who thought moose guards was a good idea anyway?!

[rebella]

Who: Ella & you!
Broadcast: Audio, Fleet-wide?
Action: On Planet
When: Now

Hello? Is this working?

( Ella's keeping her voice low. Something whines near her communicator. She make a hushing sound in return before continuing to talk. )

I really hope it is... uh, if anyone's out there, do you have any... pointers... on how to escape a guard deer when you've been treed in an ice sculpture with a fox?

( Problems where children demand your assistance in rescuing their lost fox. Problems when you have to listen to direct orders. There' a loud THWACK and Ella tucks the fox in closer to her abdomen and pull her legs up while she hauls herself up another branch of the odd sculpture. There's one heck of a big moose huffing and circling this ice-carving tree-bird-angel she's climbed into. )

Comments

[rebella]

( Iko probably has 100% better luck than Ella even getting out here, keeping her squirming not-fox friend half buried in her sweater while the moose throws its head, hitting the sculpture with its horns again. It looks up at them both, squinting, not seeing well, but definitely sensing Ella and her furry companion are still there. )

You, fuzzy, are way more trouble than you're worth.

( The grit-tooth statement earns another squirm and whine from the fox, and an ear twitching from the moose. At least there aren't any ogres around? Thoughts like that make it easier for her to say "it could be worse." )

[betterthananetdrama]

[It takes a liiiittle bit longer than she'd like, but let's be real. A girl and a fox in an ice tree is pretty easy to spot.]

Hey!! [Iko waves, jumping up so Ella can see her. And possibly attracting the attention of that deer.]

[rebella]

( Ella recognizes her, giving a small, frantic wave with the hand on the arm wrapped around an ice branch for stability. Her other arm is holding the arctic fox with the blue collar close.

The moose hears Iko, though what it smells is very odd. Something... but regardless, the idea of INTRUDER comes to mind, and the moose snorts, moving in its ponderous way closer and closer toward Iko, hesitating every so often to turn its massive head back toward the tree where it had that feeling OTHER INTRUDER was still hanging around. )

Careful! I don't think it can see all that well, but it can hear you, and probably smell you too!

[betterthananetdrama]

Got it! [Iko gives a cheery mock salute to Ella before shouting again.] Hey, you big... deer! Thing! It's much more interesting over here! I've got some nice, uh... [shoot what do deer eat.] ...plants? And things?

[rebella]

( The moose still seems to waver at first, torn between the treed target on its territory, and the loud one shouting at it. There's no actual comprehension of what's being said, of course, this moose wasn't blessed in the complicated thought processing department, which meant the whole game was pretty much in their favor. In fact, enough in their favor that the moose, perturbed by the calls and starting to walk with firmer purpose toward Iko, seems to forget about Ella for the moment.

Which is when she tells the fox to hush (it wanting nothing to do with being held still, squirming and trying to nip at her arm) and starts climbing down the sculpture very, very slowly... and following the command of one of the people who'd responded.

Ella drops down into the snow and books it at a run toward the fence, running away from both Iko and the moose. It's following her track back to that portion where she slipped in after the furry miscreant she's running with tucked up snug against her chest with a white fluffy tail billowing out from beneath her shoulder, a white flag that would have been saying surrender if she wasn't, well, trying to win back her freedom.

The moose starts noticing Ella's run, coming to a shambling halt and turning its ponderous head back toward the sculpture, ears flicking forward and back, then swiveling to track her progress across the snow. )

[betterthananetdrama]

[Iko will consider that a success! She'll stay where she is long enough to be sure that Ella can get away and the moose won't case after her (though since the moose has totally stopped now, that shouldn't take long) before heading back where she came from too.]

[rebella]

( Ella meets her out on the street proper, snow dusted and holding a fox that's either resigned by now or is bidding time for its next escape attempt. She smiles at Iko. )

Thank you! I don't know how long I'd have had to wait before that deer wandered off on its own. I don't think that sculpture needed a human shaped icicle addition.

( She makes herself go stiff like she'd been frozen, the fox turning its head to look up at Ella when she does so. It's all a jest as it is. She loosens back up a moment after. )

[betterthananetdrama]

[It takes Iko a minute to realizing that it's a joke and she's not actually freezing up (because, hello, android over here), before she grins.] No problem! It would have really sucked if you'd been stuck up there forever, right? Why were you chasing this little guy anyway?

[rebella]

( She glances down at the fox. He glances back up at her. )

A little boy lost him and asked for my help getting him back. He should be around here, somewhere... Have you ever heard of keeping foxes as pets?

