11/30 Instance: Snow Business

[Svartfreja]

<Sue> Snow was awesome! It was just as maleable as water but visible and gave her ample opportunity to practise with her forcefields. She squashed it into new shapes, sifted it, squashed it into different shapes, threw it around. It was fun! And a nice break from writing essays.

<Jean> Jean had a love/hate relationship with the snow. Her winter wardrobe was fabulous and full of pink fur and fun, but it was cold. Cold and Jean were not friends. And, snow made driving hard. Especially for other people. Jean skidded into the parking lot and eeped when her packages shifted and slid from the seat to the floorboard.

<Sue> Sue watched the approaching car and shielded herself with a wall of forcefield and snow just in case, making it invisible when the car seemed to have stopped to see who was in it.

<Jean> Holy shit the snow was alive!! "Okay, like, there better not be some snow monster thing about to come RAWR out of there!" She yelled and flailed an arm over the dash as she slid sideways into a parking space. "Let it go, let it go!"

<Sue> Sue formed a snow monster out of her snow and it reached out a hand to bring the car to an actual stop. They really needed some grit on that carpark.

<Jean> "LET IT GO!" Jean was no fool - she ducked and covered behind her steering wheel. Where was her phone?! OMG.

<Sue> The snow monster collapsed back into the snow and Sue strolled over on top of the snow, using a forcefield path, giggling her head off, "It's me, you idiot."

<Jean> She'd found her phone and dropped it twice before she heard the voice. Wow, that so wasn't what she expected a ravenous snow beast to sound like. And it wasn't that frozen teacher guy either. Jean peeped over the edge of the door. "..."

<Jean> "Sue?! The hell!?" She shot upright in the seat.

<Sue> Sue's giggles turned into a proper laugh, "Oh my God, if you could see your face."

<Jean> ".....oof." Jean whacked the steering wheel and jumped out of the car, then promptly slipped on the ice. "Ack!" She lifted into the air to keep herself from falling, and keep her shoes from getting wet.

<Sue> Sue giggled all the more, "Oh God... stop... too funny... can't breathe..."

<Jean> Jean made another high-pitched frustrated sound. "It's not! Why are you pretending to be a snow monster?!"

<Sue> "You gave me the idea," Sue pointed out with a grin, "I was just making shapes. It's good to practice."

<Jean> "Practice?!" She supposed, if she stopped to think about it, it made sense, but... but! "Ugh." Reaching inside the open door, she grabbed her jacket and swung it on, then levitated to sit on the roof of the car.

<Sue> "It's just snow, it won't bite you."

<Jean> "Unless it's a snow monster." She nodded, then looked over at the piles of fluffy snow.

<Sue> Sue giggled again, "I won't make my snow monsters bite you, I promise."

<Jean> "Nope, bet not." Practice, huh? Jean narrowed her focus and a pillar of snow shot up a dozen feet behind Sue.

<Sue> Sue instinctively shielded herself as she turned and almost fell over herself.

<Jean> The snow shifted and swirled and formed into a snake, dropping into the lot and slithering between the cars and around Sue.

<Sue> "It's fun, right?" Sue smiled, reforming her snow monster.

<Jean> Surprisingly, since she'd totally started this to be a bitch, it was! "Yeaaaaaah...." The snake slithered around the monster and snapped at it.

<Sue> The monster, with much concentration, took slow swipes at the snake.

<Jean> Jean's creature was much faster and dodged, then popped clear through the middle of the monster and out the back.

<Sue> Sue's unstable creature collapsed and so did the field beneath her feet. She disappeared into a snowdrift.

<Jean> "Oh shit!" She killed Sue! Jean floated down from the car and since there was no way she was getting wet, used her teke to start clearing the snow. "Are you okay?"

<Sue> "I'm fine... but I think that means I should take a break from complicated shapes."

<Jean> Her own creation had dissolved without her concentration and she floated down to hold out her hand to Sue. "Yeah, and it's cold and wet and shit out here. My hair's gonna friz."

<Sue> "At least you're not buried in the stuff?" She offered, by way of consolation, accepting the help and shaking the snow out of her hair.

<Jean> Jean took Sue's other hand and picked her up, floating them both to the parking lot, where at least there was less snow. "Better?"

<Sue> "Probably... until I try to walk anywhere. Seriously, all this money to fix all the holes in the building and they can't buy salt grit..."

<Jean> "That's probably why." She laughed and decided she could multitask as she floated them back to the car. "Walking won't be a problem!" Jean's packages floated out from the car and the door swung shut. She kept it all afloat as well as herself and grinned.

<Sue> "I sometimes wonder what it would be like to have teke... whether it's easier or harder than forcefields." Probably easier if Jean could do it.

<Jean> "Seems kinda a lot alike, really, except, you know, without the brain stuff." Jean shrugged and led their floating procession to the door.

