[closed] the storm clouds, the weather in my head

[frorn]

Date & Time: February 1st, after everyone returns from the mission and Loki's emotion thingy takes effect.
Location: Koltira's lake
Characters: THE FROST DUDES aka Jack Frost and Koltira Deathweaver
Summary: There's nothing like coming home to a winter spirit messing up your lake.
Warnings: idk tl;dr for sad Jack? also spoilers for the movie.

The fact that everyone could see him in Exsilium was something Jack was very grateful for, but after 300 years of being invisible, actually properly being among so many people got overwhelming at times. It was during the last chaotic week that he'd found a retreat of sorts, something similar to his home. A peculiar lake away from all the hustle and bustle with a cabin that seemed pretty abandoned at the time. Not that he'd ever gone inside to check, it was the lake that held his interest.

Now that that they were back again after a battle, Jack felt a strong need to go there again. Especially so because upon their return, he'd suddenly been hit by the very familiar feeling of melancholy. He wasn't sure why, but he couldn't shake the feeling and for the first time he didn't even care about the rain. That was sign enough for him that he needed to get away for a bit lest one of his new found friends caught him in this mood. So he does just that after pulling his hood up, letting the wind carry him to the lake that was somewhat similar to the watery grave he'd called his home.

Although once he gets there, he's not sure if it was the best idea after all. Perhaps the combination of having had to look after kids and now being at a lake is what brings it on, but either way he finds himself thinking about his sister. The sister he finally remembered after all this time. How could he have ever forgotten her? Back home he hadn't had the time to process his memories, but now with nothing to distract him here and the somber mood he suddenly found himself in, it's like he can't help but start lingering on it. Had he seen her after he died and came back? He couldn't remember clearly, but all the same a young girl crying at the edge of the lake was such an easy image to conjure that Jack has to physically shake his head to dispel the image. There was no point dwelling on it now, he knows that, and so he sets out to distract himself.

He steps onto the lake, frost forming under his feet and spreading out as he keeps walking. With sweeps of his staff he helps the progress along, making the most intricate and beautiful patterns appear and every single sweep is done with more and more gusto until he's almost dancing on top of the lake. Perhaps he could make his most beautiful work yet.

Comments

[deadelfwalking]

Koltira is not looking for company. He's looking to shut himself in his cabin, drink down whatever remains of his stock, and then hopefully find himself soused enough to at least maybe somewhat forget the events of the past week.

It's not likely to happen, but he's willing to try.

Koltira trudges through the forest, feeling nothing of the chilled wind, the damp air, the dead leaves underfoot. He keeps his mind focused on the goal--his cabin--and permits no other distractions to this goal.

Because of this single-minded attitude, he almost misses Jack. He nearly enters the cabin and shuts the door without a backward glance at the lake, but the sound and whirl of movement catch in his ears, his peripheral vision. He pauses on the lake's shore, frowning deeply. The boy is not a stranger, but their association is new, surface-level. Why is he here?

"Hey," he calls. "What the bloody hell are you doing to my lake?"

[frorn]

Jack too is lost in single-mindedness, so focused on the swirls and patterns he's creating that he doesn't notice Koltira's approach. His eyes are on the ice and on the ice only until he's startled into looking up by someone calling out and he finds himself staring like a deer in headlights at a familiar figure.

"Your lake?" That's the first skeptic thing out of his mouth because a lake is a lake and lakes didn't tend to really belong to someone, but that did explain the cabin. Jack stays where he is, on thin ice that's incapable of holding anyone else, because ironically it's where he feels safest right now. Obviously Koltira didn't look too pleased and Jack hardly knew him so there was no telling what he'd do. He could always fly off, but you never knew what people were capable of in Exsilium.

He momentarily glances down at his work before shrugging his shoulders as nonchalantly as he can manage.

"Well, obviously I'm decorating."

[deadelfwalking]

"Yes. Mine." He recognizes that his tone is a little churlish, but his limited patience is even thinner right now than usual. He steps forward onto the water, and the ice thickens under his feet, becoming solid and strong enough to support his weight. Koltira advances on Jack as he takes in the boy's handiwork--he has to admit that the patterns are aesthetically pleasing. To himself, at least. "And I didn't call for a decorator."

