Fist Full of Snowballs Part 2

Boudica trounced through the forest with all the grace of a bulldozer. Hunting was men’s work, she much preferred her time plowing through the landscape at the head of an army. Sneaking around didn’t suit her, or her briliant red hair, and pink attire. Where was everyone? She snapped off a nearby branch, that threatened to scratch her cheek, and tossed it bodily into a nearby bush. “Come on!” She shouted into the forest. “Grow a pair, and face me like a man!”

Her growing frustration wasn’t entirely due to a distaste for the task she’d be given. This was a fight, and she loved a good fight. It was a timing. It’d been an hour since the last round of fireworks went off. Now the sun was calling it quits, and slowly fading behind the horizon. It was cold enough during the day. She didn’t want to be caught out in the freezing cold at night.

Though her opponents must have made different calculations because the lot of them seemed happy to hide, and wait this came out. Stupid and cowardly. Why couldn’t all four of them just come out, and have at it?

She had no idea that she was scope of what might as well have been a sniper’s rifle. Eve curiously watched her partner trounce around the snow. What a train wreck. Oh well, hopefully Boudica would stir up their opponents, like a hunting dog, and Eve would cover her from the tree. Though thus far, Boudica’s random stomping had summoned up nothing but birds, and hares.

—--

Elizabeth held her breath as Boudica stomped on by a few feet away. It was so tempting to just knock the dump truck off right then and there, but it was too easy. Elizabeth was good natured, but nobles are born with a certain sense for danger. She’d heard Eve calling out for Erica right before she took her out. In all likelyhood, that meant the three of them were working together. They’d been practicing, Elizabeth now realized that day in the snow was more than just them goofing about. So pretty in pink here was in on it too, there must be a reason for all the noise.

To draw Elizabeth out, she concluded.

“Not today Satan.” She whispered to herself, setting into to the foliage. She watched the light of the forest fade, and fade. This situation, would have to be resolved for more sinister minds. She closed her eyes, and trusted that when she awoke, victory would be hers.

—--

Olympias growled, and chewed on her blue lips, as the tempature dropped. Somehow she’d been caught naked in the snow again. Better than being eliminated and landing in the middle yet again, but still. The numbness in her fingers made a convincing arument for elimination.

She could win this.

She peered suspicioulsy around the tree she’d been taking refuge in. It was to Eve’s back, just behind the clearing they’d been fighting in. The wind was keeping her scent hidden. Though she’d be a fool to think she could attack Eve without giving her enough time to react. So it was a game of patience.

In the morning Eve would be crippled by a lack of alchohol, and Elizabeth wouldn’t be much better. They’d be easy pickings then. After that she didnt’ much care if she or Boudica won. The extra points would be nice, but she didn’t care about removing a trait. Her life as a middle of the road competitor had left her with few punishments, except for the one that bound her to Helen, which she wouldn’t trade for points, let alone get rid of it.

She just had to survive the night, which was quickly becoming less of a matter of will, and more of a biological concern.

Elizabeth watched Olympias watching Eve, who in turn was watching the forest. A sly grin crossed her pale lips this was all so cute. "I think she over estimates Eve's abilities." She whispered, out of sight and smell in her on little hideout. Doubtless before this game Eve's senses were rivaled only by God's. But this game had made them rotten, as they did so many other aspects of the contestants.

Elizabeth knew from her own experience that you didn't have to wait until morning to have the trait kick in. Just sobering up was enough to bring the hangover upon you. It'd been hours since they started filming, and in that time Eve's body had already purged much of the poison from her system. Her head had to be screaming at this point, and to make it worse, it was a full moon. The light from that celestial body hit the snow and made the whole landcape glow. Good luck for those among the survivors who couldn't see in the dark. But Eve had those damn perfect eyes. The soft glow of the snow must have been like looking at the sun in her state. In other words, she was in no state to be a sentry. "She didn't even notice us sneaking over here did she Boudica?"

Elizabeth pulled on her opponent's hair, and dragged her closer to herself. "No." Boudica growled, anger, and mortified that this stick of a woman had got a drop on her. She could have fought her off easily, broken her in half, and thrown a snowball at her for good measure. But for some reason, when her hands gripped Boudica's hair, she felt her ability to fight fade away. She wouldn't call herself docile at this moment, but she was submissive, no... obedient.

"Olympias knows she can't last the night, and starting a fire would be a **** sentence..." Elizabeth thought out loud, discerning the future through her knowledge of these women. "Rather than die, she'll try to attack Eve... Eve will sense the attack before Olympias hits home, and take Olympias out. As she attacks, you'll throw your own snowball... Caught offguard Eve will dodge, and counter attack. As she dodges I'll launch my own attack, and hit her at the arc of her movement, while moving you in the way of her attack."

