10128/The Chill of Victory

The Chill of Victory
Date of Scene:	15 February 2022
Location:	Back Yard
Synopsis:	A snow competition, so of course Rogue won. Of course.
Cast of Characters:	Bobby Drake, Emma Frost, Kitty Pryde, Tabitha Smith, Piotr Rasputin, Remy LeBeau, Reed Richards, Rogue, Jean Grey

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Bobby Drake has posed:
    The signs had been hung throughout Xavier?s ? The Chill of Victory Winter Sports Extravaganza. There were not too many details, but most figured out who the response party was. There was at least a little buzz, especially since with an unseasonably warm spell, the odds of anything being Winter-y on the schedule date were slim to none. Luckily enough, the X-Men boasted someone who could ensure that all of the wintery festivities they could possibly want could happen regardless of whether there was February heat wave or not ? ORORO MONROE.
    Sadly, Ororo was on-mission elsewhere, so instead everyone had to settle for ? Bobby Drake, the Amazing Ice-Man! And so as the students and teachers and guests find their way onto the lawn, they find the Iceman standing atop the middle of a three column pedestal, watching as folks arrive.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost is currently present, wearing a long mink coat and matching hat and something scandalous underneath. currently having to hold a 'discussion' between two of the younger studetns. "It's what killed the dinosaurs!" The other is glaring at him. "It totally is not what killed them!"
    Emma would raise a hand over at Bobby, "As the resident expert without Logan here to speak of the actual events, can you please assure the children that the Ice Age, despitew hat movies tell us, did not end the Jurassic era?"

Kitty Pryde has posed:
The warm spell means Kitty doesn't have to utterly bundle up in arctic survival gear to be warm. She comes outside, wearing sneakers and some tights with sweatpants overtop. She has on athletic clothing beneath a thick, warm sweatshirt with the Xavier's logo on it.

She isn't quite sure what all Bobby has in mind, though was happy to send out emails and notices on the school's social media network to help augment the notice of the place. Kitty had also arranged for an esteemed friend of the school to be present. One Reed Richards, who walks at her side as she steps out.

"I'm not quite sure what all Bobby has planned," she is telling Reed. "But he's got such creativity and a sense of humor I'm sure it'll be fun. I wish Franklin could have made it," she says, having invited him as well. Kitty and Franklin in particular had a pretty good friendship during his time with Xavier's.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
With extra ice and snow and cold courtesy of one Bobby Drake. Tabitha makes sure to rug up and make sure she's dressed for the cold once more even as the weather is gradually sneaking away from winter under normal circumstances. So that means a parka. Yellow and puffy and fake fur lining at the rim of the hood. Lime green pastel jeans and red leather boots with fleexe lining make up the garishly colored ensemble while that wax laden fringe of hers sticks out and a couple pairs of flat hairpins keeps her hair in the back looking shorter than it is.

In her gray woolen gloved hands the blonde jugles a couple snowballs. Rather deftly too. The benefits of having practiced on explosives. "Sooo who ready to hand me a trophy or at least a large beer glass after!" she states playfully as she grins to everyone.

Piotr Rasputin has posed:
    The weather doesn't bother the 7'7" monolith of a metal man who strides from the wood break toward the lawn and the pillars that Bobby created. Wearing black boots, black cargo pants, and a black T-shirt, Colossus (aka Piotr Rasputin) gives pause to the spectacle. He's curious what is about to transpire. He smirks, and then begins striding toward the central pillars. He also takes note of others that arrive. He will give a nod of greeting if eye contact is made. Otherwise, just observing.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy isn't big on cold weather as a rule. Growing up in the Bayou, the thought of willingly going out in the snow was second to sticking his hand in a blender just to see if the blades are sharp... what's more? Everyone wears so much clothes. It's sad. No world exists where people should bundle up this much.

He arrives wearing his usual trench coat over a black t-shirt and slacks, one hand tucked down low in the left pocket, while his right hand flicks some ashes off the end of his cigarette. He's careful to keep well away from the students though because it's 2022 and smoking is basically as bad as free basing heroin.

The cigarette is left to hang between his lips in favor of a deck of cards he pulls from his left pocket. Just as absently, he shuffles them around his deft, thin fingers. Black/red eyes shifting around at everyone starting to arrive to Bobby's Winter Games.

Reed Richards has posed:
The X-Men are well known afficianados of blue scientists, especially those with polysyllabic vocabularies and a plethora of high level degrees, Reed nods as he follows Kitty down the stairs, dressed in his blue jump suit. "Well, I was waiting for some results to finish and had a few hours available. I figured it might be nice to meet my Son's other family." He follows but when an argument of scientific merit presents itself he just can't help himself, "Actually, they're both right. The ELE was caused by a Cometary impact, which precipitated a mini ice age. It resulted in the death of about 70% of life on Earth. Which is beneficial for us, as it cleared the way for our species to emerge, also 83% or higher would have been catastrophic. In fact there's a comet right now in the outer solar system of the same age and approximate size."

