Snowballs and Ninjas

The snow on the ground was piling up and it was the perfect amount to throw a few snowballs. Last time Mabel threw snowballs at someone, it ended in a fight. She decided to find someone that would join her in a snowball fight. She began to roll up a snowball and looked for a partner. She smirked when she saw her partner in crime, Fane. He was too far away for her to hit him so she had to move closer. She ran toward him and threw a snowball at him before hiding behind a tree. She felt like a ninja.

She couldn't tell if she hit him or not but she wasn't about to check and see, a wicked grin spread across her face. She hoped he would continue the game and she began to roll up more snowballs. Her gloves were beginning to get wet and her hands were freezing. She slowly peeked around the tree and smirked at him. "Come and get me!"

There was something Fane liked about Mabel that he just couldn't place. He was so used to being the person who was a jerk to people, but suddenly when the tables were turned on him, he almost respected it. He felt determined to get her to like him, because usually people came up to him all the time, acting kindly and seeking friendship, until he did something rude to him and laughed in their face and they avoided him for the rest of time. Mabel never sought friendship with him. He didn't know what to call their relationship, but at least she acknowledged him.

He had the same idea, inspired by the heavy snowfall that covered the grounds and was perfect for packing snow. He had intended to stock up on snowballs, then let them fall on the heads of passing by students, but as soon as he took one in the arm, his idea had changed. For a moment he was surprised, then he turned and immediately saw the culprit. A grin made it's way onto his face and Mabel didn't even need to invite him for him to launch a few of his pre-made snowballs at her. A few hitting the tree, others aimed carefully at her fleeing figure.

"Is that a challenge?" Fane shouted back, once out of snowballs and settled for just running after her until she stopped and he could restock. "Because I'm the fastest boy in school. Also the cutest, but I think you could tell that already from just looking," He played and laughed, sending more snowballs into the air.

Snowballs hit Mabel's side and back. Mabel grinned, finally someone who would go along with a snowball fight. Not that Mabel had doubted Fane, he did seem to go along with the things she did. "Getting a little cocky there, Blevins. You remind me of a snake and snakes are not cute." Even if she did find him a little cute, she would never admit to it. "You're a," she started. She rolled a snowball and packed it tightly. "Snake!" She threw the snowball his way.

She rolled another snowball and began to run. "Fastest, huh? Maybe. But I don't think so." She smirked and threw her snowball at an an innocent student who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. She was out of snowballs now and wasn't going to stop to make more. "If you're so fast then catch me if you can!"

At this point, Fane was no longer carefully shaping portions of snow into round balls but instead ducking down, grabbing a fist full of snow in his mitten-clad hand and sending it flying in the direction of the girl. He also lost care in aim and rather just flung hunk of snow after hunk of snow between heaving laughs. He didn't know why, but it was just so much fun. This was, perhaps, the most mutual fun he had had with another person since awhile.

"Snakes are adorable," Fane argued. "They've got big eyes and they're skin is soft. So is mine. Wanna feel?" Fane called back. He really did like snakes and his skin really was soft. He was, after all, a well-endowed boy with too much time on his hands so pampering was a thing with him.

With the challenge presented to him, the short boy pumped his legs harder and ran after the girl. He wiped out a few times, his feet slipping beneath him and his knees ploughing through the chilly snow. His jeans were starting to get soaked through with snow, but he didn't care. He didn't stop chasing and tossing snow until he caught up, gave the girl a small push from behind, then collapsed in the snow, breathless. His chest heaved as he rested there a moment, then, eyes looking towards the sun, he moved his arms and legs back and forth in the snow. "Look Mabel! I'm an angel!"

A couple of snowballs hit Mabel and she shrieked when a snowball hit the back of her head. "Snakes are not adorable!" She called back in between laughs. She grabbed a handful of snow and packed it together. "No I do not want to feel your skin! That's so weird!" She threw a snowball at him and kept running. She was pretty good on feet, she hadn't tripped once.

Even though the boy had only given her a small push(along with tripping over her own feet), Mabel fell face first into the snow. She acted as if it was no big deal and got right back up. "An angel? More like a devil." She laid down on her back and made her own snow angels. "Mine more better!" She grabbed some snow and threw it over at Fane. "I kind of wanna make a snowman." She sat up and looked over at her friend. "Sound fun?"

