GBG Session 14.5: Never Trust a Snowman

<Darkling> At least getting picked up by Lit instead of Madeline had it's perks. No getting yelled at, just concern for your safety.
<Darkling> After a very brief lecture, and thanks for keeping what other students alive you could, Lit took you home, made you some dinner, and went to work on a report in his office.
<Darkling> With the dwindling light outside and some light snowfall, you're left to your own devices.
Rasia picks at her plate, something occupying her mind. She almost looks perturbed, but surely she's seen far worse violence before...
Wilhelm_Faustus pushes his plate in Rasia's direction before standing, moving to look outside at the falling snow.
<Darkling> Ivy is busy typing away on her own tablet, the smallest smile on her face. Something bothering her too it seems.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> Lahja is pacing about. Is it post-meal exercise? Stress? A random fit of energy? Who knows.
<Darkling> Ivy hits send, and sets her tablet down. "You guys don't seem alright."
Rasia looks up, licking at Wilhelm's plate.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> "My mother was kissing Joulupukki. What am I to do?" Lahja says in a voice of way over the top feigned distress.
<Darkling> She looks a bit bewildered at this.
Rasia sets her plates aside, licking her teeth, before creating a warm spot near Wilhelm.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> "I'm fine. Perfectly fine." Lahja insists, getting down on all fours and crawling over to the couch. "And you?"
Rasia watches Lahja, cocking her head. Aren't I the animal?
<Darkling> "A  bit confused. I got some odd emails from people back home, and now they aren't replying. But nothing of the magnitude of what happened to you today! Did you really see a Troll up close?!"
<Wilhelm_Faustus> "...yes, a fascinating if deadly experience." He continues to stare outside.
<Darkling> "And a giant worm Troll?" She seems excited about this. "I haven't heard of any worm-like Trolls being tracked at all recently."
<Rasia> "Hide under." She points down, at the ground.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> "Hel gave us back our tongues! Mreeowr!" And with that Lahja comes to a stand, opening and closing her mouth rapidly. "It was a hungry troll."
<Wilhelm_Faustus> "...recently? Where have there been others like it?"
<Darkling> She watches Lahja with a grin on her face before answering. "There was one reported in Siberia. Maybe it's the same one?"
<Lahja_Ilvainen> "That would be very interesting. They might be the same species." And then after a pause. "Do you normally keep track of troll trackings?"
<Wilhelm_Faustus> "Siberia? Theres...hm."
<Darkling> "I got to see reports of them sometimes. There was one we tracked in the water too, but it stayed mostly away from civilization."
<Lahja_Ilvainen> "Aquatic trolls! I was wondering if those really existed." She makes a fish face.
<Darkling> "They do! It was like a giant sea serpent almost." She starts tapping through files on her tablet and brings up a murky picture of it.
Rasia simply...stares at Lahja.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> Lahja moves over to look at it. She tilts her head to look at it from different angles. "Too bad the picture quality of it isn't better. It looks neat. It might even be easier to capture than other trolls."
<Wilhelm_Faustus> "Don't say that where Corrin can hear." He snorts.
<Darkling> "I think Lit said he was at the base talking to a doctor again." Ivy smiles. "So we're safe."
<Darkling> Some children run past on the street, throwing snowballs at each other and being overly loud.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> "So what was weird about those emails? Did they tell you to forward it to ten people by midnight or you'd wake up with hair on your chest?"
<Darkling> "I would hope not! I couldn't stand a hairy chest." She looks down at herself. "Just... ew. Nothing like that though. Just some people I liked got fired for no apparent reason after some accident."
<Rasia> "Rr?"
<Lahja_Ilvainen> "That's not so bad, then." Lahja says, her lips twitching. Was that a smile or an attempt at faking one crashing and burning? "It's not like they got eaten by trolls!"
<Darkling> "No, just a small explosion. I don't think anyone got hurt either. I don't know."
<Lahja_Ilvainen> Lahja deflates after that, abruptly settling down from her elevated mood. "That's not so bad, then."
Rasia scratches her head. Lahja has become very strange...maybe it's like how I feel after a kill, just...different.
