[PRP] Do You Want To Build A Snowtroll? (Ganyma + Sinter)

[seekingCylem]

It's been a long time, hasn't it?

 

[seekingCylem]

"Aha... Thanks again--for indulging me, that is," Sinter apologized for easily the dozenth time since making his way to the field. He knew his way around Civisect well enough to bring the two of them to a local park. It was modest by Civisect standards, and between Bloodfest and the cold weather, they were the only trolls there.

The weather couldn't even touch Sinter, though. He was blushing furiously enough to consider removing his scarf. "This is ridiculous," he kept telling himself, "This is so, so, juvenile..."

But that was also why he wanted to do it in the first place. Even the harshest of his inner critics couldn't force him to back down. Considering all that he and Ganyma had gone through since meeting each other as children, it just felt right. The logical parts of his thinkpan told him that Dr. Resmem would appreciate the symbolism, and Tamiya would approve of the capriciousness. However, at his core, Sinter really wanted to build another snowman with Ganyma.

Sypon

 

[Sypon]

Ganyma didn’t have as much experience around Civisect as Sinter did. His time was split now between training and touring, sure, but the hotspots of the city were far from the quaint little park that his sponsor had lead him to. There was hardly any foot traffic so far from Bloodfest. The quiet was nice, and the fresh coat of snow on the ground was a picturesque sparkling blanket.

“No problem, Sinter.” Ganyma reassured the troll. “If I didn’t wanna do it – well…!” Frankly, he would have obliged anyway. In terms of rehabilitation activities Ganyma wasn’t sure if he had a choice or not in the matter of “fun”, but with Sinter nothing seemed like a set-up. It was a certain barrier in his mind that he couldn’t get over: were the moments of spontaneity, conversations and fuzzy feelings a part of his mental health treatment? Or was he just having a good time with a friend, no strings attached? There was not much point in dwelling on it when the weather was so crisp and the setting was perfect. Ganyma quieted his mind to appreciate the soft crunch of the snow under his boots.

In the middle of the park’s grassy lawn, Ganyma stopped. He held out his arms wide as though gauging the distance of the field, and then put them on his hips. “This looks like a good spot. What do you think?”  

[seekingCylem]

Ganyma was just so damn pleasant. While Tamiya was also practically doting in their relationship, Sinter of course knew he was the exception to the rule. From what he'd experienced in their short time together, Ganyma was amiable and polite to absolutely everyone. Sinter couldn't tell if he was refreshed or unnerved by the unfamiliar behavior. Even his own sense of decorum came from a place of societal expectation more so than a place of kindness for kindness's sake. It was a sobering realization. Perhaps Ganyma wasn't the only one with social skills to work on.

Before Sinter could achieve full guilt-spiral, Ganyma pointed out a clear patch of untouched snow. "R-Right! Excellent!" Sinter hesitated in a moment, pondering how to go about this, before simply dropping to his knees. He quickly set about scooping the displaced snow into a roll-able lump.

"Do you get much snow where you're from? That contest way back when. That was, that was actually my first time seeing snow! Thinking back I'm still surprised I did as well as I did." Sinter smiled with nostalgia while simultaneously scolding himself for actually starting small talk about the weather. He gave an embarrassed chuckle. "Considering the history of our combined snowtroll-building careers, this one had better come out looking utterly fantastic!"

Sypon

 

[Sypon]

“I’ll start on the torso,” Ganyma offered. He inspected the snow nearby as though there was a prime spot to begin, eventually choosing a patch identical to any other spot on the lawn.

“You know, there was a good bit of snow in New Hemisect during the cold seasons. Didn’t like it much when I lived in the city, though – lots of holes in my hive made it real cold and my lusus real angry that snow was gettin’ in. Kinda funny though, he acted like snow was some kinda bad guy or somethin’ getting’ in through the back door. Four Fronds is a little too warm for that stuff, too.” Ganyma hummed. “Bloodfest is definitely my best memory of snow too. This one included.”

