VIDEO.

[icy]

[ The feed flicks on to show bright blue eyes and a wide white grin. Chuckling, the seemingly eighteen-year-old culprit tips the phone back so it can catch most of him (staff slung over a shoulder, perched somewhere hideously high and whoops, sorry if you get vertigo!) on the viewer. He's had a really terrible Easter weekend back in his own world but this, this place? This is incredible. (He might have taken several dozen selfies with people on the street already. No regrets.) In the past hour, all three cities have suffered a bit of a chilly spell; frost on windows and even light snow in the south as he explores.

Then again, with an ID reading Jack Frost | Spirit of Winter the mystery is somewhat at an end, if you've been wondering where the sun went. ]

Hey, people! Can everybody see this? Hear it? Kids, old fogeys, the whole nine yards — you don't even have to believe in what you're watching, you just can? [ Barking out an excited laugh, Jack's eyes crinkle. ] Oh, man, you've gotta be kidding me.

Anybody want to talk? I've got three hundred years to make up lost time for.

[ Chinning a hand, he settles in a perched crouch. Evidently, for those who pay attention to details, Jack is only frosty in name and powers, old-old, and completely at home with technology. ]

Comments

[microbrobotics]

[ Sigh. Brothers, honestly. ]

Get your dumb butt in something warm 'cause I'm gonna pulverize you, 'Dashi.

[icy]

Ahw, Dashi.

[ This is way cute and he's not even there yet. BONDING THROUGH SNOWBALL HEADSHOTS, that's what's going to happen during snowfest 2015 in the Tada-Hiro household. ]

[microbrobotics]

[ This is how the Hamada bros roll okay. He wraps a scarf around his head and puts on the gloves and heads out. ]

Hey, three syllables is too many when you're three.

[icy]

Hold on, two secs.

[ And this would be Jack waiting for a moment as he alights near the Porter, passing through. Once that's over, he re-launches into the air of Hiro's hometown and lets the wind direct him, turning his face back to the phone. ]

So exactly how much snow do you want today? One foot? Two? We going full-on Antarctica in your yard here?

[microbrobotics]

Dude, I want Hoth. Just don't collapse the roof or my roommates will kill me.

[icy]

Okay, okay, no glaciers. Not full-scale, anyway ... a small one in the road wouldn't hurt a soul, really.

[ Is he joking? Isn't he? Hm. ]

You all bundled up, kid? I'm not gonna keep you waiting long and ol' Dashi might split a rib if I give you a cold.

[microbrobotics]

Yeah, yeah, I got everything on. Bring on the snow.

[icy]

[ It's five minutes after the feed cuts out that the snow starts to fall over Hiro's house. Thin at first, almost nothing, and then the sunshine is overcast in a smudge that heralds far thicker flakes and a chilly breeze. That's when Jack, riding the strong North wind like a snowboarder, whips into view overhead. With him comes the kind of cold that only a true winter can bring, without escape or boundary, and it engulfs half the street (whoops!) in a swirling, building snowstorm that centers on Hiro's house so the majority can dump all over it.

He alights on the yard fence like a leaf snagging on a line, toes and a hand snatching hold of his perch and glowing blue staff held out behind him. ]

[microbrobotics]

[ For a Californian kid who really can't picture a real snowstorm, this is amazing. He dashes out into the yard right away so he can be in the thick of it, laughing as the flakes fall fast and heavy around him. It's so white out here he can barely see and it's wonderful. ]

[icy]

[ It makes him smile to see Hiro having a hoot. A quick wave of his staff sends the snow surging into a ball, expanding as the air-temperature drops around it and grows taller, taller ... into a snowman, smiling with pebbles for a smiling face. Jack hops down, ambling through the yard as the snow begins to really stick to the ground. Something that might take hours ordinarily, or even days in the south, undergoes a transformation within minutes with Jack nearby.

A snowball is aimed and launched for the back of Hiro's head, ammo with a puffy, harmless heart. ]

Think fast!

[microbrobotics]

[ He turns - and takes a snowball directly in the face. Whap. He goes down into a forming snowdrift. But he's not hurt or even fussed; just the opposite. He comes back up laughing, moving to roll up a snowball of his own. ]

That's how you're gonna play it, huh?

[icy]

[ Hopping onto the ground, he swishes his staff and a row of snowballs spring up to roll over to Hiro. Jack scoops up his own, packing it down as he rests his staff against a fence. ]

You've got high hopes, taking on me!

[ Prepare for battle! SPLAT, SPLAT, SPLAT. ]

[microbrobotics]

[ He laughs again as he gets pelted here. But that's not gonna stop him from grabbing snowballs and flinging them right back. ]

Bring it on!

[icy]

[ The fun of snowball fights isn't winning, it's in getting covered from head to toe. When Hiro attacks, Jack doesn't mind getting thumped with an array of ammo and laughs it off as he keeps tossing his own. Very soon, the whole yard is thick in drifts despite the ongoing battle, chunky flakes drifting down softly from the sky as Jack's good spirits soar. ]

I can keep this up all night, kid!

[microbrobotics]

[ Well that is definitely gonna happen to Hiro. Starting with going headfirst into one of the bigger drifts, one that's taller than he is. His head pops back out of the snow a moment later. Laughing and shivering at the same time. ]

W-well - I can too - whoa, this is cold!

[icy]

[ Whoops, too much shivering. Kid did say he isn't used to this. ]

How about we make a quick snowman then get you inside where it's warm?

[microbrobotics]

I'm fine. This is fun, okay.

[ But that's probably for the best, yes. He starts rolling up some snow. ]

[icy]

We can have fun whenever you want, think of this as a test drive.

[ Even though he could whip up a snowman in seconds with his staff, Jack helps with rolling up the head by hand, smoothing it off into a perfect circle. ]

[microbrobotics]

What, I can just call you up any time and say "hey I want some snow?"

[ He adds a wicked-looking smile to the snowman's face. And spikes. ]

[icy]

You can call me up any time for anything, little man. I'll always do my best to answer.

[ Putting a stick-mustache on the snowman, he ruffles Hiro's hair. ]

[microbrobotics]

[ Jeez. He just sighs a little at the hair ruffle. ]

I'm fifteen now, okay. I'm not a kid.

[icy]

Whoa, you serious? That's smack-bang in teenager territory. Okay, put it there —

[ Fistbump, sir. ]

[microbrobotics]

Wasn't it obvious? I'm not that short.

[ He totally is that short. But pleased to be doing a fistbump here, complete with explosion noises. ]

[icy]

You're not, but you'll obviously be getting a growth spurt any day now. Chill out.

[ Explosion fistbump noises from Jack, too. This kid, aha. Jack humors him, kicking his staff up into his hand off the ground where it fell victim to the snowball fight. He waves it at the snowman, wonky as it is, and it changes into a replica of Hiro with a grin and folded arms. ]

[microbrobotics]

[ Hiro stares at it in awe, the discussion of his height completely forgotten. ]

Sick.