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+--- Thread: There's Snow Place Like Home (/showthread.php?tid=3685)
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There's Snow Place Like Home - Jade Harley - 02-03-2016
At the center of the white sky there stood a tower, lordly and tall, with sheets of frozen rain and snow shards rattling across its immense window panes. Its base level was wide and made of dense stone blocks, a warm and roaring hearth languishing in its entrance hall. As the long, winding stairwell within it rose up towards the sky, the grand building gradually wound itself into a more cylindrical shape, a rounded bulb the very same color of a pearl peaking up at its top.
Rocks of differing and gratuitously monolithic structure were placed in a coliseum-like pattern around the tower, although none could match its awesome height. There were mountains beside it, too, resting like the meaty forearms of a large, muscled giant. They were greater in size than a small asteroid, but less than a large one. If one were to take all of the individually divided slopes, cliff faces, and crags, and then measure them up all together, they would find that the whole mountain train was about as heavy as an extremely large amount of anvils.
Speaking of anvils— one was being struck, logically at the time that these observations were made. The sound of metal striking metal reiterated itself again and again. These weighty blows rang out with a supreme and profound quality; a familiar pang that echoed through the bones and jittered along the gums and teeth. Metallic clangs resonated in the upper atmospheres of the air surrounding the towers topmost bulb, cushioning it as an oyster seals around a precious pearl with its velvety soft flesh.
Inside of this pearly-white bulb, a wide-shouldered man was hard at work in creating a most intriguing weapon in the amber-colored light of his forge. His mustache was the color of burnt coal smoke or an oily and well-polluted river at dawn, and it was riddled with micro circuitry that would allow for it to twitch and wriggle across his synthetic upper lip like the springiest, fattest caterpillar to ever live. This long, impressively curled bug seemed to be doing barrel rolls in its jubilation as the robotic man worked.
Reddish smoke honey-combed across the walls of Grandpa Harley’s enclosed lab, poisoning the air and covering most of the furnishings with a slimy layer of black soot. The continual drumbeat of the smithy undulated in the space between the ceiling and floor tiles, heat and frost crystallizing in the warm light of creation.
Then, as a fire-seared and white-hot tong of metal was lifted into the air in the artificial, nerve-dead grasp of the armored senior citizen, something rippled quite alarmingly through the air. The old man immediately likened it to hearing a hyena’s distant cackle, lying with his back against swiftly cooling sands and a crackling fire spitting in lapping tongues towards an immeasurable indigo sky.
Puzzled, the robot placed the metallic rod upon the table before him with a resounding clang. He listened as whispering dredges of wind whistled along the curved edges of the towers highest point, delicate and pittering dabs of snow sprinkled in-between.
When no other sound came forth, he gave a minute shrug of his shoulders and resumed his work, only to be interrupted yet again by a persistent drumming against the roof not nearly an instant later. His synthetically-grooved gloves stained black and smoking, the old man’s hands clenched into fists, prepared for a rounded of fisticuffs with some sinister interloper. He was the very spitting image of Hephaestus, flames snarling at his back and the dogs of war braced for a brawl in his knuckles.
His sensors told him that the odd noise was stemming from somewhere up above when the suction-y, plucking sound made its presence known again. As he plodded over to a rectangular side window, a hand reaching out towards the stringy tie that would pull the window open, his red-lensed eyes gleamed with a fiery orange hue.
A beat later, the window slid open with a swift, jumbling zip!
Face perpetually grinning save for the twitching of his mustache, Grandpa Harley stuck his head out of his home, snowflakes catching on his safari hats metallic brim and melting from the heat of whatever micro circuitry kept him on his feet. He was still Homestuck, but most of his head and nearly nonexistent neck were not and that was all that mattered.
Sizzling noises accompanied the strange, rippling tapping this time. A peculiar grating ran along the rounded roof in eerie accompaniment, like a positively gargantuan child was gnawing on it as if it were a lollipop. As he turned his neck a full 360˚ with a sprightly whirring noise, Grandpabot was just able to watch as his roof was eaten away at by some peculiar, phlegmy ooze. Small spurts of goopy smoke rose into the air as what seemed to be acidic snow evaporated solid stone.
A small bead of the foul stuff dribbled upon his cap, and Grandpabot watched with steadily increasing alarm as a dime-sized hole was worn into his hat. Out of the corner of his lenses, he could have sworn that a tentacle arm or perhaps a scaly dragon's wing waved lazily at him.
“By Echidna’s quills!” he exclaimed, ducking back inside and slamming the window shut with extreme prejudice. With an afterthought, metal panes slid over the usual plexiglass panel. “I’m being made into Swiss cheese!”
After removing his hat, he was able to slide a finger all the way through the newly acquired abrasion with a peeved hmph. He would have to forge a new hat, no doubt, and make it expressly resistant to foul beast juices! In the meantime, he would have to work out some inventive way to eradicate the terror of pale white nastiness skulking about in the greater airy wastes.
His heavy boots drummed loudly against the floor as he stomped towards the transportalizer, taking the newly-made cobalt blue blaster gun with him. As he disappeared in a plume of green galaxies and sparking electricity, reappearing once more in the welcoming foyer at the base of the tower, Grandpabot looped a merry red bow with a card attached about its middle.
A pen was promptly removed from the inside of one of his boots. With a scratchy and clumsy script made all the more ridiculous by his large, fumbling fingers, he scribbled out a quick message:
“Happy birthday, my favorite girl!
I’m afraid that I must step out for a moment to take care of an unidentified flying infestation, but rest assured that I will return home safely to you and we can celebrate with cake and a dozen fancy ribbons!
You’ve grown up to become a fine young woman, dearest Jade, and I deeply regret that I was not there to spend those many trying years with you. This gun is just as sensible as yourself— it will not shoot to kill, but your bullisome interlopers will never cross you again once they have been on the receiving end of one of these frozen rounds! A warning of greater things to come, if you will.
Try to avoid dastardly, no-good fellows where possible, but always do what you know is right. I will return on the morrow, my departure time according to the mantle’s clock is 14:02. If anything should happen to me, do not go to great lengths to recover my components.
Pleasant travels & good fortune to you.
J. Harley.
P.S., Always keep at least five computers with you at all times. You must never be unprepared!
P.P.S., Kindly inform that Karkat fellow that his bathing routine is appalling. I haven’t seen anyone bathe fully clothed since my gambling ventures into the Siberian wilderness!
P.S.P.S. I won’t pry, but your Dataverse chums are a cagey bunch of hooligans. Be cautious, my dear!”
With a swoop and a flourish of dark green ink, Grandpabot tucked the blaster gun beneath the capable arms of the stuffed mummy doll propped up upon the chaise lounge. There, that should do it!
He had just finished retrieving his blunderbuss from the hands of his taxidermied double when a sharp rapping came upon the tower’s front door. The elder Harley turned his attention briefly towards the picture of Jade nestled comfortably atop the fireplace, let out a tinny hum, and made his way over towards the source of the knocking, which had sounded three times in all.
The door to the house slid open, the atomic symbol on its front hidden by the inner wall of the home. Slightly stooped with his head bowed over the front mat, the old man turned a critical eye towards a few tracks in the snow that appeared vaguely shoe-shaped. They were mysteriously empty, as if whoever had stood in them a few seconds before had spontaneously combusted.
It was a surprisingly common occurrence, spontaneous combustion— one of his old explorer’s club chums had been thoroughly combusted while flying a plane over a stretch of grassy plain in Africa. Either that, or he had simply crashed and been devoured by lions and scavenging beasts. Grandpabot preferred the former theory.