Boudica grunted. That'd been her assessment of the situation as well. Or at least... that's what she would plan for in Elizabeth's situation. She certainly had an eye for tactics. She wished she had the will to turn around and punch the foofie, for daring touch her, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it.

"It shouldn't be long. She's naked out there, while you and I." Elizabeth purred and pulled Boudica closer to her. "Have clothing, and body heat to share." She brought her lips to Boudica's neck. She sucked softly on her skin, leaving a hickey like a cattleman leaves a brand. She pulled away, licking her lips. She couldn't wait until she got a trait that made her an actual vampire. She wanted to sink her teeth into that freckly neck as is. "You look like you want to say something. What is it?” She grinned, ready to squirm under Boudica's angry words.

Dang Doodle, right she did. Boudica beamed, and sucked in a lungful of air. "EVE SHE'S HERE!" She yelled, awakening every animal in the forest, and the girls back in the lodge.

"You...!" The second word of that sentence was cut off by a sonic boom. In an instant Eve launched her attack. Both girls vanished as an explosion of snow and wind enveloped the clearing.

Eve's ear's twitched, seeking out foot steps of survivors when...

She jumped high into the air, over the trees and the forest. A snowball whizzed underneath her.

Olympias came charging out of the forest, blue, and screaming. Eve smiled, and held out her hand to grip the tree beneath her and arrest her fall, but to her delight Olympias had planned for this.

The Amzazon covered the ground between her and the tree while Eve hung in mid air. With a roar she shoulder checked the tree with such **** it’s splintering crack once again reignited the forest. The tree groaned, and fell towards the ground right from under Eve who was still falling straight towards the ground.

Olympia's shoulder roared in pain, but she bit down on it, and ignored the sensation. She had to put all her weight into that attack, so she was lying on the ground now as the tree collapsed beside her. Close to the ground she scooped up a ball, and aimed stright ahead. Eve was coming right at her. "Nowhere to run!" She grinned chucking it up with all her ****.

Hanging in mid air, Eve had nowhere to go. Without a tree to grab onto, and no way to change her momentum all she could do was collide with the ball.

...Is what Olympias thought.

Impossibly Eve coiled her body, and suddenly jerked, propelling herself into a corkscrew spin, that adjusted her body just enough to avoid the snowball, and to make matter's worse, Olympias saw that, before she jumped, Eve had already prepared another ball. She was loaded, ready to go... and Olympias was a sitting duck.

In that moment, Olympias made eye contact with Eve, and was shocked by what she saw. She was smiling, her eyes were smiling, she was having fun! Olympias felt like this was the first time she truly understood Eve. This game was boring to her. She was a God, there was no challenge to any of it. This was a creature made to scale the mountains of Eden. To sprint across endless savanahs. It wasn't that Eve was hard to beat, she was impossible to beat. Olympias had only ever competed because she was at the peak of her performance, and Eve was heavily addled with alchohol.

Even then Olympias felt a flush of pride, as is her right in this universe. Because for just a moment she'd entertained Eve. Pressed her for just a moment. That was worth a thousand points! She couldn't help it. She smiled as Eve wound up for her attack. "I almost got you!" She cried triumphantly.

And then Eve was gone. She burst into a cloud of rainbow sparks, and the sky thundered with fireworks.

Across the way a panting Elizabeth had one eye closed, the other had lined up the shot perfectly. Eve had the skill to avoid the first mid-air attack, but not the second. "Impov may not be my favorite, but that doesn't mean..."

Blue fire works filled the sky, as Elizabeth vanished with a strike from a snowball.

"Just you and meh." Boudica crowed, brushing snow from her shoulders, and entering the clearing.

Olympias got to her feet with a groan. "We finally get that rematch."

"However will that pride of yours survive losing to me twice?” Boudica was grining, her canines seemingly sharp as fangs, like the full moon had brought out the wolf in her.

"You actually think you won last time." Olympias smirked. "Anyway, You've got me at a bit of a disadvantage tonight. I just dislocated my shoulder, and I can't feel my fingers."

"Wear your scars with pride." Boudica unzipped her jacket. "Don't use them as an excuse." She kicked off her boots, and let her bare toes sink into the snow.

"What are you doing?" Olympias looked on in horror as her opponent shed her clothing like the dead skin of a snake. In moments she was more naked than Olympias who at least still had a pair of boots.

"What?" Boudica threw her arms wide, and held her head up to the moonlight. "I'm not scared of a little snow."

Olympias laughed, admiration deforming her face to such an extent that she almost looked friendly. "You really are crazy."

