Troubles Melt Away like Freshly Fallen Snow

Troubles Melt Away like Freshly Fallen Snow
Date of Scene:	17 May 2013
Location:	Narshe - Outskirts
Synopsis:	Alma Hyral sits down for a quiet night of research under the Northern Lights...
Cast of Characters:	Sanel, Alma Hyral

---

Alma Hyral has posed:
The Northern Lights were out tonight.

It was one thing of beauty that had crossed over from the world Narshe once sat within. The girl had set up at a campsite which looked.. remarkably Shivan to anyone with knowledge of her world. The campsite belonged to Rena, who had welcomed her to use it while she was away. The firewood had been stacked, and lit before she started to set up.

Meticulously she collimated the lens of her rather humble telescope. It didn't need to be done /every/ day but it was one small ritual she obsessed over. She needed complete accuracy for her research. Beside it, was a fold out table, with a laptop gently humming, a simple program she'd designed within just to store data, which she'd later compile into creating a more accurate three dimensional map of the known universe. It was coming along well with the star charts she'd found from other worlds, from before their fall...

As for the girl herself, she was dressed in her usual dowdy white mage robes, but underneath was winter gear. Visible were mittens, earmuffs, and a cap with a puffy little ball on top. Warm snowboots hugged what was visible of her feet below the robes.

Every so often she'd look into the telescope, make a small adjustment, peer into it. Then record the position of a celestial body in as accurate detail as possible by degrees, minutes, and seconds, by typing on the laptop. Back and forth. It was repetitive work, truly. But she loved it.

Every hour or so, she'd take a break just to watch the shifting myriad of colors within the Aurora Borealis, just smiling as she watched yet another miracle of the Creatrix.

Sanel has posed:
Narshe is a place of beauty.

The wintry atmosphere offers serenity while the colors in the sky shift. Constellations are formed and many points have their own design. Some of them have formed into fragment of other constellations, yet many are hidden.

As Alma settled in her camp to do her work, she would soon find out the hard way that she is not alone.

As she enjoyed her peace of watching the shifting myraid of colors within the Aurora Borealis, she will find that the ground is becoming distant from her. Slowly, but surely, she is no longer on the ground. This is likely because her arms are being held as a pair of arms wrap underneath her arms in an embrace.

"Allmmmy..~"

It is the sound of the ever familiar boy, who is in the air. A pair of ice wings form over his shoulders, flapping rapidly.

Yep, Sanel took her off the ground.

Alma Hyral has posed:
She'd sniffle, wiping her nose against the back of her mitten.

She'd always been a sickly child, and delicate. If not for the status of her family and the absurd number of practiced White Mages within it, she might not have lived to adolescence. Now, she was able to take care of it in a more proactive manner before it got worse. A soft white glow sought out the source of the congestion, and gently purged the virus.

She'd blow her nose, then looked back at the Borealis. Sighing, she decided to get back to work...

/YOINK/

"OHSWEETCOSMAWHATISGOINGON?!" She'd been snatched right off the ground. At first came the reflexive flailing.. that would do no good given that she was so delicate that she had no chance of actually harming the boy. Then she fell still, but started to hyperventilate in a panic. As she hyperventilated, she'd look frantically about, and actually start to assess the situation. /Almmy../. Oh. This caused her to hyperventilate even faster. If her healing spell wasn't still lingering to correct the acid/base imbalance caused by it, then she'd have probably already passed out.

HE HAD ICE WINGS!?

Well that certainly ruled out several other options.. So she calmed down her breathing, and tried to say in a soothing voice, "Sanel.. Sanel.. Why don't you just put me d..."

Then she realized what she was saying and hastily amended it, "NONONODONTPUTMEDOWN!"

She had no good options here without breaking a promise to her dead sister. And so after a while, she just relaxed, with a plaintive whimper escaping her lips.

She was suddenly glad that the program she had running automatically uploaded her data to her account on Mognet at set intervals.

She'd be even more glad if she survived to /enjoy/ that fact.

