Ruul's ZRP Party: Thread 6.2

"Alright," He said. He raised his voice a little to address everyone else. "Walk single file. It'll save energy to not have to push our way through the snow. I'll lead the way for now."

"How about you, Cal? Want me to carry you?" Kairo teased as he fell into step behind Ruul.

Calcifer kicked Kairo in the back of the calf-- not really hard-- when he stepped in line behind him. Aero came in last. After a few moments, Calcifer sidestepped out of the way to let her get past him. She understood. He wanted to be able to see her. He quickly glanced back behind them for anything in the snow. Aero was tired, that was obvious. But she kept trucking (whatever a truck was. Where'd that saying even come from?), as always. He sighed softly at her. held her throat and mouth again.
"Gotta keep you warm, hm?" He chuckled for a reason he wasn't really sure of. She nodded.

As they walked, Kairo held his hand out in front of him, trying to produce a small flame. "Dammit, why is this so hard?" he asked Calcifer as he turned to look at the other Gieru. Seeing the position that Calcifer and Aero were walking in caused him to let out a snort of laughter. "You look like you're trying to kidnap her," Kairo said.

Calcifer's eyes flashed back down to the young woman in front of him, and he laughed a little, too, letting out a shudder from the cold.
"Hah, I do!" Aero turned to look at him, a smile showing in her eyes. He leaned over to see Kairo's hands. "Don't blow us all up," he scolded.
He paused, "Don't be so impatient. I'll teach you more later." Winked. Let his hands go off Aero.
"Thanks, Cal," she said. "But I want to caboose!" The mage shrugged. "Fine." And so they switched places again.

A light grin crossed Kairo's face. "But I want you to show me now," he whined. "I know you've got all sorts of tricks you can teach me."

Calcifer rolled his eyes and glared back at the man in front of him. "You're so juvenile," he teased meanly. "I already told you that's a safety concern. No."

"At least teach me how to be a space heater?" Kairo moaned. "I'm freezing my ass off here."

Calcifer laughed. "Well, it's a bit energy-consuming after a while, but alright. Basically, think of your energy as a slow-burn through your whole body rather than firing through and out of one point. It's easier than what you've tried before."

"Heads up!" called Ruul suddenly. A large ball of snow was rolling down towards them, picking up more as it went along. "Keep your eyes out, these aren't uncommon." He raised his hand and broke the ball apart with some Glazälfar magic.

"It's ok," Kairo said to Ruul. "You're up front so you'll get hit first anyways." now that he had managed to radiate heat through his body slightly, Kairo was back to his usual, teasing self.

"Hehee," Ruul chortled.

The group made their way through a flat clearing with a couple sparse trees. It seemed about half way up to the Goron settlement. Not a soul in sight, though Wolfos had a tendency of popping up out of absolutely nowhere.

They continued on through, up the mountain. A couple more snowballs rolled by, but caused no harm. At length, the sound of Goron bongos entered their hearing, and soon the town rolled into sight. A guard raised a big, meaty fist, "What's your business here, goro?"

Ruul wasn't totally sure how to respond to that one. He quickly blurted out a half-lie. "We're meeting someone here."

"Are you?" the friendly-looking being asked, rubbing his chin. "Stange place, don't you think, goro?"

"Not at all, friend," Kairo said from behind Ruul. "A little cold though. How did a guy like yourself get stuck guarding this place anyhow?"

Ruul hadn't really wanted to strike up a conversation, but it was too late for that now.

"It was my turn for guard duty, goro." He answered. "That's really all there is to it, goro. You're free to enter, by the way." He stepped aside to offer them more room.

"Excelent," Kairo said with a grin as he clapped his hands together. "You heard the man... er... Goron, Ruul. Lead the way."

"Right," Ruul said. With a wave to the guard, he shoved his way into town through the shin-deep snow. "Do you guys want to get warm first, or head straight to the cave?" He asked as they advanced.

"Oh God please let us get warm first," Kairo said. "I've just managed to figure out how to keep my fingers and toes from dropping off but the rest of me is still froze."

Calcifer would've had the tendency to scoff at a Goron he met at first glance, but he was too intimidated to even think of it at the moment. His scarlet eyes contrasted sharply with the white all around him, and it was probably laughably obvious how taken aback he was to the massive creature. He looked back to his feet after the exchange between it, Ruul, and Kairo was made, shuffling along behind the other Gieru.
Aero looked at the Goron with a charmed awe. She wanted to touch his skin, of all things, but of course that was inappropriate. She turned her head back once they'd passed him to see him from behind. She kept checking back until she couldn't see him anymore. "Wow..."
Calcifer laughed at Kairo, his breaths swirling like steam in the air. Nudged him in the ribs.

Ruul was surprised at Aero's reaction. They'd been here once before, but even so, he'd expected her to have seen a Goron in the past. Apparently not.

"Alright, we'll head to... uh..." He looked around. There were a number of Goron around, several standing guard in front of doors. Or, well, 'standing' wouldn't be accurate. And 'guard' might not be either. Really, they were just lying curled up near the doors.

Ruul went up to one of them. It unrolled and sat up when he approached. "Hello," Ruul said, "Where could my friends and I go to get warm?"

"The Goron Shrine is pretty warm, goro." It answered, "Just don't approach the Big Boss without an appointment, goro. I will open the way." With that, it curled up. Ruul thought it was going to roll away, but instead it leaped into the air and slammed right down with a crash. The door it had been next to opened up.

Kairo squeezed through the door when it opened far enough to allow him entry and ran towards the nearest torch. "Warmth!" he cried as he held his hands over the flames.

Calcifer laughed aloud at the other man's reaction. But to be honest, he somewhat wanted to hide that he felt the same way. Aero grinned. "It does feel nice," she sighed.

Ruul sat down on a Goron-sized bench. He waved to a couple of nearby Gorons that seemed half-interested in the group. "How long do you think it will be until the weather clears up?" he asked one.

"Hm, old boss Goron says it should stop during the night, goro." Answered one, scratching his stomach.

"Alright, do you mind if we stay here for the night?"

The Gorons muttered amongst each other for a moment. "Fine, goro, as long as you stay out of the boss's room, goro."

(OOC: I really have nothing to say at this point but "characters arbitrarily go to sleep" so...)

[Timeskip, then]

Ruul grinned as he breathed in the crisp mountain air the next morning. The sign of untouched, freshly fallen snow greeted his delighted eyes. There was no time to dawdle, though. "Alright, time to pack up breakfast, guys," he said to the rest of them. They'd had to stick to their own supplies, due to the fact that Gorons were terrible cooks by human standards.

The temple was still a ways up the mountain, but it wouldn't be a long walk to reach them.

"Yay," Kairo said with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. "Back into the cold." He turned to Ruul and sighed. "Why did we get the damn mountain?" he asked.