♤ In a Winter Wonderland

[deal_me_in]

WHO: Cayde-6 and yoooou
WHERE: The Deep End and around Temba in general
WHAT: Snowmen invasion and bar hangout times
WHEN: Mid to late January
WARNINGS: N/A
NOTES: Will match pose pref!


Ramen Bar
There's a crude wooden sign that's been stuck in the snow just outside of the Tower Residences out in the orange district. It has a picture of a bowl of ramen, for those in the know. An extra sign's been hung up outside of the doorway- within the hallway of one of the middling floors should one be curious enough to seek it out. Of course, it might be a surprise for those who frequent The Deep End to realize that it's the bar that's advertising ramen.

It's not a crafty ploy to draw in people! There's a paper sign folded there on the bar counter that proclaims a special for spicy ramen(!) (instant), and (frozen) pizza. Cayde's not far, either heating up some water or throwing darts at the crooked dart board on the wall or tapping at the fish in his little aquarium.


Attack of the Snowmen
Maybe you've seen them around. Maybe some of them even look familiar. Maybe one even looks like you!

They're not the most well-crafted snowmen, appearing like someone had been caught between a hasty job and a desire to add enough detail that would make them identifiable. Most of them seem to be built specifically within an area that a said person may frequent, either in passing or live nearby.

The culprit in question isn't really trying to be that covert about his operation. One might catch him in the act of packing snowballs or adding a few finishing touches in the form of leaves, twigs or pebbles to make your very own snow-you!


Wildcard
((OOC: Anything else you wanna do with the Hunter? Toss it right in here!))

Comments

Cup Noodles! (Ramen okay)

[ziedrich_bearer]

If there was one power that Gladio actually had that was all his own, it was a surprising and almost scary ability to find instant ramen. So here he was, finally discovering The Deep End. He smiled as he entered. The place must be a favorite of Noct's with the fish themeing. But Gladio? He loved the look of it, the clear signs of alcohol, and...

"Fuck yeah, spicy," Gladio said as he moved to the counter and looked at the figure heating up water. "Can I get a bowl? And whatever's good to drink?"

[deal_me_in]

"Sure thing! Coming right up," the hooded bartender chirped. His tone had a strange sort of echo to it, but the metal face and the glowing eyes with the light spilling out of his mouth when he spoke might be a surprise to anyone not expecting it.

Regardless, Cayde ducked down behind the counter, coming up with a large bowl. He set it to the side, checking the pot that sat on the portable burner before wandering off towards the backroom before returning with a small, rectangular package in his hand. "So, you're new," he said as he tore the thing open, dropping the block of dried noodles into the bubbling water.

[ziedrich_bearer]

Yeah, metal face, glowing eyes, light from the mouth, it's all very weird. It's beyond very weird.

This place has been full of weirdness lately. A lot of it actually.

"People keep saying that. Keeps being true," Gladio agreed, his attention on the noodles and not on staring at the guy. Better to keep a more subtle eye on him.

[deal_me_in]

The Exo took out a long pair of chopsticks to poke at the noodle block until it started to break up as it softened in the roiling water. "Can't fool anyone who hasn't been here a while, 'specially not when there's only so many people around," Cayde laughed.

He set the chopsticks aside and then went to pour Gladio a drink, sliding the glass over towards the man before he returned to the pot and after a few more pokes at the noodles, tore open a thin packet that had been with the initial noodle packaging, dumping its contents into the water as he turned down the heat.

[ziedrich_bearer]

Been here a while then? Maybe Gladio could learn new things from him then.

"Well, mister experienced, where'd you get the ramen? Wouldn't mind laying in a stock of my own, especially with how weird stuff is here anyway."

Cayde of course was included in the 'weird stuff'. Just like Iron Bull was.

[deal_me_in]

"A friend of mine claims a crate of it almost landed on his head," Cayde replied quite simply.

If that wasn't weird stuff, then he didn't know what was. "I have since liberated him of the offending crate." Which was to say, he took it, but Echo hadn't complained too much.

"Okay, should be done now!" He pulled the bowl over and transferred the ramen into it before setting it on the counter in front of Gladio. He grabbed another, more standard-sized pair of chopsticks from beneath the counter to set beside the bowl. Those he'd definitely carved himself, whittling and smoothing the ends down to fairly even points while leaving the other ends with their natural knots and twists.

[ziedrich_bearer]

"That would be one hell of a headache," GLadio laughed as he accepted his bowl. Nice. Damn nice. He grinned and took the chopsticks, and then paused.

These things were fucking awesome.

"Did someone here make these? They're fucking awesome."

Snowman!

[orangewayfinder]

Terra was going out to do his rounds It gave him exercise and even if he hadn't seen one yet, he was always on the lookout for a Heartless. So it didn't occur to him to look at much of anything in the snow.

He found that he liked hearing the crunch of the white stuff beneath his boots even if it was a little cold. But out of the corner of his eye he saw movement, and some twigs seemed to fall down. Going over to pick them back up after a moment, he saw that this snow..thing looked a little like him and even had his keyblade made from a stick tied with sticks on the end.

