Do you wanna kill a snowman or make snow angels?

It was a beautiful winter's day in Oak Town. The previous night's fresh snowfall blanketed all the ground, trees and rooftops. A pale winter sun shone in the clear blue sky, as the snowstorm had moved on to other parts of Fiore. The air was crisp and clear, and just chill enough to draw visible breath. The hard working townspeople could not have asked for better weather for the day's festivities. Even a place steeped in Fiore's history like Oak Town, would find an excuse to throw a city-wide celebration now and then.

Today seemed like the perfect day for just that to Arcadia. She loved the scene and weather she found waiting for her as she stepped out of her portal from Magnolia. Weather-wise, this was the ice dragon slayer's favorite times of year. That she was someone who loved winter weather Would be a no-brainer to most anyone who knew what her magic was.

Even before she found her rainbow colored ring, Arcadia would go barefoot in the snowiest of days. Like a few stories of ice make wizards she had heard, she shared the sentiment of being in tune with her element. Unlike the ice make wizards of those stories, she believed only the extremities, like her feet, need be bare to achieve the strongest attuning.

With her rainbow ring, the barefoot slayer couple even forgo a jacket on a chill, if sunny, wintry morning like today. She went with her favorite light blue sundress for the day's festivities. Arcadia figured she may as well fo all in on the season's snow and ice theme, so white, silvery or light blue clothing seemed appropriate.

As always, she also wore her glittery star charm anklet, and the symbol of Rui's love, the softly glowing crystal rose in her hair. Having her dimensional scissors and iLac in her specially sewn pocket, and she was set for the day.

Arcadia was feeling a little down that all-around guild business kept her so often from pretty much everyone she cares about. Whether it was her job as Executive Manager for Fairy Tail, the rest of her Fairy Tail family's own guild duties or Rui being naturally busy as CEO of the WFTC, the timing was always wrong on someone's schedule.

That's why she had come to Oak Town, needing to get away from Magnolia for a little while. Just not too far away. She also had her fingers crossed there would be no killer Santa, no monster trees, no mutant pumpkins or anything like that this year. Well... more like that. There was that whole pumpkin patch incident recently. Since her own experience with the pumpkins she had grown on the rooftop of Fairy Hills, she had heard and read about similar stories from all around Fiore. Her fingers were crossed for some perfectly mundane, stress-reducing fun. Life never had any guarantees though. Maybe she would even meet a new friend or two also.

Arcadia was so super excited now that she was here, and there was so much to choose from among the scheduled festivities. The barefoot slayer just did not know know exactly where to start. There sled races, and being the undisputed Fairy Tail (maybe even Tri-Guild) Indoor Sledding champion, Arcadia loved the idea of adding an outdoor sledding title to her collection. She would have to enter those races before the end of the day, but she thought maybe starting smaller would be nice.

A small table at the edge of the fest ivies among the milling crowd was serving what looked like a variety of hot beverages. From the small line of people at the table, it looked like cocoa. The cold may not have bothered Arcadia, but she loved her hot cocoa anyway. It turned out to be a tasting table, which was all the better! The people working the tasting table had created so many subtle variations, it was hard to pick just one to try. So she did not try only one, the barefoot slayer took full advantage of the samples they ere making available to taste each recipe each person working the table had brought. Arcadia started with a peppermint flavored hot chocolate that had whipped cream and extra chocolate drizzled over the top with crushed candy cane sprinkled over it too. That one was pretty good, but Arcadia had to try the others too. Another one tasted with a hint of vanilla with also some whipped cream and a few chocolate sprinkles. That one was good, but she still liked the peppermint one better.

She did not stop there carefully sipping at a couple more varieties, ranging from having a little coffee mixed in to one that claimed to be triple chocolaty. When it came down to choosing her favorite, Arcadia was torn between the triple chocolaty cocoa or the peppermint cocoa she tried first. They were both pretty good, but in the end she could not deny the triple chocolaty goodness. She ordered one full large cup of it, and smiled around, having a look at the what everyone else was doing at the festivities.

