050: A Snow Day from Village Resident Perspectives

November 4, 2020 - 5 minutes read - 871 words

An unnamed house in Koriat Village

A husband and child put on thick leather boots and stand up.

“We’re going out” Husband

“See you later, mom!” Child

“Yes, enjoy yourselves. I’ll be going over to Lena’s house after I’m done with this item I’m knitting, so serve yourselves some stew for lunch.” Mother

“Yes!” Child

I watched the energetic child leave while I waved goodbye. My husband follows the child out the door. The door closes behind them.

Inside the room, the only sound is the crackling of the firewood in the fireplace. I approach the fireplace and adjust the wood a bit, then sit down and start knitting.

“Oh, it’s cold these days” Mother

Farming isn’t possible during the winter season, so we spend the time making baskets or knitting clothes. We can sell the handicrafts to merchants or barter with other villagers. Different villagers will specialize in certain handicrafts. I’m spending my winter doing clothes and a wooden basket for our house. Other houses will whittle wooden items like bowls, cups, or carvings. We don’t have any family members dextrous enough for those.

Recently, we’ve been spending our time together working on our handicrafts, but today is the first day with a good bit of snow, so the children are going out to play. I’d like to go out and play too, but today I need to be patient. I’ll get my quota of items done, then wait for someone to get in touch.

It seems colder than the last few days, maybe it’s due to the snow today. I warm my hands by the fire in between using my knitting needs to make the clothes. The room feels overly quiet since the children who normally make the noises are absent. After a while of working silently by myself, I hear the sound of a distinctive knock.

“You’re clear” Hannah

After I reply, my best friend Rita opens the door and comes in.

“Hannah, it’s snowing today, so let’s meet outside.” Rita

“What are the plans for today?” Hannah

“Today? It’s got to be an ice sculpture!” Rita

I can hear the excitement in Rita’s voice. Today could be interesting…

“So the target is?” Hannah

“Silvio x Al!” Rita

“I’ve me a minute, I’ll be out immediately!” Hannah

“Hurry up” Rita

I put out the fire, put on my heavy clothes, then ran into the snowy world with Rita.

“Let’s get to it!” Hannah

“What should we start with?” Rita

“Hyuhu” Hannah

Elsewhere in Koriat Village

Children are running around the village, enjoying the snowfall. You can see adult men running around with the children, some are watching the kids, others are tired of being stuck in the house. These men are using their children to escape their responsibilities. Roland is one of those.

“Look! Wester! My snowman has amazing abs, just like me!” Roland

“Hmm, Roland. What’s so great about boasting about that? Look at mine! It’s a humanoid figure instead of you sphere based body.” Wester

“What?! Just wait a minute! I’ll make a ice sculpture that represents the perfect body, mine!” Roland

“Hmm, be careful you don’t just make a bear.” Wester

The two spend a while making different snowmen…

“I’m done, Wester!” Roland shouts confidently.

He’s created a body best described as an inverted triangle, with finely sculpted muscles. Roland focused on the abdominal muscles and the biceps. One would think that all the time went to the top half of the sculpture.

“What is with the lower body?” Wester

“Oh? It’s just a support for the fine upper body.” Roland

Roland’s face suggests he thinks everything is self-evident, but Wester remains unconvinced.

“No, way. You’ve gone past making a bear and straight to a nightmare. What’s with that body shape. Were you inspired by an oak tree?” Wester

“What’s with your comments?” Roland

As Roland expresses his displeasure, Wester snorts and reveals his own ice sculpture.

“Witness this! It’s an ice sculpture that is based off my beautiful physique!” Wester

Wester has made a sculpture of himself with his arms flexing above his shoulders. There’s a high degree of perfection, except that the muscles are exaggerated. Roland couldn’t let the exaggeration stand.

“Huh? Is that supposed to be you?” asks Roland with a suspicious look.

Wester dismisses the question with a shrug.

“Your muscles don’t look this toned!” Roland

“Hey, what are you messing with… Augh! My abs and pecs!” screams Wester, then throws a snowball at Roland.

The snowball hits Roland in his face.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Roland

“It’s the reward for touching my ice sculpture. You’re now twice as cool as usual? Hahahah! Oof!” Wester

Roland has retaliated by throwing a snowball into Wester’s face, right in his laughing mouth.

“Da-mn you! Are you ready?” Wester

“Come at me!” Roland

“I’ll knock some brains into you!” Wester

A fierce snowball fight has erupted between the two. Villagers start gathering around to watch.