Prompt 4 (Flurries and Flowers):Strange snow flurries have been blowing through town, frosting entire buildings. Sometimes they come out of nowhere--overnight, or in the timespan of just a few short hours. Sometimes, only minutes. Snow falls rapidly and ice coats doors and windows, sealing them shut. These snow flurries are knocking out power, and worse--trapping people in buildings and cars. Sheets of frosty ice build up quickly and have caused major inconveniences. But, it’s not all bad, if you can find a way to appreciate the small things. After these flurries, in addition to the fresh snow and ice, beautiful flowers in the shape of snowflakes have sprouted up, too. They grow in small patches and permeate a pleasant, sweet fragrance. They can grow on any surface, as long as it is covered in snow or ice. If the flowers are not kept in freezing temperatures, they melt, but for the duration of their lifespan they are beautiful, fragile things.
The storm had come on rather suddenly and it caught Ida out on patrol, leaving her stranded under a bus shelter as thick flurries of snow fell all around her. It nearly blotted out the city around her as it fell, thick and opaque, leaving her in a bubble of cold and quiet lit by florescent overhead lights. It swirled and blew, slowing down the cars that passed by and chasing in the normal residents of DC indoors. As quickly as it came though, it abruptly stopped, the last few flakes falling in the quiet.
Ida stepped out into the suddenly snow covered world with a careful step, her boots crunching in the ankle deep drifts. Thankfully, it hadn't been worse... it wasn't going to be so hard to make her way home in this. She might even be able to finish her patrol, though the likely hood of running into anything had just dropped. People tended to not be out in weather like this, which discouraged agents from being out draining people. Maybe the little snow storm was more of a blessing, since it meant an easy and early night...
As Ida left the road to head down the sidewalk to the park, a strange, sparkling sight caught her up and she stopped to crouch down, staring at small, icy flowers. They were everywhere across the surface of the snow, as though growing from it. Perfect in every detail, realistic enough she had to question if they were actually real flowers covered in ice... save that when she picked it, it snapped off, showing nothing inside.
Arms on her knees, Ida turned the ice flower around her in fingers with an expression of wonder, studying every angle.
genovianprince
Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2023 9:10 pm
Fang was enjoying a nice, quiet patrol walk. Everything seemed... so still. Beautiful. He had to frequently remind himself he had safety; that there was a place full of love and warmth and food waiting for him to get back from patrol. That he wasn't lost and alone and freezing and starving forever and ever and ever and ever—
Pack. Home. Safe.
He shuffled down to the park, feeling awed by the way the world looked. Allowing himself to feel awed instead of intimidated, thinking about survival, was so novel. It felt nice.
Then he spotted Ida, and he made a chirp-like noise, rushing forward. "Princess!!"
Ida's head rose at the strange noise, half wondering if someone's dog was nearby. It hadn't sounded like the kinds of dogs she knew, but she hadn't expected that sort of noise to come from a mostly-human throat. What she saw, rather than a dog, was a young man rushing towards her and someone she was familiar with. He called her 'princess' as he came and she couldn't help her shy smile as she rose from her crouch.
"Fang! Hello!" She called as she waited for him, her fingers playing with the flower she'd picked. It still felt weird to hear someone call her that and there was a large part of her that wished he'd called her Ida instead. The eternal hoped it wasn't a sign that things had changed between them... she'd hoped they'd grow to be friends, and putting something like 'princess' between them opened a gulf that seemed so very wide. Ida didn't want that, between her and anyone, really.
"How have you been?"
genovianprince
Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2023 8:35 pm
"Heh, good! Very good. Fang make lots of friends," he said to her, tail wagging furiously, "Fang is... very happy. How are you, Ida? Princess fun? Seems fun! Seems cool. I am not that cool. Fang baby." He snickered, clearly not perturbed one bit.
"Flower? Smell good?" He pointed at it, then winced, realizing he was shouting a lot of questions at her at once. He couldn't help how excited he was, though. Ida was a princess now, and he wanted to know all about it. She seemed the same old Idea to him, after all.
She couldn't help the way his manner and words brought a smile to her face, crinkling the corners of her eyes and sending a warm feeling bubbling up under her sternum. He seemed so excited to see her that it felt infectious.
"I don't know if being a princess is fun... its kind of cool, I suppose, but its also kind of scary." Ida confessed as she held the flower out for him to smell. "I guess I'm not scared though. Just a little uncertain. I don't have a princess teacher. I have to figure it out by myself."
His frank, eager openness seemed to welcome her truthfulness, even as part of her cautioned that she shouldn't be telling people about her doubts. What if it made it so people didn't trust her with her new power? What if they thought she shouldn't have it? She didn't want someone like Fang losing confidence in her.
"I just found this flower here. Its not a real flower, I think?" She said as she glanced back at the cluster of similar blooms. "I think its made of ice."
genovianprince
Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2023 9:41 pm
Fang nodded, tail slowing down as he listened to her answers. Scary... Yeah, he could see that. Being a Princess meant you were in charge of a lot, he supposed. He doubted it was all just looking pretty and stuff. Though, he was glad she wasn't completely scared off by it.
"Mm, well! Ida is very good," Fang assured, "You will do great. You very smart. I believe in you."