WC: 855
Arcadia WC: 855/1500

In all the time Hania and his twin brother had been in Fiore not once had they taken the time to go to Oak Town, he wish he could say this was a surprising but he really couldn't. Given their heritage they were feared when their secret got out, and unfortunately for them it always got found out eventually, when it did they got chased out of what was their home by the very people that had been their friends for the time they had been there without issue. They didn't see the people they were after the secret was revealed, they just saw demons, evil creatures without a spec of good in them apparently. They couldn't help what they had been born, they couldn't help how they originally survived given where they were seemingly abandoned as newborns. Sin after all wasn't the most forgiving place, only the strong survived and they done it by standing on the backs of the weak to take down those who were stronger, but it was more than brute strength needed when moving forward, a person had do be cunning, cold and calculating. To be honest he was pretty sure that he and his twin were sociopaths because of this but still they tried to move away from a path that seemed to be chosen for them since birth. They didn't want to harm people, in fact when they came to Fiore he had bound all of his offensive magic. Sure, this made him weaker when it came to fighting but he was sick of doing harm and vowed not to do it any longer if he could help it. He knew that trying to go through life without doing harm was just a pipe dream, if he thought like that then he would be the one stood on and he was a doormat for no one. He fought, when needed but tried to hold back when it came to deadly force, if he really gave into those urges he would be the monster they feared he was in the first place. He was better than that and he knew it.

It had been snowing in the area, he could feel it with just how crisp and clean the air felt, then again there was also excitement in the air as he walked into the small town. Children were building snowmen, having snowball fights, playing on sleds and there was a few even making snow angels on the ground. He couldn't help feel a burst of their happiness and excitement as be walked past them, he was of course careful not to go to close to the snowball war going on. As nice as it was to see, he really didn't want to take part, even a lightly thrown snowball could do some real damage to a child and he didn't want to be responsible for that, especially this time of year. No one wanted to spend christmas in hospital he was sure and if he got to rough? Well, he didn't want to think about that. Even if he wasn't a Rune Knight he didn't want to cause harm and it showed in his body language. As he walked down the streets he noticed the smell of spiced cookies, hot coco, chestnuts and other seasonal delights. "Perhaps while I'm here I should get some christmas shopping done." he said to himself, then again he had only really spent a lot of time with his twin brother and he was happy that way. Then again, he thought he may as well try and be social with others and so get some gifts for others in the Rune Knights and then dreaded just how he was going to get it all back to Era, he also hoped that the shops offered gift wrapping as well seeing as he would hate for people to see their potential gifts ahead of time. He stopped hearing people singing in the square, they were dressed in traditional clothing and seemed to be collecting for the less fortunate during the season of giving, it was clear however they were enjoying themselves. Moving forward he placed some jewel into their pot before heading off to do what he was now intending to do.

Looking around as he continued to walk down the street, it was then he realised amongst the seasonal reds and greens he seemed out of place with his black semi casual trousers, white shirt opened a little at the top black tie which was extremely loose and black blazer. With how young he looked, he could have passed as a college or university student that just got released for the semester. He watched as there was a person dressed as santa in his red and white trimmed suit, their was a sleigh and even the correct number of reindeer. This little town seemed to go all out for this time of year and he guessed they done this because in a place like this, everyone knew everyone and they wanted it to be magical for the children. Upon taking a second look at the santa he could tell that the bright white beard was real, more so as a little boy around the age of three or four tugged on it. The fat jolly gent let out a 'ho ho ho' and didn't show any issue with being harmed even though it may have been little by the child. He guessed that he trained for months for anything that may come his way from the children that sat on his lap, he wondered if their was a krampus running around since there was a beloved santa here. He chuckled at the thought of a man taking on the mythical monsters role and chasing naughty boys and girls around the town, it actually seemed like it be a very fun game of hide and seek. Once again he walked down the street in a world of his own, listening to the joy and laughter around him and walked aimlessly towards where he could get a hot drink only to bump into someone smaller than himself bringing him back into the real world. "My apologies miss." he said rubbing the back of his head a goofy smile on his face. He was unsure if he had spilled her drink but blinked as he noticed how she was dressed and double blinked sure that the smaller woman must be cold dressed like that "Are you not cold dressed like that?" he asked the teenaged woman only hoping that he didn't make her spill her drink thanks to being in his mind. "I'm once again sorry for what happened." with that he turned his attention to the table filled with tasting chocolate, the more he thought of it the more he swore that he recognised her but at the moment he couldn't put his finger on it and it was bugging him.