Getting a solid snowpack among the ground, Ganyma hunched over awkwardly and began to roll his ball to gain some more building material. Seeing the project as one of construction was a bit different when he was just playing as a kid. “I’m pretty surprised I came out on top, too! Hey, we’ve got some big shoes to fill. Thought I did okay with that ice sculptin’ stuff though. Just got nudged out is all.” He smiled. “You get to do any other Bloodfest stuff? I’ve never been to the summer games, but I hear they’re pretty wild.”

He sniffed through the chill of the snow and took a bit of time to clamp down the loosely packed powder on his torso ball. “You need help makin’ that bigger?”  

[seekingCylem]

Sinter had finally managed to compact his pile of snow into something that wouldn't crumble when he pushed it. Eventually he was able to get off his wet knees and set about awkwardly propelling the little snowball around the field.

New Hemisect. That was really the only thing Sinter knew about Ganyma's youth aside from the other bare-bones information Resmem was willing to divulge, as well as what he witnessed with his own two eyes. Sinter had never actually been to the largest city in Alternia. He'd always been perfectly content living in the second-largest of Chittentown. The idea of being surrounded by even more trolls, specifically of the highblood variety, never made New Hemisect an appealing night trip location. If Sinter was going to be massively outranked in a crowd, at least Civisect had nicer restaurants.

Wait, "holes?" Sinter considered asking about it long enough to pause in his building. What tealblood had a hive lousy enough to holes in it? While Sinter was always curious as to how the other castes lived, he couldn't help but feel that asking would put a damper on the otherwise lovely evening.

Bloodfest continued to be a safe topic between the two. That was sort of the point of the fair after all. "Ah! Last summer was a lot of fun. I spent most of my time manning my moirail's booth while she, ah... 'participated' in the main event. It's a nice way to meet new people!" Sinter allowed himself to smirk as he recounted the summer festivities. "I actually did quite well in the cooking competition! Second only to the queen herself! Granted I didn't even know she could cook." While the purpose of the competition had been quantity over quality, it was still surprising to Sinter that someone with access to the best chefs money and prestige could hire could even be bothered to pour their own cereal, much less operate a stove.

At Ganyma's offer, Sinter looked back at his own snowball. He hadn't been paying enough attention as he was rolling it and had ended up rolling it until it was downright unwieldy for someone of his size. Oops. Clearly they hadn't been kidding when they'd mentioned stepping up their snowtroll building game. "Y-yeah! Sure, why not?" Sinter chuckled at the thought of what the finished product would look like. "If it gets too big I may have to stand on your shoulders to put the head on."  

[Sypon]

Ganyma gave Sinter a hand – soon the rump was of plush, icy size.

“That sounds like a lot of fun,” Ganyma exclaimed. “I can’t imagine Bloodfest without the snow!” Ganyma began to roll the ball on the outer rings of the field, still in earshot of Sinter. After the Bloodfest events this was a cinch. He smiled fondly as the ball began to increase in diameter.

“I can’t cook much more than pancakes and, uh, grilled sandwiches.” Ganyma admitted. “But if you want to show me your chops sometime I would be all about it.”

After a short while, Ganyma had created a sizeable snowman chunk. He rolled it carefully over to Sinter’s ball, sized up the two, and heaved it on top. It stood at an impressive height, but not so gargantuan that it dwarfed the two. He gave Sinter a thumbs up.  

[seekingCylem]

Sinter hummed at the recollection of pleasant memories. Thoughts of summertime helped to stave off the cold as he turned to watch Ganyma make his way around the field. He stepped to the side as Ganyma spiraled inward, clearing the path towards the snowman base he'd built.

"Pancakes are great for experimenting. You can put all kinds of stuff in or on them. Strawberries and whipped cream are some of my favorites."

