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 Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2022 11:22 am
Quote: Prompt 4 (Flurries and Flowers):Strange snow flurries have been blowing through town, frosting entire buildings. Sometimes they come out of nowhere--overnight, or in the timespan of just a few short hours. Sometimes, only minutes. Snow falls rapidly and ice coats doors and windows, sealing them shut. These snow flurries are knocking out power, and worse--trapping people in buildings and cars. Sheets of frosty ice build up quickly and have caused major inconveniences. But, it’s not all bad, if you can find a way to appreciate the small things. After these flurries, in addition to the fresh snow and ice, beautiful flowers in the shape of snowflakes have sprouted up, too. They grow in small patches and permeate a pleasant, sweet fragrance. They can grow on any surface, as long as it is covered in snow or ice. If the flowers are not kept in freezing temperatures, they melt, but for the duration of their lifespan they are beautiful, fragile things.
Kyrie was still getting used to how… festive the city at large seemed to get around certain holidays. Well, more than just the city, it seemed, for something like Christmas. It'd taken her a while to even learn there were other religious holidays around the same time--and that Christmas itself wasn't just a… 'hope for presents from Santa' sort of holiday. It's religious portion was more what she learned about through various carols and Google searches.
Like ones she was fiddling with now.
Sitting in a cafe, perched up on a seat high enough that she had to use the horizontal posts between its legs to even climb up into it, she scanned different pages brought up on her phone. She'd very quickly discovered her mistake when she'd tried just typing in the origin of christmas. That'd brought her generalized explanations--and oodles of historic references, and cultural references, that she did not understand. But all that information quickly overwhelmed her and sent her mind spinning.
She'd tried to follow the rabbit hole for a while, reading over blurbs and bits about celebrations in the Roman Empire, and pagan holidays that influenced elements of Christmas celebrations. And numerous other debates and theories about how beliefs and traditions developed, warped, and merged around the winter season.
Kyrie had made a gallant effort to try and understand what this holiday was all about, but when she finally groaned and took a sip of her third large toasted white chocolate mocha since arriving at the cafe that day…
She knew for her mental health she had to walk away from this subject.
A few other tables, booths, and low chairs in a lounge-like corner were occupied, but largely the cafe was quiet. Holiday music played through craftily hidden speakers, and the baristas wore bright red aprons.
The high table she sat at stood beside large windows, enabling her to stare out to the street. Snow was falling--she rather appreciated the cooler weather, and still marveled at the way snow acted a bit differently with Earth's gravity than Solaris'. Dense flurries coated surfaces outside, disturbed by wandering feet and vehicles. The volume of snow, though, was starting to pick up again. Bursts of stronger snow and ice mixes were noted around the city, freezing over areas rapidly.
Setting down her drink on the table, Kyrie frowned, watching as heavier drops of stuff began to coat surfaces along with the snow. The winds were getting stronger, and her skin prickled with instinctive unease as she heard it begin to howl viciously just beyond the panes of glass. Pedestrians began to drastically decrease--some swooped into the warm cafe, the slush quickly melting in globs off of them at the doorway. Vehicles began to slow down considerably.
Bad weather didn't always bother her. But sometimes, when winds got a bit more violent, a bit more unhinged… it was hard to not let her mind flicker back to days spent huddled away within empty, cold buildings amidst what few remains of her people she'd been able to collect and preserve over the centuries. The winds weren't up to the level she'd dealt with then, sure, and she'd only sometimes deal with snowstorms…
Rolling her head to try and relieve the tension in her neck, Kyrie looked back to her phone in one hand, and pulled her hot drink closer with the other. She certainly wasn't going out anytime soon with that weather outside. Pausing mid-sip, she wondered briefly how that little whisp was doing... it wasn't out and about in this, was it..?
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Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2023 9:21 am
Like the excessively short girl sitting a few seats away from him, Eion was also on his phone. But rather than searching up carols or the history of Christmas, Eion had been looking up medical conditions. He hadn't wanted to talk about his new personal developments with his boys just yet, not without some idea of what might be coming over him. His best hope was a cold — he'd had plenty of those when he was human — and he knew generally what to expect with one. He was finding anything from seasonal allergies to colds to GERD (whatever that was) to heart failure (which sounded terrible) to COPD and emphysema (similarly terrible) to cancer (probably the worst). But there was no way to tell what he had; the cough just came out of nowhere, and he hadn't developed any other symptoms yet.
He nursed a London fog that was prepped precisely the way he wanted by a barista that recognized him as soon as he had walked through the door. He visited often enough that the staff had some idea of what to expect out of him — a London fog prepared strong, with a longer steeping time, and very little need for conversation. He was quiet, kept to himself, and sometimes showed up with strangers. Seldom was he ever engrossed in a phone, to the point that they had wondered if he owned one. But he brought one this time, and seemed uncharacteristically absorbed in it.
Eion frowned when the phone's browser stalled when loading another page. Then an error turned up that it couldn't connect to the internet, and Eion's attention went straight to the empty bars in the top corner. He looked up, then looked outside, pondering the snowstorm that grew to blustering strength. More people began filtering in, complaining of the cold and how they couldn't feel their faces. Some looked bright pink from cold exposure.
Bitter about it, Eion pulled his coats tighter about himself. These assholes kept letting the warm air out and the cold air in, making the cafe uncomfortable for the people who had the good sense to go there in the first place. He rolled his eyes, snorting to himself.
Then the power cut, and the cafe went dark. A handful of people gasped, followed by a slow wave of murmurs. Some of the customers had gotten up and talked about going elsewhere, but when they tried the door again, it had frozen shut from the outside. Others got up and started badgering the staff about the integrity of the building, or trying to armchair electrician their way through to heroism by asking where the breaker box was, or if there was a generator. <******** me," Eion sighed to himself as he used the plastic lid to his drink as a chin rest. He checked the phone one last time, but the bars weren't coming back anytime soon. He pocketed Waru's phone instead.
