The reader may notice that this story was referenced in the prior story. That is because I am not posting these in a chronological order, rather, they are being recalled by S'nae was she lives her young life in Beldin. There are of course hints as to the chronology since during the RP sessions, I was keeping track of time so that Vikii's children were conceived, born, and growing up the entire time.
Snow was falling in the streets of Beldin and S'nae was walking through it smiling. She loved snowfalls in winter. The night would be blanketed in silence and the white flakes would be illuminated by the lamps and lanterns of the myriad windows in the city. She paused, looked up and felt the flakes land upon her cheeks, and heedless of the folks around her, began to sing . . .
Snow is lightly falling,
On my sill this quiet night,
Slowly cooling all my worries,
And fears that I must fight.
She twirled in the street and a few folks stopped to look at her. She smiled and winked at them back, for it was always good practice to spontaneously entertain in the streets. Such little advertisements helped with ticket sales for the musical events. She continued her song as she did this . . .
Silent and so softly,
It falls upon the street,
The very road where my true love
and I will sweetly meet.
A sudden wiz through the air and a gentle plop and sudden lifting of her wide brimmed hat from the top of her head interrupted S'nae's improv.
"Ha! Got yew D'Vreeze!" cried Derrick of the Dumbledor adventuring party across the street and ten feet to the left. "Got yew raight and guod!"
"Whale Ja Luck!" shouted S'nae rapidly making her own snowball, heedless of her hat upon the street and her silvered bangs falling down about her face. The thing she was supposed to say was Wael Jaluk. But any language which she could not immediately apply to the popular arts was a language she could not be bothered with, and so, in spite of her mother's efforts, her Underdark Drow was atrocious.
Within seconds, the two of them were hurling snowballs thick and fast and shortly thereafter, more Dumbledors showed up, as did Bards and Pipers and so for fifteen minutes the street was filled with flying snowballs, battle cries, and laughter.
Having been hit over a dozen times and returning the favor as often, the battle ended as S'nae leaned against the wall panting and laughing.
"Heh," suggested Derrick, now leaning also on the wall next to her and looking at her with that teenage crush face that young men were wont to have in the presence of attractive and exotic looking girls. "Yew know raight how ta throw them yew dew." His country side accent was particularly thick tonight.
"Why not?" queried S'nae looking back at him and giving him a smile but otherwise no facial expression remotely capable of encouraging young love. "I was born and raised here."
"Yew were?" replied Derrick. This was new information for him.
"My mother is the refugee," explained S'nae. "And she had never encountered snow before . . ."
Savarre stood on the dock in front of the River Karen and took a moment to breath in the fresh cold biting air. He was, as usual, in immaculate condition, each strand of hair in perfect order and his red and black dyed outfit, trim, sharp, and snappy. Beside him Pellifer stood quietly, her things scattered about her, Vikii was still on the deck of the steamboat going through her list. Up a little higher, the town of Karenlynn stood firm against the northern cliff face of Astrid Rock.
Savarre looked about. New fallen snow was piled high upon several boxes and crates on the dock and he was suddenly inspired. Taking a cusp of snow in his hands, he began to meticulously pack it into a firm perfectly smooth round ball. This took him a few moment since it would have to be perfect. Nothing but the best for Savarre, even something as mundane as a snowball would require artistic expertise. Gently brushing it with his fingers, he was just finishing when he noticed Vikii was staring at him, open mouthed in amazement.
"You can do that to snow?" she asked.
Savarre was initially tempted to dismiss Vikii's comment as simply out of her character. While somewhat spacey at times, she was smart and possessed a good deal of horse sense. Then it dawned on him. She was from the Underdark and had only been on the surface a few years. Likewise, snowfalls in Beldin were rather infrequent thanks to the climate of the Karen River Valley. It would only be natural for her to not know much about snow.
"Why yes," he answered with a smile.
"What do you do with it?" asked Vikii. "Can you work magic by making it into a sphere?"
This was simply too good to pass up. Well, time to initiate Vikii into the wonders of snowballs.
"Well yes," answered Savarre grinning. "Most wonderful magic in fact."
"Really?" asked Vikii, wide eyed. She eagerly pranced over and leaned towards Savarre to get a better look at the snowball.
Savarre looked at her for a moment, her small girlish figure, with only a hint of bulge from her pregnancy (she had conceived triplets), all grace and style. Her face, utterly trusting in expression, was almost childlike.
"And now Vikii," he thought. "It's pay back time for all those sneaky little tricks and teases you've done to me ever since I knew you."
And he had quite a list.
There was the public advice on hemlines incident which had started it all. In the Bar, in front of all his friends, she had asked him what sort of hem should be on her skirt for summer. Pulling her skirt up literally one inch by one inch, each one a subtle shift, just a little higher and higher, she didn't stop lifting it slowly until she was at the top of her thighs, all the while asking, "Should it be this high? Or shall I raise it to this? Or maybe . . ." and so on. His eyes had glazed over and Jerry had been rolling on the ground in laughter while Delanna had been giggling and crying "Oh Hanali!" Delanna was a naive young moon elf and it had never dawned on her on what sort of tease Vikii was being with the male of the species.
Then the time he had taken a nap in his apartment with Delanna and Vikii discussing things. Vikii had leaned forward and had begun to imitate M'randa's voice while Delanna was imitating R'seria's and sounding like the two girls were about to give Savarre a new hair cut. He had leapt up screaming in terror only to find the two women laughing and slumped in their chairs exhausted by their amusement.
But the latest, the most irritating of all, was the time she had come on to him most passionately, insisting that she could resist him no longer. She just had to make love to him. His objections had been most genuine, his sweat pouring from his brow, reminding her that he was in love with Delanna. She had oozed charm and purred, assuring him that Delanna had given permission. And just when he was convinced he would collapse and yield to her sensuous writhing, she had said, "Ta Da! I changed my mind!" and left him a psychological wreak. Delanna's sudden giggles in the corner, along with Pellifer's laughter in another corner (for both women had been invisible and watching the entire thing) had been the straw which had broken the camel's back.
Revenge would be sweet. And this dish, being a snowball, would be served quite cold.
"Let me show you," suggested Savarre.
Pellifer's eyes were wide in amazement and she struggled to not smirk.
"Oh goody!" squealed Vikii doing her little bounce with the balls of her feet that her friends occasionally referred to as 'The Happy Vikii Dance'.
"Let's see," mused Savarre quietly, appearing to think deeply. "The magic is most effective if the conditions are right, so you stand at the end of the pier.
Vikii bounced over to the end of the pier all excited.
"How's this?" she called.
"Perfect," returned Savarre.
Pellifer was now openly smirking, covering her mouth with her hand. She knew what was about to take place and she was struggling to keep from giving it away. However Vikii, in her eagerness to see something new, did not catch on.
"Pose nicely now!" called Savarre.
Vikii went into a classic dancer pose, one foot in front of the other, her arms slightly extended out from her side, and her hands lifted and fingers spread. Her head was to the side, lifted just ever so slightly. It was a pose worthy of an oil painting.
"Like this?" She called.
"Beautiful!" cried Savarre. He held the snowball in his hand, palm up, fingers extended and lightly touching it while he looked over to Pellifer and grinned. Pellifer avoided his gaze, lest she lose complete control and fall into a fit of guffaws.
"Close your eyes!" called Savarre.
"Ok!" cried Vikii and closed her eyes, a small smile on her face as she eagerly waited for the 'magic'.
Savarre wound up and threw the snowball straight and sure, it's perfect sphere whistling through the air as it sped for it's intended target, which it hit right square and sharp.
Vikii felt the sting and wet bite of the snowball right on her left cheek, nose, and eye. The shock caused her to jump back, lift her leg, and she fell into a puddle of slush, ice, and water an inch deep, soaking her through from the thighs to the small of her back and hands. She opened her eyes in wide amazement and felt the sting of the bright sunlight upon them.
Savarre roared in laughter while Pellifer giggled. Bending over, he gasped for breath and cried. "Oh Vikii, you fell for that one!" Then he looked towards her.
"Gyah!" was all he could cry out.
For Vikii, her teeth bared, her fingers reaching in a clutch, curved with fingernails extended, and her eyes burning brightly red was closing in for the kill at full throttle. Apparently, the ancient homicidal breeding of Lolth into the fabric of the Drow had reasserted itself in Vikii.
Pellifer had covered her face and upper torso with her arms as Vikii had sped by and all Savarre could do was throw his hands out as she slammed into him and went into a grapple. The force of the impact, coupled with the ice and snow of the dock, caused both her and Savarre to skid back, fall, and land in the cold ice water of the river with a moist splooshing sound.
Both came up and shrieked in shock and chill.
Shortly thereafter, Savarre and Vikii were seated in a small side room in the bar. Pellifer had hung up their soaking and dripping ice encrusted clothing upon pegs while each of them were wrapped in thick towels, their feet in bases of warm water, and each holding a large clay mug of hot mulled wine.
Vikii looked at Savarre and smiled.
"So that's what you do with snowballs?" she asked with a grin.
"Yes," replied Savarre smiling back.
"You got me good Savi," she said. "I never saw that coming."
"I'm glad you're being such a sport about it," he said before adding after a pause. "now."
"Sorry," she said with a sigh. "The old drive just leaps out when you least expect it."
"No harm done," replied Savarre. "I'm used to it now."
"So, what's the score then?" she asked.
"I think we're even," replied Savarre.
"Oh goody," she said with a wicked little grin. "I can do something new to you."
Savarre coughed nervously.
"And hints or warnings?" he asked.
She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes, her grin got slightly predatory, and then she stretched out on the chair, lifting her legs so they rested upon the arm rest. Then leaning further back and stretching her arms out beyond her head, she lifted her right leg up and stretched it as well. A lot of towel was sliding and revealing large sections of her grey skinned perfectly toned figure underneath.
"She can see me sweat," Savoire's thoughts muttered. "I just know it."
"Oh . . ." she said with a light purr in her voice. "I'll think of something."
