[Training] Switch it up

Oh shit! He started to spin around at the yell from behind him, realizing too late that he'd been tricked, but only succeeded in taking the snowball on his arm instead of his back. "Not again!" Dismay tugged his expression into one of woeful regret, but this time he was able to see which way Alys ran, and he was quick to follow on feet that fairly flew across the snow.

He waited until she paused to peek at him before he let loose his own snowball with a wicked grin, then he dodged to the side and ducked behind another snowbank, pulling his Goggles up over his eyes and blinking as his vision adjusted to the lenses. He took the time to prepare two snowballs, one for each hand, before he poked his head out to check for traps. Only if it remained still did he slide out from his shelter and go back on the trail, looking for the footprints that didn't have the ghostly overlay of magic on them to follow as he hefted a snowball in preparation for letting it fly the moment he saw Alys peek out from her hiding spot.

and i'm still waiting for a life that never was

Alys grinned when her snowball made contact and ran hard for cover, Tal right on her heels. She made it behind a snow bank and rested for a moment, panting, her cheeks pink with exertion. She was beginning to tire. It made her an easy target.

When she poked her head out to search for Tal, his snowball caught her a glancing blow on the side of the head. She yelped and bent back behind the drift, then scampered to another, and then another, working her way around to a new vantage point while concealing her tracks with magic. When she'd positioned herself where she wanted, she settled in to wait, expecting Tal to follow her illusion footsteps instead of her real footsteps. Her back was unprotected, having forgotten about Tal's goggles.

Alys

Alys's yelp made it all worthwhile - even getting hit a few times earlier! Tal prowled after her retreat, relying on his Goggles to see the truth through her illusions, but also using his ears to listen for the crunch of snow beneath booted feet, and the gasp of breath in the chilly Halovian air. He knew from their chat in the tavern that her magic couldn't extend very far, and if he was close enough to see it in action, then he was close enough to--

"Gotcha!"

The gleeful yell came a moment after he'd thrown one of his snowballs at Alys's unprotected back. He held the second ready as a threat of retaliation in case she returned fire, but he was laughing as he rested his other hand on his hip and grinned at her.

"Ready t'call a truce?"

and i'm still waiting for a life that never was

She heard snow crunching behind her a moment too late; Tal's snowball hit her squarely in the back, startling a squeak from Alys as she whirled to face him, snowball in hand. But to her surprise, he just stood there with a grin, hand on his hip. She smiled and dropped the snowball, brushing snow from her gloves. "Truce," she agreed, adding in a teasing voice, "But only because I was winning."

Fully exhausted and deeply cold, Alys shivered. "Want to get something to eat and warm up?" she asked, leading the way to the nearest restaurant.

-FIN-

Alys