<Sue> Sue stared at her for a moment, "Who's without the brain stuff? You or me?"

<Jean> Jean spun in a lazy circle in mid air to stare at Sue. "The telepathy. You don't have that, right?"

<Sue> Sue shook her head, "No, I don't... but the forcefields require the use of my brain. Lots of it."

<Jean> "Well, duh," she rolled her eyes. "But you don't have people talking in your head while you do it."

<Sue> "No, thank God. I'd be scarred for life in this dump if I knew what people were thinking all the time. Horny bastards, the lot of 'em." She shook her head, disapprovingly.

<Jean> "Awww, come on." She grinned. "It's fun!"

<Sue> "What about it is fun? It's distracting and painful... and so much effort. I'd rather use all the effort on my schoolwork."

<Jean> "If it's painful, you're doing it wrong... unless you're into that." Jean turned her teke open the door and shot a grin back over her shoulder. "So congrats on that! I didn't have you pegged for being that exciting!"

<Sue> "... I'm not." Sue sighed and shook her head, "I was dating a guy... then I realised I liked girls and the girl I liked and dated left me when my brother was being held by cannibals and I was freaking out worried about him because she thought I was over reacting. It's painful."

<Jean> Now safely through the door, she set down and turned around completely to look at Sue. "Wow, complicated much?"

<Sue> "That is exactly my point. I don't need complicated. No one else seems to have this much complicated in their relationships and that's great for them but I'm not that lucky so I don't bother." But it was lonely.

<Jean> "Well... Jamie was with the cannibals you know... with your brother, actually." She frowned, remembering Jamie's nightmares and what he'd managed to tell her. "But... he's, like, better now."

<Sue> "I know... I know he was and I'm glad he's better but Johnny's dead and he won't get better this time."

<Jean> "Yeahbu..." Jean let her packages fall inside the door and set Sue down as well. "He... won't die again either either." Her head cocked at her own words, but she shrugged. Valid!

<Sue> "No, he won't... which is just as well because I don't think I can manage another funeral and yet more grieving. Twice was more than enough." She unzipped her coat to hang it up, "It's not the same without him around."

<Jean> "No... I imagine not... but, like... it's been... almost a year?" Almost exactly. Holy shit! She'd been here for like two years! How the hell had that happened?! Jean was lost in her own revelation.

<Sue> Sue nodded, "Yep. Doesn't suck any less." She pushed a hand through her damp hair, "But that's not the point anyway... you probably haven't noticed because you're into guys, but we're a little short on the girls who like girls around here... the ones that do are either in a relationship or too busy humping everything that moves."

<Jean> "So you don't like guys at all anymore? Not that there are a lot of those around either, I guess..." Jean hadn't been super impressed with the selection here, not before Jamie, anyway, and he was still kind of clueless sometimes. In the most adorable way though.

<Sue> "I don't know anymore... I don't think so. But it's been so long since anyone's even been interested in hitting on me that I don't even think about that stuff most of the time... well except for Doreen. But I do not need that kind of a headache in my life."

<Jean> Jean giggled. "I think she even hit on me!"

<Sue> "You see what I mean? I can't get into a relationship with someone like that. If I want a relationship, I want a proper one not some fling or one night stand... I have to do it properly."

<Jean> "Yeah... I guess." Not that she had a lot of room to talk, considering her track record before Jamie. She gave Sue the once-over.

<Sue> "Anyway... let's get something hot to drink rather than standing in the draughtiest of hallways with all your expensive looking shopping bags."

<Jean> "Sounds good." Jean took off her coat and gathered it and her bags into a floating pile. "Christmas shopping... and stuff."

<Sue> "That is a lot of Christmas shopping... I'm suddenly glad I don't have any friends. Friends are expensive."

<Jean> "Okay, well... it's not all Christmas shopping... you buy one for them, and one for you!" She grinned and bounced, the packages shifting when she lost track of her floating baggage train for a moment.

<Sue> "Ah, well that's not as painful then... but still bad for your bank account."

<Jean> "Nope! Not mine." She patted her purse. "Parents. There are total advantages to their guilty consciences."

<Sue> Sue laughed and shook her head, "I couldn't do that without getting a guilty conscience of my own..."

<Jean> Jean blew a loud raspberry and dropped all the bags on the kitchen table. "Let's find the hot chocolate!"

<Sue> "Yes, the perfect antidote to my mood killing capacity. I'm sorry... been a while since I've had a proper conversation with a person that's not a giant horny squirrel or a giant drunk lizard..."

<Jean> "Eh." She waved her hand and flipped her hair over her shoulder as she dug around in the cabinet. Coming up with a box, she made a happy sound. "Triumph!"

<Sue> "Woo!" Sue went to the cupboard to get some mugs. "So, did you get anything fun on your shopping spree?"

