J u s t i n e
H e l e w i s a
B e t t y
Stien was a bit disappointed to see the majority of the competition flee after they had arrived not too long ago. Would they be considered anymore? Well, Stien was more interested in an entertaining time than she was in any sort of reward.
Besides, stealing this spot from Betty because Dalton posted arriving first was good enough for her.Justine shook her head in disapproval at the kneeling Betty.
“You genuflect over such a trifling matter. It is unnecessary.” The blue-clad girl then grinned, offering a hand.
“Rather, you have saved me the trouble of proposing the alliance myself. Perhaps I should show veneration instead?” she gave a hearty laugh, pulling Betty back onto her feet. Stien would then give it a firm shake.
“You may address me as Justine. My beloved and I strive only to craft the finest and most awe-inspiring man of snow. If you would aid us in this endeavor, we would gladly have you.””B-beg pardon?” Betty was pretty sure she misheard this girl’s name. There was only one Justine after all, and she was the enemy. The chances of there being another one present wasn’t very likely.
”I mean, yes!” She clasped Stien’s hand between her own.
”A colossus of some sort would be good! I was even thinking of something, well, bigger still.” She looked back at the castle, and her grip on Stien’s hand got a little tighter.
”Um, anyway! My initial plan was to roll some snowballs down the hill to make them bigger. But it looks like you’ve already made a pretty big one. and Dan just provided me a pretty big pile sooooo...” Her eyes drifted to the massive snow boulder. No adjective she could ascribe to it would do the thing justice; when standing by Stien it was too big to fit inside her field of view.
”Where’s your um, your beloved?”“Even greater than a colossus? Fwahaha! I like your attitude!” Justine agreed with a pat on Betty’s shoulder, and then looked up at the huge snowball she had been standing next to.
“Yes, I believe most would find this one suitable. But I won’t accept it! We can still yet go further beyond!'' She maneuvered behind her snowball and gave it a strong kick that managed not to get lodge in it, which sent it rolling down the hill into the pile of snow Dan had cultivated.
“Until even our very competition stands in awe! Fwahaha!”The snowball was already large, but it was only getting bigger as it rolled down the hill. Betty was quick to run up behind it and dig her finger’s into it’s surface. Because the snow ball was so big, it’s weight naturally meant that it compressed itself as it rolled. So the snow was dense and easy to get a hand hold in. As the snowball tumbled forward, Betty was pulled towards the top of it. Of course, it was just a matter of time before she descended down the other side and risked getting crushed under the snowball’s massive weight. The Cradle agent was quick to bounce to her feet and run. With the snowball rolling away from Stien, Betty just had to run towards her to maintain her balance. But as the snowball got bigger, she had to run faster to stay on top.
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Helewisa hadn’t figured anything out about the whereabouts of her obnoxious lover from anybody there and they almost all left before she could question anyone aside from Lily’s group. She was a bit irritated that had to happen at the one moment she would need people there, and Dan had left before she could question him. Wisa mulled over calling Dan over before deciding that Stien was a capable young girl and didn’t need a babysitter. It isn’t like she would manage to hurt somebody here. But still, where did that girl go?
Suddenly, Helewisa heard the distinct and somewhat distant laughter of Justine that answered her question.
“Thank goodness!” she sighed in relief. It seemed like she didn’t actually believe Justine could function without a babysitter. She had always been energetic for anyone’s good, after all.
“Wisa! Intercept!”As Wisa turned around to see what it was Justine was doing, she thought to herself aloud,
“Intercept? What does she mean by th---GRGHHHH” Unfortunately, her thought was cut short as a snowball the size of a small moon suddenly crashed into her and assimilated her into its body.
”Oh shoot! Did we hit something?” Betty was still running with her back pointed towards the direction they were rolling in. The only difference now was that she had to jump over a bump in the side of the snow moon once per rotation.
