nepetaleijon | > Nepeta: Host Midsw33p's Vigil.

> Nepeta: Host Midsw33p's Vigil.

The path up to Nepeta's cave has been carefully shoveled free of snow.

(Okay, not so much "carefully shoveled" as "joyfully blasted". If there's one thing laser claws are good for that isn't fighting, it's carving through annoying stuff that's in your way. There are a few vitrified and/or half-melted fragments of rock lining the path. Don't worry; none of them are still steaming.)

Up close to the cave mouth, two huge cats have been sculpted out of snow in guarding positions, one on either side of the path such that any visitors will have to pass between them. They look incredibly ~~adorable~~ menacing.

Invited guests are welcome! Uninvited guests will probably be warned off before the cave's automatic defense systems kick in.

Probably.

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She startles a little, jerked out of her thoughts as she looks up at Shephard.

"I Suppose? I Grew Up In The Desert, So, This Is Kind Of New."

Shephard grins crookedly. "You'll git the hang of it," he says. "It ain't all that tough to adapt to once you give it a little bit."

There's a grumpy noise from the troll.

"It's Cold, And Soaks Through Your Clothes."

"Sure," says Shephard, unfazed. "That's snow for you. You git warmer if you git movin', see."

Well, that's a cue if ever there was one.

"WH333333 --"

Normally, Kanaya can somewhat stand up to Nepeta's pouncegreets, if she realizes they're coming. This one makes her not so lucky, and Kanaya has just enough time to utter a startled chirp before she's face down in the snow.

Whoop! Grab those snowballs, boy, it's time to get messy.

Nepeta sits up from the tumble and leaps backward in the snow, braced for combat.

... She's not sure if it's going to end up a three-sided combat or if there will be some temporary alliances. That's what makes this kind of thing so exciting!

Kanaya isn't by any means as feline as Nepeta, but she likes to think she does a decent job of twisting around in the snow and gathering her legs beneath her before making a retaliatory pounce.

.... Shephard's gonna wait until he has a clearer shot. Or until it's more entertaining. Either way.

OOF. Yeah, that was a workable pounce all right.

A cloud of kicked-up snow is rising around the two of them, with an occasional horn or limb or tail flailing out of it at odd moments.

Retaliation!

There are flailing limbs, cuffed blows, and plenty of noise, but soon Kanaya makes a leap out of range, using Nepeta as a springboard, and landing in a ready crouch.

Well, you know. Shephard wouldn't be much of a hunter if he didn't take advantage of opportunities that arose.

Incoming snowball, y'all. Maybe two, if he can manage it.

DOOF.

The first snowball takes Nepeta in the side of the head mid-pounce, and she lands in another heap of snow with a squawk.

The second just barely grazes Kanaya, but she brushes it off, dancing around to Shephard's rear-quarters and scooping up an armload of snow before springing up and aiming for his back.

Aradia joins the fray with two snowballs flung at Kanaya!

Well, Shephard's gonna dive and roll and totally get hit by the snow, of course, but that's okay because he's got plenty of opportunity to grab more and start flinging it at faces. All he has to do is get 'em distracted enough for him to get up again, right?

A new opponent!

Nepeta rolls onto her back and starts rapid-firing snowballs at Aradia.

Aradia dodges four snowballs and makes a fifth one reverse course and fling itself back at Nepeta, then gets hit in the face by Shephard's snow.

One of the shots dodged by the Maid of Time manages to drop into a dug-in snow bunker and, by an astonishing coincidence, hit a certain giant robot square in the eye.

BWRRRRRRRRRP!

D0G shakes his head to dislodge the projectile, grabs an eighteen-inch-diameter handful of snow from the ground, and lobs it at the crowd of combatants.

From her precarious perch on Shephard's shoulders, Kanaya manages to see the incoming projectile and launches off of the man, wide-eyed.

"Incoming!

Scatter!

Aradia wipes the snow off her face just in time to see it herself, and immediately absconds the hell out of the way.

Nepeta scrambles in the other direction, and vanishes.

Wait, no: she's just taken cover in a very cleverly concealed snow bunker. As evidenced by the barrage of snowballs that starts coming out of it.

And there goes Shephard, ass over teakettle in the snow.

He's cackling. Are you surprised?

D0G BWAAAAAAPs and starts gathering snow for another shot. Meanwhile, Alyx is firing her own volleys from the safety of her own bunker.

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> Nepeta: Host Midsw33p's Vigil.

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