Dank Darkwick - outside

Farts.

Take it elsewhere, captain

6:19 PM

Just beyond the snowy hedges lining the path up to the dorm, Jo's bundled up and sitting in the freshly powdered snow. She sniffles quietly, and to anyone walking past it might seem like it's just a reaction to the cold. Jo packs a ball of snow tighter before she rolls it around again to collect more. There's already a sizeable one beside her that seems to form the base of what she's building.

Seiya tries to slowly walk on the snow behind her as to not alert her attention. He looks for a surface and decides to knock on a bench. Knock knock knock-knock-knock. "Do you wanna build a snowman?" he says in fucking broken ass English, if you can even call it that.

Jo's sniffling abruptly stops. She turns around to see Seiya standing at the nearby bench. Her lips wobble a little. "...been a while since I've heard that," she croaks, managing a slight smile. Jo could be talking about several things: the song, the English language, Seiya's voice. She turns back to her project then pats the snowy space next to her. "Come on. You can name him if you want when I'm done. My sister and I used to call them Falo because it was Olaf backwards. We only went a couple trips to the snow when we were younger."

Seiya didn't come with much snow gear, mainly just wearing a big jacket and boots with his usual uniform, so when he tried to sit on the snow he quickly stood up again, feeling the back of his pants get wet. Well not wet yet but when something is cold and you think it's wet because humans don't have holoreceptors. "...I'll probably just stand." Luckily, he did bring gloves because he wasn't that stupid. Seiya began to roll the snow into a ball.

In no time, they manage to build a very round snowman. Or, well, three big snowballs stacked on top of each other. Jo starts wandering around, looking for sticks and stones. She finds two suitable sticks to start with and plants them into the snowman body to make arms. Jo has to stand now too to meet their creation's height. After taking off her own scarf, littered with snowflakes and ice, Jo wraps it around the snowman's neck. "Very stylish," she comments. Jo tugs one of her gloves off using her teeth to wipe at her face. It's hard to tell what's just frozen tears or merely snowfall on her skin.

.... 'You were crying.' he wants to say. ... "What should we name this guy?"

Jo shrugs, staring for a while at the snowman. Then she wanders off again and manages to find some pebbles. She places them on the topmost ball to represent eyes. Then she slips off her beanie, the same one she sometimes wore as Maver, and sets it on the snowman's head. "How about... Subzero?" she jokes. But she shakes her head. "No. Hm. Frosty? Nah, basic. Maybe... Laurent. Yep. I like Laurent."

Seiya visibly makes a face at the name 'Subzero.' ... "Do you wanna go inside and talk?" Okay, it's getting hard to hide at this point. Seiya's face and legs were cold and shaking.

Jo blinks in surprise, glancing over at Seiya. There's a little amusement that lights up her face when she sees that he's shivering. "Damn. And here I thought I struggled with the cold here. Must be getting used to it." Stuffing her spare glove into her pocket, Jo pulls out her phone to snap a picture of Laurent the snowman. Then she waves for Seiya to follow her into the dorm. Jo can't actually remember if he's seen her room before.

https://discord.com/channels/1316555770204127273/1335756525574164542

The world is quieter when there's snow. Everything is muffled, muted, save for the wind singing lowly through the hedges and trees of Frostheim. Jo's scarf around the snowman she made with Seiya flutters on the air. The wind becomes a sudden gust and the scarf ripples violently on the air as a heavy fog blows in. When the freak weather passes, the snowman is gone. Instead, there is a man as white as snow kneeling in its place, with colourless hair curling out from under Jo's beanie and eyes an icy, crystalline blue. He blinks widely at the world and slowly stands. His scarf--previously Jo's scarf--whips and settles around him as the wind dies. "My name is Laurent," he announces to the world, and his voice is crisp. Laurent examines his hands and then his feet. Then, he starts walking toward Frostheim's dorm.

is bro naked

bro is naked. With a scarf and a beanie. He'll get clothes, don't worry. For now? Naked as the day he was born. Because today is the day he was born lmao

Snow and conveniently placed benches censor specific areas of his body from the camera /j

He struggles to hide a blush as Jo boldly takes his hand. But he's one happy cowboy. It's cold and beautiful. Kind of like... "Say, everything here looks like it glitters, don't it?"

