The Winter Solstice

Ever observant, Dela hung back as she merely watched her other female companion walk right in the middle of a vigorous snowball fight. Could she have reached out to stop her? Sure. Could she have offered a sharp word of warning? Absolutely. But both of those things took effort she wasn't willing to expend. Her hands never left the fleece-lined pockets of her purple coat. Speaking of coat, Dela was perhaps wearing the most clothes ever witnessed by her new band of friends. Under the coat was a pale yellow sweater and thick black leggings. Even her footwear was chunkier and more practical in the form of proper snow boots. With all the effort of putting on all the layers, it was a miracle she was out and about at all.

Why was she out and about? One of Dela's many secrets was her love of winter, a favor so pure she hadn't hesitated to tag along to this festival with no ulterior motive. Though the winter days of her old life had been wrought with the difficulties of pre-modern living, it made the work she used to do a little easier. She didn't have to worry about sweating. The farm fields were barren for the season, which meant no planting, watering, weeding, or harvesting. All she had to do was keep the fires stoked and the animals fed and watered. Food was scarce, but her family always preserved and stored enough to be comfortable. It was perfectly acceptable to spend most of the day inside, curled up with a blanket next to the hearth with knitting needles or a good book. Some of her most fond family memories were spent before the winter flames. She could still taste her mother's apple cider, hear the soft violin Elle played, smell the freshly carved wood her father whittled branches into kittens.  

A colorful string of words brought her out of her little walk down her memory dirt road. "Hnng, Vera. I love it when you channel your inner sailor," Dela snarked through her white scarf, though it wasn't without warmth and some amount of affection. She really did enjoy the sweet face of the innocent-looking violette spouting such filth, but the blonde couldn't just turn off her minor tsundere tendencies. She'd be nothing without her sass. Interacting was difficult without a modicum of cynicism.

Seeing crash into the powdery white fort and the snow all over Vera's face, Dela subconsciously tugged her matching beanie further down over her ears and pale pigtails. She might love winter, but she was also acutely aware of the dangers. Seeing so many villagers lose digits if not limbs to frostbite had the unsynchronized girl being overly cautious. The young woman again stood back as Vera dealt with the kids and parents in her own way. The last boy didn't escape her watchful gaze, though she said nothing. With all the magic these days, it wasn't a stretch for this to be some sort of takeover magic or even some magical creature. Maybe they were just special shoes. He did, however, give off a strange vibe that rubbed her wrong. Something sinister. She'd keep this in mind.

Despite the whole snowy debacle, following Vera would lead them to the actual snowball war attraction. Brilliant blue eyes widened slightly at the seriousness of it all. It was a large arena built out of snow, complete with military-inspired snow guns. Being lazy and horrible at combat, this was not something up Dela's alley. But...she did remember how fun snowball fights with her sister had been when they were younger. While this didn't look familiar, Dela had to admit that even the most complicated of things from her time had been altered to a state she didn't recognize these days, so maybe this was just how snowball fights evolved for winter events? "If you two are, I guess I'll go along."


[652/1500]

The hooved child sounded profoundly sure of himself, and labored to put on an air of saintly innocence at the very moment in which he was preparing to leave.  He didn’t get to hear what Vera had to say next because she was interrupted by a friendly face.

Goldie Locks was the source of all that waspish charm; vivaciously young, vigilant and uncommonly the most covered up of the triad. Her repartee was not meant to sting, not truly. It was just like her to pepper their days with endless sass and fun. Vera had accepted it in silence, allowing her words to color her cheeks pink (Vera failed to understand why she was blushing at nothing and ignorantly blamed the weather), but she wasn’t one to keep her thoughts to herself. “That means a lot,” she giggled warmly, “considering this is coming from a true sailor scout. I’m so blessed.” The Bohemian put a hand over her heart, batting her eyelashes.

“Come on,” she began again, lifting her hand from her chest, both hands around the blonde’s head, so that, with them, she had the facility to lower the beanie over Dela’s eyes and quickly jumped away from her when she suspected movement  — “let’s go! It’s just us against the world!” It was clear that the guns were generic-looking and with numbers marked on each one to keep track of who had what, and with that knowledge she signed off their names and assigned digits. But then, in the back of her mind, she questioned how one could load a gun such as this with something as soft and moldable as a snowball.  

Were hands not enough for today’s young people, deemed too irrelevant for use? Interested as she was in the admittedly peculiar weapon of play, conceived the idea of not thinking too deeply about it and going for the most practical and likeliest step. She checked if they were already loaded and nodded, satisfied and perplexed. Vera Jayne procured three guns, two of which belonged to her friends. She probably should have waited on Dela to confirm her interest, but Walden was insistent on handing the gun she nabbed for her. "If you two are, I guess I'll go along." Was what Vera  vaguely heard before bumping her, a bit too enthusiastically, with a hip. She felt comfortable enough around her to let loose and not flinch at the contact.

It was at the time when Vera held out Cillian’s gun that she realized a great while had passed before any notable movement should have happened. She cleared her throat, this time a little more loudly and hoarsely, as if to get his attention. On the third minute of waiting for the unusually quiet man to grab his only source of protection,  bafflement flashed across her stinging countenance, amounting to more than a million unanswered, silent questions, with no choice but to turn her head and find no actual body to give it to.