A woman started to look to him and attempted to talk to him as much as he was wanting to be polite he was glad when she was finally called away for hosting a competition. There was something about a half naked over sexualised woman that made him uncomfortable. He once again turned his attention to the blonde haired teenager he had banged into, had taken notice of course of her beautifully innocent shimmering emerald eyes, her long flowing blonde hair almost as if it was rays of sunshine dripping from her head, he noticed she was wearing a beautiful anklet, a ring and even the crystal rose that was glowing that sat behind her ears. It was clear to him she was cherished by her family and perhaps a boyfriend if she had one, he at current still couldn't put his finger on where she knew her from, still he would work it out he was sure. Three cups with a marker card was given to him "Please taste these hot chocolates, rate them from best to worst and for your help you can get a free one." A woman said Hania nodded and picked up the first one and took a few small sips. It was a cinnamon hot chocolate and even had some whipped cream, he enjoyed that taste a great deal and wished he had more. The second one was a white a hot chocolate, it too had little whipped cream when he took a sip he could taste a subtle taste of peppermint in his opinion it wasn't the worst he had tasted but the flavour could be stronger. The third had a little gingerbread man sitting on the side of the cup and tasted of it and turkish delight too, for him this was little overwhelming in flavour nor did they mix to well. When he tasted them all he marked down what he liked to what he disliked and handed it back to the woman "Thank you for doing that. Now which would you like?" the woman asked her voice happy and cheery. Hania smiled and had a clear winner in his mind.

He looked to the woman "Could I get a cinnamon spiced hot chocolate please, without any toppings but a cinnamon stick inside." he asked the woman "Sure sweetie, just put a few jewel in the collection pot if you feel like it, it's going to a really good cause this year." the elderly woman behind the table said in return placing some jewel in the pot before he even looked what it was for. It was when he looked at the the pot to see what was being collected for and decided that he would put some more jewel inside as it was for a good cause in his mind. Turns out it was a collection to get christmas presents for the children in the local hospital. He would hate to be stuck in a hospital on his own this time of year especially knowing what was going on outside of it due to all the music and smells. It wouldn't be to long until he was given his drink, blowing a few times he took a sip before looking at the teenager once more "I think there are there more games and contests here. We could do them together and perhaps even do shopping along the way" he offered the other, it was then he realised who exactly she was. He had seen her a few times in sorcerer's bimonthly, she was one part of the 'cutest couple' in the whole of Fiore, she was a member of the Fairytail guild one of their executives and even dating one of the gods of ishgar and CEO of the West Fiore Trading Company, he could only imagine how hard it was for the two to meet given their timetables but sure they made it work. He heard a disruption from the center of town and the guards rushing towards it "We could go help them if that's something you prefer, then go do the festivities. What do you think?" he said leaving the decision up to her.

Word Count: 1,857
~~Event Word Count Complete. Will Continue as a Job.~~
Additional word count added to next post: 357
@SeaGlass

Activities Done:
Hot Chocolate Tasting x2

Roll for Sled Racing

The member 'SeaGlass' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

---

'Monster Dice' :

Arcadia was laughing and smiling over her shoulder to someone she had been chitchatting with. It was when she began to walk away without looking ahead that she bumped into the taller Rune Knight. The barefoot slayer stumbled back a step, but chocolaty disaster was largely averted.

Her magic rendered her reasonably tolerant of cold, and her rainbow ring pushed her tolerance of environmental cold to the extreme. Despite all that, Arcadia still enjoyed how her fingers absorbed the warmth of a hot beverage through her mug. That is exactly why she had her drink securely clasped between both her hands. So when she stumbled, there was only sloshing and a splash of hot chocolate to the side. Most of her drink settled and remained safe in her mug.

Luck would see that her dress was not marred from what little did splash out. The barefoot slayer was not sure who was at fault, so she bowed to offer her own apology. She smiled and laughed, "No worries, I'm sorry too. Usually, I'm better at dodging than walking straight into someone."

Taking a sip of her drink, the smallish slayer glanced over herself, "Besides, it looks like none of it got on me or my dress. So, it's all good either way."

