[color=lightpink][b]Ryan[/b][/color][color=cccccc]
[indent]"[color=lightpink]I needed this,[/color]" Ryan sighed, the wine coaxing her to give in and drop her elbow on the table. She took another sip as a newly engaged couple eyed her from their seat and exchanged glances. Who would slouch like that in such a high end restaurant?

The young woman across from her didn't mind. Piper laughed at her sister and finished the water she had. "It was your idea," she said as a waiter cleared his throat to give them the check. Piper smiled apologetically and took it from him as Ryan managed to sit up and make a face at him. "Aaand your treat?"

Now Ryan laughed and reached to take the paper. "[color=lightpink]Duh.[/color]" In return for his contempt, Ryan didn't add a tip to the automatic 18% gratuity--not that she had any qualms about the price. The restaurant was her choice, after all--a reward to herself for finishing a particularly difficult commissioned piece for a winter wedding. She had ranted to Piper moments before, demanding the reasons for a winter wedding: people already had the holidays to worry about and now a wedding? It's too cold. Way too much white if you go with a snowy theme. Not to mention the last minute demand for a dress. Ryan sighed again, handing her card and check to the waiter.

As he walked away to charge her card, Ryan finished her wine. "[color=lightpink]I'll run to the ladies room, then we can go,[/color]" she said to Piper, who nodded and took the alone time to pull out her phone.

[hr]
Moments later, Ryan finished washing her hands and took a moment to look in the mirror. She adjusted her red dress: it fell just above her knees and boots and stockings kept the rest of her legs warm in the New York winter. It sat loosely and comfortably on her, but didn't hide her slim figure. She smiled, running her hand over the wide neckline and turned to admire how it matched the red bow tied in the back of her hair. Satisfied, she shrugged at herself in the mirror and turned on her heel to step out of the ladies' room...

...and into snow. Ryan blinked at the whiteness around her. Her hands rose and she hugged herself tightly against the sudden cold. "[color=lightpink]Huh?[/color]" 

She looked around at those around her: an old man who looked like something out of a fantasy show, a woman with the fashion choices of a teenager, a well dressed man, and...a cosplayer? With an ice cube? Ryan was stunned to silence, her brown eyes lingering on him the longest before looking back to the old man. She wasn't properly listening to most of it, but did catch an opportunity to get out of the cold that bit at her legs and arms. Dozens of questions were bubbling up in her mind, but Ryan still managed to bite her tongue for now. She just wanted to be warm and stepped to follow him. She hoped the others would do the same.
[/indent][/color]