Jo leads him over to one of the benches beyond the hedges that line the path up to Frostheim's opulent dorm. She brushes off some stray snow before producing a folded picnic blanket--seemingly from out of nowhere--that she lays over the bench to help keep them dry before she sits down. "Yeah," Jo says, pausing to take in the scenery around them. "It does." In the daylight, the snow and ice really does glitter. It's a dazzling sight. ...had Frostheim ever looked so pretty before? Why did Jo feel like she was seeing it all for the first time after nearly a year here already? Maybe when Jo does leave Darkwick, she'll find a home somewhere that snows in the winter. "Oh, here." Jo pulls two tin cups from a pocket (it's a rather big coat, and fluffy, easy to hide things in) and pours out steaming hot chocolate from the thermos. She offers a cup out to Sterling. She can't help the little smile at the pink on his face. Was the cold already getting to him?

His little blush turns into a full flush as he realizes why Jo had called him there. He had fully assumed he had been summoned to help with some heavy lifting or some project that required another set of hands. But this was something else entirely... a hot chocolate picnic. Reminded him of... He accepts the offered tin from Jo and takes a seat. He takes a sip a little too early and scalds his tongue a little. "Yeow—! That's some hot stuff." He blows on the cup a little the second time around and takes another sip. "Darn if it ain't well brewed though. Tastes rich. I like it. Yer own blend?"

Jo tries very hard not to laugh when Sterling scalded his tongue, minimising it to just a sympathetic wince and a smile. It broadens when he says he likes the hot chocolate though. "Thanks. Yeah, it's my own recipe. A Jo Waker secret though, so, good luck getting it out of me," she says with a wry look. She twists a bit and leans her elbow on the back of the bench to better face Sterling. "How are you finding Jabberwock? Is it what you thought it'd be? Meet anyone interesting?" Jo asks before blowing away the steam from her cup and taking a sip. Damn, she was good. A little ego about it was probably warranted.

"Oh trust me, I know better than to ask women for their secret recipes. My grandmother made the best damn loaf of bread you ever had and she took her recipe to the grave. For bread! Ornery woman she was...." Jo's little bench shift is cute. He likes the way her curls catch the glittering light. "Ahaha.. well. Funny you ask that. Firstly, I made friends with a little rat anomaly thing, cute lil guy. And secondly, I was woken up by poundin' on my door from some guy with a camera. Darn near blinded me with the flash! No idea who he was. I assumed paparazzi." He looks like he's puzzling something out in his head and then it clicks. "Wait a minute.. there was someone on that wickedhive that said it was a camera that could show yer dream. You think it was the same guy??"

WickedHive? Wow. He's so goofy, it's cute. Jo recalls the posts about Leo with the camera artifact though that he was apparently going around with. She frowns slightly, staring down at the hot chocolate in her hands. "Yeah... that was probably the same guy. Not paparazzi, just a pain in the ass when he feels like it," she explains with a sigh. Then her gaze flicks up with renewed curiosity. "Leo used the camera on you though. What dream do you think he saw of yours?" Maybe it could explain why he also seemed to dislike Sterling so much.

Sterling is uncharacteristically quiet. He kicks at the snow on the ground beneath his boots. "I only ever have two dreams Miss Waker. And I don't think I want that fella lookin' in on either of 'em." He sips at his hot chocolate for a minute. "What's even the point of those pictures? Is he keepin' a weird album or somethin'. Weird fella." He huffs out a laugh, but it's noticeably less animated. "You said he's a pain in the ass though... he been givin' ya grief?"

Jo observes the cowboy with some concern. There's still pink on his face from the frigid cold and his breath curls on the air, but there's something noticeably more reserved, almost sad, about his expression. Is she just imagining things? "Um, yeah, you could say that," Jo replies when asked about Leo. She taps her tin cup lightly with her mittened fingers. "He's... he's actually the guy my best friend didn't like that I became too attached to." She takes a breath, keeping her eyes trained away. "Leo's not the best person to have feelings for. He can be gentle and nice to be around, believe it or not, but he's also... he's also an asshole. So." After taking a sip of her hot chocolate, she says, "You said you only have two dreams. What are they? Or would you rather not say?"

