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.
It must have rained, but Celadon didn't remember it. She never paid much attention to the weather when she was indoors. She kept falling asleep unintentionally, too, though that wasn't typically longer than an hour. Could it have rained and frozen over in such a short span? She didn't know.
But Celadon was cautious as she ventured out. She didn't keep her eyes glued to the sidewalks, but she did glance down on occasion to make sure she wasn't stepping onto a solid sheet of ice. She had exchanged her sandals for snow boots, too, which did not at all match her dress. A sweater was layered over top of that — an old knit one in beige that her mom had made for her last year. She didn't find the cold too bothersome for the moment.
But that moment passed when she realized, belatedly, that she stepped onto ice. That ice cracked and shattered underfoot, and she expected to be pitched forward or backward, but instead fell into that broken surface. Shock stole her breath as she slipped below the surface, far beyond where the sidewalk should have been.
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Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2023 7:34 am
It was a beautiful night to be out on the town, enjoying the glistening buildings and leaves of trees in the park that sparkled with raindrops. Charlie was quite pleased with the strange weather, as always. It gave her plenty of inspiration for art, and she was always happy to talk to others about her thoughts on the strangeness of Destiny City.
Except when people suddenly disappear into the ground!
“Hey!” she called when the woman disappeared, and then realized she couldn’t really do anything as a civilian, so after a quick glance around to make sure no one was watching, she powered up and, probably stupidly, jumped down into the darkness with her.
Although she hoped she didn’t land on her. That would be bad. But she heard a splash and… Oh, it had been a while since she’d been swimming, but it was better than being alone, right?
“Oh, you’re a knight too!” Connie announced her discovery once she surfaced from the icy water and -- “It’s… darker than I would have thought. Wait, how are we supposed to get out?” Ah, maybe she should have thought about just throwing down a rope instead.
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Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2023 6:27 am
Celadon figured she must have passed out, because she was suddenly deep underwater. The chill of it saturated her bones, and all she saw around her was darkness. Above was the surface, a distant thing, and another shape that obstructed the light. She couldn't tell what it was.
Celadon swam as quickly as her cold limbs allowed, breaking the surface before the urge to breathe overtook her. She gasped as she caught her breath.
The shape she saw earlier was a person, she realized — someone she hadn't seen outside before she fell into that hole. Evidently she was a knight, if Celadon took her exclamation as an admission. She didn't recognize the symbols, but she found that to be increasingly common; what little she knew about astrology signs hadn't seemed to help her here.
"Yeah," she managed when she felt she could speak again. The cold pressed in all around her and her hair threatened to frost. She glanced skyward. "This isn't how I expected to introduce myself to anyone, but I'm Celadon of Cybele. And I have no idea how to get out, either. I'm guessing the fire department won't respond to a call like this? Other than shouting ourselves hoarse and hoping someone hears us, I don't have any ideas."
guine
Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2023 8:32 am
“Oh! You’re a ‘C’ too! That’s so cool!” Connie gasped as she splashed around in the darkness. Oh, maybe she should also try to find a way out. There had to be something they could use to pull themselves out with, right?
“It’s… c-colder than I expected, too,” she added with chattering teeth. Okay, this really was a bad idea on her part. She should have figured out another way to help. But she also didn’t want Celadon to be alone in the water!
“Oh, I’m Connie of C-Chronos. See? ‘C’s too! C-Celadon of C-C-Cybele and C-C-C…”
Connie flailed a little in the water. Her limbs were already pretty frozen and she didn’t know how Celadon could have managed on her own, so she was glad she jumped down to keep her company, but they should probably figure out a way to escape.
“C-can anyone-- h-hear us??” Connie tried calling, but as she tried to call for help, her frozen limbs failed her and she dipped under the water again for a moment. A panicked doggie paddle was the response to pull herself back up to the surface.
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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2024 1:30 pm
This was a bad sign. The other girl, Connie, was already shivering uncontrollably enough that her teeth were chattering. Celadon felt like she wasn't far from that state, herself, for how she had begun to shiver. They couldn't just wait around for someone to come save them, but they also didn't seem to have a way to reach the hole…
She tried harder to remember the name Connie, in case they both died here. It was important to her to know the name of someone with whom she died; she didn't know why, if it was some mental game that assuaged her of the chance of a haunting, or set things right, or what. It didn't really make sense to her, but there was also a fog accumulating around her thoughts. The longer they were in this frigid water, the harder it was becoming for her to think, too.
