#rerikyis

[yutikyis]

Snowball Fight

(I am posting this here because I am considering consolidating my character blogs into one. It’s easier to write for other characters if I can just write instead of fumbling between tumblrs. So this is a Reri story, not a Yuti one.) 

Starlight. Frigging Twelve-damned Starlight. Worst damn time of the year if you asked Reri Kyis. A damn waste of time for everyone. Not that she hated getting gifts. Truth was she didn’t even mind giving gifts. Nahu had been surprised about that but it was true. She wasn’t going to give gifts to every damn person she met like the Twelve-forsaken Saint but a gift could be a way to praise someone as much as anything else. Despite what the Snowflake thought she wasn’t against praising people. They just had to earn it first. It was the idea behind it that ticked her off. It was a celebration of weakness and coddling and cowardice. Those stupid red outfits which so many people saw as something to praise. To her they were like scarlet signs of weakness. She wasn’t an idiot. You took care of kids until they could take care of themselves. That was how you kept the species alive. What she despised was hiding it. Pretending those kids were soldiers and then snickering in your hand about how you go away with it? The entire damn thing pissed her off. It pissed her off that the Ishgardians had been stupid enough to let a bunch of children probably die when they had enough space for them. Waste of life and waste of resources on top of that. It pissed her off the soldiers didn’t have the balls to actually confront their officers and settled for second best. It pissed her off because it taught those kids the wrong lesson and they began handing out presents to every random kit they could find instead of learning something useful. Damn celebration of weakness is what it was. If you asked her a damn sight better figure for Starlight would be that Azure Dragoon fellow. Now that’d be a damn proud story to tell your kids. “Yeah, Snowflake, people wear red because the Dragoon killed the ugly bastard who’d been terrorizing us for a generation and it stained his armor red. We wear red to celebrate that because it’s a damn fine thing to be proud of.” Course there was more to that particular story from what she’d gathered but it didn’t really matter. Both were stories anyway. It just depended on which one you wanted to celebrate. Killing an ancient wyrm and bathing in its blood was a damn sight more of an act to be proud of than hiding a bunch of kids from some damn bureaucrats and chucking them back out in the snow when you were done. Not to mention the frigging snow. Who ever heard of it snowing in a desert?  She’d come to Ul’dah to get piss drunk and ended up having to deal with it being cold enough to freeze her tits off despite it being the Twelve-damned desert. An frustrated part of her wondered if this was the result of some kind of Saint of Starlight Primal and if so could she stab the hell out of it and bring the warmth back?  Not that it mattered. Not even the bars were a fun escape today. Of course every single bar in the entire damned city was dressed up for the holiday. You couldn’t even get piss drunk without some arsehole crooning in your ear about the Saint’s bells or whatever. She could enjoy a good drinking song but those were songs that were about fun shite, not some red-faced Roe whinging about mother making out with the Saint beneath the mistletoe.  So that was why she found herself sitting outside in the snow, a bottle of Limsa’s finest imported in her hand, generally angry about the state of the world. Frigging celebrations of weakness ruining her drinking. She couldn’t even go out hunting because half the damn Companies were more worried about some stupid trees stealing decorations and the best place to hunt in the Shroud was full of idiots on dressed-up bears throwing boxes at one another like morons.  So she was content to get pissed and let the day pass... until a snowball hit her square in the face. As she sputtered and brushed the snow from her eyes, she looked around quickly, her hands sipping down to the daggers at her side, face alight with anger. Who in the Hells?! Her would-be victim was actually a Miqo’te boy of about twelve summers whose snowball had clearly missed HIS intended victim, a tall and lanky Roegadyn girl of a similar age. Both looked entirely terrified as Reri’s blazing eyes turned towards them. “OY! Ya bloody idiots! What the Hells kinda throw was that? I shoudl tan yer hides and hang ya up for the bloody vultures!” The Miqo’te boy looked as if he wanted to melt as quickly as the Starlight snow. It was only the Roe girl who seemed to be regain a little composure. “'’Leave 'im alone ye ole bat. It ain't his fault ye were sittin' thar mopin',” the girl shouted back, standing between her friend and the angry redhaired Miqo’te, arms crossed tight over her chest as if she could intimidate Reri into submission. “Well, I ain’t mopin’ if you want to know the truth. I’m considerin’ how to tear yer head off and shove it up your own arse. Figure that’d be an interestin’ Starlight challenge. Figure the Saint can find ya ta give ya a gift up there?” Reri growled, though there was a twinkle of amusement in her eyes as the girl stood up to her. “Well, I assume ye'd be th' one t' tell me considerin' ye already 'ave yers up thar!” the Roe sniffed. The Miqo’te boy slid up behind her and tugged at her arm. “Iyrn, c’mon, don’t make it worse,” he whispered in a pleading, plaintive and desperate voice that made it clear he did this all the time.  “I shall nah! Th' squiffy ole strumpet be threatenin' us 'cause she got a wee snow down her front? Maybe if she buttoned up her jacket that wouldna be a problem!“ Reri’s bad mood vanished in an instant and she began to laugh loudly. She took a long swig from her bottle and pulled her hand away from her daggers. “Squiffy ole strumpet am I? That’s mighty big words comin’ from a bearchild whose askin’ for a beatin’.” Reri’s threat however seemed only about halfway real. “Good on you for standin’ up for yourself, girly. Probably gonna get your arse kicked for it someday but better an arsekickin’ than being a pansy.”  The Roe seemed entirely unsure how to take that mix of threat and compliment and settled for huffing quietly. “I be nah afeared o' some tart who be so bothered by snow she'd try t' skewer me o'er it.” Reri’s laughter redoubled at that and the Miqo’te boy’s ears flattened back against his head. “C’mooooon  Iyrnthota, let’s just go before the lady gets angrier at us...”  Reri shook her head and gave the Miqo’te boy a glare. “Oy, mankit, shut yer bloody mouth. Yer a man, ain’t ya? You should be the one standin’ in front of her, not cowerin’ like a babe behind his mama. Have some damn Miqo pride boy. Ya ain’t ever gonna be a Nuhn that way.” The boy slumped slightly and mumbled something about not wanting to be a Nuhn anyway.  Reri gave a derisive snort at that. “Well, I ain’t particularly fond of Nuhns myself but I doubt you’re going to be able to take a ride on the Roegadyn express either if’n ya keep acting like a wimp.” Judging by the sudden way the Miqo’te’s face turned pale and then a vivid shade of red, there was was a very real chance the poor boy was about to pass out and die on the spot. Iyrn turned no less red though her response was more anger than anything. “Ye crude ole strumpet, wha' be th' matter wit' ye? We be friends 'n even if we were nah that ain't somethin' ye jus' say.” Somehow that made the Miqo’te boy look both happy and miserable ta the same moment. Reri rolled her eyes and walked over towards a nearby street pole, one of the large ones used to hold up advertisements and banners. She rested her back against it and motioned for the two to approach her with her head. After a moment they did. “Listen, the pair a ya. Ya ain’t got nothin’ ta be gained by pretendin’ ya nothin’. Yer little friend there,” she motioned at the Miqo’te who slunk behind his friend again “.. s’clearly got a crush on ya about as wide as a chasm. So just admit it boyo instea’ dancin’ around all this shite. It’s a wastea everyone’s time, myself included bein’ as I gotta tell ya this.”  Iyrn looked behind her shoulder at the MIqo’te and frowned. “That ain't true, be it O'Lei?” The boy’s cheeks turned a brighter shade of red which just made Reri burst out into laughter. “Girl, ya must be mighty blind if ya can’t see that. Boy has it bad enough for ya he’s probably havin’ dirty dr-” “S-Stop it!” “C’mon boy, nothin’ to be ashamed of, you’re at that ag-” 

