Shenanigans on Ice

Tornmawr river, early afternoon.

Alexandria was covered in a thick blanket of snow, and it seemed even the Tornmawr river itself was no exception in several areas. The blanket of snow covered parts of the water, at least for the time being. A small robed makari was shuffling a wide broom over the surface, clearing off the ice and building a small buffer of snow around the edges.

A shadow coasts over the river, the shape of a bird making a lazy trip across ice and water. But the shade shifts and flaps, changing direction before growing larger, larger, larger- ka-thunk!

A rust red and white egalrin woman in several robes tied tightly closed lands perched on the side of a dock nearby. "Is tha'- ah! I thought it was ya! Ezzi, wha'chu' doin' hon!" Slixvah calls out over the way.

A small form is crouched by the edge of the river, using a thatch broom to brush snow away from a small shrine. Dedicated to Rada, the Goblin priestess works to clean it up, removing old offerings respectfully, and tending to the small, covered lantern present in the shrine.

She works with bare hands, and feet, seemingly ignoring the cold.

Humming to herself, she begins removing small packages from a pack, leaving them in a small, covered nook behind the shrine.

Like all trouble, it seems to congregate in one place at the same time. A large leather cloak covers the approaching figure with its ribboned horns poking out. Wisps of steam flow out from underneath.

Descending the stairs down to the riverbank, Aelwyn tilts his head at the sight. "The river's an attraction?" The draconian asks as he steps further in, pausing to glance at the small figure and bowing his head momentarily. His attention then turns towards the egalrin woman and 'Ezzi'. "Cleaning the ice?"

The small makari keeps sweeping and sweeping in a rythmic pattern, brushing away for some time , her tail batting a few stray streaks away. She pauses to balance against the broom, taking a look around at the others nearby. Another pause, a look between Aelwyn and Slixvah, and the small makari giggles loudly, waving to the both of them, and the gobber afterwards. "Heya! The river is an attraction!" They beam. "All this ice is just perfect! Ready to try on a new pair of shoes, Aelwyn? I might even have some that fit Slixvah, and, hey Irshya! You're welcome to join too! That is you right? Hard to tell, but I'd recognize a Rada shrine anywhere."

<OOC> Irshya says, "AFK brielfy for tea!"

<OOC> Irshya says, "*briefly"

Slixvah tilts her head up at Aelwyn with a light smile. "Seems ta be so, Flutter!" she chirps to him before looking back out across the way. Quizically, she tilts her head to the side at Eztli. "Well I'm right glad ya enjoyin' yaself out there- oh RishRish? Hi!" She waves a wing over at the gobber before looking back to Eztli with a blink. "Uh.. shoes?" She looks down at her taloned feet, gripping against the edge of the pier. Then looks at Aelwyn's talons. Even Eztli's. "What you mean by shoes?"

<OOC> Irshya returns!

The Goblin looks up at Eztli, and then Aelwyn, and lastly Slixvah. She waves and offers a cheerful smile to each, but remains silent. Her duties to her God's shrine are nearly complete, and a short time later she trudges along the edge of the riverbank towards the others.

"Hello Vava!", she says cheerfully, running along the pier to offer the Egalrin a hug.

From her lofty (in her eyes) position, she glances at Eztli. "Why are you clearing snow off the ice?", she wonders of the two-toned Sith. Her eyes shift to Aelwyn then, and she snorts. "Of course it is an attraction."

"Tch, this one would have thought there are more attractive sights around the water." Aelwyn flashes his teeth and starts to slowly - and carefully - walk towards the river's edge, before he holds out his cloak. It was not only steaming hot in there - it was steaming hot from a container he was holding against himself. (Extremely) spicy cocoa, to those down the wind. He plants his glaive into the snow and leans lightly against it.

"Ribbon, Spellreader, Sharkie." He greets everyone in turn, then tilts his at Eztli - and gives Slixvah a look. "This one doesn't -" He starts, but then he stops, slowly turning his head towards Eztli. "... are these the ones with blades on them?" He asks, orange eyes wide.

Eztli wiggles their feet a few times, more like semi open sandals than full shoes, and the small makari laughs again. "Course I'm enjoying myself! You seen this weather?" She points out. "And I mean shoes! I'm clearing the ice off so it's well, clear! Enough room to skate around at the very least."

