Monday, February 2nd, 2009 Who: Ash, Finn, and Lucas Where: On the grounds, then to the cafeteria When: Midday What: Snowball fight! Then hot cocoa! Status: In Progress
After crashing and burning a while back, Ash was paying more attention while walking outside. The weather had been just right to for snow, so it was still a cold, slippery mess outside that was a hazard for the witch to deal with. This didn't stop her from taking a walk though; she just stopped focusing on her surroundings after a while, and just on where her feet were going.
Because of this she had no idea she was walking straight into a battlefield. It didn't help that she had her iPod with her as well, and was humming to herself as she walked. Behind her, traipsing along delightedly through the snow, were her own footsteps; a rainbow of imprints in the snow that did what she really wished to do--pouncing on a pile of snow here, "splashing" through a puddle there, pirouetting in time to the song she was playing. They faded away a few moments after she had left them behind, though.
Finn had decided since he was caught up on the dorms and that the church could wait half an hour for him to look at a few ceiling fans, he would surprise his dear friend Lucas with a sneak attack. Walking along, the man was right on time between classes. He laid low and made the perfect snowball. It was hard, but would explode on impact. Eyeing him carefully, he didn't notice the girl wandering through till it was too late. Aimed at Lucas, he jumped out behind the tree with a war cry and hurled it at the other man, instead hitting the dancer. "Oh fuck!" He cried, eyes wide as he drew attention to himself more before rushing over to the girl.
Lucas was, for once, innocent in the torment of his sister--because despite the age difference, he did so delight in driving her up the wall. He had been walking towards the dorms, unaware that Ash was trailing behind him, when he heard her sudden yelp of dismay. Turning around, he blinked at her in surprise and then past her at Finn, who was now hurrying over.
Then he laughed.
Ash had been so not prepared for that. The snowball had pegged her right against the side of her head and she froze immediately, eyes squeezed shut and her jaw dropped in shock, while uncomfortably cold water began to seep through her hair and down under her collar. Lucas laughing got her to open one eye slowly, and because she didn't immediately realize that Finn was to blame, she scowled at her brother. "You asshole!"
"Hey!" Lucas sobered, sort of, and wandered closer with a smirk on his face as he pointed towards Finn. "He did it, not me."
"Sorry! Sorry!" Finn cried as he stood there, unsure of how to help her. This was the first time he'd accidentally hit a girl with a snowball. There were many times with Rorie, but that was different. He was his little brother, even if was a bit girly. "I was trying to hit your brother and well, you jumped in the way," he said smiling sheepishly. "Oops?" He shrugged looking at Lucas a moment. Apparently he wasn't too upset or else the other might have tackled him by then.
Lucas had a fair grasp of what had just happened; there was still snow littered across Ash's hair, after all. Taking pity, he finally moved closer and began brushing it off of her. "Oh. Well. In that case--thanks, Ash."
Muttering under her breath, Ash hunched her shoulders up near her ears and then batted her brother back as she gave an exasperated laugh. "Brat. Geez." She gave a shake of her head, grimacing once more, and then twisted to look at Finn with a chuckle. "Yeah. Oops." Holding out one gloved hand, she raised a brow at Lucas. "I'm Aisling."
Duly prompted despite her beating him to the punch, Lucas looked between the two. "Finn, my sister Ash. Ash, this is Finn."
So this was Lucas's little sibling. Cute. "Finn," he chuckled, taking the hand in his own, larger hand and shook it. l'm the maintenance guy around here, so if you need anything fixed, just let me know," he said, putting on his winning smile. So what if her older brother was there? She was cute, he was cute. They could have a cuteness together. Of course, that thought was dashed from his head. "So. . . About the snowball," he said before just rushing Lucas and pushing him over into a pile of the snow before standing there grinning. "This works too!"
"Good to know." He had a gorgeous smile. Ash unconsciously noted this as she shook his hand in return; behind her the illusion of a flurry of birds swept over the sidewalk, dipping and twirling around the trio.
Lucas stood back from the pair, and watched impassively. Or at least it looked it; internally he was wondering what the odds were that he was going to have to kick Finn's ass later in life. This was why he was completely unprepared for being shoved, and fell backwards with a flailing of limbs.
His sister yelped again in shock, but this time it was immediately followed by a delighted giggle. "Oh my god! HA!" Pointing at Lucas, she continued to laugh with only the malicious glee a sister could manage.
"... I hate you both." Lucas didn't get up from the snow pile; he just glared at them. A moment later a clump of snow was sent winging towards the redhead.
