Frosty the Snowman

[Toby Chastain]

Toby took a step back, breathing hard, his gloved hands on his knees. "This," he said, "is significantly harder than those kids made it look in the cartoons," he took a few more deep breaths, rubbing some loose snow off his jeans before rising up and looking at what he'd managed so far: a moderate sized ball of tightly packed snow. Toby tapped it with his foot, and was at least satisfied somewhat in seeing that it didn't immediately collapse into a pile of snow.

"Progress," he said, nodding, he looked over to where he had set down a brown paper sack filled with various other additions. "Soon," he said, pointing at the various knick-knacks, "soon you will go upon a completed snowman, and he shall look, well, festive," Toby pulled his hand back to his chin, scratching it a few times. He'd figured that seeing as kids seemed to do these in cartoons and whatnot, it should be relatively easy. Reality was being disagreeable however.

"Hey!" Toby called, an idea striking as he turned. "Anybody else want a partner in this whole snowman making thing? I've got stuff and," he looked at what he had, "about... a third of a body? Maybe? If you squint?" He turned back around. "Anybody?"

[Jimmy Halloway]

The snow was so amazing. So white and pretty. If you looked closely as it dropped from the sky, you could see it had shapes. Jimmy never quite understood snow, he just knew it fell from the sky, like the rain. In fact, he seemed to remember something like that it was the rain, only it was too cold so it turned into snow. He didn’t get it. Because snow looked nothing like rain. But he didn't bother with this right now, he was too busy looking up at the sky with his usual big grin on and watched as the snow slowly fell down. He could feel it on his face, just like he felt the cold, but he thought he was fine. He put on his boots, the coat people said he should wear when it was white outside, gloves and even earmuffs so his ears wouldn’t turn red and fall off from the cold. He heard it was possible. It scared him. But he was fine, he had everything on, so nothing should fall off. He could enjoy the snow in peace.

Jimmy extended his arms. It did nothing, but he liked it nonetheless. There were other people around. He was aware he was not the only kid outside. However, with his eyes set upon the sky, he could not focus on any of them and so they might as well not exist. Until he felt snow hitting his face, only not from the sky but from the side. It was also bigger than a snowflake too. He startled and went back to reality. Someone apologized and he could see how three students were tossing balls while trying to dodge those of the others. Jimmy smiled, wanting to join, only something stopped him. A tingling down his spine, telling him not to. They were ignoring him anyway and soon started moving further away from him.

Jimmy didn’t quite hear the guy. Lost in his bubble, he would have needed for him to shake him and make sure Jimmy was looking at him to know for sure he was listening. He had no idea he wanted to build a snowman, nor that he had started to build it. Jimmy had backed away, his gaze locked on the kids having fun. They too ignored the voice calling out for partners. He still wanted to play with them, but his nose started to feel really cold. He couldn’t tell how long he’d been here outside, but he should have moved like these students, or done something like the other boy with his third of a snowman, so that he would not freeze. Except that Jimmy only stood there. He turned around and that is when the accident happened.

Jimmy stumbled upon the bag of goodies Toby had brought to decorate his snowman once he’d be finished. Having no coordination, he ended up falling over. Right on the snowman-in-making. Jimmy was not very heavy but it was still a fifteen year old boy that landed on a ball of snow. It broke down, making Jimmy fall even further to the ground. He stood there, paralysed, blinking. He didn’t understand what had just happened but he was on the ground and was spitting out snow.

[Toby Chastain]

Some kid looked at him. Toby didn't immediately recognize the kid, and he did look like, well, a kid, which could either be a blessing or a major curse. Truthfully Toby had been hoping for someone who was a master at snow-craft and all. Still, he wasn't going to look at gift horse in the mouth.

Until that horse landed on his snowman. "Man, if you didn't like it, you could've just said something," Toby said, chuckling a little as he walked over to the kid and the pile of snow. "you alright there?" he bent over slightly, getting a better look at the kid. Maybe kid wasn't accurate? The guy did seem kinda on the small side, but powers could sometimes do strange things to physiologies and stuff. Toby knew that firsthand.

"And don't worry about the snow... ball," Toby said, shrugging. "I mean, it's a set back, but I'll probably recover. Or we," he extended a hand to the kid, figuring an offer to help get up couldn't hurt.

[Jimmy Halloway]

Jimmy was still under the shock of what just happened. It was not impossible for him to not see something. His vision was no better than anyone else, only his memory was. Stumbling down happened no occasion as things just appeared in his way without him to even notice it. It was what happened with that bag and the snowman-in-the-making.

