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Prompt 5 (Ice Bath): Rainfall is rare in Destiny City during Winter; there have been a few light showers between the occasional snow but it’s never been enough to be significant. In some places, it’s just enough for a thin layer of ice to cover the ground and make it a little slippery, but ultimately it’s not enough to worry about. In an inconspicuous place in town, you step into one of these icy puddles and the thin layer of ice shatters. The hole itself seems maybe three feet wide and if you’ve ever been in the area before you know it’s just a pothole a few inches deep at most. Except, when the ice shatters, you fall, plummeting into it as if it were a lake of icy water. It’s pitch black around you and only pale blue lights shimmer above you. The darkness is never ending and you can’t make out the details of anything except the shrinking hole above you. Maybe you remember how to swim and pull yourself out, maybe you black out and feel someone else pulling you out--either way, your frozen, soaking body is pulled from the puddle. The chill is immense, but if you look at the hole after being pulled out, all you can see is the ground below. There’s no sign that what you just experienced is real--except for the fact that you’re still soaking wet.
The air was crisp, chilled, and a bit damp feeling which wasn't much of a surprise since Hux knew that it had rained earlier in the morning. Still it was more then enough to send shivers down his spine, or at least it would if he hadn't layered enough that only his face was truly cold and even then he could pull his scarf up over his mouth and nose if he wanted to. He was currently on his way back to his car after having taken a walk around the park where there had been a small ice sculpture competition, something he had been sure to take a lot of pictures of to show others later.
As he walked the tall man only vaguely paid any attention to the side walk he was on, instead just looking around at the many decorations that were displayed around the town. It seemed like the city had gone all out this winter and many of the citizens had done the same with their businesses and homes much to his enjoyment. Watching the different lights had always been one of his favorite things about the month of December, though it wasn't quite late enough to fully enjoy them now since it was a bit before sunset.
One particular decoration caught his eye as he was about to step down onto the street from the side walk in order to pass to the other side where his care was parked, some kind of winter fairy cut out someone had made to hang in their shop winder that clearly was just a recolored Disney's Tinkerbell with a few ornaments added on to try and separate the copyright farther. However since he was looking at the decoration that screamed lawsuit, he wasn't looking at the ice patch that he was stepping down onto.
While it wasn't often he was in this area as a civilian, he had been here more when powered up since the park was a good place to gather energy, and if he had been thinking about it he would have remembered the pothole that was normally where he had just stepped. Granted he wouldn't have thought much about it anyway since it was barely an ankle deep hole in the first place and it was currently filled in with ice. Rather he would have figured that if the ice broke he would at most just get his boots wet and the undersides covered in slush.
When he got instead was his boot breaking through the expected few inches and kept going. The blond let out a yelp of surprise that cut off as he plunged into the ice water that swallowed him up within seconds. Hux had closed his eyes when he went down and when he opened them under the water he could see was pitch black all around him and the blue tent of sunlight above where the hole was. He could feel his heart pounding in adrenaline and fear, lungs already screaming for air since he hadn't known to hold his breath.
It didn't help that he had been stunned from the abruptness of it all but thankfully instinct kicked in a moment later and he quickly swamp to the top and breached the hole to gasp for air. It took the man several attempted to pull himself out fully thanks to the burning cold sapping his strength but he managed it then laid on the street trying to recover and calm down. His body shook from the shock and the cold but his mind cleared for the most part after no more then five minutes on the thankfully deserted street.
He shakily got to his feet and stumbled to his car, opening it with some difficulty but was quick to turn it on and crank the heat as far as it could go while stripping off some of the wet layers he had on and tossing the soaked clothes onto the passenger seat. It was only once the shivering had slowed down to being less violent that he looked back over to where the pothole was only to see the ice once more fully frozen solid.
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