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!))

Comments

[joblin]

He waits while the dinosaur writes all of that down.

"Neat." After a second of actually thinking about what that actually might mean to the dinosaur's life, he frowns.

"That sounds lonely."

[joblin]

"Yeah, it's getting what it wants then. I've been feeling the winter pretty hard. But not as hard as everyone else, it looks like."

"I know the story" he says cautiously. "The Greek one. Were you named after it?"

"I was in Dallas when I came here. You? How long have you been stuck here?"

[ineednohelp]

His eyes widen slightly. Then, he shakes his head, and says,

"You're a strange goblin. I will buy any necessities elsewhere."

[hybriddino]

Indo gives a happy trill on seeing that his companion looks sad, trying to cheer him up..

It's not that bad. I have friends now. Like Maisie and Blue and Princess!

He hasn't seen them lately, though.

[joblin]

What was that noise? He startles a little. It seems the raptor will still take some getting used to.

"You mean dinosaur friends? Though I guess any friends are a good thing. It can be lonely being the only one though.

How do you deal with this weather?" (Time to change the subject.)

[hybriddino]

I stay indoors. I'm warm-blooded, so I can stand the cold better than other reptiles.

It's a good thing for the Indoraptor that dinosaurs are warm-blooded, or he'd be in big trouble. Even as a warm-blooded animal the winter is hard to tolerate.

I'm trying to keep the shelter safe in case the Fallen come. He hasn't seen them, but he thinks he can fight them.

[prescription_grade]

"...you're sayin' you take eyes and legs as payment?" Danny's young and a bit stupid, but he's still a sorcerer, and he has a good guess what's coming. "Didn't realize it was that kind of shop."

The goblin's got his number, though. He's not a bookworm, but he is ravenous for magical knowledge. Anything that can give him an edge.

He shouldn't have to make risky trades. Hermione already promised to help him, and he's got other potential magical contacts in Felix Caelus and Maxim Horvath. He's got the whole Nexus to learn from, if he can make it through until more seasonable weather. And yet his gaze lingers on the spines of those books.

"Might be," he admits quietly. "But I like my eyes and legs where they are. What other currency do you take?"

[staticandstock]

"Won't find 'em elsewhere," Drulb tells him confidently, folding his arms and leaning once again against the crate. "But if you'd rather a Prince of Asgard died because he couldn't afford a blanket? Well, that's your business."

[staticandstock]

Drulb just grins. "How about a memory?"

[staticandstock]

He leans his chin against his knuckles as he considers the young man. Wise enough to be wary and either wise or foolish enough to keep haggling as an option. "Memories, senses, colours, names, realities... If you value it, then it's got value."

"These are valuable," he says, patting the chest. "Each one's got stories and knowledge, memories and realities of their own. What're you willing to part with? Old knowledge for new? Maybe you don't need your nostalgia anymore. Maybe you got spells of your own to trade."

[joblin]

"You can do that?" He glances back over his shoulder "here?"

Memory erasing magic does exist in his world but it usually requires some kind of preparation. Dying of cold doesn't sound great though.

"Alright, memories of-"my ex girlfriend. He starts to say but chokes off. "Memories of how to play Street Warrior? I beat the game, you'd have all the cheat codes too."

[prescription_grade]

"But it's got to be valuable to me, doesn't it, to be valuable to you." That's almost not a question. "'Cos everyone's got memories they'd love to be rid of, but it doesn't work that way."

"I want a look in one of the books first. Five minutes. You can pick which one."

[joblin]

He nods. "I could see that working, but who are the Fallen? That sounds like a name to run away from."

[coldsong]

Snakes don't smile or laugh, but something about the sway of this one indicates pleasure at hearing hers. The tongue flicks out to sniff the air, and the head rises a little higher, plainly looking right up at her.

"I cannot roll the buns or curl the pretzels without hands. You'll have to do that part." And now that the snake is speaking rather than singin, the small voice might be more familiar. "I suppose one cannot eat memories, but they are their own kind of nourishment."

"I assure you, you will bake again."

[totallyadog]

The dog barks. Staying with these humans for the time being would be a good idea as it got the sense of this place. It's never seen a place like this, though its species isn't particularly well-traveled. Other planets tend to meet them with suspicion, hence why it has to earn their trust first.

Sooner or later it'll have to explain things, but that can wait. The dog doubts that it would be welcomed in its true form, especially since it scents fear in the Nexus. It's seen the mangled bodies.

Something else is attacking people here. It's not here to deal with that - it's here for a very specific reason. It's tracking another creature very much like itself.

The Other isn't behind the killings, since it usually doesn't leave corpses behind when it kills. The scent on the bodies is unfamiliar. Still, the Other's scent is here - not enough to indicate that someone here has been taken over, but someone who has encountered it is here, or left recently.

It isn't here to protect people. It's here to destroy the Other before it causes more harm.

It carefully looks into the stranger's head. Its telepathy senses concern, worry, wondering whether he's doing the right thing. But the part of it that's Dog still likes pets. Maybe its mission can wait a little while until the person it's scented comes back. Then it can try to explain things.

It stands up, wagging its tail. While it is here on an important job, it will consider allying with the locals. That would mean revealing what it really is, but that can't happen right away. If someone attacked by the Other is here, it's almost certainly given their species a bad reputation.

[liverfree]

A few people glance in the dog's direction. One or two smile tiredly, the sight of a friendly animal bringing them a little pleasure during these dark times, but no one claims ownership. Looks like Prometheus will have to keep an eye on this stray for the time being.

