Why people don't like spirits

[shardofwinter]

The weather has been irritatingly unpredictable this year. Sunny one day, a blizzard the next. It's almost impossible to plan for. Today Reynard has made sure the Nexus is smothered in a thick blanket of snow, and it's nearly perfectly smooth. The Nexus might as well be a different landscape. It's hard to tell what a person is stepping on until they take the chance to wade in. Bins, boulders, benches, street curbs are all probably the most normal things a traveller might find themselves cracking shins and toes against.

At a very strategically chosen point however, some poor people find themselves in a bit of a bother. After getting this far all it takes is one step and they find themselves chest deep in the snow. Struggling will only testify to how packed tight the freezing blanket is. Digging themselves out might be possible, but slow.

It doesn't take long before a sing-song voice comes through the air.

"A house for a five headed creature,
A tool that carves rock and earth,
A measure against misadventure,
A gift often owned from birth."

Reynard walks on top of the snow with his usual confident stroll. He crouches in front of his unfortunate victim, tilts his head and asks, "What am I?"

Comments

[fiveofnone]

Caspar's only nod to preparing for the current blanket of snow is to have on a sturdy pair of knee high snow boots. Otherwise he's wearing one of his suits and his thick wool coat, his head bare and only a pair of thin leather gloves on his hands.

He's been careful to avoid stubbing his toe on anything, despite a cup of coffee in one hand and a small bag of groceries in the other. But nothing can prepare him for the sudden drop into an apparant snowdrift. He swears, loudly, the cup of coffee dropping from his hand and spilling onto the pristine whiteness surrounding him.

While he's assessing the damage to his groceries (none) and his ego (slight), he hears a familiar sounding voice. "Frak," he mutters to himself before looking up at the crouching figure above him.

"You," he says, "Are an asshole." He sets aside his bag of groceries and begins to methodically dig himself out. "As for your riddle, I don't care."

[shardofwinter]

Catching someone in his trap is certainly pleasant, but seeing that it's Caspar is particularly satisfying. It may not be an answer to his riddle, but Caspar's reply does broaden his smile. While Caspar's attention is on trying to dig himself out, Reynard glances pointedly to the snow and Caspar promptly sinks an inch deeper.

He happily watches the man try to escape for a bit before piping up. "You know, if you want to cocoon yourself in an icy case to protect yourself from having to interact with people I'd be happy to oblige."

[fiveofnone]

His hands pause in their efforts when he feels himself sink down another inch. He is at Reynard's mercy, and the thought fills him with a profound disgust. But after a slow breath in and out, he resumes digging. So long as he can retrieve his PINpoint, he can leave, but he's not going to give the winter spirit the satisfaction if he can help it.

"No, thanks," he says evenly. "I've been getting along with others just fine. In fact, the only people who seem to have a problem with me are you and that little green alien who calls himself Shark. So you're in great company."

[mudblood_andproud]

Hermione is delighted to see the Nexus smothered in a thick blanket of snow. She event laughs when she falls into a deep spot of the snow.

Her problem is easily solved by magic. Hermione has her hands free, which means she can use her wand to cast a levitation spell. "Leviosa!"

And is in midst of levitating out of her predicament when Reynard comes along.

Hermione immediately places a steadying hand on his shoulder, so her spell doesn't float her completely away right now.

"A riddle. How lovely. What is it again?"

[shardofwinter]

As she starts to levitate Reynard straightens into a stand. His frown is almost a pout. When she asks him to repeat his riddle he folds his arms and thinks for a moment before speaking.

"A wolf in sheep's clothing,
I break the lines others create,
The only game I play is hide and seek.
What am I?"

[mudblood_andproud]

Hermione thinks for a moment. "A shadow?"

[weathering_it]

Bullshit, bullshit, stupid bullshit! One minute Lawrence is out on what was a perfectly fine day (if admittedly too cold for his liking) shopping for supplies, the next he's ass deep in snow he could never possibly prepare himself for. After cracking his shins on boulders (what the hell, honestly) and tripping on curbs half a dozen times he's had enough.

Half-lying in the snow where he'd last fallen he shouts, "LITTLE BUDDY!" A few seconds later a grunting snout bursts through the surface, and soon the rest of the swinub is standing on top of the snowbank. He eagerly scuttles on over to Lawrence and plops himself onto his favorite human's lap. It's such a wonderful, snowy day that he can't stop wiggling even when he ought to sit still.

"At least someone's having fun," Lawrence grumbles. Then, serious as can be, he holds the piglet between his two gloved hands and says, "Little Buddy, I've got a quest for you. Show me the safest way to a place without boulders and curbs, okay?"

Buddy peeps obediently and dives back in. The path he makes shows at the surface as a zig-zagging line of disturbed powder. Lawrence follows, mercifully pain-free until ––

"Ah!" Oh, great, now he's pits-deep in it! He instinctively tries to dig out, but it's no use. Little Buddy snuffles at his human's hat and squeals in amusement. "This is funny to you, huh?" Lawrence demands, but gets no answer. Instead, he gets a riddle.

