2183/Clear with a Chance of Snowballs

Clear with a Chance of Snowballs
Date of Scene:	27 December 2024
Location:	The Snow Kingdom of Chanteur
Synopsis:	A hangout between Laura, Yokina, Haruka and Amy turns into a snowball fight when the green-haired girl draws first snow. And then... a lunch! Happens after 2180/Snow Art.
Cast of Characters:	Laura La Mer, Hotaru Tomoe, Haruka Tenoh, Amanda Faust
Tinyplot:	Chanteur, Land of Happiness

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Laura La Mer has posed:
Laura had sent a message earlier in the day of a clearing that seemed perfect for a meetup. It was not too far from the castle, and it had a river close enough to it, details she was counting on to let the frost fairies guide anyone who wanted to take her up on her offer to her location.

She had stayed behind to finish adding some touches to her snowman, and in the meanwhile Kururun had started doing snow angels on the ground.

Taking a bubble photo of her finished creation and of Kururun's snow angels, she puts away the Aqua Pot and kneels down to pet Kururun. "Had fun?", she asks the seal, who replies with a content "Kururun~"

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Yokina Meiou had gone aground. And by gone aground, I mean she had taken to sneaking through the stacks of snow. She was small, the snow was deep. It wasn't that hard to figure out.

So, as Laura waited, a small, sneaky little red-coated girl was tunneling through the snow, her thick coat doing an incredibly good job of making sure she DOESN'T regret this.

Of course, she gathered up a few snowballs while she watched from on top of a small hill that overlooked the clearing and... "Surprise sneak attack!" she called, before flinging a snowball, over correcting as she leaned forward and... rolled down the rest of the hill into the clearing with shrieks and giggles, leaving most of her ammunition behind.

"... Hi Laura-chan!" she called out, face slightly red, still helplessly giggling as she laid there.

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Haruka hadn't been with the main group for most of the trip - but she'd been relativewly nearby. She wanted to give Hotaru some vacation time without her looming over her shoulder... at least, not OBVIOUSLY. Others may or may not have noticed the occasional presence of the short haired blonde on the trip to the snowy land.

    But there's a flip side to that, in that she also doesn't want Hotaru - well, currently, 'Yokina' to think she's being ignored or intentionally forgotten either, so a day out with the frost faries and in the snowy wonderland seemed great in that way.

    It was nice, being away from Tokyo - even if this place looked like it hadn't seen a racecar in literally ever, it was worth it to see Hotaru in a place where it seemed like the only local magic was friendly and positive; or at least, any that Haruka had been around to see.

    And that meant that she also had a good view of the red-coat hood bobbing through the snow, coming up from Laura's flank on a hill and hurling a snowball.

    Well, if that's how it's going to be, Haruka thought, what better way to make her presence known?

    So as the giggling Hotaru lies there, an underhand thrown snowball flies in an arc, up, and then down, smacking her in her red face and one of the few places that she wouldn't be insulated from the cold. It's not a well packed snowball - so it's less being hit in the face with a snowball and more a cold splash of powder.

    The tall blonde is there in her own yellow jacket and blue scarf when Yokina wipes the snow from her eyes. "Hey there, little one." she says with a wave.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy left the clearing to take a look around... although she makes sure she can always see the castle, as, well... there's no GPS here to guide her back, is there? The snow fairies probably didn't respond when she asked them if they knew what an inertial tracker was. (Do compasses work here?)

    She frowns at the thought that the accelerometers in her phone should allow it to act as an inertial tracker and yet the software for such doesn't come with it. Annoying! She'll have to make sure she has an app for that in the future. Or... make one? Order one? Ask Entrapta for one? It can't be that complex of a device, can it?

    Anyway, she's not far from the clearing when the fairies let her know Laura wants to meet.

    She comes out of the trees atop the same hill Yokina was just on, and she gets an idea, asking the fairies for a sled -- the kind that's a shaped shell with ridges rather than elevated on runners -- and starting to fill it with snowballs as she watches the snowball fight start with a smile. Not calling attention to herself yet, but also not hiding, as her pink parka and snow pants and red hair stand out against the sky and trees.

Laura La Mer has posed:
Laura had seen the tall blonde that had joined them on the train, but her interactions had mostly been limited to a greeting, letting her be for most of the trip. She had assumed Haruka was another of Hotaru's relatives, or a guardian maybe.

The snowball that Hotaru had sent in Laura's direction hits the pinkette in the back of her head, prompting her to turn around with a frown, wondering just who is launching sneaks attacks, a hand placed on the snowy ground ready to retialiate. Her intention to form a snowball stop at the sight of the red blur rolling down the hill.