His boots made a heavy crunch in the upper crust of snow as he ducked out into the elements, the front door sealing soundly shut behind him with a sigh. With his bulky blunderbuss held out in front of him, Grandpabot marched boldly across the rainbow-splattered front lawn, being certain to pay his respects to the downed snowtroll of whom Jade had spent nearly fifteen minutes bringing into this world with a tip of his hat.
Slowly but surely, with labored footsteps and a whole blizzards worth of snow already sinking into his innermost machinery, Grandpa Harley vanished over the mountain rise.
---
The Frozen Fields were just as cold and unforgiving as Jade remembered them, icy precipitation coming down in droves and pale snow-fringed mountains seemingly the size of artichokes detached from the swirling, distant mists that ringed them. Her feet sank ankle-deep into the softest scalloped hills of snow she had ever seen. Breathing was a little rough on her throat and her nose immediately turned bright red, like a maraschino cherry.
“Come on, Bec!” Jade whooped, giving the First Guardian’s ears a brief tug before prancing merrily off onto a section of treacherously slippery ice. “Grandpa’s waiting on us!”
There it was: her tower, sticking up like a candle from a single-tiered cake. Jade notched an imaginary bead on it, positioning her arms like she was holding a rifle before miming a cheery “ka-pow!” at it. An unexpected crinkle of paper from her pocket reminded her of the note left behind by Ruby and Weiss. Lips pursing in thought, Jade was quick to bring it up for inspection.
It read as thus:
Quote:Sorry Jade!
I had forgotten to tell you I promised to meet up with my sister!
I don't wanna interrupt, so I'm leaving this letter for you.
I hope I can make it up to you sometime!
Thanks!
- Ruby and Weiss
“Hummmm,” Jade commented to Rebecca and Bec, her fluffy white ears flicking up and sending sparkling beads of frost downwards to get caught in the woolly cloth of her god tier hood. “That’s too bad! Oh well, I’m sure Ruby and Weiss will have a wonderful time, wherever they are!”
She really hoped that was destined to be true— it would just stink to high heaven if something terrible were to happen to her new friends! But, she had other stuff to attend to besides worrying, like the new people streaming in to meet her through the portal.
Turning to look once more across the massive, subtly shifting ice floes that lay between herself and her tower, Jade grinned. She hadn't been able to feel them move, before, slowly grating along one another and the choppy water below them— it felt like someone was incessantly tickling the soft tips of ears with a feather duster. That might get annoying quick!
Oh, but it was just so good to be back! Never mind that she had spent much of her first day in the Omniverse hungry, freezing, and desperately lonesome trekking laboriously across these icy wastes. It was all worth it, to be reunited with at least one of those from her past universe and to make so many new friends! That didn't make losing the old ones any less painful, though.
Her arms spread out to her sides, Jade breathed in that magnificent mountain air, the blizzard roaring in her ears and entire galaxies of snowflakes prickling along her spacial awareness.
“There’s snow place like home, haha!”
Re: There's Snow Place Like Home - Tearen Wover - 02-07-2016
Wow! It was very cold in the Frozey Place, but Rebecca thought that maybe she should have known that! It was okay, because all the angels in her tummy would keep her nice and warm. The ice and snow that she and Doggy Lady were walking across felt much different on her bare than the metal floors in the Underwater Place. The mountains here and all the stuff were very very big, and it was a little bit scary but Rebecca had White Doggy and Doggy Lady and Solmony Grundy and the other grownups so she wasn't actually afraid! She could smell something though but it was not a strong smell. It smelled like how Angels smell. Maybe there were Angels here too?
Rebecca hoped so! It had been so long since she had been a Good Girl. She wouldn't mention the maybe an Angel smell for now, but maybe if it was stronger later she would mention it. For now she had to make snow angels! After all, Daddy was waiting for some other people so yeah!
Re: There's Snow Place Like Home - Harlan Higgs - 02-07-2016
The shimmering portal flickered, and with a barely audible noise, spat out the hulking form of Solomon Grundy onto the windswept frozen plains. Surprisingly, he was not holding his stomach this time, and only required a vigorous shaking of his head to recover, as opposed to the usually minute or so of rest. Funny that the giant could take an explosion to the face and barely flinch, yet a little portal travel gave him vertigo.
Squinting, Grundy looked out over the expanses of this verse, the Frozen Fields. It was nearly as white as the Nexus; but the dark, almost bruise colored clouds and the jagged black peaks of far off mountains broke up the horizon enough to not mistake the two. Similar, yet each distinct from each other. Much like the zombie's many personalities. He didn't always remember his past lives, but when he did, his actions had always made sense to his current incarnation. And speaking of past adventures, he was looking forward to this one. Who knew what this frozen land would hold in store? Plenty of things to investigate, plunder, and possibly smash. He could have sworn he saw indistinct shapes darting around the tips of one of the far off peaks.
Much closer, the jacketed monster could see a tall ivory tower, sticking out of the white landscape like a greek column. He closed his summoned jacket, tying the thick rope around his waist and pulled up the big fluffy hood. Not that he needed protection from the cold, Grundy just figured that since the others around him were bundling up he might as well too. Leaning down slightly, he posed a question to his much smaller companion. "JADE LIVE IN WHITE STICK?"
After she answered, Grundy began to follow her and the dog across the ice....
-crk-
His heavy boots left deep impressions in the snow, and he didn't bother moving around deeper snowbanks like the others did, opting instead to just plow through them, sometimes up to his waist. After a few minutes of traveling, he'd acquired a brand new hat made out of piled white powder on his head. Dusty, icy epaulets fringed his shoulders, and he flexed his thick fingers to keep the green sap that served as his blood from freezing. He could survive most anything, but regenerating a snapped off finger would take time and effort that Grundy would rather spend exploring and helping Miss Jade with her adventuring.
-CRNCH-
The hulk paused. Did he just hear something? It was difficult to discern, with the howling wind blowing past his face and his ears more than a bit decomposed.
Probably nothing. He lifted his clomping feet, and continued walking across the dusted ice and snowy terrain.
-CRCK-
Re: There's Snow Place Like Home - King Axorn - 02-10-2016
Axorn stepped out of the swirling vortex and one strange feeling shifted to another, one that he had not felt for a long time. Cold. Axorn stepped through and instantly shivered a bit as he adjusted his internal flame's temperature to counteract the freezing winds and light snow that fell from the sky. The draconian, now warm, and radiating enough heat that the ground within his close proximity was melting, looked around at the landscape before him.
There were many large, snow-covered mountains, that looked like giant icicles sticking out of the snow and frost covered landscape. Off in the distance, the hybrid could barely make out the large tower rising up from the base of one of the mountains, which looked like a large, white lollipop balancing precariously on a bed of spikes. The draconian was intrigued at the sight of the building that seemed very much out of place given the surroundings.
The royal dragon hybrid ran up next to the dog-eared girl whom he'd yet had a chance to talk to. She was standing at the edge of some choppy, freezing water with a number of icy platforms floating on the surface. On the other side was the large tower the draconian had been wondering about since he first saw it.
"So," Axorn began, gazing in awe at the frozen area around them. "I didn't get to talk with you earlier, and as such I still don't even know your name. The draconian laughed. "I'm Axorn, king of the draconians from the planet of Tranquility." Axorn extended his scaled hand in a gesture of friendship, his warmth reaching the young girl a few paces away. "And you a--"
Axorn was suddenly interrupted by the thin layer of ice underneath his feet melting, causing a pillar of steam to rise as he dropped like a rock into the freezing cold water. The draconian, startled quickly regained focus and darted towards the surface, reducing his inner fire's temperature so that he didn't have to deal with steam when he got to the surface. He popped his head out of the small hole he had accidentally created and smiled, before bursting into laughter.
