(OTA) When it rains it snows

[ssmisery]

Who: Peridot, Lapis, and you!
Where: Out in the snow
When: Snow time like the present
Rating: Don't see why this would go above PG
Summary: snow sculptures snow sculptures snow sculptures snow scu

Well, winter Wonderland, are you enjoying the snow? It looks like your local gay space rock population is. To wit, one corner of the resort has become a gradually-expanding snow-sculpture garden as Peridot and Lapis practice their artistry meep-morpistry in a new medium. Since they don't get cold or even need to come in for dinner, they're free to get carried away!

Most of the sculptures are awkward, lumpy shapes that started out meant to look like things but embraced abstraction out of pragmaticism and/or sour grapes. You may be able to guess that these are Peridot's by the fact that one of them has her hairdo. Less common are simple shapes and swirls, smoothly formed except for the ones that broke under their own weight and were left in ruins. Also, one massive, perfectly rendered statue of a nose. Don't ask whose.

Someone could feasibly wander into this strange realm without even sighting the girls right away. Or join in, of course. On the other hand, with the wars raging around, one might see an opportunity to throw some snow and wreak some havoc. Whatever the case, the important thing is they're having fun, right?

((Both Peridot and Lapis are available for this post, together or individually! Please specify if you want one or the other.))

Comments

But Before That... (i.e. closed to Peridot)

[ssmisery]

Lapis is a surprisingly heavy sleeper for someone who only does it recreationally; you'd think her unease with Wonderland would make her jumpy, and it does, just not enough. On the other hand, since she has no biological cycle, it's pure luck that has her sleeping through a setting change. Although she wakes slowly, she notices the changes right away. This room is not hers; while she couldn't be certain it's not a part of Wonderland's mansion, it doesn't have that feel, and there's something new in the air. No, there have been enough events of this type to recognize it.

Waking, then, is intertwined with the slow dawning of a what now? Can you blame her for feeling a bit grim about another event? Things haven't been great lately, even by Lapis-in-Wonderland standards. Lapis pushes herself up from the bed -- a bed, ridiculous, who even needs those -- and squints at the door as if it has personally disappointed her.

[slapfight]

And then, through the resort, there rose such a clatter, as... Peridot throws open the door with enough force to send it slamming against the wall, an expression of pure, undulated glee on her face.

"It's back! Lapis, Lapis, Lapis! You have to see this!" She barrels over to the window with exaggerated grunting and flings open the blinds to display the vast ocean of whiteness laid out before the building. "Isn't it great? This is what happens when rain drops below a certain temperature and sticks to the ground. They call it snow."

The way she talks makes it sound like her experiences with snow are grand. They're not really, but she figures Lapis and her love of all things water will get a kick out of it, anyway.

[ssmisery]

And just like that, the angst train is decisively derailed.

Peridot bounding into a place all excited is not an unfamiliar phenomemon, and since she's unharmed and happy Lapis takes it with her usual lack of affect beyond the initial base startlement. There is, indeed, quite a bit of rapid change in circumstance to process. Looking to the window, still seated on the bed, accomplishes little beyond renewal of the squint -- from here the view is pretty much one big sheet of glare.

"It's... white."

[slapfight]

"I know. And it gets on everything." This shouldn't be delightful- and normally it isn't- but the sheer phenomena of frozen water growing like a mold over the landscape is fascinating from a scientific perspective.

"We have to go out in it." The statement is punctuated by a delighted squeak. "Now."

[ssmisery]

Lapis could get whiplash trying to follow Peridot's infectious excitement from her own distrust of everything. Of course, that's essentially how it's always been with them; Peridot has so much excess enthusiasm she needs to share it out, and Lapis, conveniently, has a deficit. Wonderland only makes it harder. And also more necessary. That's a strange feeling.

Well, anyway, she has no idea why they need to go out into the white, but since Peridot is positively giddy and apparently drawing from actual experience, she's willing to entertain the notion. "It's like rain?" Lapis murmurs -- rain was perfectly fine once she got used to it. "I'll give it a try." She doesn't have it in her to even try to respond to the mood, but she'll listen and she'll make the motions.

[slapfight]

"But frozen! And other people can manipulate it. Not as well as you, of course." Peridot looks smugly casual about the whole thing as she takes the lead into the hall. "Really, you should be showing these amateurs what water-wielding is all about."

