The Silence of the Storm

[shardofwinter]

Rations have been cut. Again. Everyone is on one bowl of watery soup a day. Sometimes with crackers, sometimes not. Most people are too tired and weak to do much more than sit around and talk, and nobody discourages them in the slightest. Work has to be rotated constantly as people weaken quickly, but the fires still need to burn, people still need to guard the cooks and rations, and the sick still need to be tended to. Soon the hardest job is keeping up morale while the big expedition comes back. All the gods and heavens of the multiverse help them if they don’t come back with supplies, and soon.

The boundaries have tightened to an almost suffocatingly small space. It doesn’t take much to imagine where they will be by the end of Winter, which at least makes planning a little easier. People are already relocating to deeper in the Plaza. Unfortunately it means that those who have enough energy to often end up fighting with their neighbours, as the close quarters tests everyone’s patience. There are a few spaces carved out for like minded people to shelter from the dreary situation. Mechanics and those like them have set up a nice little place close to the Crossroads Café, and a break area for those helping the sick is sheltered in a room behind the injured and ill. Zandros moves from groups to individuals, looking for help in creating some form of morale boosting display that will adhere to Isidor's instructions. People are surviving in whatever ways they can, but it's reaching breaking point.

((It's the Final Event Post, everyone! OOC Post is here! This is for those stuck at the hub while the Main Expedition is going on. There will be a second part to this post for the Return of the Expedition. In the meantime, have fun!))

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[volurofthehearth]

Runa, thankfully, has no issue with cold water, which means she's managed to keep herself decently clean, hair included. No, her problem is in despairing at the growling of her belly.

"Custard cake," she replies, her voice a lamenting keen. "The whole house would smell of vanilla. And the custard was so warm and sweet and creamy…"

[liverfree]

Prometheus is making the rounds when he spots the dog outside the shelter's door, whining to be let in. The sight makes him frown a little in concern. Why is this dog out here all alone? All the animals he's seen have either holed themselves up in the Wilds or stuck close to the sides of their owners.

"Hello? Who left you out here all by yourself?" he asks, approaching cautiously. The dog appears friendly, but like humans, the storm may have made him suspicious of strangers.

[liverfree]

"Save your money, friend," says the large, bearded man behind the counter. "There's no more coffee, but I can make you some tea."

He is, in fact, already in the process of doing so. Or at least boiling water. The amount of tea leaves in the glass jar next to the pot suggest that it won't be a particularly strong brew, but it's better than nothing.

"There are spare clothes in the corner if you are looking for something warmer." He frowns sympathetically. "Are you new to the Nexus?"

[totallyadog]

The dog leaves the door and walks over to Prometheus before nuzzling him. It's clearly communicating that it wishes to be let in in the best way it knows how, with physical affection. Humans like nuzzles, right? Prometheus looks human, so it's worth a try.

As for who left the dog out here, it's not clear how it arrived in the snow outside the shelter. It has no collar or microchips indicating that it's owned by someone, and it hasn't been out here for very long.

[shieldborne]

Steve is sympathetic, but the dog will notice fairly quickly that this human's eyes are covered with some kind of fabric band. Steve knows the layout of his own space, so he just walks around without any kind of cane, but he really can't see a damn thing.

He can hear the animal approaching and guess more or less what size it is--a big dog, maybe even a wolf, but it's acting more like a domestic animal than a wild one. He can hear it sniffing quietly and holds out his hand. "Uh...hey, fella. Where the heck did you come from?"

Definitely not Harrowheart. Too small, and too quiet.

"Steve?" A second person opens the door and peers through. She's got bright pink, almost magenta, skin, and she's considerably shorter than him. "What's going on--oh! Is that a dog??"

"You tell me," he says with a wry smile. "All I've got to go on is sound right now."

"Well, he looks like one of those Terran sled-dogs, like in the movies. Hey, there, pupper!" The pink lady crouches to pet the dog, but Steve puts a hand on her shoulder.

"Reynard," he says softly, in a warning voice.

They've got no clue, of course, what the dog actually is, but Steve knows from experience that bad things happen when you let your guard down in the winter. "We can't just abandon him. I mean, someone will eat him," he says. "But I'm not sure taking him in is a great idea, either. Does he have a collar?"

[mudblood_andproud]

"It has been such a long time since I had custard cake." Hermione closes her eyes to picture a piece herself. "It goes lovely with Butterbeer."

She sits down besides Runa.

"I don't believe we have been introduced. I am Hermione Jean Granger."

[mudblood_andproud]

Hermione honestly just feels like crying in those moments when her runes are unable to show her anything of use. And every time they failed her, she lost a little bit more optimism.

She was getting to the point of despair, believing that her wand is completely lost -- when the runes suddenly give her a definite answer.