<Darkling> "It doesn't make sense though, stuff like that happened all the time." She sighs, and though smiling she's clearly concerned.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> "There were explosions there all the time?"
<Darkling> "Yeah, they conduct a lot of experiments there. I think they're working on some sort of new energy type for us right now, and that's what blew up."
<Lahja_Ilvainen> Lahja perks up again. It's not as drastic and turns out to be shortlived, but it's there. "A new energy type? I really hope something useful comes of that."
<Darkling> "And don't worry Lahja, your mother is alright. She was nowhere near the blast."
<Lahja_Ilvainen> "Hm? I hadn't even thought of that... but that's good to know. I won't worry." She forces a smile, imagining a chunk of shrapnel crashing through a roof. And then weird radiation effects. And toxins in the air.
Rasia scratches her cheek, murmuring to Wilhelm.
<Darkling> "Alright then." She gets up with her tablet. "I'm going for a shower before it's too late. I'll be back!" And then she sprints out of the room.
<Wilhelm_Faustus> He mumbles something back to Rasia.
<Darkling> You hear the shower start up down the hall.
<Wilhelm_Faustus> He stifles a yawn, moving from the balcony door to sitting on the couch.
Rasia clicks her teeth. "Shower..."
<Lahja_Ilvainen> Lahja waves absently and a bit late, distracted by a combination of thoughts. And new energy. "That's pretty neat, don't you think? I hope it's for a weapon."
<Rasia> "No guns on mine."# Rasia points out.
<Wilhelm_Faustus> "It could be any number of things."
<Wilhelm_Faustus> "I'm more interested in her Aesir. It was able to move without an umbilical cord."
<Lahja_Ilvainen> "That's really weird. Those cords are really weird, too. I didn't think much of them at first, but now that I've heard they're alive..."
Rasia looks at her hand. "Leash?"
<Wilhelm_Faustus> "That's probably it, Rasia."
<Lahja_Ilvainen> "I was thinking of it as some giant feeding tube that was pumping them full of mashed up cows or whatever."
<Wilhelm_Faustus> "Considering they are used to fight the Jotunn, they may in fact be very much like them. In that case they don't need food, their Core provides them with everything they need. What if the Aesir were somehow restricted from drawing energy from their own Core, thus requiring the umbilical cables? Not a bad form of control."
<Lahja_Ilvainen> "I guess that makes sense, if they think we'll go crazy or go on a destructive rampage. Maybe Ivy's has some other sort of control in the event of an emergency? Like she's got a bomb inside of her?" It makes entirely too much sense to Lahja, momentarily considering Ivy as a part of some parental plot for revenge. She twitches.
<Darkling> The shower sounds stop.
<Darkling> Some whistling down the hall and a door click.
<Wilhelm_Faustus> He rests his head back, closing his eyes.
Rasia clicks her teeth, touching her lip. #5"Hope enemy soon."
<Darkling> Another door click and Ivy comes out in some pajamas. "Anyone care to join me on the roof?"
<Lahja_Ilvainen> "That would be nice." Lahja says wistfully in response to Rasia, imagining shooting giant worms that aren't attached to Null Vier's legs.
<Wilhelm_Faustus> Rather than give a real answer he's already out the balcony door and moving up the ladder.
<Rasia> Rasia gives chase!
<Darkling> "You coming Lahja?" She holds out a hand to you.
<Wilhelm_Faustus> He stands at the edge, away from the ladder, and looks out over the dome before his gaze inevitably rises to the sky beyond.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> Lahja comes out of her little daydream and takes the offered hand after giving it a suspicious stare that may or may not have been playful. "Might as well get some fresh air before bedtime."
<Darkling> Her eyes brighten enormously and she drags you out onto the balcony and up the ladder.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> Up the ladder she goes. And then she tilts her head far back to look up at the sky, wondering how they can manage to stare at something for so long night after night when it isn't bleeding.
<Rasia> Given Rasia's inclinations, it's more of a wonder that she doesn't howl at it.
<Darkling> Ivy lays down on the roof, rolling in the bit of snow covering it, squealing slightly.
Rasia squats down, whumpfing into the snow on her belly.
<Wilhelm_Faustus> Well, believeing Wil is a moon alien, isn't it likely he longs for his home planer?
