DECEMBER 2020 EVENT - PART 2

[robbies]

CHAPTER ONE, PART 2: AND ALL THROUGH THE HOUSE

A creature was stirring.

As Christmas grows closer, look up to the skies
Your city is in for a winter surprise
Come enter the village and see all the change
And come face-to-face with the hostile and strange
From iced-over ponds to the workshop's display
There's snowmen and reindeer to complete the holiday
And just when you think that you're safe and you're sound
You open your door and see what's to be found....

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LET IT SNOW
(cw: sensations of drowning)

JINGLE BELLS
(cw: mind control)

UP ON THE HOUSETOP
(cw: death and decay, claustrophobia)

RUN, RUDOLPH, RUN
(cw: animal death and dismemberment, violence, death and decay, non-human cannibalism)

HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS

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LET IT SNOW

CW: sensations of drowning

As the gala winds down and you leave town hall to head home, there’s a bite in the air, chillier than it was when you went in earlier that day. The night sky is blanketed by clouds, which only grow heavier as night wears on. By midnight, the first few flakes of snow have begun to fall… and fall, and fall. As night becomes day and the snow keeps coming down heavier than ever, it becomes clear that Santa Rosita is experiencing an unusual snowstorm—maybe the town will get that white Christmas after all! But as the day passes, the storm shows no sign of stopping… in fact, it’s only getting worse.

Over the next week and a half, a blizzard beats down upon the town. Its effects seem to vary by the hour: Though the snow never quite stops, there are times when it falls soft and fluffy, and there are times when it falls so heavily and the wind blows so fiercely that it’s impossible to see more than a few inches ahead of you. You’re welcome to pay visits to your neighbors, of course; they might need help digging out their sidewalks or hauling cords of firewood inside—especially when the electricity goes out. Hopefully you’re not caught out and about when the weather takes a turn for the worse again!

Even inside your houses, you aren’t safe from the blizzard. The first time you open your door on December 16th, feeling the blast of cold air coming from it, you think you know what’s coming. After all, you’ve certainly had enough experience with being sent to the Christmas village in the first half of the month! You sigh, resigning yourself to the long walk home… but as you pass through the door, everything changes in a way it didn’t before. Your brain doesn’t know which way is up as you find yourself underwater, breath expelling in a rush of bubbles as the shocking cold penetrates your body. Somehow you’ve come through the door and ended up beneath the lake’s surface—but the layer of ice above you has thinned and can be easily broken through to regain your feet and drag yourself out of the water to shore.

But you’d better be quick. Take too long and you might feel something grabbing at your heels, trying to pull you back underwater and further into the lake.

Here in the village, the conditions are always bad. Visibility is poor between the wind and the snow, heavy and cold and wet, and you’re soaked to the skin from your recent plunge. Thankfully, there are towels in the small building that was once the skate exchange station, and there are plenty of now-abandoned buildings around the village where you can hunker down and try to warm up before heading home. Maybe it would be a good idea to leave a spare change of clothes behind...

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JINGLE BELLS

CW: mind control

If ending up in the village is bad in the middle of the day, it's even worse at night.

Beyond the freezing winds and the ice you're liable to lose your footing as you pull yourself out of the lake, it's dark as can be out here. Don’t bother looking for a Christmas star to guide you home; out here and this close to the forests, the stars and moon are blotted out by thick clouds and the snow that falls in clumps. Unfortunately, as experience has taught you by now, this is a one-way trip and the only way out is forward.

Of course, this is easier said than done. With its empty buildings and desolate pathways, the Christmas village is a husk of its former self. The cute cobblestone thoroughfares and craft stations that were filled with screaming children only a few days ago are barren and frozen over, as if left to rot in the cold. The other little faux gingerbread and peppermint stick houses aren't much better. At some point on the first day of the blizzard, the power was knocked out, plunging the village into a blackout you now have to navigate if you want to get home. All of the windows are crusted with ice, dark and empty.