Hermione marks the spot on the map, and collects her runes. The location was within the boundaries, so she doesn't think she will need assistance. So Hermione heads out alone for now, but she is still going to the spot with extreme caution.

[totallyadog]

It looks like the yelping and clawing got the attention of the people inside the shelter, since now more people are coming.

There's a second person here, and she seems sympathetic, moving to pet it before her companion stops her. The dog acknowledges her presence with a quick, friendly bark. Her scent isn't human, or anything else the dog is familiar with. Hmm.

Better to get on her good side. Gaining entry to the shelter comes first.

The dog sits up and pants heavily before coming over to Steve, nuzzling him with its snout. Humans like snout rubs, right?

It doesn't know the name Reynard. It certainly isn't a Reynard. However, it must get into the shelter, so to do that it must convince this human that it isn't whatever he's afraid of. It doesn't help matters that this human is blind.

But how is it supposed to convince this strange human that it isn't Reynard, whatever Reynard may be? It doesn't know what the human is talking about, much less what a Reynard looks or acts like.

The dog has no collar or markings indicating that it belongs to anyone. As far as appearances are concerned, it just emerged out of the winter. On the other hand, it seems healthy, with no internal or external signs of sickness or injuries.

It licks Steve briefly. That's something else humans like, right?

[coldsong]

Loki cannot help. Any food he had cached has already been given to his alternate to bring into the camp. Hunting was possible for a while, but the prey is scarce now. He would be hungry, himself, if he were not so thoroughly distracted by his own projects, by shape-changing and shamanism.

That, and no one has specifically called upon him. That's probably for the best, and he's not really the kind of god one calls upon in this kind of situation anyway.

He likes Runa, though. And as she reminisces, she may hear a small, sweet voice singing a children's song about the very topic she's meditating upon. The singer sounds male, but whether she recognizes the voice as Loki's or not, and how soon, remains to be seen.

[juststeverogers]

It takes Steve a moment to haul himself upright properly but once he does he turns a concerned eye Cricket's way. When he sees the other appears to be alright though, he relaxes as best he can. Steve knows better than most not to assume when it comes to these kinds of manners.

Though he also knows that sometimes, people should, because he damn well tried to hide his own struggles whenever he was having trouble before...Before.

"Yeah. I'd. I'd be happy to do that." Something to chase away the chill and the memories of ice. Steve hates how tired he is, how cold it gets sometimes. It reminds him too much of memories he wishes he could forget. The soldier scrubs a hand down the front of his face as if it would help his appearance any, haggard as it is.

"What's the news around the camp?"

[volurofthehearth]

Of course Runa has been praying. Muttering under her breath as she passes the bed of every sick child, or breathlessly wishing over the watery broth she's given. Not to Loki, though. These are not the kinds of things one prays to Loki for. To Runa, these are sad, but not entirely desperate times. She has, after all, learned to be comfortable with snow isolating her from civilisation and her cupboards needing to provide for unexpectedly long times.

The difference is, her cupboards are always prepared. The Nexus was not.

She can practically see the thick custard she describes when that voice enters her reverie. The first thing she does is smile at what she initially thinks is a part of her memory calling back to her. "Rulla, rulla liten bulla..."

But wait. That isn't her memory. That's here. Now. Runa blinks and sits up so suddenly that her chair wobbles, hands gripping the table as she looks around for the singer like a particularly bewildered meerkat.

[liverfree]

Prometheus can't help but have his heart melted by the unprompted nuzzling. His brother made a lot of strange choices when creating the animals of Earth, but he did a perfect job when he made the dog. Even Cerberus was a Good Boy.

"Who's a good boy?" he asks, giving the dog a scratch behind his ears. He checks for a collar, and sighs inwardly when he finds none. "I don't suppose you can talk?" Considering the number of magical creatures in the Nexus, it'd be naive to assume that he's simply a Dog, at least not without observing him a little longer.

[volurofthehearth]

"It goes lovely with everything. Coffee especially. Oh coffee..." She sighs and sits back into her chair as Hermione sits next to her.

"I'm Runa Durant. Nice to meet you. I'm sorry for all this cake talk... I miss my kitchen terribly."

[joblin]

Almost certainly not the same culture. And he's too cold to be picky.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." This guy probably expects him to haggle or something, he thinks. Too bad he hates that.

"So... maybe about right."

[joblin]

Is it breathing? He points one long finger in the air. "One question. You're... that's a costume?"

Rude. But it had to be asked.

"Thanks. Good to meet you too."

[joblin]

"Thanks, guy. But really I was just looking for some place out of the cold. Some excuse to stay here a while."

"Yeah! I am." Finally, about time for some answers. He leans forward eagerly. "I saw the whole introduction thing outside, but it doesn't explain all of this at all." He gives a sweeping gesture encompassing the coffee shop refugees.

"What's up with this place!?"