It kept rolling for a fair amount of distance afterward. Soon it lost its momentum and came to a slow stop. Helewisa was not visible, though.
Betty was holding her knees and panting. For all the things magic could do, it didn’t make breathing this dry winter air any easier. Every breath ripped the moisture out of her lungs and stung with a bitter freeze.
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Justine wasn’t too far behind the snowball by the time it stopped. She clicked her tongue in disappointment.
“You would think after a millennia that one would be more capable of playing ‘catch’. Bah! It is of no importance. I will need to check if she has sullied our ball of snow,” she told Betty, observing the mammoth snowball for a few seconds.
After about half a minute, one could faintly hear something coming from within it, followed by a hand bursting out of the snow near the bottom. Justine grabbed a hold of it and with one strong yank, pulled it out. Naturally, they had snagged one Helewisa, who struggled to get onto her feet while she caught her breath.
"Ha... what is... wrong with... you...!" she gasped. Things were quiet for a few seconds until Wisa could finally breathe normally, at which point she strode up to Stien and grabbed her by her costume.
"You failed to tell me where you went, and you made this snowball without me?" Helewisa didn't seem the slightest bit upset about being bulldozed by a runaway snow boulder.
Justine moved Wisa's hands off her before responding in a confident tone.
"You seemed so invested in your work that I thought it better to leave you be." Stien grinned, patting Helewisa on the shoulder much as she did to Betty earlier.
"I did not mean to vex you so. That is why I began with a little one so that you would not miss out! And behold! I have gained for us an ally with an unyielding spirit!" she motioned towards Betty, who Wisa hadn't registered was there until this point.
Betty was starting to recover from her run when both girls looked in her direction. She smiled and waved to the two, who she could just barely make out given how high up she was.
”Um.” her voice echoed off the distant hills. She was really high up.
”Did you wanna help us make a few more?” From perturbed to excited, Helewisa's mood switched in an instant.
"Of course!" she had to shout so that Betty could hear, before turning and giving Stien a big hug.
"But... you said this one was 'small', didn’t you?" Helewisa took some steps back to try to see the very top of it, barely managing.
"We might need Dan to make some more snow...""Should it come to that, then we will ask for his aid. I would sooner fear the lack of space before I worry about that." Justine glanced up at Betty, smiling.
"The view up there is a wonderful one, I assume?" she laughed.
"I'm sure it shall be even more so once we complete our masterwork! When you finish admiring it, you should come down and... come to think of it, I don't believe you've graced me with your name?"By this point, Betty was sliding down the side of the snow ball so that she could meet her companions.
”Oh! I’m sorry! I was just super pumped and-” She took a deep breath.
”Betty.” She extended her hand towards the newest addition to their team..
”And your name?” Helewisa offered a smile as she accepted the handshake.
“A pleasure. You can call me Hilaria.”This prompted a weird look from Justine, who confronted her about it.
“Why do you insist on doing that?” she asked, a disappointed expression making itself clear. Although Hilaria’s smile became a bit forced, she did not answer Justine, instead finishing the shake as if nothing happened.
“Well,” Justine apparently decided to move on.
“Now that the introductions are out of the way, what say we get started? We may go over the exact form of the man of snow as we are collecting.”…
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…
The collection was proceeding rather smoothly for the trio. Justine created a ball which she rolled around as it got bigger and bigger, Hilaria made use of her ‘boogie board’ by pushing it around almost like a snowplow, and Betty used her superior dexterity to roll up several small balls, which she would then mash into one with the assistance of her wind magic. Still, they had some ways to go before they had enough. At least, that’s what Justine said.
At some point, Justine and Hilaria somehow managed to collide during their task, mostly due to Hilaria not being able to see around the snow she was plowing. Justine looked down upon Hilaria with mild irritation, but more bewilderment.
“Is that all you have to show, Wisa?” she asked, noticing the small amount of snow behind her plow.
