When we were finally outside and in the cold, cold snow, Mother started coming up with ideas again.
     Hey Sephy?
     "Is that a question?" I asked.
     I had a question mark didn't I? Duh Sephy. Anyway, It's really cold in this snow. And it's really thick.
     I figured Mother'd complain about the depth of the snow. While Ifalna and I were only waist high in snow, Mother was up to her brain. It got scary when the cold started really getting to her brain and she started spacing out for long periods at a time. Edwardo kept eating the snow. Tiffany was pretty close to frozen since Mother kept spacing out and dropping her in the snow. Not her bowl, but actual Tiffany. She'd flop out of her bowl and land in the snow, and I had to pick her up and put her back in the bowl. After this happened three times in a row, I decided I'd better carry Tiffany. Mother's brain finally started circulating again, so she gave her wonderful plan.
     Okay Sephy, here goes. My super plan. I say we use my glowy ball of fire to make us a path in the snow. That way we can freeze our brains less while walking.
     "While I think that is one of the most profound things you've ever said," I responded, "I'm not falling for it. I'm not going to give you back the fire materia."
     Oh balls. Foiled again. Tin foil style. You've wrapped me up like last night's dinner.
     "Your brain must've frozen again. You're talking stupid. And- Oh my god Mother. Why is Edwardo's tongue stuck to your brain?"
     It's really cold, and he was licking my brain and his tongue got stuck. You wanna help him pull it off?
     "That is so friken sick. One sec Mother."
     I dumped Tiffany into the snow and scooped up some snow in the bowl. Then I pulled out the fire materia and used it on the bowl to turn the snow into warm water, and splashed it on Mother's brain. Edwardo's tongue came loose, so he immediately started barking. Or howling, or whatever wolves do. I walked to where Tiffany was to put her back into her bowl, but when I looked over to her, she was gone, and Edwardo was standing up chewing on something.
     "Oh boy," I said. "Mother won't like this."
     Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Tiffany! Why!?
     "Is Tiffany the fish?" Ifalna asked.
     I nodded.
     "Oh, I picked the fish up so it wouldn't freeze. It's right here."
     Yay for Ifanelipus! My new best friend! I'm gonna adopt her. We'll watch Sonic together and play 'Find the Fire.' It's gonna be so fun.
     "You should have let the dog eat the fish," I said.
     We started walking through the cold again when I came across a piece of flatish wood and some rope. I tied the rope to the wood and pulled it while Mother rode on it like a very small sled. I was sick of the brain-freezes, and she had a blast.
     Yay! Look at me! Some people say you know dey can't believe! Jenova, she has a bobsled team. We have the one Edwardo, and Tif-fany...
     "Cool Runnings," I said to Ifalna.
     "Duh," she responded.
     I really like our new friend.
     "Me too," I said.
     We finally reached Icicle Inn, which now looked nothing like it did before. Now it was a full-fledged ski resort complete with ski lifts back to the top of the slopes, a lodge that you could get skis and snowboards and stuff, and of course I noticed the many hot chicks wandering around in tight (but probably very warm) ski outfits.
     Awww. Come on Sephy! Pleeeeease?
     "What's that all about Mother?" I asked.
     Oh, I knew you'd say no to skiing, so I skipped that phase and went straight to whining.
     "Okay," I said. "We'll go once, but just because you're thinking ahead right now, and I'm frightened when you have two competent thoughts within ten minutes of each other. I think we need some sort of ski accident to make you stupid again."
     Yay! I love yeh boy.
     Ifalna didn't want to ski, so she went into her house and waited for Mother and I. I rented a snowboard, and Mother kept with her board on a stick. I think there was a line, but both Mother and I had the gut feeling we were VIPs, so we cut in front of everybody. I pushed my way through the crowded line and Mother followed me as I cleared her path.
     "Hey dude, watch it," a familiar voice said.
     "Oh don't tell me," I said, coming face to face with all four Turks. "Lemme guess, Dodge Snowboard?"
     "Oh hell no dude," Reno said to me. "It's so much more fun to play-"
     The Turks all looked at each other, then in unison yelled: "Single Ski Poker Pursuit!"
     "Should I ask what the hell that is?" I asked.
     "Oh it's good fun," Tseng said. "First, we all toss one ski and our clothes off to the side."
     "Wait wait wait," I interrupted. "Why naked?"
     "Why not?" Reno and Rude yelled humorously.
     "If you haven't noticed," Elena said, "we tend toward nudity. Don't ask me why. It's just more fun that way."
     "So anyway," Tseng continued," we all go down on one ski, and all of us except one person get one of those little poker thingies. The people that do have pokers are obligated to poke at the person that doesn't have one. The person that doesn't have one tries to pull one of the pokers away from someone poking him, then we poke the new person without a poker. Usually when a poker is pulled away, the person falls, so the first one to the bottom wins. The naked thing just makes it more fun when someone wipes out. Also, it scares the shit out of everybody on the slopes to see four naked drunks going down the slope poking each other."
     "Five'd really scare the shit out of them ya know," Elena said to me winking.
     "Well, enjoy," I said. "We're going our own way thanks. Come on Mother."
     I leapt down the mountain slope and started snowboarding down. Mother wanted to play with the Turks, but I pulled her 'bobsled' rope and we both started down. It was pretty fun going down at such speeds, but my trench coat got really heavy after a while of blowing in the wind. I made sure to always hold Mother's bobsled so that she couldn't go down a different path than I did. She didn't do much except pretend she was bobsleding.
     Turn Seven! Hard left! Turn Eight! Straight!
     I could hear the excitement of Single Ski Poker Pursuit behind me, but I knew it'd be better for me if I didn't look.
     Oh no! This looks bad for the Jenovan Bobsled team. The sled doesn't look like it's going to hold!
     "Oh no!" I said. "They didn't tell me this damn thing was still never finished! There's a giant jump coming up! Hold on tight to your bobsled Mother."
     I started to worry when I didn't hear a response, and with good reason. I glanced back and saw that Mother had wiped out somehow I didn't even notice that I'd lost my grip on her bobsled. I tried to turn back, but I was already too close to the jump. I flew off the edge of the mountain, and flew back. What? You forgot I could fly?
     No, I remembered.
     Mother waddled toward me carrying her sled above her head. We started to walk over to the chairlifts, but had to wait for Rude to streak triumphantly by us in all his nudity. Mother loved the chairlift so much that we had to ride them to the bottom just to take it to the top again. Finally, we were ready to meet up with Ifalna and Gast.