The sorceress finishes shoving some snow aside, and turns to wander closer to shore. There's a slightly wild glint in their eye as they nod. "Yeah! The blades you stick on your feet, Aelwyn!"

Slixvah opens up a wing to return the hug to Irshya. "Vava?" she inquires to the pool-shark before snickering at Aelwyn and his- her eyes squint, downwind from the cocoa- spiciness. And the spiciness. "Blades?"

She looks to Eztli, smiling and glad that the little makari was enjoying herself, but a tinge confused. "Skate? Why do shoes have blades? I admit I am a touch confused- ain't heard of somethin' li' thi'."

"Yeah, like, the last part of your name, but twice!", Irshya says with a grin. Her confusion is also evident, lifting up a bare foot to examine it briefly. "Shoes with blades... oh, skates. Those are what you use to move across the ice, yes? Like... gliding on the blades. I have only heard about them, not seen any in person. The Goblin hides under that feathery wing. "Sounds like a quick way to fall over and look foolish.", she says softly.

Aelwyn's lips twist wide open at Eztli. Oh no, somebody was excited. The draconian turns towards the other lurking pair. "Ice dancing, Ribbon!" He exclaims. "Dancing on ice, Sharkie!" Stepping further forward, he puts the very spicy cocoa carefully on one of the snowbanks. "One should come join! Surely it will be a thrill to behold!"

"How does one... how does one wrap the blades?" The ruddy sith-makar pauses, and then shuffles his feet a bit on the snow. "Like the shoes?" The draconian's tail was definitely not moving under his cloak.

"You don't know what I'm talking about? I guess that makes sense, what with the wings and the feet." The small makari asks as she walks back over and flops into a snowbank. From a satchel they pull out several straps, tugging a few times until four curious looking shoes are pulled out, not unlike the ones Eztli was already wearing, but with long metal bars on the bottom. "Think you could manage Slix? Just has to be snug on your feet, that's the important part. Irshya gets it! And my goodness, I didn't realize it was so uncommon here! I figured I was going to have to get them custom made, but explaining them to not only a cobbler but blacksmiths as well took longer than I was expecting!"

The sorceress tosses a pair gently beside Aelwyn, and gets to work on her own. "Do you want to try Irshya? I bet I could figure out how to get them working for you, too!"

Slix smacks her forehead. "Ohhh, duh!" she laughs before listening to the explanations. The witch seems bewildered at the idea, blades being put on ice, but what further grows her perplexion- "Aelwyn? You okay? You're excited about something /cold/!" she teases, giving Irshya a squeeze before standing up and shaking herself off. "That sounds like fun- let's do it! Even if I fumble ova' a bunch!"

"I lived in th' mountains, th' cold is climbs and freezin' flyin' ain't none of this," she explains to Eztli as she approaches, crouching down to inspect the haphazard shoes. "Sounds li' some kinda fancy thing ya'd do wit' fancy folk," she opines. "But sure! I think I can do it! Loo"

"I don't know how common they are. Sometimes the Tornmawr is basically ice free, sometimes it's pretty heavily iced over. I don't go out often in winter, mostly due to my owning the TarRaCe and spending a lot of time to keep her running well. So if I've missed people using them, I am not surprised." The Goblin leans against Slixvah a little, but straightens as the Egalrin makes to head to the ice below. Following along behind Slixvah, Irshya shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know.", she says softly. "I uhm I'll see how it goes for you three before I consider it."

Glancing at Aelwyn, she chuckles, patting at Slixvah a moment. "He just likes the idea of dancing on blades."

Aelwyn was already on the blades and he hefts his own feet. With something akin to shoes on them. His arch nemesis. He stretches his leg out though; before he twists it and holds it up, balanced on one foot as he works on tying the skate. "Tch, this one wouldn't be excited about the cold." Refuse to sit on snow. "But this is something one cannot do with flames."

Turning his head towards Irshya, he tilts his head. "Sharkie could ride on the back of one of us." He hoists up the blade again and continues to try and wrap the blade onto his shoe.

"I've been telling him, there's so much fun to have in winter! Took a while to find something he'd be excited by, but there's something for everyone!" Eztli chuckles. "I guess there's no ice up in the mountains big enough. What about skiing, Slix? Surely there's uses for that up in the mountains? I'm hoping I can drag Aelwyn off for that sometime, and that would be fun! You ever been skiing, Irshya? It's a ton of fun, too!"

