[December Catch-All] In the lane, snow is glistening...

[itstillhurt]

Who: Azula and maybe you?
Which: Open log plus closed prompts
Where: Around Songerein
What: An open log for December!
Warnings: None in the toplevels, will warn for anything in threads or if I add a warnable toplevel.

(OOC Note: If you have something else in mind or want to discuss a closed prompt, feel free to hit me up on my plotting post, on the game discord, or on plurk at yonfellow )

Comments

I. [Action] It's a time for play, it's a whipped cream day

[itstillhurt]

[Azula comes from a tropical island. She doesn't care for snow. She didn't last year, and she doesn't this year.

But hiding out inside, alone, will definitely render her stir-crazy, so she'll put up with the cold and venture out into the snow, but she sure won't be happy about it.

Dealing with Azula in this weather is worse than dealing with her normally. But what's even worse than that? Dealing with the snowmen around her. She's in such a bad mood that snowmen around her will become particularly vicious, mixing ice and rocks into the snowballs they throw and aiming for sensitive areas. You might run into her attacking the snowmen with (weakened) fire, or the attack might come while you're already talking to her.

Either way, it's a fun time. We have fun.]

[whatsamada]

[Didn't this seem oddly familiar? Wasn't this the first time how the both of them met? Regardless, that didn't stop Ken from attempting to throw a bunch of rocks toward the snowmen in an attempt to be a distraction.

Of course, will it work or not? He didn't know but he'll just keep on doing it.]

[itstillhurt]

[There was a certain feeling of deja vu at play. Still, at least she actually has legs this time. It improves her mood only slightly.]

I'm in no mood to deal with these irritating things.

[She punctuates that with a dart of blue flame that melts a hole directly through a snowman's head.

The snowman, undeterred, responds by irritably throwing a snowball at her face, one she's only narrowly able to duck with a hiss of frustration.]

[whatsamada]

[Meanwhile, Ken could only stare in awe as he wondered if he shouldn't have bothered at all. She could handle it by herself and not only that, she was very mad. Of course, he had to do something instead of staring.

Although, given how they weren't responding to his distractions, it seems that he has no choice but to go and attack them.]

Azula-san, I'll try to attack its body before they could throw anymore snowballs!

[itstillhurt]

[Well, he's at least determined to be helpful again. He does seem reliable for that.]

Go for the arms. They won't be able to throw anything.

[The head and the body are apparently too easy to shrug off. She punctuates her point by swiping with an arc of fire to sever the offending snowman's throwing arm.]

[whatsamada]

[And just like that, he quickly made his way for the arms. As he quickly did so, he managed to get one of the snowman's arms down. Of course, this simply made the others go after him.

However, now that the army was split in half, it made it all the trickier to be a distraction as he was trying to fight for real.]

How a-

[He said before one big snowball hit his face.]

Re: I. [Action] It's a time for play, it's a whipped cream day

[najaran]

Najaran was lost in thought, rubbing her arms as she looked around at the snow. Her emotions were so strong at the moment that there was rain mixed in with the snow around her, her expression distant and seeming upset.

So far she's managed to avoid getting hit by a snowman, but that seems to be pure luck. She didn't seem aware of them. Or of Azula. Or of much of anything.

[itstillhurt]

And if there's one thing Azula really doesn't want on top of all the snow, it's sudden sleet and rain mixed in with it. Infuriating. The disgusting weather bubble seems so sudden that it distracts Azula as well, and though she ignores the snowmen tossing snowballs- they're easy enough to dodge, after all- she's still in a fairly foul mood when somebody nearly bumps into her.

"Watch where you're-"

She pauses when she sees Najaran- both in recognition, and because she's clearly in a mood. Naturally, Azula responds with her trademark sensitivity and empathy:

"What's the matter with you?"

[najaran]

"Wha... oh.." she blinked and put a smile on her face, trying to seem her usual sunny self. The rain gave her away. "Azula! Hi!"

[itstillhurt]

Mm-hmm.

"That is not an answer."

II. [Action] And hearts will be glowing...

[itstillhurt]

[This year, Azula has been blessedly free of Mistlefoe infestations- but that doesn't mean she's fully escaped the wrath of the gumdrops. Instead, everywhere she goes, she seems to attract the attention of any Fluff Gumdrops nearby, who really want her to cheer up.

She is mostly ignoring them, but that only works for so long, especially if the gumdrops think they've found her a... let's be generous and say 'friend.']

[holdshisown]

[He had only meant to go into town to gather some supplies he couldn't really scrounge up from the Wildlands, he had not meant to be surrounded by the little Gumdrops that was flying around.

But still he get's stoped in his track by them as they herd him where they wish him to go as they make their little cooing noises at him.]

Ah...? What? Do you know what it is they want?

[He asks Azula when they have pushed the two of them together, for he unfortunately have no idea.]

[itstillhurt]

[Guuuuh. At least the red ones weren't so pushy last year.]

They're called Gumdrops. They feed on dreamotion associated with a particular emotion.

[She tries to swipe some of the fluttering creatures away, but they just float gently around her waving hand.]</small

[holdshisown]

[Pushy. Yes, that was an apt description of the little creatures.]

And these ones want... what, exactly?

[He looks at one that is wooshing around him while squeeling in excitement.]

[itstillhurt]

Well, there are three varieties. The red ones crave violence, I dealt with them last year.