"Well… Connie…" And every word took up all of her breath, with the cold seeping between her ribs. "I think… We might…"
She looked around herself. She barely saw Connie's shape in the darkness, due to the fragment of light streaming in from the unreachable hole. The space they were in might've been ten feet wide or ten thousand and there wouldn't be a change in how she perceived it. Their voices didn't echo, but the space had also been filled with an unknown amount of water.
Celadon looked back up at the hole. Was it —
She squinted. Then she shivered, a veritable convulsion with how quickly the water was draining their body heat.
"We might… Be rising. Just… Hold on." Her breath still came out in thick puffs of haze, for what she could see of it. Connie's was, too. Maybe, if they waited just a little longer, they'd both be okay by their own merits rather than trying to wait on the good graces of another.
Just in case that time was near that the flooded space would finally get close enough to their way out for them to reach, Celadon swam over to the Chronos knight. "Can you… Raise your arms?"
guine
Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2024 1:25 pm
Oh. Oh this was such a bad idea. She didn’t want the other woman to just stay in the icy water alone, but Connie realized she could have probably thought this through a little.
“You h-h-h…. have p-p-p…” Connie tried through chattering teeth as she kept her head above the water. It was getting harder to stay above the surface. The many layers of her dress seemed to be weighing her down even more.
But Celadon seemed to see something that Connie hadn’t, so when she was asked if she could raise her arms, Connie whimpered a little, not wanting to move any source of dwindling heat away from her as she very weakly treaded water.
However, she did as she was told and at least lifted her arms from her elbows so her hands were out of the water.
“Your hair is p-p-pretty,” she finally managed. She felt pretty useless at the moment but was grateful for Celadon’s help. Oh, wasn’t she supposed to be the one jumping in to save her? Somehow this got turned around…
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Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2024 9:11 am
Of all the things to say while they were both probably going hypothermic soon, Celadon was not expecting to get a compliment on her hair. She didn't think much about it at the time. They wouldn't have hair for much longer if they died down in this strange, watery hole.
Celadon didn't think she had the breath left to thank her for the compliment. Already she was struggling to force her lungs to expand, and each inspiration felt like she was in the last leg of a marathon with no chance to stop and rest. She, too, raised her arms up when they'd gotten close enough that they might just reach the hole, but to Celadon's chagrin, she could only hold onto the rim that led out into the world that wasn't normally this treacherous. She tried to imagine how the concrete felt beneath her fingertips, but they were far too numb to even register that they were touching anything.
But that wouldn't matter soon. She knew she was holding onto the edge — she could see it. Summoning what was left of her strength, Celadon tried to pull herself up —
And could barely bend her elbows. There was simply no way she was hoisting herself up and out of this mess. Not alone. Not with her dress having soaked up as much as it could and hung heavy around her waist.
Her whole body was trembling, trying to keep itself warm. Celadon thought that frost must be forming all over her skin by now. Briefly, she glanced over to Connie, wanting to ask how she was holding up but knowing she couldn't make her lips form the words or her lungs expel them.
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Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2024 6:48 pm
Oh… oh this was bad. Connie could barely move. She could barely kick her feet to stay above the water. In the darkness she could barely see where Celadon was, or if she was going to be safe or if there was any way for them to both get out.
She could barely breathe. Her lungs felt frozen and she wanted to cry, but that would probably just make things worse. She could feel the water around her, and how it was reaching up to her ears. And then --
She couldn’t stay above the water any longer. She was only grateful that it looked as though Celadon made it to the edge and pulled herself up.
That was okay. Even though Connie was terrified and frozen, at least Celadon would be okay.
Something grabbed her arm.
And then she blinked. And gasped for breath.
She was no longer in the water, but sitting in a puddle beside the hole that Celadon was climbing out of. Naturally, the only thing Connie could do was reach out to grab hold of Celadon’s hand and pull her the rest of the way, despite how horribly her hands were shaking and--
Turning to make sure Celadon really got out, Connie was surprised to find… nothing. Just… the ground… and a puddle.
“What… j-just happened?” she shivered. Her clothes already felt icy but… the ground had seemed to magically fix itself, just as something magically pulled her out of the water that… wasn’t there. “Are you o-o-okay?”