Fane was shrieking with laughter. He wasn't used to playing games like these. Back at home, play time entitled games of chess and other quiet games him and the twins could play without being a nuisance. At school, no one ever asked him to play because he was often thought too rough, but this game was perfect. He even didn't mind it too much when the snow started to melt on his knees and make them chilly.

Mabel seemed to have fallen with him and followed his actions in making a snow angel. He chuckled at her comment of him being a devil and tried to block the snow she threw at him with little success with his arm. "I think you mean, your's is even better," He replied, smartly, and picking at her poor word choice.

He lifted himself from the snow as carefully as possible in order to not break the snow angel and then helped Mabel up. "Great! Snowmen sound fun! I've got the perfect idea for them!" His hand dove into his pocket and pulled out a few red paint balls. "Christmas traditions are so boring. Lets go give the first years nightmares of zombie snowmen this christmas!"

"Shh, don't correct me." She was too busy having fun to make a proper sentence. Fun was a foreign thing for Mabel, she rarely had any fun. She eyed the red paint balls, this boy must carry some weird things around with him. "What else do you have in there, a three course meal?" The idea was perfect though, making zombie snowmen sounded like tons of fun. "You know how to please a girl, Fane. I think this marks the start of a beautiful friendship if this plan works."

"I'm in charge." She was more of a leader than a follower and she wasn't going to be bossed around by him. "How many do you think we should make?" She began to roll the bottom of a snowman. "To be honest, I'm not used to having so much fun." She didn't get along with her sisters very well and no one really liked her. "Thanks." She smiled, a true smile that didn't appear on her face very often. "Snake." She hid her smile behind her gloved hands.

Fane scoffed at her response, rolling his eyes. "I don't need your sass. You should be thankful I carry pranks with me or else you'd never have any fun with me," He replied, handing her a portion of the paint balls. She must've been pretty new to this prank stuff, for she didn't quite understand yet. He'd have to teach her though. After all, as she just said with words that brought a grin to Fane's face, this was a start of their friendship.

Falling to his knees into the snow a little way past her, he started working on rolling up a snowman of his own. He laughed at her words and shook his head. "Call yourself the leader if it pleases you, but I'll only take orders from you if it makes sense or if I don't have any ideas of my own," He replied. He thought of them as a partnership, not a leader and their grunt, and so far he was proving to be the idea guy. He finished with the bottom and was working on the torso snowball then, trying to move fast because Merlin knew they needed plenty of these snowmen.

"A small army!" He replied, heavy the torso on top of the large bottom. "They need to be plentiful and scary!" Or else the plan wouldn't work. His head was far too into his work, he didn't notice the change in her mood until he heard the word 'thanks.' He paused for a moment, then his face pulled into a grin again. "Don't get all emotional on me," He played. "Now how is that snowman coming along? C'mon! We need to give them faces and arms before we can bloody them up!"

Mabel stuck her tongue out at his comment, she wasn't sassing him she was just making a comment. "I wasn't sassing, I was just wondering. Looks like you got everything else." She picked up a paintball and examined it. "I suppose your little pranks do come in handy." She stuffed the balls into her coat pocket.

She began to roll the middle of the snowman once the bottom was done. "I am the leader." Even if he didn't think so, she didn't really care. At least she could tell herself she was the leader even if it wasn't entirely true. "I'm not sure how this whole 'friendship' thing works, shocking huh?" She grinned, it was obvious she didn't have many people to call a friend. "But isn't there always a leader?" At least that's how it was on TV and in movies.

She carefully put the middle of the snowman on top of the bottom, it looked good so far. "I'm not getting emotional! And don't hush me!" She rolled up a ball of snow and threw it his way before she began to make the head. That'll show him. She stuck her tongue out once more.

Fane grinned and shook his head at Mabel's notion. He stood by what he said before, she could call herself the leader if that pleased her but calling yourself a leader doesn't make you the leader, you had to act like one. And so far, he was the one with the ideas and making the actions. "I don't know where you got your information from, but I think you are wrong," Fane replied. "Maybe I'll call you leader if you think of something wild to do next time though," He played.

The boy laughed as he raised his arm in attempt to block the snowball. "I didn't hush you, but if you start doing more talking than working, I might have to," Fane replied, pressing rocks as eyes into the snowman and then giving him arms. He then moved on to the next one, spacing it out some from his first one and from Mabel's to give it a dramatic effect. "We need more arms and eyes. Go find some, will you?" He asked, determined to continue rolling bodies while she did so. After all, he was managing them quicker than she was and he couldn't just leave a bunch of blind, armless snowmen around to go look for rocks and twigs with her. Someone might see them before they were complete and that would ruin the whole point of them.