Bobby Drake has posed:
    There is a solemn and serious expression on Bobby's face as he stands perched upon the middle column - the Gold Medal Podium, were this the Olympics. "Welcome, one and all," he calls out, as he senses that the full crowd has gathered. "To THE X-GAMES!" He waves both arms in the air and sends a series of sparkling icicles into the sky, all of which shatter and explode into millions of pieces, raining down a almost a light flurry of snow onto the would-be competitors. "The OTHER X-Games, I mean."
    Bobby pauses as if for applause, before he continues. "We have several events in store for you today - challenges of speed, of agility, of creativity...and tolerance to EXTREME TEMPERATURES!!" The last comes out in an EXTREMELY deep voice, the kind that is usually followed by airhorns and other annoying sounds on morning radio. Bobby looks around for a moment, frowning. "I said, EXTREME TEMPERATURES!" in a louder voice, and then suddenly the school speakers kick in with the classic Olympic Fanfare by the legendary John Williams. Bobby winks at Kitty.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would go to fold her arms over behind herself and smirk, "So there shall be merely limiting it to these particulars?" Her moving away and clearly having no real intent to participate in anything but sip back, have a mug of hot chocolate.. And snark on.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is wearing black tight yoga pants, a green baggy hoodie, and some tall suede winter boots with fuzzy tops. She has her hair done up in a bun on the crown of her head, and is wearing some black gloves. She has a pair of figure skates with the laces tied together over her shoulder, and is just smiling, a pair of designer sunglasses worn over her green eyed gaze.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Eyes the cigarette Remy has lit and with a more wicked grin throws one of those snowballs at the source of smoke under arm like she was playinmg softball or juggling tandem. It'll probably miss and sail just wide enough while attention is focused on juggling. "People think I have bad habits Remy, we're supposed to be the cool kids." it's a lie.

Tabitha Smith has never been the cool kid.

Listening to Iceman place master of ceremonies gets the blonde's attention again and the snowballs remaining in her juggling care are dropped and abandoned. Poor things wasted like Tabby at Happy Hour.

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean's dressed more cutesily than sportily for the event, with a short pleated skirt and her usual green turtleneck sweater. She looks like she'd be awful cold! The trick, of course, is flesh colored tights. The outfit certainly speaks to a sport of preference, and that may be why she's here. To show up a certain someone as their ages old rivalry continues.

If you haven't guessed, she's got her custom-fitted skates slung over one shoulder, even as she currently goes about in her more comfy UGG-type boots.

Occasional dagger eyes are shot sideways at her hoodie'd rival!

But for now, though, she probably has to endure some other kinds of events! What ever could they be? Is there even skating? If not, someone is getting challenged afterward to the lake equivalent of an aferschool fight! "Enough suspense, Bobby, what've we got?" she shouts cheekily, before waving toward their visiting judge. "It's nice of you to swing by, Mr. Richards. Glad to hear space is up to its usual tricks."

Piotr Rasputin has posed:
    Colossus will come to a stop a good 20 yards from Bobby's pillars and he'll stand with his feet slightly apart and his arms crossed over his broad chest. His eyes narrow as he considers what is transpiring. He glances around at the newer arrivals and then back to Bobby while completing the speech and the assumed technical difficulties with the music. He mutters something, "There is no competition when it comes to extreme temperatures. Everyone will face the agony of 'de feet'."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde glances about to see who all has made it. "Hank is going to be disappointed he missed you," Kitty tells Reed. "Think he got called into New York to consult with a friend of his. Something genetic, don't ask me to repeat the particulars which he was too happy to tell me about," Kitty says, grinning a bit at the memory of Henry McCoy's excitement. She did understand quite a bit of it, at least at a high level, but the blue-furred scientist and peer of Reeds (or at least as much as Reed has peers) did leave her behind before it was all said and done.

There is a grin given by Kitty as Bobby triggers the Olympic anthem. She had a hand in setting up some things for him, even if she doesn't know all of what he has planned. "Great for the kids to be able to meet you though," she tells Reed, "The newer ones who weren't around the last time you graced us with a visit."

As Kitty hears Piotr's pun, she groans softly. "Pardon me a moment," she tells the eminent scientist as she reaches down to scoop up some snow and make a snowball. Which is then lofted towards the back of Piotr's metallic noggin.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy's eyes flick over to Tabi when she underhand tosses the snowball at him, but he doesn't bother to try and deflect it. Given the tragectory it's taken, it wasn't going to hit him anyways! So he just smirks as it smashes against the fence grating beside him instead. "Dat what dey call us, eh? Da cool kids?" He lazy blows a small cloud of smoke up into the air and replaces the cigarette between his lips to resume shuffling his cards.

"Was down in Savannah yesterday. You know it 85 degrees down dere right now?" He sucks at his teeth and flips over a card, 8 of clubs... it twists up between his index and ring finger so he can flick it at Tabitha like a god damned homing missile and slices clean through the snowball she drops when Bobby begins his ceremonies speach opening the official 2022 Hunger Games.

Rest completely assured that Remy is not volunteering as tribute.

