As Keeper of Keys and Ground, staying indoors all day didn't sound like the best way to get started with her job. It was just Milo's luck that on her way over to the outdoor greenery, the break of sun ended and she was met with more winds and snow. Considering that the weather had been like this all month, Milo was dressed for it. She was clad in a peacoat with some sort of dress beneath and thick leggings, with an old scarf wrapped around her. Milo was not a big fan of cold weather.

She took her time tending to the plants as needed, which took her a good amount of time to finish up with, as each winter plant had their own specific needs. Once she was done, Milo stood still for a long moment, carefully looking over everything in case there was anything she had forgotten. "Lookin' good. Lookin' good." She repeated to herself, deciding that everything was well in place.

There were a couple of staff members (and former staff) that had been students when Maiko went to Hogwarts—but none had been in her exact year and house. But the new groundskeeper was! Maiko had bundled up with a scarf, gloves and a knitted cap as well as a nice sweater suitable for a school counselor. This current weather had awakened the part of her that dressed in many layers, and so she felt like she was the master of jackets and nice wool socks.  These thick clothes allowed her to brave the winds and snow to find (and possibly harass) dear Milo. She carried two rather large mugs of cocoa rather precariously down the hall and out the doors—it was a wonder she didn’t spill.

By the time she found the groundskeeper, the cocoa was no longer scorching hot—but a bit watered down from the bits of snow that fell into it. There were some things Mai did not think through.

“Are you mad?” She exclaimed, “The weather is awful!” Mai sniffled, the tip of her nose had turned a bright red. Then, Mai smiled a wide smile. “It’s been too long! The last time I saw you, you were trying to feed my brother some sort of... Spicy concoction." He had never enjoyed spicy food. "Here, drink! I know it’s not wine, but it should do.”

Mai's voice snapped Milo out of her plant-focused mindset. She was aware that among the staff there was bound to be a number of familiar faces from her time attending the school, but Mai was the special case. They were in the same year when they attended, after all. Mai was greeted with a wide grin and Milo walking over to hug her before taking the mug. "Mai! I haven't seen you in forever." She laughed at the memory. "Your brother wasn't very happy with the taste of anything remotely spicy! I still think he doesn't know what he's missing." Milo chuckled, taking a sip of the cocoa.

"Speaking of wine, my Grandma has been trying to deliver some to you for ages. I'll have to make sure you get it soon." She teased. The Monroe's loved wine, but more than that, they loved sharing it with any family friends. Anytime Milo brought any friends over when she lived there, they were always sure to leave with some. "The weather really is awful, though. I can't wait until it's springtime again. Anyway, how have you been? Tell me what I've missed in my time away from dear ol' Mai."

She hugged Milo back, careful not to spill her own mug of hot chocolate. When she was released, she took a sip and clasped her hands around the cup to keep her fingers warm. Sometimes, gloves simply were not enough. She suspected that her fingertips would be tinted either blue or red by the time they were done outside. Mai laughed a bit and shook her head, “You know how stubborn he is. Even if he started liking spicy food, he’d never admit it to either of us!”
Her eyes lit up when Milo asked about new things.

“So much has been going on! I am making payments on a house…. I got a dog! His name is Maslow and he is growing so fast!” She patted the pockets of her jacket and frowned, “I don’t have any pictures right now but he’s some sort of… Newfoundland? Big and fluffy. You would love him, he’s a giant cuddler.” Mai took another sip. “I also went to this blind date sort of thing at Puddifoot’s on Valentine’s Day.” She bounced a bit, “The woman I was paired with is amazing! She’s witty and clever. I love it.” Mai hoped more would come of it, but it was always hard to tell where things were going to go after only meeting someone once.

“And… I got the counseling job here at the beginning of the year. You already knew that though. Hm. Other than that, not much has been happening.” She pouted, “Though I wish I got that wine! There’s a professor here I want to make lunch or dinner for. He’s the deputy headmaster too-- I finally got him to dance with me at the Yule Ball” There were no romantic feelings whatsoever. She just thought that older gentlemen were adorable and cute. She had a soft spot in her heart for Ignan. Did he even drink wine? He seemed like the classy sort who would.

“But—enough about me. What about you? I know you were working with animals? Have you met anyone special?”

"Oh, a dog! I have to meet him sometime, and newfoundlands are adorable! Did I tell you about my new cat? I only got him a little bit before I came here! A little calico kitty. I wonder how she'll get around with some other animals, I really need to take her around sometime." Milo leaned from side to side, excited by the thought. "That's great! I hope things all go well for you two. And, if you can do the cooking, I'll make sure to get plenty of wine for it. I want to make sure I leave a great first impression with everyone, you know." As far as Milo was concerned, the best way to get to know more people was to gift them all with wine, or better yet, get them drunk off it.

