2012-12-18 All's Fair in Snow and War

A snowy Centennial Park, late afternoon, and apparently there are some very brave children around. Namely, the one who just threw a snowball at a superhero. It's such a good job J'onn's even-tempered. And willing to get on the game. He even bothers to half-dodge, rather than just stand there. It ends up hitting his cape and splashing against it. "Good shot!" he calls to the kid, getting a broad grin in return. Why is he out here? Perhaps just people-watching...although, surely, he wouldn't do that in uniform. Perhaps he got tipped off about some criminal activity he's hoping his presence will be enough to deter.

Criminal activity enough to draw the attention of a god, could mean this afternoon could go south really fast. That or Thor's flying over Metropolis checking on this gentle snow flurries meant to blanket the city in soft white powder he knows the humans love so much. Given that he drops down gently into the snow and peers about with a soft smile on his face it's quite possibly the latter; Norse god pulling a page from his father's handbook and playing at being Father Yule. Maybe he'll fly around over next several nights leaving goodies on the windowsills of children...

Spotting the immenient snowball fight, the Thunderer grins. To participate or not to participate. He'd have an unfair advantage to say the least. He opts for watching for now.

Martian Manhunter then picks up a snowball of his own. The children scatter, knowing when they're outmatched, but they're laughing. J'onn weighs the snowball...and then sees Thor. Uh oh. Hey. Would it be an unfair advantage...either way? There's a snowball heading towards Thor.

Unfair against the mortals, definitely. Unfair against another super? Not so much. Thor grins as the snowball splatters against the chest plate of his armor. Clipping Mjolnir to his belt, the Storm Lord crouches to scoop up a sizeable snowball of his own.

"Thou doth dare to fling snow at me, Lord of Winter Storms," Thor rumbles out, knowing the child are watching and aiming to give them the theatrics they tend to like from such a mythological being. He packs the icy missile lightly and with the grace of centuries of practice. Let's just say that snowball fights in Jotunheim are EPIC. Thor flings his own snowball at J'onn.

Oh, it's ON!

Definitely on...and the area clears to a safe distance, but no further. It's too cold, sadly, for popcorn. And J'onn gets a snowball right in the face. He laughs and grabs two of the missiles. One might ask when a Martian learned to make snowballs. Well...he's been on Earth for a while.

Doesn't Mars have polar regions? Plausible it snowed there. Regardless, seeing J'onn pack two snowy missiles has Thor moving for cover behind a tree.

"We ought to set some ground rules, Martian," calls the Asgardian Prince from his hidey spot even as he's scooping up snowballs for himself. He'll make a few here to fling in rapid succession before sprinting to the next hidey spot that offers a slightly better tactical advantage.

"After all, I doth think it would be unpleasant for those gathered if I were to blanket thee in a blizzard's worth of snow and ice," Thor adds, tone light and chuckling.  Martian Manhunter says, "Eh. Sorry :/." Martian Manhunter laughs. "True...it would not hurt *me*, mind." Of course, the Martian isn't cheating either. He's using his speed to a point, because Thor's pretty dang fast and strong too. "No blizzards. And I promise not to make myself disappear or anything like that."

"I suppose we ought not to take this to the skies either," Thor offers, collecting two snowballs in each hand and readying himself to peek out, get his target, and lob two double-handfuls as he moves to that little hedge over there. Plenty of snow there, and cover.... as long as he stays crouched there. And no over head branches that can be used to knock snow off of and onto him. Snow down the armor is unpleasantly cold.

Martian Manhunter throws his two, rapid fire, and is already gathering some more. By now, they're attracting quite the audience. However, J'onn doesn't seem to be really going for COVER, per se. Then again, does he even feel the cold? And...well...he's not wearing anything that snow could go down, not really.

Does J'onn even wear a shirt?

Thor moves as soon as those two snowballs splatter on the tree near him, hoping to outpace the bits that tumble from the trembling branches above. As planned, when he moves he lays down his cover 'fire', by flinging first his right hand then his left hand's payloads of snow and ice. Spray and pray. He's not really going for accuracy at the moment.

"I'll take thy silence as an agreement, Martian. Ground-bound we shall stay," Thor calls out ducking into a ball to tumble roll behind the snow-covered shrubbery. (Do you know how awesome it is to actually USE that word in a real sentence?!)

Martian Manhunter grins and then...kicks up an entire ton of snow at speed. It's...a snow fort, of course...he does get nailed again while he's making it, then ducks behind it...only the tip of his green head showing. Incidentally. This is already viral on Youtube.

Already? It's only been like... what? a few seconds!? Durn it these mortals and their high speed internet ready smart phones!

