ic Ice Age Cometh

[Raveled]

Monday, January 6th, 2014

10:34 AM

Wharton State Forest

It almost hadn't happened. The weatherman had called for unseasonably warm temperatures through the end of the year, and the people behind the festival had talked about how to keep the ice from melting. Then everything changed when the weather blew up cold and windy; the Freedom League rallied metahumans and were managing to keep the worst of the 'polar vortex' at bay, but it did mean ice and snow for Freedom City and the Winter Festival was on.

As the King family van pulled into the well-plowed parking lot of Wharton State Park, Gene King tried to remind himself that all that was good news. He should be happy that the heroes were keeping snow and cold to a manageable level -- but part of him couldn't help but think that this was precious extended Christmas vacation time being taken away from video games.

Edited January 21, 2014 by Raveled

[KnightDisciple]

William Cline wasn't dropped off by any car, but he was still one of the first people there. He wandered into the Festival area proper, his gaze bouncing all over the place. 

 

The run over had been a nice warm-up, which was good, since he was definitely feeling a bit of a sting in the air. He snugged his coat and scarf a bit tighter; higher metabolism or no, unless he was fully in-costume in a fight, this weather was chilly. While not cutting edge fashion or anything, he was in good shape, so he figured he cut a dashing enough figure out here in the snow.

 

So he took to just meandering on in a bit at a time, keeping one eye open for people he knew, and another eye open for people he didn't.

 

This was likely to be a pretty awesome day.

[Raveled]

The King caravan (as the kids were wont to call the full-sized van required to haul them all around at the same time) circled the lot a couple of times before finding an open spot, and even then it was only partially cleared. Adam King, patriarch of the clan, managed to force the driver's door open and climb out, but the panel door on that side was blocked off which meant everyone had to get out the same side. The side Gene was sitting on. Gene, who was lost in thought.

He started when a brother poked him sharply. "Wake up, Genie," Derek said. "Time to stop dreaming." The last word was delivered in a sing-song voice, and immediately the rugrats in the back of the van broke out into the theme song of a show that had gone off the air when their parents were young. Gene grumbled something in response, pressed the button to open the van door, and struggled out of his seatbelt.

Outside, the kids took to stomping in the snow while their parents tried to wrangle everyone together. Gene stood on the fringes of the group, looking out over the area given over to the festival. A few tents marked WARM, and a lot of ice blocks set up in ways that could be ominous if they weren't the whole point of the day.

There weren't too many folks around that Gene could see, just some couples and a few kids running wild. Oh how he envied the chance to be one of them.

[RobRX]

“So you went to Claremont yesterday and you’re back already?†asked John, Cho’s stepfather. Grumbling, she replied; “What? You don’t want me around? Afraid I’ll cause you shame?â€

“That isn’t it at all, Cho, can you please stop with that? It’s just I was expecting them to keep you for a few days. Figure out what’s wrong with you and--†The man gets cut off as Cho furiously storms off ahead, trying not to have her rage reach a boiling point. There’s no need for her to explode on her stepfather’s face, especially not in front of the rest of her family, namely her mother and younger half-sister.

 

“I think you’ve pissed sis off.†hushed out Naomi, Cho’s sister, fully aware of what was going on and how her father may have been innocently insensitive and insulting toward the teenager. The three of them continued, with Cho ahead. It was a good day, some nice snow and some things to see, hopefully. Assuming family drama would not ruin the day again.

Edited January 21, 2014 by RobRX

[horngeek]

Haukea and Kalani were dropped off by their mother at the festival, the twins dressed in similar garments- bundled up in fairly warm clothes, jackets and scarves included.  Not that this particuarly helped either. 

 

"Brrrr... okay, I know dad has his job at all, but why did he get moved somewhere so cold?  It's freezing!"

 

Haukea grinned at her sister's comment.  "Well... it should be warmer in the summer..."