"You're right! I was working at an animal habitat, briefly, then I went back to working at the winery and vineyards when my grandmother requested it, and now here I am! No one special, not lately... Ha, maybe I'll meet a few people while I'm working here! I've barely got the chance to introduce myself to the other staff yet. Maybe if I sneak away into the indoors I'll run into a few more of 'em!" It was snowing or storming outside everyday lately, and she doubted that any of the professors or other staff would want to head outside for any extended period of time if it wasn't necessary. She clutched her cocoa tighter and took another sip from it. It wasn't as warm as it was initially, but it was still better than the outside air.

“Yes. You must come visit my home sometime. Maybe this weekend? Or the next? Maslow would love to meet you.” Maslow loved to meet anything with a pulse.

Scratch that, he loved to meet everything. The other day, if Mai recalled correctly, he had gotten so excited about his new collar that his tail wagged so hard the books were swept clean off of the coffee table in the living room! He enjoyed pulling all the throw pillows off of the couch and laying next to them instead of on them. Every time Kohaku or Mai came in with some new object for the house, he had to introduce himself to it via a vigorous sniffing!

“I once flirted with the runes teacher. She didn’t appreciate it, so if you’re going to flirt with anyone who works here.. She might not be the best choice.” Mai laughed,  remembering how positively disturbed dear Aileen had looked.  “Maybe you’ll meet someone at the Three Broomsticks or something too? You’re a lot closer to Hogsmeade now.”

She looked around and exhaled, a small puff of smoke coming out of her mouth.

“It’s bloody cold out! Do you want to go inside or would you rather I die of hypothermia?” She said snarkily. 

"Yes, definitely!" Milo was sure to be equally enthusiastic about getting to go over to Mai's place and see her dog. Maybe Maslow would even get along with her kitten. The possibilities were endless.

She pondered over the idea and nodded her head. "I figured I would have to do as much, anyway. I imagine there's much more game with people around our age OFF of school grounds." Milo chuckled, only now realizing that she was starting to shiver. Why was she still out here when it was freezing outside? This was a very poor choice in how to spend her day. She laughed and shook her shoulders, as if that would stop her shivering. "No, no. Let's not die out in the f-freezing cold today!" Milo agreed, grabbing Mai's arm and already beginning to scurry inside.

Maiko looped her arm with Milo’s, though in the process she stumbled and lost grip of her mug. That poor mug leapt out of Mai’s hand, bounced off of Milo’s chest, and fell onto the snow, where it cracked in two. At the end of it all, Milo was splattered with the gooier bits of chocolate that accumulated at the bottom of the mug.[1]

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

“Did that just happen? Did that actually just happen?” She looked at the splattered cocoa, thankful that it wasn’t blistering hot. “Please tell me that didn’t just actually happen.” But oh, Maiko, it did happen.

“I just—Milo, I am sorry!” She exclaimed, trying to  brush the cocoa off of Milo with her hands. This only resulted in her
smearing the chocolate in. She didn’t even think of trying to remove it using wandmagic, though that was probably much simpler than trying to wipe it off without magic.

1.	With Brandie's permission

Milo stumbled backwards, caught offguard by coffee mugs hitting her square in the chest and then breaking on the ground, but only after all of the cocoa had already poured out onto her coat. Her arm slid away from Mai in the mix of it, and in her sudden movements a good amount of her cocoa splashed out of her mug and onto the snow, with the bits of Mai's broken mug.

She froze up for a moment, looking to her friend and wondering if that really did, in fact, just happen. The warmth from the cocoa seeping in her coat told her the answer to that one! Mai was answered with her laughter.

"No-- Mai! It's fine!" Milo gently placed her free hand on top of one of Mai's. "Much warmer now! Let's just pick up the remains of the mug and head inside," She lifted her hand off and chuckled some more. "Although I'm not going to complain if you want to keep touching me!" And some things about Milo never really changed either. She bent down, took a big gulp of the remains of her cocoa, and went to pick up the broken pieces, tossing them into her in-tact mug.

They had started gathering up the pieces of the mug, and Maiko was pondering buying some hobby glue or something to put it back together, when—Oh that’s right. She wasn’t a muggle. Why in the world was she thinking she needed glue to put this back together? She rummaged around in the snow and pulled out the last few pieces and put them in Milo’s mug. It’d be much more convenient to deal with that when snow wasn’t buffeting them in the face and the pieces were laid out and accounted for (not that reparo was a particularly difficult spell, Mai just wasn’t too keen on spending too much time outside.)

She looped her arm with Milo’s once more and practically dragged her back inside the castle, where the temperature difference was immediately apparent. Mai didn’t realize how frigid it was outside until the warm air inside the castle made her cheeks feel like they were burning.

“The cocoa shouldn’t stain… “ She mused, completely ignoring Milo’s touching comment.