With a longer sip of her cocoa, she chuckled at his next question. She had answered it a couple times already for other people she had chatted with at the festival. It was a natural question though, that had a simple and short enough answer. One she offered to the kind stranger, holding her mug forward so her rainbow ring could more easily be shown. "Actually, nope. Not cold. Magic ring." That was usually all she had to say, but she decided to expand her anger a little for him, "Plus, with the magic I practice, you have to love the cold."

Arcadia was taken aback when he recognized her. She had grown jaded to in her proximity to fame. She personally knew and worked with most of the current Wizard Saints after all. Dating one, and considering more than a couple as friend of even family. Though she had yet to learn she was talking to a Rune Knight, Arcadia considered herself the talent scout who gave one of current Rune Knight leaders his first big break.  

She was used to them being recognized, but Arcadia was rarely recognized personally outside of Magnolia. If anything she was certain she would be more well-known for the small entertainment empire she had built up on the lacrima-net. Music, books, merchandising and even a couple smaller budget movies.

It was delightful surprise, the barefoot slayer smiling brighter, and stirred a little of her old shyness to the surface at the same time. Her casual chuckle turning to mildly nervous giggles. It was weird when a stranger knew more about you than you did about them, but that's how even small doses of fame worked.

A small blush touched her cheeks, but she pushed past her old tendencies to withdraw when she used to start feeling shy. The barefoot slayer conjured up a touch of bravado as cover, nodding, "Yepyepyep. That's me! I didn't know anyone beyond my friends would remember those parts of those issues.  And they might only remember because I may have bought a couple copies to share."

Arcadia sought to buy herself time to chase the butterflies from her splash with a few more prolonged sips of cocoa. To her surprise, there were fewer sips left in her mug than she had calculated. The barefoot slayer squinted an eye into her empty mug as if that would help her divine where it went.

She shook her head, and gave a more relaxed chuckle. "I think I will take you up on that be drink after all. And anyway, I don't think I've ever met a fan outside of Magnolia before. It's nice to meet you! Uh, I'm sorry if I missed your name."

When he turned to order his cocoa, she turned her mug back in a refill. She smiled to Hania, " Their cinnamon drink is pretty good." Arcadia turned her smile back to the woman helping them, "I'll have another with extra whipped cream, some of those crushed candy cane sprinkles and a whole little candy cane to stir with, please!"

Once she had her refill fresh in hand, she finally realized she nearly forgot one question, "Oh! Um... Yeah, I really wasn't here for the shopping. That's not a bad idea though.  I came mostly for the festivities. Thought maybe a change of place might make it easier to get in the spirit."

Arcadia let the warmth of her refreshed hot chocolate sink into her fingers, while she gave some serious thought to which of the festivities she wanted to partake most. She savored one more thoughtful sip, then announced, "I think what I've been most looking forward to is the sled races! Eh, but those are later." The distant din of the snowball wars was not as faint to slayer ears as it might be to others.  It sparked an idea of at least the first thing to do while waiting for the sledding races to start. "Oh hey! I hear the snowball fights that got set up from here. Not so sure I wanna do that. I've been told I can be kinda, maybe a little bit competitive, and I do hate to lose... so... So joining a fight like that could possibly get carried away. I'd havta to be so concentrated on not using any off of my ice magic, it wouldn't be any fun. That or I'd forget myself and accidentally hurt someone else.  Mmm, but that doesn't mean we can't have fun building some of the snowmen they're using for those fights. There should still be time to build some for the last round of the day."

The barefoot slayer smiled and graciously bowed to the woman at the hot chocolate table, " Thank you for bringing all your hella sweet drinks today. If you're still around after the sledding races, I might be back."

Finishing of her cocoa, Arcadia left her mug and raced out toward the field for the last scheduled snowball war of the day. It was busy with families and snowball warriors-to-be all building their own snowman. Arcadia glanced around the field, taking inspiration from the various snowmen in various stages of construction. At first, she was all set to build the biggest, meanest looking snowman she could. She grinned back to Hania with sudden second idea, "What if we built an army of smaller ones instead of one normal one?" The barefoot slayer found a nearby empty patch of snowy field and began digging in to start rolling her first head-sized ball of snow. She may or  may not have cheated by focusing a little of her ice magic through her hands to help the snowball grow faster as she rolled it up.  

