Event Drabble #1: Hound’s Grace
Livia was no stranger to unrelenting, bitter cold. She was no stranger to the freezing cold, bone-chilling, snow that would cover everything in the area in fulms upon fulms of disgusting, cold, wet white powder. As a child, she was naive at actually enjoyed throwing herself into the snow, but as an adult, there wasn’t much she enjoyed about the cold... or maybe it was just years of bitterness gained as a soldier who had fought in countless wars. Either way, Livia let out an annoyed growl upon feeling the air chill. She let out an exasperated sigh upon seeing the snow begin to fall.
Lovely. Even in some otherworldly, supposed paradise, she couldn’t escape the bitter cold. Thankfully, this crass, pathetic excuse for a replica of her armor she’d been given at least seemed to perfectly emulate its insulation capabilities. She wouldn’t freeze to death, at the least.
She refused to acknowledge the screeching, savage children as they threw balls of snow at each other, built pointless, hideous sculptures out of that same snow, and were just overall getting on her nerves. (No, she wasn’t bitter about the fact she never truly got to enjoy such activities, how dare you imply that!) But Lord Gaius had told her she needed to be nicer... so she decided her idea of being nicer was just another grumble and to leave.
She continued to walk along, leveling glares at any playing child she saw, as if they could see her face. They didn’t even seem to acknowledge her, and she was fine with that...
Until she saw a familiar sight. A massive, frozen-over body of water (she wasn’t sure exactly what type it was, nor did she care at the moment), with an area fenced off, and a small little booth nearby. She knew exactly what that fenced-off area was...
An area for ice skating. One of the few things that could make her happy no matter what.... though she’d never admit to liking something so... free-spirited. She saw that the area was empty...
She checked once, twice, thrice... And let herself smile.
She strode with confidence over to the area, and found her way into what she could only assume was a changing room, with freely-available equipment...
Livia cringed at the sight of some of the available outfits. Thankfully, not all of them looked like they belonged on some filthy savage, and she chose a simplistic, dark blue one-piece for herself, ensuring that her trademark armor was hidden away. She then proceeded to check once again, twice again, thrice again... the coast was clear.
She then took to the ice, and began to dance on the frozen surface. Though it had been some years, the motions were coming back to her very quickly. Gliding with skill and finesse, jumping and spinning, landing with ease... it was all quite familiar to the Garlean. In this moment, she was not a Tribunus, not a soldier, not someone whose hands were thoroughly sullied with blood... she just... was.
She just hoped no one would catch her like this.