Her eyebrows raised, she returns the giggling with a smile as she takes a look at her friend all covered in snow like that. "Hi, Yokina-chan", Laura replies, giving her friend a hand so she can get back up. "That's a really cute getup, did you bring it or did the frost fairies help you out?"

Slightly less cute is the snowball hitting Yokina out of nowhere, causing Laura to jump slightly from the surprise. "Are you ok?", she asks in a hurry to the green-haired girl, delicately wiping the snow off of her face. She isn't looking for the second snowball's culprit for now, or noticing Amy either.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Yokina Meiou lifted a hand to the heavens. "I brought it! My cousin got it for--" And the rest of those words were cut off by a sudden faceful of snow. She blinked a few times. Snow cold. Yes, yes it is.

She was, at least, still giggling. "I'm fine. Hiiiii Haruka-senpai!" she said happily as Laura helped clear her face. "Are you two having fun? Isn't this place so cool? Everything here is so strange and magical, like some kind of fairy tale! I keep expecting like, some kind of magical thing to pop out of places and then, bam! More magic!"

Yes, when things are magical, there is, in fact, magic. Truly amazing, isn't it?

"So, what'd you call us all here for? are we going to have an adventure?"

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Relative, Guardian, Fellow Sailor Guardian - Haruka was connected to Hotaru/Yokina by a web of ways. But right now she was connected by a desire to throw snowballs at friends. Or at least harass them.

    The girl in pink (and red hair) gets a wave from Haruka, that sort of 'I see you and you're not being chased off but I won't bother you otherwise' wave and smile from the girl that's about as close to 'come chill out witrh us' as she can muster without words.

    "It's been pretty nice, yeah. Mostly, I want to be sure you're having fun." Haruka says, wiping some snow off Yokina's jacket. "But it looks like you're good." She turns to La Mer and stands behind Hotaru, hand still resting on her shoulders. "It's good to see you both smiling."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy takes several steps back, then runs and jumps into her sled and comes speeding down the hill with a snowball in hand. "Incomiiing!"

    Only... "...Dammit, I can't bring myself to just like. Throw a snowball at you when we haven't formally started a snowball fight." Amy notes, as she sleds to a stop by the others. "You know? Like, I could accidentally make one of you feel picked on, especially Meiou-san."

    She looks up at the others, and then down at her sled with several snowballs ready, tucked in around her. "You gotta admit, if this were a snowball fight it woulda been cool though. Sliding by throwing all these. Right?"

Laura La Mer has posed:
Laura makes a note of that "cousin" in the back of her head while she helps Yokina get cleaned up. "Your cousin has a good eye. As for here, it's really amazing", Laura agrees, the amount of photos she had been taking since their arrival proof of her excitement. Of course, as her first time experiencing a winter vacation, it may have skewed her perspective. Just a little.

She doesn't comment on the overabundance of magical things. If anything, not having anything like that around like it was in Tokyo is the novelty for her. "The rooms here are really regal, Sharon certainly knows how to have guests over", Laura smiles, before turning her head to the snowmen. "And we have been making things out of snow. Mine came out excellently", she shares proudly.

"I was looking to have fun with everyone, but you started it, Yokina-chan, so now I am forced to accept your snowball challenge", the mermaid says in a tone that conveys just how much she doesn't mind that.

And there she was, Yokina's guardian. "Hello", Laura tells her casually. "It has been fun, yes. And the fairies from here get you everything you want, so it's just like being back home", Laura adds. Ok, the Grand Ocean fairies had to prepare what she asked for, not make it up on the spot like this. That kinda was an important difference.

"You are late on that. Yokina-chan has already issued a snowball challenge", Laura tells Amy with a grin, knowing the mayhem that is about to ensue. "You are just in time to join in, though", she starts making her own preparations.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Yokina Meiou just grinned up at her guardian. After all, well...

It was nice. She felt wanted, and cared for. Tended to. She didn't feel like a burden. Her hand reached up to grip Haruka's, giving it a little squeeze. Only for Amy to come blaring down and... Ohhhh. That was brilliant! A sneak attack of her own?! Who could have predicted such a thing?! LEH GASP?!

Except... Amy stopped. And Yokina looked almost disappointed. "Snow balls are like war, you don't formally make a comment about it until after you've surrendered!" Okay, that was NOT true. Even a little bit. "And I appreciate it, but don't look down on us, Amy-san, or you'll regret it! The battle is on!"