"I will come up with something awesome to do next time," she challenged, she could come up with something awesome just like he did. She would just have to think about it then she would be able to tell him an awesome plan. "Just give me a minute and I'll come up with something." She finished her first snowman, she was a bit slow at this. But oh well, she would go as fast as she pleased. When asked to find more supplies for the eyes and arms, Mabel rolled her eyes and sighed like it was the worst possible thing to do. "I guess." She got up and brushed snow off of her soaked clothes as best as she could. "Be right back."

She walked away to find more things to put on the snowman. She collected some sticks and branches she could reach from nearby trees. She had to dig into the snow a bit to find some stones, she collected a few of them before her knees began to get cold again from kneeling in the snow. She was satisfied with her work so she worked back over to Fane. "Is this good?" She dropped the supplies into a pile and looked at him for his approval.

Fane got a lot done while Mabel was off collecting more supplies. His secret? He gave up on manual labor and took out his wand. Waving it around, he collected piles of snow in no time. They didn't exactly look as good as the ones him and Mabel made by hand, but they still got the job done, and with the sticks and stones collected, their army of horror snowmen were about to get their finishing touches.

"Perfect! Now put them on the snowmen and the last step is to bloody them up some." He replied, grabbing a bunch of supplies for each hand. He started to put together the faces of the faceless snowmen and didn't even notice himself humming as he did so. Fane wasn't an incredibly musical boy, but he enjoyed a good tune as much as the next guy. He usually only hummed when he was happy, like he was now. He was having a good time and doing something he enjoyed. Maybe this was a sign that Mabel was his true partner in crime.

Within a few minutes, the snowmen were ready for their final baptism in red paint. He took off his soaking wet gloves and then retrieved the red paint balls from his pocket. "Now for the messy part," He said to Mabel and then chucked one of the balls at the face of the snowmen.

"You're a cheater," Mabel stated as she took in the sight of the snowmen. "But at least they still look good." She picked up some of the material and began to make faces and arms for the snowmen. She broke one stick in half and stuck it into a snowman, it made the snowman look like it was missing half it's arm and it looked pretty good. She left one arm off of another and gave it an angry expression as if it wanted to get back at the person who had took it's arm. When she heard humming, she looked over at the boy and rolled her eyes. She listened to the hum carefully and then copied it as she got back to work.

Mabel stepped back from her work and she was pretty proud of the snowmen. Altogether it looked great and once they had blood then they'd look even better. "Nice shot," she stated as the red paint his a poor snowman's face. She took off her gloves and stuffed them into her empty pocket. She pulled a paintball from her other pocket and threw it at a snowman's body. She pulled another from her pocket and squished it between her hands then smeared it so it covered her hands. She then ran her hand down a snowman's face. "The victim tried to fight back but failed," she explained.

Fane shook his head gently. "Nah, I'm a wizard, actually," He corrected her. They had magic for a reason, right? And plus this counted somewhat as studying now that he was practicing.

He heard his song being mimicked by Mabel and was tempted to bring it up and make a joke about her copying him, but then she'd stop humming. So instead he kept his mouth shut and continued the tune.

He watched as she smeared red paint on her hands, then wiped them off on the face of a snowman. Turning to face him, she told a short gruesome story of the snowman's fight for freedom. Fane just laughed. "You're kind of a psychopath, but I like my girls a bit crazy," He joked and bumped her with the side of his hip. He then went on to spread the blood onto another victim. When their work was complete, he stood back and admired the clan of bloodied, horrified looking snowman. "I think we did a pretty good job, eh?"

Mabel shook her head, she wasn't going to say anything else about it. She popped another paintball between her hands and wiped another hand print onto another snowman. "I'm a psychopath? That's the nicest thing someone has ever called me, better than a vampire." She had spent all of her first year being called a vampire and she was pretty sure her sister had started that rumor. She wiped her messy hand on another snowman.

She took a few steps back to examine their work. "Looks good," she agreed with a smile. "I'm sure we'll scare a lot of people." She stuffed her hand into her pockets, she hadn't noticed she had one paint ball left. She pulled it from her pocket and popped it between her fingers. She eyed Fane then the red paint, a smirk formed on her face. "Fane, how do you feel about the color red?" She held her hand up for him to see her red fingers, she was ready to run if he ran away from her. She was going to smear paint on his face no matter what.