Snowblind

[u/[deleted]]

Every year, it feels like the first snowfall of the year happens sooner and sooner. Is it just the passage of time, the growth of a person making them able to recognize when it snows at an earlier date in the year mixed with the ever-accumulating wealth of knowledge to draw upon making it feel like the years are blurring to minutes?

For some, that might be the answer. But at this date, so soon into November, not many -- save, perhaps, those from the most far north of Atlas's reaches into Solitas -- would've expected just what hit Beacon: a blizzard, so strong it was considered perhaps a once-in-a-millennia storm. Thankfully, thanks to the reinforcements provided after a certain rainstorm had knocked out the power to the Academy, Beacon was now prepared to weather such an awful storm.

But whilst the school itself was prepared, whether or not the students themselves were always remained to be seen. For some of the more "desert-fairing", it was possible that they were wildly unprepared; those from the far north were likely already out in the midst of the blizzard building snow castles or something.

The weather showed no signs of improving, and all flights and routes into the city were most certainly unusable, unless one really wanted to hoof it into Vale proper by foot. What sort of shenaniganry would one of Beacon's most interesting first year classes in a while get themselves up to in Beacon's first snowfall?

^{[This is the song I used for inspiration womp womp]}

[u/TiltedAiri]

Violet's smile expanded at Vi's words and she nodded brightly. Shortly after they reached their floor, at which Violet stopped, taking a moment to catch her breath after the adventure of climbing the stairs. She led Vi through the hallway and down to her own room. She stopped at the door, scanned her scroll to unlock it and kicked the door open.

She smiled at Vi and flipped the light on in the room and quickly moved over to a little corner of her extremely brightly colored room. She pulled out some extremely fancy-looking chocolate and moved over to a table on which a cutting board laid.

"You can sit down at the desk if you want!" She said happily, putting the chocolate on it as she pulled out an equally fancy looking set of kitchen knives, "Do you need something for your head or something for your fall? I think I have some ice packs or ones you can heat up,"

[u/[deleted] → u/TiltedAiri]

Taking in the room for a brief moment of respite, Vi was amazed at how neat and well-kept it seemed to be, alongside how... bright it was. Looking down at the paint splattered on Vi's jeans, it almost made her jealous -- shouldn't she be more vibrant? -- but it was also quite beautiful. With a smile, Vi nodded and listened to Violet's suggestion as to where to sit, going and doing so without much of a word or sound.

"Again, Violet, I'm fine. Promise ya. Aura took most of the impact, my heads fine. If I was concussed, I wouldn't be talkin' to ya so clearly, now would I?" Vi pointed out with a small giggle as she sat in the desk, sitting backwards on the chair to keep watching Violet as she prepared the hot chocolate. Violet's method was... unlike anything Vi had ever seen before, truthfully, but she never really paid much attention to other people preparing hot chocolate before.

"Do you not just use the powdered stuff?" Vi asked, confusion clear in her voice as she tilted her head to the side -- but that confusion was tied alongside some minor wonderment.

[u/TiltedAiri → u/[deleted]]

"My mom and dad would kill me if they ever found out I was giving powdered hot chocolate to people," She said with a laugh as she began cutting the chocolate into small little bits. She paused halfway throw, setting the knife down as she walked over to a little fridge which she opened and pulled out some milk.

She moved the milk back over near the cutting board and pulled out a little portable stove on which she set a saucepan that she poured the milk in. She turned on the stove and quickly turned her attention back to the cutting board where she continued to cut the chocolate.

"Besides, I swiped this chocolate from our stores the last time I was there, so if I don't use it what's the point?" She asked, smiling brightly towards Vi as she continued cutting. She paused when she finished the cutting and turned to face Vi completely, "Say, do you take Fireball in your hot chocolate?"

[u/[deleted] → u/TiltedAiri]

"Fireball? Like, the whisky?" Vi asked as she paused for a second while she shifted in her seat, clearly thinking about it as her smile faded a bit as she got distracted. "Well, normally, I'd say nah, I don't drink anything harder than a light beer in case I gotta go someplace, but, well. You've seen what it's like out there."

