will you be my friend?

when the item is taken, he offers a smile — something he wasn’t sure if he had done already or not. keeping track of his facial expressions after the recollection that he used to have a difficult time with it was.. of course, still difficult. even so, that doesn’t mean he wants to look unfriendly. he is happy.

the cookie was cute, and he finds himself relieved that it returned his warmth. 

in his time away from home, he’s never actually had hot cocoa, either. heard of it? yes. found a recipe for it? not so lucky there. “Hot cocoa..” he almost looks a little wistful. “Do you know how to make it?”

 ❆ yeah!!!

cocoa cookie taught it well, after all.

 ❆ you take hot cocoa mix and dissolve it in warm milk or water  ❆ it's better with milk in my opinion..  ❆ store bought mix is fine but i like making my own when i can!  ❆ its usually made with sugar, cocoa powder, and powdered milk  ❆ then ya add marshmallows or whipped cream or whatever else ya may want

after it managed to list off what cocoa had taught it almost down to a t, it glanced curious towards him as it took a bite of the cold treat in its hands, tilting its head in a soft bit of questioning towards the kind man it had just met.

“Wanting to go in by yourself shows just how brave you are. There are older children who would still opt not to go inside, at least not alone”. He might have fallen into that category but holding back the other because he was easy to scare was unacceptable. Who knows; the house was made for kids in mind, maybe there wasn’t anything to worry about.

He allowed the other to pull him towards the building, doing his part to convince the staff that they were companions going in together so their denial could no longer stand. Standing in the doorway draped with fake cobwebs, Aichi took a deep breath and stepped in time with his friend. “It looks like there are a few routes we could go, is there any that you’d like to explore first? You wanted to come in most so it’s only fair you get to decide what we see”

 ❆ i, i wanna be brave!!

it clenched a fist in an odd sort of excitement as they pulled up to the edge of the house, taking a deep breath as they paused against the spidery entrance, peering inside as it steeled itself before making a hesitant step past the door.

 ❆ um...

it glanced towards its options, all dark and unassuming yet obviously blossoming with fearful payloads. it was here, it was gonna be brave...

 ❆ this one!

and it started down the leftmost path, grip still tight on his sleeve almost wavering as they wandered in. the hall seemed to be themed more around ghosts - false tombstones to the sides, wraithlike drapery covering the walls, gentle wailing of some hidden sound device to give ambiance and atmosphere to the whole situation. snow was tense - the sudden movement of an animatronic, almost cheesy looking ghost off to the side proved that as it skittered to hide behind its new friend, peeking out from behind him with an almost frustrated huff.

Shinjuro has been within the island , no the land for few weeks and yet he is still surprised at what he sees. Something similar to the confection within his hands , and yet moving and alive. Though too thin to house any organs, hence he thinks, its not a trap and yet there is something like suspicioun in his eyes as he looks down [there is no choice for that] before he squats closer, eye level , more respect. 

 “Oh…right. Well…um.” He looks around and grabs a book to show the gingerbread being about how to make one. “this was given to everyone , since no one here is really that much of a baker. But you can decorate a premade one if you want to.”

soft and curious with childlike wonder as he knelt down, passed it the book to leaf through, snow considered its options. premade and decoration was the easiest way to go about it, no dealing with the creation of the cookie on its own, but snow could tell that the default shape wasn't exactly what it was looing for, didn't exactly accomodate its full shape. and so, it steeled its resolve, hunkered down, to make the odd replica that almost felt like impulse.

 ❆ ooh...  ❆ think m' gonna try n' make one!!

it bounced on its heels, excitable as it moved to pull itself up onto a nearby unoccupied stool, having set the slowly cooling bowl of soup up on the counter adjacent before doing so.

and there it goes, wandering down the street with both its globe and the sea snow cone following close behind, bouncing and leaving their snowy gummies in their wake.

winterfes was the kind of thing snow had been looking forward to all year. the cheer it constantly felt in its heart now all around, frost covered grounds and carols and warm drinks shared between friends and enemies alike. the time of year to set aside differences and make amends, join together with new friends to celebrate the old. spirale was abuzz, and it could barely contain its excitement, wanting to experience everything the world had laid out for it to enjoy.

today, it had descended upon fibonacci, soft and childlike wonder drawing it towards the sights and sounds. cup of soup warm and comforting in hand, it started its way towards whereever the commotion was coming from, its snowglobe friend following behind as it came across the rather high-tech setup it had yet to explore.

and were they... making gingerbread men?

 ❆ !!!

it made its way over as quickly as it could without spilling its soup, trotting towards an occupied screen and watching in thought as the unfamiliar man made his piece, its curiosity overtaking as it observed, giving an audible sip at its soup to alert to its presence. it'd hate to startle someone, after all!

it didn't... feel like that long, really. isola was ever changing, keeping one light on their feet, not too settled, not too attached to what may be going on today when something strange could be happening the same time tomorrow. and suppose that's what snow was feeling - a bit of never being settled down to just let the time pass.