Sterling nods "He seems like a complex fella. I bet he's lonely. People that act out like that often are. Whether they know it themselves or not. It's easy to be coarse and push people away when that's what you constantly expect out of the world. Self-isolation comes in lots of forms." He takes another sip of chocolate in tandem with Jo and ponders her question. "Well, one of 'em is a uh... re'currin' nightmare of sorts. My last ride at a rodeo. The dismount off the bull. Seein' hooves when I shoulda been seein' stadium lights and open sky. Not somethin' I need that guy pokin' fun at me about that's fer sure." He takes another sip of the hot chocolate before continuing a bit quieter. -# "The other one... I wouldn't say it's a nightmare per se, but it sure does bite to relive. Someone I thought I could trust with everything and it turns out I was wrong...." He clears his throat and starts blinking rapidly before his voice returns to normal. "But I dunno that you'd be able to tell that from a picture. It probably just looks like I'm havin' a picnic with someone if ya cain't hear the words. Either way though. I don't really need him up in my business, 'specially ifn you say he's a less than savory character."

Leo? Lonely? Maybe, though he didn't often seem bothered by that fact. Could it be why he kept Jo around for so long, even while simultaneously trying to push her away in some aspects? She doesn't get much more time to dwell on it when Sterling starts describing his dreams. The bull and resulting injury makes sense. Jo still had nightmares about her crocodile and what happened with Stef. Among others. But when his voice drops and he goes on to describe one about a person--a person he thought he could trust with everything--Jo finds an odd feeling twisting inside. The dream would probably just look like a picnic with someone? ...what had he said about unhappy marriages that first night they met? It had sounded like he might have known from experience. Was this...? 'Trust with everything.' Jo tries to keep the question light. "Were you ever married?"

A pale figure darts through the trees in the distance. Laurent's on a super secret spy mission.

Sterling messes with his left third finger as though fidgeting with a ring that wasn't there. "I was. For a time." He's uncharacteristically quiet. "Havin' the means to a fortune at yer fingertips has a funny way of changin' people. Makes 'em behave... greedy. Like they think they own ya. Then before ya know it, yer not even a person to 'em anymore." He sips at the chocolate and makes a face as he realizes it's empty. He looks up at Jo and smiles sweetly. "Ya got any more of that good stuff? Could use s'more warmin' up."

Jo usually loves when she's right. There's a little satisfaction there, but another feeling as well. It's overwhelming and not quite nameable yet. She contemplates the dregs of the hot chocolate in her cup as she absorbs Sterling's words. 'Fortune... greedy... changin' people... like they think they own ya... not even a person to 'em anymore...' That sounded uncomfortably familiar in more ways than one. Jo's own greed, how her family turned greedy when she brought them more than enough fortune to share, how Jo carves her way through life acting like she's owed everything while invisible chains had bound her across the ocean until recently. One of her mittened hands tilts away from her cup so her palm faces the sky and she stares at it, at the soft, cushy fabric of the mitten. Jo wonders, not for the first time, if she had been born with something rotten in her before she ever became a ghoul. Maybe the diamonds were just a more physical manifestation of the kind of corrupting touch she always had beneath the surface. ...she used to hate people with money. For the way they acted. And for the fact that they possessed the privilege to act that way with nary a consequence. How quickly you forget your roots when you get swept up in a new world. How quickly you can turn into the very thing you hated. Stirring to attention, Jo brightens up at Sterling's sweet smile and request. She gladly pours him some more from the thermos. There had been enough for four cups. When she pours herself more too a moment later, the thermos is empty, and she sets it aside. "You're welcome to warm yourself up by visiting me anytime," Jo says. "There's coffee, if a hot chocolate doesn't always strike your fancy. I can't get through heavy assignments periods without it, honestly." She pretends not to see Laurent now scaling up a tree across the snowy field. He thinks he's stealthy.

