365 Days of Starshipping (Part 2)

Snowman Contest

11/27/19

Lunch was spent sitting down at the bench again and watching over their partners, except this time they all had a specific task - to get into groups and see who could make the best snowman. Obviously, it could really be a snow sculpture of just about anything and it'd count, but it was easier to just call it a snowman competition and call it a day so they could split back off to go eat; while they set up their food, everyone split up into teams amongst themselves before getting to work sculpting.

"Isn't the snow a little powder-y here for making snowmen?" Yusei wondered quietly in between bites, getting a little hum from Judai in response.

"It is, but honestly it doesn't matter - they're duel monsters, they'll find some way of packing it down enough to stick well," Judai stated, shrugging a little in a 'what-can-you-do?' type of way, "Wouldn't be surprised if they were packing their snowballs tight enough to make them less so an easily breakable target and more so a dense projectile shot."

"Wouldn't surprise me, either," Yusei agreed, thinking immediately of that row of tiny tools and weapons that Junk Synchron had revealed he had once. If Synchron had that hidden this whole time, then something like making deadly snowballs was unsurprising and very believable.

"Anyway, how's the food? I was a bit worried I overcooked the rice since I kinda... forgot about it for a little while there yesterday," Judai asked, laughing a bit sheepishly at his actions, "Thought it might've gotten burned in a few places."

"Never would've known if you hadn't brought it up 'cause it's delicious as always," Yusei reassured him, smiling down at him and pecking his forehead when he leaned his head on his shoulder for a moment in thanks, "I don't think you've made a single bad dish beyond those few times where it was out of your control."

"Please don't remind about that, I was trying to forget," Judai complained, a pained look forming at the reminder of the couple times his cooking had gone horribly wrong - it was never actually his fault either, since it was always an outside circumstance that caused the issue. For instance, one time Crow had tried to help without really asking and almost set the kitchen on fire thanks to how much oil he put in the pan, the excess splattering everywhere and fanning the stove's flames on accident.

Crow was promptly banned from helping in the kitchen after that incident, and just for good measure, Jack was too since both Judai and he knew that it was only a matter of time before Jack messed up helping out as well somehow, so it was easier to just get rid of the option so it never had the chance to occur.

"Alright, I'll be quiet," Yusei chuckled, pecking Judai on the forehead once again when he got an exasperated look in response before going back to his food, which was decidedly not burned in the slightest. It didn't take long for them both to finish, closing up their boxes and putting them away safely before grabbing their newly-refilled drinks and heading over to where there were now some very... interestingly shaped snow sculptures standing in the field.

That one should definitely not be standing, Yusei mused, staring at one in particular whose limbs and such shouldn't be able to stay in the air like that without falling, yet it was. It seemed Judai was very right about them finding a way to pack the snow tight despite the powder-y type of snow they currently had at their disposal.

"Alright everyone! Time's up, the judges are ready and here!" Judai shouted, getting everyone's attention through the ruckus, "Come over here so I know you're not tryin' to cheat!"

He got a cacophony of various forms of 'We wouldn't cheat!' at that moment, though everyone did come over looking plenty happy and eager to see what they thought of their creations. Once everyone was gathered, they started going around the clearing in a circle, looking at each of the sculptures and giving out compliments.

Some of them were seriously impressive, like the one that Yusei had picked out right off the bat where it shouldn't even be standing but was and others that weren't quite as unique in form as that one but had lots of little details that he wouldn't have thought possible using snow. It was clear that the groups had made multiple as well since there were literally more snowmen than duel spirits present, but the quality didn't seem to drop at all.

What was most impressive, though, was the fact that they did all this in roughly thirty minutes, which was the amount of time they took for lunch.

Judai hummed in thought, pursing his lips as he studied the clearing once they'd gone around in a full circle and looked at all of them, saying, "Choosing just one is too hard, they're all really good..."

"Same, I don't know if I can choose just one," Yusei agreed, tilting his head in thought as well, "We might just have to say they all win, they're all great in their own way."

Luckily this decision was well-received, and Judai and Yusei could only sigh in relief that they hadn't been forced to choose, holding hands and watching fondly as Synchron suddenly started going on a rant about how they should totally build a snow machine for Starlight Junktion while all the other duel monsters gathered around him and listened curiously, wanting to know how such a thing would be possible. Based on what Yusei was hearing though, it was very possible by utilizing duel energy as usual with their type of technology, and put actually trying it on his mental to-do list for the next time he went there.