“At what point did you become so lackadaisical?” Clearly offended at this affront to her hard work ethic, Hilaria stood up and pointed over towards a large pile of snow she had been pooling together.
“You dare suggest I am slothful? How about you pay attention to what I’ve gathered? It's much more than you have!” she claimed strongly.
Justine walked over to the pile, then looked back at her ball.
“You say this merely because the form it takes gives one a false impression. Naturally, I have obtained more snow!” she retorted.
Narrowing her eyes, Hilaria took the snow she had grabbed with her plow and added it to her pile, which she then began shaping into a ball much like Justine’s using a combination of manual effort and her gravity spec. Shortly after, a huge ball of snow stood where the pile had been. She crossed her arms and gave a triumphant smirk.
“Hmph! As you can now see, I’ve got the most amount of snow!”Justine silently walked back to her own ball of snow and rolled it over to Hilaria’s so as to compare the two. She had to crawl up to the top of it by this point.
“Fwaha! I spoke only the truth, as you will undoubtedly see once you bear witness to the disparity in size between our balls of snow!”Hilaria climbed up her own ball and when she reached the top, she inspected the difference between them.
“How can you be so blind to think yours compares to mine in the least? It’s risible, is what it is!”Justine’s response came after a moment or two of reflection.
“Betty!” she called out, realizing that only a third party could decide this.
“We require an arbiter to settle this matter, if you would allow us to use you in such a way.””Well.” Betty rolled over to the two on one of her many balls of snow.
”Okay, if it stops the fighting and refocuses your efforts on collecting snow, I’ll do it!” Betty immediately got to work examining the balls of snow. She compared them to one of her much smaller balls of snow. Moments later Betty looked at both balls from the top of the other, as if trying to get both of their perspectives. Finally she hovered in place between both balls and lined them up with the horizon.
While it was true that both balls were big, there was one absolute truth about them Betty would have no trouble spotting. It was, of course, the fact that both of them somehow managed to have snowballs that were…
”They’re the same size!” Betty looked between the two ‘lovers’
”I think we have enough snow, anyway. everyone’s moved onto the next event. We can’t let our enemies pull too far ahead!” She balled her hands into fists.
”It doesn’t matter who’s plowed more snow or has the bigger balls! What matters is that we crush our opponent’s under our heels! Without that, the biggest pair of balls doesn’t mean anything!” Justine rewarded Betty’s statement with a chuckle.
“It is as you say! It would seem I allowed my competitive spirit to cloud my judgment and it has cost us precious moments. For that, I shall work harder to make up for it,” She hopped off the top of her snowball and landed with elegance. Hilaria followed suit but because she wasn’t as AgIle, her landing was far more plain.
“We should start thinking beyond balls.” Helewisa suggested.
Justine raised an eyebrow.
“What do you propose?”“Well,” Helewisa began.
“We have had snowballs on the mind this entire time, but not once did we consider the things that go into making a snowman. You do not just put balls together and call it a day.”“You are referring to wood, are you not?”“Precisely!” Hilaria nodded.
“We’ll need the biggest, hardest wood we can find. That is the bare-minimum necessary to make sure this guy really is a snowman.” Helewisa gave the snowball another slap.
“This guy can fit so much wood, really.”“Aye, I see that clear as day. But we still require snow. Who do you propose collects the wood?” Justine asked, prompting a smile from Helewisa.
“It is not as if I wish to gloat, but I am quite capable when it comes to handling wood. I’ve experience in small, medium, and big-sized wood,” Wisa claimed.
“You wouldn’t believe how many people like building log cabins in remote places.”Justine smiled.
“To settle down in an isolated area with nary a worry in the world… The appeal most certainly doesn’t escape me,” she seemed to be fantasizing about something.
“But I shall cease my prattling. I do not have specific experience with handling wood, but I doubt that sort of touch is required.””It should be one of you two for sure.” Betty did not like to admit her weaknesses, but if this group was to get closer, she’d have to.