Save for one.

As you walk by one particular building, a faint yellow and red glow begins to glimmer from the storefront. One by one, the tiny cottages in the miniature village diorama begin to flicker to life, gears clicking as the mechanisms start powering up. On a miniature turntable hidden behind the display, a needle drops onto a record and a tinny version of Jingle Bells begins to play. A tiny train chugs around the tracks surrounding the diorama and a wax figure of Mrs. Claus in her chair with her candy cane knitting needles rocks back and forth, and it occurs to you just what you're looking at: Santa's Workshop. There can be no mistaking it. Even in the middle of the night, you know exactly where you are.

Don't you?

The light grows, illuminating the entire storefront and spilling out onto the street. You can see everything now. The little elf figure hammering at his workbench, the one next to him sawing at a board of wood, the two balancing on a seesaw as the toy train circles beneath them. Once you take notice of it, it's impossible to look away. The light pulls you in, glowing brighter yet turning darker. Slowly, it turns from angelic, warm gold to blood red.

As strange as this is, this is the best you've felt all week. A tipsy smile at your lips, you watch the light shift into a pretty shade of red as the snow continues to fall around you. In an abstract way, you know this isn't really where you're supposed to be, but it feels so good anyway. Your home (and not your home in Shadyside, your real home), all the bad stuff that worries you and stresses you out—it all dissolves into sugar.

Dreamily, you stare off into space as the song inside the store begins to warp and deepen. Gosh, you can't remember the last time you've felt this nice. You can't remember much of anything at all, like what you were doing earlier today or how you got here to begin with.

But you do know that it's Christmas. And if there's one place everyone should celebrate Christmas in, it's Santa Rosita. Your home.

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UP ON THE HOUSETOP

CW: death and decay, claustrophobia

It's true what they say about wintertime being the cruelest time. Even in Santa Rosita, that sentiment holds true in spite of the otherwise celebratory and comfy atmosphere throughout town. For every sweet smell trickling out of your and your neighbors' houses, a sharp and cold burst of wind follows. The weather is mostly manageable during the daytime hours, but at night it's a different story. The wind can be ferocious, whistling through the naked trees with enough force to send them swaying. If the cold doesn't keep you awake, the sound of branches tapping against your windows will.

When you wake up in the morning, you'll find a new friend waiting for you outside. Sitting in the front of your yard, positioned between the mailbox and the driveway, is a snowman. Its fingers are thin and twiggy, and the branches they're connected to are arched and spread like wings stripped to the bone. Compared to all the other snowmen you've likely passed by throughout Shadyside, there's nothing particularly unique about it, save for its lumpy build and featureless face.

The snowman is still there by the time you return from school or class. This time, however, it's invited another friend: another identical snowman, this one in a different spot in the yard.

So it goes for the next several days. Every time you enter your house or go to sleep, a new snowman is waiting for you in your yard. Their placement has no rhyme or reason: sometimes you'll find one in the back of the yard, other times in a corner off to the side. Sometimes they'll be spread out. Other times—usually when you turn around or go back inside the house—they'll be clustered together in a group, facing the front window.

Eventually, there gets to be so many of them that it becomes difficult to leave the house. Inevitably, whether it be blocking your car, the driveway, or even your front door, you'll wind up dismantling one sooner or later. And when you do, you'll find more than just snow spilling out onto your feet.

Staring back at you, whether from behind the layers of snow you've knocked off the head or up from the ground, is a Robbie, still dressed in their red and green elf uniform from the Christmas village. His—or her—glassy eyes are fixed in a thousand yard stare, mouth stretched in a grinning rictus on their blue face. Within each snowman is a similar one, all of them dressed the same, all of them very much dead, all of them smiling the same mindless smiles they had when they were alive.

With any luck, you’ll wind up taking the snowmen apart by hand instead of finding out the hard way by running one over with your car.