He didn’t catch what the guy said, he was too stunned from the fall to really notice anyone talking to him. He didn’t feel shame per se. It was more like fear or apprehension. He didn’t want to be yelled at because he destroyed something. He heard the footsteps coming his way and he instinctively buried his head between his shoulders, expecting a hit. None came his way. Instead, he got more words, that took time for him to register. He looked up and saw the guy. He was not frowning like angry people normally did, which calmed Jimmy a bit and had him stretch his neck. He didn’t fear punishment so much.

He didn’t get what the guy was saying but he saw how he was giving him a gloved hand to help him up. Jimmy took it as a smile appeared on his face. The guy was nice. He got up and looked at his face again. “I know you,” he said after a moment. Not that it was difficult for Jimmy to know someone’s face. It took a moment for him to recognize it, but his brain quickly scoured through the various images stocked in it and found a few where the young man was in. Saying that he knew him was not very accurate in the circumstances, as he didn’t know his name or what year he was in or what he was doing, but he knew his face and that was enough for Jimmy. “I’m Jimmy. Sorry,” he said, both introducing himself and apologizing for the way they met. He learned those were two very important things to do, to introduce yourself to a new friend and to apologize when you do something bad. He was not quite sure how it happened, but he felt like he had to ask forgiveness nonetheless, even if his smile may not look very apologetic.

[Toby Chastain]

"You got the advantage then," Toby replied, smiling as he said it. The kid didn't seem too badly off, and, yeah, Toby was a little miffed about losing all that hard earned progress. But this kid looked like, well, a kid, and that probably meant he was loaded with skills. Toby could probably milk this whole accident thing for quite a bit of help, and he was already hoping that he'd at least finish, if not possibly do even better.

"Nice to be introduced to you, Jimmy," Toby said, nodding. They managed to get him to his feet at some point (this probably happened before Toby managed to say something, but, well, time is flexible and sometimes things happen at weird moments). "And it's already forgiven. Pretty sure I opened with saying something to that effect."

Toby nodded and looked to the pile of snow, considering it. "So, you're going to have to make up for it. I'd suggest helping me fashion this pile of snow into something resembling a humanoid figure. You know," he gestured around where a few others, some obviously made by mutant powers or experts, dotted the field, "something like that. Or like the song."

[Jimmy Halloway]

Maybe Jimmy shouldn’t have said he knew the guy. He didn’t know his name after all, just his face. It didn’t matter how popular, or unpopular, you were, the rest of the world may not know about you but a camera could capture your image. And Jimmy’s brain worked like a camera. He could see it now, the boy in the lounge, the cafeteria, walking the hallways... All places he had seen him yet never talked to him. He said something pretty fancy where Jimmy only caught his own name. And nice, so he assumed things were good. He was waiting for the boy’s name but no name came. Unless it was in the other fancy words. He still waited, his smile faltering slightly as he didn’t believe he got a name.

He still got none and the boy was now pointing at the snow. Jimmy turned his head and looked down at it. It was a mount of snow, with a roundish shape where he didn’t land on. He didn't get what he was talking about and it started to make him nervous. Was he angry after all about him breaking his snow mountain? What was he supposed to do? He looked around as he gestured but he didn’t find the answer to that, making him wonder if that had not been his way of blowing up some steam. But he didn’t sound angry, so it got Jimmy very confused. “Hmm, song?” Jimmy wanted to leave. Had he understood what he wanted to do, he would have helped, with a smile, and had fun with it, even calling... well, he didn’t know his name but calling him his friend nonetheless. The problem was that Jimmy had no idea what he had been talking about. Did he want to have a snowball fight like the other kids, was he supposed to grab some snow out of his mountain? He looked up at the boy, some fear in his eyes as he didn’t want to get yelled at or hit for being too stupid to understand.

[Toby Chastain]

The kid wasn't quite getting it. Toby stared at him for a few moments, brow furrowing. Was he being punked? It was entirely possible: the kid looked like about the age to think that sort of thing was funny after all. "You know, 'Frosty the Snowman?'" Toby said. He then hummed a bit. "Frosty the snowman, was a jolly happy soul, with a corn-cob pipe and a button nose and two eyes made out of cooooal" he offered, singing the bit with at least a little flair. It was mostly from memory and Toby didn't have the best singing voice, but he was pretty sure he managed well enough.

