Her magic caught his snowball and tossed it aside, but Tal was already scooping up more snow from the safety of his narrow shelter. His grin was downright wicked as he started to peek back around the trunk to see what direction Hotaru would be coming from. "Yeah, well, I'll take what I can--Ow!" No sooner did he get a glimpse than the tree behind him clashed and rang like a gong and the courier jumped like a scalded cat, landing just as the lightning struck.
"Hey!" He danced back from the sharp stinging sensation in the air that raised all the hair on his body and left the scent of burning ozone lingering over the snow. He flung his snowball half-blind as he made a break to the right and tried to race across the distance to an even bigger tree, shaking his head to try and clear the ringing in his ears and the blinding afterimage of the lightning strike from his eyes.
"Hey!" He danced back from the sharp stinging sensation in the air that raised all the hair on his body and left the scent of burning ozone lingering over the snow. He flung his snowball half-blind as he made a break to the right and tried to race across the distance to an even bigger tree, shaking his head to try and clear the ringing in his ears and the blinding afterimage of the lightning strike from his eyes.