Seeing the fort go up, Thor grins, eyes narrowing as the tactician he is gets to work. No blizzards, but a gentle temor near the base of hte fort could dislodge some of the top snow... Thor ducks down to ready his arsenal.

Okay. So. Snowy Centennial Park...and why is there a crowd? Furthermore, why is that crowd around the edges of the park, leaving space in the middle? The reason might be revealed as a stray snowball comes flying over the heads of said crowd to splat onto an innocent lamp post. INside the circle? J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, hunkered down behind a snow fort...a rather ragged one. Thor Odinson, the Prince of Asgard in a not dissimilar position behind a snow-covered shrubbery. And a second snowball flying from fort to shrubbery. Apparently even superheroes aren't immune to the de-aging effect of snow! You paged Spoiler with ‘Oh hey! Your character has a twitter presnece, yes?’ Janet van Dorn, District Attorney Extraordinaire, came to Metropolis for the sole purpose of working out extradition for a wanted Gothamite. She decided, because she had a few extra hours until the train went back, to take a nice walk in the park. She hadn't expected much: snowy trees, little paths, maybe a frozen pond with some ice skating. It was just rather nice to be in a big city that didn't want anyone /dead/. What she didn't expect was a snowball fight with superheroes. Apparently no one else had, and it definitely doesn't stop her from pulling out a small camera and recording a bit of it.

Let's not forget that the gathered crowd with their phones are youtubing and twitting and facebooking this super snowball fight for all the world to see.

The fort-side snowball clips Thor's knee, causing the Asgardian to shuffle a bit to one side. He reaches up to unclip his cloak, and drops it backwards against the bush behind him. After all. It's bright red and his armor's stormy gray. Here's hoping J'onn will continuing targeting that bright red cloak instead of the dull gray clad Thor next to it. And for good measure, the Storm Lord flings a few snowballs from where his cloak is at before moving to the side and crouching low, hoping to get a peek at where the Martian is at from between the branches of said shrubbery.

And what of the relic Mjolnir? Sitting peacefully under the bush on the opposite side of him from his cloak. Because it's challenging to be all sneaky snowball fight with a hammer hanging from your hip! Plus, he did promise No Blizzards.

Jubilation Lee, normally quite vulnerable to the de-aging effect of snow, is also in Centennial park, having promised to meet a new friend. Said new friend is fairly serious in nature, so she's trying to stay grown-up. Even in a pink, fur-trimmed winter coat with a rainbow-colored scarf over her flare-leg jeans and pink fleece-lined boots. Still, nobody could miss this crowd, or the occasional snowball. The teenager frowns in puzzlement, then begins squeezing her way through the crowd to the front. Sometimes being so small can come in handy!

Snow. Playing in snow is normal. Right? Lunair is bundled up, scarf and all. Her scarf has a snow flake pattern and she doesn't stand out here. She has a backpack and shopping bag with her. She has arrived just in time to witness... an epic snowball fight. Her distant gaze focuses a bit and she blinks owlishly. She scampers over. Superman AND this in the same week? Cool! She grins a little. And then, there's - wait, is that Miss Jubilee? She will make her way over. Alas, she is average sized and so much sort of plow and wedge through like a snow plow piloted by ducks.

J'onn, oddly, doesn't appear to notice Superman. Probably because he's not using his telepathy. That much is demonstrated by the fact that he does, indeed, lob a couple of snowballs at Thor's cape before realizing. He spends the rest of his energy strengthening his fort...at something dangerously close to superspeed. Who started this? (That would be the kid who's now videoing the entire thing for his Youtube channel). Superman can't help but smile, and finds a bench. A snow covered bench. He hunkers down behind it and starts rolling up snowballs, motioning for a couple of small kids to get in on the fun. He doesn't use his superspeed, but he's still quick.

Keen warrior eyes spot J'onn moving far too quickly for what even he himself can achieve. Thor chuckles to himself as his left hand drops to the ground. What comes next could spook people.

There's a tremor. A very slight tiny shake of the ground beneath J'onn's snow fort. Thor sets the ground there shaking and quivering, seeking to undo what the Martian has done, and in so doing open his foe up to the incoming barrage of snowballs he had lined up, ready and waiting. Yes, Thor just caused a minor earthquake, centered a few inches from the surface, epicenter: directly under that snow fort... for the sole purpose of knocking down some snow.

What? J'onn and he never agreed that this was off limits. Just flight and blizzards.

Thor has to reveal himself from his cover to lob the four snowballs he had ready for J'onn. Can we say: TARGET?

