(ASW) Obey My Authori-tah!

[Heather Sutherland]

Heather pondered, as the two of them sprinted away from the hail of snowball fire bearing down on them from behind. Why chasing down a pair of staff members to plaster them in snow managed to elicit such a strong joyful emotional response from so many kids at once.

A snow ball would occasionally catch her in one of her limbs, arms, legs, one or two even caught her in the back of the head. She was glad that none of them hurt terribly much, it was more just little stings. Though Heather was not exactly the most resilient of girls, so the pounding of snowballs was fairly likely to leave her bruised.

She picked up the pace as best she could, but the girl was not exactly built for feats of athleticism. Some of the kids bearing down on the two of them however, were. 

[Charity Croft]

Yes, this definitely wasn't going well. Charity could feel the snowballs colliding with her back, hammering against her. "Maybe we should try to see if there's someone around who wants to help?" she tried, turning to look at Heather. Because Charity didn't even need to look behind them to realize that the crowd of students loomed ever closer.

"Unless you've got any other ideas?" she asked, turning back to Heather. "Like, maybe burrowing or something?" Charity offered another smile, before realizing that she did technically have her phone on her. Unfortunately, the only staff member whose number she had that she could remember actually coming along was Humphries, and something told her that the cat wouldn't exactly be all that helpful right now.

They definitely needed something, and fast.

[Heather Sutherland]

Heather wracked her brain. Who would help them? Sure she was friends with a few students, and she knew a handful of staff members. But who would actually be around that could help them. The percentage of staff members from the school actually on the trip that she knew was sure to be an absolutely tiny amount.

She again, made the mistake of glancing back at the group and nearly got thwacked in the face by a snowball. She was going to run out of energy to run away soon. She wasn't exactly a long distance runner, or even particularly athletic to begin with.

"Like... Who?..." She asked between heavy breaths as they ran from the stampede that was creeping up close behind them. 

[Charity Croft]

"I don't know! I haven't been working here long!" admitted Charity, throwing her hands up. she heard the new few snowballs zing into the snow near them and let out a little yelp, barely able to move out of the way. She was tempted to again try turning and yelling at them, maybe see if she could actually assert some authority. Charity supposed that she could try contacting Humphries and see if he could contact someone else.

"Why do we only send a handful of staff on these trips anyway?" Charity yelled, soon yelping as another barrage of snowballs splattered the ground. One hit her boot and made her yelp, jerking out of the way. Nearly whimpering now, she looked to Heather. "I'm thinking we should maybe hide or something?" she tried, looking around desperately. "We can't outrun or outfight them, and I don't see the cavalry anywhere."

Though Charity certainly wouldn't mind someone charging down the hill, screaming and offering to fend off the mad children for them. That would be really nice, actually.

[Heather Sutherland]

Heather couldn't help but smile as the carpet of snowball launching kids followed them. It was so hard to resist the urge to be giddy with all the excitement around her. She decided to not resist it and just enjoy the positive emotions around her, it was certainly easier than being overwhelmed by them. She didn't think turning and shouting at the kids would make much of a difference... especially considering she was not exactly intimidating. 

Heather squeaked out a comment in response to the other girl's loud question. "I suppose this is why..." Another few snowballs sailed past her. Surely they would get bored eventually, or turn on eachother or something... Heather sometimes wished she was more powerful empath. Though it didn't really matter, she would effect the kids without asking them if it was okay beforehand. 

She nodded quickly to charity. "hiding sounds go- EEP" A piece of icey white connected with her neck and rolled down her back. 

[Charity Croft]

More snowballs, and Charity let out another yelp. Yes, surely they would have to bore the others eventually, but right now, Charity was worried about their present situation as the students' preferred target. The snowballs continued to rain around them, even as Heather let out more eeps (that matched Charity's) and agreed to her suggestion.

"Right," said Charity, looking around for a moment. She finally spotted what appeared to be some sort of snow fort that had been abandoned at some point. Charity peered at it for a few moments, but, well, it wasn't as if they had a whole lot of time to spare. "There!" she said, pointing at it. "Head for the fort!"

And Charity started moving, hoping that Heather had the good sense to follow. The snowballs kept whizzing around them, but moving targets proved harder to hit. That and they were just balls made of snow: they only hurt so much when they connected.

[Heather Sutherland]

Heather nodded, trying to cover her neck with her hands a little bit, as the two of them continued attempting to bolt away from the herd of kids bearing down on them from behind, showering the two of them with snowy projectiles. As she saw Charity speed towards cover, and yell about it, she grimaced, it seemed so, very far away.

She quickly found herself finding renewed strength in her legs though, speeding forwards with more speed than before, focusing on the adrenaline and taking the feeling of excitement from around her and just moving one leg forward after another, breaking into a full out sprint towards the cover of the fort, she was vaguely aware of the crowd already thinning somewhat, with some kids getting distracted, tired or even turning on one another. 

She was moving faster than before, still not track runner fast, but leagues faster than she had started. She moved with a PURPOSE.     

[Charity Croft]

Heather seemed to be moving, which meant that Charity could focus on her own safety. The closer she got to the fort, the less snowballs she felt pelting her. Soon enough, she was taking a diving leap to land behind the walls. This did mean sliding in the snow for a bit, but that didn't bother Charity that much. She just straightened as best she could.