Toby nodded and looked back to the pile. "So we're gonna turn that," he pointed at it, "into a snowman of some kind. Hopefully using some of the stuff I gathered," Toby looked around for a few moments before seeing the bag of stuff again. "You know, that thing I think you tripped on earlier," he smiled a little at that, hoping the slight joke would help alleviate what he was seeing as yet another awkward conversation starring Toby Chastain.

[Jimmy Halloway]

Jimmy knew some songs. Maybe not well enough to sing the lyrics in its entirety but he knew some. Sadly, his brain was not good to process that kind of thing and when Toby mentioned one as though he should know what he was talking about, Jimmy was clueless as to what song could be about snow. Maybe if he had a second memory for things he heard he could tell what he was talking about, but he doubted it was how the brain worked. The guy sang for him. It was a bit shaky and not the best interpretation you could get but it should serve the boy’s purpose of telling Jimmy what song he was talking about. Frosty the Snowman. Jimmy couldn’t say he knew it. “I don’t know it, but I forget a lot of things, it’s not your fault,” Jimmy told him so he wouldn’t be sad that the young boy couldn’t recognize the song. His lips even curled up slightly. The thing that mattered the most to Jimmy was for those around him to be happy so he didn’t want the guy to be sad over a song.

Still, the song was nice, but Jimmy could not associate it with what Toby wanted him to do. That is, until he explained. Jimmy’s eyes lit up and a grin appeared. He just found someone who wanted to play with him! Kids his age never ever wanted that. Well, they did, at times, but they tended to laugh at some really weird times and he never understood what was so funny. “Yes! I want to play,” he exclaimed, already going down to try and make the ball back into its original shape, completely ignoring the rest of what Toby said. It was probably for the best, as this would have turned the conversation back into the awkward and confusing thing it had been so far. Jimmy was too happy anyway to really pay attention to things being said. The boy wanted to build a snowman with him. Jimmy was not going to let this opportunity pass him by.

[Toby Chastain]

"Eh, don't worry about it. I forget twice what I remember," Toby offered, adding a shrug to further punctuate the comment. He didn't see any reason to get too worked up, even if he was a little disappointed to find that all his hard work had been undone. Given this kid's enthusiasm, however, Toby was pretty sure he'd be able to make up the work in at least half the time, which would end up with a net gain and all.

Man, the kid got excited at the prospect of making a snowman. Toby nodded along with it, watching as the kid, who's name he was pretty sure he still hadn't gotten, went right to work getting the snow together. he seemed... really excited about playing. Almost too excited. Toby paused for a moment, wondering if the guy just really liked snow or competitions or something.

"Well, best not to look a gift horse in the mouth," Toby muttered, before nodding. "Right, so if you want to sort of roll it together to form a body," he moved to work in concert with the boy, wanting to get a good shape going for the base. "oh, I'm Toby by the way. And thanks for the help. I was pretty hopeless by myself, after all," he chuckled, knowing that what he'd said was pretty much an understatement.

[Jimmy Halloway]

Jimmy tended to blame himself for whatever was going on. It was not the guy’s fault if his song didn’t ring a bell to Jimmy, it wasn’t even because he was a terrible singer. The boy was ready to say it was because he was stupid. He actually hated that though. It pained him every time his lack of intelligent dug a giant hole between him and the rest of the world. He wanted to be a part of it, to be around people, but he also understood why it was difficult for them to handle him. Well, no, he didn’t understand that, but he got that, because he was stupid, they didn’t get him and he was associated whatever attitude people had towards him with his mental capacities.

The other boy didn’t stress on the fact Jimmy forgot the song if he ever heard it before. Since he didn’t seem bothered by it, Jimmy chose not to either. He even wanted to build a snowman and that Jimmy understood. And he was up to the task. It meant playing with another kid, something that didn't happen nearly as often as he had wished to in his youth. Enthusiasm took over and he was ready to rebuild the base of the snowman. He could even make it bigger. Anything, if that meant he was playing with another kid.

Focused on his task, he barely paid attention to Toby but he was puzzled by what he said. “Horse?” He looked around. There was no horse to look in the mouth of. “We not making a snowman?” But they were, as Toby was now talking about rolling the snow together to make the body. Jimmy had stopped working on the base of the snowman after that while the other boy, who said his name was Toby, went down to help him out. Jimmy was too confused to help. His brain couldn’t get what was going on. He was making real efforts to sort it out and, mostly, not to cry out of this.