2025 Winter Holiday Prompt
Snow Strike (11) : While out, a sudden snowball smacks you squarely--then another, and another--launched with uncanny accuracy from nowhere you can pinpoint. Whether it’s one unseen assailant or an entire invisible team, the barrage is definitely targeted, and attempting to throw snowballs back or defend yourself only seems to escalate the attack. Sometimes the snowy onslaught will follow you if you run; other times, stepping past a certain point makes it abruptly stop, as if whatever’s behind it has lost interest. No matter how intense it gets, the bombardment always dwindles after a few moments, leaving you cold, dusted in snow, and wondering who--or what--decided you were the perfect target for winter mischief.
Actinolite was patrolling one night on his own, practicing trying to do so without his fiancé by his side. He knew he couldn't get used to Tetrataenite always being there because he might not have been able to have been all the time, especially if they got assigned different duties, missions, generals, or sub-departments. Still, he thought he could handle things well enough on his own. He was starting to get the hang of being a Negaverse lieutenant, and without having to worry about what Tetra thought of him or the methods he employed, his quota of collecting energy might have even been a little easier to meet.
All of a sudden, a lump of snow hit him in the head out of nowhere. Actinolite froze, blinking, before getting pelted by another and then another, both against his back. He slowly turned his head to glance over his shoulder, frowning, only to find there was no one there. At least no one he could see. Either they had some way of being invisible or they were very good at hiding.
Not one for simply taking attacks without retaliation - even if it was something as simple or silly as a snowball attack - Actinolite put his smoking pipe in his pocket, reached down to scoop up some snow to form a ball, and launched it back in the general direction the others seemed to have come from. It was immediately responded to with three new snowballs aimed very accurately at him, knocking him down on his butt in surprise at the speed and force with which they were thrown. He doubted his assailant was a mere child. Even if they were, though, he wasn't about to hold back in his revenge. Actinolite was too vindictive and spiteful to do such at thing.
Reaching down once more to collect enough snow to create more ammunition, the suit-wearing lieutenant kept a narrow eye out for anyone who might have tried to snipe him with more snowballs while he was readying himself to respond with another attack. He wondered if it might have been an unsuspecting civilian who didn't know he had superior physical abilities and reflexes due to his powered state. He didn't think he could sense an energy signature coming from the direction the snowballs had come from, but then again, that just could have been because he was still learning how to distinguish energy signatures, being new to the whole Negaverse agent thing, and was terrible at it as a result.
More snowballs began to hit his back. That was it. That meant war. Actinolite got down behind some nearby bushes and began to build something of a wall beside them that he could throw from behind because the bushes were too tall to throw over comfortably while kneeling or crouching down. A low wall made of snow suited his purposes much better. Once that was completed, he continued to create as much ammunition in the form of snowballs as he could, stockpiling them on the other side of the wall. Meanwhile, on the other side, the barrage of snowball attacks began to get even more intense.
Bronze Coffee
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