Prompt
Ice and snow? Fine. Hail? Slightly less fine. Large, icicle-like shards of ice falling from the sky? Horrifying. For no apparent reason, Destiny City is plagued with another strange phenomenon, only this one can strike at any time. The icicles plummet from the sky with no warning, regardless of a clear or cloudy sky. The spikes range in size from a few inches up to two feet. Sometimes only one might fall, or sometimes a torrent of them, but they never fall far longer than a minute at a time. So far, injuries and damage have been reported across the city. How are you faring?
(WC: 625)
He hadn't paid much attention to the news as of late because... well, the news was boring. News never talked about video games or the entertainment world unless it was to harp about nonsense like how video games bring out the violent side in children or how people need to play less and go outside more. They never reported about how constant gaming could level up a person's hand-eye coordination or how his reaction timing had never been better thanks to the various games he'd been playing for almost two decades now.
No, news stations only talked about his favorite things in a derogatory sense, so Alrik Rey never bothered to watch the news station. This became a problem when the first icicle managed to nick him right on the shoulder as it came crashing down on the sidewalk beside him.
"What the crap..."
One hand automatically rose up to clutch the offended appendage, fingers curling around the torn shirt as he stared at the shattered ice now scattered across the pavement. He automatically looked up... into the sky above. There was no ledge, no skyscraper or older building or even a tree that could have knocked the icicle down, plummeting in his pathway. There was nothing but miles and miles of sky above.
.... so how did it get there in the first place?
He had just enough time to wonder to himself when the second spear of ice hit, barely brushing his front side before careening towards the ground. Had he stopped to tie his shoes, it would have made impact right on the back of his skull.
Suddenly, Alrik felt a great need to find shelter.
By the time he'd started walking, a tiny one whizzed by his ear. Maybe it was just in that particular area - maybe if he moved a few feet over, he'd be safe from whatever invisible force was hosting the whatever from where the icicles were coming from. There wasn't a draft so it wasn't like the wind was sending them from nearby trees or... hell, there weren't even any nearby trees around! When he glanced left to right, there were a handful of buildings but none of them seemed to be playing host to any icicles that could cause the damage the large one had done to his shoulder. What the hell was going on??
Another icicle fell nearby and then another. So it wasn't exclusive to that particular area then. A secondary glance outward assured him that it wasn't just pinpointing him - the shards of ice were raining down all across the sidewalk, splintering into pieces the moment they struck the cement.
s**t, s**t, s**t.
It was almost like a dance, dodging and startled jumping around until he saw a building in sight. A coffee shop - not his normal kind of place to hang out - but a safe haven from the icicles nonetheless. He wanted to glance up to get an idea of where they would fall, but he also didn't want to get impaled in the freakin' eye.
So down the sidewalk he ran, zig-zagging his path until he made it to the coffee shop's awning, which looked like it had seen better days, torn and ragged in areas thanks to the sharp edges of the falling ice. As soon as he arrived beneath the shelter, however, the icicles seemed to have stopped.... but Alrik wasn't taking any chances, not until he was sure the freak weather had blown over.
Pulling out his phone, he took a quick picture of the damage to his shoulder and promptly sent it to half of his phone contacts, using his good arm to push open the coffee shop door as he made his way into the small cafe.