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RUN, RUDOLPH, RUN

CW: animal death and dismemberment, violence, death and decay, non-human cannibalism

Red and white is just as lovely a Christmas combination of colors as red and green, don’t you think? White snow and red pools spread all throughout the little village. Starting on December 16th, you might be first to notice some—or perhaps you’re the unlucky one that falls against a snowbank only to discover, once you put your hands down, that the fresh fallen snow is covering something. Something wet and meaty.

Another shows up the next day. And the next. And there’s not always enough snow to fully cover the carcasses that litter the village and its outskirts. Clustered by the reindeer racing courses children clapped and cheered for are what's left of the reindeer. They've been hunted, but not with knives or bows or guns. Chunks of flesh have been ripped off their bones and ribs are cracked where massive force has been applied, eyes white and milky—if they haven’t been plucked out. Some of the beasts are still alive and huddling in their stables, balking when the doors are open or bolting, as fast as their long strides can take them, out toward the Old Growth. Careful you don’t get in their way!

By the 18th, none of the reindeer are alive inside the stables. There aren’t enough corpses to account for the whole herd you’d seen before (bored and spoiled, wreaths around their necks). But if you follow the sounds of crunching, the wet and sticky humidity of breath, and the smell that rises up and above the dung and rot of desiccated corpses—

There, hunched over a kill, is a thing with just as many bones visible as mangy flesh upon its back. And when its head turns round, there are fangs in its mouth and claws on five-fingered paws, and both are stained deep scarlet—there are antlers bleached as white as snow—and its red eyes are socket-deep, dilated, and suddenly fixed on you.

Let’s hope you can run on ice and snow!

The creatures are looking for more food now that the reindeer have all been hunted down. Lingering in the village, slow and sluggish on all fours unless they rise to two broad feet and sniff the air, they are massive beasts. Not men, not deer, not Christmas cheer, that’s for darn sure. Unless a human happens by, they will stay in their place—the village, far from town square and blizzard-covered Main Street. If they catch sight of someone, they will pursue them with surprising speed to the ends of the earth-—or at least right up to your front door or until you manage to lose them. They’ll search long and hard, sniffing with their skeletal snouts on hand and far-too-human knee, before giving up and heading back toward their village home. Unless someone else crosses paths with them, that is.

The lights on homes and fires burning in hearths seem to deter them... unlike silver, salt, or sharpened knives (unless they are made of iron or steel), which just bring the deer rearing up onto their back legs to tower up and over you, antlers blotting out the wintry sun, ribs bulging beneath their thin and ripping skin. The cold doesn’t bother them despite their hunger—aren’t reindeer native to the arctic? Perhaps that explains why ice has no effect and they appear from the blizzard as if it was as harmless as a hearty breeze. All the speech you ever can hear is the hunting cry they make—the full body bellow of a thing in pain and rage and determined to survive at your expense.

Unless you can outrun them.

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HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS

At midnight, December 25th, everything stops.

Peek out your window and there is only peaceful, picture-perfect snow. No blizzards and no blackouts. No stalking deer, no bodies and no snowmen, save the ones that the Anderson children put up on Midwich Street. The Christmas village is gone—no teleporting doors, no lights, no reindeer (at least that you can see or find)—as if it had never been there at all. Only lightly falling snow and cars in the driveway, families at home just as they ought to be—eating cookies, drinking milk, opening the presents spilling out from under the tree. Santa has been generous this year!

And don’t think he’s forgotten you, either!

For those of you who wrote Santa a letter, a box will be waiting on your front doorstep. Try as you might, you can’t find any footprints in the snow, and you certainly didn’t hear any knock on the door or ringing of the bell. It’s addressed specifically for you, along with a little note written in someone’s (very best attempt at) cursive:

I’m sorry if you got hurt
Please don’t be mad
Merry Christmas

P.S. I tried my best to get you what you asked for

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OOC INFO

Happy holidays and welcome to part two of our December event! As always, feel free to top-level for this event, tag around, or utilize our network and log communities for your snowy-spooky posts.