“By th' Twelve do ye ever stop natterin'!?” Iyrn interrupted with a huff. She looked over at O’Lei again and there was something a bit softer in her eyes as she smiled at him. He looked up at her and fidgeted a little before giving her a tiny smile. “If she's right ye should say somethin', ye know. I like ye too,” Iyrn said softly. The boy’s expression shifted to one of shock before a brilliant smile crossed his face. “You mean it?” “O' course I do. Ye're me best mate aren't ye?” “Yeah but I wasn’t-” And anything more was interrupted by Reri making a loud exaggerated gagging sound. As both looked back at her, Iyrn clearly affronted, while O’Lei was too obviously pleased with the situation to be really upset, Reri smirked at them. “See? Ain’t nothin’ to be gained from dancing around the truth. Ya be honest and ya go for what ya want. If it ain’t what either of ya want then ya might as well get that out in the open too. Have some balls.” Both the children seemed a little unsure but nodded their heads in unison. O’Lei actually reached out and took the Roe girl’s hand lightly and stood a bit closer with her.

Reri’s eyes twinkled slightly. “Well, one la’ thing before I leave the two of ya.” The Roe and Miqo both looked at her in confusion. “Ya oughta keep yer wits about ya even durin’ a conversation,” she said and quickly pulled her leg up and kicked backwards at the pole she was leaning again..  Up above a particularly large pile of snow that had been pile up above on the small outcropping used to hang the advertisements was suddenly shaken loose, sending a veritable avalanche of heavy wet snow down on both children.  By the time it was finished they were both covered in the stuff, shivering and trembling and shocked. “Looks like I win’ the snowball fight, ‘eh?” she said with a wink and a raucous laugh as she turned and strode away, finishing the last of her bottle as she did, leaving the two snow-covered kids behind her.