He leaned forward, sniffing at the flower. "Hm. Smell like ice. Not flower. Odd!"
A flush rose to turn Ida's cheeks pink and she smiled away his compliments, dropping her eyes to the flower in her fingers. There was a part of her that wished she was as confident in herself as he was... Things would be easier that way, if she didn't have to over think everything she did wondering if it was right, or wrong, or who would think she wasn't living up to her responsibilities.
"Sometimes weird things happen around the holidays in DC." Ida said as she twisted the stem in her fingers, making the petals twirl. "Were you out patrolling tonight? You seem like you're doing a lot better than you were back in the summer. Is your throat better?"
It was nice to see someone who seemed to be doing well. She knew the trials Selinur went through as an alien senshi in DC. She hoped he had found someone to help him and make things easier. Seeing him reminded her of Murikabushi, and Ida wondered again if he was okay too, if he'd been mad she had to leave him behind.
genovianprince
Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2023 6:26 pm
Fang hummed at her comment, nodding thoughtfully. Yes, it did seem that weird things happened around the holidays. Perhaps he should get a physical calendar he could mark on with a pen so he could keep track of Earth's mysterious holidays, given the danger that seemed to arise.
"Mn, patrol!" he said eagerly, ears perking and tail swishing. "Better... Some. Throat probably never recover. Some days good, some bad."
He shrugged. "But Fang has more friends. Everyone... understand I have trouble. Nobody mean. Well. Strangers mean, but pbnhbhbht! Who cares 'bout them?" He crossed his arms, huffing and pouting.
"If you ever get hurt or need help, please call me, okay?" She said. "I'm a nurse. I can heal people, so I can help. Same if you find someone who's been hurt."
It would be nice if she could do more of that. She felt like that was truly where her skills lay, more than patrolling and fighting. She could make so much more of a difference when she was able to heal someone of an injury or help them recover energy after being drained. Or helping them cover things up when they had to go in for professional care at a hospital.
She smiled at his pouting, unable to help the giggle that wanted to bubble up out of her. She waved the flower at the open, snow-filled street.
"Do you want to patrol together? I don't know if we'll find much. I don't think people like being out as much when its snowy like this."
genovianprince
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2023 7:52 pm
"I promise, always call Ida for help," he said solemnly, clapping his fist against his chest. "Fang promise, promise forever."
He smiled widely, all teeth and excitement as he strode forward to the sidewalk, half-turning to gesture back at her. "Fang like this weather. Now that have warm home to return to, anyway!" he called, with a joyous laugh. "Does not mean death for Fang anymore, so it can be fun. Maybe humans need to relearn this."
A part of her relaxed at that. If he promised, then she trusted him. It was a nice feeling.
Ida grinned as she moved to join him, the flower still in her fingers despite the icy cold of it.
"Some people enjoy the snow and the cold sometimes. Other times its nice to be warm and out of the weather. I miss spring. I'm ready for the weather to be warm and all the plants to start growing again. Ida is always warm, but I can't spend all of my time there." She said as they walked.
"You found someone to live with, yeah? You don't live alone?"
genovianprince
Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2023 7:46 pm
Fang nodded. "Not alone," he confirmed, "With friends. With pack. Mont, uh, Saint Mee-chell, and others."
He hummed a little tune, wondering vaguely where he'd heard it, but not all that concerned with chasing the thought down.
His wisp appeared, burbling at him in time with his tune, and he laughed, catching it gently and showing it to Ida. "Little friend!"
Ida blinked at the bit of soft light Fang held in his hands, her brown eyes wide as she bent down to look at it.
"That's one of the wisps that escaped with us this summer, isn't it?" She said, so very tempted to touch it but unsure if she should. It wasn't hers, after all, and she didn't even know what it was, really. At least it seemed harmless enough, if Fang called it a friend. "Where did you find it?"
She had to wonder how many of them had escaped into their world, along with the monster she'd seen. Those hadn't shown back up, thankfully. Were these little ones related to them somehow? Was there some other link? Where had they originally come from? Too many questions, as always.
"Does it follow you around?" It looked like it must... he hadn't pulled it out of anywhere he had been keeping it, that she'd seen. She sort of doubted you could hide one of them in a subspace pocket.
genovianprince
Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2023 9:35 pm
Fang hummed at that. "Do not know. Just showed up, one day. Said hello, it cuddled. Now it's mine. Like pet dog, but... not," he explained, shrugging. "Sometimes it there, sometimes not. It hides, I think. But. It like you. You friend."
Ida smiled shyly at the small light, pleased. She wondered if the little thing sensed Fang's emotions, or just read his body language. For that matter, she wondered what the wisp actually was... did it somehow have eyes and ears? Sense vibrations? Was it just... made purely of magic, or did it have some sort of physical body?
"Do you need to feed it? Does it float around when you aren't powered up, or does it hide?"
It would be hard to explain having something like that around when she was 'off the clock', so to speak. It would cause quite a stir if something like it popped up around her at the hospital. Fang's life was probably different... he hadn't been born on Earth, and she had no idea how much of Earth society he'd started participating in. She hoped whoever took care of him, they were doing okay with it.
