[SE] love is an ice cream sundae

the harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun

[Set before the KQ]

Amhran, as a general rule, does not venture out from the Citadel on his own. But as time passes and his confidence grows, not to mention Halo reaching its warmest weather at Longheat, he finally sets off one morning towards the Sea of Glass, intent on seeing some of what his region has to offer. Crunching through freshly fallen snow and leaving neat prints - the only good thing about having to wear his snow boots - the Raeling finds himself in the curious position of needing both warm clothing and sunglasses to ward off the light bouncing against the Tundra.

It's no use him trying to judge how long it's taken to arrive at the enormous ice field - he's still getting the hang of navigation and the position of the sun - but its intimidating beauty is enough for him to fall to a halt, staring off into its twinkling midst. On his shoulders he's slung a pair of ice skates; he's never used them, but he's hoping if he might learn, he can surprise his mother when he gets back home.

flora

Brrrrrrrr. So far that was Flora's impression of Halo.

Having left Deimos somewhere in the vast snowy whiteness behind her, the queen was relying on his directions of it's straight ahead, you can't miss it. Unfortunately, Flora was very good at getting lost and after having walked for what felt like hours already, she was nearly ready to call it quits and compass herself home. Only the silhouette of Amhran in the distance gave her any sort of reason to go on, if only because presumably she could ask him for directions.

"Hey—!" Dressed in a woollen coat and thick mittens, Flora crunched along the snow, stepping into the tracks the demigod had left. Raising her hand and waving, she was about to ask where the Sea of Glass was before cresting a small knoll and staggering to a stop just as Amhran had, because there it fuckin' was. "Oh."

My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

the harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun

He stops just as the stranger's voice echoes to him over his shoulder, prompting Amhran to turn around; with his curls - what's visible of them around the woolen hat with its ningo feather pom-pom - wind tossed and frost in his eyebrows, he looks as though he's been walking for hours as well, but the polite smile he flashes to Flora is full of serene energy. "Hello," he calls, removing his sunglasses to rub at his eyes, allowing him to properly focus on the first blot of colour in what seems like forever.

"Are you lost?" His manners tell him that this is something he ought to ask, but in truth he's probably lost as well, so if the answer to his question is anything other than no, of course not! he'll be quite useless moving forward. Shrugging the skates off his shoulder and setting them down into the snow - anything can get quite heavy if you hold it for long enough, he's learning - he replaces the glasses and sticks out a mittened hand for Flora to shake.

flora

Smart, she thinks, seeing his sunglasses. Next time Flora came to Halo she'd absolutely bring a pair, but forgive a girl for thinking that somewhere full of so much snow wouldn't be as sunny as it was. Still cold, but hella sunny.

"Uhhh, well." Grinning sheepishly, Flora comes to stand at Amhran's side, gazing up (and up) at him over one shoulder. "I thought I was, but...this is what I was looking for, actually." She explains, nodding out toward the Sea of Glass before turning at the hand offered her way. "Oh, right." Mitten against mitten she shook his hand, waiting for an introduction that didn't seem to be forthcoming. "I'm Flora." The queen offers, squinting up into Amhran's pale face before shifting herself ever so slightly so that the sun was behind him and she could see properly.

My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

You know how sometimes you step outside and the cold just catches your lungs? And you cough and gasp and desperately try to inhale more oxygen?

Congratulations! You probably just wandered into a breath snatch!

Yeah, that glittering cloud of glittering frost wasn’t friendly either. Who knew?