He hopped back onto the frozen ground, this time making sure he wasn't going to fall through. and walked up to the giggling young girl.
He extended his hand once more, smiling. "So, how about we try that again."
Re: There's Snow Place Like Home - Tartaros - 02-13-2016
"Watch your tongue! You're hardly innocent either, serpent-boy...", Tartaros snapped as the draconian turned away, "We all have that which we shall be judged for, when the time comes.". He didn't have the patience to deal with self righteous bastards, particularly those of the crimson variety. Especially not now. Taking a deep breath, he followed the rest of the group towards their destination, wandering across the barren wastes.
-----
As he stepped through the glowing icicle-covered portal, Tartaros was met with the cold chill and wailing howls of southbound winds. The unmissable sensation of arctic tundra. Mountains of snow and stone jutted across the horizon like the teeth of some great beast, as sheets of ice, and the ever-shifting waters underneath, surrounded him in all directions. In the skies, ash-grey clouds gathered into great formations as they blotted out rays of bright, shining sunlight.
"A storm's coming.", the marine said softly. "We should get moving."
As Tartaros took his first steps onto the ground, he was met with the sound of ice cracking under his ceramite-plated boots. The ground was thin here. Too thin. It wasn't safe. Careful to follow along the thicker patches of ice and large snowbanks of the , the wandering Astartes began his journey with the group, with Jade leading the way towards her tower of a home.
After some quarter-hour of walking, his woven primate-shaped companion began knocking his helmet. "I'm booooooored...", Monkey T repeated in-between knocks, "Are we there yet?"
"No.", Tartaros replied, "Be patient."
"Fine. But there better be some a-"
-CRACK-
In moments, freezing water drenched the marine and his now silent companion. As Tartaros turned to his right, he found a gigantic, snow-covered body floating in a pool of water, gripping onto a cracked slab of ice. He heard a grunt as the face of Solomon Grundy looked up to face him.
"UH... GRUNDY FINE. NO WORRY.", the undead behemoth said, as rolling waves of thin ice passed over his shoulders. "GIVE GRUNDY MOMENT AND HE BE OUT."
Tartaros sighed, and walked towards at the edge of the hole and put his right hand out. "Grab on."
"YOU... HELP GRUNDY? YAY!", the zombie eagerly gripped onto the Astartes' hand with an iron grip, almost yanking him down into the water. Kicking himself back up onto the ice and tumbling across the snowbanks, Grundy cheered, his face buried in the snow. "THANK YOU!"
"God! Fucking! Dammit!", a particularly shrill, angry voice shouted. "This stupid fucking rotlump soaked me head to toe! I swear, he's worse than Gamzee!"
Tartaros looked to his left, finding a short, orange-horned figure in a drenched black sweater.
"Erm... are you alright? Need anything?", the man said as he reached into his bag, searching for a spare rag or something of the sort.
"DO I LOOK ALRIGHT TO YOU, TINHEAD?!", the boy snapped, his gaze fixed into the cracked visor of Tartaros' helmet.
"Oh shut it. It's just water.", the wanderer replied, surprised at the troll's outburst.
"Do you know how cold this shit is, asshat?!", Karkat retorted in as loud a voice as ever, "Or can you not feel anything through that stupid fucking drone-looking metal shell of yours?"
"I've known more things than you have seen in your entire life, alien.", Tartaros grumbled, "Now get moving, or you'll freeze out here."
The troll muttered some barely audible curse as he turned away, joining the rest of the group.
The journey continued onward for a short while, trekking across the icy flats and banks of snow that are so common in the Frozen Fields, until dusk began to approach. As the sun began to set behind the mountain ranges of the verse, they arrived at the base of a tall, rocky outcrop. Further ahead, a winding staircase awaited, and further still, a great pearl-white tower.
Re: There's Snow Place Like Home - Gamzee Makara - 02-18-2016
Karkat could not think of a better way to spend his day. No, really. He loves the cold. Literally. Best thing ever, he swears to the eldritch powers that be. Falling face first into sub-zero water temperatures is probably his favorite thing to do in the history of ever.
Through some not-so-very-controlled anger exercises, that may or may not involve yelling and shouting at armed, probably very dangerous strangers, the troll’s inner body temperature rises through a combination of his rage and anatomy. For a second, it seems as though steam is rising off his slate colored skin. He shivers and his teeth clack together like wind chimes made of bone.
The dog-god is walking ahead of Karkat, padding along next to Jade. Before the alien knows it, the abomination is staring back at him again with those blank, empty eyes as it continues to walk forward, dodging little chunks of ice and other obstacles without so much as a glance, all the while holding a steady gaze on the grey skinned teen. Eugh! Those eyes! It’s like there’s nothing there, even though Karkat most certainly knows something is there. Creepy. He tries to ignore it.
It’s still creepy.
My god he’s so tired of being covered in Faygo. At least his little dip into the frozen hell lake of frozen hell washed off most of that crap. Still, he felt sweet, syrupy, sticky stuffs in places that sweet, syrupy, sticky stuffs should not be. His crimson eyes follow the upward gaze of the accompaniment of freaks, spotting a familiar tower in the distance.
Could be Jade’s tower.
Could be a Snow Monster Ice Worm Thing.
Nah just kidding that’s totally Jade’s kickass snow tower home place. Karkat vividly remembers the beautiful construct as he was flung from a fruity explosion. Closer still, was an elaborately crafted stairwell.
Upon approaching the staircase, everyone just kind of...Stared at it. Except Jade and the little wriggler thing. They both just walked up the stairs. The hellhound also paused for only a moment before padding upstairs after his handler. The massive likes of the zombie, the tin can, and the dragon dude all paused a second before daring to step on the fragile looking steps.
“Okay fat-asses, let the shrimp go first,” He mutters, before taking a step on the icy platform-
And promptly slipping and falling on his ass. Well, almost. At the last second, the crabby kid’s hand finds purchase in a chunk of ice, but now he’s positioned rather awkwardly, tailbone inches off of the ground. With a swear, he pulls himself up onto the next step and climbs up the glacier stairs as if nothing happened, hoping that his flushed cherry cheeks could be attested to the brisk, chilly weather.
He joins Jade, the demon dog, and the wriggler, mounting the horizon for an even better view of the witch’s frozen fortress. It truly was quite the sight. Karkat didn’t really get a good view of it in the flurry that he flew threw. There was also the whole exploding faygo jetpack thing. That certainly put a damper on the whole idea of sightseeing.
The sun was certainly something to see. There was so much snow blanketing the ground that the reflecting sunlight made it almost feel like they were still in the Nexus.
The sun was certainly something to see.
Re: There's Snow Place Like Home - Proto Man - 02-21-2016
“Self-explanatory name, I guess.”
Mega Man smiled as he started to trudge down the decline from the gate. Before departing from Coruscant, he’d procured some modifications to ensure his boots wouldn’t slip or loose traction on ice or in heavy snow. As he made his way down the hill, he whispered a hushed thanks to himself as he glanced at what seemed to be evidence of individuals stumbling and tripping down the slope.
“Where to?” The android glanced around, hoping to find some sign of the group that had passed through the area earlier. After months of being cooped up in Camelot’s third tier, he needed an escape—a viable excuse to get the authorities to let him through the border into the Nexus. With other robots that looked similar to him causing problems on other tiers, the troopers didn’t want him slipping out of town, but after some gentle explanation, they’d let him through.