Sanel has posed:
The wings flutter around as Sanel holds onto Alma, embracing her with a squeezing hug. "Yaaay! Sanel and Almmy can play again~!" The young boy looks down at his friend, happily looking her over.

...Of course, she is panicing.

Put her down?

"Okay!"

Wait, don't!

"Okay!"

Sanel is tilting his head over, hearing her whimper. She is scared, isn't she? Realizing this, Sanel is slowly fluttering down to the ground, taking Alma with him. He then releases her as both feet hit the ground.

With two claps, the wings disappear in a burst of snowflakes. The boy tilts his head over, "Sanel is happy to see Almmy again." The boy looks her over, then he looks at the device where her programs run, "...What's that?"

t

Alma Hyral has posed:
As he set her down, she'd clasp a single hand across her chest, trying to control her breathing.

It took her a while to slow it down, but as she did, she watched Sanel's ice wings disappear. Something about that seemed.. off, to her. Magic like that didn't just come instinctually so easily, and if so, it was typically /wild/, it lacked control. Like Kyra's magic. But this boy had near perfect control.. despite appearing to have some developmental problems.

Even so, the boy's enthusiasm was infectious. She soon dropped all suspicions, and managed a wan smile now that she had her feet on the ground. "I'm.. h-happy to see you too S-Sanel. D-Did you come to p-play? Y-You ran off so q-quickly l-last time."

She'd follow his gaze, and then stepped closer to her telescope. "This is a t-telescope, I use it for l-looking at the s-stars."

Currently she had it focused on Altair, as one of the brighest stars of the southwestern sky, it made for a good focal point to leave off during her breaks. She'd show him how one looks through it, then gesture for him to do the same.

She'd then look at the laptop, and gesture with it. "And this is h-how I r-record my data." She'd tap a few keys, starting an early compile of the data, which then broke into a rough three dimensional map of that part of the galaxy for it's quadrant. She'd place a hand on his shoulder, gently turning him to show him the map of the stars from a three dimensional model. Then she'd tap the keys again, they would shift to how the world of Ivalice sees it's stars. Given that the star maps from all versions of Ivalice were plentiful, and unchanged, she was rather certain they were all from the same world. Either way it made up a significant amount of her data.

She'd then tap the keys again, and the viewing perspective changed, to show him how they're seen on her home world.. "S-See?"

Sanel has posed:
Despite the developmental problems, the boy does seem to have significant control over his ice magic. It's less 'focused' and more 'natural', as if it was clothes to the boy.

The frigid temperature felt wonderful to the child, who felt the snow crunch to his boots. It is seeing Alma's smile that causes his smile to brighten. When she asks him about playing, the boy nods repeatedly. "Nnhmm!"

His eyes drift towards the telescope as Alma focuses on it. The boy pads closer to it, then he observes her looking through the device. Sanel leans forward, an eye leans straight into the glass. The visible eye gets a good look at the scope.

He gasps and he beams, "Woooow..." He stares in awe over the sight of Altair. A very bright star, if not the brightest.

Sanel soon turns his attention towards Alma as she starts tapping on the keys. With the manifestation of the 3D map before him, "Ooooh..." When she rests a hand to his shoulder and shift him towards the map, the boy stares in awe at the stars shifting.

Sanel is reaching for the model, only to grunt as his hands pass the image. He sticks his tongue out.

Nevertheless, Sanel brightens after seeing the change of the images. "Woooow...!" The boy looks at Alma, "Almmy is amazing~!"

Alma Hyral has posed:
She'd actually giggle at the boy's reactions as he looked through her telescope, and tried to play with the model on the laptop, putting one hand over her mouth as she did so. She actually felt pretty relaxed now, despite her previous terror. "No, no. I'm.. I'm a nobody Sanel."

She'd reach out to squeeze his shoulder lightly. "But I'm glad you like my work. I'm trying to use it to locate pieces of worlds. To restore not just mine, but everyone's... yours too. I wish I knew what world you came from. Maybe then I could find out where you belong."