<Wilhelm_Faustus> planet*
<Lahja_Ilvainen> Lahja sits down, gathering up snow into little snowballs. She places them in front of herself in a line.
Rasia rolls over onto her back, staring up at the moon. #5"Mrh~"
<Darkling> "It's such a lovely night." Ivy says, hushed.
<Darkling> She rolls a bit, almost snuggling against Lahja's leg. "Have you ever made a snowman?"
<Wilhelm_Faustus> Eventually he sits, legs dangling over the edge of the roof.
<Rasia> Crunch, crunch, crunch. Rasia makes her way over to Wilhelm, creating two pairs.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> "I'm doing that now, actually." Lahja says absently, periodically looking up at the sky. "I was just thinking of the stars as people with giant flashlights in their mouths."
<Wilhelm_Faustus> He falls onto his back, arms spread out to the sides. "People with...what?"
Rasia opens her mouth, looking up at the stars. Huh. And here I thought they were eyes.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> "Giant flashlights stuck in their mouths." Lahja says as if it were a perfectly normal thing. She opens her mouth wide, then goes through the motions of putting a flashlight in it.
<Wilhelm_Faustus> "Dying stars and planets, some of them may even have been teaming with life, aeons ago."
<Darkling> "You don't always have to be so technical, do you?" Ivy props her head up looking at Wilhelm.
<Wilhelm_Faustus> "Just the way I was raised."
<Darkling> "A little bit of imagination never hurt anyone, and it's just another form of broad thinking."
<Lahja_Ilvainen> Lahja stacks the little snowballs on top of each other. Then she pokes holes into the top one for eyes. "It's a snowmidget amputee with his nose cut off."
<Darkling> "How terrible!"
<Lahja_Ilvainen> "He needs immediate medical attention."
<Darkling> "I hope he doesn't commit suicide!" She looks to the edge of the roof.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> "Don't worry. He hasn't got any legs."
<Rasia> "Eat." Rasia points out, given the snowman's helplessness.
<Wilhelm_Faustus> A cold hand, wet with snow, touches the small of Rasia's back.
<Rasia> She squeals, sitting up straight.
<Wilhelm_Faustus> A brief fit of snickering, hand burying itself back in the snow.
Rasia swats at the boy, 'splashing' snow onto him.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> Lahja looks down at the snowman, then to Rasia, then back to the snowman. "I don't think I could manage to cook a snowman right..."
<Darkling> "You could eat him raw, jsut be careful of brain freeze."
<Wilhelm_Faustus> He sits up, brushing the snow off with an indignant look. He smirks and nudges her though, before working to form a snowball.
Rasia stares, uncomprehending.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> Lahja stares at the snowman and picks it up. Then she chomps down on the head to take a bite out of it whilst staring at Ivy.
<Wilhelm_Faustus> He leans forward to see the sidewalk below and drops it. His lips move as he counts, timing its fall.
<Darkling> She grins watching. "Taste good?"
<Lahja_Ilvainen> Lahja chews on the snow for a while before answering. "It would be better if I gave him raspberries or something for brains." She offers the snowman to Ivy.
<Darkling> She takes him, giving what's left a lick. "I agree. Tastes a little plain."
Rasia clicks her teeth, watching the bizarre rituals everyone else is enacting.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> Lahja is mildly relieved to still have her hands. "You hear that, snowman? She said you taste plain."
<Darkling> She takes a second lick, then chomps down on the snowman and holds it back up to Lahja.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> She takes what's left of the snowman, letting out an overdramatic sigh. "Poor snowman. Even if he wanted to off himself now and had legs to jump he wouldn't be able to see his way off the edge of the building."
<Wilhelm_Faustus> Already bored he returns to laying back on the snowy roof.
<Rasia> Patience run out, Rasia lets loose a playful snarl and runs for the girls.
<Darkling> A yelp from Ivy.
<Rasia> She's taking it easy, Lahja, having apparently learned the distinction between wrestling and strangling, but that doesn't stop it from hurting a little.
<Darkling> Ivy rolls away from the two, trying to distance herself.
<Rasia> Nope. Get back here, moon alien.