"It's not that fancy, a lot of people did it back home. What with, well, yeah, it was something a lot of people could do." Eztli sighs, finishing tying off her shoes and wobbling to her feet until she was up straight. "Here, I got a few to try to see what would work best for me, you can use one of the longer pairs! Easier to balance." She enthuses, offering the last pair to Slixvah.

Slixvah ruffle's Irshya's hair. "What is it, don't wanna topple ova in fron' of a bunch of peeps? Don' worr' hon, we all gonna look like a goof. Except maybe they two, they seem like they knows what they doin'." She snorts. "Fair fair, you love ya dancing. But- Yeah! Get on Aelwyn's back!"

She crouches next to Eztli, grinning. "Yeah, some crazy birds and khzad do tha'. Do some skiing. Pretty fun wit' wings, can get some crazy air!" She picks up on Eztli's sigh, her patting the sorceress on the head before taking the pair of larger skates and sandals from her. "Sure! I'll give it a try!" Slix gets to work, pulling on straps and having to adjust a few things for the anatomical differences. She uses a few spare ribbons to help keep things tied down.

"Skiing?" Blank stare is her immediate reply. "Nooo?"

She cants her head to look at Aelwyn. "How do you know you cannot skate on fire, you have not tried it yet." She giggles at the hair ruffling, and shrugs. "How about I ride on your back? If you go to fall, you just fly, and make it look like you meant to do that!" Irshya hops from foot to food then, "Please?"

The Gobbo crouches down, eyeing the work to be done fastening blades to feet. "It seems like an awful lot of work." Her little fingers get to work, though, helping Slixvah with a few of the straps.

"Skiing? Tch. Let this one have this dance first; and then perhaps one can discuss other tortures of the snow." Aelwyn flicks his tongue at Eztli, as he wobbles in place. "Hmmh, cutting blades across fire does not tend to be very effective, this one has found." He points out, before sliding his hand down on his hip as Slixvah offers him as goblin carrier. And then gets rejected in favor of the far wiser choice of the egalrin. "Tch, this one only falls with purpose." He scoffs.

Slowly, he nears the edge of the ice. "So who wishes to have the first dance?" The ruddy sith-makar asks, with a macabre grin.

"Oh, believe me, we're all going to look like goofs, myself included." Eztli laughs, taking a few measured steps to the ice. "In fact, that's one of the first things you gotta know! If you think you're gonna fall, lower your center of mass before going backwards or forward if you can't manage it. Better a sore butt than hitting your head." Eztli explains, taking a step out onto the ice and balancing for the most part. One hand is offered to Aelwyn. "Come on when you're ready Irshya and Slix! Takes a lot of getting used to, but just balancing on the ice is a good place to start!"

Slixvah bahs at Irshya. "Fiiine. But I ain' eva done this befo' and I can' just fly off on a whim if I'm gonna fall!" With the gobber's assistance, the blades get affixed to open sandals, and those get fastened to grey, cloth wrapped feet. "Skiing is when ya get long pieces of wood strapped to ya feet and ya slide down a snowy hill or mountain! Very fun wit' wings! And dangerous!"

Watching Eztli step forth and dispense advice, she gives a sharp thumbs up. "Gotcha! Aight, here we go!" Feathers animate, scooping Irshya up easily and placing her on her back.

Slix steps onto the ice.

And immediately starts wobbling all over the place, blades kicking up chaffs of snow and ice as she barely manages to keep her blance. "Bwuahawowoh gods Cernan gimmie balance man wuhhuhhh-!"

The Goblin is delighted to be up on Slixvah's back, clinging carefully over her shoulders, and little toes dug into her feathers. "It's okay, I am sure you are very soft to land on." She snorts at Aelwyn then, "Perhaps you need a specialized blade to do so?"

Irshya giggles and then begins to squeak as the Egalrin begins to wobble about on the ice. Something moves around under her robes, her little tail throwing about in an attempt to keep Slixvah balanced and upright.

"Gosh it's like you've never done this before!"

"Tch, this one enjoys the flames as they are." Aelwyn calls out back to Irshya before stepping forward. He takes Eztli's hand and steps onto the ice; and unlike the Gobbo Egalrin duo, easily glides out into the ice. Moving in a very straight line. "Hnh. This is... strange." He lifts his foot, then places the other down. "This one can only move forward?" And continues to move in a very straight line; his tail trailing behind him for support.

