Closed Go Frost Yourself (Aoren)

[Adrien Dair]

Adrien could feel the eyes of the Konti burning in his own. Her gaze locked on his face to avoid roaming else where. He watched her turn and smiled as she did so. Not understand the why she was so locked on his face like she was. They both had relaxed a bit after he had changed and redressed himself. Aoren was no longer looking like he was going to attack Adrien and for that he smiled.

"For scaring you and Aoren. That is why I am asking for your forgiveness" he said with a slight nod. Adrien turned his attention back towards Aoren as he stepped closer to him. Ready to hear what the man had to say, the rhino was taken by surprise when he heard a thud accompanied by a grunt. The girl that was with them had fallen onto her rear. Adrien tilted his head sideways and began to speak. "Are you al-" he stopped as Aoren cut him off. Saying something about a duck, the confused man looked towards Aoren only to get hit square on the nose with a clump of powdered snow. Taking a step back he wiped it off of his face. Looking at the Konti with a look of confusion. The Aoren spoke up. Speaking of accepting a challenge.

Before he knew it snowballs were flying through the air. Confused Adrien reached for his bag and then took off running trying his best to avoid getting hit. He did his best as he slid in the snow falling on his face. "Gah!" he said spitting out snow. He scooped some of the powder up returning fire at the two before he had a brilliant idea. He quickly sat to removing his close stuffing them into the bag. He shoveled away some snow to make a dry spot for him to set it down and the man changed again. Back to the Rhino form he had approached them in.

He trotted towards Eselle and stopped in front of her. Using his body to defend her from Aorens attacked. He twisted his head motioning for her to hop on his back so they could launch an attack on Aoren. If she accepted he would run towards Aoren, trying to make him fall into the snow. Then he would use his horn to shovel snow onto the man while Eselle could jump off and throw snowballs at him or just laugh from above.

[Eselle]


Aoren had reacted quicker to the game, than Eselle had foreseen. The mushy projectile smashed into her abdomen with shocking chill. The cloak had warmed her more than she realized. The Konti snatched up the remainder of the snowball from her shirt and pilled it together with more snow from the ground. As she rose to throw again, the Rhino was back and standing right infront of her.

Simon had stood back, his reins once again grounded but out of the way of the flurry. Eselle caught on quickly all the same, the Knight’s could ride on steeds into battle, so why not a Konti on a Rhino with a snowball? She put the snow into her blouse and pulled up the bottom to make a small pouch. Trying to hold on to the blouse and climb on to the Rhino turned out to be an awkward situation, but the Konti eventually managed the uneasy seat. With no reins, pummel, or saddle though she was at the mercy of gravity. Her thighs clenched as hard as she could around the Rhino’s sides just behind his shoulders.Her only free hand grasped at the rough skin of his neck trying to hold on to any purchase she could find.

The ride was blissfully short, as the distance closed between her original place and Aoren’s. She dumped her stored snow down on the Drykas, but as soon as the Kelvic began to push the snow around with his horn she promptly toppled over and on to the ground again. Again on the ground, this time she just started laughing. Futilely she pushed a few more piles of snow at the men, but mostly she clutched her stomach. The laughs shaking her entire pale frame.

As the wracking laughs finally subsided the Konti lay back in the slushy snow and sand, trying to catch her breath. The running and laughing and driven away all thoughts of the chill. She almost felt like she might be sweating, but who could tell at this point? Eselle had only just rolled back up into a sit, reading to dusty herself off when Aoren’s retaliation came...

[Aoren]

Aoren ducked his head as another snowball was flung in his direction. It struck him on the side breaking apart against his flank. He laughed feeling the cold sink into his body eliciting a shiver. Unfurling from his shielded stance he was midway through the motion of chucking another one of his frozen projectiles when he went wide-eyed. Aoren’s mouth fell open. A dumfounded expression plastered itself on his face at possibly the oddest thing he had ever seen in his life. A Konti astride a rhino pelting snowballs in his direction.

“Oh shyke…” Within moments a veritable wave of sand and snow was flung in Aoren’s direction. He stumbled back curling up to shield himself from the onslaught. Within moments he felt the freezing cold deluge of snow tumble down upon him. The upper portion of his body was buried in sand and snow leaving only his legs visible. Aoren shifted under the snow letting out a muffled grunt. The result was his arms jutting out of a mound of snow with the tufts of his hair sticking up. He shivered after just a few moments.

“Okay…how do I…? Oh. Right.” Aoren was struck with a thought then. He was a reimancer. Not only that he was a reimancer who was most extensively practiced in the elements of air and water and was frequently prone to manipulating ice. It occurred to him then that snow was little more than just frozen water. Though he was cold and beginning to shiver the Drykas man reached for his djed bringing it to his mouth as a liquid. Shifting his head so that he could breathe more easily he pushed the res out of his mouth essentially spitting it into the snow in rhythm with his exhalation. He produced enough res to equate to a small puddle then took hold of the res with an exertion of his will. With a forceful push of his thoughts Aoren propelled his res forward. The res pulled a greater majority of the snow off of him as he sat up.