[coldsong]

Loki is starting to feel as though he could spend the rest of his life in the winter with few regrets. The cold feels welcoming, the wind sings, and the bright sear of daylight reflecting off the snow has ceased to hurt his eyes. He could be content in this desolate landscape, but the longer he lives in it the more he realizes it doesn't really sum him up. He is of Winter as he is of Jotunheim. But he is also of Asgard, and of Sakaar, and of the darkness between worlds.

Meanwhile, he doesn't enjoy the knowledge that his mortal friends are suffering, although he doesn't trouble himself as much as a more altruistic deity might.

"Ringla, ringla liten kringla," the voice sings, and a small bright green snake slithers from a corner and coils itself elegantly by the table leg, raising its head to study her pleasantly. There's a shape in the gold scales on its head, something resembling a twin-horned helmet.

[totallyadog]

No, the dog can't talk. Its understanding of English is good for a dog's, almost too good, but it can't talk, at least not in human language. It licks Prometheus, standing up on its hind legs briefly to show affection better.

Yes! Good boy!

It appreciates the pets behind the ears, but it stays focused on the door, whining a little to draw Prometheus's attention. This stranger seems sympathetic, and the dog needs to get into the shelter. There's a familiar scent in there, somewhere mixed in with a variety of smells the dog doesn't recognize.

[hybriddino]

Good to meet you, too. You're new here?

The Indoraptor shakes his head.

No, I am not a costume. I have no zipper. He raises his scaly neck to show the visitor that he is a real dinosaur.

[mudblood_andproud]

"I miss my study the most. Just sitting by the fire, with a hot cocoa, and a bowl of popcorn. CJ... my familiar... purring on my lap." Hermione is very glad that CJ is back on her world. It is a difficult task to live off the rations provided. Hermione had to do it before, during the last year of the Second Wizarding War. But this is so much different. So many more people struggling through the same challenges.

"Nice to meet you Runa. I have met Isidor and Viatorus before."

[liverfree]

"You certainly don't need an excuse. No one wants to spend more time outside than necessary."

He adds some tea leaves to a strainer, then pours hot water through it, into a mug. The rest he sets aside, in case this long-eared man changes his mind.

"What's up," he begins, setting the mug in front of him and his hands flat on the counter, "Is that we are in the midst of a terrible snowstorm. The Nexus is home to a whole variety of beings from various dimensions. One of them happens to be a disgruntled Winter spirit." He pauses a moment before adding, "That's the going theory, anyway. This storm has been raging for months, encompassing more and more of the Nexus, so it is certainly not natural."

There is a tiredness in his eyes that seems to support his claim, but there is a small sparkle of amusement, too. "My name is Prometheus, by the way. If you'd like to call me something other than 'guy'."

[liverfree]

"Easy," he laughs, patting at the dog's head to encourage him back on all fours. Dogs are great, but he's not a fan of being licked, especially out here in the frigid cold.

The dog's whining causes the Titan to look towards the door as well. "You don't want to be out here anymore than I do," he muses aloud. "Well, all right. There isn't much to eat, but I can find you a comfortable place by the fire."

If this is some sort of trick, it's a very good one. The dog seems quite intelligent, but he's not doing anything remotely un-doglike. Could he possibly be Loki in disguise? No, Loki would take the form of a wolf, not a dog. And he'd never jump up and give Prometheus a lick. Not without a lot of alcohol beforehand, at the very least.

[alittlehinky]

If only they could see themselves from a third-party perspective. The way they're eyeing one another with concern from halfway across the room is like some kind of distorted mirror. Cricket's never been a soldier, and never particularly wanted to be one, but at the heart of him he's a caretaker, and there are some parallels.

He smiles when his offer is accepted and heads for the little makeshift stove in the other corner of the room. His steps are slower than before, careful and determined, like he's making a conscious effort to make each one count. But he has pine needles in his pocket and it's a matter of moment to put them on to brew. And then he can sit again.

"It's quiet," he says. "Everyone's real tired."

He manages a little smile, then. "But there's some folks singing and such to keep spirits up. That's kinda nice."

[joblin]

"Yeah, I'm new. This is all..." he shakes his head in disbelief "new."

He actually looks. Of course there isn't a zipper but that doesn't stop a tiny part of his brain from chattering that of course it could be fake still. But he just ignores it.

"Sorry. I'm just. I never met a dragon? Saurian? before."

[joblin]

He sighs gratefully and reaches out for the cup with long fingers. "This is not what I expected when I went to pick up some takeout. So. We just appease the winter spirit and the door gets unstuck?"

He looks up at the stranger's eyes and his ears sag a little. Sure the man's amused but he looks like he's been through something here. It might take more than just appeasing the spirit.

"Prometheus. That's a classic. I'm Peter Lussmore." He gives a professional nod.