Arcadia raised her faerie green gaze up from her first snowball, "Or you can build one bigger main guy to lead them if you want, and I'll build a small army of cute little minions. If you do I'll still help with any details like eyes. Unless you got inspiration for a different snowman theme, of course." She really hoped to avoid coming across as bossy to someone she just met, but Arcadia was rather inspired about creating a small snow army.

She moved about the small patch swiftly, rolling up about eleven variously sized snowballs in all. Rather than finishing one at a time, Arcadia worked on them as a group. She would focus on giving them all one feature, like eyes or arms, before starting over to give them all the next feature. To keep them individually unique, Arcadia varied the number of eyes or arms each had. Only one of them ended up with the expected set of two eyes, one nose, one mouth, and two arms.  As a finishing touch, Arcadia used a more overt bit of her magic to give them all hedgehog-like arrays of ice spikes down their backs. If allowed, she would carry over enthusiasm for various number of eyes and ice spikes onto Hania's creation too.  

Arcadia admired their collective handiwork. She smiled, "Even if we don't join the last round, it might be fun to watch these guys fight if we have time." Speaking of time, Arcadia checked her iLac, and there was still quite awhile before the sled race. She remembered there was a rink had been set up for open ice skating during the festivities. That was something they could drop out of with ease to make it over in time for her race.  

The eager little slayer again lead the way by actually skating toward the ice rink. She did so with a simple spell to form slick ice on the soles of her bare feet. This was a spell she used for speeding along, something she forgot until she was possibly getting too far ahead. To slow down, she let her path meander every which way. Arcadia began skating as if she were already at the rink, traveling in long graceful arcs and figure eights. Occasionally she threw in a little spin.  A couple passersby may have thought she was showboating, but the young slayer really was just having fun.  Also she is hopefully allowing  Hania to keep pace without a need to run. At the rink; Arcadia would wait for Hania to to put on skates, that is if he even wanted to skate. In that time, she watched  all the others already out on the ice, and decided to give mundane skates a try.

For being barefoot most of the time, she was not entirely unfamiliar with the concept of wearing anything on her feet. Even so, she could not honestly say the feeling of the skates around her feet was comfy.  They also turned the graceful expert skater she had demonstrated herself to be on way here into an unsteady, bumbling beginner with no more luck staying off her keester than some of the little kids on the ice for the first time.  

It only took a couple of minutes out on the ice and handful of falls to teach her the mundane way of skating was not for her.  She could probably master it too, but she was not here for skating lessons, she meant to have fun with her new friend and pass a little more time until the sled race started.

Arcadia quite happily left her borrowed skates back with the rink attendants, and went back out onto the ice barefoot. Her skating was instantly restored to it original ease of grace. In no time, she was having enough fun skating with Hania, that the sledding race almost escaped her mind entirely.

She might have really forgotten about the race's start, if not for the alarm had set on her iLac. She chose a few notes from a song that had been popping to mind more often than not lately to be the alert sound.

Moonlight Densetsu:

Arcadia glided to a stop on the ice, and silenced the alarm on her iLac. "Hm, here I thought it wouldn't be easy filling out the time until the sledding race. I'm glad we bumped into each other. I hope you'll join me in the race too!" Her youthful features and cheerful smile shifted to a very serious and confident grin, "I mean to add an outdoor sledding champion title to my collection. I am the undisputed indoor sledding champion of Fairy Tail and Tri-Guild Alliance. It'll be sweet to try myself on a course where I don't havta provide the ice to sled on."

There was only one sled she wanted for race, and it was the toboggan she had got herself for indoor sledding when she didn't feel like sledding down the stairs on an overturned chair. It was not magical in any way, but well-built and rugged.  She smiled to Hania, "To go sledding though, I do need a sled to sled on. Got just the one I want at home, so I'll just be one moment."

Arcadia drew out her dimensional scissors and snipped open a portal straight back to Fairy Hills in Magnolia. She walked in and disappeared with the portal. Not thirty seconds later, Arcadia walked out of a new portal, both her arms wrapped around a wooden toboggan sled almost as big as she was. She smiled again to Hania, "I'm ready."

The barefoot slayer hefted her toboggan against her hip, and made tracks for the pre-race gathering. She handled the hefty sled with ease other the short trek. An amazing feat for any other girl her size and apparent age. Not so amazing once you knew who she was.