Lapis isn't as inclined to do things because of her ego as Peridot is, so this whole act is really just her living vicariously. The two of them will be unstoppable death machines out there- Peridot's experience with snow with Lapis's expertise with water? Look out, Wonderland!

[ssmisery]

Honestly, Peridot vicariously feeding off Lapis's coolness is probably also standard. Makes the relationship more symbiotic. Lapis, who carefully refrains from having ambitions of her own, is all right with being used to prop up Peridot's ego, especially since it hardly makes a difference anyway. This is really just comfortingly familiar.

Except that she doesn't trust Wonderland. But that's what the newly awakened bit at the back of her mind is for, already wondering about the combat applications of snow.

"Okay," she says when the last door is opened and they're beholding the scene, probably standing in the open doorway like a couple of rudes since they don't care about the cold, "it's very white." Someone who's very experienced in the ways of Lapis can probably discern that she's impressed under the dryness, probably. Snow-blindness is less of an issue for people whose eyes are themselves made out of light, but the snow by nature blankets the landscape, softening shapes until everything is one fluffy white mass. The effect is certainly striking.

"What do you do with it, exactly?"

[drummeintheface]

[Greg sees the statues from far away and can't help but wander over and look. He's never seen snowmen like this before. In fact, this one doesn't look finished at all! Still, though.]

Wow. That's a really good nose.

[Greg circles it, then comes to a stop in front of it.]

Where's the rest of him?

[slapfight]

[Peridot crosses over to him, a look of utter pride on her face.] That is all of it, Lesser Greg. [she turns to Lapis and snorts. honestly, this human child doesn't understand the deep and visceral metaphor of 'morps.] It's my homage to Pearl. I captured her most distinct feature.

[ssmisery]

Our homage.

[Lapis submits this correction with dignified gravity. It didn't start out as an homage, but she couldn't help but be enlightened to the morpistic merit of the idea; such is the power of collaboration.

That out of the way, what is a 'Lesser Greg'. Seriously? Her attention remains directed fully to Peridot, however, because Lapis is rude, and if Peridot knows so many people around here she can do the legwork.]

Who is this?

[drummeintheface]

[Greg looks at the nose harder, trying to see whatever it is that Peridot said it is. But it's still just a nose.]

I have a Great Aunt Pearl. She lives in a place with a bunch of other old people. It smells funny.

[But more importantly:]

I'm Greg! I'm Peridot's friend! And you're a Lapis Lazuli, right?

[slapfight]

Friend is a very... Strong word. I call him Lesser Greg, because he's like Steven's Greg, only... smaller. [she leans up to add, in a stage whisper] I thought it was more polite than defective Greg.

[because really he has nothing in common with Greg/Dad at all.]

[ssmisery]

[Both of these people are spouting nonsense. Which is fine, of course. As human things go, multiple individuals having the same name is one of the more understandable quirks to a gem; the connotations are merely a little different, which is the sort of nuance Lapis probably grasps better than Peridot despite caring less. Also all that stuff about larval humans, growing and changing, whatever.

She's more surprised by the small Greg identifying her. It made more sense from Nageki, who at least seems like a scholarly type. But, then, while Peridot likes to complain that nobody here understands gem stuff, to Lapis they always know more than she'd expect, if only because so many individuals have come through Wonderland.

Brushing all that aside, she looks him up and down, not that there's a lot of up-and-down to cover. What she lands on is faintly, uncertainly amused.]

He says you're friends. If you can get one or two more, maybe it'll add up to a Regular Greg.

[mourning_ghost]

Nageki wandered into the area mostly because he had nothing else to do. When he saw the sculptures, he thought that he may as well attempt to make one of his own.

He's currently attempting to make a snowbird, using the tricks he'd learned in Wonderland. Nageki has only done this once before and, despite his best efforts, the snow crumbles under his wings leaving him with a sorry-looking pile of snow.

[slapfight]

Peridot's in the process of incorporating stolen silverware from the kitchens into her latest piece when she notices the bird, and she can only stare in wonder as she watches him... not be as great as they are.

Ah, an amateur at work. Well, not everyone can be an expert at meepmorp the way they are. Sometimes you have it, but... usually you don't.

"Are you having some trouble?" It's not quite sincere, but that's because Peridot is a vicious, savage creature, and Lapis isn't much better.

[ssmisery]

Lapis isn't much better, but here she at least has the slight mitigating factor that Nageki's met her before and managed to make a better impression than most. Unless that actually makes things worse when she sees this sad display; it's hard to tell with her.