Now the world was opened up before him, and all he had to do was find that group. How exciting would it be to get a chance to talk with other primes? How fascinating it would be to learn their stories and learn their experiences of the Omniverse? It had been so many months (or years, perhaps?) since he’d met any fresh faces. What if he met someone he’d known in the world before? New stories spoke of his sister, but he was too nervous to try and head any further down than tier three.
Yet here I am, staring at one of the Omniverse’s great wastelands!
A smile spread across the machine’s visage. If he could brave this, he could handle the worst parts of Coruscant.
Kneeling down near the bottom of the shallow slope from the gate, Mega Man noticed some fresh tracks. After running some diagnostics and pulling up some of the public individuals that he knew were out here, he realized he had his lead.
With a grin, the Blue Bomber rushed to catch up to the adventuring party. With any luck, he wouldn’t miss out on any of the fun stuff.
Re: There's Snow Place Like Home - Strazio Rockwell - 02-23-2016
The cold was no friend of Valerie's. He detested the snipping bite of the Frozen Fields. Every wisp of wind stole breath from his lungs and heat from his heart. Knives punctured the arches of his bare feet as they crunched into the fresh powder. The plant mage hadn't worn shoes in ages, he much preferred to feel the dirt and earth beneath his feet. Even still the chill creeping up his limbs reminded him that winter clothes would be needed. He lacked the ability to construct clothing from omnilium, but he had another trick up his sleeve. Small vines peeked out from beneath his robe and interlaced with themselves. Thin wires of a cotton-like substance followed suit, knitting itself into long braided patterns. In mere moments his feet were wrapped in a warm haven of plant matter, and the rest of his body was well-insulated with his organic winter outfit.
Still he had begun to doubt if he would ever feel truly warm again.
“Oh melancholy,” Valerie bemoaned, “must we travel so deep into this frost encrusted desert? I know a beautiful warm vista in the Vasty Deeps that we could explore.”
His complaints went unheard and unanswered and he was left to suffer in the frigid snow. There was a painful absence of life here, not but frozen water and dreary silence. The forest was alive with the sounds of nature, it pulsed with the breath of grand creation. This placed lacked that every present ebb and flow of life, it lacked variety . Still, in the Omniverse anything was possible and the thought of an iceborn plant was not too far-fetched. Even in the verdant mage's home universe several species of harsh plants made their lives buried beneath the northern tundra. The thought of discovering a new exotic species of snow-borne plant gave him the resolve to press on.
Before them stood Jade's magnificent tower, imperial in all of its glory. Truly a testament to the power of omnilium, able to create such a feat of engineering with nothing more than a thought. However, what impressed the verdant mage was the groves of trees scattered around the perimeter. Beautiful green bark with strikingly red leaves Drawn like a man possessed Valerie split from the group and wandered over to the strange new flora. The two complimentary colors mixed to create an alluring plant. Carefully and delicately he placed his hands upon the bark and closed his eyes for a moment, feeling the almost nonexistent pulse of the tree. Every cell and fiber silently being weighed and examined through the use of near-imperceptible magick. Val's heart fluttered and skipped a beat as he felt the chilled roots reach deep beneath the earth. Under his breath he whispered in astonishment and reached for one of the blood-red petals. With a quick motion he plucked the flower from its branch and inhaled its unique scent. Then, without warning, he swallowed the petal and his veins pulsed a bright almost-emerald green. From beneath the skin on his palm a fully formed blossom formed, identical to those born by the tree.
"Excellent," he whispered and plucked the flower from his hand. With an exuberant twirl he turned back to the group and followed in step.
Re: There's Snow Place Like Home - Jade Harley - 02-25-2016
After marching along the icy slope to the entryway of her house, Jade was only a teensy bit out of breath from the steep height. The air was cool and filtered all through with dazzling flakes of snow, the shade of the mountainside providing a welcome haven from the worst of the wintry deluge.
She turned her head to grin excitedly at her friends, her hair cast wildly about by the wind and the whole troop of them seeming like a broken line of ants weaving their way up the glacial steppes. Her smile and red-peaked cheeks seemed at odds with the chilliness of the place and the unsettled property itself, and it wasn't long before she had taken the last few strides to reach her front door. It slid neatly open with hardly a peep.
With a shuffle and a skittering splutter of snow, Jade shouldered her way into the grand foyer. The stooped silhouette of her taxidermied grandfather stood at attention directly across from her, the bellowing hearth behind him spitting fearsome tongues of reddish-orange light along the squarish walls.
Like a moth drawn to a flame, Jade's gaze immediately gravitated towards the most unexpected object in the room by far: a bluish-metal blaster gun, tied up with a fancy red ribbon.
"Ooh!" She exclaimed, zapping towards it in a burst of fractured green light rather than simply taking the last few steps. A pucker appeared between her brows as a sudden bout of dizziness overcame her, but she quickly brushed it away. There was a new toy to tinker with, after all!
And, boy, what a toy it was! As Jade excitedly turned it over, catching sight of her grandfather's hastily drawn card, the others filed uncertainly inside, regarding the many beast heads lining the walls with expressions ranging from indifference to deep concern. Everywhere a person could have looked some tusked or snarling face could be seen, the slightest curve of fangs glinting in the warm firelight.
Jade frowned at the paper card held between her fingers, her green eyes swimming with confusion and slight hurt. Grandpa had left? On a hunting trip? Without so much as a by your leave? Granted, he was an approximately 200 lb bionic man, but that didn't mean he could just go wandering off! What if he became lost?
What if something horrible happened to him?
Turning smartly on her heel, Jade regarded the group of travelers with an expression caught somewhere between a pout and a totally friendleader-y stare. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Jade's eyes zeroed in on someone she had never seen before straggling quite obviously at the back of the crowd, clad all in blue armor and with the kindest eyes. She stared confusedly at him, trying to figure out just who the heck he was, before simply giving up and deciding to leave it to fate.
The Witch of Space cleared her throat, speaking softly but with a bubbly lilt lifting her voice so everyone could hear. "Okay, everyone! This is my house, but I don't want to waste too much time here and my grandpa seems to have stepped out anyway, sooooo... Let's go!"
A voice came out of the blue without much warning, and although Jade couldn't lay a finger on exactly where it came from, it sounded vaguely like a rusty hobo mumbling from deep inside some kind of whacky tin can prison. "Where?"
Checking her new gun with a light tap to its nozzle before setting it against her shoulder, Jade gave everyone present a positively thrilled buck-toothed grin. "Out there, of course!"
And so they went, wandering off into the great wide nowhere of the Frozen Fields with adventure awaiting their every step.
RE: There's Snow Place Like Home - Harlan Higgs - 03-02-2016
The group had been traversing the snowy landscape of the fields for some time before Grundy had his abrupt bath in the frigid water. A large wave of wet snow and chunks of ice had accompanied his fall, and his subsequent rescue by Tartaros. Fun! The snowy behemoth didn't mind the chill at all as he picked himself up from the snowbank he'd landed in, glad his instincts about the Armor Man were somewhat correct. He was a friend too. Maybe one that wouldn't mind a friendly roughhousing once in a while either.
piff
A snowball hit the back of Grundy's head and he turned his neck around slightly to find the troll boy, Kark Hat, in the middle of throwing another powdery projectile his way. This one hit the middle of his face and exploded silently into a cloud of floating ice crystals and dust.
"Just a reminder to watch where you're going, lardass!" The troll hissed, wisps of condensed vapor drifting up lazily from his head.
As per his usual reaction to the troll's vitriol, the awkward zombie shrugged and turned his head around again. He didn't let this action pass without comment, however; after a few paces, Grundy rumbled. "KARK HAT NEED TO REMEMBER GRUNDY EASILY ROLL HIM INTO SNOWMAN". The troll elected to stay silent, and a small, rumbling chuckle issued soon after from the hulk's throat.
