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 Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2023 7:44 am
Quote: Prompt 17 (Cryogenic Crisis): A strange phenomenon has overtaken the flora of Destiny City. Most prevalent in large trees, but occurring also in saplings, bushes, and any wooded plant, the color seems to be completely draining and the plants are becoming oddly crystalline. Leaves and bark especially almost seem to be turning to ice, and observant passersby might notice that the trees seem to be crystalizing. They are cold to the touch and even seem to melt under heat. The increased weight has made it dangerous to walk beneath any of these trees; branches also snap and fall, and even leaves and small twigs can become dangerous projectiles. Scientists have said there is a pollutant in the water causing a strange chemical reaction, but there’s still something suspicious about it. Destiny City has employed some specialists to treat the afflicted trees, and some already seem to be in various stages of recovery–but if you’re out and about, chances are that you’ll still find a few of these arborous anomalies. His hands were shoved low in his pockets, about as low as his patience. Diryas hadn’t slept well—again. It wasn’t helping his mood already soured by useless meetings and the insistence from both work colleagues and other professors at DCU that he attend whatever holiday party was going to be happening. It would be fun, they said! Those who knew he wasn’t monogamous said they’d love to meet the others! He did not want to attend a holiday party. He did not want to attend it with a fox. He did not want to attend it wearing socks. He did not want to, Sam I Am, he did not want— His arm brushing up against a bush and breaking off a branch caught him by surprise and was enough to break him out of his grump for the moment. The branch dangled from threads in his sweater, swaying as he wiggled his arm experimentally. Diryas had enough time to observe that the part closest to his arm, the part actually snagged, was melting. Then the branch swung free and shattered on the pavement by his feet. It made him take a step back in surprise and out of instinct to avoid the ice shards that scattered everywhere. He also glanced surreptitiously about to make sure he hadn’t almost ran anyone over when he’d stepped backwards— “…Weird.” …He felt like he’d heard about this. Someone had contacted his day-job wondering if there was anything chemical agent-wise that could be done, or could have caused it. Was something else to encounter it, though.
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Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2023 7:48 am
It was the first time in a month that Haspira had set foot outside as herself. Between working from home and getting a grocery delivery where needed, she often forgot to try and invest in a personal life outside of her house. Today, she was reminded by a strange viral TikTok where someone was showing off their obscene ice sculpture that they carved with a chainsaw.
After seeing that and feeling sufficiently disturbed, Haspira checked the weather and wrapped up for a stroll outside. She wouldn't go far — maybe to the park where they often had snowball fights to watch — with the main goal of trying to exist peacefully around other people. After spending so long only going outside and interacting with them to drain them, it was getting harder to convince herself that she could live peacefully with people. Would this work? She didn't know, but she would make a solid attempt.
She mainly stared at her phone on the way there, buried as she was in one of her more difficult case assignments. Her line of work in the mental health field took a great deal of adjustment from her, and it was made more difficult when she was given austere cases to which she couldn't relate at all. So buried was she that she nearly slammed headlong into a tree before she realized she had already made it to the park.
After a brief gasp for the near-miss, Haspira looked up and found that the tree seemed to be made of ice, or glass, or some other fine surface. Her brows scrunched, and soon her attention was stolen from her phone as she looked around at the rest of them. It was like the trees had become frozen over, but there was no tree underneath the ice. Or maybe ice just froze in the shape of a tree? Whichever it was, it didn't strike her as normal. Haspira resolved to find someone and determine if this was actually happening or if she was hallucinating, so she started in the direction of the street.
And, in fact, there was someone. "Excuse me," she called as she approached, all bundled up in puffy coats and scarves and a pair of fluffy earmuffs. "Do you see that?" As she spoke, she pointed to the shattered remains of a branch on the ground.