Then paused. Wait, were they teams? Or... No. Too late to think about that. There was only one thing to do! Slip out of Haruka's arm and run off. "Mwa ha ha ha ha! Every-- eek!" And then she tripped and ended up face planting in the snow. After a moment she sat back up and coughed out some snow. "Every baller for themselves!" she tried again, before scooping, rolling and tossing! It was a... less than accurate technique as she kind of just... rolled, scooped, and threw.

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Suddenly the girl she waved to is coming in here, quick, with a snowball! It's not a serious fight or situation, but the speed at which Haruka's hand leaves Yokina's shoulder and the tall girl deftly steps in front of the other girl with a handfull of snow that it'd be easy to miss her even scooping up... well, girl's got some reflexes, some speed, and probably some issues.

    But she tones back pretty quickly, and there's a moment of a light flush of her cheeks at how easily it was for her to slip into taking such a situation as something which is any degree of serious. "Back home?" she asks, trying to divert the subject from that response she's currently overanalyzing. "I don't know about you, but I didn't have people poofing into existence to make me a coat back home." she notes.

    And then the snowball challenge is brought back up... "Well, I guess I'll have to make a snowgirl later, and worry about not becoming one myself first?" she says, now tossing the snowball she'd packed hurridly earlier, casually up and down. Then she grins, and facepalms with her free hand a bit when Yokina slips free of her and then faceplants.

    "Well you know, I'm not gonna go easy on anyone here - including you, Yokina. You started it!" she points out. "Twice! First a sneak attack and now all formal and stuff." she notes before she takes off in the snow - which she is not used to running in, so she ALMOST follows Yokina into the faceplant as well, but instead manages a somewhat goofy stagger step towards a treeline for cover, not falling but looking like she was going to come close a couple times.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Laura and Yokina agree that the battle is on. Very well.

    Amy doesn't need to make snowballs, she's sitting on a supply! She grabs and immediately launches snowballs at Yokina, Laura, and the tree Haruka took cover behind, not waiting for them to assemble their own armaments! She grabs another couble snowballs and stands from the sled, kicking it to slide towards the edge of the clearing and following, launching follow-up snowballs at Yokina and Laura if they keep trying to make snowballs rather than running for cover.

    "...What are the conditions for winning the snowball fight, anyway? I've never actually like... had a formal one!"

Laura La Mer has posed:
Look down on them? Normally, Laura would have been quite crossed at that being a possibility, but here, when they are about to fight each other relentlessly until they are white all over? If someone wants to underestimate her, they clearly haven't learnt the meaning of regret yet, she thinks with a wide grin. She agreed with Yokina on that.

She tosses one of the few snowballs she has prepared up in the air confidently. "Yeah, Grand Ocean", she replies nonchalantly to Haruka while she keeps making more ammunition. "The fairies there don't really do all this", she points to the pile of snowman decorations that they have left behind, "but they quick in their own way, just not make-things-out-of-nothing quick."

Laura's enthusiasm at the upcoming clash receives a cold remainder that she has to be quicker than that in the form of Amy's snowball hitting her in the shoulder, bits of it sneaking inside her collar. Cold!! "Alright, you asked for it!", Laura exclaims, not running for cover, and instead launching her first snowball straight towards Amy, a huge smile on her face.

Maybe she will come to regret that later, but there are plenty of trees to change her mind later, but if she doesn't go on the offensive, she will never win! Whatever that actually means, not giving much thought about Amy's questions.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Yokina Meiou couldn't help but notice the way Haruka had tried to shield her and... she wasn't annoyed. That? Kind of surprised her. Back home, every so often Kaolinite would try to 'protect' her... but that ALWAYS made her angry. always made her want to hit her, or yell, or scream, or tell her she didn't NEED or WANT her protection. Here? She... didn't mind it. Must be because Haruka is better. And not trying to become her new mommy.

"I don't need anyone to go easy on me, I-- eek!" And she ate an Amy thrown ball to the side of the head! Okay, time to get some cover. She rolled onto her tummy and then scrambled away, racing to behind the nearest tree, putting her back to it before kneeling down and scooping a ball, compacting it... and throwing it full tilt at Amy!

... She wasn't very strong, so 'full tilt' was like... a bit of a poof on it.

"You win if you and everyone else has fun!" she yelled towards Amy. "And nobody cries!"

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
Haruka makes it behind a tree and calls out. "I'm pretty sure the conditions are we throw snowballs at each other till we get tired?" she offers.