As with part one of the event, mod-controlled NPCs will not be available for this event. You are, however, free to use the Santa Rosita Police Department and Robbies as player-controlled NPCs if you feel they are appropriate for your threads. Need more information? Direct your attention over to our NPC page for the most up-to-date info on your fellow townspeople.

Regular teleporting to the village still happens; the lake is now just an added destination. If you still would like your character to appear in the village but wish to avoid the lake prompt, doors still will randomly teleport you to the village as they did in the first half of the month. Each prompt with peril only can result in death to your character if that is how you would prefer the thread to go. Remember: just because a monster is chasing you or you teleport into the lake doesn’t mean there isn’t a place around for them to hide and get warm! For this event we don’t want people to feel forced to kill their characters. Consider built-in survival options as a gift from mods to players this time... except for the monster in the lake.

Well, we wouldn't say monster, but you didn't think you were the only ones in town with a home, did you?

Whatever's living in the lake can be staggered and caught off-guard, so fighting back against it if it catches you is possible—possible, but not a good idea. You'll never get a thorough enough look to even know what it is you're fighting.

Characters who end up getting caught by it will only have one chance to fight it off long enough to escape and swim to safety. While you can technically stick around in the lake and attempt to search, you do so at your own peril. Staying for any longer than you have to or trying to seek whatever-it-is out will be a death sentence for your character. Please remember to report all deaths and crimes that would be worthy of Tranquilization on their appropriate page here.

Any questions can go in our FAQ thread below. Try to check and see if your question has already been answered on the plotting thread first here.

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Comments

[thotsandprayers]

[A- Up on the Housetop]

[Snow or not, there's still stuff to do, so Kiara has to leave the house every now and then when the storm lightens a little. And you know what's an experience? Having to deal with inclement weather again. Yes, Chaldea was in Antarctica and all, but it's not like she really went outside much during all that. So this...well, it's a challenge.

Speaking of challenges, she's a bit...well not displeased so much as curious about coming home and finding another snowman in her yard, joining the others. She hasn't done anything with them, they're a mild if strange annoyance at best at this point. Still, she doesn't walk towards her doorstep just yet, standing on the sidewalk, looking at her yard and the others on her street.]

Strange, you would think you'd eventually see someone making them.

[There's some ridiculous levels of Presence Concealment at work here if you ask her. Or maybe something else entirely. She's not really sure, but she sees little reason to be concerned about it at this point.]

[B – Up On the Housetop 2, locked to Papyrus]

[Okay, she's not scared or anything, but finding the door blocked and looking out to see snowmen is still an unpleasant surprise. Not that she really has any business going outside if she doesn't have to with the weather being what it is, but still.]

Ah, Papyrus, if you have a moment.

[Kiara'll just call out to her “husband,” figuring he'll want to take a look at this. She's not entirely sure what to expect with this really, they're not breaking in like what she remembers from October, they're just...obstructing. So there's no thought that anyone here's in danger. So her tone is rather even about the unpleasant snowman surprise. For the time being, anyways.]

[C – Merry Christmas]

[Man it has been a rough couple weeks. So Kiara's a bit surprised when at the stroke of midnight everything just...stops. In her experience, awful isn't really set on a timer or disappears at the stroke of midnight, though she can't help but be a little relieved to look outside the window to see nothing terrible going on. No more snow corpses, no one being chased and fleeing for safety into the light. Nothing.

And while it's the middle of the night and cold, she'll step outside to take a look around. She's hardly worried about some sort of unfortunate surprise, still operating on the assumption that she doesn't have any sort of permanent consequences to worry about. Besides that, she figures she's not the only one who's going to step outside at this time.

But she won't get too far, stopping to inspect the box on her doorstep. There's presumably one for Papyrus too, but she doesn't care about that, instead opening hers, hoping it's what she asked for even if she doesn't really believe in such things. And instead of the book she asked for, it's this.]