On looking about, she saw no lingering sign of him, not even among the participating youth. He couldn’t have been this difficult to find, familiarity should have seized her, and being so tall, as to make the women look like little tree stumps; well, in short, he wasn’t supposed to be a challenging find. “Abs couldn’t have gotten very far on foot.” She cooed, so full of mischief. She used the name to get a rise out of her fellow gal pal and smiled widely, hoping to have annoyed her enough to elicit a squeal. At length, by the magic of lazy effort, they made their way to where most of the shooting happened; but Vera Jayne seemed more interested in holding a conversation than engaging in a snowball fight as evidenced when one flew into her face.  She shivered, brushing it off her numb face. She dragged her scarf over her nose and lips, seeking the warmth she desired.

“Methinks you have a crush on the Kink Lord.” Vera teased. “And if you deny it, do know that I am going to believe you not. Can  we just talk about the Yule — Snow — Ball,” her brain was in the process of shutting down, “ Snow? Oh, balls. Dela, Snowman. Snowmen. Snow people everywhere.” It was strange how they could never be at ease here or anywhere. Vera let out a screech that wouldn’t necessarily outdo Cillian’s soprano ‘eep’ cry, but it was aiming for a close second. She pushed Dela in the opposite direction, carrying the two guns under her arm, not thinking twice about what she was doing and what was happening to the people around them. All her attention was on getting Dela and herself out of the arena because she was legitimately powerless and because she was not much of a fighter. The snowy climate did not permit the dust mage to use her magic effectively, which wouldn’t have done them much good anyway.

“First stop, hot chocolate. Second stop, the porta potties. If Cillian’s occupying a stall, we will need to get to him before the snow dudes do.” She huffed, matching her pace.

Wc: 858/1348

It was fun to sass the both of them, though she'd have sassed them even if it didn't amuse her so much. Dela was just the type to whip her wit around when given the chance, sometimes even unintentionally. She'd always been that way. It was just that much better when others reacted either in kind or gave some sort of protest. The blonde could always count on the good reactions from her two friends, which was pleasing. Dela had always been more of a lone wolf. Honestly, she and her sister both had been more of the loner types, even back then.

Suddenly, all was dark. "Veraaaa," she lamented as the violet girl pulled her own hat over her eyes, and though the sound was annoyed, her face was cracked with a smile. She pulled the rim back up, then reached out to try and grab her but she'd already moved. Soon she was being handed a numbered snow gun and some grenades, which she inspected awkwardly. They really did mean a snow war, didn't they?

Cillian's unceremonious bow out just as a snow war was breaking out was typical, leaving just the girls to their own devices. The gun felt strange in her hand, though not as strange as it might have once felt if not for Rune Knight boot camp. To this day she wasn't sure how she'd survived the intensive training, but at least she was somewhat confident she could hit at least some of her intended targets with this snowball shooter. While she and her big-eyed friend conversed, Dela occasionally shot whoever came close right in the nose for maximum pain and GFTO vibes. Mischief had risen in her face and she was just about to friendly fire on her own buddy when Vera threw every bit of her concentration into the toilet and flushed it. The mention of Abs drew her wide eyes to her fellow Rune Knight. Oh no, but it didn't stop there. No, the purplesaurus kept going, accusing her of having a crush. Dela gently swatted her friend on the arm, flustered. "E-Excuse me!" she hissed, face growing hot despite the frigid temperatures and even the melting snow sliding down her face from a well-aimed snow bullet. "I do not- How ridicu- Why would you even-" she continued to sputter, trying to deny it even though her companion already stated she'd believe no such lies, "H-Him? He's a big idiot that only likes cats. And zombies," refuted the magical girl, though there was no denying that her eyes had been and continued to rove for him periodically, wishing he was nearby prior to this moment, but now afraid he was lurking nearby to hear. Not that hearing would be a bad thing. Maybe if it was laid out, she'd know what to expect in the end.

Dela was still going on about all the reasons the notion was dumb, without ever denying outright that she had any feelings mind you, when Vera started shoving her. It broke her out of her panicked broken record enough to look and see why they were running, half expecting the pumpkin-patch-themed beasts returning for revenge. But no, it was snowmen. Hostile snowmen, like NPCs spawned in a Battle Royale to make things more challenging. While Dela would have gladly attacked them if this were one of her games, this was real life and she was far less ambitious and skilled. "Gah!" she exclaimed, pouring on the speed to escape both the snowball warriors and the living Frosties. Holding her gun tight, she made the decision to steal it as they left the area.

Once safe, she sighed heavily and approached the hot chocolate stand. Ordering a dark chocolate with coffee cocoa as bitter as her soul, she paid and brought it into both of her hands once she tucked the stolen weaponry under her arm. Wriggling her face out of her scarf, she took a sip, wandering off to find them both a place to sit. "If Cillian is in the porta-potty for this long, there's no way I'm going near it without a hazmat suit," quipped the lazy girl, sporting a dark chocolate mustache. Despite her vehement rejection of Vera's teasing but truthful words about how she was beginning to feel about Cillian, it seemed she'd deemed her teammate trustworthy enough to tell the truth...which was a big deal. "The Yule Ball was a mistake. I think I just wanted to test the waters, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't have any feelings like that toward me," the girl admitted slowly, eyes resting on the whip-cream-less beverage in her hands that was already half gone. It'd been so long since she'd had a crush, she'd forgotten how much it hurts and remembered why she shut that off a long time ago. As the caffeine and warmth coursed through her body, her mood picked up slightly. "But, it's alright. I'm a big girl. I've gone this long without romance, I can certainly meet my end the same way. Being a crazy cat lady isn't so bad."

[1502/1500 event wc complete. 5/5 tokens from snow war and hot chocolate earned.]