[She's trying hard not to make any inferences about what that suggests.]

The pink ones crave romance, and the white ones...

[...she actually wasn't sure what the white ones craved. The only one she'd really dealt with had been the one Nanashi found last year, and it clearly hadn't liked her. Why would it have liked him and not her?]

... Happiness, I suppose? Something like that, I can't be certain.

[10billionpercent]

[ Finally a time when they are not being thrown together in some kind of violent encounter. Unfortunately, he's beeing shoved along by gumdrops until he's in front of Azula. ]

No really. [ Senku sounds irritated. He never sounds that irritated. ]

Stop touching me.

[itstillhurt]

They don't seem to comprehend boundaries.

[Meddlesome interlopers.]

I keep contemplating violence, but that will just attract the red ones instead.

[10billionpercent]

I don't usually think of violence, but I do think of various ways to make their lives uncomfortable. [ They seem to be bouncing around happily with no regard to their potential discomfort or demise. ]

Ah well. Having a conversation will fulfill the contract they are enforcing upon us, would it not?

[ A pause. Small talk. Ugh. ] How are you? [ One question and he already wants to get out of it. ]

[itstillhurt]

[Oh, spirits, this was going to be miserable.]

Getting shoved gracelessly into pointless social interactions by floating slugs.

[The answer is laced with a false sweetness, which somehow comes off even more bitter than actual sarcasm would.]

I'm not at all convinced that appeasing the useless things will help.

III [Action] Don we now our gay apparel (For Aang / @all_the_aangles)

[itstillhurt]

[By the mid-month, Azula is no longer in a foul mood.

Instead, she's bewildered and in a foul mood.

The weather is awful, and she doesn't know how anybody tolerates it. The decorations all over town are garish and tacky and use entirely too many dead plants and colored baubles. The gumdrop fairies are incessant, constantly trying to 'cheer her up,' which is roughly as counterproductive as it is possible to be.

And worse still is the music. It barely counts as music. It's just... noise. And it's everywhere, the noise.

She's beginning to hate Christmas. The whole Christmas season. And the thing she would like in the least, is to run into Uncle right now... or, almost as bad-]

... Avatar.

[She's clearly unhappy, carrying a cup of tea from the coffee shop and wearing a winter coat and a seriously disgruntled expression. It clearly didn't improve on seeing Aang.]

IV [Action, dated to the 26th] I can't remember a worse December (For Shealtiel / @lemoncandy)

[itstillhurt]

[Azula was frustrated enough with the light, pleasant, picturesque snow.

When the aggressive blizzard rolls in, she takes the initiative very quickly, using her firebending to melt away the snow around her treehouse. She tries repeatedly to clear paths, but the snow is falling too hard- and the longer she's out there, the weaker her firebending becomes, thanks to the cold

Eventually, she winds up surrendering to the inevitable- instead of clearing the snow from the ground, she instead focuses on simply clearing her own balcony and stairs- and then hopping over and doing the same for Shealtiel's. She does not consult him regarding this decision.

Unfortunately, the longer she keeps this up, the more clear it is that her firebending is struggling, and so is she. She's clearly forcing herself to keep going out of sheer determination, but the blizzard isn't letting up, and she's not getting any warmer out there.]

[lemoncandy]

( He doesn't mind the snow, really. He wears an extra layer or two, even around the house, and sits around with extra blankets. Today is another day of spending most of his time at "home" and wondering what he can do next, and whether it's even worth it.

The only reason he spots Azula is because he takes a peek out a window and notices that there's less snow from the small glimpse he can see. What was originally going to be sad, lonely gazing into the snow turns into a curious peek out onto his balcony.

There's Azula, blasting away at the snow. Huh. He hadn't considered it until now, but... )

You don't like the snow?

( It's basically a hello, and so he doesn't bother with it formally, leaning against his doorframe instead. He's dressed in casual winter wear, so at least it seems like he was out in the town earlier today at some point instead of sitting around hopelessly like he's been doing more of lately. )

I think it's only going to get worse.

[itstillhurt]

The light snow was bad enough, this storm is intolerable.

[She's huffing lightly from the prolonged exertion as she speaks.]

The cold interferes with my bending, the snow makes everything wet, stray emotions set off reactions here, and the cold is going to trap us inside at this rate if I don't prevent it.

[For some reason, the thought of that... isolation... was deeply upsetting.]

As such, I will continue to keep the path clear.

[... Try not to examine too deeply why her first priority was to ensure that she had a path to his door. Probably not important.]

[lemoncandy]

( As Shealtiel takes this in, his eyes draw a slow line from the cleared path around his house to the cleared area around hers. And the clear path in between.

Hmm. )

Is being trapped inside really that bad?

( Well, like... alone, yes. Probably. He'd be sad, mope about for too long, get stuck in his head... He stands up from where he'd been leaning, folding his arms behind his back. )

Besides, it looks like the cold is already interfering with your bending. Maybe... you could come inside?

[itstillhurt]

I don't take well to confinement, I've had my fill of it.

[She emphasizes that with another burst of fire, loose and unfocused to melt ice rather than ignite anything- but it's smaller and less focused than before, and even the normal blue of the fire is paler and less intense.

After a moment, she finally drops the weakened bending, glances down at her hand, then at his door.]

...I suppose warming up for a moment couldn't hurt.

[She wouldn't be in there long enough to get blocked in, right? It's fine.]