She'd actually pack up the the laptop, and the telescope at that point, but with no intention of actually leaving.

And while she might regret this later... she decided to ask, "What's your favorite game? What would you like to play?"

She regarded the boy with a warmer smile.

Sanel has posed:
The shoulder is squeezed briefly, which draws the boy's attention. Sanel's head lifts up towards her, tilting his head to the side. He considers her comment about his world and where he would belong.

"Sanel is not sure where he belongs. Sanel does not know where he is from. However, Sanel likes it better this way. Sanel does not know why, but it is darkness otherwise."

For a brief moment, as Sanel looks up at the warm smile of Alma, there is something that catches his attention.

When he looks at Alma, he is no longer seeing her briefly. Instead, he sees a person that looks unfamiliar to him. At the same time, she /feels/ familiar. Sanel tenses slightly. However, as the image returns to Alma, Sanel relaxes a bit more.

"Sanel plays Hide and Seek and Tag." The boy brightens at Alma. The boy does, however, lift his hand to grasp over towards hers as it remains at his shoulder. "Sanel generally plays those games because they are fun! People like to roughhouse, but people run away when Sanel tries to play with them."

Alma Hyral has posed:
She tilts her head to the side, considering his words. She pushed up the glasses on her face by the part of the frame closest to the bridge of her nose, her expression thoughtful,

"It might be, for the best.. sometimes the memories of what came before, hurt the most, you know?"

/We don't want her seeing her body, not before the morticians are done. It'd be too much for the girl./

"I slept for a long time in the darkness.. Sanel."

/Darkness washes over her mother and father, who are fighting little fiends. At the time.. she thought they were creatures of Chaos. And then she too was washed over by the coming tide of darkness, and knew no more./

"...and it might have been, that I was about to let go. I don't know.. but then I heard a voice, which led me out of it."

/Kyra?/

She doesn't notice that look from Sanel, just smiling obliviously, even if it's touched by sadness.

When Sanel speaks up, she'd just laugh lightheartedly. "Well, if you're careful, we can play those games. You're too strong for your own good, sometimes, Sanel. You understand that, right? I.. I break pretty easily, I'm still recovering from a fight I got dragged into. So what will it be? Hide and Seek, seems like it'd be alright.. or we could even do a snowball fight, if you throw /gently/."

Before she came to this world, she'd never even truly seen snow, in the tempestuous climate of Ramuha. She found Shivan culture so exotic, generally, and a snowball fight was just something she'd always longed to do.

Sanel has posed:
"...Sanel never heard a voice."

The boy smiles a moment later, as if thinking it all over. "Sanel woke up at the beach near Traverse! It had snowflakes coming down!" As if to demonstrate, the boy starts separating from Alma briefly.

Following the clap of his hands, the wind picks up around the snowy town of Narshe. Alma will find that the wind has picked up. However, the wind is not fearsome as the child's strength would belie. His arms open, allowing the playful wind to carry the flurry of snow around.

This time, the snow that picks up flutters high into the sky, reaching over towards the aurora. It changes into tiny snowflakes that sprinkle down, all of the fragments of those snowflakes slowly descend.

Sanel muses, then he approaches the girl. He recalls that if you kiss someone, they will feel better.

...

Both hands cup to her cheek and she will find that the boy's lips press towards her own. "Almmy will feel better." Though, in retrospect, someone did not tell the boy that it was supposed to be the forehead.

Alma Hyral has posed:
"Noone else did, that I know of.. I asked around."

She had no idea what it meant. Perhaps it was meaningless. It was more important that she'd found her way out, after all..

And then the boy summons snowflakes, and she puts both hands to her mouth, giggling. Whatever the boy could do, it certainly didn't seem like evil /Chaos Magic/. She'd look up, watching the snow flurry drift around herself, shimmering in the light of the aurora borealis. She actually put out her tongue briefly, to try to catch one of the snow flakes, before allowing it to dissolve, then closing her mouth, to look back Sanel's way..

