On the fourth night of the aurora, it changes from dancing lights to a strange, swirling maelstrom. A cold wind picks up, swirling wildly. Near midnight, the wind is strong enough to topple lighter bushes and knock branches from trees. No major damage has been done, but it is still a storm no one wants to be out in. Suddenly, the colors in the sky seem to explode. A distant echo, like thunder, rolls through the town. The aurora is gone, and so is its strange spell. The only thing that lingers are the small, colorful beads that fall from the sky like hail. They sparkle in all colors of the aurora and are never any larger than a marble. Most of them seem safe, but if you hold too many at one time you are met with the same sleepless affliction the town was suffering under the aurora.
While Hartley's apartment tended to be the more cozier of the two when it came to extra pillows and blankets, Afton's building was a newer construction. That being the case, Afton had insisted that they bunker down at his apartment when the weather man made the prediction that things were going to get worse.
The two young men had taken the calm before the storm, quite literally, to transfer things from Hart's place to his-- blankets, pillows, books and a small bag of groceries that would serve them both better wherever they happened to be eating. The two of them managed to fall asleep piled loosely on the sofa until the wind picked up around midnight, howling between the buildings.
"Hart..." He nudged the other young man lightly, eyes wide as he reached for the battery powered moon light they'd been using to see by earlier, flipping the switch on the bottom into the 'on' position. "Hart, I think the power's going to go off again... Might be a flicker before the building's backup generators come on."
Not that it would matter if his friend was sleeping, really, but with as odd as things had been.... He'd rather be awake for it.
Grymoire
Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 3:54 pm
Rubbing his eyes Hartley sat up slightly, blinking owlishly at his friend while everything slowly filtered into his head.
Right, Afton's couch. They'd moved stuff that day after pulling all of Hartley's plants in off the patio and securing the place up. The forecast had been awful and both of them agreed Afton's newer apartment would be safer.
When he finally registered the sound of the wind howling outside he hunkered his shoulders into the blanket's a bit more. "You sure the backup generators are going to be able to withstand whatever that is? It sounds like a hurricane out there."
Minus the rain of course but given how much it had been snowing god knows what else could be thrown around in all the wind.
"If not, I'm going to go turn the heat up a little." It was a comfortable temperature inside the apartment currently, and the newer build meant that it maintained the degree it was set at rather well, but if the power went out...
He slid off of the sofa, dragging one of the blankets and the moon with him towards the thermostat. Outside the wind was joined with the sound of rolling thunder. Thunder during a snow storm? The entire thing seemed like madness. Destiny City was madness. Was nothing normal anymore?
Outside color flashed through the curtains, catching his attention from the corner of his eye. "What the hell is it doing out there?"
Grymoire
Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 4:14 pm
When Afton got up Hartley took the opportunity to shuffle around the pillows a bit so they would both be more comfortable. They'd fallen asleep the first time leaning against each other but with a few of the bigger pillows out of the way they'd have some room to lay down too if they wanted. He would have been tempted to sleep through things if he could but with the way the wind was howling he wasn't sure he'd be able to do that now.
The color flash caught his attention and he shook his head, catching a glimpse of it between the blinds. "I think it's hailing now? I mean it looks like something's falling but it's a lot bigger than rain. Do we even really want to know?"
This whole thing had been insane and Hartley wasn't sure he wanted to know what else might be going on.
The heater kicked on as he turned up the thermostat, rumbling to life and bringing with it a toasty warmth to the apartment. He shifted the blanket around his shoulders, making a face as he glanced towards the window. Curiosity might not be getting the best of Hartley but it seemed like it was going to get the best of him no matter how late the hour.
Rubbing at his eyes, Afton tossed the moon back towards his friend as he made his way over to the window. One last gust of wind rattled the pane as he opened the curtain. Much to his surprise, the strange, dancing light had disappeared from the sky, replaced by dozens of stars spread across a blue blanket. In the street lamp he could almost make out the balls falling from the sky-- hail, most likely, but...
"Hart... It looks like it's raining marbles. Rainbow marbles..."
Grymoire
Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 4:58 pm
Hartley managed to catch the light, fumbling with it for a moment but managing not to drop it, and set it down on the coffee table. Before leaning back he picked up a chip out of the bowl of snacks they had been nibbling on before they'd fallen asleep and tucked his feet up under him.
"Raining marbles?" He didn't quite sounded like it believed it but it wasn't like raining rainbow marbles would be the strangest thing. It wasn't even the strangest thing that had happened that week let alone over the holidays so far.
"They probably explode if you touch them. Or make it so you can't sleep ever again. Or god knows what else."
The part of him that was slowly becoming more and more inquisitive about the strange wanted to take a mason jar outside and fill it with the 'marbles'. He wanted to know if they were glass or ice or something else entirely. If they were ice, would they melt? What color would the water turn? What would happen if you grouped that many of them together? What...?
Hartley was the voice of reason drawing him him back away from the window. He shut the curtain and ignored the brightly colored beads piling up outside. He could collect them and hide them away, study them another day.... Or he could wander back towards the couch and get comfortable again.
"Whatever all of that was... I think it's finally over."
Grymoire
Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 5:27 pm
"It better be over." Hartley huffed slightly, reaching up to run a hand through his hair just to get it out of his face. After everything that had happened over the last few days he didn't think he could really take any more strangeness for a while. It was christmas. Things were supposed to be fun and relaxing not full of weird insanity.
Unless that was the norm for Destiny City?
"If it's over we can go back to sleep, or try to. Maybe the power will stay on and we can stay warm and nothing else weird will happen for at least another day." If nothing else that would at least make him happier
He was so tired that he didn't want to deal with much else other than going back to sleep. The weird dreams had finally passed, but neither of them had been able to catch up on sleep-- not properly, at least. Now, with everything over and the worst of the storm hopefully passed, they'd get that chance.
Afton leaned over to brush a light, chaste kiss to Hartley's temple before tossing the blankets onto the floor. If they were going to sleep on the sofa for the rest of the night he was at least going to pull the bed out. Fortunately it didn't take long and soon enough the throw pillows had been arranged back around to form a larger, more comfortable nest filled with blankets that they were both able to climb back into.
He waited until his friend had settled, cocooned in his own blankets alongside him, before flipping off the lights. "Night, Hart.... Sweet dreams."