He does incline his head to Rogue, though and winks in her direction. "Lookin' good, Chere."

Why couldn't it be 85 degrees.

Snow is dumb.

Bobby Drake has posed:
"NOW" shouts Bobby. "It is time for the first event - THE MIGHTY MOVING MOUNTAINS OF MOISTURE!" He holds his hands out to the side and then starts wriggling his fingers. Slowly pillars of ice begin to sprout on the ground, as if mountains erupting from the Earth. As the wriggling fingers go faster, the columns grow faster, until they are between six and ten feet tall, varying heights, all about three foot in diameter. There are several lines - presumably one for each contestant. "The challenge is simple - get from there, to there!" He points along the length of the lines, roughly a football field in length. "An easy challenge - or so you think." He waves his right hand to the side, indicating the starting spot. "This is purely timed, and the fastest three times shall score 5, 2, and then 1 point. All others will get a doughnut." He falls silent and lets the competitors move over to stand atop the first column.
    "Is everyone ready?" He waits, watching as they all line up. "On your marks, get set...." Then he stops. He cocks his head to the side. "What's that, Professor? This is too easy?" He looks down at the course. "No, this will be tricky enough..." He pauses again. And then nods. "Ok, Professor." Bobby flashes a grin. "Change of plans. Professor's orders." He puts his arms out to the side, wriggling fingers again, and the columns raise a bit higher. "MIGHTY!" They jerk up five feet, suddenly. "MOVING." The columns other then the first one that the competitors are on start rocking back and forth like a pendulum, all at different speeds and different depths. "MOUNTAINS!" His arms shoot up and then the columns fly higher, carrying all of the competitors up to well over fifty feet. "OF MOISTURE!!!" He waves his arms in a fan in front of him, and a tumult of soft powdery snow fills the entire field of play - a soft cushion to insure that any who loose their footing do not suffer too grievous of injury.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde raises her hand to Bobby. "Point of order. Are the donuts glazed, or maybe with sprinkles? And if so can the winners get donuts as well?" she asks loudly. Kitty feels someone tug at her sleeve and looks over to find Hambone. "He means you get a 0," Hambone tells Kitty.

"Oooooh. Well, shoot. I do like donuts," she says, trying to hide her grin that Hambone thought she needed to be apprised of Bobby's meaning. She looks over to the student who is already turned and talking with others, and jotting things down on a notepad. "Hambone, I mean, James, are you taking bets?" she asks.

He tries to look innocent, shaking his head. Kitty sighs. "What kind of odds did I get?" Hambone looks down at the notepad. "4 to 1." Kitty gives a tiny shrug, she can live with that.

She rises up on the pillar of ice along with the others. "I hope that snow is deep enough!" she says as she looks down from the height. When it is time, she races forward. Kitty leaps from one pillar to another. Slipping on one, catching herself, and jumping again. Two more she makes it past, and then she hits one that is super ice slick. She just slides across it with now way to stop herself and goes off the edge, plummeting down to land face first in the snow, just her butt and legs sticking out into the air.

Reed Richards has posed:
Old Man Richards smiles and nods to Jean, "Hello Dr. Grey." Reed grins and nods, "Ahh, yes. The Genetics conference is this weekend. I believe Henry was presenting on intracellular transfer coefficients and the difference between Sapien and superior mitochondrial development... but I'm sure he's already explained it exquisitely. I should check in at some point." There is a small smile and a side long glance. at the snow ball, the joys of youth. Reed claps at the music, then taps a button on his uniform a small swarm of drones pop free slipping into a high orbit around the group ready to provide slo mo replays.

Piotr Rasputin has posed:
    Colossus is an easy target, perhaps the easiest target on the field. He's a monstrous metal statue and impossible to miss. Especially when it comes to snowballs. He's struck right where Kitty aimed. Smack in the back of his big metal head. The impact doesn't move him and it makes a nice poof of snow scattered down and around. He turns his neck and his broad shoulders to glance behind him. Spotting the dimunitive frame of Kitty, he smiles. But then his attention is turned back to Bobby who presses on with the competition. Colossus moves to the assigned location and awaits further instructions. But when the game changes, he shrugs and expects it may have gone up in difficulty, but there won't be any problems... or so he thinks.

    Lifted upwards of 50 feet, he does his best to remain upright and at the ready. When given the opportunity, he begins the race with a start, a trip, a stumble, a roll, and then a complete and utter failure at his attempt. Colossus ends up faced down, torso buried in the snow, powder covered black cargo pantlegs and boots sticking upwards as he struggles to try and pry his way out of the inverted mess he found himself within.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue gives Remy's leather covered arm a nice rub and squeeze before she offers him her skates, cause apparently there won't be any ice skating around Jean just yet. She reaches up to put a gloved hand to his cheek, then kisses the back of her fingers before she prances past Jean with a big smile, to join the others in line.

Once the game begins, Rogue leaps over the tumbling Russian, and starts running across the ice towers!

Jump, jump, jump! No cheating, just all natural athlete skills here, ladies and germs!