 

She seemed somewhat distracted, a fact Kalani noticed.  "Hey, kaikaina.  Worried about school?"

 

"...yeah.  Never been away from the family before."  Haukea looked at her sister.  "And, well..."

 

"Yeah.  There's that, too.  Hey, you wouldn't have been picked if you weren't up for it!"

[RobRX]

Annoyed by her familly drama, Cho continues on ahead and find some...random, empty spot between trees to just stand there. In her mind, it's probably better than arguing with her stepfather. It's not exactly a pretty or pleasant sight to see a family argue and yell at each others like that in public, after all.

 

With nobody looking at her, she kneel down. Focusing, the tip of her finger begin to glow as Cho slowly, and shakingly, approach her finger at the snow, trying to carefully desintegrate the snow rather than remove an entire chunk of it. With a weak 'pow' noise, the snow blows in her face. Another failure for her to fine-tune her only power that isn't physical. "Ugh..." She grunts out, dissapointed at the results. It's a good thing she went against her idea to test it on a tree.

[KnightDisciple]

While the others were still getting themselves into the festival grounds, William had already made it in the festival proper. He'd paid for a big disposable cup filled with hot cocoa and extra marshmallows, and was making the initial rounds. He knew there would be contest announcements later on, and probably a couple shows or something, but he actually wanted to take in the sculptures and such.

 

For all that he didn't plan to make a career of it, and couldn't do much beyond squiggly sketches on graph paper, William actually enjoyed art, at least the more "real" stuff. The abstract sculptures obviously took skill and steady hands, but it was the animals, people, buildings, vehicles, and one forest landscape that really attracted his attention.

 

And getting in ahead of the worst of the crowd meant he could switch to watching some of the pretty girls attending, too. Or just crowd-watch in general.

 

Besides, it was good practice on shutting out any and all extraneous mental chatter. He wasn't nearly the sensitive his mother or sister were, but he still got some static sometimes. Every bit of practice helped.

[horngeek]

The twins wandered around, looking at the sculptures- mostly rating them. 

 

"Oh, this sculpture of a dolphin is beautiful!"

 

"Yeah, but it makes me feel all odd, Kea.  I mean, you don't see dolphins in weather this cold!  Back in Hawaii, maybe."

 

As they walked and chatted, Haukea slipped on a patch of ice, about to fall...

[KnightDisciple]

But luckily enough, there had been at least one person who was nearby who was fast enough and observant enough to make a difference. Though thankfully (for Will and his family's peace of mind), he was actually just a couple feet away. 
 
So instead of having to run at near supersonic speeds, William Cline just took a couple of quick-for-a-fit-guy steps and was grasping Haukea's arm. It wasn't painful, but she didn't freeze in place. Will was in good shape, but he hadn't exactly done a lot of strength training. Instead, he managed to slow her down so she ended up softly setting down on the ground, and Will was still holding her forearm with a firm enough grip to help her back up again. With a nearly-blazing smile.
 
"Well aren't you just a lucky lady? Saved from a tumble by little old me. Name's William. Sorry I couldn't stop you entirely!"

[horngeek]

Kalani spun as her sister fell, reaching out for her... but William got her first, causing a blush from the heroine.  "Um... I'm Haukea.  Thanks for stopping me, William." 

 

Haukea took the offered help to get up off the ground, her cheeks still slightly red, as Kalani sighed.  "Thanks for the save... William, was it?  I'm Kalani.  Sorry about kaikaina, she can be a bit clumsy sometimes."

 

She ignored the half-hearted "Hey!" from Haukea, looking at William for a moment as her sister dusted some snow off her coat.  "Okay, to be fair, I've slipped a couple of times too.  We're not exactly used to snow.  Or ice."

 

"We've never seen snow before this winter.  Well, except videos.  And pictures."

 

Haukea smiled slightly at William, still blushing slightly.  "Um.  Anyway, I... uh, suppose you're here to look at the exhibitions too, right?"

