2024-11-28 - 40th anniversary carving

Before even arriving at the Ice Sculpture Gardens within the Mystic Mountain, there is a certain cool chill in the air with the sea winds biting through. A chill forcing Casey Mateo to opt for wearing a thick, calf-length black wool trench coat with double breasted buttons. Each done up, the silver hue of them catching the light just slightly while his leather gloved hands are squeezing in together. Rubbing his thumbs against the palm of the other, keeping himself a little warmer as he is turning the corner to arrive at the gardens.

His brown eyes taking in the gardens, seeing various sculptured formed while stepping a little further inside. Seeing if someone is around that may be able to help with a small... unique issue.

It was nearing the end of the month when the Thanksgiving sculptures were starting to be turned out and the Winter Extravaganza sculptures would start coming in. It wasn't quite time for that, so these Fall/Thanksgiving sculptures needed to last a couple more days and some of them needed tending to keep them in perfect shape until the end.

Casey might hear Avery before he even sees her, with earbuds in her ear there is a soft musical voice that sings "It's me.. Hi I'm the problem it's me..." despite the lack of music going along with the soft singing it was in tune and anyone would recognize the popular Taylor Swift song that was playing in her ears.

The brunette was standing in front of a sculpture of a turkey with its back feather spread out in a festive way, a tool belt was wrapped around her hips with various hand tools and a wireless heating tool. Avery's hair was bound up into a high ponytail, she was in a long-sleeved light blue button-down shirt that was tucked into black slacks. A light blue wool vest with white snowflakes was pulled over the top. With rings on every finger, that hand was outstretched towards the ice sculpture with a small chisel, using the sharp corner of it to add details to the back feathers that might be on their umph.

At his distance, Casey's brown eyes are skimming over Avery in the distance having seen the brunette sculpting the ice turkey. Noting the headphones, the sweep of his eyes down to Avery's hips to see the heating tool, reminding Casey that startling someone with sharp or hot tools is a sure fire way to end up like a turkey sculpture. Just before Thanksgiving.

Stepping instead to the side of the garden, moving along to see some of the sculptures, Casey's gloved hands are moving behind his lower back while he is seeing the Thanksgiving sculptures made. Seeing the craft to get a cornucopia's lattice looking perfect, a crouch down slightly for a maple leaf sculpture. The edges of Casey's lips moving up just as he is moving to be to Avery's right within the garden. His right hand moving from behind his lower back, fingertips and palm waving for a moment in her direction to hopefully catch her attention.

"Ms? Ms Bell?"

You know the phrase - "Dance like no one is watching."? That was Avery right now. That or she was just in a good mood for some reason. Alongside the soft singing she was doing along with Taylor Swift she was swaying her hips back and forth, he shoulders rocked from side to side when she wasn't touching the ice turkey. To say she was in her own little world would be an understatement.

All of those movements came to a halt when a gloved waving hand caught her attention from her right side, the sound of her name muffled by the music that was blaring in her ears. Her eyes instantly went from the gloved hand to Casey's face. "Oh!" half laughing and pulling an earbud from her right ear, the music instantly stopping at the disconnect, "Hi." The chisel tool goes back into her tool belt, pulling out the little earbud holder she pulls the other out of her left ear and puts them away.

"Sorry about that, was lost in my own little world."

Lowering his hand down to his side when Avery's eyes are catching him, Casey's lips begin curling up in their very corners. A smile brushing against his mouth, the light cropping of his salt-and-pepper brushed beard moving with his lips. The edges of his eyes creasing in their corners, allowing the form of wrinkling lines to tighten as he replies.

"We all get like that sometimes and I couldn't help watch you work or." Pausing as he is turning his hips slightly, his hand gesturing behind him, "Or the other sculptures. I am Casey by the way."

Attention back across to Avery now.

"Casey Mateo. A concierge at the hotel."

