"Oho? What's all this?" said Priscilla as she arrived home Saturday morning. Behind her were her three Resonators, two of which carried their luggage.

"Cici, can you please not joke around? It's cold out here," Syrus urged his Maestro.

"Yeah, cut the shit, please," Aiden chimed in.

"Did Jack tell you?"

Before the crypticism could continue, the door suddenly swung open with Pacifica dressed up in her winter clothes and Shouri in front of her.

"Oh!" The two exclaimed. "Hey--" they both clammed up.

Finally, Pacifica spoke. "We're going out for a bit."

As they tried to brush past the elder quartet, they were grabbed by the shoulder, courtesy of Aiden and Jack.

"My my, and we just gathered the whole family, what's the rush?" asked Priscilla.

"What do you think?" hissed the pair.

"Oh… I see." Syrus nodded in understanding. "They're just like them, huh?" said the dragon.

"Only difference is I don't think anyone in history has tried to force à deux while in a polycule," Priscilla pointed out. With a jerk of her head, Aiden and Jack released the captives.

"Don't die in the cold," said the older Maestro before entering her home with her trio in toe.

"What do you think she meant, Sho?" Pacifica wondered with great effort, as they walked through the snow-covered neighborhood.

"Exactly what she said. We're doing something literally no one has ever done in the past." Shouri's racing mind wasn't enough to stave off the cold--Rebecca's normally warm link with him was disconnected. A thin jacket wasn't the best idea for this weather.

"How has no one ever done this before? Surely people have had a group of Resonators like we have and…" Pacifica knew better and trailed off.

They found their way to a picnic pavilion overlooking a small (frozen) retention pond. Taking a seat at one of the dry tables, the conversation resumed.

"Keep in mind, having multiple Resonators is a modern invention, like the last seventy or so years," Shouri began.

"Really?" Pacifica gasped. She tried to think of stories she had heard with Maestros having multiple Resonators, but none outside of niche cases like duelists came to mind.

"You remember getting chipped right?" came Shouri's next probing question.

"Yeah, it kinda sucked, but was over pretty quick," Pacifica recalled.

"Up until the like 1950's it was an entire surgery, with a high mortality rate."

Pacifica furrowed her brows, digesting the info. "So, wouldn't à deux be more common back in the day?" she asked. "Cause like, if you really liked someone to undergo a potentially deadly surgery, it shouldn't be too much of a stretch that they would have high enough tempo for to hit à deux territory," reasoned the otter.

"I'd like to know that too. Unfortunately, there seems to be a big disinformation campaign against the condition as a whole. A lot of the older material on it is either lost or so riddled with 'modern sensibilities' that's been 'adjusted' to high hell to fit our current perspective on it," Shouri explained, allowing his frustration to boil.

"Rebby and Taika were being weird this morning," Pacifica noted.

"Yeah, I know, remember?" he replied.

"I wonder why," hummed the otter as she considered it. "I don't think it was jealousy," she added.

"No, something from a place of trepidation perhaps?" he posited.

"Yeah!"

The two lovers pondered this new mystery.

"It could simply be we don't know enough about it. I know the idea of me getting hurt because we're linked in battle is concerning," Shouri theorized.

"Yeah it is!" Pacifica barked, pouting at her Maestro. Her bottom lip trembled as she glared at him, just short of tearing up. "I don't like knowing if I slip up, you get hurt. I'm--we're supposed to be protecting you."

Shouri reached across the table and took Pacifica's hands in his. "I don't mind," he smiled.

Pacifica continued to pout, maintaining her glare. She sniffled and squeezed his hands tightly. "I love you so much. I feel so blessed to be able to have this kind of relationship with you."

"I love you too." His warmth was comforting as it slowly invaded her through their joined hands. Before either had realized it their hearts strummed the same beat once again as they took the same breath and released it in turn.

"We're doing it again," they spoke.

"Could we try to partition our thoughts while connected?"

"Maybe? I just can't be sure."

"Perhaps Mila had a point with the creepy twin thing."

The laugh they shared was harmonious, though strange to hear from an outside perspective.

Taika and Rebecca knew they were being watched, but they cared not. Even if they held doubts about their role in à deux, they both carried the same banner in regards to their friends--they'd be the world's worst enablers. They'd ensure Pacifica and Shouri's safety as they delved deeper and deeper into the mysterious condition.

For that, they both needed to be as sharp as possible, the best blades they could be.

Rebecca began the spar by blazing through the snow at her counterpart. Taika remained stalwart, accepting the kick to her side. The glow of her own ad-Lib keeping her upright. She wrapped her arm around the offered leg, earning surprise from the combat expert.