Finally, the motley band of wanderers reached the base of the white spire they had been journeying towards. The large, bulky travelers such as Armor Man and the red lizard person had paused alongside Solomon's giant frame; the stairs did not look that stable. Fortunately, the brash angry troll pushed ahead of them ( after a careful lambasting) and promptly almost fell on his ass. Recovering, he clambered up the icy stairway and left the less nimble travelers behind in the icy wind. Valor Ree, the plant wizard in the dress wandered off to the side and Grundy watched as his brightly colored friend investigated near the base of the tower. The mage had already been looking somewhat diminished in this cold, but now he was positively shivering.
Reluctantly, Grundy sighed and started up the grand staircase. Jade and her dogfriend had already left them in the dust and he wasn't feeling too great about his chances if he got separated from the rest of them. He could get bored very quickly wandering this snowy oblivion if he didn't have his friends to remind him why exactly he was here. Large boots bit deeply into the ice, his fashion sense (and weight) serving him well. The treads on the bottom of his feet afforded him purchase as he slowly made his way up the stairs, followed by the others. One hand on the side of the building to steady himself, they all finally made it up to the landing...
Only to find that the revenant's huge frame prevented him from entering. The door was larger than normal, but Grundy could see he wouldn't be able to force himself inside without smashing up the wall at least a little bit. He resolved to wait outside until they departed again; his hearing picked up snatches of Jade's announcement. Within a few moments, they were off again down the glacier stairs. However, the childlike zombie decided to have a little fun this time, and dove down the icy walkway. Sledding along his front, he yelled in delight as he whizzed past a startled Jade and her dog friend, only to land in a heap at the bottom, slightly dizzy.
Icecap Idiots - Gamzee Makara - 03-12-2016
Yeah yeah, it’s a tower, it’s Jade’s, cool shit, let’s keep it moving. Not that they’d warm up like that.
Can’t feel his fingers. That’s literally his one and only complaint right now. Karkat can’t feel his fingers for shit. Carefully, he kneads them between his carnivorous teeth in an attempt to get the blood flowing again. Honestly, if he were to prick one of his fingers by accident, the Knight of Blood probably wouldn’t be seeing a lot of blood. His veins were all frozen to hell, he was sure of it. This probably explained why his limbs felt so heavy, why it was such a chore to hold his head up. Just a bunch of frozen cherry blood, wrapped up tight in ashen grey skin.
Little flurries of snow spiral their ways in and out of the group’s vision. Any time some droplets of snow would land on Karkat’s face, he’d wrinkle his nose and try to blow it off, usually in vain. Sometimes, snow would cake the monstrosity that is Solomon Grundy. It would blanket his body and head, so that he looked like an abominable snowman. Which is...frighteningly accurate, to say the least. If his face was ever covered, the zombie would take a moment to let loose a heavy snorting exhale, like that of a bull. Hot air would billow out in clouds, melting the powder from his face. Tartaros wasn’t very affected by all this weather. KK wasn’t sure if the rustbucket was heated or what, but the snow never stuck to his metal form. Karkat could only assume that the lizard man had, of course, his own biological heater unit.
Looking ahead, Jade and her Demon Dog seemed rather unaffected by the icy conditions. They are just as accustomed to frolicking through the snow as they are frolicking across a tropical island. That magey planty fucker or whatever...Well he was a hard one to pin down, the troll supposes. He seemed pretty bothered by the weather, and even voiced his discomfort at times, but the thing that really bothered Karkat about this guy was his cheeriness. Jesus, he’s not one to rain on other people’s parades, he’s not that much of a bully, no, but this guy!
Also noteworthy: The dude has a boner for plant life. Reminds him of a certain human girl with an affinity for gourds that Karkat happens to acquaint himself with.
RE: There's Snow Place Like Home - Proto Man - 03-15-2016
Mega Man trailed the travelers for longer than he would have liked, but he’d made the conscious decision after the first few miles to not do anything strenuous. While he could have raced to catch up with them, common sense dictated that it’d be best for him to just go at a slightly accelerated pace. That way, he’d be able to make up for lost time whenever they paused for camp or to enjoy the sights.
As a machine, he had very little interest in the climate, the wind, or the genuine lack of traction provided by the virtually ice-like ground beneath his heavy boots. A simple application of some omnilium provided him with the necessary snowshoes to traverse the Frozen Fields without face-planting the first time the ice got thick.
Overhead, the puffy clouds swirled as they perpetually dumped snow down onto the arctic landscape.
The preteen machine wondered if the weather ever changed here, but from a preliminary glance at the Dataverse, it seemed like snow was what most people expected. Snow, hail, and sleet in copious amounts across the hours of the day and throughout the days of the week.
“Miserable.” The blue robot muttered as he looked at the wide-open landscape around him. While there were some pretty mountains to break up the monotony, everything else was frozen earth and water. For the first time, the machine wondered why anyone would bother to spend their time in this place. Did the snow hide secret resources? Was there some sort of powerful artefact hidden out in the frozen wastes? There had to be something that would motivate primes or secondaries to want to meander around in this strange, subzero landscape.
After a few more hours, Mega Man passed a tower half-concealed by the snow. The footprints were still fresh, and with a faint smile he pushed on with the hopes that he would catch up to the group of adventurers before the sun completely vanished from the clouded sky overhead.
RE: There's Snow Place Like Home - Tearen Wover - 03-18-2016
Rebecca skipped around the Doggy Lady's house and looked at all of the dead things heads on the walls. There sure were a lot! They weren't angels though. They smelled really old and musty. It had been a while since Rebecca had been able to help an angel go to heaven, now that she thought about it. But also Green Doggy hadn't had to turn anyone into angels, so that was good too.
Her bare feet clapped loudly on the polished floors of Jade's tower, and after a short time, the Little Sister soon found herself in the Witch's bedroom. There were plants everywhere, and some had pretty flowers! Maybe Doggy Lady would like a bouquet for being such a good Daddy...
So Rebecca continued to amble around the atrium, plucking random blossoms from various flowering plants. When she had a whole bunch of flowers, she went back down the circley stairs to try and find Doggy Lady, humming a nice song all along the way. When Rebecca found the rest of her new friends again however, Doggy Lady was saying about how they had to leave again. Rebecca pouted a little bit and looked down at all the pretty flowers. Well...maybe she could give them to Daddy later.
Rebecca tucked the bundle of vibrant foliage into her pockets and danced up to where Jade was flying close to the ground but all slow and grabbed Doggy Lady's hand with her clammy little digits, grinning widely up at the Doggy Lady.
"Is there gonna be candy where we go?"
RE: There's Snow Place Like Home - Strazio Rockwell - 03-19-2016
The verdant magician stayed more or less silent, taking in his surroundings. Jade’s tower was quite, interesting curious artifacts and flora were arranged almost haphazardly. Valerie sighed, the talents that primes possessed were indeed magnificent. Creating an elegant tower so deep within the tundra would have required an incredible sacrifice in his home universe. But here, in the Omniverse all that was required was that perplexing substance known as omnilium. Miracles made manifest, all without the direct use of magick. Indeed, the rainbow substance spit in the face of magick, not that Valerie was completely bound to the laws of magick, but he was a unique case.
Curious, Val thought as a smirk sparked across his lips, I wonder if Strazio is as inept with omnilium as he is with magick.
Valerie’s emerald eyes glanced towards the window, a speck in the distance trudged slowly towards them. A glint of blue metal sparked against the dull sun and piqued Val’s interest.
