In the beginning, she was certain she'd win. She had a much hotter heat source than he did. Her plan, she thought, was sound. Using the torch to melt the ice, it did indeed start to slowly unfurl. Her fingers were meticulous, prodding, tucking, bending as the torch did its magic. Then she heard a crack. Peeking over, she saw that his shirt had broken! A wicked smirk appeared on her lips, and feeling a little full of herself, she tried to bend a piece of shirt before it was ready. The sleeve cracked right off in her hand, much to her alarm.
As she glanced over at him again, her chest tightened in the strangest way. It wasn't like she was in medical danger, but it wasn't an entirely pleasant sensation. It was like a pang went through her whole body, somehow sharp and dull at the same time. There wasn't a single part of her body she didn't feel it in, and after the pang, the tightness and the ache would settle into her chest and throat. She swallowed hard. If she hadn't felt something similar but much lighter than this before, like when she ran into circumstances where she couldn't have something she really wanted, the clone would have been way more alarmed. But no, while she didn't understand the sensation, this particular strength of it was entirely reserved for him For Artemis. She couldn't predict when it'd happen. Sometimes it was when he wasn't around for a long time. Sometimes it was something he did when they were together, like right now.
He was just frantically rubbing the pieces of the shirt in the most ridiculous way, and with such seriousness. Sivvy couldn't help but giggle, much like she had while they were dancing so long ago now. She still hadn't quite found her full laughter, since her sense of humor was still developing, but watching him had been enough to crack her stoic shell for the moment. It was...cute and silly like watching a determined puppy try to pick up a bone much too large for its body.
Speaking of body, suddenly she was seeing more of his. Before she realized it, he had melted the two pieces and was ripping the clothing of his top half to put it on. Her eyes widened and she looked back to her own shirt...which was now on fire in one spot. What happened? How had she just stood there, holding the torch to the shirt in one spot like that? Sivvy blinked aggressively, trying to reconcile the time she'd seemingly lost. Frantically she patted out the flames, melting the last parts of the ice to try and catch up, but it was too late. He let out a whoop and looked over at her, and there she stood, holding a charred shirt and a separate pristine sleeve. And even though she'd lost and was quite disappointed, she couldn't help but return his grin with a smile of her own.
Indeed, hot chocolate did sound wonderful. Not just because it was food, but because her fingers were an angry red from so much contact with the icy fabric. After he made his delightful choice, she ordered the same and paid for both, as was the deal. At first, the hot drink's cup burned her frigid hands, but with a bit of endurance, the prickly pains subsided and proper feeling returned to her digits. She sipped the smooth, sweet liquid with relish. "Mmm," she hummed, having a small whipped cream mustache of her own.
Arty made another suggestion, and again, it sounded amusing. "Snow...man?" she asked in interest, scanning for the area to do such a thing. "I've never made one. Also, this is the first time you've mentioned you have siblings," noted the lab-created human, briefly thinking of her own countless 'sisters', none of which she had any lighthearted memories with as Artemis seemed to have. Sometimes she noticed how wide the cavern between her and normal people was. At least she didn't have to dwell on it since, sure enough, her eyes landed on a nearby banner over an empty field of snow read "Snowman Contest!" Heading over that way, soon the pair would stand amongst the thick, undisturbed snow.
She was about to ask Artemis to teach her, which would be par for the course this day. He'd had to try and teach her to skate. He'd beaten her at the frozen T-shirt contest. And now she had no idea how to construct a man out of snow and would probably have to show her. Or...maybe not. Not too far away there was a small child working in the snow with her friend. Sivvy learned many things by just watching, so for a few moments, she stood still, analyzing the children's work. Three rolled balls of snow, each slightly smaller than the bottom one. It looked like no man she'd ever seen, but it was probably simple for a reason. So children or people of any skill level could do it for fun, most likely. It was also slightly more structurally sound this way.
Once she had the idea, she began working on her own. In about a minute she had the three balls and they were stacked, but she paused at the decoration. Were there designated rules for what a snowman must look like? The only thing she could tell is it needed eyes, a nose, a mouth, and arms. She made a couple thin, metal rods with three fingers to mimic the gnarled branches the kids used as arms, jamming them into the middle ball of snow. Next, she formed a handful of metal pellets, using two for eyes, one for a nose, and the rest to form a straight line for a mouth. In the end, the snowman seemed to be a subconscious reflection of Sivvy's human condition. Robbed of the whimsy and imagination of childhood. Raised in a sterile, cold environment. The snowman was just as bare, stoic, and weapon-like as she was, but she seemed dissatisfied with it. Perhaps in representation of her slow growth or desire to break free of her old self, she made a set of metallic horns and wings, attaching them at the last minute to the snowman's head and back. Of course, she'd try to make it into a dragon. Yes, it was weird. Possibly the most awkward snowman ever made. But still, Sivvy seemed pleased with it now, turning to inspect Arty's and potentially get his approval of her first attempt.
WC: 1096 || Sivvy's WC: 1754 || Group WC: 2355/????: