Winter Monsterland - Phanniemay Day 20: Snow

Vortex despised the Christmas Truce for the most part.

While most ghosts saw it as a time to set aside their differences and relax their powers, he still had to use his.

Normally, he would be thrilled at the prospect of someone asking him to use his powers. Heck, the first time they told him he would get to use his powers at the truce party, he felt special for getting to do so.

But then he found out what they wanted: snow.

It wasn't that he hated snow (quite the opposite in fact). But he was capable of producing the most powerful snowstorms on the face of the planet, and all his fellow ghosts wanted was for him to create a festive "winter wonderland."

It felt degrading. Humiliating. Wasteful, even.

A few minutes before the party migrated outside, Vortex was asked to go out, create a couple feet of snow to play with, and then let the white stuff start drifting down lazily. He didn't bother to wait around to see everyone's cheerful faces. Instead he flew up to the top of his snow cloud floating mindlessly in the emptiness of the Ghost Zone and lounged back, his arms folded underneath his head.

This was far from how Vortex truly wanted to "celebrate" Christmas Eve.

He would've been fine with just attending the party normally, but his current chore only served to remind him of what he was really missing out on.

If it were up to him, he'd be going around the Earth, wreaking havoc with massive blizzards left and right to spoil the humans' fun. It would be a perfect opportunity to flex his powers while the world's attention was focused on the holiday so that his incredible weather would forever be associated with it.

But instead he was stuck at this party, being treated like a tool instead of a guest. Besides the request for snow, no one had even really talked to him all evening. If he had really cared, he would've felt lonely.

Vortex's mind drifted back to reality from his daydream, and suddenly, he realized it was all too quiet down below. He peeked through the bottom of his cloud, and instead of seeing ghosts having snowball fights or making snowmen, all he saw was an empty field of white with footprints tracking across it.

So, they had used his powers and then didn't bother to tell him when they were done? Vortex's fury grew exponentially. He wished they were still out there just so he could unleash a few lightning bolts on them.

Infuriated, Vortex turned back over, a plan for vengeance already formulating in his head for being treated like this.

Only he was shocked to see all the party guests suddenly surrounding him, each one armed with a snowball and a mischievous, but friendly grin.

Vortex subtly braced himself and raised a questioning eyebrow, to which Skulker answered from the middle of the group, "We just have one thing to say..."

Together, everyone shouted, "Thank you, Vortex!"

The weather ghost perked up at the gratitude. So they hadn't forgotten about him! He began to smile and was about to say something in reply, when Youngblood, his snowball nestled in his slingshot, playfully yelled, "FIRE!"

Vortex could only laugh in relief as dozens of snowballs bombarded him.

Gotta get Vortex in somewhere in this month! :)