---

You’ve encountered a Breath Snatch. This counts as an uncommon creature encounter for the purposes of levelling, but does not count as a Random Event for levelling or MP. There will be no further admin/re intervention. If you choose to follow this creature, you do so at your own risk, however, just having it in this thread is enough to satisfy your levelling requirements. (You may not kill this creature without admin permission. )

Breath Snatch (uncommon) - A minor Halo nuisance, the Breath Snatch is a small elemental spirit that lingers in open areas on cold days. They're easiest to notice on bright days, a concentrated cloud of glittering frost lingering in the air, but if not noticed and walked into, the elemental will disperse in a puff of freezing air, often freezing the breath in the lungs of whomever was unlucky enough to come across it. It doesn't seem to possess enough sentience to be truly malevolent. Large groups of the spirits are rare, but potentially deadly if walked into unknowingly.

the harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun

Oblivious to the cloud of glittering frost that Flora is about to step right into (Amhran, regrettably, has only been in Halo for a few seasons, and so he's still getting to grips with what is, apparently, quite a common nuisance to the region), the Raeling shakes her hand, his smile brightening at her name. "Oh! Me too!" he says, before realising his error. "Er, I used to be," he clarifies - flora, that is. "My name is Amhran Siol - I live at the Citadel."

With the man whose company the Doubletake has only recently left, as it happens, but the conversation doesn't have a chance to flow naturally in that direction, because the Breath Snatch strikes, flooding into Amhran as it disperses and freezing his breath in his lungs. "Oh," he wheezes, only when he finds himself able, a mittened hand fluttering to the scarf around his neck and rubbing at his chest. "Did you feel that?"

flora

Gazing up at him, Flora's eyes narrow even more. He was Flora too? He certainly didn't seem like he'd be named Flora, but then again, she supposed parents could name their children anything they liked. "Oh? Ah...well, Hi, Amhran.' The demigod's clarification hardly helps, but before the queen can try and piece it together her breath is snatched (hence the name, she'll think later), and immediately her hands go to her throat where it feels as though hands of ice have wrapped around her neck.

Peering up at the demigod with a startled and starting to panic gaze, as the breath snatch moves on, Flora gasps loudly, bobbing her head in response to his Amhran's question. Feeling like she'd just deep throated a cock of ice, the queen grimaces, glancing sharply around and expecting to see something around them which would explain the sensation of having been violated by the cold.

"What was that?" Flora wonders when she's able, blinking up at Amhran before glancing mistrustfully around once more.

My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

the harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun

Wheezing and loosening his scarf despite how cold he'll be in a few minutes without it, a shiver runs down Amhran's spine. At least the appearance of the Breath Snatch is enough to smooth over whatever potential awkwardness attached to their introduction, and he squints after the near invisible cloud of frost that's well on its way at this point. 

"In Halo it's called a Breath Snatch. They're harmless unless they are in large groups," he explains. "That is the first time I've ever encountered one, though."

Stooping to pick up his skates and suddenly feeling unsure whether or not he wants to step out onto the ice, Amhran glances from the ice field back to Flora. "Did you say this is the place you were looking for? Is there anything interesting out on it?" he asks, not knowing himself.

flora

"Well that's...aptly named." The queen mutters, rubbing at her throat as if the warmth from her mittens might transfer down into her lungs. "I didn't like that at all." She adds, frowning up at Amhran as if he might have had something to do with the presence of the creature.

Watching the demigod fold himself in half like a giraffe in order to pick up his skates, Flora raises her eyebrows curiously as she takes another step forward. "Is that for..out there?" She wonders, glancing down at the skates before looking out onto the frozen lake. Edging herself a few steps closer, she taps the ice experimentally with her boot. Certainly it sounds nice and thick, but then, having grown up somewhere tropical and only spending time in her mother's spa when she did come to Halo, Flora really didn't have much to go on. "I know there's a shrine out here somewhere, I just came to pay my respects."

So saying, Flora reaches into one of her pockets and, after a bit of a struggle, pulls out a tiny jar filled with sand, seashells, and a bit of salt water before holding it up for Amhran to see.

My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

the harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun

"Neither did I," Amhran agrees, peeping over the rim of his sunglasses out across the ice field as if he might be able to spot any further glimmers of anything breath snatchy. He doesn't see anything nefarious, but equally the urge to try and get himself wobbling out on the ice is also rapidly diminishing. Just as he has the skates back on his shoulder, however, Flora asks about them.

