let it snow, here we go! [age event: begin]

[dustless]

//Everyone seemed down for it! Any thoughts or questions can go here~

The air sharpens and chills, frost crawling from the top of the tallest towers and branches to creep along the castle grounds. The trees with leaves quickly fall bare; the sky bubbles with clouds not long before they start sprinkling snowflakes over it all. Winter has finally settled in.

It's not all iciness and faded colors--in fact, it's quite the opposite. While outside is snowy, sparkling winter, inside changed to match. Most of the rooms alone can't keep out the cold, but fireplace after fireplace spring up to crackle merrily and invitingly. Someone (or something) set a mood for celebration, decking the halls with evergreen branches and baubles, glimmering ribbons and candles, color and cheer! And the kitchens have feasts to match, any sort of roast and pie one could hope for, paired with mashed potatoes and puddings and cookies and drinks.

Even the halls ring with celebration. In the distance, voices are caroling their hearts out. It's a pity they always seem to be moving too far away to meet.

All this will greet the castle denizens when they wake up in the morning...as well as changes to themselves.

Not that they'll always know. The child who will one day be Frisk certainly doesn't.

All they know is that it's cold, and Mama--who just cut their hair for reasons they don't understand--is nowhere to be seen.



...There's doorways inside, but they make themselves heard long before they get all the way to the big walls. They've got a toy firetruck in their hands with tons of buttons, and they slam their fingers on them to make the siren go off.

WEE-OO WEE-OO WEEE-OOO! Mama's gonna hear that no matter where she is, and they don't even need to open their mouth.
 

Comments

[6littlesouls]

Sound.

Discordant sound, which isn’t the blue SOUL’s preference, but it’s enough to grab its attention. A deep blue glow lights up in one corner of the hall, then another, following Frisk, following the sound. Or sounds, rather- the rhythm of the siren seems to change a little depending on the button being pressed.

The blue SOUL slides forward, ahead of Frisk and their fire truck and then, when one of the sirens starts blaring:

Glinglinglinglinglinglinglingling!

A blue glow diffuses across garlands strung on the ceiling overhead, ringing the little bells decorated throughout in answer to the siren.

[dustless]

Small things work okay if they try them sometimes, so he gets a little more of a response this time: "Shhutup!" See? Nobody needs to teach them to talk, they can do it. Just not always. And they don't want to.

...And they shouldn't even be talking to strangers in the first place.

Besides, he's being loud and their toy is supposed to be the loud thing, thank you very much!

Frisk tries to go even faster.

[dustless]

It's a ghost! A real one!

...Not as scary as the skeleton monster thing, as it turns out. Just a big sorta-white blob like the ones they cut out on Halloween.

Still, he's a lot bigger than them right now. And making freaky noises, not too far from some of their truck's settings. They don't try to fling it, and they don't quite run, but they definitely back away a few steps.

[dustless]

They've been wandering for a while.

This place is...super duper big. Too big. Lots bigger than home, lots bigger than the mall, lots bigger than any place they've been in before. Their feet are aching, and they keep changing the noises faster and faster just 'cause it's something for their hands to do.

Right now they're lost, not just Mama. They're a lost kid. They don't wanna be lost, they wanna be on the couch at home watching fun stuff on TV with Mama doing it too.

They're on the verge of crying more when they hear a bell. And when they stop, another one, and another.

It takes them a minute to look up and see the light. It's different from the candles and stuff, but still out of reach.

Frisk stops the sirens to hear the bells better. A second later, they unceremoniously drop down on their butt. Resting under something pretty is as good a place as any.

[mettaton_rex]

It's a human! A real one! And they're tiny!

...oh, and - backing away nervously. Oops. He might have come on a little strong.

He stays where he is, giving them a warm, hopefully reassuring smile. "Hi there, sweetie! Sorry, I didn't mean to spook you!"

[silvermists]

Shut up.

Interesting first words. He's told others of his own kind to shut up, but they and Garland wouldn't do the same to him. He blinks, surprised into actually shutting up.

Can't make him go away, though. There's nowhere else to go.

[dustless]

They still try, of course, get away from rude bigger kid, but they're...really not that fast. Little legs mean little strides.

And if he's quiet and stays that way, they'll start forgetting about him. It's less important than finding their lost Mama; eventually the idea gets into their head that maybe they should be opening doors, and so they slow down to tuck the truck under their arm to do that.

It just so happens, inside that first room, there's a bunch of tiny tinsel-covered trees. Very tiny. Not-even-to-their-knees tiny.

Okay, now. This is interesting. They stomp into the room to get a closer look.

[dustless]

They rock on their feet, a bubble of something nice in their chest. It's not every day you meet a magic fairy person...even if he's too big to be a real one, and doesn't have wings--maybe, maybe! He's a wizard instead!

A lopsided grin grows. They shake their head, though, and say "Nuh-uh," 'cause it wasn't, it's just been something they've had for as long as they remember.

They point at his staff in turn. Not meaning the same question back, only--what is it? Is it his wand?

[silvermists]

Those are... they're... trees! The word pops into his head after a few seconds of thought. He's seen recordings of trees, that's all. They don't exist on Terra, only Gaia, and he isn't ready to go there yet.

One day he will be. Or maybe this could be Gaia?

"They're all shiny." he says, still trailing the kid with the noise machine. He pokes at the sparkly whatsits on the trees, enthralled. "I thought trees would be bigger."

[dustless]

Their lips pull down harder. He'd better be sorry, having the gall to not be who they want!

But he's not scary. Sometimes big strangers can be when they're extra lost, kids are usually okay, just loud. Frisk's the loud kid right now, and maybe they're scary, and they're perfectly fine with that!

They fold their arms around their truck (which takes some effort and looks incredibly silly) and turn away. Hmph, they say. Scary kid is busy.