The winged and finned panic catches his attention though. "Roll the back, Ribbon! Protect the head!"

"Ya think?!" Slix squawks at Irshya as she continues to flail. She follows the advice- lower center of gravity! But now she's just wobbling in different directions, wings flapping about as her own tail flicks to try and find some balance while Irshya's joins in.

Which does surprisingly well, as the counter rotation gets Slix's skates to hit the ice firmly, wings splayed out wide to their massive span, arms held out, stance wide and crouched. "O-Okay! O-Okay I thinks I gots it!" she pants, sloooooooowly sliding forward on the ice just like Aelwyn.

Irshya laughs and cheers as Slixvah stays upright, with the Goblin's assistance.

"Yay, you got it. Now let's catch Aelwyn!" She holds up a little snowball. "I wish to hit him with my sword!"

Aelwyn flashes his teeth at Slix-Irshya duo. "Tch, that is great balancing act. Perhaps one should start a duo!" The draconian calls out - continuing to slide forward without inhibition. "When one is about to fall, one must stick to what one knows, and move slowly!"

And then he gets threatened with a 'sword'. "Tch! One does not need to assault this one if they wish to catch this one!"

Eztli wobbles a bit on her feet and the small makari takes some time to crouch down and adjust her skates, only for the others to take off ahead of her. "Hang on, hang on! I didn't tell you about steering or moving forward!" She shout over, watching as gobbo and egalrin manage to stabilize and keep moving. The small makari moves mostly in the right way, but there's an awkward tilt to her legs as she pushes off after Aelwyn. "tilt your back leg, drag the blade sideways to slow down, Aelwyn!"

Slixvah guffaws at Aelwyn. "All luck and some skill!" She glances towards Eztli, taking heed of the small makari's directions. "Ya think this gang's gonna wait 'round fo' directions? Heck naw! Nail 'em, Rishrish!" the egalrin decrees, pointing forward at Aelwyn.

She charges forward on the ice. Slowly sliding. None faster than a toddler squabbling forward.

A shadow moves under translucent areas of the ice, between the patches of snow drifting across its surface. Could it be some kind of giant fish? It's certainly a large shadow. It continues moving, towards one of the patches of unfrozen river. Finally a head emerges, a blond head. And following it, shoulders, arms. Thurid's upper body emerges from the ice cold water and gasps in a breath. Elbows and forearms on the surface of the ice, which haul her up and out of the water. Wearing a chest binding and a breechclout, and breathing clouds of steam but seemingly entirely unperturbed by the freezing temperatures as she climbs to stand barefoot on the surface of the ice.

The Goblin clings to Slixvah's back as the Egalrin slides around on skates. "You're getting the hang of it, Slivvie!", Irshya yells with a squeak, unleashing a snowball at Aelwyn as the pair slips by.

Another squeak is had. "Now you gotta get close to the bank so I can reload! W.. what's that... erm, more like who is that?"

"Tch, they got lucky with Ribbon's luck?" The Dragoon flicks his tongue out as he continues to -steadily and unerringly - glide forward. He attempts to move his leg, but as per the skate, they were stuck on their tracks. "How does one move a leg against the ice-" He starts to ask from Eztli - before a white snowball hits the side of his head, causing him to stumble.

"Sharkie! This means war-...?" Aelwyn lifts his head and looks at the patch unfrozen. "What is that... is that a tide? A beast? Silver? A..." The Dragoon straightens and then tilts his head. "... a large half-dressed woman?"

He continues to glide forward.

The small makari blinks as she keeps skating after Aelwyn, stumbling a bit as her feet twist awkwardly in an attempt to replicate movements that don't entirely make sense. "Right, right! Uh, you might not be used to adjusting your feet that abruptly skating, right?" Eztli shouts over. "It's like a blade, well, it is a blade! You can pressure it while moving to turn slightly, you know? Just keep pushing your toes inwards, that should slow you down!"

The small makari slows down a bit, and huffs. "careful! Don't start anything you can't win, there!" She calls over to the stacked pair, stopping and tilting their head in the direction of the actual river. "And here I thought I was the only one crazy enough to go swimming in this weather."