”I was more of a nature watcher than a woodsman. I remember watching some beavers getting wood down by the river. I wanted to join them, but I was worried I’d scare them all off. ” With a sigh, she looked at Stien.
”Um, I would like to roll some snow with Hilaria, if you wouldn’t mind collecting the wood?” “Oh? I see…” Hilaria almost seemed disappointed. Maybe she really was confident about her skills in wood-handling.
Justine’s smile was wide.
“It is the natural choice,” she nodded to Betty.
“In that case, I shall not linger any longer. Leave all of the wood to me!” Justine surveyed the area for a suitable tree and then darted off at blinding speed to it, leaving Helewisa and Betty to their task.
Helewisa, sure the giant balls of now weren’t going to roll away without some amount of outside influence, felt safe enough to run over to grab her shield (boogie board).
“Stien didn’t make a very convincing case, you know,” she said.
“I wonder why you’d choose her? Maybe I’ve caught your eye~?” Hilaria didn’t actually appear to be upset by Betty’s decision and it was pretty obvious she was just joking around. She appeared ready to start plowing again but waited for Betty’s response.
”Huh?” Betty’s eyebrows practically jumped off of her head.
”Oh! No! No, nothing like that!” She waved her hands with a chuckle.
”It’s just that you seem a little easier to talk to is all. Stien seems really um, ambitious. Among other things.” Betty started rolling up another snow ball.
”I didn’t have the heart to tell her why I’m so passionate about this.” She stopped and looked to Hilaria.
”How long can you hold a grudge?”"That is a strange question, isn't it?" It prompted Hilaria to think on the subject a bit.
"It's hard to say with my memory so fragmented," she shoved her 'shield' into the ground and began working, but spoke loud enough for Betty to hear while she did.
"At least a few centuries, I would imagine."”Just centuries?” Betty’s cuckled. She knew that magical girls could live a long time, but surely no one here had been around that long. Right? RIGHT?!?!
”Well, it might be selfish, but a grudge is why making the biggest snow sculpture is important to me.” She broke eye contact with Hilaria to focus on the lump of snow in front of her. They were being so through that there was only sand left behind in some spots.
”It’s Justine.” She confessed.
”I can’t forgive her for what she did to me. It’s just not possible. And when I see her gleefully playing around in the snow, making massive structures, I just-” Betty grunted. Her snow ball was at least twice her size now, and she was still rolling it bigger.
”A-anyway, I didn’t really think that was something to tell your beloved. But I wanted to tell one other soul; I’m really determined to beat Justine. ”"Justine would certainly find the situation disappointing," Hilaria had already begun forming another pile.
"I'm sure she would stubbornly attempt to get you to forgive and forget, too. She is the sort to give everyone a second chance if they'll take it," Helewisa spoke almost as if she were jealous of that.
"Her heart is always in the right place, so it was for the better that you avoided letting her know," Hilaria stated.
"Even after the dagger has been pulled free, the pain lingers. I know it is difficult to care for much else."Her pile became difficult to distinguish from a hill before she spoke again.
"A fire in the heart is a fire in the heart. If you have strong feelings, even if they're not exactly 'good', it'll still propel you forwards," Hilaria scratched her cheek.
"I'm confident that our snowman will be great, is what this old lady is saying," she even chuckled.
”I see.” Betty would never consider Justine von Visceral a forgiving type, but maybe she was towards her closest allies.
”You know her well then? You wouldn’t, um, mind telling me a bit about her, would you?” Helewisa perked up.
"Of course I am! We've known each other since I was... two? Or maybe it was three? In any case, it has been a long time since then and she does not appear to have changed much since we last met," Wisa put a thumb to her chin as she recalled memories that came to her.
"But she is very much one to stay true to the image she projects. I doubt I could tell you much you wouldn't already know," she admitted before continuing.