“Companions!” the plant mage exclaimed, moving towards the door, “a weary traveler approaches, let’s greet him with the utmost amicability!”
The howl of wind swallowed the atrium as Val swung the doors wide open. Whips of frost and chill sliced through the adventuring party, but the allure of friendship forced Valerie forward. Rope-like vines slithered out from beneath his green-stained robes. They braided themselves together, creating a makeshift carpet for the now bare-foot Valerie to step across the snow. As he walked forward the carpet withered and died, within moments the remains of his walkway were swallowed by the snow. Yellow blossoms sprouted and died along the length of the vine, living out their ephemeral lives in mere moments.
“Greetings!” the verdant mage spoke with warm words and an inviting smile “My name is Valerie LaMolle, it is always a propitious affair when two travelers meet. Please my newfound friend, what is your name?”
RE: There's Snow Place Like Home - Storyteller - 03-25-2016
From the distance, somewhere far from the tower, there was a sound. So far in fact that those that heard it could not immediately identify its direction. Heads swiveled and sentences fell short as the party of adventurers searched for the source.
It seemed to be a thin, aimless tweeting, as though a flutist had gone mad somewhere in the white tundra. Shrill highs were soon met with trembling lows, and any that was familiar with music might make note of the instrument’s amazing range. Slowly, the tittering-rambling piping grew louder, and louder again until it could no longer something which could be dismissed as some distant nuisance.
Soon the trilling of the pipe could be heard at a deafening pitch, and yet still no source could be found. From nowhere and from everywhere it seemed to echo, and as soon as you were sure that it came from either this way or that, you were equally sure that it wasn’t.
As quickly as the sound had appeared, it faded away, leaving those who had heard it bewildered and befuddled.
Only after they had a moment to recuperate did they notice the viscous writing that wound over the ground in thick, transparent, rust-colored slime. The letters slopped and dribbled from the floor of the tower, out into the cold of the Fields, turned sharply, and pointed outwards before trailing away. None had ever seen the language before, but somehow, they knew its meaning:
FREE ME.
RE: There's Snow Place Like Home - Jade Harley - 03-27-2016
The cover of ice couldn’t even be moved by an unseen story of personal tragedy, remaining flat and untouched beneath the rust-colored slime. Jade frowned disapprovingly at it, because how on earth could it be immune to the supernatural phenomena beseeching them for aid in all its quintessential mystique, and then turned to regard the others.
Ghostlike wisps of air stirred around them in the abrupt silence that followed. It suddenly occurred to Jade that, despite all of the strangeness and parking offenses and distortions of the laws of physics that took place on a regular basis in the Omniverse, some might have found such an occurrence to be a bit more weird than the usual lunchtime brand of improbability.
“Well, now!” Jade said, a refreshing bout of energy working its way somewhere in her system. “I guess we’re going to have to take a vote on what to do!”
Everyone else glanced at one another, some more noticeably than others. Jade supposed that maybe they presumed voting to be a virulent disease or that they might have grown accustomed to operating under the watchful eye of a heavily militarized police force, and so their confusion was totally reasonable. Whatever the cause, she soldiered on for an encouraging finish.
“All those in favor of helping the mysterious ghost letters, raise your right arm!”
There was a pause in which not a soul made a move, save for Rebecca who immediately thrust her arm towards the sky and bobbed energetically on her feet, clearly set to retrieve whatever sugary treasure might be discovered on this adventure.
Then, with what appeared to be a shrug through all of his armor and an “Ah, why the hell not?”, Tartaros raised his arm. A veritable forest of arms shot into the air several beats later, the group collectively deciding that his decision was, indeed, a Good One.
The Witch took her sweet time in counting them all, embodying the part of a freethinking scout master rather well, quietly mouthing the numbers to herself as she went along. As each member of the adventuring party was counted in turn, the raised arms gradually receded. When that was finished, there was nothing left to do but figure out who was opposed to freeing whatever the mystical force was.
With a wide grin on her lips, for she was certain that victory was secured, Jade asked that anyone who disagreed raise their arm into the air or forever hold their peace. To her surprise, a single arm was slung into view with all the reactionary gusto of a toast-prepper during a particularly spirited bachelor party. It was grey and attached to a very grumpy-seeming troll.
“Uh, question. Why should we help whatever-the-fuck that was?” Karkat asked, hunching his shoulders defensively as all eyes focused upon him. He looked kind of like a mightily disgruntled turtle, the collar of his sweater rising up just enough to graze his ears.
Jade grinned, blinked in a way that suggested she couldn’t quite grasp what he was getting at here. “Because it’s the right thing to do, of course!”
“Yeah. Yeah, of course it is. It’s just, some of us here— we’re not like the rest of you. We’re not big players. We die. I don’t even have a weapon to speak of—“
“Oh! That can be fixed, sure,” Jade exclaimed, hastening over to where Karkat stood so she could take his hands and swiftly pull him aside. “Just give me a moment, we’ll have that… what was it called?”
“A clawsickle.” There was a word to describe the look pasted upon Karkat Vantas’ face. It wasn’t one that could be found in a standard Earth dictionary, unfortunately.
“—Clawsickle summoned in just a second!” The starry-eyed girl answered. It actually took a grand total of fifteen minutes for the crab claw-shaped weapon to appear, spikily reddish-colored and hard as the carapace of a crustacean, but it was well worth it to see the small abatement of the tension in her friend’s shoulders once he held his weapon aloft.
That settled, Jade whirled around and considered where the scrawled cyphers had been with a critical eye. That was it; she would have to go full Sherlock Holmes here, no ifs, ands, or buts about it! It was pointing to something in the far distance no doubt, something which she could not see this close to the ground, but maybe if she were to gain a little altitude—
Her eyes clapped upon Grundy. A figurative light bulb fluttered to life above her head.
Beaming widely, Jade skipped over to her towering undead friend and lightly tapped upon his arm to gain his attention. The plant zombie looked down at her, stringy white hair frosted in funnily-skewed spikes around the top of his head.
“WHAT ANGELJADE WANT?”
"Can you boost me up real quick?" the Witch asked, making a lifting gesture with her hands.
Grundy looked at her uncertainly, as if thinking about how easy it would be to launch her into twinkling satellite range by mistake. In the end, though, he simply shrugged and steepled his big fingers into a platform that she could step on the top of. Then, with a nearly effortless heave, he launched her high above his head.
Jade’s heart very nearly slammed against her ribcage as she was tossed into the air, dizzying snowflakes whirling about her. After a tentative half-second of wavering several superfluous feet above the group, Jade’s mind seemed to catch up with her body and she gently swooped into flight, only then turning her head to look out over the icy wastes once she had arrived at a lazy hover.
Nothing. Wait, no— there was something, maybe, nothing more than a dark freckle of interest sticking up amid an absolute ocean of glacial slush, but something nonetheless. Unless the lenses of her glasses were smudged, but Jade highly doubted that that was the case.
She drifted back down again to rejoin her assembled friends, patting down her starry skirts and offering a flurried hello to the person in blue armor who had joined them. Perhaps they had seen and heard the peculiar occurrence, as well?
With a slightly worried expression, Jade’s gaze drifted to the dampening cover of bright white that covered the landscape, observing restlessly as it slipped into a darker maritime blue around the edges. Nightfall would be upon them soon. Not that it would make much of a difference in this weather, but it was simply common knowledge that all large predatory beasts preferred the cover of night to broad daylight. They would really have to book it if they wanted to get anything done before sundown!
“There’s something that way, I’m not totally sure of what it is but it should be interesting!” Jade affirmed, starting off in that direction with a spritely spring to her step.