Despite being caught off guard by the presence of another person Avery did not give off the impression that she'd been embarrassed at Casey discovering her in her 'own little world' singing and kinda sorta dancing. With the earbuds and tools from her hands put away in her tool belt, she brings her eyes up to meet his and she smiles warmly, "Just trying to keep them looking good for next few days, then they get crushed and new ones are rolled in for the Winter Extravaganza. No more turkeys and more snowflakes and figure skating sculptures." There is a pause while she considers something, "Tell me, is a figure skating flamingo a good idea? Or too silly?"

Before he has the time to answer that question she seems to hone in on the fact he'd just introduced himself, "Nice to meet you, Casey." Extending a hand to him, "I'm Avery Bell. Butttt you seem to know that already since you called me by my last name." laughing softly.

"I know this is probably a stupid question but." Casey is heading straight in to ask anyway, the older man taking a step closer now away from the sculptures to the side to the one Avery is working on directly.

"But it is the same ice you would find in say a drink? It is not a treated ice?" Glancing from her face to the sculpture she is mid-working on, back to Avery's face once more.

"Sounds great, they have the long legs for it. Get some texture on them as well, the wings could span on out." Casey is pulling the glove off of his right hand, allowing him to take a gentle clasp of Avery's own as she is offering it to him, "And it is a pleasure to meet you. I try to make sure I know the staff around the park and, well, there are not many ice sculpture specialists."

"Uh..." Avery draws her eyebrows together at the question, looking back at the piece she was maintaining looking it over thoughtfully. "In theory, yes." That was the simple answer to his question, taking hold of her bottom lip briefly before letting it go "I have done sculptures for wedding receptions where the bride wanted champagne to be poured through the sculpture as a type of dispenser. It is safe to drink, its just water."

That might have been the end of it, but there was more! Turning her gaze back to Casey she says, "However, by the time the ice is smashed enough that it could melt quickly, you have dirt of the tools and the ground that it is now on. If you wanted to drink it, it would need to go through a filtration process. You could chip it away and slowly preserve it, but that would take a lot of time." Time they often did not have the park.

Avery's hand is cold when it makes contact with his, curse of the ice sculptor, her hands are most likely always cold. "We are a very small breed of specialized artistic talent." Another smile flashes, "Something tells me you did not come here to discuss the melting and filtration process of my sculptures though."

Eyes back across to the sculpture that Avery is working on, Casey's head nodding for a moment as he is listening to her about the process. Lips tightening for a fraction, a mmm escaping from his throat confirming that is is taking it in. Just before adding, "I have seen that sort of sculpture where people will put their mouth to the end. To a chute. For an ice cold drink, so champagne for this bride."

Moving his attention back to face Avery, Casey is lightly brushing his thumb against the curve of her hand. Feeling the cold, that icy touch, from her before releasing it. Bringing his right hand away from hers to slide it back into the glove. Getting his fingers warm once more having felt the cool of hers. "And good point about the tools and chippings also you would be right."

A little smile touching the edges of his lips.

"As interesting as it is. I am hoping I can woo and convince you into a favour. Squeezing in a little, small, tiny project for me."

Avery's lips seem to twitch and her eyes get a merry look in them at the mention of the sort of sculpture Casey has seen where people put their mouths to the end. "Those are usually for bachelor or bachelorette parties, not weddings." she says with amusement.

She flicks her gaze down to where their hands are joined, watches the movement of his thumb brushing against the cool smooth skin of her hand, and feels the warmth of his hand spreading and warming her own at his touch and licking her lips, sounding "mmmhmm" as he withdraws his hand murmurs about the tools and chipping. "Right." the single word uttered softly as she lifted her gaze back to his face and let her hand drop back to her side while he put on his glove.

"Right." she says again louder this time, "Of course," her smiling coming back to brighten her face, "What small tiny little project is this?"

Laughing for a moment as Avery's lips are twitching, as that amused tone is in her voice, Casey's eyebrows are lifting up as he replies, "Oh! For that reason those ones are like that."