Sinter smiled into his muffler. Pancakes actually sounded really good right about then. "I'd be happy to cook! Personally I'm more of a baker, but I enjoy making food for other people. There are only so many cookies a single troll can eat. Definitely visit Chittentown sometime and I'll make dinner."

Sinter clapped his gloves together in enthusiasm for future plans, but the action coincidentally lined up with the completion of the snow-torso. "Brava~ I suppose I should get to work on the head then. Ah," Sinter halted mid-step, "I didn't think to bring anything to make a face with..."  

[Sypon]

“Are you inviting me over?” Ganyma asked. He gave Sinter a hearty slap on the back. “I would love to! I shall get the head started.”

He quickly shifted gears. Ganyma dropped down to pile up snow for the head. “You can maybe find some twigs around here. We could use pebbles for eyes at least… And some branches for horns!” The formation of the ideas was delighting the troll. He continued to roll up the ball, pushing carefully and checking the size ratios of the rump to torso to head frequently. He never expected his construction background to have so much influence on fun and games as well. The relief was simply wonderful. A few more pushes, and the head was complete. Ganyma patted down the sides to make it circular and looked up at their creation – he’d have to stretch a bit to fit it on top! Fortunately he found the strength within him to reach right up and plop it directly on the center of the torso.

He stepped back with pride.  

[seekingCylem]

Sinter felt a brief stab of horror as he questioned whether or not inviting Ganyma to his hive was kosher, but the feeling was literally knocked out of him by Ganyma's slap on his back. Sinter stumbled a little, but laughed with relief. "Y-yeah! I guess I am."

He still felt a little shy despite Ganyma's enthusiasm. Sinter was more than happy to scurry off in search of good horn-twigs. Their snow rolling had done a decent job of uncovering the ground. Soon enough, Sinter had gathered a fistful of round stones. A bundle of sticks was tucked under an arm. He trotted back to Ganyma's side to admire their creation.

"Ah! It looks nice! A proper adult-sized snowtroll for some adult-sized trolls. Hopefully these branches I found suffice. I wasn't about to climb a tree to acquire something more substantial..."

Sinter temporarily pocketed the stones and used his free hand (and superior height) to push the branches into the snowtroll's head. He jostled them a little bit to make sure they were both stable and relatively symmetrical. Once finished, he pressed the stones into a classic smiley face pattern.

Sinter stepped back, smiling himself. It was childish and goofy-looking, but Sinter couldn't have made their creation more charming if he'd tried. "A fine troll if I've ever seen one!"  

[Sypon]

“Yeah! We did… We did great.” Ganyma exclaimed. The troll came to life with antler-like horns and a friendly smile – a bit of Sinter and a bit of Ganyma. The tealblood brushed some stray powder off of the snowman’s chest with satisfaction.

The result of their effort was perfect. It was no image of their childhood, but it was a reflection of the time that had passed. An earnest simplicity stood before them. Ganyma’s smile wobbled. He pressed his fingers into his eye sockets. After a moment, he sighed. The heavyset troll placed his hand on Sinter’s back. He couldn’t have kept his eyes from misting even if he wanted to.

“I really needed this. I didn’t even realize it. ‘Till now.”

“Thank you, Sinter.”  

[seekingCylem]

In retrospect, it was probably weird for Sinter to feel such pride over building a simple snowtroll, but he relished the sensation all the same. He and Ganyma had done a good thing. Even if it only mattered to the two of them, it was still worth appreciating.

Sinter turned in response to Ganyma's shuffling, only to be met with a broad hand against his back. The action and surrounding atmosphere was much calmer than before. For a split second, Sinter worried for the teal welling in Ganyma's eyes. His concerns were put to rest quickly enough. Sinter's expression softened with compassion at Ganyma's gratitude. Under normal situations, he would have brushed the sentiment off with the statement that he was just doing his job. This was different.

"Of course. Anytime."

Sinter, subconsciously or not, leaned slightly towards Ganyma's shoulder. The snow really was beautiful that night.