#seasonstweetings

[damn_yourself_early]

Snow has fallen in the Nexus! Fat, fluffy flakes of white, piling and drifting from ankle- to knee-depth in places. It may still be falling, in places, and in the midst of it all is a Norse godling packing snowballs and a grin. "I swear, I had nothing to do with it--but! What's your favorite thing to do with a fresh fall of snow?"

Comments

[smartass_captain]

"Ah." Jim seems to accept this explanation at face value, building the back wall of their fort with quick efficiency. He has certainly made plenty of these in his day.

"So, I just thought of something....who are we going to fight once we finish this magnificent piece of engineering?"

[damn_yourself_early]

"Good question! We could just pelt random passerby until someone joins in, but that would probably be wrong." As he packs the snow, he thinks of something. "Ooh! We should get Verity on our team. She's good with snow, apparently."

[smartass_captain]

"She is?" This is news to Jim. He ponders this while they work. "But then we'd have even more people on our team....and no one to fight. Too bad Ixis isn't around. I'd love to pelt that gargoyle in the maw with a snowball."

Heh. It makes Jim smile just to imagine. And if they're inviting Verity over, he has to get it out of his system beforehand. He tries not to insult her housemate in front of her.

"We gotta find ourselves some invaders, Loki."

[damn_yourself_early]

"I raise again the 'piratically pelt passerby prolifically' option," he points out, "or we could try to find someone willing to build another fort within reach. Or to try to be invaders!"

[smartass_captain]

"Or..." Jim's smile turns conniving and he looks back over to Loki with a raised eyebrow. "How about I test how much of my teaching you've learned? You get Verity. I'll build my own fort. And then we'll see who's better with the snow." He claps kid Loki on the shoulder and gives a mock salute.

"No mercy. Got it?" There's a wink and he trots off to the other side of the forum to start over on a fort. Two against one? Bring it on. Jim Kirk doesn't shirk from a challenge, no matter how slim the odds.

That's not to say he won't recruit if the opportunity arises, mind you.

[damn_yourself_early]

"What? Aw, c'mon, I just got that guy in the blue coat to say he'd start up another fort, now you're gonna abandon me?" Loki sighs, then gets back to work fort-building. If only there were some dwarves to help him.

But there's better! There's a Verity to help him! You're in trouble now, Jim!

[brave_heart_verity]

Jim is in so much trouble. Once Verity figures out what's going on.

"So... okay, what do we do now?"

[smartass_captain]

"Oh hell yes, you did?" Jim waves over toward Reynard. "Oi! Us versus them? Or a free for all?!"

Jim's cool with either one of these outcomes. He is the best at building snow forts and pulling off miraculous wins. He also might have a plan B if things start to look bad for him.

Always have an ace up your sleeve.

[damn_yourself_early]

"Well, I was thinking us versus them, before you started talking about starting your own fort," Loki points out.

With a grin, Loki explains to Verity, "we finish setting up some walls to hunker down behind, then we make a stockpile of snowballs, and then when they've got their fort done, we throw 'em at each other!"

[brave_heart_verity]

"Okay... how tall do we want the walls?" None of that sounds so bad, in theory. In practice, well, it'll become clear she doesn't have much practice.

But she does have a suspicious look for Reynard when she sees Jim headed that way. "If he gets a winter spirit, we need more people on our side."

[damn_yourself_early]

"Well, if the winter spirit is up against us, I think we want 'em pretty tall. Like, so you'd be hidden if you crouch down."

Loki side-eyes the Jim/Reynard alliance building up over there. "So unfair." But it sounds like Verity's got an idea: "yes, definitely! Do you know anyone who could even the scales?"

[brave_heart_verity]

"Hmm." She considers the work already done on the fort for a minute before she starts adding to it. "Yeah, I can think of a few people to call."

You know what's great? Those cell phone earpieces with the microphones. She can keep working while she makes some calls.

DARKNESS HEEDS YOUR CALL

[westfallcorndog]

Verity's call for reinforcements does not go unanswered. Harrowheart arrives in short order looking not quite like himself. Or maybe more like himself than usual? Floating hands and Scourge armor are dead giveaways, pun entirely intended... But rather than arrive as a man he lumbers toward their snow fort as a massive wolf-man monster. With giant hand-paws like that he'll certainly make giant snowballs, but at an easy seven feet tall he's going to complicate the whole 'wall building' thing.

"Are we winning, or are we losing?" he asks in a deep and rumbling voice as he tries to hunker down and sneak into the fort with Verity and Kid Loki.

SUMMON SUCCESSFUL

[ixis]

A brutally cold wind suddenly whips up and swirls a vortex of snow and ice. It skates around haphazardly before tightening in on itself and BURSTING. And there in the middle of it floats one sorcerer supreme. He's quick to fly behind the constructed wall and hunker down.