RE: There's Snow Place Like Home - Harlan Higgs - 04-04-2016
The motley crew of adventurers made their way down the icy stairs leading away from Jade's tower, making sure their footwork was deft and free of stray skids onto blustery territory. At the bottom of the staircase sat Grundy, snow melting on his icy clothes, the giant seated in a snowbank as he watched his companions pick their way back down to the somewhat level ground of the Fields. He breathed a sigh, blowing the flakes off of his face, and got up as soon as everyone had reached the bottom. There was something familiar about the scene, people picking their way down treacherous stairs, but he couldn't quite remember....
"We just want to help you, Grundy!" the man had shouted as he flew forward, fists outstretched.
Raising his hand to catch the blow, the zombie wound up with his other tremendous fist and let fly a blow that sent the red caped boy scout flying backwards. "HELP YOURSELF!"....
"Down this way, Grondy."
Looking ahead, he watched the golden armored figure stride forward purposefully alongside two others, both having a rough time descending the sandy stone stairs. Wondering why, the corpse watched a bead of water flow to the end of his nose, then fly upwards. Right. The stairs were upside down...
-ffffffffffwwwwwwwwWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-
The sound shook him out of his hazy remembrance of past lives, penetrating into his cracked and ancient skull. The noise was soft at first, musical, then louder, and louder, and louder, until it was almost maddening. Solomon clasped his palms to his head, but the sound still reverberated in his dead brain. It was almost physical, the numb un-pain of his head being shot through with burning iron rods of pitch and tone.
He fell to his knees and opened his mouth, inhaling deeply for a loud yell, the bellow of a wounded animal, until just as suddenly as it had started...the noise stopped.
Silence once more, the cold chill of wind and snowflakes falling onto the ground, a pitter-patter that sounded like the opposite of a fire crackling. Bleary, yellow eyes opened as the stricken giant looked around to see if anyone else had been affected as badly as he had been. Lightly slapping his own cheek, he saw the rust colored phenomenon seep out from the tower and flow towards the party. Arcane symbols formed from the soupy gunk before it rotated and flew away, and Grundy was surprised to find he could understand it. Free me.
In vain the clueless hulk ran towards the symbols and tried digging in the snow as they retreated, attempting to "free them" until he realized that wasn't their intention. Slowly, he tromped back to the group, feeling confused and somewhat shaken. Shaken, until he looked down to find his small angel dogfriend holding a vote.
“All those in favor of helping the mysterious ghost letters, raise your right arm!”
Slowly his snow caked icy fist pointed at the sky. He felt that something should be added, and said to no one in particular. "THAT NOISE...HURT GRUNDY. HURT GRUNDY IN HEART. AND HEAD. FREE ME. GRUNDY KNOW WHAT IT LIKE TO NOT BE FREE."
"Step right up! Step right up and see the Mysterious Unliving Man!"
He could feel the chains around his arms and neck, a gnawing, angry pain eating the corners of his vision as he strained against his shackles and tried to tell his story, so that these people would let him go. "SOLOMON GRUNDY, BORN ON A MONDAY! SOLOMON GRUNDY, BORN ON A MONDAY!!!"
Laughs, jeers, shrieks of fright from ladies who swooned into their well dressed partner's arms. Just like always.
"Quite the dullard, isn't he ladies and gentleman! Observe, as he defies the laws of God and Death!"
-BANG-
A barely imperceptible flinch as the fractured memory flitted across his mind. Karkat voiced his grumpy opinion on their next step, and the zombie watched the back and forth between the troll and Jade, and then a short wait while the Witch worked on summoning a weapon for the surly teen. During this time, he wandered around their small bivouac, eavesdropping on conversations and eventually finding himself next to Valerie.
"HELLO, VALOR REE."
"Why hello there my gargantuan companion! Is there something I can assist you with?"
The giant shook his head. "GRUNDY JUST WANT TO SAY HELLO. YOU LOOK COLD. IS VERY COLD HERE. PLANTS NOT DO TOO WELL IN COLD, BUT GRUNDY JUST FINE."
"Why yes indeed it is absolutely frigid here!" Valerie throws the back of his palm to his forehead, "My vegetation will certainly freeze solid here, but I suppose that is the price paid for adventure. Are... are you implying that you're a plant Grundy?"
He shrugged, his broad shoulders shaking off powdery snow. "GRUNDY NOT THINK HE PLANT? GRUNDY COME FROM SWAMP, THOUGH. MAYBE GRUNDY PART SWAMP." The zombie stared off into the distance, before looking over Valerie once more. "YOU REMIND GRUNDY OF LADY HE USED TO KNOW. SHE HAVE MANY PLANTS TOO. AND GREEN ALL OVER. EXCEPT FOR HAIR. HAIR RED."
"Oh my, a fellow plantsmen?" his face sparked and lit up with the warm joy of anticipation, "is she here? In the Omniverse I mean. I do so cherish my time spent with other plant-lovers such as myself, and to meet one from another universe, well, that would be absolutely fantastic!"
The chalk giant actually sounded wistful as he answered. "NOT THINK SO...GRUNDY NOT SEE HER HERE. MAYBE SHE SOMEWHERE ELSE....NAME IS IVY. HAHAHAHA....SHE MAKE BIG PLANTS, GROW STRONG. EAT BAD PEOPLE." He grinned at the verdant mage. "YOU HAVE FAVORITE PLANT, VALOR REE?"
Val paused for a moment and bit the back of his palm before answering, "no, I don't believe that I do. Each plant is special in its own way, even those considered weeds are precious to me. Indeed, asking me to choose a favorite is akin to asking me which one of my legs I prefer."
The plant mage was met with a blank stare, a few seconds of silence, and a mumbled, "GRUNDY NOT HAVE FAVORITE LEG. LEGS GROW BACK." Just then, Jade came up to him, and he nodded to his planty wizard friend. "GRUNDY KEEP EYE OUT FOR PLANTS FROM NOW ON."
Grundy felt her tap on his arm, and looked down to see their fearless leader, smiling sheepishly at him.
“WHAT ANGELJADE WANT?”
"Can you boost me up real quick?"
The alabaster monster thought for a few seconds, unsure of just how far to throw her, before shrugging and giving her a heave skyward. After a few seconds of pell mell tumbling, she took control in the air and floated around, scouting the icy fields. After she landed and indicated the direction she thought they should go, Grundy nodded and followed on after her. He waved his compatriots onward with a tree trunk forearm. Maybe there would be dragons, or other things to encounter. One thing was certain though; Solomon Grundy would liberate whatever had called them. Or he would try to, at least.
A Great Feeling - Gamzee Makara - 04-12-2016
Karkat has a great feeling about this. You know, the last time a certain someone, who shall remain nameless at this time, ‘freed’ something that seemed friendly, it ended up destroying an entire universe. In recent memory, that is. Give it a while in this new world, he’s sure some other asshole will come around to fuck shit up. Lost in thought, the Cancer mutters to himself. He doesn’t even notice when he begins lag behind the rest of the group, lost in thought and frustration. It’s almost too late, as the inevitable separation dawns on him and he begins to sprint after his companions.
“Hey guys! Hold your damn hoofbeasts for a sec-”
And then, his world begins to pitch and sway and heave. It was as if someone decided that the spin cycle was necessary to scrub the stain away that was his pathetic excuse for an existence. The brave Knight of Blood loses his footing and winds up on his hands and knees, barely sentient and copacetic. The newly summoned claw-scythe lands in the powder with a pff. He favors his left side, clutching at an old wound in his gut with one hand, and the scars that Gamzee’s teeth had left in his neck with the other. Despite the blistering cold, sweat beads down his temple. He opens his mouth to shout an expletive, but no swears will come like they so often did before. Finding the strength to crane his head, Kar turned his gaze back in the direction that they had walked from, back towards the Nexus Gate. His heart raced, pulse quickened.
