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

[hellawrath]

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.

Comments

[unpurify]

[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?

[catpiper]

[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.

[unpurify]

[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.]

[catpiper]

[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.

[unpurify]

[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.]

[catpiper]

[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.]