[OPEN EVENT] Weekend Winter Wonderland

[wintershepherd]

Characters: All?
Date: March 8th-11th
Location: All of Keeliai
Situation: It's been a stressful month thus far for a lot of people, but Jack is determined to Make All The Happy and decides he needs to get back to his wintery roots by giving the city a proper snowing.
Warnings/Rating: People high on snow glitter?
NOTES: Actionspam OR prose, whatever is preferred! (Settings were just easier to prose.) Make your own thread headers if none of these suit! ♥



Jack had spent the last three hours balanced motionlessly on the top of a flagpole, head tilted back as he listened to the wind and the sound of the city below. Where is Winter? it asked. I'm here! the spirit replied, but he knew it didn't mean his physical presence. He'd had too much on his mind and too much in his heart and in that sense he had indeed been absent these last few weeks.

Eyes closed and thoughtlessly trusting, he tipped forward into open air, letting the wind catch him and hurl him upward into the misty cloud cover that scudded across the stars tonight. At his touch they thickened, fat and pale grey against the indigo backdrop and Jack swirled them up, the motions so ingrained in him they felt just like breathing. In the small hours of the morning snowflakes began to fall on the sleeping city, specks at first but then quickly becoming heavier.

Now with a fresh canvas to work with, Jack was really in his element. He could never have done something like this back home, not anywhere in his world. It would have been too strange, too inexplicable, drawn too much attention. But here on the turtle, things were different. There wasn't really a semblance of normal and Jack poured his imagination and heart into the things he wanted most to share, and from the snow rose gleaming swirls of snow and blue light, forming things of exceptional detail and delight.

By the time the sun rose, a solid three feet of the snow had blanketed the city, glistening and crisp and Jack went rocketing down the streets, rapping on doors and windows to leave spirals of frost on every surface.

"Whooohoo! Snow day! Get up sleepyheads, everyone come out and play!"


THREAD STARTERS
Ice Skating | Snowball Battle | Sledding Hill | Ice Cityscapes | Kids Playground | OOC Plot Post

Comments

[dracobin]

[Most of these landmarks are unfamiliar to Temeraire, as the bulk of them won't be built until at least half a century after his time. Still, they are all distinctive enough that he recognizes they must all mean something to someone, so he spends some time gliding low over the rooftops of the city, enjoying the sight of them from the air.

So it is that the elephant draws his attention for an entirely different reason. Elephants made for good eating in Cape Town. He lands a short distance away, scrabbling a bit for purchase on the ice, before carefully approaching on foot.

Oblivious, for the moment, to Jehan's presence, he instead preoccupies himself with poking the sculpture with a forked tongue.]

[poeticverses]

[Jehan bites back a scream and falls ass-first into a snow drift when Temeraire lands. He was not expecting that]

Dear God!

[dracobin]

[Temeraire immediately leaves off licking the elephant and swivels his head around to face Jehan, eyes large with worry.]

Oh--I beg your pardon--did I knock you over? I am very sorry, I did not see you--are you all right?

[poeticverses]

No, you simply--I was not expecting you.

[Jehan stands, dusting himself off. It's terribly rude, but he can't help it: he stares at the dragon]

Are you a-a dragon? Or perhaps an incredibly large lizard?

[dracobin]

[As the man is apparently unharmed, Temeraire sits back a little, his fears assuaged.] Oh, I see. In that case I shall have to give better warning next time. I am not quite used to living in a city, yet.

[He gives a careful bob of his head. One of these days, he'll meet someone who's used to dragons, but he doesn't mind introducing himself in the meantime.] Yes, I am a dragon; my name is Temeraire. I am sorry if I alarmed you.

[poeticverses]

Combeferre mentioned you, I believe. I will admit I did not believe him but...well.

[Jehan offers a slight bow]

Jean--or Jehan, which I prefer--Prouvaire, late of Paris.

[dracobin]

It is good to meet you, Jehan. Oh, you know M. Combeferre! [who is firmly established in Temeraire's mind as Good People, so the gaze he turns on Jehan grows considerably more approving.] Does that mean you fought with him, as well?

[poeticverses]

Combeferre is my brother-in-arms. We fought on the barricades together, yes, for a free France.

[dracobin]

Yes, M. Combeferre has told me all about it, and it sounds like a very just cause to me. There seem to be a great many of you here. [A little wistfully: Temeraire has yet to find anyone from his world. Still, if Enjolras is right and they are all dead, he can't begrudge any of them their friends.

He rouses himself from his contemplation with a little effort.] Were you looking at the elephant as well?

[poeticverses]

I was. It is a replica of on in Paris. Were you attempting to eat it?

[dracobin]

No, [says Temeraire a little too quickly,] I was only curious, because I have seen elephants before, and they are good eating, but this one is made of ice, and I have never seen a sculpture like it before. You have elephants in Paris, then?

[poeticverses]

Just the statue. But you've--eaten one? Have you seen them live?

[dracobin]

Yes, I have; my formation and I were only just recently returned to London from Cape Town, on Corps business, and I had elephant there. They are very tasty; it is a pity I cannot eat so well all the time. What is the statue there for?

[poeticverses]

It sits in front of the Bastille. I am not entirely certain it has a purpose other than aesthetics, although there are children who take shelter in and around it.

[dracobin]

[Temeraire twitches his tail a little, glancing at the elephant.] The Bastille, that is the prison that was stormed during the Revolution, is it not?

[poeticverses]

Yes, that's the one. The Elephant was one of Bonaparte's ideas, however.

[dracobin]

Oh, Bonaparte! [Temeraire puts his ruff back.] In that case I cannot say it is at all tasteful. I wonder if it is an elephant in my world, too, or--no, Lien has probably got to him by now, and it is a statue of her instead.

[poeticverses]

Lien? Who is Lien?

[dracobin]

She is a Celestial like myself, but she and her companion tried to kill my captain, and then her companion was killed. So now she has sworn vengeance against us, and allied herself with Napoleon in order to defeat us, even though it was her companion who tried to kill us in the first place. [He sighs moodily.] I hear she is having the streets of Paris widened, so your barricade may be more difficult to build in my world, if you build one at all. It is hard to say.

[poeticverses]

[What Jehan takes from this conversation is:

-Celestial is a type of dragon
-Lien is quite possibly insane
-Napoleon has a dragon
-Les Amis might exist in a world with dragons
-Jehan really hopes this hypothetical other-version of him gets a dragon.

Of course, he doesn't say any of this.]

I doubt barricades would be particularly effective with dragons around, so no revolutionary would suggest them as a course of action.

[dracobin]

Yes, that is true; any dragon might fly over them. So we shall have to rethink our strategy, but, as I have already told M. Combeferre, I will be sure to come and help you, and then no-one need die at all.

[poeticverses]

Are you certain Les Amis exist in your world? From the sounds of it, I, at least, am not even born yet.

[dracobin]

[He looks a little doubtful at that before he shakes his head, tail lashing a little and sending up small clumps of snow.] Oh, but you must, must you not? Napoleon exists in our worlds, and Washington, and the Marquis de Lafayette, and I do not see why they should be permitted to exist in both our worlds when you do not.

[poeticverses]

[Jehan makes a face at the mention of the Marquis]

I suppose. Then again, we do not have dragons in our world, as much as I would like to have had them.

[dracobin]

I am starting to think there are not many worlds who do. Pray tell, what is a Paris without dragons like? What do you do when you are not building barricades?