"Mission accomplished," Finn grinned as he laughed at the flailing man. It made his day to actually be able to do this fun stuff and not get in trouble. Well, it was Lucas. The guy was so good natured that it would take a shit ton to piss him off. "No, you love us both," he grinned, blowing the man on the ground a kiss. That is before he got pelted in the face with a snow ball. "Oi!" He cried, falling over as he flailed as well. "This is war!" He cried as he scrambled to his feet. "Best be moving if you don't want to get in the way of me beating your brother's ass," he grinned throwing Ash a wink before throwing another snowball.
"Oh my god, you three year-olds..." Laughing even as she said it, Ash skittered out of the way quickly. Then she shrieked as Lucas got to his feet and launched a snowball at her as well.
Which wasn't the best idea, and Lucas realized this a moment later as his diminutive sister glowered at him and then smiled, cheekily, while pointing up. When he did his eyes widened. She had focused, creating an illusory snowball turned solid which was now hovering just above his head. Then it fell on him.
"Too late, got it covered." She smirked at Finn as Lucas yelped, and then cheerfully began whistling as she turned to head down the sidewalk and away from the duelists. If they got her snowy again they were going to regret it. Meanwhile, she knew exactly where she was going--the cafeteria, to get some hot chocolate.
"Pretty much," Finn snickered as he got back to his feet and took cover behind a snow pile he'd made earlier that week to clear the sidewalks for the students. He had some help from some magic, but enough that he was sore and tired at the end of the day. "Oh! She got you good boyo!" Finn cackled as he honed his next snowball at Lucas before making a run to duck behind Ash. He accidentally caught wind of the hot coco idea and was going to use it as his escape route. So, being the manly man he was, he used the smaller woman as a human shield for safety.
Lucas had prepped another snowball in a heartbeat, arm torqued back pitcher-style to hurl it at Finn, but then paused when Ash was once again in the line of fire. "Wuss!"
"He-ey!" Ash squeaked, sliding to a halt. She windmilled a little, but managed to keep her balance and then looked from Finn to her brother and back again. "I'm not a shield, y'know!"
"Yep!" Finn laughed as he grabbed onto Ash to keep her from falling over, ducking behind her a bit. "Yes, but right now it kinda works out as I'm going to the cafeteria and so are you," he said, letting it slip that he kinda prodded. . . Kinda. . . A little bit of a skim. Nothing big. Bad habit to get into though.
She was grateful for the rescue; her balancing skills weren't the best. Still, she laughed. "A convenient excuse. How'd you know I was going there?" Lucas hadn't yet discussed Finn with her; nothing beyond the fact that he was a nice guy, at least. Looking towards her brother, she once again angled towards the cafeteria--and began laughing when Finn ducked to follow her.
The male witch grumbled at the two of them, still holding the snowball in preparation to lob it at Finn if a window of opportunity opened. He was shivering wildly in the meantime.
"Oh, uh. . . Sorry," he chuckled sheepishly, forgetting Lucas a moment. "Telepath and empath," Finn said as he tapped his head. "I forget sometimes and i accidentally skim and get blips. I'm actually pretty good about it, just slip up sometimes," he shrugged as he made sure that he was still mostly of out firing range of Lucas.
"Oh. Oh!" As it dawned on her what he meant, Ash's eyes widened and she blinked at him in surprise. "So you read my... oh. Okay." Just a little bit invasive... no big deal. Right? Right. Lucas said he was a good guy.
"I think that counts as cheating, though. Just in case no one told you." Smirking, she pulled the door open. "So are you seriously coming in for hot chocolate, or are you escaping the chaos you just created?"
"Not on purpose," he said quickly, hoping that he didn't blow it just right then. Finn scooted in quickly, hoping that Lucas wouldn't fire into the building, he gave her a smile. "Little bit of both. I'm allowed to have several motives. It's not against the law," he chuckled as he made a quick face at Lucas as the door shut behind the other man's sister. "Not cheating. I know this from experience. My little brother might agree with you though."
The look on Lucas's face just before the door closed wasn't all that hard to read.
"Uh-huh. You're escaping ice-cold retribution," she teased, snickering before looking at him curiously. "So was I... I don't know, broadcasting it? 'Cause that's not cheating if you can't help but hear it." A fluffy white Retriever bolted ahead of them, before disappearing through the wall. Ash was used to her own illusions though, and ignored it. "And of course he'd agree with me. You probably used it to pester him when you were both little."