Laughing a moment longer while his brown eyes are keeping on Avery's, the two remaining locked for a moment more. The touch of her tongue against her lips, the subtle curve of his own lips into a faint smile. That is until the perk of her voice is focusing him back at the project at hand.

"Now you can say no, but..." Already trailing his voice a little, "But I have an elderly couple staying at the hotel celebrating their forty-five year wedding anniversary. A sculpture is probably too much. But how possible are chiseled or branded ice cubes for a cocktail?"

Considering the type of things they'd been discussing, flamingo figure skater sculptures, champagne flowing wedding reception sculptures, the more lude sculptures for bachelor and bachelorette parties... Branded ice cubes for cocktails were not what she thought this requested favor was going to do. "Oh," blinking a few times while her mind wraps around the smaller idea.

"... 45th wedding anniversary..." Her lips twitch again and she nods her head a few times, "That is so very adorable. Good for them."

Blowing out a breath, "Abosulutely possible, it would not take much time at all. How many are you hoping for? And how detailed is the design? If you have a photo or a sketch, that would be very helpful." and the most important question of all, "How soon do you need them?" if they about to be here in 25mins that would require a bit more effort to get it all together.

Wry, Casey's lips are curling up in their corners still as Avery is blinking a few times. Seeing the look, the slight surprise from his ask. The older man's gloved hand moving up to tuck into his long coat while fishing out his phone.

"It is. The two of them met in a Cincinnati cocktail bar all that time ago. Young couple, madly in love. Fourth five years later here in our park. They love olive vines, and their names are Maureen and Bruce. So I was thinking that perhaps a twist of olive vines either around their initials? Or forty five?"

Casey's voice perking at the end as he is asking the question before adding on. "About four? They can be quite large as they will go into an old fashioned for them." Smiling a moment longer, Casey's voice up speaking with a brush of amusement kissing his tone. "Two each will be enough for the two to fall asleep."

"So a "B" and an "M" with olive vines?" Avery questions. There is a moment when the woman who was carefreely talking about fanciful sculptures goes into design mode in her mind. Her dark eyes go into a more distant look while trying to outline the look and design the cubes in her mind.

"Square ice?" it's a question for reassurance as there are large round balls for Old Fashions drinks as well. "Perhaps a chiseled circle around the B and M and the square cubes," Her hands start moving in a circle as if she's fashioning the cubes right now in her mind, "The vines wrapping around each cube."

When the idea is fully formed, the woman seems to snap back out of her daze of artistry and she looks back at Casey, "like that? Or did you have something you wanted to show me?" hadn't he been reaching for something in his pocket?

Casey is midway reaching into his pocket as his grey flecked eyebrows are lifting up. Watching Avery enter full creative more, he is instead staying still as the shorter brunette is designing away.

Staying silent, allowing the younger woman to work. To imagine it while a brief nod is coming in, "Yes, like what you see at a good cocktail bar. When they just put a single glass sized cube in your drink."

As she is snapping out of the daze, looking back towards him, Casey's hand is pulling out of his pocket. His lips curling once more up, a warmth touching his voice as he is replying to her.

"That is perfect, Avery. Exactly like that. Just perfect for them. I knew you would have the idea down to the T."

"Do you always have this much faith in people's talents that you've never met before?" Avery asks Casey back with amusement in her tone of voice. Though, she seems to have brightened at the praise. That what she'd envisioned had been the exact design he'd been looking for.

"And when do you need this by?" Reaching into her tool belt again, this time taking out her phone so that she can pull up her calendar, check notes in this calendar and make the appropriate deadlines make sense.

"...We have the transformation for the park going on Friday night..."

"I trust the experts. The professionals." Creasing the edges of his eyes with a wry smile grazing his lips once more, Casey is pausing at Avery's second question. Bringing his lips into his mouth for a moment, pressing on them, debating how best to reveal the worst news...