5:54 AM

After sipping her hot chocolate, she sighs. "I'm... sorry about your marriage. It's difficult to watch the people you love change, and not for the better. Worse still, when you trust them and they treat you like dirt in return."

He grins at the mention of coffee. "Miss Waker, coffee is one of my vices, I'll have you know. If they ever put in a Starbucks on campus, you'll never see me in the library ever again." Author's note, Sterling pronounces 'library' like 'lie-berry' He squints a little at Laurent in the distance. He's still trying to decide if the man is ... well ... a man or if he's an anomaly. Either way, Sterling is now keeping a close eye on him, but he makes no mention to Jo. He hums a little before replying to Jo's comfort. "Y'know, I truly have no one to blame but myself. The signs were there and I chose to ignore 'em 'cause... well they say love is blind but I think I was willfully closin' my eyes." He chuckles a little. "I'm tryin' t'be better though! Keepin' my eyes open and tryin' t'not be bitter. There's still a lot of life left fer me to live and I'm choosin' t'live it unbothered." He shifts a little and faces Jo more fully. "But listen t'me run my mouth! How's that heart of yers doin' Miss Waker? Still feelin' at rock bottom or have ya started climbin' again?"

Well, now they're both just about fully facing each other on the bench. What use is the forward-facing design of a bench if all you want is to just see the person sitting beside you? Or maybe it's a sly way of making people have to shift to face each other, which sends a deeper signal of interest in each other, whether that just be friendly or something else. Jo's silently celebrating the fact that they share a caffeine vice. Maybe she should invite Sterling properly in sometime and make him something. Anything to see that sweet satisfaction on his face and hear him talk longer. She really doesn't mind when he runs his mouth as he says. His voice, his accent, the shared language--it all touches a place deep in her heart. Jo's normally excited to see the people she likes, that's just the way she is. But there's something about Sterling that truly lights her up from the inside like the merry glow of a warm house in the night. "Well..." Jo says. "I think I've started climbing. A bit." She smooths a mittened hand over her chest, resting roughly where her heart is. "Still smarts a bit, and some days are easier than others, but... I'm starting to think if I keep going, I'll end up okay." With a slight smile, she adds, "You're proof of how being at rock bottom means you can get better." A pull at her expression as she turns her head away. "Ugh, sounds so cheesy though. I'll never get used to how clunky honest earnestness can sound."

He laughs warmly. "Oh goodness, Miss Waker, if honest earnestness is clunky, then I'm gon' be one of the most clunky fellas you ever met." Jo's slight smile gets his heart racing a bit and he mentally has to tell himself to take it easy. Jo is a beautiful woman with a beautiful heart and Sterling wants nothing more than to hold it and fix it himself. He knows that doing so wouldn't be a permanent fix though, so instead he settles on more of that clunky honest earnestness. "It might smart fer a while, but pain can bring clarity and humility. Prolly trite t'say, but sometimes the most kind people are the ones who have hurt the most. Not sayin' I'm the kindest fella out there, but I have certainly been worse." He looks away from Laurent in the trees for a moment to look at Jo fully. She's dazzling. Sterling is in trouble.

Laurent has the target in sight. Mr Heart Eyes. No good. No good at all. Gracefully, he falls out of the tree and into the snow, seeming to burst into a cloud of snowy powder. Very subtly, the snow begins to shift, getting closer and closer to the bench. He's done enough spying. It was time to make a move. A snowball is pelted at the cowboy, seemingly from out of nowhere.

The shifty-looking guy had good aim.... "What in the name of--" He stands in front of Jo to shield her from any potential onslaught. "Young man, jus' what d'you think you're doin'?" He bends down to gather some snow into a ball, ready to return fire if necessary.