He had no idea where Adrien and Eselle were as he lifted himself up but simply compelled the res to fly forward in the direction immediately in front of him. As he sat up he nodded his head transmuting the res into air and expanding it outward. The clump of snow pulled off of Aoren burst a few feet above all of their heads raining snow upon them. He blinked at both the rhino and the Konti giving them a sheepish smile before reaching up to rub at the back of his head. Isikai darted toward Aoren jumping onto the Drykas man sending him toppling back onto the ground.

“Ah! Isikai!” Aoren laughed as his dog and he partook in a bit of roughhousing before he managed to untangle himself. Rising to his feet a little unsteady, Aoren looked at the other two. His clothes were wet, he had sand sticking to his pants and over his back, there were clumps of it in his hair with snow slowly sliding off. Most prominent though was the big grin on Aoren’s face despite the redness of his hands and across his cheeks from the cold.

“S-so! Hot tea anyone?” He laughed softly. The question was made mostly in jest but he had to admit that the idea of a warm fire, hot tea, and good food was very tempting. It would at least give him a chance to warm up from the impromptu wintery skirmish that just took place.

[Adrien Dair]

The Rhino could not help but smile. His plan had worked to perfection. He looked down at the pile of snow and sand that was now Aoren. Watching him shift until he was in an even more awkward position. He pushed a little more snow and sand onto his legs and then he turned his head so he could to look at the Konti showing the awkward smile that was on his face. He walked over to his bag, picking it up in his mouth and walked back towards the two. The Konti rolling in the snow laughing and Aoren bursting himself out. The slush raining down on the rhino left it on his side. Leaving traces of sand and snow that stuck to his body. He shook his massive frame sending the bits flying.

He looked back at the man who sat up with a sheepish smile. The the charging of fur rushed passed him and jumped on Aoren sending him back into the snow. The act caused the Rhino to blow air out of his nose in a laugh like thing attempt. Dropping his bag as he did. He shook his head awkwardly and looked back up at them. He changed back into his human form and got redressed. Pulling his coat tightly against his body. He reached down to grab his back, making sure that it was closed and threw it over his shoulder. He looked at Aoren and laughed. "You only want hot tea because you lost" he teased. He looked over at the Konti and smiled. "Do I still scare you?" He stretched out and yawned. He had gotten more exercise then he thought he would. It was not everyday that one was under a fury of flying snow in an epic battle of arctic warfare but he was sure that he had won.

"But if you do want tea, we could head to the Sanctuary. I am sure Kavala would not mind" he said. A shrug of sorts as he walked over to Aoren. "Get you dried off anyway. Would not want you to freeze. Frost bite can be nasty" he teased again. He walked in between Aoren and Eselle and began walking in the direction of the Sanctuary. "Are you two coming?" he yelled out, looking over his shoulder.

[Eselle]

The whole sky was fluffy whites and porcelain blues, as the Konti lay on her back in the snow. Immediately and unexpectedly it went black. An inch of snow piled over the prone woman, who promptly sat up bewildered. Running her chilled hands through her hair she knocked free as much snow as she could. Eselle hopped up onto her feet, and wiggled to send the mushy frost back to the ground. While it worked for the snow, a thick layer of sand still coated… well, everything. “Tea would be a blessing.” She nodded. “But first, I need to take Simon back.”

Beginning to shiver the woman headed for horse who had wisely angled himself from the romping. Not wanting to get his saddle and back as soaked as she was the Konti just picked up his reins and lead him back towards the two men. “Sanctuary will be closer than Riverfall, besides I need to return Simon to his stall.”

Shaking her head, with a content smile, Eselle answered. “No you don’t scare me now. Isn’t it cold with no fur? Animals without scales or feathers, have fur but you had none.” Walking Simon around to head back to Sanctuary, she looked over appraising the Kelvic fairly now that he possessed clothing.

Simon seemed content to not touch his sodden friend for now. Mostly he wasn’t prissy, Eselle errantly guessed he was jealous for not getting to play, but couldn’t say for sure. He had something of a stressful day though so the Konti just wanted to get him back to his stall. Curiously, she wondered if the Rhino was Simon’s neighbor.

The people that were shaping up as her friends in Riverfall all had their own strengths and shortcomings, the seer was beginning to think if she ever got a new Tarot deck made by Dandi there would be a special request attached. Put a symbol of each of these people on a card they embody let these people become guides. Before that fanciful option could hold any merit though, she would need to know them better. “Aoren, is the Sanctuary alright? It is a nice place but its not very near the city, especially not in the snow.”

As the trio walk together, Eselle began to notice the details her romp had hidden from her. First she realized that Simon’s legs were wet, and in this cold morning, that couldn’t be healthy. Before she any tea the horse would get warmed up, brushed and fed. It was only fair. Her eyes continued to wander over her companions. Aoren who she couldn’t seem to recall. Though she did recall that she didn’t remember him, which in a strange way was comforting. At least it wasn’t just a void of memory altogether. As for Adrien, who she knew from the Sanctuary, well she had seen more of him today than ever before. The term Rhino had held no significance prior to today, she’d never seen one in flesh or drawn. It was a wholly alien animal to the islander.

“Today is a good day to sit down and talk I think.” Her mind slowly curled back to her second impression of Aoren. “Perhaps over the tea and after we warm up, I could read the cards for you. Today is important for fortune telling because it is the last day before Winter.”