"Ugh," he groans. "An Unidentified Frolicking Bast––" He stops short and glances at Little Buddy. He's not supposed to swear around the pokémon. Instead he sighs and furrows his brow. "You're... Above the snow. And I'm not. And if you got me out of here you'd be a pal. How about that?"

[shardofwinter]

The swinub isn't the only one enjoying all of this. Reaching out a hand, Reynard pats the friendly little creature when it comes close enough. Whether it knew it or not, it had done well. He's happy to pet the piglet while Lawrence gets his almost-cursing out of his system.

"I'm not sure," he says in mock-thoughtfulness. Turning from the swinub to Lawrence he tilts his head the other way. "What's in it for me?"

[weathering_it]

"What's –" UGH! This fucking place. It's always riddles this, bad weather that, stupid tricks and schemes and that time he got turned into a woman but nobody noticed because he has no friends.

Lawrence squirms uncomfortably in the snow. "I'll show you a funny trick my robotic hand can do?" He lifts his right hand and wiggles the fingers, but he's wearing a glove. It's not like Reynard can tell whether or not Lawrence even has a robotic hand.

[plagueofdeception]

The good thing is Dr. White knows how to dress for the winter. However, the man is aptly named. Pale skin with white hair paired with white clothing and white eyes has an unfortunate side effect of blending into the snow. Not only does he have to worry about stubbing his toes on a hidden dustbin, but he also has to keep reminding people that he is not some kinda snowman! At least it's just snow, no way it could get worse.

Or so he thought.

One moment, he was minding his own buisness, and the next thing he knows, he's squaking in suprise as he suddenly falls into a pit of snow. Wonderful. He attempts to pull himself out, but he found it next to impossible. Of all the stupid, unfortunate circumstances he would find himself in-

He quits struggling against the snow as he hears a voice. A riddle... Oh. This must be one of those people. Dr. White regards Reynard with an unamused glare as he strolls into view.

"Hands." The riddle seemed simple enough. "Now would ya mind givin' me a hand out of here?"

[shardofwinter]

The corners of Reynard's mouth curl into a satisfied smile. "Wrong."

He takes a moment to admire the situation he's gotten poor Dr. White into before gesturing around the man. "Maybe you should stay there. You fit right in, you blend right in... It's almost as if it was made for you."

[delphicbooksandbaubles]

She shivers a wee bit, even though she's multi layered.

She wasn't a fan of the wicked cold, but she liked snow in certain amounts that is. She glanced about before shifting into her black wolf form. Least the fur might help she thought as she carefully padded along.

Sniffing the air softly when, "yelp, oomph. " a yelp escapes her as snow goes out from under her. She shakes after assessing herself and trying to hold/scramble upward with her paws. She huffs and sighs half tried half frustrated as she slips down.

Her ears perk up at the sound. Reynard might not be a Fox shifter but he certainly had the spirt / humor of one. Oh, it was like that was it? A test or something of that sort? A memory of seeing a video with a Fox diving head first into snow came to mind.

"Er,hmm. " she ponders with a slight hum trying to break the riddle down. A glove, housed fingers, a chisel could crave, but something from birth and mis adventure.. She stroked her chin with her paw in thought.

[shardofwinter]

While a wolf isn't what he expected to trap, he isn't too surprised. The Nexus is full of all manner of beings, after all. At least a wolf is something he's familiar with, even if it is making oddly human sounds. That could always be the Nexus Translator, he supposes.

He waits patiently until silence stretches on from when he had thought he would get a reply. "Haven't got an answer for me, my dear? Not even a guess?"

[not_the_question]

One of the benefits of being as well-travelled and as experienced with traps as the Doctor is, it is very difficult to catch him if he doesn't want to be. He has a staff today. His regeneration stasis is less than comfortable today, and with the snow, well, it was needed to keep him balanced. Good thing too, as the staff is what falls into the snow trap rather than him.

At the sound of the voice, the Doctor yanks out the staff and looks to find a man coming toward him. He tilts his head in thought for a moment before replying.

"A Gauntlet." He realises perhaps his word choice may be less than perfect. "I mean in the sense of gloves, or mittens, or some other term in the hand covering genre. Sorry, I've got over 5 billion languages, it's hard to narrow down to which specific word you deem to be the precise answer."

And even if the Doctor is wrong according to the other man, it would answer all the qualifications presented.

[shardofwinter]

Reynard opens his mouth to protest, but closes it again. True, the man didn't fall into his trap, but that was only because he was prepared, because he was wary and respectful of Winter's dangers. On top of that he still gave an answer to the riddle. It wasn't what he planned, but he can't complain about it.

"So close," he says instead, "but wrong." With a smile he leans closer to add, "And not because of your word choice." He straightens again. "I wouldn't want to ruin the spirit of the game by being pedantic."