"Would tomorrow night be possible?"

Gloved hand moving up to his nape, Casey is squeezing it as he is quickly adding to try and sweeten the deal.

"I promise. One cocktail of your choice as a thanks. As well as anything else you would want."

Avery looks up from her phone, "Tomor-" starting and then stopping, clicking off her phone, she knew what her tomorrow looked like and she knew it would be tight given the transformation changes that would need to be done and the sculptures that needed to be finished and placed accordingly.

All that as it may be she stares at Casey as he shifts and his body language already tells her that he hated having to ask this in such a fast turnaround time. "Tourist and their requests... It's like we work magic over here or something." Smirking at the comment. Needless to say she was going to do it and she nodded her head once in agreement.

"Tomorrow is fine. Lucky for you I can shape water and ice and can have these done in just a few minutes if I have a firm idea in mind as to what it should look like." Which she fully did.

"Tourists and their requests." Casey repeats, flashing the whites of his teeth as a true, secretive even, smile is meeting his features. Keeping that lopsided look for a moment longer, his older brown eyes skimming over Avery for a moment.

Eyebrows lifting slightly upon his forehead, he is drawing his voice out from the depths of his chest.

"Then I am very lucky to have opted for the best ice sculpture specialist in the park. But, Avery." Tilting his head for a moment, Casey's hand moving to rest on his hip. "What can I do for you then, in return? After all, I have already promised a drink."

A gleam sparkled in her eyes his question, her lips turning upward in a sly grin and her eyes creased at the corners as humor lightly etched her features. Avery opened her mouth to respond, but no words immediately came out, no... instead she stood there staring up at him with her mouth slightly agape.

All that came out was a sighed laugh.

"You don't have to do anything for me." Her head shook just a little, "You are after all just using the resources that are available to you in the park." It was true after all, her head tilted just a little, "Maybe..." Hmmm she thought, "You could tell me how much they enjoyed the ice cubes and join me for that drink?"

Leaning a little against the base where the ice sculpture stands, Casey's eyes trace for a moment over Avery's features. A little, subtle, smile of his own meeting them as she is staring up towards him. The corners of his brown eyes wrinkling in, creasing as his breath briefly picks up.

"Maybe I don't have to, but I am putting just a little extra pressure on you." Pausing as Avery is thinking, Casey's eyebrows are lifting up for a moment before the older man nods. Accepting her terms, his hand moving back into his pocket to begin pulling out his business card.

"Works for me. Would you be able to text me then, Avery. When done? I'll treat you to at least a drink for your help with this."

"Of course," Avery lifts and places her hand out to accept the business card that he is to give her. Once she takes the card she'll look it over and read it, then playfully wiggle her index finger middle finger making the card flutter within her grasp.

"I'll have the ice for you by tomorrow afternoon. You can send a courier or I have to deliver them to the hotel if I have the time to get away. You'll just have to instruct me as to where to go." But they would work that all out in the text that she sent over to him.

The card is placed in her toolbelt where here phone and earbuds are, nothing would happen to it in there.

"That's perfect, thank you Avery." Sliding the business card into Avery's fingers as she is fluttering it in her grasp, Casey is moving his hand back down to his side. Tucking it into his pocket, curling it up to keep warm.

Edging a little smile once more, Casey is nodding before taking a step back. "We will work out delivery, collection or something in-between. Thank you, Avery. You will really help their stay here shine."

Gods, that sounds cheesy coming from him.

“If I make them smile at the site of them, I’ll be happpy.” Avery was pretty easy to please and this little detail would mean a lot to the couple and simple smile would do for appreciation.

“I’ll be in touch, Casey.”

Bringing his fingertips to his long trenchcoat once more, doing the square row of buttons on the double breasted piece, Casey's head is dipping to Avery.

"Thanks and, well. I'll hear from you soon Avery."