trans_9 | Mission 02 - Stacy Says Follow the Yules

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Mission 02 - Stacy Says Follow the Yules

There is a resounding mental alarum that sounds through the ship. Nearly "deafening." Lights flash from places for extra emphasis, making it impossible to ignore.

||Attention, Attention. All personnel please report to the Observation Deck. Attention, Attention. All personnel please report to the Observation Deck. Attention, Attention, all personnel...||

It's entirely likely that she won't stop repeating the announcement until, well, everyone reports to Obs Deck. Outside the windows, a very Earth-like planet is visible, hanging in space. The mouth in the huge statue opens, revealing a screen. On it, the dossier for the mission flickers into display, understandable to every person there. Smaller copies of the dossier appear in holographic form in front of everyone.

The planet's stats, right next to a rotating holographic picture of it, marbled blue and green, are as follows:

Planet Designation: Earth-78734XM45
Status: Terrestrial, H-class.
Non-sentient life: Extensive flora and fauna.
Semi-Sentient Life: Yes.
Sentient Life: Homo Sapiens. [Various translations of "human" appear here so everyone understands it]
Water: 69.5% of the planet's surface.

Climate: Earth-like, in the throes of a mild nuclear winter [Click here for cultural equivalents for non-Earth cultures.]
Landscape: Varied.
Air: Normoxic concentration. Slightly elevated levels of carbon dioxide.

Air Pressure: 101.3 kPa (kilopascals) = 14.7 psi (pounds per square inch)
Sky: Blue. Often overcast.
Sun: A class G2V, yellow star.

Warnings: Wildlife and plant-life can be hazardous. Humans can be hazardous. A human cultural and legal database is available. [click here]

Mission: Revive the spiritual entity at the North Pole.

--

Following that, there are various maps and things visible. The version of Earth this world is may be very recognizable to some, but vast cities dot its surface.

||Attention, podmates. Attention.||

Apparently Stacy wants their attention.

||It is critical that you pay attention at this time.||

A few people will be able to avoid the call by being in the right place at the right time, but most will be gathered up on Obs Deck.

[ooc: Organization Post | You can post into the gathering thread. I'll add more subthreads with explanations of aspects of the mission as we go. Note: If you don't have time to post to this mission briefing but still want to have your character in the plot, that's fine. You can just pretend they were there the whole time. If you DON'T want your characters to be in this plot altogether, however, don't have them in the briefing--Stacy could have missed snagging them.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Tim and Jaime have been holding their own pretty well, despite the snow spout, and the avalanches of snow.

Until Dick tackles them to the ground. "Hey!" he cries out, laughing. "No fair!"

"Whoomf!" Yeah, he's tackled. "It's just as unfun on the ground as it is when it's being thrown at you! ...And also likely unfun when stuffed down your coat."

Which he proceeded to try and do to Dick.

...Oh Katara. AND Julian. You both hit Superboy. Superboy who has no powers right now, on account of the lack of sun. Superboy who has pretty good aim anyway.

He tends to aim for the face, by the way.

One of those snowballs might also pelt one Lex Luthor in the back of his bald, stupid head, and pretty hard at that, but while there's far more mean-spiritedness to that, Kon didn't sink low enough to hide any ice chunks in there or anything.

It wasn't like Julian had meant to hit you that time, Kon. But since you so kindly got his attention with a snowball to the face, now he's actually aiming for you.

And he will gladly use his tk to turn you into a snowman, dude.

And Zuko will gladly use his firebending to melt all your snowballs.

"Hah. You guys have nothing on a platoon of waterbenders."

Is it possible he's actually enjoying himself? It just might be.

Lex actually took it surprisingly well. Despite him being known for a massive ego, he took getting hit with a rogue snowball all in stride. He didn't bother to participate in that mess in the moment, though, only deciding to distance himself further after getting hit. He did have more important things to prepare for, after all.

As Nanoha was the only one in the air still - as far as she knew, anyway - she found herself facing a barrage of snow courtesy of Julian. Using a Barrier would have been cheating (and more importantly, not nearly as much fun) so the aerial mage tried to weave between the attacks, almost entirely succeeding... but not quite, as one glanced off her shoulder.

In her aerial avoidance, though, she'd swooped down closer to the ground, reaching a hand out to try to scoop some snow up. Magic was all well and good, but it was just more entertaining to throw it yourself, right?

Nanoha picked the wrong time to bend down close to the ground. There would be somebody waiting for her.

The ground heaved from underneath the human female as Aeneas exploded to the surface like a breeching whale after a wounded seal, sending with him his own wave of slush and powder and excited screeching.

“Surprise!” came a pleasant trill as the alien gracefully cleared the floating one and disappeared within the deep snow behind her.

Nanoha's reaction time was quick - she began to pull up - but not quick enough. She gave a startled little yelp, and as she started to climb into the sky again, it became clear why: She was covered in a very wet, very cold coating of slush and powder.

Okay, maybe that hadn't been such a good idea after all. She still had snow in her hands, though, and she whipped around to throw it in the ... general direction of someone below her. Sports weren't really her strong suit.

Jamie hadn't had a chance to answer Nanoha before - he'd gotten caught up in trying to dodge some of the larger amounts of snow being tossed around. Once she comes down far enough that Aeneas gets her covered, however, he's highly amused. "Och, ye look much better covered in snow, lass."

