[Windward Boardwalk] Snowballs in your Face! (Berus)

[Stitch]

Spurred on by his success, and by Berus's congratulations, Stitch managed to perform a rather unexpected act. "This one did it!" Stitch seemed to be more than a little excited that he had managed to actually aim his snowballs, and more or less hit the spot he had aimed at! He threw his hands in the air and did a little dance in a circle, much like a small child. He really was acting like a little kid. He had just done something incredibly insignificant, but to him, it apparently was a big deal. But suddenly, midway through his child-like celebration, he paused, a great blush rising to his cheeks and his happy demeanor abruptly fading away. He glanced down to the ground meekly, and quickly put his hands behind his back, apparently to keep himself from throwing them up again in celebration. "This one is sorry, milord. This one has thrown a couple of dozen of snowballs at this one's assailants, but this one has never actually managed to land a blow. This one supposes this one shouldn't celebrate, as milord was quite close... but this one got a little over-excited. This one had given up on this one's skill with these 'snowballs' milord is so skilled with." Ah. Even though Berus had been the one to take a blow, apparently he was still the skilled one. For being a blind man, Stitch had an awful odd outlook on things. The blind man was quick to change attitudes once again, his head snapping up at the idea of a duel, another wide grin blossoming across his face. He scooped up his own handful of snow and quickly molded it, forming another snowball, tossing it up and down in one hand as if to get a feel for it. "A duel, milord says? Sounds exciting! We shall give it a try!" Stitch couldn't help but be incredibly eager, although he was fairly sure his supposed 'skill' would be much less 'skillful' this time around. He would have to aim quickly, and throw a longer distance. He was fairly sure he was outmatched. He trustingly turned, aiming his back towards Berus, waiting to feel the man touch backs with him before starting the duel. He kept an eye on Berus's Aura though, once again syncing his mind with it. Beneath the normal Vantha Aura, there were a dazzling array of colorful lights. They all swarmed and danced around each other, putting on a performance, showing off with a little dance for Stitch's magical eyesight. Stitch's grin widened a bit. He was used to seeing this kind of Aura in performers. They all had happy Auras, and it always warmed his heart to see them. Ah, he was so excited! He hadn't been able to play games like this since Syliras! Eagerly, Stitch started to dance back and forth from foot to foot, getting limbered and loosened. He took a bit of time to once again use the Flux, this time switching the energy from his left arm to his right. It was just a little bit of extra energy, and Stitch was just giving it a little bit of an extra push to get it flowing faster. Djed ran through all parts of the body, and hopefully, if it ran faster, that area of the body would run a little faster too!

[Berus]

Berus breathed deeply, trying to push down his own excitement, as he put his back to Stitch. However, as he did so, he could feel the man was so energetic and excited that he was all but leaping out of his shoes and flying away. So, Berus himself gave up and allowed his adrenaline to destroy his calm behavior and allow his movements to become a little rushed. This is gonna be fun…

Berus looked over his shoulder, to confirm that the much, much taller man had his back to him. His jaw almost dropped in amazement as it finally hit him how tall the boyish and youthful blind man was. The little bard seemed to be but a child as he was dwarfed by this much bigger, though admittedly not alarmingly huge, fellow. For some odd reason, Stitch’s demeanor and attitudes had made Berus underestimate his statue and see him as a much smaller person. He shook his head, wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him.

“Alright, you ready Stitch?” he asked excitedly, pushing those thoughts away. If the man was bigger, then Berus had even more of an advantage; a larger target! Not waiting for Stitch’s answer, Berus set off at once, counting every stride as he stepped forward. He thrust each foot out as far as it could go, seeking the advantage of a long range duel. The inexperienced blind man would probably have a harder time than he of landing one of those deadly balls of ice on their opponent. Still, his legs weren’t long and they didn’t propel him far.

“One… two.. . three…” he counted, his breath streaming excitedly through his lips to for a tangible line of steam in front of his face. Worriedly, he dispelled it with a wave of his hand. He can’t have his vision obscured in the moment when it mattered most! If he spun around and found his vision blocked by a mist of his own steamy breath then his snowball might fly off wildly and he would lose the contest!

“Four… five… six…” he continued. His feet trudged through the snow and it took some effort to slide them to his next step. A horrible thought came to mind; What if I go to turn and the snow snags my feet? He lifted his foot comically high as he continued his march, determined to minimize that possibility. Any spectators would have thought the little bard looked stupid in his now ridiculous walk, but Berus hardly cared as he gave himself every advantage.