Something God-Awful has happened. A Multiversal bond has been severed, a light snuffed. It was if one coil of a light bulb had been burned out, causing the other to overload and pop.
Suppose that’s just another perk to being Moirails. Right, best-bro?
His breath little more than a wheeze, Karkat forces himself to a wobbly standing position. He leans down and tentatively equips his ClawScythe thingy. Gingerly, he takes a few steps forward. He hasn’t eaten snow yet, so he decides to chance a brisk walk, hoping to catch up to the fast disappearing silhouettes, who are veiled in snowy flurries.
---
When the normally shouty alien regroups with the rest of the band of adventurers, he is noticeably less audible. No indignant shouts about being left behind momentarily. No crude, well thought out insults about the gullible nature of present company. No loose barrage of profanities about the sub-zero temperatures.
He just trudges on, look of separation and detachment and so many other whirl-plooling emotions barely hidden just beneath a plastered-on mask of “I’m okay.”
RE: There's Snow Place Like Home - Proto Man - 04-14-2016
He’d finally caught up to the group. As he drew closer, he was able to see just how many members the little troupe contained. More interesting than that, they ran the gamut from small-looking lady to a giant, white-skinned monster of a man who looked like some type of yeti with his body coated in a thin layer of snow. Before he traversed the remaining space, he paused momentarily to process a red notification on his screen.
…‘Nexus incident.’ What does that mean? The preteen machine scowled as he looked through the contents of the notification. From a glimpse through the written message, it seemed like there’d been some sort of gruesome battle at the Nexus that involved the fusion of several primes. Apparently, a pocket verse had deposited several primes at the Fountain, and after that, egos had prevailed, leading to a string of murders at the heart of the Omniverse.
When he reached the end of the message, Mega Man watched a thirty second video clip that someone had captured from the Nexus. Some sort of burning skeleton was battling a collection of other primes with no discernible fatigue involved. After the first expanded segment of fists and explosions, there was a string of gruesome murders. The clip ended with the burning skeleton draining the omnilium from his victims and leaving the Nexus trailed by a large dragon.
Ghastly…
Jogging forward, Mega Man caught up to the group, which sharply spun the moment they heard the crunch of snow beneath his boots.
“Uh, hey.” The robot lifted a hand and waved. “I’m Rock. You guys following the weird ghost letters too?”
RE: There's Snow Place Like Home - Tartaros - 04-19-2016
As Jade floated gently through the snowfall and across the ice-covered, glaciated landscape, Tartaros couldn’t help but look ahead and smile to himself in a mixture of curiosity and anticipation. It had been far too long since he’d last been on a calmer, more peaceful sort of adventure like this, raging blizzards and oxymorons notwithstanding.
Mere moments after the pale-skinned behemoth of a man that is Solomon Grundy had tossed her into the air, the child was already back on the ground, squeeing excitedly about some location in the distant horizon or another to the others. Just as the group was about to set off again, they were stopped by the sound of an curious, high voice.
“Uh, hey. I’m Rock. You guys following the weird ghost letters too?”
The marine turned his head, and found a confused-looking blue-armoured child waving back at him. Smiling and waving back, Jade replied. “Yeah! Yeah we are!”
“Sweet.”, the boy began to smile as he spoke, “My name’s Rock. Yours?”
“Jade. Jade Harley.”
Rock began to look around. There sure was a crowd here. “Huh… Okay. Mind if I join you and your group?”
“Ah hell. What’s one more?”, Tartaros though the himself.
“Sure!”, Jade said, in as bubbly a tone as ever.
Rock nodded in affirmation, before shuffling towards the rest of the group. He really wasn’t used to crowds like this. Groups with colossal undead and giant armoured fellows weren’t really his preferred company, after all.
Then with that, the group set off to the north. Greetings were passed around as they trekked across the unmapped, glacial wastelands of the Frozen Fields, with the exception of an uncharacteristically silent, brooding Karkat. Though eventually, the noise and conversation died down, and fell into little else but silent thought and movement. All that was left was the cries and howls of the winter winds and the cracking of ice and snow underfoot. The march through the wastes continued for another few hours in near-silence, until the blazing sun set underneath the mountain-dotted horizon and darkness began to cover the land, as the group began to settle for the night by a small, dead tree nestled upon an icy mountain ledge of a small mountain range.
Tartaros looked up towards the skies, squinting behind his visor. It would be nightfall soon, and they were still in the open. Never a good sign.
“Hold on.”, the Luna Wolf raised his hand. “Night’s approaching soon. We need a camp, else we freeze out here.”, he turned to the rest of the group, “Anyone have any ide-”
“GRUNDY MAKE CAMP.”, Grundy yelled, before thrusting his rotted fist deep into the side of the cliff with a thud, sending fragments of rock flying into everyone’s faces.
“What the FUCK?!”, Karkat screamed in surprise.
“SHUSH KITKAT.”, Grundy grunted as he continued to tear into the rock, “GRUNDY BUSY.”
Tartaros smiled in amusement as the hulk began to smash his way through the ice-covered mountainside with ease. “That settles it then.”, he chuckled to himself, “Good work Grundy.”
Releasing one of his axes from the mag-lock on his hip, the armoured marauder turned his attention towards the nearby treetrunk. “I’ll get the kindling. Try not to get yourselves killed while I’m busy, alright?”
Careful to aim for the dry bark for use as tinder and branches for kindling, he set about collecting with a few short, sharp chops, the thud of iron cutting into wood in rhythm with Grundy’s smashing. Usable kindling was rare around places like these, and proper firewood was even rarer, so he had to take care.
Picking up the shavings, bark and chunks of wood he collected, Tartaros made his way back towards the group. Grundy was busy tossing chunks of rubble and ice out of the makeshift camp, as the rest of the group wandered around, either helping Grundy in carving out the camp, or going about their own business. First thing was first, however.
Tartaros set up a small fire pit, using a somewhat excessive amount of spare promethium, kindling, some other miscellaneous flammables and the liberal use of a hand flamer, and the rest of the encampment was set up soon after. A warm, dim light shone through the cave, though it was but a single ember in the endless, blizzard-wracked frozen expanse. The group sat around the fire, a small pot filled with hastily summoned ingredients boiling over it.
The Luna Wolf turned to the troll sitting by his side. He was quiet. Far quieter than usual, anyway. The fact he managed to go a whole hour without insulting someone was proof enough of that. But still, he couldn’t help feeling something was off.
“Hey.”, Tartaros said as he turned towards the young slate-skinned troll, whose shirt was still singed from an unfortunate incident involving the campfire earlier in the day.
“Go away.”, Karkat snarled, his crabbiness far more subdued than usual.
“Insults and sulking won’t help you, kid. Just fuckin’ spit it out.”
“I said fuck off. I’m not in the mood for dealing with you, that stupid batshit clown asshole, or the rest of the troll-monkey moron troupe. And I certainly don’t need any help from some batshit crazy drone-looking fuck.”
“Pah. Suit yourself then.”
The marauder sighed as he leaned against the cave’s wall. That bloody troll kid was impossible to work with. Now, there was little else to do but wait around and watch the skies. What was out there, really? Biting cold, torrents of snow and sleet pouring down just outside the camp, all manners of beasts prowling the mountaintops, debatable odds of survival and only some vague promise of an adventure at the end of it all… All in all, sounded like a good time to him.
“S’gonna be a long night…”