<Darkling> She yelps again, tossing snow up to distract.
Wilhelm_Faustus sits up and turns to watch from a safe distance.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> Lahja flails around rather futilely for a while, still rather lost when it came to grappling and close quarters combat, playful or not.
<Rasia> The slippery terrain probably isn't helping anyone, skilled or otherwise.
<Darkling> Ivy is almost in hysterics. She doesn't seem to know how to fight or wrestle at all, and is just happy to be included.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> Lahja eventually starts to think of it as a learning experience, hard knocks and all. She's still pretty inept, but at least she's being more deliberate in her struggling. "Hey... Rasia?"
<Rasia> "Lahja?" She replies, trying to get Ivy into a half-nelson.
<Darkling> "Erp-" Ivy seems to be stuck in Rasia's grip.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> "Want to go get some water guns sometime?" she says in between the occasional gasp, the combination of cold and exertion gradually getting to her. "I'll give you some shooting tips since we've been having these wrestling matches lately that are helping me get stronger."
<Rasia> Hmm. Lit gave her a gun to practice with, but that wasn't...much of a shooting lesson. She nods, pushing on Ivy's back until it pops before going for Lahja's arm.
<Darkling> Ivy rolls away again, not making itfar before stopping on her back.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> "Great!" Lahja says cheerfully, making a thumbs up toward Rasia, blissfully unaware of what a bad idea that was until it was too late.
<Wilhelm_Faustus> After watching a few more minutes the Aryan stands and brushes himself off, then heads down the ladder. Let the girls have their fun, he's going to go brood.
<Darkling> Ivy gets up after Wilhelm has gone, brushing herself off and readjusting her pajamas.
<Darkling> "I think Wilhelm has the right idea. I'm feeling sleepy." She stretches. "I will see you in bed Lahja!" Down the ladder she goes.
<Rasia> In the midst of chewing on Lahja's hair while twisting her arm, the departure of her toys catches her attention. "Rr? Ivy bed?" She asks Lahja, after Ivy departs.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> "Good night, Ivy! Sweet dreams!" Lahja says in a peculiar tone, being both slightly cheerful and not so slightly uncomfortable thanks to having her arm twisted. "We share a room. Sometimes we talk about stuff before we sleep."
<Rasia> A quiet nod. She rolls off. "Wilhelm, Rasia talk."
<Lahja_Ilvainen> Lahja rubs at her shoulder, taking a deep breath. "Ever talk about anything interesting?"
Rasia giggles, sitting up and staring at the moon. She almost sounds giddy to think about it. "Wilhelm. Rasia. Umh~"
<Lahja_Ilvainen> Giggly Rasia. That was kind of new to Lahja. It puts her in a slightly chipper and playful mood, prompting her to narrow her eyes a bit and make kissing noises. "Wilhelm kissy Rasia?"
<Rasia> Her face colors, and she laughs some more. "Yes!"
<Lahja_Ilvainen> "Kissy Rasia! Kissy Wilhelm!" Lahja laughs as well, then wags her finger playfully at her fellow pilot. She halfway expects to wake up and hear something about cow gas at the rate things are going.
<Rasia> The poor girl covers her face, embarrassment apparently something new for her to deal with. Squirming in place, she lets the moment pass, the occasional laugh still bubbling up.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> Lahja stands, taking on a rigid posture and a comically stern and sour expression. It's unmistakably Pilon, which becomes even more apparent after she speaks. "That is inappropriate behavior, young lady. Back when I was an Aesir pilot such things were unheard of!"
<Rasia> Another fit of giggles overtakes Rasia, probably due to already being primed. By the time she recovers enough to get to her feet, her eyes are shining.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> "You think about what you've done, young lady. I'm going to go suck on a lemon!"
Rasia manages to contain herself, at least, still filling the roof with a bout of laughter. She gives Lahja a gentle shove.
<Lahja_Ilvainen> Lahja cracks a grin, settling into a more normal and relaxed posture after the shove. "I shouldn't keep you from your kissy kissy any longer. So good night!" She lets out a devious little giggle as she scurries off to the ladder and down to the balcony.
<Rasia> Rasia, after her stomach stops hurting, clambers down last.