At the gathering, Arcadia listened in to the rules and safety tips the volunteer race supervisor was announcing. It sounded like because of weather and a shortage of volunteers, they were unable to properly clear the track in time. They were advising parents to keep their younger children out of the race. Everyone else was welcome to line up for the one and only race.

It was the only race, also because of the volunteer shortage. To hold any sledding race at all the festival organizers were forced too cancel the day long slate of preliminary qualifying heats. There would be only the final round, and it would be an everybody at once, anything goes affair. First one down would be the winner for this year.

Arcadia glanced to Hania, and nodded to the starting line. "If you don't wanna just watch off grab your own sled, your welcome to ride down with me. Just be sure to hang on tight if you do. Sounds like a pretty rough course they got."

Claiming a spot on the left hand edge of the starting line, Arcadia set her toboggan sled down. She settled down at the front, and waited for Hania to climb on, if he was going to. With her new friend or solo, she was ready. On the starter's signal, Arcadia pushed her sled forward and leaned toward its upwardly curved front. A quick start helped put her toboggan up with the other early leaders. That was important in a crowded race where one ill-timed slow down could put you out of the running. Arcadia kept an eye out well ahead for obstacles to steer clear of. She would lean to either side to make her toboggan veer in the direction needed.

Her toboggan did not have the greatest maneuverability, which is why she had to be aware what lay in its downhill path as far ahead of time as possible. Its greatest strength lay in the highly curved up front end. That curved front allowed her toboggan to slide right on over smaller rocks and bushes that most of her competitors had to slow down to avoid.  With a straighter downhill line than most, she stayed with the rapidly thinning lead pack.

Interference from would be cheaters was minimal or non-existent. Most everyone was too busy avoiding the rocks and bushes that lined the course.  The lead was down to her toboggan and one other competitor. It was this last guy who would try the only real dirty trick of the race.

Arcadia's toboggan had a tree in its path, and he altered his course just enough to cut off her only way around it. The barefoot slayer let her toboggan rush full speed at the trunk of the tree. At the last second, she tapped into her dimensional scissors to open a hands-free portal. The entrance portal opened directly in front of the trunk, and the exit portal opened a few feet to the side and a couple feet uphill. She overall sledded a slightly longer distance, but without slowing down one bit.

Turning just the little he did to try and cut Arcadia off into the tree slowed her competitor down, and her toboggan's unchanged momentum carried her right past him to victory. The would-be cheater tried to lodge a complaint about her using magic, but the volunteers in charge of the race saw what he tried to pull, and needed only remind him Arcadia only used magic to avoid a crash. On top of that, her portals were not even used for a shortcut distance wise. Also, in a more fully staffed year with all rules in place, he might have been disqualified for cutting Arcadia off toward the tree like that.  His complaint was quickly dropped.  

Arcadia did not really pay attention to the last competitor after beating him across the finish line. She helped the toboggan sled slow and stop by dragging her feet in the snow on either side. She hoped to her feet and turned to Hania. Honestly feeling like she would not have won without him there. She jumped and cheered, "We did it! We won!"

The chief race volunteer's face went from one of delight to see the spectators and winners celebrating to annoyance  after reading a note from the mayor he just handed by a messenger. Note in hand he approached Hania and Arcadia. "My apologies for interrupting your celebration so soon. It seems you are wizards? Yes? If you would be so kind, I've been just now informed of matter urgent to our mayor that could use a wizard's touch. Normally, our city guard could handle this, but they are busy keeping some of the wild creatures from endangering the festival. It seems some if those creatures have managed to infest the mayor's basement. Some ice scorpions, if I read the mayor's note right.  Again, I apologize for interrupting your well earned celebration. If it helps, I can see that you all get V.I.P. discounts at all our local stores for any seasonal shopping you might do later."

Arcadia stopped cheering and listened closely. This was the kind of news she was hoping to avoid, but she couldn't turn someone down in need of help without feeling like complete heel. She picked up her sled, and turned to Hania. "It's alright with me, if it's alright with you."



WC: 3064
Arcadia Event WC: 1500/1500

~Event word count complete. Will continue as a job.~

Additional word count added to next post: 2419

@Hania

Activities Done:
Hot Chocolate Tasting x2
Snowman Contest x1
Open Skating x1
Sled Racing x1