lifeaftr | I get a little warm in my heart [mingle log]

I get a little warm in my heart [mingle log]

Who: anyone looking for some wintery fun!
What: admiring mysterious icy artwork, warming up by campfires, making a fool of yourself while ice skating, snowball fights?? it's a snow party!
When: Jan 14 and on
Where: Enso, in and around the temple ruins
Warnings: snow-based violence

When you've had to deal with a literal apocalypse every single year for a hundred years, a little battle for the sun isn't really gonna grind your gears that much. Sure, the elf twins are still nobly doing their part every day. Lup is keeping several small campfires going inside the temple ruins, as well as periodically blasting two large stone slabs in the main chamber with a Fireball - those babies radiate heat for hours afterwards. And Taako is graciously handing out truly delicious soup from a huge bowl to anyone who asks nicely. Island Walmart is still a thing too, the large scrawled sign declaring this month's name to be The Hot Spot. Looks like it was Lup's turn on the naming.

But they're also just kinda bored of the whole thing? Like, everyone's so focused on preparing, on gathering and planning and training. There's a place for that, and Lup is pretty psyched for the actual fighting, but this pall of doom and purpose that's fallen over the islands as heavily as the snow? Neither of them is here for that.

So anyone who makes their way up to the temple will not only find the usual warm respite from the freezing temperatures, but also - a ten foot tall ice sculpture of a majestic as fuck unicorn rearing on its hind legs. And a smaller one of a figure with long ears hiding its face in the crook of its elbow, arms pointing upwards ~~do we have a single modern day character who knows what dabbing is~~. Off to the side in a clearing, there's a twenty foot circle of clear ice that's just begging to be skated on. Just don't admire the artwork for too long, or you're gonna get noscoped with a snowball by a pair of horrible winter goblins.

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[Yeah. No answer.

He probably deserved that. And since the Batter has the advantage of a face that legitimately can't emote, he just...doesn't say anything for a moment.]

No. [The kind of rainbows he was looking for couldn't be found here.] I have not seen snow before.

[Just ash.]

[The bits she knows of him now, pieces she wish she hadn't seen, and the aspects of his life she knew before-

It makes her sad.

A world with no flowers and snow inhabited by a man consumed by a purpose that didn't feel like wholly his, if his heart was any indication of that. His words cause some of her fear to disappear, as she's reminded why his memory was so jarring to begin with.

Because to her, he's just a man that wants to see rainbows and snow, so he can form a real smile for the first time. ]

Do you like it?

I don't know.

[Although he doesn't sound sad. It's more do to a lack of exposure to form an opinion on the subject this time. The Batter didn't really poke around in the snow until it really started going.

But he can feel it. The purifier's arms were comically long in this form and if he didn't make the effort to keep his hands curl, his knuckles would drag on the ground. So he simply presses his palms into the snow.]

It's cold.

[The way his clawed hands start to move grabs her attention immediately. It's not a sudden movement, she can see he's taking care to avoid that, but it's still strange.

And in response to that obvious statement, she holds up her hands, about to explain that gloves can help when-

Well, do they have gloves for hands like that? She's not sure and quickly drops them back down. Instead, she offers some insight into what seems to be a universally adored aspect of the newly fallen snow.]

You can make fun things with it.

[You'd be surprised Ren. Perspectives play into this as much as you want them to. There's a reason his clothing hasn't suffered any apparent damage in this form, after all.]

Like what?

[You can't make anything with ash, so he's got nothing. Aside from, you know, never wanting to do anything with it to begin with, prior to coming here.]

[Like what? She can think of a number of ways to have fun-making a snowslime snowman, rekindling the feeling of playing baseball by throwing snowballs, rolling in the snow because it's soft and fluffy and cold tickles her skin. He could even 'dab' if he wanted.

She pushes a clump of snow together, forming it into another ball between her hands and holds it up above her head, like she's going to toss it his way.]

You can throw it far and hit things or-

[And instead of throwing, she plops it right onto one of her snowpiles]

You make a snowperson.

[Perhaps the Batter just isn't that creative when it comes to doing things with new sensations or objects. Purity was a simple white and what he had strive for since the beginning. The explosion of color that this place offered and reveled in was another thing.

He probably looked like an ink-stained monster. Metaphorically.]

Snowperson?

[That sounds interesting.]