"Justine really does not care for subtlety at all. She is extremely prideful and outspoken, and she almost always gets her way. She's beyond competitive. Naturally, the words "Lose" and "Justine" don't often go together and she goes out of her way to ensure that it remains that way. Hmm... was there anything, in particular, you would like to know?"In truth, there was nothing the Cradle agent wanted to know about Justine. The more she learned about her, the more she hated her.
”Well, maybe one thing.” Betty took a moment to consider how to word this. It was clear that Hilaria sympathized with her, but she was friends with Justine too.
”I guess I’d like to know how to take her down a peg. You know, um, make it feel like we’re on even footing? Got any ideas?” She looked ahead.
”I just have one idea, but I don’t know if you’d wanna help me with it.”Helewisa couldn't stop grinning, as if something Betty said had entertained her. Whatever it was, she didn't say anything about it. Instead, she shrugged.
"All I can really say is that it depends on the plan and how entertaining it might be."”Um, um!” She had difficulty getting her words out. She was worried she’d be judged for being petty, but Hilaria had been a kindred spirit so far.
”Justine had some people build a castle over there.” She pointed at it.
”We have quite a bit of snow, so I was thinking we could, um, build something over it? Like, make something that totally covers the castle. L-like an explosion!” Her voice was practically trembling with anticipation.
Hilaria couldn't help but tilt her head once Betty brought up a castle. She would sooner form actual, positive relationships with people and allow people who weren't Stien or Isabelle to call her by her real name before she would believe ANYONE could recognize that blight on the snow Stien made was a castle. But then it dawned on her -- Betty wasn't talking about Stien, she was referring to the vampire, Justine! And in that case, everything Helewisa had just said was not true of that Justine. That Justine was, as far as she was aware, not a pleasant person at all.
The correct thing to do in this situation would be to inform Betty that she was mistaken. But that would not be what Hilaria chose to do. Instead, she grinned mischievously.
"Ah, yes! It's only natural she would respond to such an over-the-top, flamboyant gesture when her ego is so massive! An explosion would be nice... but it does seem out of place? There was not an abundance of those when castles were in fashion. Mmm, maybe instead we could forge maybe... a giant dragon that overshadows Justine's structure?" ”A dragon?” Betty scratched her head.
”Yea! And it can be breathing fire all over the castle!” She pounded her fist into her palm.
”I guess a mushroom shaped cloud would have been kinda hard to do. Well, we should probably start before Stien gets back. Otherwise I don’t think we’ll ever finish. I think she’d be content to build forever.” Betty rolled her snowball towards the castle before shaping it into a giant foot. A mix between the foot of a bird and a reptile, with three large toes that were taller than most men.
"O-oh, that's right. Betty, let's save the tail for last," Hilaria asked, inspecting Betty's work on the foot in detail. She would start working on the other foot a little later, but it would more or less be identical in size and appearance. After both feet had been made, Hilaria took a step back to appreciate their work so far and to see how they should better proceed.
"Mmm... should the dragon be standing up straight or bending over the castle? Well, I think that's placing the cart before the horse," she looked at Betty.
"Do you prefer western or eastern dragons?"”I mean, I’m really into Japanese stuff. But I think it would be best if we took advantage of all this snow and made a western style dragon. Have you ever seen puff the magic dragon? Cute movie, that’s kind of what I’m going for with this.” She was rolling the rest of her snowball over to make the lower torso of the dragon.
”He’s got a huge belly and a long skinny neck. And cute little wings. And a biiiig chin!” She looked to Hilaria.
”Have you ever seen it? Pete’s Dragon? The 1977 version, not the remake, I never saw that.”Hilaria thought about it but soon shook her head.
“I spent more time rollerblading than I did watching cinema during that period, if my memory isn’t failing me again,” she explained, beginning to help Betty with the lower half. When it was close to completion, she would effortlessly use some of her own snow to add to the top half, where she would focus on shaping the arms.