"Are you thirsty?" he asks the dog, giving him another scratch behind the ears. "I can get you some water." In the corner is a large orange cooler one might see at a sports game. He fills a metal bowl with water and then places it at the dog's feet. One thing that there is not a shortage of in the Nexus currently is cold water.

[alittlehinky]

Cricket breathes in the scent of boiling pine needles and sighs. Might not be too much longer before there isn't even any of this left. He thinks he's probably getting more out of it than most other people, since it makes him remember his younger days with Aunt Winnie, but he's never going to be ashamed of doing everything he could to help keep people alive.

"It's a'ight, though," he says softly, keeping his voice low so as not to disturb the other sleepers. "It's almost over. You can kinda feel these things sometimes. We're about to turn a corner one way or th'other."

That's terribly fatalistic, but he seems to mean it as reassurance. Pale and bright-eyed, he nods and smiles wider at Steve. "You remember the cartoons they used to show before movies? Black and white and all singing and dancing? There's a fella out there who looks like that, like he's a living cartoon. His name's Bendy. He seems nice."

"Built a snowman with him, too. Kind of a little one, 'cause I ran out of steam, but still."

[ineednohelp]

"I won't stay here to be mocked. I'd rather be a bit cold at nights, that's not going to kill a son of Odin!"

Probably not going to kill. Not fast, ať least. Probably. Maybe? On some off chance?

"Sell your wares to somebody else!"

The young man turns to go, then seems to think of something else; hesitates. And stays.

"One blanket, please. And state your price."

[liverfree]

"You only just got here," he remarks. "Many of the people here have lived in the Nexus for years."

There's an awkward pause while he considers the question. He hears the caution in Peter's voice, and does not want to spook him. "It was named after me," he finally replies. "I'm the Titan of Forethought."

He leans agains the counter, looking a bit surprised. "Dallas, as in Texas?" It's throwing him off a little, this inhuman with a common name from a familiar city. "Oh, I arrived in the Nexus several months ago, long before the storm. I had a pottery studio in the Shopping District... I had to abandon it when the torches got too close. The storm has been closing in, you see. Centering on the Plaza. That's why it's so crowded here. It's not normally like this at all."

[joblin]

"..." he says, then closes his mouth. He's unsure if this is a joke or what.

"I wasn't expecting a Titan. Especially not one who knows where Dallas, Texas is." His tone is mild. "Yeah, I've been there for a while...hold on, you've been trapped here for months!?"

[liverfree]

"You'll meet all manner of people here," he says simply, giving Peter time to take it in. Although he does have to chuckle a bit at his statement. "Of course I know where Dallas, Texas is. I'm from Earth, after all. I'll admit, I've never met your kind before."

The question makes him shake his head. "No, not trapped. There are normally portals that let people travel to and from the Nexus as they please. As well as small electronic devices called PINpoints." He takes what looks like a smartphone out of his pocket and shows it to Peter. "These let you teleport to coordinates of your choosing. But when the storm arrived in early January, the portals froze over and the PINpoints stopped working."

[joblin]

"I met a dinosaur..." if a dinosaur, why not a Titan? But it's hard to believe since the man looks so human.

"I'm not surprised you haven't met any goblins. I almost never meet any myself. Wait, though. Aren't you supposed to be chained to something?" His eyes narrow in thought, but Prometheus' next words make him stop caring whether it's all a joke.

"Frozen? You mean the storm knocked out the network?"

[totallyadog]

The dog goes quiet, focusing and occasionally sniffing the air. There are so many different scents here that it's distracting. Most of them are completely unfamiliar species, but some scents are recognizably human. It'll need to explore the shelter to get a better sense of its environment, and this form is more suited for this weather.

Usually, drinking water out of a bowl would be degrading for a powerful telepath and shapeshifter. But the dog has an image to maintain as a dog, so it bends down and laps the water. The scratches aren't unappreciated.

[bitterguardian]

Even under ideal circumstances, healing the body from something like hypothermia can be tricky work. The trouble with magical healing is that it can be swifter and stronger than the body's own natural processes, and in some cases such as broken bones that's not much of a problem, but things like hypothermia that involve the whole body's systems are more fragile. Push them too far too fast, even in a positive direction, and you risk sending the person into shock.

Then of course, also, Horvath has been overtaxed for far too long and lacks his own resources to do as much for those in need as he'd like. He's holding up relatively well- the clubhouse may have a little extra to add to the rations of those staying there, even if it means they're still all living on the edge of starvation. Horvath had more personal resources to draw from in the first place, and he's not looking as bone-thin as some people thanks to that, but his once-tailored suits are hanging a lot looser on him these days. The heavy coat helps hide it, and he seems remarkably stoic, or at least resigned about it all. Like anything else that has been around for centuries, Horvath has the strength to endure.

He's sitting down though, in between patients, dozing and conserving energy. Peter would be forgiven for not even realizing the other man is awake, keeping watch over them both as they struggle to recover. It's no surprise to them that Peter is the one awake first, since he was the one better off between the two of them even before healing.

"It may not have been the wisest choice. But I trust it was one made out of good intent?" His deep, melodious voice is quiet, in the infirmary, and he does not get up, but also watches the sleeping Miles.

[hybriddino]

I don't know where the name came from. They're a band of criminals. They've been attacking refugees, killing people and hoarding food. Very dangerous.