The most homely snowman

[a_peaceful_aura]

It takes Taiki approximately 2.536 seconds to change from his school uniform into the play clothes set out for him and a snow suit. He waddles into the kitchen for Inspection and when he gets the O-K sign from his mother he's immediately out the door.

There is nothing, nothing better than a back yard covered with a thick layer of pristine,

Comments

[wasplisbeth]

It's snowing and there is no school. It's snowing and there is no real adult supervision, which is cool because Swepan is really safe, all four city blocks of it. It's snowing and there is no Taiki. Not at the park, not at the usual places, and not at the Library and that upsets Lisbeth. In her head people should be where they are supposed to be and in her head there are a few specific places that Taiki is supposed to be. It doesn't even occur to her that he would be at home with his mom.

Not until she is at his doorstep, frustrated, confused and looking to find out why Taiki is not where she thinks he should be. It's when the door opens does she realize that he's supposed to be at home, with his mom because that's what people do when it's snowing and snowing out.

Like usual she just stands there and looks up at Mrs. Taiki's mom. Finally the delayed reaction catches up to her. "Can Taiki play?"

[a_peaceful_aura]

Chiyako offers Lisbeth a warm smile and greeting. In the background music plays and the woman is dressed in dirty work clothes -- the downstairs bathroom is getting a face-lift this winter!

"Of course!" She's just about to back away from the entrance and let Lisbeth through when her eyes catch sight of the little girl's snowy shoes. A moment of hesitation before she leans out and points to the wood gate at the corner of the house. "He's in the back yard -- just go right through there, dear." It will lead between the two houses an open up right into...

Homely Snowman. Greetings and do not be afraid! Taiki, meanwhile, is working steadily in the opposite corner -- in making the snowman he cleared a track around the perimeter of the property, right up to where he's building the snow-fort.

[wasplisbeth]

Chiyako looks down at Lisbeth's shoes but Lisbeth does not, she is instead staring at a little space right above Chiyako's head and only when does she lift her head does Lisbeth look down at her snowy boots. Oh yeah, she's been walking around and shouldn't track snow into their house. When she points it takes Lisbeth a second but she finally looks toward the gate and nods her understanding. Turning on the porch she jumps down and makes her way to the gate and through it to be greeted by. . .

Homely is a really nice way to describe the snowman. It looks like it's possessed. If Taiki would share those souls he eats all the time with the snowman he might look a little perkier. For a moment Lisbeth regards the snowman figuring that he did it on his own and did a pretty good job of it on his own. Lisbeth would never say to her friend that his snowman looks like it had a stroke. Instead she moves over to the fort following the lines that Taiki took with the base of his snowman.

[a_peaceful_aura]

Taiki is in the middle of patting snow into a gap between his bricks when he feels Lisbeth approach. He hops up, head appearing just over the low wall. The best snow day just got even better.

"Hi." As outwardly enthusiastic as ever, but he continues. "You're out of school too?"

[wasplisbeth]

"Ja," she nods at this statement. He was here, and she should have thought of that sooner but she did not. So there's that. Next time she will no better then to look for a Taiki at the library. Look for a Taiki at home. She wants to know where he is so nothing bad happens to him, she needs to look out for him.

Looking at him and then down at the snow she watches this whole candy to snow to snow to mouth thing without saying a word. Finally she takes her piece out of her mouth and presses it to the fort, it turns it blue. This is how the snowman looks like an acid washed stroke victim. "Do you have food coloring?"

Sure, Taiki keeps some next to the baking soda in his back pocket.

[a_peaceful_aura]

Taiki makes a face and then spits the candy back out, into his hand -- the little green piece is covered in dark mitten-fuzzies. He lobs it down the fence line before pulling his glove off and trying to get the pieces of yarn-string off his tongue. That had been a bad idea.

But he perks up at Lisbeth's question! Between trying to pick fuzz from his mouth and spitting (green saliva) he replies.

"I'll ask!" Taiki edges around the side of the fort and bounds off. He knocks on the back door once more, waiting a minute before reaching for the handle and poking his head in the door. It takes a little while but eventually Taiki returns -- Chiyako refused to give the kids food coloring to play with. Fortunately he has something better: giant paint brush pens!

[wasplisbeth]

Seeing the problem Taiki runs into, Lisbeth decides that she is not going to put the candy back into her mouth. Instead she throws it in the same direction that Taiki threw his. Except, well, except her throw is really, really bad and so while it looks like she threw it away all she did was throw it into her hair. Yeah, mom will get that out later with a pair of scissors. It will be the first of many experiences with at home hair styling.

Looking up from the snow she moves around the side of the fort and stands to greet Taiki and what he brought to play with. "Neat. We can color the snow."

[a_peaceful_aura]

Yum. Hair candy.

"Yes!" Selecting an orange, Taiki goes to his knees and begins drawing. ...Rather poorly, even for a six (and a half) year old. There are stick figures and suns and a tree -- all the things one would expect to see on the side of a massive fort wall.

Eventually he peeks over to see what she's doing.

[wasplisbeth]

Looking at where he's pointing and then down at the bottom of the hill she looks at Taiki. Then she looks at the top of the hill, it's really not that far away and really they are not that far from the bottom they can hardly get the speed she wants from here.

"No," she says simply and then points to the top of the hill. "It's okay. I'll be with you." If she needs to ride down with him she's okay with that.

[a_peaceful_aura]

Yes, the speed is actually the problem. Not the height. But he dutifully follows, trudging up the hill. He trusts Lisbeth but the tiny!psychic is silent and nervous.

Making sure to stay out of the other kids' paths, Taiki makes it to the top. Black eyes glance uneasily down the steep slope and then back up to her. He reaches for his sled, determined to be brave.

[wasplisbeth]

You'd think she was leading him into a den of lions. To be fair they are up pretty high and even though the hill flattens at points it still gets pretty fast toward the bottom. Exciting. Lisbeth loves the fast and the exciting.

Putting down the red sled she looks over at him and sits before looking at him again. "Do you want to ride together?" He looks funny, like, he's making an odd looking face and she's not sure if he's going to be sick or what. She doesn't see fear as an expression a lot.

[a_peaceful_aura]

Taiki nods and practically leaps in with her. There's some adjustment so they're sitting on both sleds at the same time but he eventually settles down.

The split second where he's staring down the hill, pressed back against Lisbeth as the sled slowly tips downwards, is probably the most terrifying. All that wide open white expanse... It's so steep! He draws in a quick breath, leeeeeeaning away as they tip further and further towards the bottom.

He won't make a sound the entire ride but black eyes will be WIDE because holy shit gee golly that is disturbingly fast!

[sargkuw]

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