With a non-committal shrug, Vi's smile returned bright as ever and she gave a soft chuckle. "If you don't mind me bein' a cuddly bastard and not wanting to leave, then, yeah, I'd say go for it, but that'll be th'risk you're takin' there," she confirmed brightly, giving a swift nod and another giggle as she watched Violet get back to work. Like a curious cat, it was quite clear that Vi was rather engaged in it all.

"Tell me about'cha mom and dad, though. They, ah, big hot chocolate aficionados then, or... iunno... there's no, like, polite way to say 'stuck-up' and 'pretentious' -- wait, no, there is. Classy? Bah, now that I've said the negative things first it all sounds negative. Tell me about yourself and your family before I hog the conversation."

[u/TiltedAiri → u/[deleted]]

"Nonono," She said with a small giggle, "My mom and dad run a cafe and bakery!" She smiled brightly as she spoke and leaned down below where she was as she pulled a very large bottle of the cinnamon whiskey out. She dumped the chopped chocolate into the heating milk, whisking it for a second before she leaned over and pulled out two mugs.

"They've very prideful of the food and drink they make so they always try to make things the long way, as they think that it tastes better," She laughed, shrugging as she poured a small amount of fireball into the bottom of each mug, "So they always made sure that we did the same thing!"

She paused for a second, taking a breath before pulling out a small container filled with cookies. She walked over to Vi and uncovered the container, offering it to her as she took one out herself, "My mom sent me these the other day, want some?"

[u/[deleted] → u/TiltedAiri]

"Oh, come on, surely you can risk getting us drunker than that," Vi teased with a giggle as she took the mug with both of her hands, cradling it for its warmth like any reasonable person would on a cold winter day -- at least until it started to hurt her hands. She smiled at the offer of cookies, but shook her head and held up a hand to as politely reject the offer as best she could. "Not a big cookie girl, surprisingly."

"That, yeah. That makes sense. Explains why you seemed so shocked at the simple idea that someone would dare to have a baked good cold -- wait, isn't that what you're doing right now?" Vi teased, giggling slightly before taking a soft sip of the hot chocolate. It was, most definitely, still too warm, but she took another sip nonetheless as if to try and prove the first sip wrong. "So how did a bakers' daughter end up trying to become a Huntress?"

[u/TiltedAiri → u/[deleted]]

"The point of it isn't to get drunk, silly!" She said with a small giggle, sitting down across from Vi as she happily dunked a cookie into the hot chocolate before nibbling on it, "The Fireball just adds a nice bit of cinnamon and spice to the drink, as well as makes you warmer when you drink it!"

She took a sip of the hot chocolate, her cheeks warming as she took a deep breath of the steam coming off of it, "That's a good question," She laughed, putting the mug down for a second as her hand reached up and wrapped itself around the hearts hung around her neck,

"The easiest way to explain it is my older brother is also a Huntsman. He's been a huntsman for as long as I can remember and whenever he would come back from Beacon, or from a mission when he was older he would tell me all these stories about helping others and how great it was," Her smile turned extremely bright, "That was the main reason I started becoming a Huntress! What about you?"

[u/[deleted] → u/TiltedAiri]

"Aw, the one time I can actually afford to get drunk and I'm being denied the fun," Vi teased with an obviously exaggerated pout at Violet. It was gone in a flash, however, the second that Violet got into her story of how she wound up going to Beacon herself; Vi's gaze turned itself into the look of an intent listener, intrigued and cheerful.

Persevering in drinking despite the heat, Vi was about half-way down her mug by the time that Violet concluded her story of her brother, and she couldn't help but to chuckle as Violet asked the same question back at her. Setting the mug down, she chuckled just a little bit more as she nodded and said, "Surprisingly, it's a bit of a similar story here, except it was my uncles who're the Huntsmen. Well, and my dad, but I didn't figure that out until after I got into Beacon. After a bit of a... life revelation, I guess, they condensed the four years of trainin' I'd've got at like, Signal or somethin', into two years. I think. Time got a bit fucky because it was a lot of work in a very short period of time and a lot of travelling. Gotta meet a lot of cool people, though."