[gorogorogoro_chan]

Majima 'points into existence a few paces away, immediately hissing in shock at the sudden plunge into extreme cold. Such is his surprise that he immediately drops his PINpoint into a particularly soft, fresh drift. It disappears faster than it has any right to. "For fuck's sake..."

Reynard will find him in his damp tuxedo furiously pawing at the snow, woefully ill-prepared for dealing with the frigid weather. "Riddles, huh? A shit ton of white garbage ... fuckin' all over the place ... wet and cold and inconvenient. What am I?"

[shardofwinter]

"Annoyed, by the looks of things." The grin on Reynard's face isn't necessary to point out he's purposefully twisting the man's words, but he just can't help himself. He folds his arms and tilts his head at the stranger. "You know, if you were more polite to the snow it might be kinder to you."

[icebearforpresident]

Ice Bear is the weird one who doesn't give a flying flip on getting knee deep into snow, mainly bothered by the fact that this seems like a trap and he's been tricked into holes before. But snow is cold and perfect from a bear of the north. He's trying to swim through the snow casually, with little progress. Oh well.

The riddle gets him to think, then he raises one paw in the air. "Hands?" He thinks it has to be something body-part related.

[shardofwinter]

Although he and Ice Bear haven't interacted all that much, Reynard can't help but be a little fond of him. Perhaps it's because he's a creature all too capable and familiar with dealing with Winter trials. In this case Reynard easily accepts that this is less of a trap for the bear and more of an excuse to get him to stop and play a game of riddles.

"Close, but not the right answer."

[brother_alone]

"Aw, hell."

There's no getting around it. The little moped Josh was taking back to the cafe is good and stuck now. He'd been trying to keep to the cleared walkways but after a while there simply weren't any. He gets off the vehicle carefully and tries to walk it further. It can't be more than a quarter of a mile to the cafe from here. If he has to he can leave it and come back for it later but considering it belongs to Ice Bear and not him he'd really rather not ditch someone else's property.

It's slow going, until Josh's foot sinks much farther than he'd intended to.

"Whoa--!"

He tips sideways and nearly disappears into a drift that's as tall as he is. Josh's suddenly grateful for the beanie and gloves he's wearing. Less so for the lack of a parka. His insulated vest is nice but his arms are already feeling the sting of the cold as the snow begins to wet them. It's as he's struggling to pull his leg free that he hears Reyanrd's riddle nearly sung out over the oppressive silence the blanket of snow creates.

"Hey be carefu--oh. The snow's no trouble to you, huh."

[shardofwinter]

"It would be strange for snow to be trouble for a Winter spirit," Reynard points out with a smile. After looking Josh over he adds, "It's more than a little troublesome for you, I see. A heavy coat might have been a good idea."

[jarheadclan]

Snow that is chest-deep on a Na'vi is no small trick. Jake Sully had already been hurrying to pass through, his cold weather gear guarding his tropical-adapted body against the worst of the chill, when suddenly the ground beneath the snow seems to drop away, plunging him into seven feet of snow.

He blinks his big yellow eyes, baring sharp fangs in a grimace, flailing a little as he's enveloped by cold. Sure, the thick gear he's wearing keeps the worst of it at bay, but there's snow pushing up against any exposed inch of skin, threatening to spill down the collar of his coat or push itself up his sleeves. He can already feel it seeping into the tops of his boots.

"Great," he mutters, swiping at the snowdrift with hands that are not remotely adapted for this. Pointed ears catch the sound of some dumb-ass riddle, and he twists around until the speaker comes into view. Walking on top of the snow? That's bullshit. "That's kinda cheating, isn't it?"

[shardofwinter]

Well, this is a creature he's never seen before. At first he thinks the blue is colouring for icy conditions, but upon closer inspection that seems to be the limit of its Winter attributes.

Then it-he speaks, pulling Reynard out of his thoughts. He looks around and then to the stranger again. "What is?"

[turningcolors]

All of this snow is quite nice and a lovely display of Winter in action. Hazel's glad to see Reynard having fun with his job, and far be it from her to get in the way of his fun. He's doing his Season's work, whether these citizens believe it or not. No one said he couldn't also enjoy it.

But Hazel Tasker has no time for this. Reynard's cabin isn't going to clean itself and he's so ill prepared for his own Season insofar as his home goes that Hazel has quite a lot of catching up to do. She exits a store with her purchases in hand and stops when she realizes she's left her list inside. A quick glance left and right shows no one out in this abysmal weather anywhere she can see so she's careful to set her purchases on a cleared off bench before hurrying back inside.

As the doors close a mini avalanche of snow cascades off the awning and buries her things. When she comes back, Hazel can only gape at the sudden huge snow drift that Was her cleaning supplies.

"THAT IS NOT FUNNY!"

[shardofwinter]

Whether he was there before or not, Reynard now leans against the wall beside Hazel, arms folded. Once he's finished chuckling he tilts his head at her and says, "It is a little bit funny."

When he realises she probably isn't about to agree with him so quickly he quickly adds, "It's ironic, at least. Or poetic?"