Jean Grey has posed:
When the simple columns of snow are presented as their challenge, Jean's expression immediately turns dubious. It's Bobby!

And then they start moving!

"Right. So basically the ice danger room. Or like, uh... what's that show?" She turns to look back and forth between a couple of the others, as if expecting that one of them will DEFINITELY know this reference. "With the crazy obstacles and stuff! Anyone?"

Anyway. It's soon time to line them up at their starting positions! Jean leaves the skates and approaches her spot, where she assumes a very professional athletic starting position (she does not). And then, waiting on whatever starting signal, she runs! Well, jogs. On a team of various superhumans, Jean is the lady who's super DNA focused 100% on her brain. Like everyone, she keeps a regular fitness routine and does the (Scott-enforced) self defense practice and drills, but still... it would be a lie to say that the ability to do most things with pure thought doesn't come at the expense of just a little bit of normal laziness.

Have you seen her cook, with the floating spatulas?! So lazy!

So with her under-used noodle-legs, she runs the course, making it maybe half way through without getting hit, due to a few agile ducks and dodges, before she starts looking winded and loosing steam. But at least she's unscathed...

Until the end! At the very last moment, nearly clear of the course, the last snow-pillar makes a sneaky attack, catching her on an unexpected backswing. Thus, she gets snow-whacked on the butt, crossing the finish with a last few stumbling steps, and a dusting of snow to wipe off her bum!

"You -can't- just totally turn them off, you know that as well as anyone," she accuses Rogue. ACCUSES. She cheats via her very existence!

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith makes her dash and tries to get as far as she can. How she manages to get as far as she can is probably not something anyone would want to bring up. "Thank fuck it's not sentinels, just snow balls tabby, you got this. Don't flashback too badly!" she says very quietly under her breath while scrambling and dodging and weaving her way through the frozen field.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy told himself he wasn't going to take part in any games designed around snow, but this obstacle course business seems absolutely designed for him... Parkour? Free running? That's his shit... Rogue kisses his cheek and gives him her skates and he slings them over his shoulder. Contemplating the great mysteries of the universe as everyone lines up ready for the gong to signal the race is on.

He stares at the course, tracing it with red/black eyes moving around in their respective sockets... then, when everyone rushes off towards the finish, he looks down at his cigarette. If it hadn't been more than half left, he tells himself. The price of smokes in New York, these days? You can't waste these things.

People mortgage their house for a pack of cigs.

So he brings up for a drag and continues shuffling the deck. "Come on, chere! Don't be afraid to cheat!" He shouts after Rogue, "It all fair in war and Olympic sports! Ask Lance Armstrong!"

Reed Richards has posed:
Reed is Reed, the human embodiment of water flowing arpund the field with ease, ready to catch those who fall, be a human slide for any who slip and always observing, "This seems dangerous... I would recommend against violating the rules." He moves to where Piotr has landed checking on him and helping to dig the big Russian from the snow, "Is all your training like this?"

Piotr Rasputin has posed:
    Righting himself with the help of Richards, Colossus finds himself sitting in the remaining and surrounding snow. He takes a moment before he stands and observes the elongated man. His silver eyes blink out additional snow and he gives a nod. His accented voice resonates a response, "It is often a much greater challenge." He looks toward Iceman and says, "That one is comedian. The rest of us play along with his jokes. Sometimes end up the butt of it. Sometimes laugh at others. Is all in good fun." Then, the moment has passed and Colossus stands from his former pit of snowy despair. He continues to brush the lose snow from his clothing so that it does not become completely wet.

Rogue has posed:
NO CHEATIN!

Rogue crosses the finish line with relative ease, only a little slip near the end, and a bit of a wide eyed look before she's over and up in the air with her hands.

Happy jump, happy jump, happy juuuump!

"Wooooh!" She says loudly as Jean was late to the party!

A big high five is offered to Tabitha though!

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Highfives returned with a victorious woop, and the others are all dispenses on too cause it is meant to be fun and not a horrible reminder of past events in her life. "Next time no ties. Though I am not doing that again unless my life depends on it!" Tabby beams to her co-winner. The rest of the ice and snow from scrambling through and rolling on the ground shook off in the bouncing the blonde makes on the spot.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde digs herself out of the snow, quite possibly with Reed's help. She's laughing as her head comes out of the snow, taking a moment to brush the wet, sticky snow from where it clings to her head.

"Well that'll wake you better than a double shot of espresso," she says of the dunk in the cold wet flakes. Kitty makes another snowball and hurls this one Bobby's way as she makes her way back over to where the others are.

Hambone shakes his head and just tsks silently, causing Kitty to put her hands on her hips as she stares at him.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy whistles for Rogue and tabitha and slow claps for everyone else. Participants get appreciation too. They get appreciation claps. "Dat's right, you show them ya don't need powers to leave'em in da dirt." Another whistle, then he resumes playing with his cards.

He flips another off the top to look at it with a raised brow, "Queen of Diamonds." His tongue clicks off the roof of his mouth as it assumes a tossing position between his fingers.