Oh, this...well, I suppose they did try their best.

[Despite the subdued reaction, she's actually quite pleased with the gift. And on second thought, she'll wait until morning to check the neighborhood. So later that morning, after the sun's up, she'll be walking through the neighborhood, wanting to chat with any of the others, one, to pick their brains about recent events and two, she's admittedly curious if they received a gift as well.]

[Wildcard]

[OOC: If these don't work for you, feel free to shoot me a message at opticblast and we can work something else out!]

B

[spaghettimonster]

[It's been a couple weeks, and Papyrus still hasn't quite figured out what his new sleep routine needs to be. So far, all he's concluded is it's more than he wants to be sleeping. But by now he's up, dressed, and moving furniture around with some idea of planning redecorations while the snow storm's ongoing. Easy enough to duck around the corner and join her.]

I have plenty of minutes, with the storm going... oh.

[He reflexively looks out the door's window to check the weather conditions, but this glance doesn't reveal any details on that - just the presence of yet another snowman.]

They're all the way up to the door now...?

[thotsandprayers]

Yes, that certainly seems to be the case.

[She has so many questions about this! And also probably about her "husband's" sleeping habits, but that's not important right now.]

Like with the others, I didn't see anything. It's as if they just appeared from nowhere.

[Which she doesn't buy unless there's some sort of snowmen generating ability out there, but that seems incredibly pointless.]

But I'm afraid we'll have to do something about them if we plan to go outside when the weather improves.

[That or wait and see if they start showing up inside the house, but she'd really rather not do that.]

[spaghettimonster]

If only we had better cameras... a security tape would really solve this mystery.

[Of course, depending on what's building and spreading the snowmen, the view from a front door camera might not be the most reassuring thing. But at least it would let him solidly rule out - or rule in - any involvement from the HHA. He thinks it's not a slow-motion repeat of the trick-or-treaters in snow form, having made sure the aluminum tree is up and light (on the Undertale side of the house, which has a disproportionate amount of the decorations, thanks to his ongoing feud with his brother). He's followed all the rules he knows of, anyway!]

But you're right, bringing in the groceries is so much easier going through the door.

[As opposed to what, she might well ask, but he's already demonstrating by heading to one of the living room windows.]

I'll go out and around!! And lift it from the other side. With you lifting from this side, it'll be hardly a challenge.

[thotsandprayers]

I would certainly hope so.

[Though she isn't quite sure a camera would actually be too helpful here. Then again it's not like she could say it wouldn't be, but she's just not sure it would tell them anything they'd want to know.]

Though lifting...

[He probably can't see her making a face, but she doesn't seem too fond of this idea. It's not like she won't lend a hand, odds are she probably helped with at least some decorations even if she's tried to very much remain neutral in the decoration war, it's just that she's not particularly enamored with physical labor.]

I suppose I can do that much.

[She'll take a moment to slip a pair of gloves on, shoving her hands into the snow is another idea she's not fond of at the moment. Anyways, with that done, she'll open the door, finding herself face to face with Mr. Snowman.]

Ready when you are.

[spaghettimonster]

[He doesn't acknowledge the hesitation, busy climbing out the window to get ready. His plan's to do most of the lifting himself, with Kiara making sure it doesn't slip from his grasp to splatter all over the entranceway.]

Right! And... go.

[It's quickly apparent he was optimistic about their chances for just lifting the snowman whole. A small snowball is one thing, but a full snowman is a lot of weight - and very cold, even with his usual gloves and jacket. Instead, what they accomplish is tilting the whole thing diagonally, enough that the head slides but somehow doesn't quite fall off.]

Guhhhh... Okay! Let's! take a break!!

[He breathes heavily, still unpracticed with how best to breathe when exerting himself, and adds:]

I think. we need. to move it in parts.

[thotsandprayers]

Yes, that hardly went as planned.

[She's not criticizing, it just well...could've gone better. Still, an attempt was made, and neither of them are any worse for the wear and given what she remembers of October, it really really could've gone worse.]