“Seven… eight… nine…” he said lowly as he attempted to hear Stitch’s own count. He needed to accurately judge just how far the man was from him so that he could make a split second throw. The duel depended not only on accuracy but also on speed. If Berus could know where the blind man was before he even turned then he would have a very significant advantage…

“Ten!” he shouted, turning and tossing his snowball all at once. He had gauged where Stitch was perfectly, managed not to snag his boots in the snow, and was not hampered by the steam thanks to his excellent planning. His hand came down to slap his right hip as the snowball was powerfully bursting through the air towards his target. It arched a little high as it flew, but Berus was confident he had managed a perfect headshot with this one-

His eyes widened, however, when he saw his snowball start falling dangerously toward the ground. It did not hurtle toward the blind man’s face as Berus had hoped, but rather his foot! A foot-shot doesn’t get me a victory! he cursed silently as the snowball, with a mind of its own, flew in for a near-perfect shot at the blind man’s foot. In his excitement, Berus forgot to run to the side to get out of the way of Stitch’s own snowball. It even slipped his mind momentarily to reach down for another!

[Stitch]

Stitch had one definite advantage over the bard, here. Neither snow nor mist would obscure his vision. It could rain, it could snow, the very ground could erupt around them... the sky could fall down upon them, and Stitch would still keep the Aura of the bard in sight. Perhaps that was a bit extreme, but Stitch had steeled himself on watching the slowly moving Aura. It was the only advantage he had, and he would have to make use of it in any way possible. He could track the attention of the man, and where his gaze would be aimed... which would be vital in determining the path of the snowball before it was thrown. that, and since he had a good sense of where the man was going to be at all times... he could appropriately aim and release his own snowball. Stitch couldn't help but chuckle darkly to himself, clapping his hands as he reveled in the mastery of his plan. He was going to win this little duel! Berus had no idea how out-matched he was! So engrossed was Stitch in his plotting that he forgot to actually count aloud. He had been walking in time with the slowly retreating Berus, but he hadn't been speaking the count. Blushing a bright red, he paused a bit to wait for Berus's voice, and then tried to match up his own. "Five... Six..." Farther and farther away the men stepped, Stitch tightly gripping his snowball, relishing the moment when he would be able to fling it at full power. "Seven... Eight..." Suddenly, a new thought came to his mind. He had an idea for how to dodge Berus's snowball, and manage to fling his at the same time. Stitch slowly started to focus a part of his mind on his Flux magic, slowly swirling a bit more up into his arms, bracing himself to send it flowing down. With another evil little giggle, Stitch let a grin spread across his face, still holding his magical sight on Berus's Aura. Where was the bard planning to aim? "Nine... Ten!" Berus spun, but Stitch did not. He was too busy focusing, seeing where Berus's sight went the minute he turned. He was just focusing on Stitch's form, not any particular body part! That, and the ground, all at once! He was judging the distance! All at once, Stitch spun, and yelled, performing a move no one would have thought possible. Well, kind of. It was possible, but not in the way Stitch managed to pull it off. In a split second, the Flux that Stitch had flowed down through his body, and equally distributed itself between Stitch's legs. He just wanted to empower the muscles slightly, just so they would have a little more spring to them. As Berus's snowball flew through the air, Stitch was already bending at the knee, gathering himself for a jump. With a yell, Stitch hurtled himself up, just jumping a tad higher than normal. "Forward FLIP!" Dear Priskil, had he just called out his move? He had, hadn't he? The man lunged into the air, and tried to flip forward, and also simultaneously attempted to hurl his snowball. The result was a spectacular mess. Stitch had executed the jump and the flip fairly well. He had done all the required muscle movements. First had been the bending at the knee, to tighten all of his muscles, and to get ready to use their power to vault him up. To give himself a bit of momentum, as he flung himself upwards, he also flung his arms upwards, to send his body to the sky in one singular motion. As he went up, he tried to bend forward, and roll in midair, while windmilling his arms. While windmilling his arms, he released the snowball, flinging it with the added force of the flip. Straight into the air. With a yell, Stitch fell, face-first. Berus's snowball caught him perfectly in the face, right before he buried himself in the snow, getting caught almost waist deep. His legs frantically kicked as he sunk a bit deeper, looking like he had when Berus had first laid eyes on him. As if to add insult to injury, Stitch's earlier thrown snowball fell, and landed right between his legs, the sudden cold shock yanking a sudden muffled yelp from the buried man.

[Berus]

Berus watched in awe as Stitch performed perhaps the most amazing trick he’d ever seen in his life. The man seemed to actually fly as he leapt up into the air in a magnificent dodge and windmill threw his snowball with more power than Berus had in his entire body. The move was fantastic and majestic, with snow flying all around from his liftoff and adding to the whole awesome factor of the move. Berus simply sat there with his jaw hanging wide open, waiting for the snowball to go plunging in and take him out.