His wrist flicks just so and sends it twisting out forward and then back around into his hand. Albeit off to the side so he has to snatch it it up with a sideways lean. Right back in the deck after fanning them out in his hands.

Bobby Drake has posed:
Watching the events unfold, Bobby stands with arms crossed over his chest, a grin on his face. He considers asking Piotr if this is why they call him old leadfoot, but thinks better of it. He watches the remaining competitors scramble along, and then as the entire field has completed the challenge, the mountains stop moving. "And your winners in a tie, Rogue and Tabitha!" He snaps his fingers and the final column with the competitors start melting away at the bottom, as if an elevator going down, bringing them all to the ground. Then with a snap of his fingers, the other mounds all explode into another huge puff of snow.
    Bobby looks out to the competitors. "Now that we have you all warmed up, it is time to cool each other down. Competitors, each of you take a spot in the circles." He waits for a moment, allowing the mysterious instruction to linger. "Oh, right, the circles!" He snaps his fingers again and a cascade of rings zip down from about 8 feet up, then back up, and then down again, like in the film Tron. He pauses, and then whips up a hand as a snowball stops just in front of his face - doing his best impression of Magneto. His gaze drifts over towards Kitty. "I'm going to save this one," he says, the promise evoking a grin.
     "Competitors, you will be able to freely move within your circles. Which is good, because now we are playing dodgeball." He pauses. "Or is it dodgesnowball?" He spins around and a cyclone of snowballs erupts from around him, and then they all fall into neat stacks in each of the circles. "Everyone, take a circle!" He waits until the circles are filled, and then he proceeds with the instructions. "Look to your right. That is your target." The competitors are all arrayed such that each of them has one person to their right, each of the circles forming a larger circle. "On my mark, you hurl your snowballs at whichever target is on your right. Once you are hit by a snowball, you are OUT! And the one who hit you will take over YOUR target." He watches with a grin as the competitors look over their targets. "Last one standing gets 5 points!" He pauses. "Ready - set - go!"

OOC: The order is Rogue --> Tabitha --> Jean --> Piotr --> Kitty --> Rogue. Everyone rolls first 1d10 to represent their throw, and then 1d10 to represent their dodge. If you exceed or tie the throw die of the person throwing at you, then you survive. If you don't, you are OUT! We will do each round once at a time until we are whittled down. Which hopefully should not take too long. Any questions, page me!

Reed Richards has posed:
Old Man Richards nods considering, "Fascinating, Franklin never Said anything."

    Reed moves to stand next to Bobby considering, "You have given this a lot of thought." He smiles easily as he watches the event.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue ends up in one of these circles, and does some sweet stretching maneuvers. She stretches to the side. "Gotta stretch my delts, and my quads." She says with a heavy exhale to follow her accented English. "Gotta stretch my hammys too..." She says as she jogs in place for a bit. "Can't forget my glutes...." She says then as she leans forward to touch fingertips to her toes.

"Ah, there we goooo." She says then as she rises up, and gets hit in the face with a snow ball!

She falls over on to her butt in the snow, and sighs, heavily, as she just lays back and does a snow angel...

Bobby Drake has posed:
"The thing is, Dr. Richards," offers Bobby, as he watches the chaos unfold. "A good prank is only as good as the time you put into it." He winks at the scientist as the snowball Kitty had hurled at him earlier slowly rotates like a globe, growing in size. Slowly.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
The circle is entered and there's that squinty left and right look that hints that maybe she might cheat, or even have an edge since power training.

However!

Tabby does not have as fast of a reaction time as no sooner does the woman squat down and have a snowball in her hand does she find herself pelted on standing. The snow knocking her head back enough like a powdery white headshot and the blonde just goes with the flow.

"Avenge me X-men!" she pleades and makes a fake dead gag sound and lands on her back.

Snow angels soon appear.

Jean Grey has posed:
Snowdodgeball!

This is something that Jean can get in the spirit for, such lighthearted, good-spirited fun. Well, that and the VERY obvious fact that she has a favorite target. Even if, perhaps, the rules of the game make it difficult to target freely initially. A will finds a way!

So Jean assumes the position inside her circle, the position in this case involving more of a careful, slightly hunched, bouncing from toe-to-toe combat stance. With a snowball prepped and rolled in hand. This is war!

A few snowballs go flying, and Jean ducks under an initial volley, before taking aim and throwing hers. It is, to her credit, a totally legal throw! It's not her fault that her initial targets are all way too good at the game and dodge out of the way, and that it homes alll the way in on a certain prominently raised backside. WHUMPH!

"Asking for that one, Marie!"

In her mind, Jean has already done what she needs to do, won the moral battle if not the war. Of course, the amount of time she spends gloating may put her a little behind. While she's not hit out immediately, she has to scramble to reach down and prepare another snowball, and it puts her behind on speed. Eventually, she looks around, and decides to go for Piotr since he is a pretty big target... only to get pasted from the side!

"Argh!"