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"Fuck!" Rebecca tried to pull her limb away, but found her folly: Taika was using her ad-Lib on herself. The fire element should have known better; it was common for Volontà Estesa users to unknowingly boost their strength when it was unrealized and Taika was basically a master at this point.

There was only one thing to do, and it wouldn't be pleasant for either of them. With a blazing heel Rebecca left the ground, spinning her body to throw a kick at Taika's head. As planned, Taika intercepted the blow. Now fully ensnared by her lunar counterpart, Rebecca threw her ad-Lib into overdrive, using the boost in momentum to pull Taika off the ground. Rebecca spun, slamming Taika face first into the snow. Rebecca too ended up in the fluffy white coating the ground.

Though she was free from the grapple, so now she had to make a little distance to figure out her next move. It wasn't pretty or elegant, but Rebecca got to her feet. Taika too, scrambled to get upright and the two vixens glared one another down, now slightly moistened from their tumble in the powdery water that graced the back yard.

Each labored breath stung their throats as it was still plenty cold out. It was only a moment longer before they re-engaged. This time Rebecca was wary of Taika's arms and swept Taika's legs from underneath her. The lunar was caught completely off guard, never having seen Rebecca pull such a move from her repertoire.

Shock was a costly emotion, as Taika was grounded and winded when Rebecca's blazing heel met her gut.

She tried to grab the offered appendage, but Rebecca slipped away before another grapple could start.

Taika coughed and sputtered as her lungs were poisoned with frosty air. Rebecca could get petty in a fight Taika soon learned, as the fire Resonator started kicking up snow aimed right at the lunar's face.

The lunar fox scrambled away, but soon found herself being pelted by snowballs?! What was even happening in this fight?

"Anche io posso fare lo stesso gioco!" Taika declared. Snow began scooping itself up into balls.

Priscilla stood by her back window watching the two foxes exchange volleys of snowballs.

"What are they doing?" asked Aiden, walking up behind his Maestro.

"Snowball fight by the looks of it," said Priscilla, taking a sip from the mug she held.

"And they didn't invite me?!" Aiden threw open the door and rushed out into the elements.

Priscilla closed the sliding glass door and took another sip of her hot beverage. "Yup."

Shouri and Pacifica returned home to find a baffling sight.

There were two snow fortresses set up in the backyard. Rebecca and Aiden manning one, Taika and Jack their opposite. At this point in the festivities, Rebecca and Taika were making snowballs as fast as they could, while Jack and Aiden exchanged what one could loosely call pleasantries while attempting to maim one another with the snowballs provided by the younger Resonators.

Syrus stood opposite of where Shouri and Pacifica approached from, his head in his hands as the war raged on.

"What happened here?" Shouri wondered.

"If I had to guess, Taika and Rebby were playing in the snow, and uncle Aiden had to join in, and then Dad saw a chance to play in the snow too," Pacifica theorized.

"You think?"

"Yeah, you can tell cause Mom is on her third cup of coffee and uncle Syrus has lost all hope," the otter pointed out.

"I see, I see," Shouri nodded. "Should we avoid it?" he asked.

"Cold," pouted Pacifica.

"Yeah me too."

And so they crept around the snowball war to sneak into the front of the home.

"Sho, Paci."

Day had passed to night, and with it Rebecca and Taika finally decided to approach the pair who had been in and out of à deux for the majority of their waking hours.

"Rebby," said Pacifica. "Taika," addressed Shouri at the same time.

"Oh, that's different," Rebecca noted, with an agreeing nod from Taika.

"We're practicing splitting our thoughts while in à deux," spoke the linked pair, failing to do what they just said. "It's a work in progress," they conceded.

"What's up?" Shouri meant to say alone, but failed and dragged Pacifica along with his thoughts.

"I just wanted to say, I don't think Taika or I are ready to make the full jump into this thing," Rebecca said.

"We're not jealous though!" Taika chimed in.

"You're scared, aren't you?" Pacifica picked up.

"Concerned," Rebecca corrected. "Not just for what we've been through but we don't want you to stretch yourself too thin." She looked to Shouri as she said this.

"It's a lot, and we don't know a lot," added Taika.

Shouri nodded. "Right." He furrowed his brows. "It is a lot," he acquiesced.

"We'll just enable you two to be reckless until you get a full grip on it," said Rebecca, beaming with pride.

"Ah, that was the real reason for the snowball fight," Shouri realized.

"Yeah, that got a little out of hand," Rebecca chuckled, brushing a hand through her still moist hair.

There was a moment of silence as the four felt some measure of peace for the first time in the last twenty four hours.

Too peaceful for Rebecca's taste, perhaps that's what inspired her next thought, which she was more than willing to share.

"You have to let us know what making out is like in à deux," teased the fire element.

"Wh-what are you even saying?!" shrieked Pacifica and Shouri.

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