[Raveled]

"So you all have your cellphones," the King matriarch said, ticking points off on her fingers."

"Yes, Mom," her oldest daughter said.

"And you know to keep an eye on your siblings," she continued.

"Yes, Mom," Derek intoned.

"And you know we're meeting back here at twelve."

This time it was Gene's turn. "Yes, Mom," he sighed, feigning indifference. He couldn't keep a smile from tugging at the corner of his mouth, though.

"Don't sass your mother," his father snapped, and they all stood up a little straighter. "Sorry," they all muttered. Adam glared at them for another moment, then relaxed. "Alright, go have some fun." That was all the kids needed, the rugrats running off into the fair and the older kids chasing after them.

Gene ended up trailing after the littlest one as she ran around in the snow, endlessly amused by the snow covering the ground and content for the moment to simply run and trip and run some more. Gene kept a ways back, mostly watching the make sure didn't start crying. As they left the greater number of tents behind, he noticed another girl, closer to his age, off near some trees. He watched her for a moment as she --

-- Blew up the snow with her finger? Well that was something you don't see everyday. Gene hiked over in her direction, raising a hand to wave at her. "Hello there!"

[RobRX]

"Oh! U-um...ah..." Cho blurted out, trying to hide the smoking crater in the melting snow. "H-hi..." said the girl, awkwardly. Well that and she had her moments of feeling even more awkward with her changing appearance. "I-it's nothing, really. Nothing at all." Realizing she was only more suspicious, she gave up on pretending nothing hapenned and just stood there, hoping this wouldn't cause a scene within hearing distance of her family, which would be the worst thing to happen to her in this very moment.

[Raveled]

Gene grinned, unable to help himself. This girl obviously didn't expect that anyone else would see her using her powers. Gene knew how hard it was to keep something like that secret from everybody. "No no, it's totally okay. Watch. Um." He twisted around to look and make sure no one, especially his little sister, was watching. Thankfully she was enjoying making snow angels. So Gene pulled off his glove and concentrated, letting three gold-and-red orbs float above the palm of his hand. "See? It's okay, I won't tell anyone if you don't."

[RobRX]

"Bluh." She said, dissafected by that more than anything. "Mine's not really that simple. Or easy to control." She doesn't sound all too happy about her power. "I'd show you but I don't want to vaporize a chunk of the forest and get yelled at because my family has to pay for the damage." Raising her hand, it began to glow, the flesh rippling and the light illuminating the general shape of her skeleton underneath. While doing so, Cho lets out a quick and short grunt.

 

"And fine, I won't tell. Wait, are you a Claremont sudent? Because, well, you know..." She asked, given that with his age it would be a reasonable and logical assumption.

[Raveled]

Gene didn't answer, instead staring at Cho's hand as it was illuminated from within by whatever strange power she wielded. "That's amazing," he said, watching her little display. "I can't do anything like that. Most of the time I --"

As he was speaking, Gene's control slipped and the sphere fell to the ground, where they exploded on the snow. They were more flash than bang so neither teenager was injured, but it did draw the attention of Gene's sister. "Genie, Genie," she yelled, rushing over. "Are you playing with fireworks? Did you bring snappers here?" She slid to a stop an arms length away. "Genie, are you talking to a girl?"

[RobRX]

Awkward once again, Cho just stood there, without anything to say. She just glance at Gene as if saying 'Uh, I don't know what to say, HELP!'. It's clear she's not very good in social situations. She just stands there, temporarily frozen with her hand behind her back as the hand stop glowing, venting whatever energy it might have contained.

 

"Anyway, we're not playing with fireworks, so don't worry about us." Then says the girl to Gene's sister, trying to reassure her with calm and warmth, once her initial 'oh god what do I do' freezing moment has finally passed. "Right? We're...both responsibles, um, teenagers and I don't think either of us would play with very dangerous explosives."

