, she was beginning to act more like her good old self again.

If she wasn't worried about Megavolt stopping her from seeing Gabriel, Tegwen would have spent quite some time admiring herself in her new outfit. But she was pressed for time and she still had to get herself to the pond very quickly; it would be a grueling trip on foot. Fleetingly, she wondered what had become of her old Duxus.

For all she knew, it was still parked in the garage of a long-since abandoned house. If it wouldn't tear her heart out, she thought about going to retrieve it. She still had a set of keys for it sitting at the very bottom of her backpack.

She shook the thought from her head immediately. If getting her car entailed going back there -- a house that never felt like home, a place that held hollow, terrible and hurt-filled memories -- Tegwen was sure she could do without it.

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