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Yet another game designed specifically for Remy who has made quite a life out of throwing stuff at other people... He brings his index finger up and bites the knuckle dramatically. "Shall not! No... I will not participate in games based on cold weather." Because he's a man of principles. He does flick cards at Rogue though. Whistling them across the yard towrads her in the circle.

Piotr Rasputin has posed:
    Colossus moves to a nearby circle and takes his position. He listens to the new game and rules and picks up a snowball in each hand. He looks to his left and then to his right. He realizes he's going to need more snowballs, so he scoops up several and places them his massive left hand while making ready with two in his right.

    Seeing that the game is afoot, Colossus attempts his throw and then realizes it's more of a free for all than anything that would otherwise be organized. His first target will be an attempt at revenge on Kitty. Chucking the two snowballs, he'll aim for the smaller frame expecting her to phase out. So, instead of letting up, Colossus will throw many more in sequence. He calls out, "Katya! Eat Snow!"

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Stretching is for targets. While Rogue is preparing her quads and glutes, Kitty is selecting the most perfectly shaped snowball, smoothing it and hefting its weight so she is ready the moment Rogue stands up to heave it her way!

As it splatters into her head, Kitty fistpumps and yells, "Good golly Miss Molly! That was a slabberknocker!!!" Yes the girl who graduated early one of the nation's premier preparatory schools, and returned from Oxford with dual degrees, has turned to quoting professional wrestling announcers.

Kitty dodges a snowball that comes her way, the big Russian she hit earlier having the opportunity to hurl snowballs her way while she has to work her way around the circle to get to him.

More snowballs are thrown, Kitty adjusting her target whoever remains on her right as people start to go down rapidly like it was the Battle of Antietam.

More snowballs come her way from Colossus. "Hah! In Soviet Russia, ball snows you, Piotr Rasputin!" she yells at him as finally she's able to engage him directly. She ducks a snowball and then sends three snowballs at him in rapid succession.

In the end there can be only one. When finally one of the snowballs lands on the big Russian, Kitty drops to her knees, arms lifted in the air with her hand clenched in success, face upwards.

Ok, maybe that wasn't a good posture to be in.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy flicks a card at Kitty, "Low hangin' fruit, Katherine Pryde." He shouts at her about the Soviet Russia joke.

Bobby Drake has posed:
"And this, Dr. Richards," offers Bobby, grinning. "Is what we call..." The snowball which had been hurled at his face floats out, now roughly ten times as large, as the combatants whittle down. "The snow drop." The timing is impeccable. The ball starts dropping as soon as Kitty hits her knees, so by the time she looks up she can see only white.

        SMUSH.

Reed Richards has posed:
Old Man Richards chuckles easily shaking his head, "I can see why you and Johnny get along." He watches the contestants take each other out. And claps for the victor... "Oh, my."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
When she picks herself up, the blonde lifts her glasses up on her head and blinks rapidly and grows crosseyed as she hmmms. "Lovely, managed both contacts!" she says and slips a knuckle to her right eye. "I gotta go fish the one that didn't get knocked out out before it rolls all the war around and blindes me." she says as she squints and steps away from the circle. Another snowball hitting the back of the ehad as Tabi turns and glares daggers at Hambone. Two fingers point at her eyes and then she points them in the wrong direction. This is probably in Piotr's direction before she slowly makes her way off the field.

And kicks things in the snow on the way to a safe place to sit.

Bobby Drake has posed:
    Bobby watches the chaos, and as the contestants knock each other out, he raises his fists. "And we have winners! Kitty Pryde, you get..." He cracks a grin. "Well, you mess with the Iceman, you better be prepared for the SNOW!" He waves a hand and all of the snowballs and rings vanish. Except for Kitty's snow. That stays.
    "Alright, everyone, the final event is here - and once again, I would like to thank our special guest, Dr. Reed Richards!" He points at Reed. "He will be your judge in this contest, which I like to call..." He waits. He looks around. "COME ON!" He grins. "One moment." A beat. "WHICH I LIKE TO CALL..." And then the speakers kick on, and a song plays - "Do you want to build a snow man?"
    Bobby looks out from the pedestal. "Ok, boys and girls - you will each have ONE minute to assemble the most creative snowman from the snowman pieces." He pauses, hamming it up one more time. "Oh, what pieces? THESE!" He waves his hands again, and a sea of ice structures appear in the air above the field, spinning in a circuit.
    "Competitors, take your spots at the side. On the count of 3, grab the pieces you want, build." He pauses. "1....2....3!" He snaps his finger and all of the pieces drop to ground. There are arms, legs, hands, hats, pipes - all fashioned of ice.

OOC: Just go ahead and pose whatever you built. Assume that there is a piece of ice that fits whatever you need. It's like Mr. Potato Head - but a Snowman. Annnnnnd GO!