Jo can't tell if she's more glad or disappointed at the disruption of whatever moment she and Sterling were having. Something about clunkiness and cheesy words didn't sound so bad when they came from him. That worried her a little. It worried her more that the more she saw him, the more she noticed. If Sterling was a model or even a statue in a park, Jo would sit by to stare at him for hours on end, greedy for the sight of every detail of his appearance. Honestly, it was very similar to how she often felt about Leo, and even previously about Zero. ...yeah. Jo's definitely worried about that. She's so caught up in her thoughts, in Sterling, that she doesn't notice when Laurent fell into the snow and snuck up on the pair. Jo gasps when the snowball suddenly hits Sterlings and she quickly claps a hand over her mouth before a laugh can escape. Jo stands behind Sterling and lays a hand on his shoulder as she peers around him. "Calm down, cowboy. That young man's my... son. Sort of. Laurent, stop hiding." From the snow rises the now adolescent sized Laurent, turning from snow into a solid human form, pouting. "Mother Jo, he was making eyes at you." "Not everyone who looks at me is making eyes." And this one's allowed to, she thinks privately.

He swallows a little as he feels Jo's hand on his shoulder. Easy there, Sterling. Easy. Son??? Well, Sterling had been married so Jo could well have a son. But she looked so young... and the boy was... hmm... 'Making eyes???" Had Sterling been... he certainly hadn't been trying to. But shoot if Jo wasn't very easy on the eyes. Something clicks for Sterling a little though. And he's grateful for something to grasp onto that wasn't his complicated thoughts on Jo Waker. "Whoa there, is this fella an anomaly? Aren't you a good shot. Well done, y'got me good." He flashes a smile at Laurent. Fella's pretty adorable.

Laurent had been prepared to go on a rant about how anomalies are okay because Akari said it's okay to be one, when he's suddenly hit with a compliment. He blinks widely at the funny Heart Eyed man before his gaze drops to the snow, the memory of that smile burning in his mind. Kicking at the fresh powder, he mumbles, "Thank you. I'm Mother Jo's son, and an anomaly. I keep the people with heart eyes away from Mother Jo."

Jo just sighs with a little smile. "It's... a bit of a long story, Sterling. I made a snowman not too long ago and for whatever reason he came to life thinking he's my son, so... this is Laurent. Laurent, this is Sterling."

He chuckles as he pieces what he's able to together and holds out his hand to shake with Laurent. "Hi there Laurent. Takes a brave soul to protect his mother from such formidable foes. You must care a lot about Jo."

Warily, Laurent stares at Sterling's hand. He's not totally sure what that gesture is supposed to mean. He's not holding out anything. "...you sound funny when you talk," Laurent says in lieu of a proper reply. "I'm okay, Laurent, you don't need to worry. Sterling's safe, I trust him," Jo says. You trusted the other Heart Eyes too, Laurent wants to say. But the other one was notably rude. This one is just... weird. Not as cool as Akari, and Akari at least didn't make eyes. But this one doesn't seem so bad. And Laurent can't sense as much sadness in Mother Jo right now. That seems like a good thing. "I'm hunting rabbits," Laurent declares before he runs off back to the trees.

Sterling leans in to whisper to Jo in the same manner two parents might whisper about a child at the playground. "Ya think he's really huntin' rabbits or is he just not sure what t'think of me?" He chuckles lowly. "Well, I oughta not take up too much of yer precious time, Miss Waker. Can't be givin' Laurent reason t'be suspicious of me. I reckon I've got some rabbits of m'own to proverbially hunt in Jabberwock. Always somethin' needin' somethin' that's fer darn sure. Much obliged fer the well brewed chocolate and it was a privilege to bask in yer company once again." He takes one of Jo's mittened hands in his and places a kiss right where the barest bit of skin peeks through between the lines of coat and mitten. It's higher than the last kiss he placed on that hand... " 'till next time, ma'am." He tips his hat and saunters off, not realizing he still had Jo's tin cup clasped in his other hand.