[frorn]

Okay, that was unexpected. Jack automatically takes a few steps back when he finds Koltira's imposing figure advancing on him until he catches himself and stops, standing his ground instead. Albeit rather uncertainly, his grip on his staff tight and his stance one that was ready to take flight with the wind already picking up and tugging at his clothes. When he speaks his own tone gets defensive and snappy.

"Yeah, well, I didn't know you lived here, okay? There was no one here last week."

[deadelfwalking]

"I was not ... not in my own body last week," Koltira says, faltering a little. The memories surface in his mind again, fragmented, but whole enough for him to understand what had happened, what he had said and done. Shame burns in his gut. He scowls and turns away, lifting a hand. "Play on this ice if you like, winter spirit. I don't care."

[frorn]

Both Jack's defensive attitude and stance fell away at that as he straightens. He'd seen it happen to many of the people he'd met, most of them turning into younger versions of themselves, and it didn't require a stretch of imagination to figure that for some it might not be the happiest occasion. So it seemed he wasn't the only one feeling down, but perhaps he could at least help someone else feel better.

With Koltira turned away from him, it was an easy thing to conjure up a snowball, enchant it to make his following suggestion more tempting before aiming it at the back of Koltira's head. "Join me."

[deadelfwalking]

The enchantment takes hold as the snowball connects with the back of Koltira's neck. His initial surge of irritation snaps quickly into delight, and he whirls back around, scooping up some of the ice under his boots as he does so.

"This is a dangerous game you've started," Koltira said, crushing the ice in his hands, then shaping it also into a soft ball of snow. He tossed his creation--hardpacked and designed for a wallop--right at Jack's head.

[frorn]

"Oh, is it?" Jack's favor of responding challengingly leaves him with no time to actually get out of the way of the incoming snowball. He does manage to shield himself with his arm somewhat, but the force of the impact still has him stumbling back and slipping. Luckily for him, the wind cushions his fall and he ends up hovering a few inches above the ice, laughing.

"Not bad! But is that all you can do?" In the same motion he rights himself, he sends some snowballs scattering across the ice with a sweep of his staff, providing ammo for the both of them. The moment his feet touch the ice again, he kicks himself off so he's sliding across the ice, grabbing a snowball on his way and aiming it at Koltira's head again.

[deadelfwalking]

Now that he's in the game, Koltira reacts quickly, dodging the snowball as it flies past him. He moves with incredible speed, racing along the ice to pick up the snow that Jack has so graciously created. Once he's got several rounds of snowballs in his arms, he fires a volley, aiming to hit wherever he can.

Somewhere, though, the back of his mind balks at this. What's going on? What the hell is he doing? And why does it feel so strangely exhilarating?

[frorn]

To have Koltira move so quick was rather unexpected, he was a lot faster than Jack would have judged him to be. But to Jack that only added to the challenge and that in turn added to the fun, of course. Quite a few of Koltira's snowballs find their off-guard target, but it doesn't hinder Jack in the slightest as he conjures up and throws more of his own snowballs.

It then occurs to him that he wasn't dealing with a child here and that Koltira also seemed to possess control over ice, so he could make this even more challenging if he wanted to. So, that's exactly what he does. A single tap of his staff on the surface of the now frozen lake causes small blocks of ice to shoot up and serve as obstacles one could trip over in his wake and subsequently, in Koltira's path.

[deadelfwalking]

Koltira does trip--at first. But once he understands how the terrain's changed, he quickly adapts, jumping over the ice blocks handily as he scoops up more snow. His own fingers tingle with frost energy as he moves, but he's only using it to modify and shape the snowballs. Most other applications of his mastery over ice would be unpleasant for anyone, even a winter spirit like Jack. So he keeps it small, and continues racing along the lake's frozen surface, ducking and leaping as he goes.

Direct hits from Jack's precision volleys have dusted Koltira's pale hair and dark armor with snow, making both gleam and flash in the afternoon light. For his part, Koltira is so caught up in the moment that he lets out a holler as he tosses another round at Jack. It's the most fun he's had since coming to Exsilium.

