"What do you mean, nicely done?" he whispers in return. "I'm quite serious about this." And then he leans forward to put his head near her lap and make theatrical vomiting noises against her - a foolproof way to make a girl of any degree of ticklishness giggle.

Then, that having been accomplished, he rolls back to collapse, arms spread, into the snowbank, grinning in spite of himself. It always feels good to pull off a bit of a con. Doubly pleasurable when you're not targeting fools, but perfectly capable Armsmen. "I assume your solid fellow isn't quite diligent enough to stand over me until he sees me shitting, right?" By asks. "He'll pass me off to the medtechs? I don't want to have to cadge some laxatives to make this convincing."