With that Boudica let out a roar and went on the attack, charging forward like Olympias was nothing more than a helpless Roman legion. Olympias with her one good arm, threw a snowball at Boudica in order to throw her off her stride but Boudica would have none of it. She was invincible! The goddess of war herself! She brushed the snowball away with a flick her of hand, swatting it out of the air entirely, and exploding into a cloud of pink sparks.

Olympias stood there wide eyed for a moment, her retreat already planned. Then the fireworks up above signaled, her as the last woman standing. The Queen of Snowballs.

As usual Boudica had proved to be her own worse enemy. "If she'd just dodged the damn thing!" Olympias grumbled, feeling that stupidity had ultimately won her the match, and not her own skill. Oh well, never stop your enemy from destroying themselves.

"Congratulations!!!" Skylar was luminscent. "What an exciting match, I guess it's true what they saw Olympias better late than never!" The girls were all assembled around the fire pit, under the shade of the tree of knowledge. Olympias and Boudica were bundled back into clothing, and Olympias was sipping from a mug of victor's coco.

"When in Daddy's place was that? I blocked her shot!”

Skylar sighed. "Baby, I know you're a bimbo, but can you at least try to piece it together? You got his by the snow ball, you're out of the game."

"If a sword hits your shield, you not getting hit by the sword!"

"If the sword hits your hand, you are!"

"You're a rancid piece of fudge Skylar!"

"Why do you have to ruin everything?" Skylar lamented, sinking into her chair. She turned her heard to where the hoped the crop would be more verdant. "Great work Elizabeth, Olympias, your work in taking out Eve was incredible."

"Even then it was by the skin of our fangs. Hssss." Elizabeth cooed.

"Whatever it takes to win, and Mary." Skylar turned to the sulking maid. "I'd say you would have been a favorite to place in the top three this week, but ouch, you're in the bottom. How did that feel?"

"How do you think it felt? You and your dickless audience took my weapons away from me, I never could have won! It's bullshit!"

Boudica was gritting her teeth, the foul words scraping against her ears like sandpaper. "Lanuage." She hissed out unpleasently.

"That's right." Skylar nodded. "You couldn't have won, and you didn't. The meek maid the audience wants to see could have stood a chance. She could have hid and let her opponents take themselves out. In fact Erica was just seconds away from being taken out anyway if you hadn't saved her from that inglorious fate. A little patience, and some self doubt, would have at least saved you from losing points this week."

Erica snorted. "Well I tried to be a lazy piece of shit this week, and that didn't pay off for me."

"Yeah, I don't know what to tell ya there. God laughs when mortals make plans." Skylar shrugged.

But Cleopatra let out a musical laugh, that drew the camera's attention to her. "Oh I think Erica's plan went off just fine. Helen and Me were both taken out lickidy split. Now stop teasing us Skylar, can we see our scores, and get on with the transformations?"

Skylar smirked, well aware of why Cleopatra wanted to see the rankings for this week. "Fine." Why? Not it should be some good drama. Well worth Milking.

1st Place: Olympias 81 (+25)

2nd Place: Boudica 99(+20)

3rd Place: Elizabeth 51 (+15)

4th Place: Eve 64 (-25)

5th Place: Erica 98 (-25)

6th Place: Mary 22 (-15)

7th Place: Helen 59 (-20)

8th Place: Cleopatra 71 (+25)

"Dear oh dear." Cleopatra chuckled. "What an unusual scoreboard."

"What?" Erica was up on her feet. "I lost points... and she gained them? How's that possible?"

Skylar tutted. "Well it's all thanks to you. You win if you win, you win if you lose, but if you land in the middle, SPLAT! Just like in the Karate Kid."

"Best defense no be there." Erica echoed, in understanding. "But how did she gain points?"

"Thanks to you of course."

"She bought my trait?" Her understanding was two fold now. Who wouldn't buy her trait? It was free Money. "When?"

Cleo grinned, and tilted her head to the side. "During my spending spree, your points, your trait, i couldn't have done it without you. It was a shame I did so well last week, and I couldn't have revealed it then. But somehow you eliminating me, and earning me the points makes it all the sweeter.”

Erica clenched her fist but sat back down in her chair. It was bad, but not horrible. Boudica was in first, she was in second. What stung was Eve who'd had a really bad week, and it would only get worse after her SEVEN transformations for this week. As much as she hated to say it. Erica could probably count her out of the running by this point. If she was being honest, what truly stung was Cleopatra getting one over on them, yet again.

Skylar's beaming face swept across the room. Good good good, she could see all their minds working, roiling, fearing what was to come next. She was feeling positively alive by now. "This is perfect, I can see you all have a lot on your minds, and I'm ready to pick them! Let's get you all ready for your interviews, I'm sure the audience is just chomping at the bit to see what transformations we have in store for you this week!"

Got ideas for transformations? Please share them in the comments!