Only for him to cup her cheeks, tell her that she'd feel better and kiss her right on the lips. She was so shocked, that at first she had no idea what was going on. She'd never been kissed after all. And then she'd take a half-step back, her eyes wide. She had a single hand to her mouth as she tried to comprehend what just happened. That certainly wasn't how she imagined it occurring.. did he mean to kiss her? Was it an accident? He was a boy nearly her age, despite his mental faculties.. did he like her, like that? No... no likely not, he seemed so innocent, and he'd stated that she'd feel better. Thoughts of angrily storming off, or chastising him faded away from her mind in an instant.

She'd step forward to Sanel, with a gentle smile. "No, no.. Sanel, to make someone feel better..." She'd cup her hands around his cheeks, and then pressed her lips lightly on his forehead, like a light touch.

"What you just did.. it's meant for someone really special in your life. Some girl you like so much that you think you might be in love with them...when you're, older."

Not the best explanation, but she was a hopeless romantic at heart. She listened to sappy love songs from the World of Manhatten, after all! And he was about her age.. but he didn't seem mentally like someone her own age.

Sanel has posed:
The snowflakes continue to spill downward, coating and dancing in the air. Te descent of the snowflakes added to the purity of the atmosphere. He tilts his head over, his smile growing.

It is then that Sanel feels the body tense. The young man cannot tell of her shocked state, but Sanel does feel her tense Whenever she is tense, it is nothing good. However, when he retracts the kiss, the boy can see that gentle smile on her face.

He reflects upon her statement. Someone special in his life. Someone he liks that he may be in love. When he's older. Sanel doesn't get it.

After she cups her hand along his cheeks and presses her lips to his forehead, Sanel offers a curious look. "Almmy is sad inside, isn't she?" The expression is not sad. In fact, it is a bit inquisitive. "...Almmy is strong, but doesn't feel strong. But Sanel knows Almmy is strong."

The boy beams, "Sanel likes Almmy. So, Sanel will cheer Almmy up."

Alma Hyral has posed:
She'd give him a puzzled look, at first, when he makes that insightful inferrence about her life. And then she'd just smile sadly at the boy, sitting down on the nearby stool she'd had set up. She let the snowflakes drift around her with her eyes closed, before she takes a deep breath. "Yes, she is. I did a really terrible thing once.. Sanel. I tried to follow in my sister's footsteps and.. went too far. I touched upon something that we're not meant to have.."

She'd open her eyes, then the palm of her hand, to catch a few snowflakes. "...at first I thought it was a wonderful gift." She grips the snowflakes in her hands, allowing them to crumple and melt. "...but such always comes at a price. And then my sister, Tira, passed... I was withdrawn from school. I lost everyone I loved but Kyra to the darkness. This whole terrible chain of events began when I just.."

She'd remove her glasses, and steeple her hands, putting them in front of her eyes as she leaned into it. "No, I'm not strong at all Sanel... I relied on my siblings until I was twelve. I never had any other friends.. so when I was sent off to school, I had no idea how to stand on my own two feet, so I tripped over them more often than not. It's ironic, that I was already a klutz before, isn't it? Like the world was predicting what I'd be like. I get nervous around people, Sanel, so I had no friends.. until I came to this world...and now that I have people to rely upon.. they don't want me to rely upon them."

A sniffle, it seemed so silly, to pour her heart out to a boy who seemed so simple. But perhaps it's only because she thought she could.. She wiped her eyes with the back of her mitten, putting the glasses back on. "I think you might be w-wrong there Sanel, but t-thank you..."

More innocent cheer from the boy, and after a short moment, Alma just reflects the smile, despite her eyes being sad, still. "How?"

Sanel has posed:
"Terrible thing." Sanel repeats briefly. However, his voice falls silent, no longer deciding to say a word. His eyes instead focused on Alma asshe speaks. He only gazes at her with curiosity.