When Sterling leans in to whisper--a soft murmur with that warm touch to it--there's an awful flip to her stomach and a buzz of warmth that had nothing to do with hot chocolate. It worsens after Jo whispers, "It's probably both, someone said there's rabbits in Frostheim and he's determined to find them," and Sterling does that low chuckle. Her breath hitches, lungs achingly tense even as he shifts away again. It takes her a moment to discreetly exhale. Stop it. Stop it. Jo doesn't want this to be petty revenge on Leo. She feels bad enough that she hasn't been talking to him like before. They were good friends beyond the confused deeper feelings, weren't they? Did he even miss all the attention she gave him? The gifts? The simple ease they'd found when she'd just come over to hang out? She can still remember the touch of his hand on her knee when she painted his nails. Could almost swear she feels it now, the same way she can still feel the difference between how he carried her once he brought her down from the chains and how he held her in his bed during and after sex. But even as Jo says, "You're welcome," and Sterling lifts her mittened hand to press a kiss where her coat and mitten part, she knows Leo never did this either. She had to ask for that first kiss as a reward, the second she stole when she was overcome with relief, and the third... he reciprocated, even asked indirectly if she wanted more than that, but... while Leo could be gentle, he was never just affectionate with her. Never just sweet. He'd be making an admission of how he felt for her by doing that, considering everything else going on. And Leo had no feelings regarding her to admit to. No affection. Just a toleration, maybe even admiration, but not much of an attachment. Leo let her go, after all. He didn't text her even when she was silent. He never came to visit, not until it was Seiya's phone missing. And he lied to Seiya, pretending to date him.

5:31 AM

Sterling didn't seem the type. For once, Jo might actually like a man that's good for her, genuinely good. And it scares her as she feels the warmth of his lips on that sliver of skin showing. ...shit, she wasn't supposed to like another man. What happened to Leo? Sterling's not allowed to be some type of rebound. It'd be a complete disservice to him and his honesty with her. And all his kindness when she's been at rock bottom... Jo needs time before she lets herself do anything much more than shyly smile at the gesture and say goodbye before Sterling tips his hat in that charming way of his and wanders off. She knows he still has her cup. She lets him take it. That cup might as well be an invitation for either of them to visit the other, though Sterling might not know it. Would he try to place a kiss higher again next time?

‍♂️

through a series of complicated and very sneaky maneuvers, Wagi dispatches, a series of Campus cats to collect some ammonia smelling salts from Mortkranken for him. He assembles the collection into what basically amounts to a water balloon full of the nasty smelling salts. He leaves the balloon underneath the bench.

The random student finds the balloon and picks it up. He picks it up and decides to sniff it curiously making a face when he realizes that they smell nasty :( He shrugs and goes to Jabberwock to see if he can find the victim.

The random student runs back to Frosthiem, breathing heavily after their stunt. The check the bench to get their cash prize after fucking up the cowboy's date.

The cash is there. It's not well hidden at ALL

Yoink!

‍♂️

A sound like a gunshot rings out in the still quiet of Frostheim's snowy grounds. A startled flock of birds screech and take off from nearby trees, shaking the branches of snowflakes. A second sharp shot echoes on the air. In the middle of the fields, away from trees and the frozen lake, Jo stands terribly underdressed for the wintry climate with a bullwhip in hand. A few welts decorate her shoulders and arms, accompanying her old crocodile attack scars. She's a patchwork of pale pinks and angry reds in the whiteness, dressed in a crop top and loose pants. Little muffling buds protect her ears. Her bare arm flexes and sweeps in wide line after line as Jo moves through several series of whipcracks, each booming across the snow and no doubt irritating other Frostheim students. Considering the welts, Jo seems to have been practising for a while already. Her cheeks are ruddy with exertion in the cold, her nose a chilled pink. She'd probably be shivering if she let herself rest for even a moment. But she doesn't. Having finally gotten the hang of it, Jo cracks the whip forward, back, over the side, over her head, and in figure eights. It's been a while since she's done this; she'd gotten a bit rusty. The cold does well to numb the pain of earlier mistakes. There's a reason Jo doesn't go on too many missions. It's not her choice, but the academy and vice-captain Tohma Ishibashi's. The next crack breaks through the air like lightning splitting the sky. The sound is like thunder. She had shifted through the snow too close to a lone tree and it slowly slid off its stump and groaned as it fell heavily into an explosive white heap. Jo only pauses, staring at her accident. She pants for breath, and it clouds on the air while her pale eyes pierce through the fog, squinting with something like displeasure. Jo Waker's just a little too lethal for capture-alive missions.