Cold. Why was it always cold when it came to this competition?

Not that the cold bothered her anyway as the Wampus once again locking away reasons so as to deny herself vulnerability in memories. But this was becoming a nuisance. Her annoyance as she stood in snow that hid her black combat boots beneath its cold surface only heightened like the sting to her cheeks when an ice blast of air or two cut right through her significantly thinner competition uniform. One meant for spring time and not these freezing conditions. The only thought in all this was she knew Jesus would be suffering more than herself and she liked to imagine that seemingly foul voice on the air created by the wind rushing between the bowels of the mountain just now were his cries of anguish.

As long as she was not on bottom she could endure.

Taking a small step forward, Valerie wince as the snow toppled over the rim of her boot and leaked inside. Muttering to herself as the cold sent an unwanted chill up her spine, she pointed her wand at the boot and nonverbally banished the snow contained within before it truly at the chance to melt against her continuously lowering body heat. Soon her teeth began to chatter and it was obvious she would need to take care of this before she proceeded any further. The most obvious obstacle in her way at the moment was this snow. Creating a path either by fire or digging with some charmswork seemed efficient enough, but utilizing such methodology would occupy her wand and prevent her from other rapid casting should the need arise. Although perhaps fire would not be a bad option in melting a path given the conditions. Prime yeti territory from what little she remembered of the creature. The wind was too strong for another obvious option (one she was still furious had been exposed in a task that had been nothing more than a daydream) and quickly dismissed the thought along with the previous two.

Which left her with her fourth notion and without waiting for the next icy chill to momentarily paralyze her spine and slice at her pale cheeks, Valerie had flourished her wand at her feet to cast a nonverbals Feather-light Charm on herself. On the next exhale the Wampus lifted one foot out of the snow and carefully placed it in front of herself slowly and observed it as it pressed down upon the white powdery surface. When her boot hardly sank into the snow, she applied all her weight there to hoist herself up and out of the snow. The spell did make her slightly more susceptible to the wind but she was confident in her balance and quick reflexes to not be knocked off her feet and the delayed howl of the wind provided just enough time to react before each icy blast. Giving a small hop (once again to test the effectiveness of her charm) and offering herself a satisfied ‘hmph’ with accompanying nod of the head, the Wampus set next to applying a Heating Charm on her competition uniform when she steadied her hand.

No, not a Heating Charm.

Although the irony of overheating given these conditions was an appealing twist of fate, Valerie instead opted to deploy another method and raised her wand above her head to trace a large circle in the air. “Solis Lucidem,” she whispered into the wind. Soon a burst of warm sunshine flowed forth from her wand and created a bit of a sunshine umbrella over herself to provide balanced warmth to her entire body. She may need to readminister the charm along the way and it was not as quick a fix as a Heating Charm applied directly to her clothing, but it would suffice.

Waiting a bit more for her enchanted sunshine to warm her goosebump covered skin while standing atop the snow, she decided to take one last preemptive measure and once again conjured a small collection of bluebell flames that flanked either side like trusty Labradors. Satisfied (for now) with her conditions, she wiped her watering eyes and walked softly forward.