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Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2023 4:20 pm
“I do.” His response was prompt, if somewhat lackluster. Diryas looked between the ice on the ground and the ice in the shape of a bush. There was even a bit of water still on his sleeve where the branch had been snagged before melting and falling off. “I had heard of this. Didn’t realise its scope.” His workplace hadn’t really been able to find either a chemical reason for all the woody plants to look this way—look? They did more than look—or a surefire remedy for the issue. Just melting the ice didn’t do anything but turn trees and bushes into water. He understood that the botanical gardens were in an uproar, what with their collections of rare plants at risk of becoming even rarer. As almost an afterthought, “I wouldn’t touch it with your bare skin.” As if she could, all bundled up like that. “Would be just our luck that it can jump species, whatever it is.” Not only species, but whole clades— Remembering the water on his sleeve, he shook his arm to send the droplets flying back toward the bushes.
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Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2023 7:12 pm
Haspira nodded succinctly. "So this is a known phenomenon," she confirmed, mostly to herself. Now that was curious — apparently the people of Destiny City weren't that oblivious about the strange, magical happenings going on.
It was sound advice, what he said thereafter. Haspira looked down at the shattered remnants of the branch, feeling curious about whether it could spread or not. Certainly it had hit a number of different trees, bushes, and flowers already, but she hadn't yet heard anything about people turning entirely to ice and then shattering. Yet. Though, the thought of something like that happening led her to wonder if these antics were due to some particularly powerful youma.
She decided it was better to ask, though. This individual seemed to know more about this phenomenon than she did. "Have you seen or heard anything about people or animals being turned into ice like this? I haven't run across any myself, but I can imagine someone's curious child touching one of these 'ice sculptures' out of simple inquisitiveness.
"Oh," she realized belatedly. "My name is Haspira. I've been trying to look into these phenomena in my spare time, so I apologize if my questions seem forward."
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2024 11:54 am
“For a given definition of known, I suppose.” Even if she was mostly talking to herself, his response was automatic. He leaned over to take a closer look at the plants, listening to her question even if it didn’t seem so at first. He took a moment to answer her, in any case. “Nothing about anything that isn’t a plant.” He glanced toward her. “Would hate to be the establishing case, though.” He looked back toward the plants. “My job has been studying them. We don’t see anything yet that could have caused them, from a chemical standpoint.” From a magical standpoint? Maybe, but he didn’t know who she was— Ah, Haspira. Not that that told him if she was safe to mention magic and other related bullshit around. With his luck, she’d be a Negaverse officer in hiding or something. He no longer took anything like that for granted. So he’d need to pretend to be as mundane and boring as he possibly could. “My name is Diryas. You’re not being forward. Apologies if my tone made you think otherwise.” He gestured at himself, then. His flat affect was a thing. The other thr— two at home were used to it, as were his coworkers and students, but it still sometimes was off-putting to strangers. “It’s good to be curious.”
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Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2024 1:24 pm
He was rather emotionless about it, which only stood out to her insofar as the part where such an event would threaten his life. Usually, she found, people had more emotional involvement with a matter so personal. She could speculate about it, but such speculation seemed pointless when they were only passing acquaintances and there was little to say that he was with the Negaverse, their enemies, or otherwise.
While he investigated, Haspira folded her arms and watched the investigating occur. Silence seldom bothered her; if he wasn't going to object to it or fill it with meaningless pleasantries, neither would she. She already spent enough of her time and social energy thoughtfully populating silences as part of her job.
"Nothing from a chemical standpoint? That's curious. I'd have thought that would be the profession to pinpoint the cause, but it seems Destiny City always finds a way to keep us guessing." That was all they could say for it, she supposed. Even if these affairs were magical in nature, they had no way to trace them to a cause. Worse yet, there might not even be a cause; if it were magical in nature, such magic might be happening year round, and people only notice it in these instances around the holidays. There was simply no way for them to know, as far as she was concerned.
She nodded when he offered his name. "It's good to meet you, Diryas. Thank you for entertaining my questions. Sounds like we'll have to abide a mystery for a while longer." And maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.
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