[betterthananetdrama]

Don't think so. But this place is pretty... different. [You know, if the snow and ice and guard deer weren't enough of a hint.]

[rebella]

( Different is such a good word for it. )

It is. The whole ice skating part, on the other hand, is a lot of fun. I was waylaid coming back from skating down one of the drives to look for this beast.

( A small heft of the fox, and she glances around. Time to find the owner. )

[betterthananetdrama]

Oh, I haven't tried that yet! Once you return him, we should do it! Or, I guess you can can do it again.

[rebella]

( She smiles, picking up her pace as she tries to trace her way back to the owner. )

I'd like that. It's the kind of excitement I feel I like best.

( Thankfully, finding the young boy who owns the fox isn't all that difficult. He cries out when he sees Ella returning, running up and holding his arms out for his fox. She hands him over, getting a choked up thank you from the little boy. His imperious demanding attitude from earlier has fallen to the wayside. He's that glad to be reunited with his fox.

Life's funny that way. )

Ready to go find ice skates we can borrow?

[betterthananetdrama]

[Awww, what a cute kid! Iko naturally does not know that said boy was being kind of a brat earlier, but either way it's nice to see how happy having his fox back made him.

She'll grin at Ella once the boy is gone, nodding.] Let's go! You know where to get some?

[rebella]

( Give her a moment to think and orient herself to what little of this city she's made herself familiar with. Eventually she claps her hands together, more to warm them up than anything else, and nods her head to the left before moving that direction. )

This way! If I'm right. If I'm not, we'll be on a short adventure before finding ourselves any skates to use. Will you mind either way?

[betterthananetdrama]

Nope! I love adventures. [Especially since this is not likely to be an adventure where there's a risk of them, you know. Dying. She doesn't like those adventures quiiiite so much.]

[rebella]

I'm not sure if I love them or not, but I'm glad to be going on this one.

( She continues on, turning down another road and winding them back toward one of the frozen expanses of water. She squints at the signs they're passing, looking for one with the right illustration. )

Have you been on many before?

[betterthananetdrama]

Not really. [pause] Well, I've been on one, but it's waaaay more intense than I was hoping for. I guess I like them more in theory. Or, you know. Shopping adventures. Stuff like that would probably be fine.

[rebella]

They're a little easier to handle when you don't have to worry about being eaten along the way. Oh! I think this might be the place.

( Pausing outside a small shop with skates in front of it. She heads on inside, pretty sure they'll figure out if this is where they want to be or not soon enough. )

[betterthananetdrama]

Is that a thing we should be worried about? [Iko's pretty sure she wouldn't be tasty, but...

Oh, this looks nice! Iko will follow her in, immediately looking at everything] Oooh, look at these! [She's over by a pair of fancy skates, with sparkle all over them.]

[rebella]

I think those are the ones you have to buy. The ones for loan are over here.

( She says once she wanders by Iko again, glancing at the sparkling skates and suppressing another smile. All that glimmers may as well be covered in fairy dust.

The skates under the "for lend" sign are older, more worn, but serviceable. Ella lifts her head to find the shopkeep, a grizzled old woman who walks over with a huff and a curious expression in her deepset eyes. )

Both of you? Eh... you should find something that works in there.

[betterthananetdrama]

[Oh. Those are not nearly as shiny. Siiigh. Oh well, someday Iko will have lots of money to buy pretty things. Maybe. Today, they have an ice skating adventure that will probably not end in death. She can be good with that.]

Alright, thank you! [Even though she's a bit put off by the lack of sparkle, Iko makes her way over to try and figure out what her shoe size is.]

[rebella]

( Ella searches for what ends up looking like a child's size. Joys of having a drop of fairy in her family history - tiny feet. It's kind of ludicrous, but she does find ones that'll fit. After which, she heads out the side door toward the iced over, groomed river the locals use as a throughway. )

Let's try the river!

[betterthananetdrama]

[oh gosh her feet are tiny. how do they even support her, are human feet supposed to be that tiny? are iko's feet huge??

oh, well, this isn't looking like a terrible thing so Iko will grin cheerily and follow.] Alright!

[That's easy enough, but once they get there-] Sooooo... how does this work?

[rebella]

( Ella plops down onto a mostly snow-free ice-bench. )

Once we lace these on, we try to stand and walk like awkward birds over to the smooth looking ice. Then we fall down a bunch while trying to learn how to glide along looking half as graceful as the people who live here. ( She smiles, raising an eyebrow afterward. ) Laughter is probably the best salve for bruises, until we can get back to the ships and find some more herbal remedy to help out.