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 Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2024 9:13 pm
Quote: Frozen Time (3) : Midnight is a magical time of night; parties, dancing, kisses--there are a number of rituals celebrated in the winter nights. Every night has a midnight, but this one is special. There is an old church and bell tower on the quiet outskirts of town, near a beautiful forest that has been decorated with lights to celebrate the season. Maybe you are alone, maybe you are with friends, or maybe you’re at a party celebrating one of the many events--whatever the case, small, delicate snowflakes have been falling lightly for the past hour. And then--suddenly--they stop. The clock strikes midnight and the bell echoes a low, metallic chime that feels like it can be heard for miles. By the second chime, you realize that nothing else is moving. Snowflakes are suspended in the air and all living creatures--plants, animals, and people alike--are completely frozen. The clock chimes twelve times and the world is still frozen. Suddenly, there’s no way to tell how much time has passed--but nothing moves. Maybe it feels like a moment, maybe it feels like an hour. You can try to leave the area but you can never go far enough that the church is out of sight. In an instant, time seems to snap back into motion. To everyone else, it feels like no time has passed. To you, you know. The church seems eerie and foreboding and if you return you feel uncomfortable, as though you have broken something and are unwelcome. If roleplaying with a partner, multiple characters can remain unfrozen as the world around them freezes!
Winter was back and with everything going on Desiree decided to take a bit of a break and head out. It was nice that she had a few more hours to wander around as a human now that she’d gotten stronger. It meant she could go farther and this time she’d heard about a small festival happening at a church that Aloysius was looking into for his wedding to Liam. She was curious about it but wanted to see it without either of them there. So catching a bus to cut down on time, she made it there with plenty of time left on her countdown. It was dialed in on her watch as usual and she pulled Aloysius’s scarf up a bit to keep the cold from nipping at her nose too much. It certainly was peaceful even with a festival going on, the surrounding trees were decorated in a way that wasn’t too much or too little. She could see this being a good place for her musician to get married at. Keeping towards the edge of things, she grabbed a few things to snack on at the various little stalls. The hot chocolate kept her warm and the pretzel she’d grabbed smelled of cinnamon and sugar. Sure it was a bit hard to walk over the snow-covered ground with her poor depth perception but she was fine enough for the moment as she took a seat on one of the wooden benches and watched the church with curiosity.
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Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2024 9:23 pm
Kinsey hadn’t wanted to go home, truth was he rarely ever wanted to go home, so hearing about the shops set up around a small church he’d taken a local bus over to see what was going on. He wasn’t one for social events but he did like to watch people, to listen and observe and learn. He got good at reading people because he watched them enough, it helped him survive his family, and this night was no different. Clutched between his hands as a warm drink that he sipped every so often. It was the pale blue eyes, so similar to his mothers, that watched the world and took in the interactions between people. So much was going on and it all seemed nice and warm…it was a feeling he didn’t have, he didn’t have those sorts of connections to people, but it was nice to watch and to feel some sort of warmth from just observing.
There was something about the holidays that he had mixed feelings on, though he supposed he could blame that on his family, he knew his feelings wouldn’t be so mixed if his mother were still alive or if he had family in his life who cared about him. But lacking that he had an appreciation for the warmth of everything going on around him while also not wanting a part of it, wanting to avoid it even. He had a feeling his future, especially once he was off on his own, would be just as chilly while seasoned with a pinch of want for what wasn’t his to have. He’d decorate and enjoy things and it would all look nice but it would be hollow - like this was for him.Even as close as he was to so much holiday cheer and families spending time together he was not a part of it. There was a feeling of being othered…separated from it. He’d long ago embraced such feelings and at times even leaned into those feelings. Not too far off he spotted some female with a large, hot, pretzel that looked interesting. He wasn’t surprised to see those here, that seemed like the perfect winter food, nice and warm and filling. Yes, it seemed fitting this time of year.
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Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2024 9:23 pm
Watching as some younger children wandered through, she couldn’t help but notice another young one looking on from a distance. They seemed young, maybe too young to be off on their own but for now she just looked over them and watched the crowd as she ate her pretzel. It was nice here and had that cozy feeling that came with the distance separating this place from the busyness of the city proper.
Standing up to throw the empty wrapped in one of the temporary cans set up for the event, she almost didn’t notice something was off at first. The bell tolled and it hurt her ears as she stood there, lifting a hand to cover one from the loud sound as it rang out. That was when she noticed it, her working eye taking a moment to focus on the small white snowflake suspended mid-air before her.
“Oh…” Spinning slowly and very carefully, she saw that everyone else seemed to have stopped too. Was this a senshi’s magic? She couldn’t sense it if it was when she was like this but they also wouldn’t know she wasn’t a normal civilian either. It was best to play it safe and keep out of trouble, she was too far from a mirror for Liam and there were too many people for Aloysius to teleport in without notice.