Haunted house? Instantly there was the concern he might only trouble the other if the frights might get the better of him. But it simply wanted to enjoy the experience and if he could help them, that was reason enough to grit his teeth and push forward.

“They won’t? That’s terrible, of course. It might be better to have someone by your side just in case. Let’s go show them you’re not going in by yourself”.

 ❆ yeah!  ❆ i, i wanted to be a big kid n' go in by myself but they said no

it understood, really. what right minded haunted house owner would let someone as young as snow go in alone? despite its understanding of the rules at play here, it still felt a little frustrated at it all.

 ❆ thank you!!  ❆ cmon!

“Whaaaaat?” Steven came back over with a bucket and two plastic shovels inside. 

“Only snow? I’d be so bummed if I was cold all the time!” 

 ❆ yeah!  ❆ i was practically made to live in the stuff

 ❆ it's not so bad once ya get used to it  ❆ but i can imagine if you lived along the beach for so long..  ❆ ..that'd be hard to do

it shifted to peer into the bucket, curious.

“Really? I grew up on the beach, so we’ve made castles, and even humble shacks! It’s easy. I’ll go get my bucket!” 

❆ nope! ❆ i used to live in a big ol snowy wasteland ❆ so, so, sand is a lil bit unfamiliar for me

“We can make sand-men on the beach until it snows.”

  ❆ oh!!!

This was not great to say the least. One moment things had been trucking along, business as usual, the next moment, bits of wall were crumbling. And it kept happening. It would always be in his periphery he first saw it. Turning his head to look where things had just been fine moments before netted more destruction.  

But there was no apparent cause. No sounds of war or destruction. Just decay and ruin everywhere he looked. He was almost certainly hallucinating. It didn’t make any other sense. And it looked far too familiar, like something from a distant memory, to be real. And yet it seemed to be. He could reach out and touch the rubble, smell the ruin. Smell the… what was that?

His head whips around, looking for the source of the scent. It didn’t seem human. He wasn’t sure what it was exactly, not yet, but he didn’t think it was going to be friendly when it made its presence properly known. He ought to get to Licht, make sure his Eve was okay. But that would be easier said than done with all the debris and the disconcerting presence’s impending arrival. Planning his strategy is momentarily interrupted by a voice, not entirely unfamiliar to him, as it belongs to his flatmate, but unexpected, since they didn’t really tend to socialize much due to how often Hyde was simply not at his actual condo.

He tilts his head at the question. “In where? There isn’t anything to be in here. Just looks like pile of rubble has done me in, but I am way more durable than that. You might want to watch out for falling rubble though. That thing you’re standing in front of doesn’t seem too stable. As much fun as watching it squish you might be, I don’t think we’ve got a whole lot of time to be standing around taking in the entertainment.” He steps out of the rubble toward the diminutive figure, warily eyeing the surroundings.

 ❆ i... wha?  ❆ there's, there's a building right here...

it shifted atop the snow, reaching forward to pat the rather solid wall before it just to prove its point, expression a little less sad as it picked up on the rather nonchalant air the other was giving off and a little more confused as what he was saying was completely against what snow had perceived to be true - though the solemn air to its voice didn't completely pass.

and as it watched the man practically phase through what looked to be a very solid building, it stumbled enough to fall on its backside in the slush, wide eyed as its snowglobe friend quickly moved to try and help it back up. once it was standing again, wringing its mittened hands against the sad, wooden replacement for its usual staff, it gave him a curious look, shifting anxiously in the snow as its expectations for what was real were completely subverted in a matter of seconds.

snow was tired.

it never thought it'd be back out here without the help of its friends, but the world has a funny way of turning. the snow was much more harsh when it didn't have a throne to ride upon, weighing its legs down with heavy sludge and causing it to lose its balance every few feet, nearly stumbling into the snow if it weren't for the more recent glassy addition to its flock of friends helping it back up.

at least the horizon wasn't as boring as it used to be. it had soon realized the city wasn't so horribly isolated - there were buildings all around, just so stuck in the snow and blending in with the grimy blue that it didn't even notice. most of the buildings seemed inaccessible, either isolated from the outside world, or so flooded with snow that you couldn't find an open spot in there if you tried your hardest. and yet, it was in one of these closed off buildings, that snow seemed to discover that it wasn't alone, peering through the windows until snow globe seemed to spot a fuzzy silhouette amongst the office cubicles of a particularly large building, slightly toppled in the snow.

this building seemed almost impeccably wedged in - no breaks, no cracks. the entrance had to be several feet buried at this point, too... something wasn't right

 ❆ hey... hey, how did you get in there?  ❆ are you stuck?