So, you're right, let's try moving it in pieces. Starting with the head would make the most sense, but if I may ask, since you have a better line of sight than I have, did any more appear while we tried moving this one? Or have the ones in the yard changed at all?

[For what it's worth, Kiara doesn't think they would have done anything, but the idea of more snowmen appearing or one of them grabbing Papyrus while they try and deal with this one doesn't seem entirely impossible to her.]

[spaghettimonster]

Uh.

[It's cold outside, but this notion drops an extra chill down his spine, and Papyrus turns quickly enough his neck aches with it.]

I'll take a look!!

[So he does, scanning the yard back and forth, even stepping a little away from the tilted doorway snowman to check all the ones from doorstop to sidewalk. After several seconds of staring, he offers:]

...They look about the same, I think. Phew. Snowmen don't usually move... since they're stuck to the ground.

[He's not being facetious - that was the case for the snowman neighbor he had back in Snowdin, at least.]

[thotsandprayers]

[She won't take it the wrong way, they really shouldn't have done anything. But Kiara doesn't have a trust in things acting weird to do what they're supposed to.]

Usually, yes. But snowmen don't usually magically appear in one's yard either.

[Because she's going with magic until proven otherwise. Still, since there's nothing to worry about from the other snowmen, at least at this point, they can get back to dealing with this one.]

So then, the head? I'd rather it not melt in the house, so putting it on your side would be best.

[In general, she'd really prefer any part of the snowmen in the house at all.

Okay, maybe not wanting to mop is part of it. But still, she has other concerns!]

( prompt: a. )

[sunborne]

Urgh. As if the week couldn't get less freaky.

[ daylight has been in an irritable mood ever since agatha has been acting... like the townsfolk. cheerful. eerily oblivious. smiling all the fucking time. it's ended up making him feel like he wasn't even safe in his own house these days, unable to leave notes or papers around in fear she'll find it.

he's taken to leaving the house often as he can, for now. mostly whittling the days away by exploring the town or checking up on the others in-between job hunting and trying to curry favour with the townsfolk.

case in point: now, hanging out with kiara, staring down her growing collection of snowmen. ] Got them on my yard too. Can't figure out who's been behind it.

You think this is some sort of test? A game attached to this or something? [ because daylight is struggling to figure out what anyone would gain from this besides a couple of chuckles. this is a lot of work. ]

Re: ( prompt: a. )

[thotsandprayers]

I can't say I have any idea.

[There's a sigh and a frown while she takes another look over at the snowmen. If it's a prank she doesn't get it. If it's some sort of childish whimsy...well, she really doubts it is, but then she doesn't get it either. And if it's something malicious like the children, then it sure is taking its time for anything awful to happen.]

So if it's a test, I imagine it's one I've failed. The only thing I've learned is that having a tree in the house doesn't seem to keep them away.

[So that's something, at least?]

[sunborne]

[ scratching the back of his head, humming under his breath, daylight tried to figure out what they could do with the snowmen. no need to fight them. no need to find out whoever this is - it'll probably be impossible anyway, given how strange this place is. no need to make their own...

honestly, the only thing that comes to mind was— ] Maybe getting rid of the snowmen will, you know, get rid of them. For good. Whoever is doing this will see we’re annoyed and, hopefully, stop this shit.

Do you have a shovel or something? We can get started. [ it looks like she has more snowmen than he does in his yard. he should help her and papyrus out while he can. (and more excuses to stay out of the house the better.) ]

[thotsandprayers]

[She's spent very little of her life around anything resembling a shovel, so she's a little confused at first but then realization sets in as oh right they do have one of those! And it's probably even been used to shovel the driveway a few times.]

Oh yes, it should be in the garage if I remember right. I believe it was put away the last time it was used.

[So it should still be there! Assuming the garage isn't going to suddenly be blockaded by snowmen if she looks somewhere else for a moment. Or blinks.]