[Raveled]

"I heard something," the little girl insisted, stamping her feet. "Something went BOOM! BANG! Pow!"

Gene thought quickly. "Nothing went boom, Katie," he insisted. "We were just... stamping our feet in the snow. Right?" He threw a hopeful look Cho's way, and stamped his feet in the snow drifts. Powder drifted up along with a muffled ]i]crunch, and he stomped again and again. Katie seemed on the fence about the explanation, and Gene looked at Cho for support.

[RobRX]

In a heartbeat, without even knowing who Gene is, Cho decides to cover for him, since his family was seemingly not aware. Or at least that's what she deduced. "Okay, that was me." She then stomps her foot on the ground, causing a shaking noise and small tremor. "See?" Thud. Thud. Thud. Whatever hopes of hiding she had superpowers was gone out the window and she frankly didn't care much for the consequences. She could have replicated the small explosion, but deemed her uncontrolled ability too dangerous to use around people.

[Raveled]

The breath caught in Gene's throat when Cho began shaking the ground, causing shivers to run through the snow. Katie stumbled back and forth, laughing badly as the world shook about her. He sighed in relief, watching his little sister jump in imitation of Cho; even when she misjudged her hop and into the snow, she kept laughing and swinging her arms. "Don't stay down in the snow, Katie," Gene grumbled, pulling her to her feet. "You're going to catch cold, and then you'll be sick. You don't want that, do you?"

"Yeah yeah yeah," the little girl shouted. "Sick day, day off!"

Gene gave the sort of long-suffering sigh only a sibling can and rolled his eyes at Cho. "Thanks. Um. I didn't catch your name?"

[RobRX]

"Oh! Um, it's...Cho." She says as the little girl played in the snow. It couldn't help but remind her of her own sister. "I just hope she's not going to bring up the whole stomp-the-ground-make-it-shake thing. Anyway, you? What's your name, I mean! I'm not sure I heard well."

 

Her face showed some signs of worry after that short and simple display of power. As if it's something she shouldn't have done. "Really, could you umm, well just try to forget what hapenned here? I don't want to get yelled at." Meanwhile, Gene could spot she was flicking and moving her hand around as if trying to remove an unpleasant (or even painful) sensation.

[KnightDisciple]

Kalani spun as her sister fell, reaching out for her... but William got her first, causing a blush from the heroine.  "Um... I'm Haukea.  Thanks for stopping me, William."

 

Haukea took the offered help to get up off the ground, her cheeks still slightly red, as Kalani sighed.  "Thanks for the save... William, was it?  I'm Kalani.  Sorry about kaikaina, she can be a bit clumsy sometimes."

 

She ignored the half-hearted "Hey!" from Haukea, looking at William for a moment as her sister dusted some snow off her coat.  "Okay, to be fair, I've slipped a couple of times too.  We're not exactly used to snow.  Or ice."

 

"We've never seen snow before this winter.  Well, except videos.  And pictures."

 

Haukea smiled slightly at William, still blushing slightly.  "Um.  Anyway, I... uh, suppose you're here to look at the exhibitions too, right?"

 

William's smile was at least 100 watts.

 

"Haukea and Kalani? No snow or ice? Are you beautiful young ladies perhaps from some tropical island? Hawaii or some such place? Well, no worries, you'll soon become used to snow. I actually was living in Southern California with my family for several years, so I had to adjust pretty quickly myself. The key is to get a good coat and a good pair of boots."

 

And/or be a kinetic-energy-controlling speedster, but that was beside the point.

 

"And yeah, I am mostly here for the sculptures. And the music later. And the free goodies. And maybe seeing a few fellow art appreciators. Like you two. I like to keep my schedule flexible to account for the unexpected."

Edited January 27, 2014 by KnightDisciple

[horngeek]

Haukea smiled smightly, a blush still on her cheeks.  "Yeah, we figured that bit out... it's more the slipping."