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Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2024 9:24 pm
Kinsey had been watching everyone, even the odd one with the scar on their face, taking in all the noise and the people milling about. Lowering his head, to rub his cold nose on his sleeve to warm it, he looked up as everything seemed to have suddenly gone silent. For a moment he worried something might have happened, something big, that had everyone's attention but that wasn’t the case. Rather no one was moving or speaking - nothing.
Standing, slowly, stunned he took a moment to collect himself. Something had to be behind this - right? So maybe he shouldn’t have stood up…but he couldn’t help it, the shock of what was going on…or rather what wasn’t going on had brought him to his feet. “What’s going on…” Slowly he took a step forward, then another, and another as he reached towards a person and was able to prod at them without them flinching or making a peep. This wasn’t good, he was sure of it, but what had happened? Something magical…like that night at his mothers grave? Well, maybe similar but less scary. There was no face in the moon staring at him, no devil like face.
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Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2024 9:25 pm
Seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, Desiree paused and then looked. That boy who was off on their own seemed to be moving and just as confused as she was by it all. Watching as they poked one of the frozen people, she couldn’t help but laugh softly at how cautious they were.
“Are you alright?” Calling out as she stumbled her way over the uneven and snowy ground. She avoided the frozen people as best as she could but she still nudged into a few of them on her blind side. So maybe this wasn’t targeted magic but more of that so-called unaligned unpleasantness as Aloysius called it. There was a stronger word for it in her mind but she knew how her musician watched his words when talking.
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Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2024 9:25 pm
“I’m fine…” He was startled by another voice speaking, enough so that he jumped even, but everyone else was silent and unmoving. It was like something out a horror movie, or a nightmare of sorts, it was certainly surreal but not like a Dali painting. This was the bad sort of surreal. “This is something but I don’t know what. This cities had issues in the past, especially this time of year.” The holidays in general really, he knew that, he’d lived here long enough to have gotten used to these sorts of things.
“I don’t know if everyone else is ok though…” Would there be any adverse effects of being like this? Would they even know? Did they know they were frozen…there was some sort of name for this sort of thing - right? Trapped in your body and knowing you were while dreaming or something. He was certain he’d heard about it somewhere, at some point, he just couldn’t remember where. It had been a useless ,for him anyway, piece of information he’d picked up somewhere along the way. Something nto worth remembering…till now perhaps.
“You look like walking is an issue…be careful. Getting hurt now might not be a good idea.” Who knows if she’d get help if she fell and got hurt, or hit into something. How far did this area of effect go even?
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Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2024 9:26 pm
Nodding at their assessment she stopped once she was closer. “Best I can do with only one good eye, unfortunately.” Shrugging as she sipped at her drink, it wasn’t hard to see this little one was at least used to the weirdness.
“One of the odder things… but nothing seems to be chasing us so probably not terrible at least.” Other than the cold weather, which was normal here. It was just a quirk of a thing, like the time Aloysius got snowed into his home in the city. It hadn’t been a good time back then, back before Liam had come around but she hadn’t dealt with that issue since either.
“It started with the bell, I wonder why?” Turning to get a look at the church, it stood silent and tall against the night sky. Nothing looked out of the ordinary and honestly, she could see the appeal of it for Aloysius and Liam.
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Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2024 9:28 pm
“I’ve never had anything chase me, but I’ve heard of people being chased in the past.” In various places, by various things and at different times of the year. But in this city nothing seemed off limits really, it was a wonder the housing market in this city hadn’t crashed and everyone moved out. He understood some people wouldn’t want to leave, or couldn’t, but for those who could…why did they stay? This city wasn’t exactly friendly to its own citizens. He did wonder when all the madness had started and why, was there a cause behind it all, because for as long as he could remember this city had been an utter mess. Had it been like this when his mother was younger? Before he’d been born.
“Yes…” Trailing off as he looked back towards the church as well. “It did something.” But how?
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Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2024 9:29 pm
“You’re lucky, I hope it stays that way for you.” They were young and very curious it seemed, something she could get behind but she knew that came with its own problems. Walking towards the church, she intended to take a look when the next second, things started moving again, and the person who had been frozen midstep barreled into her and knocked her down.
“Ah!” Groaning as she sat in the snow, it was hard not to hiss out of habit when something hurt her. Looking around as best as she could as the person kept moving without realizing what had happened, she noticed everything else had resumed as well.
“Guess they’re okay…” Grumbling as she worked on getting back up, she saw that her drink had been cast across the snow and the cup was empty—another reason to hate the unaligned problems with magic in this city.
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Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2024 9:30 pm
He might have followed her, assuming the church was somehow behind things, but that would never be known as moments later things started to move. He hadn’t even gotten to take a step, watching the other going first, when everything seemed to come back to life. Having to move out of the way, rather quickly, to avoid being walked into Kinsey went to help her up before offering her a good night and heading off by himself - this was too damn strange.
This city was a handful and he did wonder if he shouldn’t leave this city when he could, move somewhere safer and more normal. Where he didn’t know but he figured anywhere else counted, and was good enough. He’d continue to ponder it as he got older, as he got closer to the time where he could be free.
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