Slixvah cackles when Aelwyn gets snowballed in the head, her doing her best to slow to a stop based on Ezlti's advice, but it ends up with her wobbling about due to it. And the arrival of an unfazed Giantborn out of the ice makes the wobbling turn into a stumbling! "Wuh wuwoah-!"

The egalrin crashes, sliding sloowly across the ice. "Bird down! Bird down! Bird- oh what up gurl crazy weather huh?- down!" she caws as she passes by Thurid.

Irshya cackles as Aelwyn is thwapped, and blinks as more of the person is seen. "Thurid?" The Goblin grins, pleased to see the Jotunblood. The smile vanishes, a squeak heard, as Slixvah tumbles to the ice. Attempting to abandon Slix halfway down, she lands heavily, and slides down the ice, disappearing into the open patch of water with a bloop!

Thurid shakes some of the water out of her hair before it begins to freeze, and then sweeps the remaining hair back out of her face and behind her ears. She has a rosy hue from the cold. "Hail, friends!" she calls out to the group. "Lovely weather, isn't it? Bracing!" she asserts, beaming a bright grin. She then guffaws as she sees the two of them go tumbling. "Anyone for ice fishing?" she wonders as she peers after Irshya.

She walks through the snow on the ice towards the group.

Aelwyn attempts to keep track of everything that is happening around them. Slixvah faceplanting. Irshya slipping underwater. Thurid casually strolling from icy water. Eztli giving actually helpful instructions. "Toes inwards, Ribbon!" He calls out, flashing his teeth, as he looks over towards Eztli. "She does not seem so confident in the step, either. Sway her tail?"

Then, by instinct, he starts to step towards the egalrin to try and help her back up - and with an loud snarl he splits himself onto the ice. Slowly spinning around. "... while this one is pleased to see Hero, is it not... cold to be swimming?" He asks from Thurid with a backward tilt of his head.

"I'm just, figuring things out as much as you are, Aelwyn, sort of. Think it would help?" Eztli huffs, attempting to drag her tail against the ice, which does at least help with balance. "Slix! You okay! I understand the distraction, but this is your first time on the ice, you gotta focus!" She calls over, caught between three unfolding disasters around her, Irshya sliding in one direction, Slixvah in another, and Aelwyn trying some improptu gymnastics. "Nice flexibility, Aelwyn, I'll get you into some dancing slippers yet!" She calls over, but her focus is mostly on where one gobber went into the drink. "I can get her out of there probably, if you mean fishing for gobbers?"

Slixvah digs her talons into the ice- and twists her toes inward as the others call out- which makes her slow to a stop. Long gouges in the ice trail behind her. "Thankies!" she calls out to the others.

"I'm good! And I'm tryin'! I have /zero/ experince wit' dis!" she say over to Eztli, her craning her head back and snickering at Aelwyn's unfortunate circumstances. "Yeah, today is good Thurid! Betta get ta shark fishin'!"

The water ripples and goes still. Under the clearer parts of the ice, a little form can be seen, cloaked in blue-green robes. After a modest amount of time underwater, Irshya surfaces in the middle of the open water, swimming slowly to the edge.

"It's a bit brisk today. I did not know the Tornmawr gets this cold."

The Goblin grunts and groans, trying to pull herself from the water. "At least I am not carrying anything that might be ruined by being wet."

Thurid continues to laugh as more people stumble, she doesn't seem to have much trouble moving over the snow-covered ice. "Hero, is it?" she wonders of Aelwyn. "I'm not complaining, but I'm not so certain I deserve the moniker." she chuckles. "I don't mind the cold. The tormwar is great this time of year."

She looks over and shakes her head at Eztli, "Oh, she'll be fine." she grins. And speak of the devil, "There she is!" she calls out, and heads over, dropping to a knee to offer Irshya a hand out of the water.

"After what one did for the Phoenix?" Aelwyn points out as he attempts to slowly get back onto his feet. His clawed fingers dig into the ice and he slowly hefts himself up onto his blades. Swaying from side to side, he tests how the blades dig into the cold surface. "Tch, this one does not need any slippers, Spellreader. Only a warmer floor." He makes a disgusted face.

The ruddy sith-makar's tail begins to sway and he begins to use it instead to give him a bit of a boost to glide around, still trying to see how his ankles can guide him into another direction that was not forward. "This one's coming for the ribbons, Ribbon!" He calls out - as he slowly makes his way across the ice towards the egalrin.