 

Actually, Haukea didn't look all that cold, to be honest.  To an alert eye, it almost seemed like the coat and scarf was as much for show as anything else, compared to Kalani, who was shivering slightly.  "Speak for youself, Kea... yeah, we're from Hawai'i.  Dad picked out names in ÅŒlelo HawaiÊ»i specifically, though, a lot of people don't have names from the language anymore."

 

"Or speak it, although there's a lot of work being done to revive the language recently..."

 

Kalani nodded.  "Anyway, yeah, we are here to see the sculptures.  More than just a pair of cute twins!"

 

Despite the joking tone in her voice, she gave a pointed look at William, unseen by Haukea. 

[KnightDisciple]

Will raised an eyebrow a bit at Kalani's statement, and her look. But while he was an irrepressible spirit and an unapologetic flirt, he was neither stupid nor crass. His smile dialed down a few watts, and his manner shifted just slightly. He was still friendly, but not flirty. At least, not very much. 

 

Probably he didn't want to hurt one girl's feelings over the other to flirt with just one instead of both, so he was switching gears entirely!

 

"Slipping happens to everyone. The real key is to learn what to watch for. Loose piles are bad, and flat shiny patches are bad. Look for where the rest of us have been walking. Boot prints in snow get kind of mucky, but they don't usually slip and slide much. I just hope your dad didn't have too much trouble on the drive over! Slippery roads are the worst if you're not used to them."

 

Will began walking around the display area some more, moving slowly enough he clearly expected the twins to follow, but wouldn't stop if they didn't. 

[horngeek]

Kalani nodded in appreciation at the change in Will's tone, as she crossed her arms, trying to deal with a renewed burst of wind- which Haukea seemed to completely ignore.  "Blegh.  You're lucky, Kea, you've got the- well, you've gotten better at dealing with the cold than I have."  She continued as if she hadn't almost slipped, resolving to talk with Will in more detail about her problems with the flirting if time permitted.  She didn't want Haukea to get taken advantage of emotionally, not shut her sister off entirely.  

 

Both sisters started following, trying to take Will's advice.  Haukea smiled.  "Thanks.  It's hard keeping an eye on the snow while we're watching everything else- sis, shiny patch."

 

"Huh?  Oh, thanks."  Kalani sidestepped the patch of slippery ice that Haukea had pointed out, keeping quiet for the most part right now as Haukea continued speaking.  "Anyway, mom didn't have too much trouble- she mentioned driving in snow before, although she didn't tell me when."

[KnightDisciple]

Kalani nodded in appreciation at the change in Will's tone, as she crossed her arms, trying to deal with a renewed burst of wind- which Haukea seemed to completely ignore.  "Blegh.  You're lucky, Kea, you've got the- well, you've gotten better at dealing with the cold than I have."  She continued as if she hadn't almost slipped, resolving to talk with Will in more detail about her problems with the flirting if time permitted.  She didn't want Haukea to get taken advantage of emotionally, not shut her sister off entirely.  

 

Both sisters started following, trying to take Will's advice.  Haukea smiled.  "Thanks.  It's hard keeping an eye on the snow while we're watching everything else- sis, shiny patch."

 

"Huh?  Oh, thanks."  Kalani sidestepped the patch of slippery ice that Haukea had pointed out, keeping quiet for the most part right now as Haukea continued speaking.  "Anyway, mom didn't have too much trouble- she mentioned driving in snow before, although she didn't tell me when."

 

"I've learned it's sometimes best to not ask how parents have acquired a particular skill or skill set. The explanation will either be long and boring, or scar you for life. Or both."

 

He gave an over-dramatic shudder.

 

"Oh, hey, that's a nice castle."

 

Indeed, it was a nice ice sculpture castle! Will seemed absorbed in admiring it for several long moments, before he spoke up, his eyes still drinking in the frozen water fortress details.

 

"So, where do you gals go to school?"