She's not frightened, not exactly, but Janet is... rattled... when the earthquake goes off. A few other people shriek in surprise, and Janet grabs onto a nearby tree. Hopefully it's small enough that it doesn't do more than nudge the snow around; something like that could cause real damage! Stooping, she scoops up some snow in her gloved hands and sidesteps slightly before launching a nicely-packed snowball at the god of thunder. Because when /else/ would she have the chance? "Not fair if you use powers!" she calls.

Miss Jubilee finally reaches the front, barely jogging the elbow of a prim-looking woman with a small camera as she emerges. "Oh, 'scuse me," she murmurs, shading her eyes and looking out over the site of the great battle. Coincidentally, she's right behind Mr. J'onzz. Wait, she knows that green guy... sort of! And on the other side, is that /Thor/? She knows him, too! Two grown superheroes, acting like kids. It's enough to make her giggle. And then the ground shakes! Not much, but it's rather startling. Jubes gives a little squeal of dismay and stumbles, falling hard on her backside! "Ow!" She only knows one person here who could make an earthquake like that. His Royal Godliness. "Oh, IT. IS. ON." And she rolls to her feet, laughing, scooping up a snowball in the process, and proceeds to send it flying at Thor! Hey, even the prim-looking lady is joining in! Looks like that de-aging effect is pretty strong!

It was already on...and as the fort falls, J'onn scoops up a good chunk of it to throw at Thor. Some of it misses, goes flying PAST the god, and likely endangers some of the bystanders...and the others who are joining in. Well. At least it will help everyone's stress levels. Right? Superman has built up a nice arsenal when the little earthquake shakes J'onn's fortress down some. He looks to his little "Okay," he says to one of the little kids. "You throw at Thor." and he looks to the other, "You throw at Martian Manhunter." he grins, "I'll throw at both of them. Ready? Steady? GO!" he and his helpers pop out over the bench and start lobbing snowballs in both directions!

Lunair watches quietly for a moment. Snowballin' chaos! She smiles faintly. Until she gets fwapped by a snowball. O, snowy shrapnel! It's a slow motion fwap. She looked almost normal and then it's like - like a SNOW WAR. O, the drama. Her eyes are wide as she's now snow'd. The super powered snowball fight? It's hard not to grin at, though she's minding her distance and lines of fire. Lunair is *alarmingly* good at that. Jubilee gets a wave, though now Lunair is going to try this - how are people rolling snowballs... she has a lot of catching up to do. She looks awkward, almost much younger than she is, trying to figure out this snowball business. And snowball down her collar. Yikes! Snowdance!

The first snowball from Janet pelts Thor in the shoulder. The Storm Lord almost drops his second snowball on his on head at the surprise attack. He still manages to send his snowball in J'onn's direction.

ACK! When did J'onn get allies!? Jubilee's snowball catches him in the left shoulder, some of it splattering up into his face. Thor drops down behind his shrubbery to make his retort at Janet even as he scoops up two handfuls to use to cover what's going to be a sprint toward the next bit of cover since his shrubbery is leaving him too far open.

And then J'onn's snowavalache makes its way over the bushes and coats the back of his shoulders and much of his helmeted hair with the white chilly powder. Thor sputters a bit and rises to make his escape... only to get pelleted full on by Superman and his pack of pint-sized snowball cannons. The Prince acks at the assault, is forced to cover face with hands - because snow int he eyes can blind for a moment - and try to back away... AH! Shrub behind him. And Martian Manhunter with his allies. Stormy eyes scan quickly and a snap decision is made.

RUN FOR IT!

Thor runs away from the middle of the battle field and toward a statue not far from the fight but now further on the peripherary. His right hand trails behind him, summoning Mjolnir. The relic leaps from the snow toward him, joyously returning to its wielder.

Well. That changes things more than somewhat. Janet's starting, at least, quite merrily: she even hurls a snowball at J'onn, given that at the moment she's a free agent and he's just coated a LOT of people with snow. She even gives out a yelp when she gets snow down her collar, wriggling and shivering. But the flying of Mjolnir? That changes things. Lots. Looking down at Jubilee, her eyes go wide and she grabs the girl's hand. "Okay, so gods are legendarily known for getting a little tetchy..." And if Jubes will come with her? She's sprinting behind a set of trees. Might not protect them against righteous lightning. Should protect them against giant snowballs.

Martian Manhunter laughs and starts to pound after Thor...only to get thoroughly nailed by Superman And The Mini Snow Cannons. "Ack!" he exclaims out loud. Good job he doesn't need to breathe. This is rapidly turning into a free for all, too, with everyone joining in...except the people still filming, of course.