[dustless]

Frisk pets the tinsel, decides they like a particular pink one, and starts disentangling it as best they can. Finally, neat stuff that's reachable.

They frown again once the other kid makes noise, but...that's a weird thing to say.

There's windows in the back of the room. Plants need light to grow!

Frisk tries snapping their fingers like Papa did, but it just looks silly. They push a button instead to get the weird kid's attention, then point at the windows. Butthead, there's trees right out there. He just might need to pull himself up a little to get a good look.

[silvermists]

He's doing the same thing with a nice purple one. It'll probably wind up tangled in his hair. Why not?

But... there's the noise machine again. Weirdo wants him to look out the window. Wouldn't it have been faster to just say so?

Whatever. He's over there and hauling himself up as quickly as he can, tail held high up behind his head. Much fluffy, very long.

It jolts when he sees real, full sized trees. "Where am I?"

[dustless]

Theirs is going to be a scarf. They've never worn one before, but those're supposed to help with cold, so this pink tinsel must do that too. Must be there to keep the trees warm now, but Frisk needs it more!

They hum an I-don't-know. Somewhere in a part of the city they haven't been before, they guess. And tail-kid too.

Thinking of that tail, Frisk's eyes lock onto it. He's not paying attention...

Once their tinsel-scarf is situated--it's kind of itchy--they start creeping up behind him. (Badly. They aren't light on their feet.)

[dustless]

Less toothy. Less dead-thing-looking in general, and with a voice that's less...less...something. Doesn't have an...accident? No. Accent? They don't know what it is, just something weird that this ghost doesn't have as strong of to bother them, now that they're not being screeched at.

...They're not sure what to do, so they just hide their face behind the truck, mostly. They can still see through it, one door-window-space and out the other. After a long few seconds, they shyly wave.

[silvermists]

He's leaning out the window to stare, totally unafraid of falling. Who cares? He can float. (Not fly, really, just catch himself before he splats on the ground.)

The stranger is right behind him and that's also nothing to worry about. Some years from now he'll be more suspicious of people... but not now. No one's harmed him. He's very important.

"Look." he says, glancing at them and then pointing down. "Trees. You can climb them. And make things from the wood."

[mettaton_rex]

It's an effort to not start squealing again at that. So. Adorable. He could just melt.

He waves back, beaming. The little robot thing floats up behind him and makes a chirping sound. It's hard to tell whether that's directed at the human or not.

[dustless]

Frisk doesn't need to see, they were just out there. They definitely do pout when he looks at them, but then he immediately goes back to looking away, so it's fine.

Dogs bite when their tails get grabbed hard, so they try not to do that, but they definitely pounce. One wag won't get away from them!

[silvermists]

It's much stronger than it looks, strong enough to serve as a third hand. Even strong enough for him to dangle from things with it. So some smaller person grabbing it won't hurt. They'd have to really, really be trying for it to be painful.

He just twists around and stares at them, perplexed, and swishing it like he's giving them a side-to-side handshake.

"You're so odd. I didn't grab you."

How in the world is a perfectly ordinary tail cooler than real trees?!

[dustless]

They jump and make a funny noise. A ghost who is with a robot. Toy. Robot toy.

...Maybe they're in a museum. Old stuff, fancy stuff, big place.

They push a button in response. WOOO-WHOOP, goes their truck, answering the robot. It's saying hello for them. Of course another toy would understand that.

[dustless]

A squeeze ensures they don't let go, and then they progress into petting it. Just to feel how soft it is, mind you, they're not trying to be nice for no reason.

Frisk hmms and glances meaningfully behind themselves. Of course they didn't, there's nothing on them to grab. If he wants anything, he can pick them up by their shirt or pet their hair, though the latter will get plenty of just-trimmed ones tangled in what they have now all over his hands. If it's not all over him already just for being near them at all.

[boogerman]

In all his long, long life, he's never heard a bird that screamed like that. What the devil--

There's a tall grey-skinned man down the hallway with a drink in one hand and a black staff in the other, blinking golden eyes at the kid... making that noise? How? It hardly even sounds like a living thing's voice.

...oh, it's the bizarre toy they have. Strange that something so colorful makes a hideous creepy noise. Whoever made must have a fascinating mind.

"I love it."

[silvermists]

He could grab their arm--it's just as random as grabbing someone's tail. But he doesn't. None of that, no hair petting, nothing. His tail is soft and silky and furry, and he's much more interested in looking at the trees... for about a minute more.

Then an idea strikes and he's turning back around, trying to yank his tail out of their hands.

"You can keep touching me if you let me do the noise machine."

A bargain!!

[mettaton_rex]

The robot might or might not understand anything. The ghost is finding this human's behaviour quite familiar. (Poor Shyren. He ought to go visit her, once he finds his way back to Waterfall. Maybe she and the human would even get along!)

He knows better than to say anything about how quiet they are. Instead, he goes with, "I love your truck, darling! It's so vivid." He means it. Red is a close favourite colour, after pink.

ballet intensifies

[6littlesouls]

The blue SOUL has their attention! If it had feet, it'd shuffle them expectantly. As it is, it doesn't even have a pair of ballet shoes left, just something a bit to the left of determination that glows a little brighter in front of an audience.

After a hesitant moment the blue SOUL rings one bell, then another. It takes a bit of time to start chiming out a recognizable tune, however. Music and sound is one thing, playing it is another.

[dustless]

It's no effort, they're not strong at all.

With his tail comes an utterly offended gasp. What! But! BUT!

"Truck," they spit, annoyance cutting through their silence. They crush it against their side with one arm and try to lunge for his tail with the other--he won't even need to dodge, they miss and stumble roughly into the wall all on their own. Seems a shoe's untied.