Ok, this is shadesong's fault.

[gwynhefar]

It started with shadesong posting her story bit to the prompt What ice is saying as it crackles in winter. Then feste_sylvain replied "I've heard the ice crack. Just before I went under." This got me thinking: "That would be an interesting companion piece. This is what the ice is saying when it cracks slowly, subtly. What is the ice saying when the cracking is sudden, violent?". Of course, when I told shadesong she said "Write it!!". So I did. Story bit under the cut for strong language some people might not want polluting their flist:

Bitch. The word expelled with a crack like a gunshot.



Asshole. Mother-fucking bastards. The ice splinters, each shard a dagger. Raw expletives flash-frozen in the depths of night, released by the chill glare of the rising winter sun.



Contents under pressure, the promises spill through the fissures like blood from a wound:



You will regret this. I'll make sure of it. Words laced with anger and pain, whispered into the night.



They'll pay. I swear to God they'll pay. Words flung with fury at a heartless moon.



Touch me again and I'll kill you. Hatred, fear, anger and pain, too hot for even the ice to contain, and yet every word sends shivers down the spine.



Never again. Never fucking again.





I should put a caveat that this is intended as a companion to shadesong's piece, and thus is following along with the idea that she expressed more clearly -- the words are not actually the *ice* speaking - they are words spoken by others, breath condensing into water into ice, and released when the ice cracks. I should try to figure out a way to make that more clear without having to refer to shadesong's bit.