Jubilation watches her snowball go and go and... smack Thor! At this range, that's a great throw! "Woo!" she crows, and scoops up another snowball, barely avoiding a stray shot by one of Superman's Elite Snow Rugrat Corps. Wow, this is growing, and fast! Total Snow War... film at 11! About then she catches sight of a waving Lunair. And Lunair is not very good at this, looks like. "Over here! Pull out your shirt!" she calls, waving back... and getting grabbed by the prim lady! "Um, wait! My friend!" she tries to say, but the prim lady has a very strong grip! In an instant she's getting towed over to a stand of trees!

Lunair is hard pressed not to smile as she watches. It seems incredibly cool just to see people so famous. Lunair pauses and giggles at the woo from a familiar voice. But it's hard to pick a side. She grins and pauses. Wait, snow. She shakes it out as Jubilation suggests. She seems amused that Jubilee is being pulled away. "It's okay! I'll meet up shortly!" She promises. And then - fwaph! Poor Lunair's first snow fight ever. She's a walking target. But it's still worth a smile, even as she's pelted by an ambitious small kid. "Ack... you got me!" She falls over dramatically. Really, she seems pretty friendly once she's out of her shell. But she'll be up soon and chucking a snowball at - hmm. Ah hah! Poor Superman! It's friendly, and - falls short, alas.

Superman's supply of snowballs dwindles quickly. Superman decides to have fun with the God of Thunder. He rolls a huge snowball and sends it towards the Prince of Asgard and grins then.. *SPLAAT* .. right in kisser. He just stops, blinking, as if he just took a pie in the face. Then begins to clear the snow off. Even Superman is not immune to getting hit in the face with a snowball.

Thor skids toward the statue, dropping to one hip in a very pretty and practiced baseball slide. (Nolan Ryan would be jealous!) Having promised not to whiteout the area, Thor lightly tosses Mjolnir to the ground behind the base of the statue and pivots on his knees to get a view of the battle field... and take a huge Super Snow Ball to the face. He falls backward to his rump in the snow behind him, brings a hand up to try to clear his face, and rolls toward the statue to get back under cover. And the whole while, Thor's laughing boyishly. YouTube, eat your heart out! - If footage of the Gotham City DA throwing snowballs at 'heroes' gets on YouTube? Utter scandal. They'll call it 'Snowgate'. It doesn't appear to be heavily on her mind, though: she releases Jubilee with a "Sorry! Just looking out for the coming snowpocalypse." She stoops to snag another double-handful of snow, packing it tight and hurling it at Thor. Then, because she's an equal-opportunity troublemaker, she lobs another one at Superman.

Nobody's throwing snowballs at J'onn? That has to be fixed. He scoops up a couple more and...targets Jubilee. Then the DA. Because Superman's already being targeted and so is Thor. And because there are no 'sides' in a snowball fight. Period. It's every man, woman, alien, god...for himself.

Superman takes another snowball, only this one square in his chest. He falls over right into a snow pile, laughing like it was a Smallville winter all over again. He just grabs snow, blowing just enough supercool breath on it to hold it together and starts lobbing them willy nilly. Who says heroes are all business?

Not Thor! Snow cleared from his face and mostly safe behind his statue, the heir to the Odin Throne starts flinging snowballs randomly almost as fast as he can make them. Forgotten are the mighty gifts from Mjolnor and Jord. For the moment, all there is handfuls of lightly packed snow and numerous targets. Thor's practiced in packing them just tight enough to fly, but soft enough to fall apart on contact. Even on Asgard, he's a touch too strong for everyone.

And everyone is getting snow from Janet. Everyone except Jubilee, because that would probably be foolish. Not much throwing involved at someone that close. She's laughing breathlessly, pink from cold and damp from snow and loving every minute of it. She never lets loose. /Never/ lets loose. Certainly doesn't let loose in Gotham. It just feels so good to do it once.

Jubilation stumbles, regaining her balance by grabbing onto one of the trees protecting herself and the Prim Lady. It's an official title now. "Oh! I don't think Thor'd do that, but with all this snow flying around, this might be a good idea anyway," she admits. Case in point, she gets smacked by one from her former ally, the green guy! Pow, right in the gob! "Uck! I think we need a fort! Of all the times to not have a shovel..." She begins scraping up snow for a barrier between the trees, pausing once in a while to scoop up and throw a snowball at an opportune target: Superman, Green Guy, Thor, Elite Rugrat Corps member... but never Prim Lady! Or Lunair!

Lunair is a bit bewildered to really settle on one target. She looks sympathetic and winces as people get hit. Though, she's getting in quite a few peltings. She eeps. Miss Prim Lady has quite an arm! But she's too busy being amused and trying to figure this out to really be upset. Or that she can build a fortress. But she does manage to sneak behind a tree. Mwahaha! "Um. Let's see..." Scoop. Roll. Pat... and toss! Poor J'onn! He's closest now.