So he squatted down and took a good look before hearing a noise. "Who's there?"

Re: Snowman!

[deal_me_in]

Everything went very still as though collectively holding it breath.

"-uhhh, no one but us snowmen?" came the hesitant response.

[orangewayfinder]

"Snowmen?" Terra asked, pulling back a little bit. The voice didn't sound as if it was coming from the snowman itself so he pulled back. Sure talking things existed in his world, so this wouldn't really be anything unusual.

Except he couldn't locate the voice.

"Where are you?"

[deal_me_in]

"Pff, what of question is that?! I'm right in front of you!" insisted the snowman.

The voice might not exactly, sound like it was coming from the snowman, but it was still relatively close that it was a possibility. Mostly because the Hunter insisting on this silliness was sitting hunched behind the snowman itself.

[orangewayfinder]

"Really?" Terra asked, pulling back. He wasn't sure that snowmen could talk in this world. Of course that could be a possibility. The keyblade wielder knelt back down in front of the snowman and poked its little berry like nose.

This was interesting and he was almost amused.

[deal_me_in]

Cayde stifled a snicker, ducking his face against his shoulder. The snowman wasn't too wide, so it was possible the extra movement could be caught just beyond its peripheral.

"Hey- what're you doing there??"

Calvin and Hobbes lvl. 1

[on_repeat]

This was mostly unexpected. It was only the other day Echo saw nothing different about the outpost, but now there were two figures outside of it, one of which was in the middle of finishing the snowman he created. Silent bafflement allowed the plates of his armor room to creak at the slightest movement, his helmet tipping slightly forward as he looked from the pile of sculpted snow to Cayde.

"What's this?"

A standard question that hinted at mild curiosity while trying to place the artistically-rendered nuances he seemed to be missing.

but who's who

[deal_me_in]

"What, you never saw a snow-Echo before?"

Cayde didn't bother looking up from his work, meticulously setting the twigs he'd found for eyebrows to be at just the right judging angle...even if it was on a snow-fashioned helmet.

Cayde is Calvin, Echo is Hobbes?

[on_repeat]

No one needed to know his brow was mimicking the angle of the snow-Echo's twiggy eyebrows. Or the fact he was squinting at the Cayde's nonchalant admission.

"It looks nothing like me," came an obvious reply with dryness in reserve. "How much time did you spend on this?"

XD

[deal_me_in]

At that, Cayde turned with a scowl. "Wow, is that judgement I hear in your tone? Since when did you become an art critic? Let's see you make a snowman!" he huffed, setting his arms akimbo.

He glanced down as one of the twig eyebrows fell from its place. "...now look what you did."

[on_repeat]

"That I leave open to interpretation," Echo huffed a sigh, not even bothering to conceal the smirk as he said this. Hands on his hips, he took a second glimpse at the snowman, watching as the eyebrow fell off on an anti-climatic note.

And he snorted a soft laugh. "Don't be so dramatic, it's an easy fix." The clone then crouched down, resting an armored knee in the snow as he began gathering a small pile of it together.

[deal_me_in]

The Hunter rolled his eyes, only grinning once Echo turned his attention to the snow at their feet. He stooped down to pick up the wayward brow along with a handful of snow. Straightening back up, Cayde set the twig brow back in place, pushing into the snow helmet so it would stay. And then he glanced down at Echo.

...and tossed the handful of snow at the space between his helmet and collar, or as best as he could aim for it.

Snowmen!

[tempredmental]

[Keith paused, watching Cayde for a moment.]

That stuff's kinda sticky for building snowmen, isn't it?

[Like, yeah... it'll hold its shape, but it's also going to stick to Cayde like crazy.]

[deal_me_in]

No, not at all. It's just a weird color.

[He scoops another handful up and tosses it at Keith.]

See?

[tempredmental]

[Of course Keith flinched. He was likely never to come down enough to not flinch. But he did chuckle a little bit.]

Okay. It looked like some sort of weird gum color... or cotton candy... which is always sticky back home. That's why I asked.

But, it looks good for packing into shapes.

[Was that... him?]

[deal_me_in]

Alien world, alien snow. Either that or the Agrii threw dye into the snow machine.

[Cayde shrugs. He hadn't thought too much about it. Compared to pink snow, the glitter rain was still way stranger, and more annoying.

He packs another bit of snow onto the snowman he's work on, not even trying to be secretive about it as he glances between it and Keith. You know how hard it is to make a snowman have a mullet?]

[tempredmental]

[Keith was... wait... his hair didn't look that bad!]

Are you really making all of us as snow people?

[He'd seen a few around town already today, and had recognized some of them... Tommy, Shiro, Lance, Tony, the Bucky's, Catra...]

[deal_me_in]

[It's not bad! It's uh...artistic license?]

No, that'd be silly! What gave you that idea?

[The Exo steps back to get a better side-by-side of the two.]