"... Are you sure? I know Shark-er, Irshya basically lives in the water, but I don't know how she feels about the cold." The small makari replies, a touch concerned until they actually resurface as the sorceress skids to a stop a safe distance from the edge of the ice. "The slippers aren't for warmth, Aelwyn, they're so you can well, they're for dancing!" She laughs in Aelwyn's direction. "But I get it if you wouldn't want to try. I just thought you would make an excellent dragon knight, that's all. Better get moving quick, Slix."

The small makari offers Slixvah a hand, keeping an eye on the steadily approaching sith.

"Nooo, not my ribbons!" Slixvah weakly cries out as she tries to scrabble away slowly. The offered hand is scooped up, the egalrin pulling herself to her feet- only to start sliding forward once again! "I vote tha' Hero is a good one fo' Thurid! She was badass wit' th' Phoenix!"

Her skating takes her forward, forward, forward... only to be in the direction of a pier! She scrabbles, trying to flap her wings to get out of the way, but ends up toppling over onto it!

She flops over on her back, panting. "I'll... I'm gonna take a break- phew!" she pants. "Don' wait up fo' me..!"

The Goblin accepts the large hand up, climbing up the woman's arm to her shoulder, and sits there, dripping. "Thanks! You giantfolk seem hardly bothered by the cold, but I didn't expect you to come up out of the water. Can you hold your breath for a long time?" She shivers lightly, brushing icicles off of her robes, face and hair. "I'm going to have to launder my robes, sadly. So how have you been, Thurid? It's been a while."

Irshya leans out a little, taking a look around, grinning at the Sith making his way towards 'Ribbon'. She glances at Thurid a moment. "Would you do me a small favour?" The Gobbo leans in to whisper something in the Jotunblood's ear.

Thurid hefts Irshya up onto her shoulder, arm curling up to support her up there as she goes to stand back up- pausing when the sharky one whispers something to her. "I think I can do that." she replies with a grin. She looks back over her shoulder, "I couldn't stand to see it confined, is all. Of all the wretched things on this plane, slavery takes the cake. Especially of such a noble and free spirit." she says then. Her tone is serious for a moment, back still half turned.

Meanwhile, with her free hand, she gathers up a sizeable fist-full of snow, pressing it into a ball, before finally standing up and turning towards them. With a grin, she pelts it Aelwyn's way.

"This one can dance with claws-" Aelwyn pauses, looking at Eztli. "... how does slippers and dragon knight relate to each other-HEY!" The ruddy sith-makar then hisses as he redoubles his efforts to follow on after Eztli and Slixvah. "No distracting during a chase, Spellreader!"

"Tch, giving up so soon already Ribbon?" Aelwyn says with a triumphant grin and a hand on his hip. "One would have thought those wings would have given one an advantag-" And then there's a large glob of snow thrown his way. Twisting his head, he just in time ducks down - but due to the ice, he is sent sprawling again. "Hero! Sharkie! That is cheating!" He complains - and then ineffectually grabs some snow and throws it at the pair, as he tries to get back onto his feet.

"Oh, it's not that bad, nothing like a warm freshly laundered pair of robes after a day having fun out in the snow." The small makari giggles to herself, kicking off and taking a lazy skate off near Slixvah. "Well, I guess you'll never know then, right?" She teases, sticking her tongue out in the dragoons direction as she sails past, taking a lazy circle back as the egalrin takes a spill. "No such thing as cheating in a snowball fight!"

Irshya snorts and laughs, clinging to Thurid as she unleashes a large snowball upon Aelwyn. "Cheating? All's fair in love and war!" She laughs again, and pats the Giantblood's shoulder. "Nice throw. Goodness, you're portable artillery with that arm." She giggles and leans over to hug at Thurid's head. "There's a big drink waiting for you next time you visit the TarRaCe, whatever kind you'd like. I'll throw in a hot stew, too, something meaty, hmm? Thanks again for the helping hand out of the river."

The pool-shark leaps from Thurid's shoulder, landing in a snowbank with a squeak. She begins to waddle away. "Thanks for the fun, but I have to get back to the TarRaCe. Take care. Stop by the place later, I've got some spicy hot cocoa you can try, to warm up!" The Gobbo heads to Slixvah's side, to see her to a place more comfortable.

