Moscow in Winter

Alex loved the winter weather, she preferred it over the scorching hot summer weather. "I'd rather freeze to death than burn to death," she once said, or maybe it was more than once. She had a hatred for any temperature that was above 24 degrees. 

Over a year or so, Alex had made a friend. Ti was his name and he was a tiger just like her. To people who didn't know either of them, they could easily pass as siblings! They met one summer at some party a mutual friend had organized. When they were introduced to each other, they instantly hit it off and began to chit chat about their shared interests; video games, art, silly internet videos, and of course, their hatred for hot weather. They hung out after the party and went out to do fun things together for a couple of months. Ti was an exchange student from Russia and he was only there for a year. So, when that year passed, it was time for him to head back home. 

"Promise me you'll come to visit me?" Ti smiled and pulled Alex into a tight hug. They were at the airport, standing right at the big doorway that led to immigration in the departure hall of the airport. 

"I promise," Alex said with a smile as she chuffed and squeezed the tiger. She curled her tail around him slightly. "I'll go there as soon as I can! I'm missing you already," the tigress held back tears. She didn't want to cry because that would have made Ti cry, too. She was going to miss him.

Ti let out a chuckle and gave Alex one last squeeze before he let go. He pulled his wrist up to look at his watch and then sighed. "Well, the gate opens in a few minutes, it's time for me to go now." Alex nodded and sniffled a little bit, her eyes got a bit teary, but she wasn't going to make him cry now. Ty let out another sigh before he smiled and waved to Alex, after waving at her for a few seconds, he turned on his heels and headed towards immigration, disappearing into the crowd of people heading the same way. After she couldn't see him anymore, Alex finally let a teardrop run down her cheek and sobbed slightly. 

It'd be a while before she would be able to see her friend again and that made her sad. 

Time went by as Alex saved up her funds to go and visit her friend. Freshman year was when they met, and she saved money and worked extra hours at her part-time job throughout her sophomore year and half of her junior year. By the time it was her junior year winter break, she had a boarding pass in hand and a bag in the other. She was packed and ready to go. 

Ti was excited to hear that Alex was coming over to visit. He prepared a small tour of Moscow and a couple of other cities that he wanted her to see. Russia was snowy in winter, too, so he was sure she would like that. 

"I'll be there to pick you up at the airport, then you can put your stuff at my apartment, and we can go out for some food!" Ti exclaimed rather excitedly over their Discord video call. The two were equally excited and were giddy as they spoke. It was only natural for two friends who hadn't seen each other in a long time, to be this excited over the fact that they would be reunited in a matter of days. Their Discord calls went on for hours and hours on end, but on the day before Alex's flight, it only lasted around twenty minutes. 

"Okay, okay," Ti said with a smile. "I'll let you go; I cannot wait to see you tomorrow." 

Alex grinned from ear to ear and blushed a soft shade of pink, "Me too!! I am excited!!" She bounced up and down in her desk chair. "I'll see you tomorrow!" she squealed with excitement.  Ti chuckled, "Goodnight, Alex." 

"Goodnight," Alex replied and then they both left the call. Alex's heart was pounding, she could not wait! Sadly, it was some eight hours of sleep, then another ten-hour flight ahead before she'd get to see him. 

Nonetheless, it was still exciting. 

"Flight TG 974 from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi has now landed at Gate C3," the airport's announcement system announced. Ti was nervous. His tail swished and swayed around him slowly as he watched for a familiar tigress with brown hair to appear through the arrival doorway. He stood next to a few other people who had names printed out on pieces of paper; hotel car drivers and tour guides. Ti didn't need that, he was sure that he'd remember Alex and that she would also remember him. 

A crowd of people started flowing through the arrival hall; however, Ti hadn't spotted any tigresses. After a while, he spotted her, the same orange feline with black stripes and brown hair. He smiled wide and began jumping up and down slightly with excitement. "Alex!" He shouted and waved in her direction. Alex turned towards the sound of someone shouting her name, her eyes went wide after seeing it was Ti and she began running towards him. 