Then, he watched Stitch fall hard on his face and get pelted by Berus’s lowball. Then, the snow all about him fell down and the blind man’s own snowball fell from the heavens and landed between his legs, eliciting a yelp that was so odd considering the fact the man had performed the greatest feat of agility and strength Berus had ever seen. Everything seemed to crash around Stitch in one sudden moment. If Berus’s jaw hadn’t already been hanging wide open, it surely would have dropped so hard that it dislocated and fell into the snow.

Mouth still hanging open and eyes still wide with awe, he walked toward Stitch’s half buried form and silently tried to help the man up to his feet. Thoughts had a difficult time connecting and he moved almost subconsciously, just barely directing his movements through a haze. He just barely registered that he should be celebrating his victory against such an amazing man, but he was too awed by the rise and fall of Stitch that he couldn’t really celebrate. He managed to croak out, “Are you okay?”

Then he crumpled down to the ground, laughing hysterically. Everything seemed to hit him at once, the whole falling and still being pelted by two vicious snowballs. He couldn’t hold it in any longer as he laughed loud enough that his own ears hurt. He rolled up to a sitting position, looking at the blind man with an apologetic expression as he wheezed for breath.

“That.. was… the coolest thing.. I’ve ever seen…” He began, struggling to speak through bouts of laughter. “But… I win… you were hit, fair and square!” He pumped his fist in the air as he triumphantly croaked out the last word. Somehow, he felt that if just one thing had happened differently then he would be lying on the ground groaning from a snowball thrown so fast it would burn through clothes. And that only made him laugh a little more.

[Stitch]

Stitch sputtered as Berus once more helped him out of yet another snow drift. As Stitch's head emerged, he sputtered and coughed, spitting out a cloud of wet snow, coughing a little bit as his body began to shiver. "Petching snow!" He shook his body, much like a dog who was trying to get drops of water from his fur, another great cloud of snow exploding from his body. After that, he just went about frantically patting and slapping at his figure, attempting to get every little bit of snow off that he could. It proved to be a useless exercise, as there were already some patches of snow and ice that couldn't be removed by anything less than warmth. And warmth wasn't going to be something Stitch could find in the outside world of Avanthal. With a frustrated sigh, Stitch sat right in the snow, crossing his arms, a pout crossing his face. Once again, he had reverted to childlike form. He turned his head to address Berus, opening his mouth to say something... and then he realized Berus was laughing. Stitch couldn't help but to chuckle as well. Eventually, the two men were full out laughing their arses off, shaking and trembling in the snow, guffawing at the top of their lungs. Both Stitch and Berus died eventually calmed themselves, and as Stitch saw the apology in the man's Aura, he shook his head and gave the bard a firm clap on the shoulder. He chuckled again as Berus mentioned how 'cool' he had been. "Milord, that was horribly 'uncool', this one thinks. This one is flattered that milord would think of such a word for describing this one and his antics, though!" Stitch chuckled again, unable to control the laughter that kept rising to his lips. Slowly standing, he offered a hand to the bard, planning on helping him up. "This one needs to make swift back to the Icewatch Barracks though, and attempt to warm up before frostbite sets in. This one was happy to meet you, and this one is sure we will run into each other again." Stitch offered the man a bright smile, his outstretched hand shivering, little chuckles still bursting to the surface here and there.

[Berus]

Berus took his hand immediately and smiled back boyishly. “I hope we do run into each other again! I’m up for another snowball match any time and I do have to find out how you’re able to see through those bandages,” Berus said with a mischievous wink. His eyes shifted through a few dark hues as he examined the poor man’s condition. He seemed to be rather cold out here in the snow, despite the fact it wasn’t truly an overly frosty day. Of course, he was a foreigner and they seemed to have a little bit of a weakness to the cold.

Berus shrugged inwardly, figuring that the man’s plan of heading off and getting warm was probably the best at this point and time. Then he smiled once more, nodded warmly, and started walking off toward home, satisfied that today was filled with enough excitement to justify a late night of drinking in the tavern and telling stories.

[Cheshire]

. Character: Stitch Experience: Running +1, Flux +3, Interrogation +1, Auristics +3, Unarmed Combat +1, Weapon (Snowball) +3, Acrobatics +1 Lore: Ice is Slippery?, Avanthal Snow Battles Character: Berus Experience: Instrument (Lyre) +1, Weapon (Snowball) +3, Bodybuilding +1, Interrogation +1 Lore: Barely Strong Enough to be a Savior, Teaching Foreigners to Snowball Fight, Additional Note: I loved this thread guys. It was great to see Stitch and Berus partaking in what seems to be the growing crazy in Avanthal, snowball fights! PM me with any concerns.