Rogue has posed:
Rogue reaches down to grab the cards that Remy is tossing on to her sweater covered chest. She gathers them up to see the face value of each card, then smirks before she sits up, stands up and walks toward him with the cards held up. "They can't all be winners." She says with a smile before handing them back to the Cajun and brushing herself off.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy fans the cards out in one hand so Rogue can slip them back into the deck, which he collects with a brush of his hand. "In my heart, you always da winner, chere." Two fingers turn over a card and slide it in the neckline of her sweater. Queen of Hearts. "Somebody bout ta make a Frozen joke, watch." After hearing the next competition. He shakes his head and resumes shuffling. A mystery man of many connundrums.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty frantically grabs at pieces, but there's a method to her madness. She definitely has something in mind it seems, discarding some after a quick moment's examination to grab others instead.

She start with legs, rubbing them so they are smoother than they started out. Definitely going with a human shape and not the traditional balls of snow for a body. The torsos she goes through three before she finally gets one, but doesn't seem happy with it. She begins using her hands to sculpt it more to her liking, and by the time she's done the torso has a vaguely masculine musculature to it. She only has about 15 seconds to work it, so it's not exact, but gives the right impression.

Arms gets similar treatment smoothed with a few seconds of rubbing, and then she gets a piece that looks like a bucket, but again she starts reshaping it, working rapidly as the time ticks down. Finally she sticks the rehaped bucket which is vaguely head-like now, onto another piece she got which looks like a noose of rope, and sticks the final bit on the snowman's shoulders.

The result? It's close enough to Bobby with his ice armor on that the resemblance can be picked up. With that noose around his neck. Kitty turns to stare down Bobby with a comicly ferocious look, and then points two fingers at her own eyes and then points them both at him.

Piotr Rasputin has posed:
    Colossus steps away from the competition, he's still brushing snow from his clothing and metal skin. He does keep an eye on what's transpiring with the snowman building. He smiles at the creations that they are forming.

Jean Grey has posed:
Competitive snowman building! (Hey, how about snowPERSON, huh? Or wait, maybe they need to work on that X-Men thing first...)

Politics aside, this one at least seems pretty straight forward. Pure art. Pure love of snow. And as a native of these very lands, someone who has experienced many snowy winters, and has built many snow-people, Jean feels as though she has all the necessary skills to compete here. She knows the tricks and techniques. That said, she's never used pre-made ice pieces before. Are these even snow-men(persons)? Aren't they ICE-people?!

Oh well. GAME ON!

Although they have pieces to work with, Jean still decides to use some of the traditional methods. For one, she's not entirely sure how to just stick the ice stuff together and make it stay, otherwise. SHE doesn't have ice powers! So she does the normal roll-roll-roll your snowball thing to create a few big balls. Well, big by throwing terms. Smaller than the usual snowman pieces.

Still, she doesn't have a lot of time of all of this. So there are shortcuts. She makes her snowperson more like a snow bust. And you can take that literally, cause well... she's basically taken a T-shaped ice thing and stuck two big old snowboobs on there.

When she finishes placing on the eventual snowball head, she last touch is one last ice piece. A long icicle laid lengthwise, from back to front. A STRIPE if you would.

When she's done, she stands beside it. "Guess who this is!"

Rogue has posed:
Rogue rolls up her sleeves and gets to work building a snow person out of the available resources... She hums a tune while she works. She steps back and takes a look at her work over and over again, before she goes back to working on her work.

When she finishes, she takes a step back and puts her hands on her hips. She sighs with immense inner satisfaction as she stares at what she worked really hard on to create, out of her work came the results of which...........

Rogue has posed:
The work that Rogue put in is there, definitely. NO question that its there.

But it also falls apart and she drops her hands to her thighs and stomps her way back over toward Remy.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy watches Rogue work on her work that she's working on. The immensely unfortunate fate of that work of art falling assunder aside, he reaches out to rub her arm reassuringly. "What did tha' snowmans hat say to his scarf?" Dad jokes make everything better, "You hang out, I'll go on ahead."

He pats her arm and flips over another card.

Reed Richards has posed:
Old Man Richards takes in each creation in detail. Inspecting the work and workmanship. He raises his eyebrows as Piotr steps away. Snickers at Kitty's creation. He nods at Jean's more traditional take on the Professor. Reed gasps as he watches Rogue's Pile of snow, "GENIUS! The artistic integrity, the deconstructionist possibilties, embracing the natire of what it means to /be/ a snowperson." Reed claps slowly, "Brava!" Reed smiles, "Rogue, Jean, Kitty. As amusing as it was Ms. Pryde." He shakes his head.

