It was supposed to be another one of those days where RoMi buried herself in her work. The sky had been blanketed by clouds as far as the eye could see. If not for a faint reflection of the sun, even a vampire could walk the streets unimpeded.

But somehow, RoMi's mind had barely registered that it was cold outside. Naturally, she credited that to the newly expressed parts of "the beast" that had wound themselves into her human form. She was still sensitive to the temperature change on a physical level, but she possessed two dragonborns' worth of stubborn will, and that part of herself had been steadily growing for the last six months. For obvious reasons, RoMi had always perceived herself as two souls in one body, but that relationship took on a whole new meaning when her horns, fangs, and tail grew in. The dragon was no longer a third wheel. It was as much a part of herself as her twinhood.

Generations throughout the bloodline of Mortareus Venix had been taught to fear their inner monsters, and here RoMi was, one of the most skittish people in her family, slowly accepting the beast's influence. She couldn't help but think that it was something she learned during her travels on Earth that motivated her. After all, she had lived her entire life in a world full of countless dragons, and she silently feared them for the same reasons she feared herself. That feeling of dread, among other reasons, was why RoMi rarely ventured outside the city. She did travel a lot, but only to gather rare supplies, or when she was taken on sailing trips by her explorer mothers. Not until she found a hidden portal leading out of her home plane did RoMi rekindle her sense of adventure and truly want to leave the stony sanctity of Arkaden Tarnet.

And after enough visits to Earth, something in RoMi's mind clicked.

The old RoMi would have been terrified by her changes, worrying endlessly about whether her body was becoming a vessel for the vengeful soul of the Terror of Epistello. Today, she can't even remember what the Curse of Venix was supposed to accomplish. So what if she couldn't inherit the legendary cursebreaking powers of the Husher family? Lots of Arkadenites lack the gift of magic, and they get along with their lives just fine.

On the other hand, RoMi thought, maybe the sweater I'm wearing is just that comfortable.

Feeling a gentle breeze sweep in through her window, RoMi glanced outside for the first time in hours. And there they were: Flurries of snow falling from the sky, collected in a large fluffy blanket all throughout the street. RoMi put down her needle and thread, and wandered outside. Save for the faint scraping sounds of a shovel and the giggles of playing children, the city was quiet and lacked the usual bustle. RoMi smiled and stretched out her hand, trying to catch a flake or two. "Let's close early, sister," she said to herself. "I have a sudden urge to build a snowman."

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I messed up on the background so much and do not know how to draw icicles. XD But you know what? Screw it. I really like how this turned out. RoMi has been in need of a redesign for a while, but thanks to a little thing called character development, the only part that's an actual retcon is her hair color. She's supposed to be blonde, but I feel silly having colored her hair bright yellow all this time. >///>

RoMi is (C)

EDIT (12/4/2014): Fixed tons of shading errors, made icicles suck less, redid snow near Ro's hand (previous version looked fake, like she had caught a piece of cotton), added some window fog to the background, added material to flavor blurb to make it flow better.