“I suppose I will try to keep those traits in mind but let me know if I stray too far from what you were thinking. I was imagining a more imposing dragon at first, but I admit that the image of what I assume is a ‘cute’ dragon, incinerating a castle with its unyielding flame, sounds more entertaining. It might even make for more humiliation on Justine’s part.””Maybe.” Betty guided the winds towards their sculpture to smooth out its shape.. She ‘cut’ grooves into the dragon’s underbelly to mimic how a cartoon lizard’s stomach is typically drawn.
”I think that it’s important to humiliate justine, but it also has to be something that’s still us, you know?” Hilaria was still smoothing out the snow that made up the arms, but paused to ask,
“What is not ‘us’ about an incredibly big, yet cute dragon? I suppose we could make little slanted snow eyebrows so that he looks angry,” she said as what was hopefully a joke.
”Oh no! I think you’re right. That’s probably not nessisary!” Making the wind behave the way she wanted was not simple work for Betty. She was restricted to only doing a small area at a time, and one that was relatively close to herself. She had to make use of her extreme agility to cover the entire surface of the dragon. It was something she was up to the task of doing, but it took effort. She wasn’t like Sue, who could just summon a typhoon with a casual wave of her hand.
”But you rollerblade, for real?” Betty was about to run off to grab more of her snow boulders.
Hilaria had finished the shape of both arms, which were noticeably small in comparison to its body. Sort of like a tyrannosaurus rex. She shook her head at Betty’s assumption.
“Did,” she answered.
“Rollerblading hasn’t been especially popular in a decade or two, so I have not been invited in some time. Now it’s just the movies, video games, or the beach,” she sighed, perhaps thinking them as monotonous.
”Well, we should do something like that some time! I used to do it a lot during the summer before, well, becoming a magical girl. But I’d love to do it again! And then we could rent Pete’s dragon and see if it’s as good as I remember it being! I honestly don’t remember anything other than the dragon. We weren’t very rich so we only had a VCR with a few old movies-” Betty coughed, suddenly becoming self aware of how silly she probably looked due to her abundance of excitement.
”I mean, if you want to, that would be cool.”Hilaria addressed Betty’s unsure invitation with a nod.
“I suppose it may be nice to see if I can still move as I did before.” Betty pumped her fist, but tried to hide the gesture.
In the distance, the two would hear the occasional rumbling. It didn’t appear to be from any of the other guests at the party from what they could tell.
“She comes,” Helewisa stated, not even bothering to look away from the dragon she was working on, but it appeared she was concentrating on something else entirely. This was made most evident by the fact she began thinking out loud.
“...was there not a plant-based girl attending the party? I hope nothing comes of that... “ Helewisa would sigh, before asking Betty an innocent question.
“Do you know who Poison Ivy is, by chance? I believe she gets upset at the sight of hurt nature.”It took Betty a bit longer to regain her composure, as she was a bit more concerned about the noise.
”You mean from Batman? Yea!” With the torso and arms finished, Betty had moved on to shaping “Puff’s” swan-like neck and head. The jaw was tricky due to it being much larger than the neck.
”Only because I watched the cartoons though, Mom and dad were pretty restrictive about what I could spend my money on.” She cleared her throat.
”But I think Harly Quinn was my favorite batman villain. Only because I found her kind of relatable. ”“I only ask because there is little doubt in my mind Stien was particularly subtle about her search for suitable wood. Yet now that I have thought about it, her specialization doesn’t dictate her personality. It would be ignorant to assume that she is, as I believe people nowadays call them, a ‘tree hugger’,” she mused.
“Not to mention this dimension is fabricated. I suppose I am stressing over a trifle,” she shrugged.
It soon became evident that the jaw wasn’t going to stay in place without some more support.
”We should make the flames, finish the head, then we can work on the tail.” Betty scratched her head.