Bobby Drake has posed:
Watching keenly from his post at the top, Bobby observes the proclamations of the snowperson competition's esteemed judge. "And there you have it, folks...who can argue with the Earth's foremost scientist?" He grins and creates an ice slide in front of him, gliding down to the field level with the rest of the competitors. "Ladies and gentleman, we have a clear and decisive winner. Before I announce that though, I'd like to thank you all for coming out, and I hope you enjoyed this little respite. And thanks as well to Dr. Richards for judging the snow man competition. To review..." He waves his hands towards the snow men. "Our winner was Rogue's deconstruction, second place was Jean's Rogue, and sadly, bringing up the rear, we have what I think we can all call, - Kitty's Adulation!" He points over at the snow structure that had been just him with a noose, and it appears to be slightly different. The noose is now a scarf, flapping boldly in a non-existing breeze. And crouched down, before him, is another figure - on her knees, arms held up triumphant, face mostly skyward, but aimed at Bobby's heroic facsimile - is Kitty Pryde. Except instead of eyes, she has...are those stars?
    "And your final, overall winner, everyone's favorite Southern Belle - ROGUE!" A flurry of snow erupts beneath Rogue's feet, lifting her up and depositing her atop the tallest of the columns. A mound of snow appears below Jean and rolls slowly towards the third place column. And then a giant claw, like those machines at the arcade that never seem to be strong enough to actually grasp something, moves over to try to grab Kitty to bring her to the 2nd place column.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde gives a soft, "Aww" as if disappointment as she comes in third in the statues, but she's grinning hugely at it. Rogue gets cheered for as she's announced, Kitty putting two fingers between her lips to whistle loudly.

The alterations to her statue get a giggle from Kitty, and she pulls out her phone to snap pictures to memorialize it. She's still being a shutterbug when she's picked up and dumped onto the second place column. Kitty raises her arms in near-victory. She turns to Rogue and says, "Let me offer the winner this Laurel, and Hardy handshake..."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue pulls her eyes from Remy long enough to stare at the thing Jean was making. Her green eyed gaze starts to go in to a squint... She looks from it, to its creator, to its chest, then back to its creator...

A big dramatic HUFF escapes between her lips as she crosses her arms over her stomach.

And then the decision is called, and she's being pushed up in to the air with a yelp!

When the snowy dust settles, she looks around at whom else has joined her on the winner stands, but since she's at the winnerest height, her hands shoot up in the air and she does the jumpy jumpy jumpy thing again!

Her right hand points down at Kitty, "Boom! Roasted!" She says, then sweeps her finger up in to the air, and points it even downerer toward Jean.

"BooooOOooOOoOoOOOOOOom. Roasted!" She says with great jubilation!

Then more jumpy jumpy jumpy with her hands in the air!

Bobby Drake has posed:
"Alright, I now declare the first annual Other X-Games Winter Special over!" Bobby flashes a grin. "But just in case you didn't get enough ... " He throws his hands down at the ground, and an explosion of snow cascades out from him, engulfing the field and coming up to roughly shin high on most present (except Piotr). Perfect packing snow to make snowballs.
    As the observers race to create their own snowball mischief, Bobby has one last statement to make. "First one to knock Kitty off the column wins a special prize!"

Jean Grey has posed:
As with the prior snowballing, it's clear that Jean is taking her winnings in the form of Rogue-sassin' Bucks. And that HUFF is worth plenty! She grins big!

The fact that there are actual victory ceremonies going on only seem to really dawn on her when Bobby's snow mound pops up beneath her and carries her to her place. Briefly, it looks like she doesn't quite know what's happening, though eventually she figures it out. "Woah, woah- oh."

However, the fact that Rogue ends up atop the podium doing her Michael Scott draws a dubious look at best, and Jean crosses her arms. "We didn't skate, so nothin's decided, stripey!" She points a finger, in a very much calling-out style.

"You, me, lake. Pick a time! And bring your clompy-footed hockey skates or whatever it is you have!"

And then her challenging pose is swallowed up by Bobby's snow. "Argh!"

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Okay. So Remy has every reason to just say 'yeah, Rogue wins', but even he's a little surprised when Rogue's mess of a Snowman ends up victorious in this game of creativity. Not that he says so, nope.. it's just written on his face. Eyebrow raised, black/red eyes cutting from Richards to Bobby, to whatever the heck Rogue's mess of snow was suppose to be, but isn't..

He grins at her though.

Again he whistles up at her on the highest peaks, where winners reside. Thumb and index finger in the corners of his mouth to produce the most obnoxiously shrill sound. His cards are fit back together and slipped into his pocket, hand remaining there as he leans against the fence to watch everyone happily go about throwing snow at each other.

"Tsk... 85 degrees."

Reed Richards has posed:
Old Man Richards claps for the winner and for all the contestants. Then nods to Bobby, "Thank you for having me. Enjoy the snow, everyone." Reed waves and stretches into the air to the waiting fantasticar.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue see's Kitty with her hand out, and she peers around it to see if there is a hand buzzer attached to it. She stops jumping then to stare... and finally reaches out to shake her hand.

And then Bobby makes that claim about shoving Kitty off the stand, so she grabs the Phaser's hand, and yanks at her to try and pull her off in to the snow!

Up up and away!

"I'm off to the lake then!" She shouts, racing past Remy to smooch his head and grab her skates from him before more flying happens!

Bobby Drake has posed:
Watching the folks at play, Bobby smiles broadly, and he builds himself another ice sled, drifting upwards to get a bird's eye view of the carnage down below. He offers a wave to Mr. Fantastic as he departs, and then he drops into a seated position atop the perch of his sled. It has been quite a tumultuous few weeks, and he realizes that there are even more coming, but at least for now, he can take solace in knowing that he distracted folks for at least a few hours...