Since he's looking at her general direction, he does see the snowball she throws - and attempts to get out of the way. He's not quite quick enough, and it pastes him good on the side of his neck. Wincing slightly, he rubs at the area. That stung a little more than he had anticipated. Still, he's not badly hurt, and he grins up at Nanoha - then goes to scoop up more snow for another attempt at retaliation.

Edited 2009-12-28 05:58 (UTC)

"Then take a good look," she called down, swerving to the side to dodge his retaliatory strike, now only 15 or 20 feet above the ground... and while her words are taunting, there's a smile on her face and a barely-restrained laugh in her voice. "You won't see it again if I have anything to say about it!"

"Stardust Fall."

Yep. It's another magical barrage of snow, everybody!

"Women," Jamie says with a snort. "Always wanting ye to take a look at them."

And then, of course, he's promptly buried in the latest magical barrage. Nanoha's correct, at least in part. Right now, all he can see is the snow covering him.

"Pfhbt."

The past few minutes of had been rather exciting. Whomping and being whomped by Aeneas, trying to avoid Katara's spells, and now Nanoha using her magic to hit them all. Snow-buried Billy was not a particularly happy Billy. In his opinion, the magic-users were exploiting an unfair advantage.

But since when have unfavorable odds ever stopped him from trying? He had no convenient inventions or useful super powers to use here, but he did have acrobatic ability. Careful to avoid trampling Jamie, he leapt, flipped, and fired his icy projectiles from mid-air. With the improved angle, maybe he even hit a flier.

Anyone listening heard an 'oof' as he sank into a snowdrift, but he was fine. He'd landed in a good place to make more snowballs, which he immediately started doing.

Marco hadn't been involved in the snowball fight before now. Not because he had anything against snowball fights. He'd just been wondering around a different patch of snow, grumbling about stupid ships that decide to go sending them on stupid "holiday spirit" missions. Come on, how stupid was this?

...He definitely noticed the fight when he got hit by some of Nanaho's snow that went wide. And as far as Marco was concerned, a snowball fight was infinitely more interesting than running around giving people "holiday cheer".

So, with a grin and a quick scoop of some snow, Marco sneaked up around the edges, keeping out of everyone's line of sight. Until he got close enough to the snowdrift to pelt the person inside - Billy - with snowballs.

"H-hey!" Okay, so maybe it wasn't as safe of a hiding place as he'd thought. At least he'd gotten the snowball-making done in the few undisturbed seconds he'd had.

Billy poked his head out for a moment, saw a flash of something that might have been the culprit, and retaliated with a snowball or three. You'll get yours soon, Marco, even if it's not from Billy or right now.

But one of those snowballs or three happened to head astray and... well..

The Chozo probably never thought Samus would need a windshield wiper for her visor. Brushing the snow off as best as she can is go.

With a snigger, Marco quickly scuttled back to avoid Billy's retaliation. But he then noticed the familiar suit of his Team Leader...(well, he hadn't actually seen Samus wear her suit yet. But he'd played enough Metroid games to be able to recognise it.)

He was so going to get pelted for this. But it would be worth it, so Marco didn't care. So he bent down to make a new snowball and hurled it at Samus.

Samus was far too busy to engage in childish activities such as snowball fights and did not throw any back.

...

She did, however, make full use out of her artillery. She switched to the ice beam and fired away. It was aimed at his feet, though, so while Marco himself wasn't frozen, there was now a nice large patch of the slippery stuff underneath him, which probably made it difficult to stand on.

Marco, meet snow. Snow, meet Marco. Because thanks to Samus, Marco was slipping on all that ice and going face-first to the ground.

There's an abrupt mini-snowstorm in Jamie's immediate area, as he's decided that the fastest way to be able to see again is to shake the snow loose. Now that's accomplished, he ducks behind a snowdrift and takes a moment to pack a proper snowball, then pops up to see who he can actually hit for a change.

He's just in time to see Marco fall, and winces a bit in spite of himself. Ouch.

But - it is Marco. Jamie can't resist, and hurls the snowball in that general direction. He will be nice, though, and wait until Marco is actually up and mobile before making the attempt.

Hi, Jamie! Have a tiny blonde person hiding behind the snowdrift with you, because she doesn't want any part of this giant snowball fight.

Rob has joined Wyn and Jamie behind the snowdrift, but he's grinning like a madman despite the fact that he's shivering.

"We're on a planet. A real planet. With real snow. And real cold. Oh my God this is amazing." He picks up a handful of snow and just lets it crunch and compress between his fingers.

Hello, people behind a snowdrift! Meet Aeneas. He is oh so happy to meet you.

"I know, is it not wonderful?" trilled the alien, head poking out from the mound, "Perhaps it would be better enjoyed if we teamed up?"

Back over with the boys, Dick squirmed and ducked his head down to try to keep the snow out of his jacket. It didn't work very well.

"That's it!" he shouts, grabbing some snow and trying to do the same to Jaime. And well aware that Tim's more likely to double team him than the Beetle. It was a sibling thing.

As long as she's not getting focus fired, Nanoha's aerial mobility makes it fairly easy to swerve around the occasional snowball thrown her way (even if she is shivering a bit from Aeneas' assault). In lieu of massive barrages, though, she's settled for single precision strikes - every so often, people down on the ground might find snow forming itself into a little plank and flinging itself at them. But it's from far enough away to give them plenty of time to dodge... usually, anyway.

Re: SNOWBALL FIGHT! Jump on in y'all

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