”Hey! I haven’t done an ice sculpture yet! Maybe we could collect ice blocks and make the flames out of that? Just a rigid ice structure? I wonder if that would be frowned upon...”“I do not see why it would be. If an argument is brought up we can simply bring up the fact that people use sticks to mimic arms in most cases. The majority of this dragon is still snow,” she said as she moved to inspect the huge jaw this dragon was going to have, and then nodded.
“I noticed a lot of girls find a strong jaw on a man rather attractive. But I feel as though we’ve crossed the threshold for Puff here.””Heh! Yea, I guess!” The cradle agent rubbed the back of her head.
Hilaria looked at Betty.
“About the tail... you don’t mind if we leave that to Stien, do you? It should serve as a pacifier.””That sounds reasonable! A wood tail would look kind of cool, maybe?” Betty wasn’t sure how that would work, but she was part of the team, so she had to do part of it.
”Okay then! Let’s get some ice blocks!”Between the two burly girls and the might of wind and gravity, it wasn’t too hard to get the ice blocks they needed.
”Oh, I didn’t put much thought into how these were supposed to go together.”Hilaria moved away from the ice they had just retrieved and inspected the dragon’s mouth.
“Admittedly, I also did not put as much thought into the application. We could have built around a rough ice skeleton had I done so. Instead, my best guess is to have the spew of flames graze the ground and act as a support,” Hilaria fired off a quick suggestion.
“Naturally, if it cannot stand on its own it is a failure, otherwise, I would simply use magic to remedy this.”Although it was not as loud as earlier, the two would hear a crash in their proximity as a few large logs rolled into a mound of snow, managing to stop. Stien was nowhere to be found initially, but the two would find that she had soundlessly made it behind them. She glanced at the dragon-in-progress silently, before looking at the other two.
“This is your work?” she orbited it, inspecting and then noticing something else, which she pointed out.
“This as well?” she asked, looking at the castle.
”This, as well?” Betty followed her finger to the castle that was directly beneath the massive dragon.
”Oh! Um, no, It just felt right to have the dragon sieging the castle!.” She looked at Hilaria and then back at the newly arrived.
”Um, sorry for starting without you. I was just getting kind of anxious. B-but we did think that we’d leave the tail for you to finish. Right, Hilaria?” Helewisa opened her mouth to agree with Betty but was silenced when Justine rose a hand.
"Cease," she ordered, turning away from Hilaria.
"I do not need to hear another word." Justine was now staring at Betty with a serious look on her face. She emitted a fierce, tense aura. Betty could do little more than cower before such intensity.
"You," Stien addressed Betty.
"You... were absolutely correct to begin!" Suddenly, Justine laughed.
"Fwahaha! I became so enamored with gathering quality materials that I forgot to start building! I suppose I should get started and put my all into the tail, then!" she lept over to the pile of logs, grabbed one as though it required no effort, and then began comparing it to the dragon.
Placing a hand on Betty's shoulder, Hilaria gave a strained smile.
"It's on us," is all she said before looking to work on the ice flames.
”R-right.” Betty wobbled a bit as she stood up.
”We should start on that.” Betty did her best to stack the ice blocks up to the massive dragon. One by one, she rushed the blocks in place and stacked them up to meet “Puff’s” large head. The castle worked to her benefit since it gave her a head start in height, as the flames were going to cascade off the top of the castle anyway. Her superhuman agility also came in handy when she tried to fuse the blocks. She simply rubbed the top most block along it’s lower counterparts to build up enough friction to melt one side of the cube. Then when she stopped, the cold weather would freeze it together into one solid mass. It took several ice blocks to get the height she desired, but it was finally done.
”It’s a little uneven, but I think that works for us!” She used her wind magic to cut away anything that didn’t look like a dragon’s flame.
”How are you making out, Hilaria?”Glancing over, Betty would notice Hilaria was comparatively behind her in progress. She had managed to stack blocks of ice and fuse them as well, but the act of carving them was less intuitive for her as her gravity spec was not suited for precise cutting.
