Winter in New York (Various)

[John Kilroy]

Joshua held his hand to his mouth as he felt the cold mist of his breath against his gloved hands. This had been the first winter he had felt as Joshua Parker, as a person. Sure he had technically experienced winter before as the writhing pathetic clone that he originally saw himself as, a nonperson, but at the time he wasn't exactly in his right mind to enjoy it. Honestly though? There was nothing like a good winter in New York. Seeing a blanket of snow on the streets and covering the trees that had just recently lost thier leaves was like something out of a painting, and even that was nothing compared Central Park. When Snow and Central Park came together, it was something that looked like something straight out of a storybook.

He sat on a bench as he watched families playing together, some were sledding while others were making snow angels. He wasn't sure what to make of it to be honest, not at first. But as he continued watching he realized that he was...well enjoying things. Part of him wanted to join in, but in the back of his mind he couldn't help but think a late 20-year-old man (biologically speaking) would be creepy and likely to get him arrested. He would however get his wish when a snowball came flying at him, his spider senses and reflexes allowed him to dodge it with ease. 

"Hey mister, wanna play? We're one short of a good snowball fight." Josh pointed at himself with an inquisitive look. The kids nodded. He then got up and rolled a snowball. 

"I'm warning you now, don't cry too hard when you lose." He said with a smile.


"Oh you're on."

The two young children began to unleash on him only to be amazed when when he dodged it with ease, sidesteps backflips, josh moved like an acrobat as he gave a counter throw hitting them dead on. Still despite the fact that they were clearly losing the kids didn't seem to mind so much. They were enjoying it. It was fun watching this man move in such a cool manner. The fun and games ended however when there was a whistle.


"Boys it's time to go home."


The boys ran in the direction of the voice. When Josh looked, he saw a heavyset woman with red hair and a green winter coat. She looked to Josh and smiled walking to him. 

"Thanks for entertaining them a bit. Two boys can be a handful after a while."

"Ah it was nothing. I had fun. Um, I'm Josh by the way. Josh Parker." He offered a handshake to which she obliged. 

"Emily, Emily Mclain. You don't happen to be related to that Peter Parker fellow, are you? The guy that took those pictures of Spider-Man for the Bugle?"

"Hehehe funny you should ask actually, he's, my brother. We're not exactly on the best terms though. It's not him. Just...family drama."  

Emily could not help but nod. "Yeah, I understand. I don't exactly have the best relationship with my brother either." She looked at her watch. "Darn it, I'm going to be late for work. Hey, next time you find yourself at the daily grind maybe we'll run into each other again. As she walked away. Josh couldn't help but smile. He might have just made a new friend. 

[John Kilroy]

The Silver Bell: A Carol Davers Story

It was the middle of January. and Carol took a hike in the spacious rural area. She and wolverine shared some things in common one of which was to get away from it all. There was nothing but white as far as the eye could see. That was ok. The cold didn't bother her. She could survive external temperature of sub-zero degrees. At this point she was wearing the coat just for the Aesthetics. As she continued to walk she a light in the distance, as she got closer, she saw the outline of what appeared to be a building. As she got closer still, she noted that it was a tavern. It looked like something straight out of a fantasy video game. Maybe it would be a mistake to go inside, but for better or worse, curiosity was getting the better of her. Besides if there was trouble, she could fight her way out of it. 

As soon as she opened the door and took a step inside she immediately felt the warm cozy feel of a Christmas fire. Which was odd because this was January. Christmas was over in fact the new year had begun. As she looked around she had noticed that it wasn't just the fire that had a Christmas feeling to it, the whole tavern had a holiday spirit to it. 


"Hello there, feel free to take a seat by the fire I'll be with you in a bit. Carol did as she was told taking a seat next to the fire and removing her coat.  She looked up at the man and took in his features.

he was a tall burly man with a long white beard. he seemed to be dressed in fur, deer it seemed. After finishing his business the man came over and gave her a cup of hot chocolate.

"There you go. I figured you would have preferred this Ms. Danvers given your situation."

Carol's eyes widened. "how did you know who I am?"

The man gave a warm smile. "I know just about everyone that comes around here. I also know a heavy soul when I see one. Do you wish to talk?"

Carol was hesitant at first but it wasn't long before she started talking, and then slowly she began to talk about different things taking another sip of her drink she let out a sigh. "I said I found myself but honestly, I don't know what to do?"

The man patted her on shoulder. "What is it that you want?"

Carol shrugged. "I don't know...maybe meet someone...start a family. Seems kind of silly doesn't it?"

"No not at all. I think that's a wonderful goal."

Carol then got up and started to pull out her wallet, but the man refused.

"It's on me. Feel free to enjoy the fire. as he started to walk away Carol couldn't help but ask a question

"Who are you?"

"My friends call me nick...enjoy your drink."


Carol smiled as she continued to enjoy her drink by the fire. the song "Let it Snow" could be heard playing.

[John Kilroy]

Winter in New York meant. Lots of snow and lots of snow meant plenty of material to make a snowman with. It was in the middle of February technically the last month of Winter and Gwen was going to take full advantage of the opportunity before it slipped. she went through her closet to grab a winter coat and a pink beanie. She wrote a letter to her brother and sent it to her respective universe and then she went outside. The first step to building the perfect snowman was finding the right spot. She needed a place with plenty of snow and plenty of room to roll the snow. Was it silly, perhaps but past experience had taught her that this sort of thing was surprisingly important. She searched and searched and searched and then she found it. She found the perfect spot. A homebrew baseball field that was now completely covered in snow. She wasted no time and started to create the body. She immediately started thinking of what she would call her snowman. Frosty was always a good go-to, but it was practically a clique. She then thought of some more obscure names, Napoleon, Dominique, Jameson...no, no, not Jameson after an experience with JJJ it would be a long time for any of the names of those three initials to not leave a bitter taste in her mouth. 

she settled on the name of snowflake, probably silly but it seemed to fit the winter theme without settling on something obvious like Frosty. Once the body was complete, she worked on the middle part. Belive it or not, THIS was the hardest part of the snowman, not because it involved any detailed craft, but because it just big enough to be difficult to carry. After many failed attempts she managed to successfully make a middle and place it on the body (She didn't want to talk about the number of middles she made only for them to fall off and denigrate.) After the middle there was the head. Of the three parts, this one was the easiest to make and she had been able to create a head and attach it on the first attempt. With the base of the snowman completed she was able to focus on the details, the arms eyes nose and mouth. 

For the arms she decided to go a little bit avande garde and instead of using sticks for arms she decided to use some steel pipes that had been thrown away. She had used the buttons for eyes and then rocks to make the smile. she stood back to admire her work only to realize that she had forgotten an important part. Where was the nose? She had no Carrot so she settled for the next best thing and used a baseball. With everything completed, she once again stood back and admired her work. Overall she was satisfied. She took a picture and smiled to herself. Overall not a bad way to end the winter.