There were people to watch, at least. He had another two hours to spare in this situation before he had to find a nice, quiet place to shed his fake skin and go back to being on fire. There was plenty to keep him occupied in the interim, anyway, what with people quickly banding together and expressing their opinions as loudly as possible. His favorite was often the bible thumper who declared this particular snowstorm as the end times.
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Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2023 11:39 am
"That's new," she mumbled, looking up and brows lifting as the power went out. She hadn't seen a power outage in the city since she'd been on Earth--outside Destiny City? Sure. But it spoke to the level of severity of this storm, and that intrigued her immensely. Also made more goosebumps rise on her arms, but, hey. Things would be fine. This wasn't remotely like how it was on So--
People had still been coming into the cafe, more seeing shelter as the roads emptied save parked cars lining the sides, and growing piles of ice and snow. Shortly after the power went out, though, they couldn't get back out. Complaints and high-pitched voices rose about this. Shouts went out towards the staff, as if they had something to do with this situation or could snap their fingers and fix it.
Kyrie eyed her phone again. WiFi was gone, and though Lilith was kind enough to add her to her unlimited data plan, the signal was weak as hell. Breathing out slow through her nose, she'd been about to just shrug and take out her art supplies from her satchel--drawing people getting angry would be good expression practice, or maybe the growing piles of snow and ice engulphing the parked cars and meeters outside would be interesting in colored pencil?--but a particuarlly loud voice near her table ruined all that.
"In times as this we must look to the Lord and seek His forgiveness! He shall guide and protect His flock. Look at how the storms are getting worse! It's the forces of the Devil at work! Infecting this world, making sure more souls are lost from the Lord's loving light--"
Kyrie was finding she liked sermons here on Earth. For the most part. Now and then, she'd listen to late night readings at different places in the city, or catch the stupidly early ones. Faith itself was a difficult thing for her, but since meeting Cybele, since meeting that half-youma... it'd been on her mind a lot more.
This sort of preeching though, she wasn't a fan of. It usually lead to confrontations and deeming certain peoples unworthy of a divine's love. There wasn't stopping the curl of her lip as she silently snarled towards the woman whose voice was far too loud about a subject that should be far more personal.
Knowing she couldn't just leave the cafe, Kyrie grabbed her belongings and her drink, slipping off the high chair to slink a few tables further away. If there was anything she'd noticed, it was that people who were alone seemed to become targets for fanatics to approach and try to strike up uncomfortable conversations with. Only made sense, in her mind, to remove the alone aspect of her current status.
"Hey, sorry to bother you," she said softly as she approached another solo-seated person. Her smile was sheepish as she adjusted her grip on the bag of her satchel tossed over her shoulder. A bright blue, thick sweater hung over the bag itself, showing the pastel rainbow tanktop, black skirt, and stockings she wore. The only thing weather appropriate were probably the heavy combat boots. It was a stark contrast to how majority in the store were bundled--even the dark-haired youth in front of her was nestled into a coat.
"Do you mind if I sit with you? Things seem to be getting kinda angry in here, kinda hoping they leave people alone if they're not solo."
She could hear one of the employees--probably a manager--raising their voice, trying to calmly state that they were working on getting people an update about the power restoration. Someone banged on the door, shouting about how they needed to unstick this crap first. Kyrie winced as more voices panicked voices joined in on this.
"Do... none of them know the best way to handle an emergency is to try to stay calm?" Another mumble as she glanced over her shoulder, shaking her head somewhat.
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Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2023 6:35 am
Eion looked up from watching the impromptu sermon in progress, then realized he shouldn't be looking up if he wanted to be looking at the short girl from earlier. Coal eyes found her, quizzical for how she was addressing him out of all the people there.
Eion was aware he didn't know her. He also did his best to blend in with the crowds, keep quiet, and remain unnoticed by others. Eion was a non-entity, a boy without much of a story due to Eion's lack of interest in lying one up from nothing. He was already cautioned against using his experiences as Elex for their similarity, so he preferred to never engage on a deeper social level.
"Go ahead," he assented, then nodded to the empty chair near him. It seemed easy enough — he was using this skin as cover, too. It was what Eion was good for. Plus, he got to partake in the true meaning of hot beverages this way, even if it meant repeatedly burning his tongue for it.
Like the stranger, Eion wasn't precisely dressed for the weather, either. He wore what he found, which was a pair of leggings with checker print on one leg and a red background on the other with STAY WEIRD in bold, block letters up the calf and thigh, Converse that had been Sharpie'd over in silver and hot pink, and a puffy maroon coat overlaid a series of sweaters and jackets. He could still move his arms, though, which was probably why he still felt cold. That, and humans just ran colder than what he was used to.
Eion nodded to her comment, even as he went back to watching them. "Harder to eat us if we're in a group," he agreed evenly.
He didn't know what it was like, living on one's own as an Actual Real Human. He hadn't asked Waru or Aelius or any of the others about it, mainly because they were part of the Negaverse, so they had some form of paramilitary training. Most people didn't, so he wasn't certain if most people were quick to anger or panic in situations like these. Judging by what the girl next to him was saying, it was common knowledge to keep one's head in a disaster. Not that Eion had much personal history to say that he kept his cool in emergencies. But she didn't need to know that.
Whoever she was.
"Name's Eion. In case they try to eat us anyway," he explained, so he wouldn't come off weird. He'd watched enough horror movies with Haru to know where something like this was going. Little did the girl next to him know that he'd be the one most likely to successfully eat someone in this whole affair. Wouldn't have to cook them first, either.kaefaux Eion plz, this isn't The Mist
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