In contrast to Peridot's obvious scorn, Lapis watches Nageki passively for a moment. There's a lot more passive watching involved on her end of the snow morp process in general. "That was pretty impressive for not having hands," she adds drily, likewise in a tone much less gentle than the words alone might connote. Even after watching, she's not sure how he did those things with his wings.

[mourning_ghost]

"Not really," he says to Lapis. Older breeds of birds wouldn't have been able to make shapes in the snow, but Nageki's actions are normal for modern birds. Nageki would have been better if his health had allowed him to spend his childhood playing outdoors with his siblings.

He looks back and forth between Peridot and Lapis. "Could you give me some advice?"

[slapfight]

"Can't you make yourself hands?" Despite Peridot's initial scorn, it's a logical question, and one that seems to spark her curiosity. A bird communicating and interacting with the world as a person-shaped being would is odd, sure, but one doing all that and not being able to manifest thumbs seems like nature being unnecessarily cruel.

[ssmisery]

Lapis, on the other hand, is in fact aware that the bird gets by somehow. Of course she doesn't get how the wings work, but she also doesn't need to. She's just here to be sardonic.

Which is why her input is, "Personally, I recommend being able to control water. It seems to work okay." Yeah, Lapis's perspective isn't going to be very helpful to most other people.

[mr_englishguy]

Having just been part of a snowball fight, Newt was wandering his way back to the new form the mansion has taken in a state of soaked clothes and his curls plastered down across his brow. The state of frozen and icy that he has become, fingers a bit too cold for their own good, doesn't stop him from noticing the sculptures that have been made since he headed out for the day.

While seeking warmth may be a smart idea, instead he wanders in closer, taking his time to examine them. Loving the lines, the designs that allow the mind to wander, the ingenuity of those from Wonderland that had taken time to do all this work. It was beautiful and he loves it.

Taking his time, he puts himself on the look out for whomever may be behind it to congratulate them on their work.

[ssmisery]

One might say that the artists find him first, but really it's more that the art does -- a spray of snow hits Newt from the side, adding one more light dusting of sparkly cold to his frozen figure. The source is Lapis moving her hands, and the snow, in one sharp, bold motion. Snow takes a stronger touch than liquid. Another undulating ridge of snow has risen, simple and smooth as if it had grown naturally.

She eyes it critically and eyes the human who wandered into the way even more critically. There's no sign of concern, let alone apology. To be fair, it's doubtful that Lapis has much notion of how humans take to cold (for heaven's sake, she's barefoot). "Try two steps back," she tells him simply, like he's meant to be part of the display.

[slapfight]

Peridot pokes out from behind a different sculpture that seems to be utilizing ski poles and what might part of one of the lifts- hopefully not a crucial part. She gives Lapis a thumbs up as if confirming her work is looking good from her side.

And only then does she acknowledge the hapless man who has come into their domain of morps, "Don't worry. We're professionals."

What part of this isn't supposed to be worrying is up for debate.

[mr_englishguy]

Caught off guard, he spins to face the source of the snow, not seeming to mind as much as showing a bright curiosity for where it had come from. Opening his mouth, there are no words as she gives that order, as it is. Mouth closing, Newt does as he is told.

Two steps back, arms loose at his side and arching a brow as if to ask if that is enough. Hearing a voice, he smiles, only slightly turning his head to view the other woman.

"Oh, I'm not worried at all. Quite obvious from your work," he says, giving a nod, then going still because he was worrying then that he was moving too much. "A marvelous means you have for moving the snow though. Quite delightful."

[ssmisery]

Lapis continues watching Newt with that critical look. "No, never mind," she says finally, and with a chopping sweep of her hand spreads the snow back out. "You can go." Not a dismissal, but like she was actually intending to keep him here as a sculpture.

She wasn't, was she? Deadpan as she is, it's hard to tell how serious she's being. It could just as easily be a subtle form of mocking him for getting in the way. In any case, neither the compliment nor the cooperation has made Lapis any less rude; Peridot certainly isn't going to help either. This art gallery is a disaster zone.

[mr_englishguy]

Newt stays very still, at least until that dismissal. Yet, being the man and wizard that he is, he isn't the least bit bothered by either the dismissal or the tone. Instead he takes it as approval to move, to leave the position he put himself in for them.

"Do tell, if you're willing, are you capable of such works in Wonderland when it's not turned into a late winter?"

He is used to transfiguration himself, but to work with say snow when there was none, that interests him quite a bit.