I typically don't like to discourage people, but in this case, I'll make an exception. I certainly hope removing at least one will keep more from visiting my home.

[So she'll start walking over to the garage. And hopefully won't open the door to a bunch of snowmen either!]

[sunborne]


Gotcha! I’ll get started on one of the snowmen while you go and grab it.

[ might as well do something as she opens the garage and hopefully won't open the door to a bunch of more snowmen.

it never hurts to multitask, he tells himself. faster they get to snowmen breaking, the sooner they'll clear the yard of the alarmingly increasing collection. plus, it's helping out a friend and he's always down for doing that. it's the season of giving, after all.

so daylight goes to the nearest snowman, grabs the head of it, and tries to pull it off- then, out of the blue, daylight lets out an alarmed shout: ] OH WHAT THE FUCK-

[thotsandprayers]

[Nope, no snowmen in the garage. Just whatever's normally in there. So she was in the process of grabbing the shovel when she heard Daylight yell. The language really doesn't bother her, she's heard far worse before. Though she can imagine the neighborhood association and other townspeople wouldn't share her feelings there.

But it does get her to move a fair bit quicker than she might otherwise, grabbing the shovel and turning around with a startled look on her face.]

Are you all right?

[Her first thought is that the snowman finally did something instead of just appearing, but from what she can see, it doesn't look like that's the case.]

Did something happen?

[sunborne]

[ daylight is still taking a step back when kiara comes running back to his side, asking him what's going on. he feels bad for not answering her gith away but he's kind of busy, still breathlessly crusing under his breath, eyes on the snowman-

no. eyes on the frozen person before him. ] It's a person, Kiara. There's a body built in the fucking snowman. Look! I'm not joking around!

[ he gestures towards the face he accidentally revealed when his hands, instead of lifting the head off, crushed the snow, causing it to crumble down his grip and reveal ears, eyes, and a wide, wide citrus grin.

isn't this the guy who helped him and erwin get an outfit that one time he wound up in the village? ]

[thotsandprayers]

It's a....

[Okay, now she'll actually take a look at the snowman and that sure is a person. Yup.]

...oh. That poor man.

[Her reaction's pretty understated by comparison. She certainly looks displeased about this. Definitely not happy with frozen corpses inside snowmen, but she's not particularly shocked or appalled. To borrow from a protagonist in another Fate series, she's used to seeing dead bodies. Though admittedly, not usually with such a grotesque expression on their face.]

How could this have happened?

[If anything, now she has more questions about the snowmen. Not just who's putting them in yards and how, but how are these people getting into them? Are they being killed first or were they alive when they became snowmen? And so on and so forth. None of them are pleasant questions, but they're ones she'd like answers for.]

A

[monalisasmile]

[None of the houses in this place are particularly far from one another, but Da Vinci walking around Kiara's street isn't something that would generally happen without a reason. Maybe she just came to say hi to her only friend(?) from home? Or maybe the way she's sizing up those snowmen as she looks around has something to do with it. What a coincidence that Kiara seems to be having some thoughts about them as well...]

Hm. [She makes a thoughtful little sound as she draws closer.] Under ordinary circumstances, you'd certainly think so.

[She reaches out with one hand, as if to touch one of the snowmen, but stops short of actually making contact.]

They don't seem dangerous at the moment. Kind of annoying, though. And terribly tacky workmanship, to boot.

[She has her priorities... mostly in order.]

[thotsandprayers]

They do seem quite harmless. Quite different than the ones encountered back home at this time of year.

[Not that the snowmen enemy mobs are particularly threatening, but at least they know what they're dealing with if those show up.]

And I'll defer to your expert opinion on their craftsmanship.

[She has little opinion on the workmanship. Obviously lots of time and effort are being put into crafting this many snowmen and making them appear, but she hasn't put too much thought into the appearance of the final product.]