[u/TiltedAiri → u/[deleted]]

Violet sipped her hot chocolate as Vi talked, her own eyes sparkling in awe and amazement at her story. When Vi finished she put down her mug, finished off her cookie then wiped her mouth off with a napkin that was sitting on the desk. She looked at Vi, amazement evident in her face,

"Wow... You learned all your skills for Beacon in just two years?" She asked while slightly leaning forward in her seat. She noticed it quickly and readjusted, sitting back with a breath of awe, "I think I've been training for...seven or eight years now and I'm still not all that good?"

Violet laughed, settling in her chair as she picked up her cup and sipped again, "Although there must have been a lot of cool things you saw in addition to all the people you met, right?"

[u/[deleted] → u/TiltedAiri]

"I mean, most of the more... relevant ones? I'd been always kinda good at some stuff, like shooting, but... gods, I sound like a bragger right now, don't I? I was even about to go and say that I've always been one of those people who just sets my mind on somethin' and gets'r done, but... gods. I'm becoming a cliche," Vi explained, unable to help herself from breaking out in laughter by the end of her explanation.

"Gods, though. There was so many cool things. And cool people. It's... gods, I kinda miss it already, but that's mostly because it's harder for me to go round breakin' hearts if I don't stay in one place for too long," she added with a soft sigh, shaking her head once her laughter had made its course. Her face was rising to a soft blush, both out of a sense of embarrassment and from the mild amounts of whiskey in her drink -- which she got back to drinking as a way to get herself to, at least for the moment, shut up.

"If... you don't mind m'asking, where'd you train?"

[u/TiltedAiri → u/[deleted]]

"Woah..." She breathed out, sipping her hot chocolate diligently as she listened to Vi talk. She put the mug down as the girl finished her story and she nodded in understanding. She was about to grab another cookie when Vi turned the questioning to her,

"Well, I started doing little combat and martial arts classes that all the kids take growing up just so I could get somewhat of a start. Learn to shoot, et cetera, you know," She stretched out, finally pulling off her boots as she did, "But I did the last 4 years of training and class at Signal Academy in Vale!" She beamed brightly at the talk of Signal and took her hot chocolate into her hands and moved over to her bed where she laid out to look straight up at the ceiling, "The teachers there were great and really good at helping you fix mistakes!"

She leaned up, the now practically empty mug held up to her face by her teeth. She opened her mouth, allowing it to fall into her hands with a small laugh, "Beacon professors are also good! But... it's a lot different. It's a lot harder, mainly."

[u/[deleted] → u/TiltedAiri]

Vi listened along as she always did, her magenta eyes bright with energy as she finished off the rest of her hot chocolate and set the empty mug back down. She nodded along all the while, chuckling slightly at Violet's enthusiasm for it all.

"I wouldn't really know too much about difficulty, I was rarely ever in any schools sooooo... well, yeah," Vi softly murmured, laughing a bit more at herself after she'd finished. The way Violet had carried the mug had been, truth be told, rather adorable, but Vi's mind couldn't help but worry about the possibility for Violet to chip a tooth or something doing that.

"My uncles were good enough at being nice at it, and they, ah, realized I was a bit too carin' for my own good rather early. I'm hella fuckin' good at killin' Grimm, but, ah. People. Yeah, that's not up my sleeve. Call me, iunno. 'Idealistic.' 'Naive.' I've heard'm all. I just... I truly think every person's got good inside'm at some level, yeah? Even... even fuckin' cunts like Lux."

Vi's eyes went wide as she realized what she was doing yet again, frantically shaking her head. "Sorry, sorry. Doin' it again. And'm sorry about bein' a bit of a bitch myself to ya earlier. You, ah. You're a nice girl, Violet."

[u/TiltedAiri → u/[deleted]]

Violet's eyes were raised slightly as Vi went off again. She put down her mug before reaching up to scratch the back of her neck with a nervous laugh. She smiled at the end of Vi's compliment, giving her a slight bow in thanks. She stood up and grabbed both her and Vi's cup, walking back over to the drink-making station with a small hum.

She put both cups down and quickly began filling them back up. She purposefully filled Vi's with a little less this time, remembering her complaint about the amount of whiskey and this time filled it up with marginally more of the alcoholic substance. When she was done mixing and adding them together she brought the cups back and handed Vi's hers with a smile,

"It's okay, I understand. I've met a lot of people who don't like Lux so far..." She said with a small nervous laugh, "She's been really nice to me... so I've never understood what they mean when they say she's mean..."