Then Charity poked her head out, waving for Heather to catch up, cheering the girl on. As as Heather ducked inside, Charity greeted her with a nod. "Glad to see you're in one piece," she said, her tone light. Charity took several more sucking breaths and turned to look at the students. The increased distance and protection seemed to be working their magic.

Charity let out a breath and settled against the wall. "I just hope this fort doesn't belong to anyone," she said, looking around. "It looks pretty solid though," she tapped the wall next to her, nodding appreciatively. "You alright?" she said, looking back to Heather. "Everything in the right place? I don't suppose they do things like this in Britain, do they?" she added another light laugh, her eyes rolling. This was pretty crazy by American standards after all, and Charity couldn't help but see the Brits as being all stiff upper lip and such.

[Heather Sutherland]

Heather slide into the snow fort with a light thud, just lying there for a moment, before pushing herself back up, catching her breath, and leaning next to Charity. She smiled softly at the woman and nudged her arm gently, making sure she was okay. "I'm fine, and yourself?"

She chuckled gently at the slightly older girl's comment. "No, no we did not. If we got snow, it was no more than a couple of inches. And even then, the students..." She quickly corrected herself, not really having been one of said students. "Most of the students, would go nuts whenever it fell on the grounds. Must have been fun for the teachers." She added with a smile. 

She noted that there weren't really any emotions extremely close by, which meant that most of their pursuers had probably peeled off, lost sight of them, or just gotten bored. She sighed, relaxing in the cold hiding place. "They'll calm down soon, I'm sure." She commented, not so sure. 

[Charity Croft]

"Everything's pretty much in one piece!" Charity nearly chirped. She laughed a little, letting it end in a sort of sigh. She remained silent as Heather explained things, nodding along with it. Yeah, she figured as much. The last bit made her chuckle. "Yeah, it's sometimes weird being on this side of the, well," she tapped the fort, "snow fort."

Charity was still getting used to it herself, and she was a good bit older than Heather, older than most of the students flinging snowballs and everything too. In fact, Charity had nearly been a teenager when most of them were born, a thought that kinda made her wince when she stopped to think about it. Also making her wince was the sound of the snowballs smacking against the fort.

"They do seem to be trying less," she commented, leaning her head back to look. "I haven't really heard a decent shot in a while." Charity poked her head around cautiously, sweeping the area. "It looks like they're losing interest, so maybe we're lucky?" she looked over at Heather, her expression hopeful. After all, they could definitely use a bit of luck, right?

[Heather Sutherland]

Heather giggled to herself as Charity chirped and tapped the snow for that was around them. She glanced around. "Yeah, it is a little odd. However, it seems to be keeping us pretty safe from their relentless attack." She giggled again, wondering what kind of pack mentality lead to seeing staff members on a field where kids were playing an instantly transitioning into 'Swarm them'

Heather smiled as the woman with her made an assessment of the situation. Heather hadn't dared to actually look up like Charity had when she said something, instead she closed her eyes and allowed herself to concentrate on the emotions around her, there were definitely a lot less of them near the two girls, and less grouped up too.

She nodded gently, eyes still closed. "Yes, I think you are correct. It definitelyfeels like it." Her eyes fluttered back open and she flashed the older staff member a sweet smile. 

[Charity Croft]

Charity looked again, though as she did, she realized that she technically could detect mutants and therefore could totally have just relied on her gut instinct and her power to let her know if something was happening and since nothing was then she should have totally just figured that instead of looking but she was already looking so she might as well follow through and then look back at Heather.

Who had her eyes closed.

However, Charity's power kicked in, and she very quickly realized what was going on there. She waited patiently, knowing that Heather was searching for emotions and what have you. That should work just as well as Charity's own ability. And there was the smile and confirmation!

"Right then," Charity said. She nodded and rose up. "I think that's that then," she looked around. "It's probably best if we just give up up and let them have their fun. No harm in just throwing some snowballs around." Charity nodded and dusted herself off again, before turning. "So, uh, I think that's it then? Head back to the ski lodge, get some chocolate, and pretend this never happened. Sound like a plan to you?" Charity smiled and nodded to Heather, waiting for a moment to make sure she was on board.

[Heather Sutherland]

Heather smiled and nodded to Charity, glad that the both of them seemed to be okay, she felt the fatigue ring throughout her body, the barrage of snow balls and all the running around wasn't something that she had entirely been expecting, so now her body was feeling decidedly, and somewhat understandably, cold and exhausted.

"Yup. I agree, I don't see any real harm in it." She smiled to the other woman. The redhead picked herself up after a moment, dusting herself off a little bit and then turning her head to Charity, a grin spreading itself across her lips. "That sounds absolutely perfect." She was seriously looking forwards to getting inside and warming up, if they could do that with a hot chocolate, even better. 

[Charity Croft]

Charity nodded, looking back across the field. "Plus, it's fun when you're not, like, everyone's target," she said, leaning over to nudge Heather. Charity had participated in the past, since her power could actually help some with this. She'd been a spotter: pointing out the mutants that had the most useful talents and all. Been fun.

Now though, now she just wanted to head in and get warm. So Charity slung an arm around Heather, figuring that they were at that point, and started walking them toward the lodge, away from the snow, away from the wars, and toward the delight of delicious hot chocolate.

[fin?]