Snowball Fights???
There was a big snowball fight! They had to participate, they HAD to. There was no way Anik was missing out on a snowball fight. Not now, not ever. They were going to kick ass and take names, all with the help of their tokotas. This was going to be a great winter event for sure, if Alaina even knew how snowball fights worked
He was waiting eagerly for her, dressed in his warmest winter gear, with his roan tokota Bishop beside him. Bishop was equipped with the best stuff for a snowball fight, bags at his side that could store plenty of snowballs, and even a crate on his back for them, secured with harnesses. Anik was damn well prepared for them to be able to get started.
This was exciting.
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Snowball fight?
This was a concept that Alaina barely understood. Sure, she could catch the gist of it for the most part just by the name itself, but there certainly did linger some doubts in the long run. Needless to say she found herself unwittingly signed up for it, yet again being dragged off by Anik’s antics and his insistence that he learn more about the customs here.
Not that time was necessarily a custom… right?
Either way she wasn’t nearly as chipper as her companion from where she rode on War Boy’s back, the young sphinx trying to get a good look at everything curiously. Beside her was Sunset… ears pinned back a bit all things considering but this would be a good experience for them both with socializing.
Or so she figured. They both needed it. “What are you supposed to do with this?” She finally uttered when Anik came into view, warm and toasty in her own clothing even as her tokotas both peered at Bishop and his rider curiously… much more familiar with the tokota himself over the man.
“You look like a fool.” Ouch.
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It was sort of a custom! It could become one anyways, if Alaina somehow liked this. He didn't mind doing a snowball fight every year after all, that would be really damn fun. Maybe more than one too? That'd be awesome! He'd love that.
She rode up on one of her new sphinxes, and he giggled. It was good to see him in person, and even better to see Sunset. He seemed a bit ill at ease, but more comfortable than he'd seen him. Maybe the socialization training was slowly starting to pay off! That would be pretty awesome.
"You make snowballs, and a snow fort, and you pelt the ever loving shit out of the other team with the snowballs." That was a good summary really. Nice and short, sweet and to the point. She'd understand that for sure.
As the duo approached, Bishop moved calmly forward to sniff them both, posture nonthreatening and relaxed. He just wanted to know them better, not freak them out.
"Yeah well, you don't look much better." He laughed with a grin. "You're gonna get your ass knocked right off him if you stay up there." Anik was amused by it all, moving to take Bishop's reins and lead him towards where he'd started on their snow fort a few hours before he'd moved to where they'd arranged to meet. "I started on the fort, but we'll have to build it up some more, and get started on making snowballs too."
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It was difficult to say if she’d agree with that. While Alaina might like the combat aspect of it – might remember days gone by from it – it was too… too much like play. Perhaps that was it. She really didn’t know how to play in such a way.
The giggle caught War Boy’s attention and he wriggled a little bit because of it, trying to get just a little bit closer in order to investigate. While he wasn’t nearly as friendly as Riggs was he was a showy little beast, always seeking to impress. Maybe he’d succeed in this!
Sunset, on the other hand, wasn’t really much interested in all that was going on. While he was calmer than before he still wasn’t the most adept when it came to social situations, wavering a bit before holding his ground as Bishop approached. His sniff back wasn’t exactly friendly but it wasn’t hostile either – perhaps he’d always be a somewhat solitary male but as long as he could work with the others his handler didn’t mind that too much.
“Why?” A pause. “What is its purpose?”
Maybe Anik would be able to give her an answer to that one, maybe not. Instead she audibly snorted. “There no one around yet aside from you and me. I sincerely doubt you are going to attack me.” There was a harshness to her words, an ugly bitterness, but she finally moved to dismount the sphinx and head over with her two tokotas in tow.
“What do I need to do?”
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Of course the sphinx immediately got his attention and he reached out to let him sniff his hand before petting his snout gently. What a fascinating looking creature, he liked him already. If the beast intended to show off and win favor, he would definitely be weak to it for sure.
Seeing Sunset return the sniff, that was really damn assuring at least, and he loved it. The beast was making progress. That was good.
"To have fun, get some excercise, adrenaline rush y'know?" He smiled warmly. "It's a good way to kill time in the winter, it's fun, I promise." She needed more fun in her life really.
Anik raised his hands, palms out and fingers spread wide. "Woah hey, hey. No need to be harsh about it, I'm just makin a point." Walking wouldn't kill her. "Staying up on him would have just gotten you a snowball to the face in the fight is all." Which would have been hilarious, but bad.
"We gotta build our fort up, make some nice walls to hide behind. Then we'll need to make snowballs." He moved to unhook the crate from Bishop's back, and set it on the ground behind the start of the fort. "Let's work on the fort walls first, then worry about our ammunition." It was useless without walls of course.
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Needless to say it was safe to say that War Boy certainly liked the attention he was being shown. He wriggled a little bit more, something he’d surely adopted from watching Riggs, but there were no massively friendly shows of affection. He didn’t know the man yet for that.
Time. More than anything else Sunset probably just needed enough time in order to be able to grow comfortable enough with all this. It was slow going but progress was progress, right?
“Fun in unnecessary.” Besides, Alaina and Anik had two very different concepts of fun. “The rest I could very easily get while out hunting. And hunting would provide much needed use too.” Pelts and meat for the village. Why did this provide? Nothing.
“You assume I intended to stay on him when things started and wasn’t just riding him over here to get here before it did.” Oh no, the handler still certainly wasn’t in the best of moods at all in the long run. Ugh. It seemed like her companion had once again forgotten that she didn’t exactly live in the village and had to travel further to get here.
Oh well. Didn’t matter anyway.
“Fine.” The tokotas hovered a bit, curious to see what the silly humans were doing this time, as Alaina finally crouched a little bit on order to help try to pack the snow and build up the defensive walls. Not what she’d call fun at all but it was work and that aspect she did like.
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Seeing the sphinx wriggle like Riggs did had him laughing warmly. That was cute, really cute. He liked this tokota already, and was glad to have him along so he could get to know him better. It was going to be a joy to work with him, he was sure of that.
Sunset's progress was good. Slow, but good. He was proud.
He shook his head to her. "Fun is the most necessary." When would she learn that? You needed fun in your life to make it worthwhile, make it good and enjoyable. He knew she'd had a hard life but she needed to learn to lighten up. She was doing that slowly enough so far at least.
Meat and pelts were good, but fun was important too. They had plenty of time to hunt. With all their new tokotas, he was sure they needed the experience.
"I'm just teasin' you, ya know?" He hadn't been serious at all, but obviously she was cranky. This was supposed to be a fun outing! She needed to relax and enjoy it, which he hoped she would as things got going. Maybe the combat aspect would delight her, who knew.
Bishop joined the others in curiously watching their trainers, curious about this odd behavior. What were the humans up to?
Finally he moved to begin pushing heaps of snow forward to build up the walls, grinning the whole time. He called upon his roan to help him push a few things together, but mostly worked with Alaina only. Their fort was going to be badass, plenty built up and able to protect them for sure. When they'd finally finished the walls he would move to start making snowballs, piling them gently in the crate. "Now we stock up on ammunition and get ready."
By the time the fight actually started, he was sure they would rock it. They had tokotas with them of course, and that would help. Not that tokotas could throw snowballs, but they could sure help none the less. This would be fun.