Or possibly ever.

[frorn]

Jack, for the moment, has forgotten all about his previous mood, too caught up in their snowball fight as well. Koltira turns out to be more fun than Jack had expected and with the way he manages to keep quickly adapting, quite the challenge.

His own enjoyment in their game is obvious in the way he laughs and his excitement manifests in little bursts of snowflakes coming off his person as he moves. He'd joined and started many snowball fights in the past, but never in any of them did they specifically target him back like this because he remained unseen. Luckily, in Exsilium it was different and Jack couldn't be more grateful for the fact.

To dodge Koltira's new incoming volley and because he's reaching the edge of the lake, Jack kicks himself off into the air to fly over Koltira in an arc. His ascent is slightly wobbly due to the snowballs hitting him in the back, but he manages and once he's right above Koltira he twists in the air and simply drops the armful of snowballs he's been conjuring.

[deadelfwalking]

Though he doesn't feel the shock of cold from Jack's air bombing, he does feel the weight of so much snow hitting him at once. It's enough to jolt him out of the happy stupor brought on by Jack's enchantment, and for a minute, he scowls openly, wiping the snow from his face and pauldrons.

"What bloody sorcery was that?" he snaps. "Did you mind control me, boy?"

[frorn]

The moment Jack touches down, he's already wheeling around and ready to throw another snowball, only suddenly there's snapping and the scowl was a very good indication that playtime was over. He lowers his arm, first a little stunned before he turns affronted at the accusation. What was it with the people here always assuming that right away?

"What? No! Of course not! It's just an incentive."

[deadelfwalking]

"Incentive?" Koltira says. The frown stays where it is, but his overall expression softens. While he doesn't appreciate a loss of control, no matter how slight, he supposes a minor cantrip for fun isn't that bad. Maybe. "Do you use this incentive liberally on those you meet?"

He scoops up more snow and begins to pack it, idly, into a solid ball.

[frorn]

Seeing Koltira's expression soften and the way he starts making a snowball makes Jack slip out of his defensiveness and relax again a little. Although some wariness remains, he shifts his stance to something more casual as he throws his own snowball up and catches it again.

"Mostly, yeah. If it still counts as meeting when you can't be seen."

[deadelfwalking]

"What do you mean?" Koltira says, clearly surprised. "The others cannot see you?" A pause, as he thinks it through. "Or is that only on your own world?"

[frorn]

"People have to believe in me in order to see me." He shrugged, trying his best to make it look casual and rather failing at it. "Or at least it's that way back home. It seems like a lot of people can see me here."

[deadelfwalking]

The concept isn't totally alien to him: spirits and belief and that sort of thing are common enough on Azeroth, though it's not an arena with which he's familiar. He tries to imagine what it might be like to live that way. Ostracized. Ignored. Unable to connect.

Well. He can relate to that.

"I see," he replies, his voice a murmur. "You must be grateful."

[frorn]

Jack lets his staff slide to rest against his shoulder so his hands are free to roll the snowball between them, giving him something to fidget with and look at while he averts his gaze. It's not that he isn't grateful, very far from it, but ...

"I still need to get used to it," he admits sheepishly. After 300 years on his own, it was very odd after all. "But yeah, I am."

[deadelfwalking]

Koltira gestures to the lake with a sweep of his hand. He's thinking back to an earlier part of their conversation, when Jack mentioned the lake's short-lived vacancy. "Do you like it here?"

[frorn]

Jack blinks in surprise at the sudden question, following Koltira's gesture with his gaze and glancing at the lake thoughtfully. He looks back with a nod, speaking honestly. "Yeah, actually ... it kinda reminds me of home."

Even if he's learned that what he's been calling 'home' had also been his grave, it doesn't change the feeling.

[deadelfwalking]

Koltira sits down on the ice, crossing one leg over the other. He shrugs. "You may stay then, if you'd like."

[frorn]

"Really?" The snowball in his hands explodes in a small flurry of snowflakes as Jack's face lights up with a grin. He grips his staff again before he moves closer so he can join Koltira down on the ice, dropping into a crouch with a hopeful look. "Because that'd be great."