    "Wait, Fairies? Grand Ocean?" Haruka asks. She should possibly be less shocked by this given that she's currently in a fairy land, but... well. She's pulled back out of the thought process by the sound of a powdery snowball impacting her cover.

    "But I do like Yokina's answer." she says. And then she packs up some snow and throws it at each of the girls in succession, her slender body having an easy time taking cover behind the tree... but it's a little bit more still than anyone who knows her might expect. Then again, snow. Moving fast on the snow and you might not even need other people's help to get it on your face.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is so focused on the offensive that PAF! She takes Laura's snowball right on the collar, snow splashing from her scarf onto her face. "Ooh!"

    While she's reacting to it, Yokina's snowball sort of lightly hits her shoulder. Paf. Amy smiles at the words that follow it. "I can't say I don't like those terms! But then, how do we know when to stop?"

    She's on the move again now, ducking Haruka's snowball as she leans down to grab the sled and run with it to the edge of the clearing, also seeking cover behind a tree!

Laura La Mer has posed:
"Those sound like worthy conditions to me!", Laura exclaims. "If you want mercy, you are still in time to get some. Just don't start having doubts when you can't get any ever again!" Of course, despite her warring spirit, she would full express subscribing to Yokina's ideal, but not while the fight is already well underway!

"We stop when we stop!", Laura replies quite simply, her arms starting to pick up a lot of speed while she gets into the rhythm of make-aim-toss-make-aim-toss sending one each to Yokina and Hotaru... before she gets hit right in the face by the snowball Haruka had made for her.

"Guh!", the pinkette groans, her rhythm thrown off as she takes a few steps back, moving a hand to her face. "Ok, prepare for it!", Laura grins all the brighter, focusing her attention on the blonde's hiding place, snowballs crashing against the tree waiting for when she steps out from behind it.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
"We stop when everyone is like, 'I wanna stop now!' or enough people have done it that the rest of the people decide to stop too!"

Yokina hid behind the tree, taking cover and gathering snow around herself. Not throwing, yet. Until she had about a dozen of them... and then...

"SHOTGUN SNOWBLAST!" she called, leaping out from behind her tree and throwing the balls in every direction!

... It was, again, likely rather ineffective. Since they went all over the place and weren't actually like... aimed.

Not to mention she had been behind the tree for a while, preparing, so it was likely obvious to everyone that the girl was going to try something when she came out. And she was not one to disappoint!

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Haruka laughs. "How do you know when to stop having fun? When it stops being fun." she says. "Or when you're too tired to continue! Or something like that!" Haruka answers Amy.

    While Hotaru's actual 'shotgun snowblast' itself isn't... entirely effective... the spray of snowballs in pretty much every direction does confuse Haruka enough for her to poke her head out - at which point one of Laura's snowballs hits Haruka squarely in the face. She sputters in shock and then leans down, grabbing a ball of snow, rolling it as she kind of tumble rolls herself and flinging it back at Laura. She continues this, moving and throwing and moving, until she's found another cover spot.

    Haruka's own snowballs crash against Amy's sled and there's a couple for Yokina as well - try as she might she can't fling them full force at the smaller girl and she can only hope Hotaru doesn't call her on her softer throws at her. But they're still on target, ish, for softly thrown snowballs.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Sounds good to me." Amy responds to Yokina's game-end condition.

    The shout makes Amy look at Yokina and then take cover behind a tree. "Suggestion: Don't call your attacks, it gives people time to dodge. At least in a snowball fight."

    Yokina is flinging snowballs everywhere, Amy stepping out from behind the tree might tempt the little girl to make an aimed shot. Haruka is using cover. Laura, though, is focused on Haruka, so...

    "SNEAK ATTACK!"

    Amy hurls a snowball a bit forcefully at Laura -- not right at her face, though! Aiming more for center of mass. "...Unless you think you can get away with it, of course!" she continues her advice!

Laura La Mer has posed:
Laura has to actually stop for cover when Yokina gives the signal she is about to do something big, quickly running behind a tree, not wholly safe, though, as a few of them do hit the mermaid on her back. Still better than another one to the face, though!

"Swirling La Mer Sparkling!", Laura imitates her friend with a grin, throwing a snowball right at Amy in response to her suggestion, the pinkette taking a hit from Haruka's snowball at her shoulder while she moves out of her cover. Was the ball "rolling" in its mostly straight line enough to make it count as swirling?