Thurid doesn't even flinch from the spray of snow when it's tossed her way by Aelwyn, or flung more like. "I have an unfair advantage in a snow fight. I swim in the Tormwar, after all. And when I go running in the mountains I take a snow bath to cool off." she warns Aelwyn. "So, snowball fighting and ice skating?" she wonders. She offers Irshya a wave as she heads off.

She pads across the snow, carefully but fairly confidently, to head over and squat down so that she can help Aelwyn back up onto his feet.

Aelwyn lets out a growling rumble at Eztli. "Ssh, but this one would simply tear any slipper." The draconian points out - apparently willing to pay the price for that coveted piece of knowledge. "So surely this is a ploy again."

The draconian looks surprised as Thurid just walks over to help him up, and he slowly bows his head. "This one is grateful." A flash of his teeth. "And yes, Hero does." With the excitement dying down, Aelwyn lifts his hands up to the sides of his arms and gives them a rub, looking after Irshya.

"This one shall return to the ice with more fire." The draconian bows his head towards Thurid. "Hero." And then another flash of his teeth at Eztli. "This one will look forward to dancing on ice again, Spellreader." Swish swish, went his feet, as he attempts to get back to the safety of non-slippery ground.

"A lady after my own heart." The small makari laughs again, taking another lazy circle over to Aelwyn and Thurid. "Is that something giantborn tend to do? I'll be honest, I've never met any before, but it's great to meet someone who knows what ice skating is! Do you have any skates of your own?" They wonder, turning to wave to Irshya. "Later! I might take you up on that offer!"

"Now, what's this about a phoenix?" She asks, turning between the two. "Done already? I get it, it's hard on the ankles, but you're welcome to come out skating with me any time! I can assure you it's not a ploy at all, too. Well, not a literaly dragon knight I guess, so a bit of a ploy."

"I don't know about all Jotunborn, but we are mostly not bothered by temperature. Snowy mountains or windswept deserts, I love the outdoors." she tells the makari then, rising from her haunches. She tips her head to Aelwyn as he heads off, "Enjoy the fire." she grins. She turns her attention over towards Eztli again.

"A group of cultists and demons captured a phoenix, and were using it to power their dark rituals." she explains to her. "I leapt into the demon's pit headfirst, through blazing flames. I was captured, seduced by a succubus, and turned against my allies." she admits, her expression darkening some.

"Well, I guess not all sith-makar like the cold, but that's different. Just look at Aelwyn, there." Eztli nods, pointing to the departing Dragoon as they take off. The small sorceress frowns, or the approximation of it, before she reaches out to pat the jotun on the shoulder, only managing to reach their arm. "That sounds like a bad experience, but Aelwyn is honest with their names. I don't think anyone holds it against you, and by the sounds of it, everything worked out, right?"

"They snapped me out of it when they came to rescue me. I... allowed doubt into my heart, which is why the succubus was able to turn it." Thurid admits then, "It's a mark of shame. But one I won't let stand. And didn't. We crushed the demons, and freed the phoenix." she tells Eztli, puffing her chest up a bit. "Still, it gave me food for thought."

"Hey, getting stuck on your own is hard, and Succubi are well, they're magically persuasive, I've heard." Eztli considers. "But well, you got through that, and did the right thing in the end, right? That's what's important, and definitely something to be proud of."

"That offer from Irshya does sound really tempting, though, I could use another massage." Eztli muses, glancing up the bank. "You want to join us, Thurid, right? Name's Eztli since I didn't mention it. Might need to get something to wear first, though, and I don't think I have anything anywhere near your size."

"Leaping into danger headlong has always worked for me in the past. I always figured the worst that would happen would be I'd die a glorious death worthy of telling tall tales about in Angoron's halls." Thurid sighs. "The idea hadn't crossed my mind that I might be made to turn on my friends." she adds then.

She nods, next, though, "Yes, I think I will. I have a robe on the shore, up a ways. I'll meet you at the Tarrace, yes?"

"Well, it's important to look out for yourself, too." The small makari huffs, crossing her arms. "I'm sure your friends care about your wellbeing. That's the tricky thing with friends, isn't it? Stories are well and good, but so is now. I'm glad you were able to help that phoenix in the end, though."

"Meet you there! I'll let Slixvah and Aelwyn know." Eztli grins, before gliding off for the rivers edge again, much more confident in their movements again.