Though perhaps you could offer some pointers to the person responsible. If they're ever discovered of course. While their creations may be subpar, their ability to remain hidden while delivering them is quite impressive.

[Okay, there's not much reason for her to stay out of sight here, but she's still a little envious of whatever's doing this's ability to stay undetected. Though she knows it's probably for the best that she can't do the same right now.]

[monalisasmile]

I would certainly give them a lecture on proper composition and sculpting. But... that's hardly the primary concern, of course. Either they're being created by some form of magecraft we're simply unable to detect in our current state, or it may be some kind of spirit form, or Presence Concealment...

[She is a bit pissed that her own magecraft capabilities have been stunted, while the people operating this town flaunt similar abilities to her own or other Heroic Spirits' right in front of her face. How rude!]

There's not even any logic to their placement! If this is some kind of puzzle or clue to what's going to happen when Christmas comes, it's a very annoying one!

[thotsandprayers]

[There's an actual smile on her face this time. It's not that she's hiding anything or finds the situation amusing, okay maybe a little amusing, but....]

It's nice having someone around who thinks of it the same way I do. Admittedly it would be nicer if we had some answers but...

[Her smile fades a little as she sighs. Not much that can be done there, they can think of it in terms of magecraft or skills all they want, but it doesn't seem to really be getting them anyways.]

And it seems purposeless to me as well, but it's possible there's more to it that I'm missing.

[She hasn't been to the village lately, so for all she knows there might a clue there or something. So she'll be in for a surprise when she does see what's going on there and learns that no, probably no clue to the snowman thing.]

Or perhaps there's more to it that hasn't started yet. If it's something unpleasant, it may be preferable that it doesn't happen, but at the same time, something like that may provide more answers.

[Being attacked by snowmen or something could be a learning experience. Maybe. She doesn't know.]

[monalisasmile]

[It is nice having an intelligent woman here like Kiara who is, at the same time, familiar with many of the same concepts as Da Vinci is. But she definitely notices that small undercurrent of "maybe that might be interesting too" when Kiara talks about something unpleasant happening. She's not judging (this time), Kiara, she's just... a little concerned about your safety and the safety of others around you.]

As much as I'd like to avoid another event like that Halloween... I'm sure all of this is building to something.

Based on what happened then, I'd recommend planning to stay indoors on Christmas day. These things might start moving around and eating people, for all we know.

[That statement is going to come back to bite her a little when she finally gets around to examining one more fully...]

[thotsandprayers]

[Hey, she hasn't put anyone around her in danger! ...yet. Or as far as she knows, who knows how that zombie mess turned out for her test drive family? That's not something she's thought about too much though.]

I suppose I could...after all, I'd hardly be capable of fighting one of these off if it attacked me. No more so than most, anyways.

[She frowns, thinking about that. She's at least considering staying in, so there's that? Getting attacked by carnivorous snowmen wouldn't be that different from being attacked by zombies on paper, so she's not sure she'd really get much out of it. Other than maybe a quick way out anyways, if she gets killed, then she could presumably be resummoned back home later? Or summon herself thanks independent manifestation.

Then again, she's not super interested in that either, so...]

Very well. If any thing happens, I'll stay inside on Christmas. Unless of course, that's no longer a safe place to stay.

[Kiara can't really see the snowmen break through the windows or come in through the door as they are though, so she isn't too worried about that happening.]

And what are your plans? If they do come to life, you may not be able to get the doors reattached in time.

[She's just going to assume that's still the case over there.]

[monalisasmile]

Hm... yes, it would be a problem if they did try to get inside. Without the doors between rooms, we'd be much easier prey.

[But then, that is thinking a bit too far along a train that might not even be a real concern.]

Maybe I should try examining them first, while we know for sure they won't move?

[thotsandprayers]

As far as we know, of course.

[She hasn't seen them move, but hey for all she knows, they're not on a timer, just waiting for the right moment to attack some unsuspecting person.]

But if they are going to do something closer to Christmas, then now certainly would be a more ideal time.