let's just play pretend — o; discovering snow

[Gray]

[table]

[MMXII]

[align=center][div style="borderwidth; width: 450px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: 12px; font-size: 8pt"][align=center][div style="borderwidth; width: 450px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: 12px; font-size: 8pt"]they bent down again and buried their hands into the powder, smiling as little pinpricks of cold began to stab into their hand; it didn’t sound pleasant but it was almost grounding in a way. it reminded them that this was real and that they were awake, that this wasn’t just some cruel dream thought up by their damaged psyche. they were shaking again but they didn't really care, not when all they had to do was find the lodge and return inside when it began to get to be too much to handle; it was a nice thought, to know that when something became too much they had the ability to simply leave on their own, escape without consequence. they hummed lightly, before grabbing more fist fulls of the powder and throwing it back against the ground. maybe what they were doing didn't make much sense to those who were looking on but, well, mmxii had never played in this before, had never played at all, it wasn't very strange their movements seemed jerky and awkward.

at the sound of someone's voice they stopped in their movements and straightened up quickly, chin ducking back into the sweat as they turned their body in the direction that, of what they concluded, daesung's voice had come from. they still felt awkward around the lodgers, even more so around people like daesung who reminded them far too much of the doctors; they moved their bandaged hands inside of the sweater as they began to shake and go numb. it took a few moments before they could really register what she had said, fear nagging far too loudly for them to really comprehend much of anything. however, once the question settled they found themselves tilting their head in confusing and eyes narrowing slightly. "snow?" they asked, voice raspy and somewhat broken; they had not had the chance to speak much after their joining and they were sure their voice was unused to how much they had been using it as of late and it almost hurt to try and talk. "you mean the soft-ice?"

they blinked slowly, heart pounding as footsteps sounded in the distance — the soft-ice on the ground seemingly amplifying them as the stranger grew ever closer until they began to speak and mmxii recognized them was the lodge's leader, or whatever it was that they so faithfully called them. they stayed silent, a trait that seemed to be ever growing the longer they stayed here and attempted to learn in secret than by simply speaking and interacting with the inhabitants. they stayed quiet at the question, the voice turned slightly, pointed in the direction they believed daesung had been in and believed the question was not directed at them. they turned from the two and in the direction of another set of footsteps, they were less panicked now as they knew that whatever it was was not a threat if the other two lodgers were not reacting to it.

at the sound of gray they stiffened before relaxing, they were not afraid of the teenager but they were certainly afraid of interacting with people, people whom they really did not know anything about. they shifted their feet awkwardly in the snow before raising one hand in what could only be described as the most pathetic of waves as they greeted the boy back, "hello."

[MMXII]

[align=center][div style="borderwidth; width: 450px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: 12px; font-size: 8pt"]mmxii wasn't exactly how sure how long it had been since they had arrived at the lodge, humph, their perception of time hadn't exactly improved over their last few days and they still had no idea what was really going on around them concerning the time of day. they were getting better, however, they found it semi-easy to tell when it was morning from any other time of day; mostly because of the fact that many of the birds liked to begin their soft singing in the morning and always woke mmxii up from a restless night of sleep. they found it hard to sleep in the bed they had been given in the infirmary, the uncanny familiarity between the room and the lab put them on edge and while they had calmed down greatly from the full on violent episode they had had the first time they had taken them to that room they still felt uneasy there. it's usually what led to their wandering, the moment they had been able to stand they had been out of the room and exploring what they could of this new compound. they usually tried to avoid the other residents, they weren't sure what to think about them... of course they were thankful that these people had allowed them to stay here but, well, they suppose they just didn't trust them. could they truly be blamed for that, though? mostly they had taken to taking walks all throughout the lodge and even outside onto the porch and grass when they felt up to it, it was difficult with their healing injuries but it was definitely better than being constantly cooped up like before. which is why they had found themselves wandering outside that day, they were feeling closed in and had wanted a small bit of air before their body threw itself into a panic with the idea that it was once again confined with no way to get out.

it was colder than it usually was when they went out but they simply ducked their head further into the oversized sweater that the infirmary had given to them and tried to block it out as best as they could. they clicked softly, humming as the echo seemed to enhance with the structure of the patio, making it much simpler for them to walk without fear of tripping or running into something and hurting themselves anymore than they already were. they began to space of as they walked and clicked, hiding away in their thoughts until they placed a foot over the side of the concrete and instantly pulled back as their foot landed on something freezing and powdery. they could feel their heart beat up as they pressed it back down and snapped it quickly away from whatever it was that they had managed to touch. slowly they moved a little ways to the side before placing their foot down again, slightly horrified to have the same cold powder underfoot.

mmxii knelt down, groaning as their body gave a slight protest at the movement; they were still incredibly sore and despite everything that the healers of the lodge were doing there wasn't much they could do for the healing ache that plagued them. they huffed loudly before blindly reaching out to press a hand into the cold substance that littered the ground. they were not sure exactly what it was or even if it was say to touch but still their curled their hand deeper and pulled out a handful of the the strange powder. it felt a lot like water or a softer version of the ice that had filled the large baths that the doctors used to force them into, it was confusing, where had it come from? the scientists used to make the other ice but they had no idea how all of this powder had covered the ground. was there some kind of machine that sprinkled it? if that was the case, what was its purpose? they tilted their head slightly, narrowing their eyes as if they could really see the soft-ice that was resting in their hand. they blinked slowly before dropping the soft-ice back onto the ground and slowly shifting back to full height; they moved forward and allowed their toes to hang of the concrete porch of the lodge and just barely such the soft-ice before taking a few deep breaths in and launching themselves forward. it was cold, it was so very cold and they couldn't hold in the shriek as their bare feet began almost instantly freezing as they stomped through the powder. they weren't sure what they were doing but as the continued to move they couldn't help the little smile that slipped on their face, they lifted a foot and flicked a little of the powder before leaning down and picking up another handful of the soft-ice and throwing it back onto the ground. they almost felt... like a child, they supposed, this felt somewhat childish but they didn't mind much.

[DAESUNG.]

[align=center][div style=" background-color: transparent; border: 0px solid black; width: 500px; min-height: 10px; font-family:helvetica; line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; color: black;"]Daesung didn't like keeping count of the days she stayed within a settlement. It tended to make her anxious, feeling as if more than a week was enough and she would overstay her welcome. But, the Flintlock Lodge was much different than the other civilizations she visited. She had become apart of their people, they all welcomed her in with open arms and she was beginning to make friends. Never had she thought that a thing like this would happen. After being separated from her family, she doubted she would ever find that same feeling of home ever again. The first few days, she had barely slept. Her thoughts were racing ten thousand miles a second, popping up with a new question and anxiety attached to it. It was a wonder how she kept a calm exterior, but she simply meditated in order to calm her restless mind.

The young woman was outside for a change, determined to find more firewood after noticing that their supply had been dangerously low. They had to keep a fire running if they all wanted to survive. She chopped a considerable about wood, carrying- or rather dragging it in a bag toward the lodge. Daesung paused as she noticed MMXII outside, out of the infirmary. Were they supposed to be out? A smile touched her lips as they explored snow as if they've never seen it before... "You like the snow, huh?"

[dannychan]

[align=center][div style="width: 350px; text-align: justify; line-height: -1%; color: black"]track bc i'm a little busy

[ashen]

[table]