<Jean> "Oooooof course!" Jean opened the fridge with her teke and floated the milk over to the cabinet. While the milk heated, she went over to her bags and pulled out a bright pink fake fur vest. "Tada!"

<Sue> That was disgusting on so many levels, "Lovely!" she hoped she covered her pained expression.

<Jean> "I know right?!" She dug around and pulled out a pair of boots and an eye-scorchingly bright orange skirt.

<Sue> Horrifying. Her fashion tastes were horrifying. "So... was all this stuff on sale or are your parents paying full price?"

<Jean> "Oh, it's designer!" She pulled out a blue sweater, then looked at it. "That would look good on you. Goes with your hair!" Jean took a step closer and squinted. "And eyes."

<Sue> Okay the blue thing wasn't so bad, "Blue does look good on me... so I've been told."

<Jean> "Yeah! I could see that." She grinned. "Well then, I'll find a bow and there's your Christmas present! I'm awesome when I don't even intend to be!"

<Sue> Sue giggled, "Thanks? I think?" She went to check on the milk to make sure it wasn't about to boil over.

<Jean> "I got stuff for a special present for Jamie..." She giggled to herself and started digging around in another bag.

<Sue> "If the 'special present' is you wrapped up in a novelty sized bow, I don't want to see what's in the bag."

<Jean> "Nooo, but that's a good idea. Maybe for his birthday." She giggled. "He likes those old fashioned spy and detective movies... noir? I think? Lots of old timey shit."

<Jean> Jean pulled a surprisingly tasteful old-fashioned dress from a bag. "I got shoes to match and I'm gonna dye my hair and put it up and step riiight outta one of his movies."

<Sue> "Awww, that's brilliant!" Sue smiled at her, taking the milk off the heat, "I'm sure he'll love it."

<Jean> "Thanks! I was pretty impressed with myself!" She grinned and pulled more stuff out of the bags. Her hair dye for one, and a tiny pink, fluffy tutu.

<Sue> Sue eyed the tutu and felt a great swell of pitty for whatever girl was going to be forced into it. "You going to style your hair all 40s?"

<Jean> "Yep! I googled shit up." She gave Sue the side eye as she readied their mugs. "Are you busy this afternoon?"

<Sue> Sue shook her head, "Nope, free all day. I got ahead on all my assignments - nearly gave Danvers a heart attack in the process, so I'm excused from classes for a week until I learn how to be a real student... or something.... Why?"

<Jean> "...you get excused from class for going to class? Shit, I need to try that." She rattled the hair color box. "Wanna help me?" Jean turned on her big, green, sad eyes.

<Sue> "I'm excused from class for being up to date with work until the end of January. I wanted to enjoy my holiday so I thought I'd finish up all my work for this Semester and then I got bored so I did some more..." She eyed the box of dye, "Hmm... I've never dyed hair before but... how hard can it be?"

<Jean> "Not very hard, but I have a loooot of hair." Jean completed a majestic hair flip to emphasize her fantabulous mane.

<Sue> "You got more than one box, yeah? You'll definitely need more than one box... maybe like three..." She did have lots of hair. Sue snagged the box to read it.

<Jean> "I have four! ....although one of them is kind of in another color because they ran out, but it can't make that much difference, can it?"

<Sue> "Uh... we'll use that one if we have to. Three should do it, hopefully... um it says here you're supposed to do a patch test to make sure you're not allergic..."

<Jean> "Yeah those are for weenies. I've been dying my hair for yeeears and it's all good."

<Sue> "Well okay then, but if you have an allergic reaction, you have to get yourself down to the doctor."

<Jean> "Yes, mom," she giggled and turned back to pour their hot chocolate. "OH! We need marshmallows!" She thought about this. "Marshmallows, some rubber gloves and hair clips and maybe a big-ass bowl to just mix everything together in there all at once."

<Sue> "How are we gonna apply it from a bowl? Does it come with a brush?" She chewed her lip, "Maybe find some old clothes or towels or something in case we drop dye on stuff."

<Jean> "Yeah, all the kits have a brush, so with two of us, a brush in each hand..." Jean grinned and bounced on the balls of her feet. "So, play salon?"

<Sue> "Sure... but let's get snacks first, sounds like hungry work."

<Jean> Snacks sounded outstanding, and Jean knew right where the chocolate was. "Score! Chocolate and chocolate and... we need something salty now. Chocolate and Doritos! That's cheese. Even better!"

<Sue> Sue giggled, at least the girl was enthusiastic. Maybe it could be fun to be dumb for an afternoon... like a science experiment.

<Jean> Oooo improvement already! She had Sue giggling! There was hope in Mopetown!

<Sue> "Okay, snacks and dye are yours, I have the drinks... lead the way to a functional bathroom area."

<Jean> "Consider the way led!" Jean levitated her spoils and headed up the stairs.