[The nod she gives him is somewhat hesitant, like a part of her is hoping that movement is enough to make him go 'Oh yes, I understand now. Snowperson.'

But she knows that won't work. It wouldn't be enough of an explanation for her and she presses the palms of her hand into the ball, making huge eyes that might mimic Batter's own large ones.

Then uses her finger to make the world's largest snowball mouth. Naturally, it's smiling, even if the Batter isn't.]

Like that.

[He has to squint but he soon gets the idea behind it. Interesting.

Unfortunately when the Batter tries, he can't work the snow into a ball with his clawed hands, so he settles for something else. The purifier instead draws something in the snow. A flower.

Ta-da.]

Snow pictures.

[That flower has power and one of its divine abilities is making Ren finally move from her spot. She pushes herself up from the snow to get a closer look at the image, ignoring the pins and needles in her legs as she does so.]

It's pretty.

[He did a surprisingly good job.]

Did drawing that make you happy?

[Well that's something. But Ren's also still asking a question that he sure doesn't have an answer to.]

I don't know.

[He's been saying this a lot lately.]

There is something. But I don't know what it is.

[It's strange he can't pinpoint what he's feeling. Again, it's simple to her. She's happy. She's sad. Basic stuff she can tell in a moment and sometimes feel in the people around her.

Ren hesitates, waiting to see if something will come to her if she stares at him long enough, but it doesn't.]

You should draw more things.

[Hum.

He gives it another try, drawing something that looks like the sun. However, as childish as it looks, there's a point.

The 'tendrils' of rays coming from the sun loop around each other, in a circle over and over. A design close to what the Batter half-remembers of the Queen's hair.

...not helping.]

Do you have any suggestions?

[There might be a point to his doodle, but it's not one Ren can fathom on her own and she doesn't particularly need to. Swirls and dots and all kinds of random shapes have formed from her own chalk covered hands and they made her happy regardless. Picasso did it, why can't they?

Still, his request is a surprise and is met with an immediate-]

A cat.

[If Ren thinks back, she may be able to place it within the memory of two people fighting to the death. But the Batter isn't particularly willing to go down that path so he won't comment on it.

Her suggestion, on the other hand...so much for not thinking about it.]

...I'll try.

[And try he does. It's pretty misshapen due to his claws, but the final product is passable. However he doesn't draw the cat a face.

Because. Just because.]

[ESP kitty is napping by a fire towards the temple entrance. It's far, but close enough she can see the glint in his eye when he looks up from his nap. She almost tells Batter to look over there-because the cat is good, but it's lacking parts to it and she can only assume he forgot. But she doesn't want to call attention to her snoozing friend.

Cautiously, she leans forward. It's safe here. It's fine because the elves are nearby and a cat is content enough to sleep through all this noise. Even Batter is fine right now-he's drawing images in the ground because he doesn't know if he likes snow in the same way he enjoys rainbows. It's why she's able to take her eyes off him, off his claws and help.

She shoves her finger into the drawing, where the face should be, and drags it through the snow to make a pair of eyes, some whiskers on its cheeks and above the eyes, a little nose-perfect.]

You did very good. This is a pretty cat.

[The Batter actually draws his hand back when Ren starts poking around the drawing, not wanting her to come in contact with the claws. He was even more of a weapon in this form. And he's not up to explaining to someone if they saw Ren 'cut' herself on his fingers.

Perspectives, as always, remain a complicated business.

He watches her add features to the drawing of the cat. The Batter can't call himself detached during the process - that state of mind seemed impossible to achieve anymore for him - but he doesn't comment on Ren's statement that it's a 'pretty cat' beyond a noise of agreement.

It is pretty. But if he thought about it too hard, like always, his thoughts would spiral. And nobody needed to deal with that.]

[It's a jarring experience to deal with him. Between the man she knows and the one she saw in the memory, between the shadow of a person she sees on the ground and the monster in front of her-she doesn't know how to deal with it.

And so, she doesn't think on it. On any of it. Not how he reminds her of Shin. Not the way he takes his hand away, like he's afraid she might get hurt-like he heard the lingering fear in her heart.

No, she really doesn't want to think on it and instead, she hides her worries in snow doodles. The affirmation, small as it was, is enough to make her continue on. For however long the Batter wants to stay, he'll find the images begin to shift away from cats and flowers to baseballs and vague arcs that would resemble rainbows if there were any color to them.]

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I get a little warm in my heart [mingle log]

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