"It was going to be," he says with a self-deprecating smile. "But I have never skated before, and I think being so cold just now has knocked my confidence to go out there." He pushes his sunglasses back up his nose and tilts his head to hear of the apparent shrine out here, as well as the beautiful spray of sand and seashells and water she produces. "Oh, a little piece of Torchline," he observes. "Do you want some help looking for the shrine?"

flora

Finding Amhran's smile entirely endearing, Flora smiles brightly up at him before shaking her head. "Aww come on. I'm sure you'll warm up once you start moving?." She knew nothing about skating, but based on the shoe shape of the skates he was holding, she could make an educated guess about how it was meant to go.

"Mm, that's right! That's where I'm from." If her lack of appropriate snowwear didn't give her away, her tanned skin likely would. "How about this, you help me find it, and once we do and you've warmed up, you skate back. I can hold your hand from the bank so you don't slip." The plan reminded the Doubletake of similar schemes hatched between her and her brothers when they'd been younger. No, none of them had ever included frozen lakes or ice skating, but there was something wholly innocent and playful about the plan taking place that Flora couldn't help but beam up at Amhran, her aqua eyes shining.

My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

the harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun

"Or perhaps the wind will make me feel colder," Amhran points out with a quiet raise of an eyebrow, but there's enough warmth in his smile to suggest that he's only playing at negativity. (He hasn't yet become so jaded by the world for pessimism to become an inherent trait - give it time, though). "I visited there once," he says of Torchline, peering at a tiny pink shell within the jar she holds up, straightening once he's gotten a good enough look of it. "I enjoyed the scenery."

Being roared halfway across the Aumakua not so much, but he doesn't think Torchline had been directly responsible for that.

Her compromise is a kind one, and Amhran finds himself nodding along - especially at the offer for her to hold his hand - before he knows it. "That sounds like a great idea. Do you know what the shrine looks like, or if it's in any specific place? Otherwise we can just start following the bank."

flora

"Well, I don't know if you'll be going that fast." Flora counters with a laugh before her amusement softens and she gives her jar the littlest of shakes. "Did you? I'm glad to hear it. I moved there with my brother when we were younger. I've lived there ever since." She adds, not mentioning the bit about how she also ruled Torchline now. Sometimes it seemed an appropriate thing to add and other times it seemed like a flex that wasn't necessary; standing next to tall I used to be flora with his ice-skates was certainly one of those times.

"Nope, no idea." The queen admits with a bouncy shrug, grinning up at Amhran. "Deimos just said it was out this way." Following the bank seemed a reasonable enough suggestion, and because of the foot traffic near the sea of glass, the snow had been stepped on enough to make walking over it significantly easier.

"Sunglasses are smart." The queen hums conversationally. "I didn't realize that Halo was so sunny. I thought with all the snow it wouldn't be."

My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

the harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun

"You never know. I may end up on some downward slope," Amhran says, and one day the combination of his words and his dry tone might be construed as a joke. You know, an on purpose one. For now, though, he's entirely serious, and all the more grateful that Flora has offered to hold his hand. So he follows her across the bank and the hard-packed snow, genuinely interested in the young woman at his side. "So you are just on a pilgrimage to Halo for now?" he asks; to see the shrine, he means. He'd recently learned that word - pilgrimage - and it feels good to use it in a sentence.

The mention of Deimos has him faltering, because of course it does, but if anything Amhran only relaxes further to hear the Sword's name from her lips. "Well if he said it was out here, it will be. I am surprised he didn't give you an exact point on a map," he says with a small smile, only to blink at her remark about the sunglasses. "Here - if you need them," he offers, slipping his own off his face to offer them out, revealing high cheekbones and muddy green eyes.

"I think I've only ever seen sunny days and blizzards since I've been here."