Dragging her bag behind her, the tigress ran as quickly as she could, and when she got to him, she let go of her bag to jump up and wrap her arms around her long-lost friend. They both chuffed happily. Alex pressed her face into him and Ti rested his chin on the top of her head. "There you are," he said. 

"You haven't changed at all!" Alex chimed in as she happily rubbed her muzzle on him and took in his scent. His scent was still that familiar one she remembered, if not only slightly different. She sniffed him for a bit before pulling away from the hug and smiling up at him. He smiled down, too and stuck his tongue out at her. "Are you ready for the greatest tour of Moscow you've ever had?" Ti asked with a sly grin spread from cheek to cheek. 

From there, Ti took her from the airport and to his place where Alex unpacked and got herself comfortable. She wasn't quite dressed for winter weather, wearing a crop top and all, but from what the weather felt like when they walked out of the airport, it wasn't that cold. Plus, there wasn't any snow! 

"Are you sure you're going to wear that out to eat?" Ti asked Alex with a brow curiously raised at her. Alex smiled at him and nodded quickly. She wore long pants that covered her legs, so at least she wasn't one of those people who wore shorts no matter the weather. "Yep! I like this outfit! And it's not that cold outside right now, anyway, no snow!" She purred happily. "Okay then," Ti shrugged his shoulders and reached a hand outward to grab one of Alex's. "Let's go." Ti guided Alex out the door and grabbed his coat from the coat hanger right before he slipped out and closed the door behind him.

They had dinner and some drinks. They talked about things they did back when he was an exchange student, how life was now for each of them, and they laughed. They laughed a lot. After their plates were licked clean and they had a few drinks in their bloodstream, they decided it was time to walk back home. 

Ti led the way out of the restaurant, holding to door open for Alex. Alex smiled happily and walked through the door, "Thank you, kind sir." She giggled. Ti then walked up beside her and walked down the streets of Moscow. 

"I have an idea," Ti smiled and took Alex's hand. He then turned into a small alleyway that was not the way they came from. Alex furrowed her brow, confused. "Wait, I thought the way back to your apartment was," she paused and looked around before she pointed back in the direction they were walking previously, "That way?"  

Ti let out a small chuckle. "Relax, I want to show you something nice."

Alex continued to have her brow furrowed for a bit before relaxing them and nodding slowly. 

It took them about ten or so minutes of walking through some rather dark and empty alleyways before they reached where Ti was taking them. Once they were out of the alley, Alex's eyes widened, and her jaw dropped halfway to the ground. "Whoa…" 

What was in front of them was beautiful. Red Square. It was very empty, too, save for people walking around and looking here and there. The night sky and the lights that illuminated the structures made it look even better than it did in those pictures Ti had shown her on Google. "This is beautiful," she added. Ti could only nod and smile, Red Square was indeed beautiful.

Alex and Ti walked around and got closer looks at Saint Basil's Cathedral and the Spasskaya Tower. 

"Spasskaya," Ti said. 

"Spahkaya," Alex tried to repeat after him. 

Ti shook his head and began laughing. "No, no, try again, listen to me carefully, 'Spasskaya'."

Alex paused for a second to think. "That sounds just like what I said. Spasskaya." 

"There! You got it!"  Ti smiled and applauded her. Alex smiled proudly at her pronunciation and curled her tail around Ti's.

After about half an hour of looking around and taking some pictures with her phone, Ti and Alex decided it was time to go back and go sleep. As they began to walk out from Red Square, Alex noticed some small white flakes falling from the night sky. The temperature had gotten considerably colder than it was when they left the restaurant. Alex shivered as she watched the white flakes fall from the sky, a lot of them. She stuck her tongue out to catch some snow with her tongue and succeeded, giggling as a result. 

Seeing this, Ti put on a concerned look and shuffled a bit to pull his coat off. He then flung it around and covered Alex's shoulders with it. Alex turned to look at Ti and smiled. "Ah, thank you." 

"I didn't think it would snow," Alex said with a chuckle. 

"Moscow in winter," Ti shook his head and chuckled, "But hey, we like winter, right?" 

Alex looked at him again, her green eyes locking to his blues. "Yeah, we do." She chuffed. 

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Art is by Poof-Poof 

Ti is by Tiger_Ti