She lost someone. Alma is a girl that lost a lot to the darkness. The boy watches her remove the glasses and then settled. This is a young girl who has poured a lot of herself to him. The boy who seemed so very simple. A simpleton. However, the young child considers her words.

"Almmy has friends now. Almmy can only go up. Almmy has friends that support her, yes?" The boy smiles, "Sanel believes his Almmy will be very strong." Wait, his Almmy? He still has his issues on claiming people.

Not even giving her a chance to reflect on how he is so inquisitive or the fact that he just called her his Almmy, Sanel instead reaches for her hands to pull her along with him. "Sanel and Almmy will have a snowball fight! Sanel will be gentle!"

Alma Hyral has posed:
"I hope so, Sanel." She wipes her eyes one last time, before putting the glasses back on. "But I don't think I'll be strong at all. My friends.. they're the strong ones, the kind ones. I'm just the selfish, bratty girl who can only dwell on her own problems."

What, /his Almmy/?

She'd give the boy a puzzled look again. Was the kiss from earlier actually so innocent? It's like he was claiming her to be his girlfriend, or something. No.. couldn't be. Who would want her anyhow? It's just innocent talk.

She'd allow him to pull her along gently, and actually seemed cheerful again, caught up in the moment of just innocent fun. And after she'd walked with him to whatever spot they went to, she'd start to scoop up, and pack the snow as well as she could. She'd never done this before, so she can only estimate what size a proper snowball was supposed to be. She was doing this so very slooowwwllyyy. Leaving her quite vulnerable in this game.

Sanel has posed:
Who knows why Sanel refer to those who receive his pet names as his. Who knows why he claims those that he takes in. Maybe it is out of innocence. Maybe he is claiming her to be his girlfriend.

Who knows what goes on in Sanel's head. After all, it would only lead to more questions than answers.

Nevertheless, Sanel did what he need to do. He brought the girl out of the depths of her inner turmoil to actually play with him. In a way, it would help her as well as keep him entertained. It is a tad odd how attuned he is to certain emotions. Nevertheless, the usally absent-minded child could only watch her scoop up the snowball of what's proper.

He could make a large one, but he has that voice of Mount Mount in the back of his head telling him to exercise control. In order to match her condition, Sanel had scooped up a small amont of snow.

He winds an arm back....

And gives a gentle swing of the arm. An underhanded throw for the snowball.

"Alllmmyyyy... caaatch~"

Alma Hyral has posed:
Catch?

She turns her head suddenly, and the underhanded swing still hits her right in the middle of her face, the snow spreading out all over her glasses. The force was still significant, for /her/ at least, but not enough to break them at least. Momentarily stunned, she'd then begin to giggle after she recovered, wiping off the snow with one hand, "Oh you're going to get it now!"

And then she throws... and it's short. Short by a few feet in fact. "Or maybe not! Looks like you're much better at this game than I am...but I just need to get some..."

And then she'd quickly scoop up a large amount of snow in her mittens, and after loosely packing it, tries again, as her next sails over his head.. "...practice. Hmph!"

She was really terrible at this game. But at least she was having fun.

She'd bend over to try and make a new one...

Sanel has posed:
The boy held back as much as he could. It is honestly difficult to try to control himself. However, his Almmy is frail and Sanel did not want to break her. So, the boy decided to go as gentle as possible. Although he was as gentle as he can be, his incredible strength proves true when the snow belts hr across the face, but it thankfully doesnt break the glasses.

Alma is giggling.

When Alma prepares her counter attack, Sanel is prepped. However, what he did not expect was for the snowball to fall limp.

"Umm..."

 ??? ???

Sweatdrop.

She scoops another one and she sails it straight his way.

It goes past his head.

"Almmy is getting better. Sanel thinks Almmy will have to improve her throw!" The boy giggles, and then he run around.

It is nice to be able to play a game under this aurora. It is a small simple town that the snowy weather occupies. It makes a nice night for the two to play together and let their worries fall away.