“In hindsight, grabbing an ice pick would have saved me quite a bit of trouble,” she lamented.
“Without a tool, I might require help.”Meanwhile, Justine was hard at work behind the two. She had finished comparing the size of the log she had to the dragon and found it to be lacking. It was decided she would need to somehow lengthen the log in order to prevent it from looking ‘stubby’. Using merely her own two hands, she carved out some of the top of one log and then part of another so that they would fit together.
Betty looked between the two girls before looking back at Hilaria.
”That’s not a problem! I’ll be back shortly with all the basic tools! Actually-” She handed Hilaria a duffle bag.
”I wasn’t sure what I’d need, so I grabbed one of everything. You can use these while I retrieve a second set of tools!” She sprinted off without waiting for as much as a confirmation.
Helewisa found herself, duffel bag in hand, with a lingering gaze in the direction Betty ran off to before the sound of Justine’s antics finally entered her mind. She turned to face her body toward the proud girl while also plunging a hand into the bag and searching for a pick.
“How goes it, Stien?” Wisa moved her eyes up from the bag, noticing, finally, what Stien was doing. She frowned.
“Is that going to hold alright?”“Assuredly!”Shrugging, Wisa decided to make use of the tools Betty had given her and began working on carving out the details of the flames in the ice with a confident hand. It would be plain to see that she had more than a little experience with the task. However, it was not long before the sound of her picking away at the ice ceased. She glanced around the area, particularly for any sign of Betty, before speaking up.
“...are you real, Stien?” she asked in a low, uncharacteristically insecure voice.
The noise Justine was making from moving giant logs suddenly stopped.
“I admit that I do not have an answer prepared for that question, my dear Wisa.” Noticing the tone right away, Justine’s response was not as jovial as she had been up to this point. Helewisa didn’t break the short silence that came as Stien thought about it.
“In this moment, I, Justine Rufina, am constructing a dragon made of snow, wood, and ice with my beloved. If there is some cloaked meaning behind your inquiry, then it has escaped me.” “No,” Hilaria shook her head even though Justine couldn’t see it.
“Forget I ever asked, it was naught more than a doltish thought.” Wisa gave a forced chuckle and then the sound of the pick against ice could be heard once more as she returned to work on the flames. It wasn’t long before Betty returned with her own tools.
…
…
…
The finishing touch was a pair of tiny wings made out of two halves of an ice block that Betty pushed into the dragon’s back. With the wings in place, the trio stepped away from their work to examine it. A multi-material snowdragon with a wooden tail and frigid breath stood before them. At the very least, they had made the largest “snowman” in the area.
”I think that’s mission accomplished!” Betty folded her fingers together and stretched her arms.
”You guys up for skating? It’s probably the closest thing they have to rollerblading around here..”With a wide smile after seeing the fruits of their labor, Justine stood with a puffed-out chest.
“I doubt the sincerity of any person who claims this dragon does not leave them in awe,” she then gave a hearty laugh.
“Although this was an entertaining task itself, I would think we have earned ourselves a share of time doing something more relaxing. Skating it is!” she agreed, eying Hilaria.
“Unless you have any complaints with the idea?”“None at all, Stien. But I may be a bit rusty so I’m worried I’ll slip and fall,” Wisa added.
“It has been a couple of decades since I’ve skated on ice, I think.”“Fwahaha! You jest, do you?” Justine slapped a knee.
“One or two scrapped knees are nothing new to you! Tell me. Are you still clad in bandages more often than not? A fortune we’ve spent on supplies to support you and your blunders!”Helewisa could only sigh in response to Justine’s laughter as it filled the air. But she did not seem angry in the least that her girlfriend had brought up an embarrassing point about her. Instead, she gave a playful slug to Justine’s shoulder and encouraged her to concentrate on the new task at hand, and so the three of them would set off with the intention of skating.
