Prompt 11 (Marshmallow Snow): Fresh-fallen snow coats Destiny City. It’s pristine and crisp, and it crunches as you walk through it. It may be a few inches deep, but it doesn’t seem to go above your calves when walking. At first, it’s easy enough to walk through, but gradually you realize that it’s getting harder to move. Every step you take feels like the snow is pulling you back in, and if you get a good look you might realize that sticky white fluff is clinging to you. The more you walk, the more it pulls, until you’re almost completely stuck. Something about the snow smells oddly sweet, and the tacky, marshmallow-like snow seems like it’s suddenly become a prison. The more you try to break free, the stickier it gets, and you’d better hope you don’t fall down. The more you struggle the harder it is to escape, but if you manage to stay still for a few minutes, the marshmallow will freeze and crystallize. When you move again, the snow will turn into a powdery dust and you can break free easily. The only good thing about this is that you won’t starve if you get trapped–the snow tastes just like marshmallows.
After the first snowball fight with Caelyna, Fae-Fae was itching for more. It had been such an exhilirating exercise, and she would argue that it was worth it -- it tested speed, strength, aim, reflexes. There was even strategy to it.
So, when Fangnyl had come home looking for an opponent, Fae-Fae jumped on the chance with bubbling enthusiasm. They agreed on coordinates and a meeting time to begin their game... and, naturally, Fae-Fae arrived an hour early.
To build a snow fort like she'd seen some children make.
Humming an excited tune, she packed together the latest of a pile of snowballs, and waited.
genovianprince
Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2021 11:34 am
Fangnyl didn't show up nearly as early as Fae-Fae did, but the second he saw her constructing a fort and pre-building snowballs, he gasped dramatically and dived into the snow across from her, frantically building a shoddy fort as quickly as he could. Something done quickly would be better than nothing, after all, and he was quite serious about a start time. He didn't want to delay this experience any further, desperate to take part, finally, in this winter child's play. Sure, it was a training exercise, but it was also an important part of the holiday, and Fangnyl so dearly loved the holidays the humans of Earth had. It was delightful.
He grimaced when he finished, looking over his sloppy fort and comparing it to Fae-Fae's pristine fort. She was going to have a much easier time than he was, but he supposed that was what he got for not planning ahead enough.
"Are you ready to begin, Fae-Fae?" he called out, grinning widely.
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Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2021 11:43 am
A quick succession of three snowballs pelted in Fangnyl's direction was the answer. Fae-Fae launched each of them with a determined look on her face before diving behind the barrier with a bubbly laugh. Never mind that she already had a couple dozen snowballs ready to use -- now she had to make more.
She was popping out, tossing her snowballs, and popping back behind her barrier like a very tall and very mischievous groundhog. After her first match with Caelyna, she had done some study that was certainly paying off now.
genovianprince
Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2021 11:47 am
Fangnyl shrieked and ducked, but not before catching one of the snowballs in the face. He spluttered, spitting the snow out of his mouth and wiping it off his face. Gosh darn it, she'd gotten him good. He inhaled sharply and took up one of the few snowballs he'd managed to make, staying behind his little wall for a few moments. Breathe.
He peeked over the top and threw as hard as he could as silently as possible. Sniper-Fangnyl at work. Heh.
Yeah, no, he had the dagger for a reason. Hand-to-hand was much more efficient for him, but this was aiming practice, and that certainly couldn't hurt anything.
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Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2021 11:52 am
One thing Fae-Fae really wanted to master was hitting the snowballs with her blaster. It was a tricky little target, for sure. At Fangnyl's counter-attack, she whipped up her blaster and fired -- but she missed again, and got pelted with a hairful of snow.
Snow that left strange, sticky tendrils in her dark, fluffy tresses.
She didn't notice, too captivated by the game. Instead she set her blaster down and launched another rapid assault at Fangnyl's fort.
genovianprince
Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2021 11:59 am
Fangnyl gasped and needlessly dodged the shot from her blaster, cackling madly as the snowball exploded in her hair. He was so busy laughing at her, he had no idea what was coming straight for him. His fort, so poorly and swiftly built, only covered him from the waist down. He took several rounds of snowballs in the chest and gut and pitched backwards from the suddenly strange force. They slid around his sides as he lay back in the snow, but in a strange, slow way. What? He tried to lift himself up, but he was stuck fast in the snow.
Snow wasn't sticky... Not from the research he'd done! What was this? He let out a scream that was significantly more scared than playful, like before. He couldn't move! He was stuck fast to the ground!
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Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2021 12:09 pm
At first, Fae-Fae thought the scream was part of the play, and she laughed more as she launched yet another snowball. However, the joy in the air became poisoned with worry when Fangnyl didn't fight back as he had been. Had the fall been that bad?
Slowly, she put down her latest snowball and recalled her blaster to subspace. For all she knew, it could be a trick, but now that she thought of it... that scream had sounded sincerely frightened.
She rushed over to Fangnyl's fort and witnessed a phenomenon she had experienced with Naeria earlier.
The disgusting false snow.
Quickly, she started working at her ComTech. "Fangnyl," she said. "Stay still. And whatever you do."
A look of dread crossed her eyes. "Do not eat it."
genovianprince
Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2021 12:15 pm
Fangnyl sighed in relief when she came over to him, grateful she'd figured out he wasn't playing.
"I don't think I can move anyway," he joked, looking over to his arms. He was just glad there wasn't any on his face so he wasn't tempted by her warning.
"...What happened?" he asked quietly, trepidatiously. Oh, man. He really didn't want to be buried in sticky poisonous substances. "What's going on?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2021 12:23 pm
Fae-Fae shook her head, indicating she didn't quite know. "I saw this with Naeria. The snow suddenly transformed. We don't know how or why."
She was grateful none of it had gotten on Fangnyl's face. It could have suffocated him. If she'd known this would be a risk of their training exercise, she would have called it off. He was safe for now, though, indicated by how she was calmly scanning the substance around him. The results were inconclusive yet again. A little knot formed in her brow at that. If this was a recurring phenomenon, she would prefer to understand it so she could predict it. And avoid it.
"It tastes disgusting," she clarified, with a sigh. So, not poison. Fae-Fae just didn't want him to be subject to such a horrifically sugary surprise if he could avoid it.
genovianprince
Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2021 1:44 pm
Fangnyl blinked. It was just... disgusting? Well, now the scientist in him desperately wanted to know, but he shut that impulse down. He would not. He was more refined than that.
"Okay, well, do you know—" And suddenly he was unstuck again, and he sat up with force. "I'm free again! Holy moly."
He shook himself and sprang to his feet. "Let's just go back inside, hm? Perhaps we can try this another time, when there's not such... insanity in the snow. I really would like to have fun with it," he said sadly. "Thank you for the aiming practice, Fae-Fae."