"Who are we destroying?" He asks with a manic grin, several icicles conjuring and floating around him. Those look a little too sharp for a good ol' snowball fight. Someone might have to tell him.

Aww, yeah

[damn_yourself_early]

Loki looks up from his fort-building at the new arrivals and grins. Oh, it's going to be a proper Loki-style mess, now. "We haven't started yet," he answers the big wolf, "but we're going after those guys over there! Verity's brother and the winter spirit, and also the guy in the blue coat."

A moment spent considering the floating icicles, and poking one carefully, prompts him to add, "just friendly-like, though. We're not destroying anyone, I don't think. Not unless that doctor guy wanders over."

Honestly, I don't know why Isidor is so worried about Verity's influence around here...

[brave_heart_verity]

Harrow is greeted with a nod, but it's Naugus who prompts her to speak up with that entrance. "This is a friendly game of skill, nobody's supposed to get hurt." She is very stern on this point! And she's looking at you, Naugus.

"Thank you both for coming. Reynard was absolutely going to beat us." Jim would be along for the ride, she supposes. She knows who the real power on the other team is. "Now he might be in for a challenge."

[westfallcorndog]

Harrow grins, baring his long teeth. "Mobian pride! Idunno who this Reynard is, but we're gonna wreck 'im." One of his hands floats near Ixis, eagerly awaiting a high five.

"So, who's our tactician? What's our plan? I could... Dig a moat!"

His ears perk up as he looks between the other three around him. Harrow is an eager follower ready for advice and instruction, and he's not above taking orders from a child.

[shardofwinter]

Reynard is crafting a perfect snowball, debating on which fort to join when Jim calls over. He can't help himself.

"Us versus them!" He would move closer but that would give him less reason to yell and make it less likely that the competition would hear his jabs. "They might have a chance if they team up with a lot more people!"

He'll give Verity a wink and a tip of his hat as he strides on over to Jim. "Shall we build a fort?"

[smartass_captain]

Jim waits until Reynard gets close before grinning nearly evilly.

"If they get the drop on us with numbers, I have a particular reinforcement we can call in. Because what kind of war is it without backup?" Jim snorts and moves to adjust his gloves.

"We're gonna need a lot of snow. Leave the outer walls to me. I'm pretty good at this sort of thing. Lots of practice. How big do we want it? Keep in mind we may need to house three people here." JUst what do you have planned, Jim?

[shardofwinter]

"I'm not too worried about numbers." He's not worried at all. This is delightful! Still he reassuringly pats Jim on the shoulder twice with cold, cold hands. "Big enough to move around without bumping each other, but small enough not to have too many weaknesses. Would you like to outline the plans or shall I?"

[smartass_captain]

"You're the expert on snow, Reynard." Jim looks downright devious as he starts mapping out in his head where the walls are going to go. "Got a plan for offense? I figure we need some sturdy walls, and a lookout tower. Especially if I need to fall back on Plan B."

Jim drags his boot through the snow, outlining a rough idea of the dimensions of the outer walls for Reynard to see too.

[shardofwinter]

"Sturdy walls with ice grids to reinforce them. And I have a few ideas for the offensive. Slopes in the walls to help roll down snow boulders, for example, and heavy artillery if we really need it." He folds his arms and leans closer with a smile. "It wouldn't be fair if we didn't let them put up a bit of a fight."

He claps his hands together then. "Come on! We'd best get started! I'll fix any of your mistakes, don't worry!"

[smartass_captain]

"I'll have you know I am an expert in building snow forts, by human standards. Also, keep in mind one of our opponents is a kid, okay? I'm not going to deal with verity biting my head off because we rolled a goddamn boulder at him!" It's big talk for a pathetic human, but Jim doesn't disappoint. The walls are thick and packed tightly and he works at a good speed.

Someone's had to survive in a frozen wasteland before, clearly.

"And speaking of heavy artillery plan B is my brother. The archer?" Jim grins evilly. "Ranged projectiles plus sharpshooter? Oh, we'll be golden."

[shardofwinter]

"I'm keeping that in mind, that's why I'm reinforcing our walls. I'm not losing because we let a child dig a hole through our defences." It's hard to tell whether it's entirely in jest that he tips his head at Jim. "Don't think he'll show us any such mercy. He'd throw a snow boulder at us in a heartbeat, I'd wager. Besides, the anti-violence field is still here."

While Jim gets started on the walls, Reynard starts on the tower. Snow is very conveniently falling to refill his piles and it's taking him surprisingly little time. "Wonderful! As long as he gets here in good time. A late backup is no backup at all."

[smartass_captain]

"Oh, yeah." Jim bites at the middles finger if his glove and pulls it off in a sweep before reaching into his pockets underneath his coat and coming out with a phone. He hopes Clint is awake this time.

"....Hey Clint? Everything's okay, you up?"