"We are magical girls! We name our attacks!", Laura exclaims in response to Amy, the redhead's snowball ending up against the tree while Laura prepares another reserve of snowballs for now.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Yokina Meiou was, alas, already starting to show her frailty as she was peppered with a few of Haruka's balls. She knelt down to scoop up some more and... her ball just kind of drifted from her hand and she knelt there, giggling but tired. "W-we have to call our attacks. It gives them power! It's how you become as strong as can be. But, speaking of strength... I think I'm out. Much more and I'm going to risk getting sick," she said, grinning none the less. Covered in snow as she was, she slowly got up and...

Laid down in Laura's snow angel from earlier. Mwa ha ha ha. Now she was a small in an angel! Or... something. She was going to lay here and just watch for now, a big, silly grin on her face none the less.

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    "See, I want people to have time to dodge. Then when I hit them it's even better!" Haruka declares, rolling up a snowball and hurling it at Amy. "Winterwindgift!" she yells out in one big run-on word. "Andagiftforyou!" she adds, before tossing a second sphere at Laura.

    "We absolutely do call our attacks." She says, nodding at La Mer and probably about to eat a snowball for slowing down. And then - well, Hotaru.

    Right, Haruka had to remind herself - just because Hotaru was doing better, didn't mean the girl was a hundred percent. Whatever illness had befallen her was still there and she still needed to be careful - she knew that on some level instinctively, hence the light throws, but... now she was becoming more aware of it in the moment.

    "Alright, that's me then, I'm not letting the tired kiddo stagger home like a friday afternoon salaryman." she says, walking over and just picking Hotaru up like she weighs nothing (which she mostly does aside from some... prosthetics) and putting her on the taller girl's shoulders. "Oh, next time we should team up like this, I bet you could throw even better from up there. And I can just focus on the running!" she says, looking up at 'Yokina'.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Laura's shot makes Amy dodge to the side, "I guess I can't argue with that!"

    She has feels -- respectful and sympathetic -- for any with ideals about magical girls. "Fair enough! I can certainly respect that!" She jumps right into Haruka's attack, as she wasn't watching the taller girl, "Agh, you got me!" And she has to laugh pleasantly at Haruka's reasoning! "Fair enough, you got me good!"

    Meiou-san and Haruka-san -- Amy can't remember her surname -- are out, so -- "It's just us, then!" Amy turns the sled and starts pushing it back across the clearing at an angle that will give her line of sight at where Laura's hiding behind the tree. "It all comes down to this! Snow Gatling!" And she hops into the sled and commences her original strategy for a snowball drive-by, flinging the snowballs at rabid succession at Laura!

    Of course, she can't really dodge without falling into the snow, on the sled...!

Laura La Mer has posed:
Laura drops a half-formed snowball to the ground to call over to a frost fairy when she hears Yokina's reason for getting out of the fight, pointing to the resting girl from behind her hideout while she makes a request. "Hey, bring her a hot chocolate, ok?", she whispers to it. If Yokina is that cold already, she will certainly make use of something warm.

Laura being busy making that request is why Haruka doesn't get a snowball in her direction, not from the mermaid at least. Who does get hit one last time by the giftforyou, with a landing against her right arm, though between the angle and speed of the snow pelting Amy is trying to do, hers mostly end up against the tree.

And with Haruka dropping out of the fight as well, Laura starts considering doing the same herself. The parts of her coat that weren't white to begin with certainly are now, and there is a good chunk of snow melting around her neck too. "I am out of the game too, my arms are getting tired. But this was really fun!", Laura smiles widely, as she goes to pick up Kururun, who has been sleeping on the snow all this while. She is figuring that Amy doesn't need help stopping the sled.

Somehow not a single snowball this entire time has so much as grazed the pink seal. "It's time to go, Kururun", Laura whispers to her, watching the fairy opening up her eyes slightly and nodding in response. The pinkette walks in the same direction as Haruka, intending to follow them unless she is told not to.

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Haruka certainly has no intentions of stopping the pinkette who called out being a magical girl from hanging out with them further... just for Hotaru's sake, something less strenuous is in order for the rest of the evening. "We should all sit down for some food, too. That made me hungry." Haruka is, truthfully, very often hungry. "Back to the warm rooms and the good food!" she says, pointing the way overdramatically.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy blinks as Laura drops out, she was expecting one last attack and only just realizing how exposed her position is -- but she won! Or rather...

    "Well then!" Amy stands out of the sled. "By the terms of the game..." She throws up her hands. "We all win! Congratulations!"

    She walks back with the others, grinning. "Hot chocolate and warm rooms and good food sounds excellent.