nexus_crossings | The Silence of the Storm

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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The dog follows Prometheus inside, panting. It isn't hot, but the panting seems to be something human beings like, so the dog does it. It wants th shelter-dwellers to feel comfortable around it for the time being.

That means it'll have to explain things later, and it has a lot to explain. Maybe Spring would work, given how strained everybody seems. Has the Other already arrived here? That would explain the fear. he dog can smell dear in the shelter, faint but there.

No, it doesn't smell the Other. So far, this shelter is safe. But the Other's scent is here, so somebody attacked by it is. It has to find the person the scnt is coming from and make sure he is not infected.

He has no owner. From all appearances, he' a remarkably healthy stray.

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.

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.

The quiet is unusual, especially after all of that barking and jumping around outside. It's almost as if the dog is searching for something, the way he keeps an alert gaze on everything. Hmm.

Then the dog drinks from the water bowl the way a dog should, and the Titan's suspicions are put on the back burner, replaced with simple concern. He has never cared for a dog, what else is he supposed to do? He'll need to go back on patrol soon enough, is it safe to leave him here? What if no one thinks to include him in the daily rations, the poor thing might starve. Not to mention, someone with nefarious intentions might decide that the dog's lush fur would look better on them.

"What am I going to do with you?" he sighs aloud, reaching down and petting the dog once more. "I need to find someone to care for you before I go back outside."

Someone is welcome to try and take the dog's fur. It isn't as defenseless as it looks, and while it won't kill humans without cause that doesn't mean it won't kill in self-defense and to protect its mission. It also doesn't need food in the same way as people do. Food is just another way to blend in with the shelter's inhabitants, though turning down rations would involve revealing itself to explain why, and it isn't sure that would be a good idea just yet.

Its species is powerful, but doing what it would take to communicate its intentions in English would kill any chance of allying with the people here to catch the Other, and would make it no better than the Other. Maybe it could try absorbing one of the dead bodies, recently dead ideal, and see if that would allow it to take human form. They would at least provide nourishment.

The people here are paranoid and on edge. It chose a risky time to come to the shelter.

At least he has not invoked Prometheus' paranoia. Right now, the Titan is only concerned with finding someone to look after the dog while he is away.

"Prometheus?" A young woman with dark hair approaches the Titan and the dog. She is one of Yaya's granddaughters, and though the meager rations have taken their toll on her normally curvy figure, she keeps a bright smile for her favorite customer. "You have found a new friend? Does this one also breathe fire?"

The Titan chuckles and leans down to kiss both her cheeks. "No, Elena. This is a stray I found outside. Do you know who I can ask here to watch him while I return to patrol?"

"Oh, I can do it." She smiles at the dog and offers him a hand to sniff. "He is a handsome boy."

"If you don't mind?" Prometheus asks, although already he looks relieved. "He is very friendly, I don't think he will give you any trouble."

No, the dog doesn't breathe fire. It could, if it absorbed the right kind of cells, but right now it's limited to two forms, and this one is preferable for the time being. It's definitely less likely to attract hostile attention.

In fact, people think the dog is adorable. It's even starting to feel a bit bad for deceiving them to let it in, but that was the only way. If it appeared in its true form at the door, and people knew what it was, there would be no way they'd let it in.

Especially if they've been warned about the Other. It needs to find the human from the Antarctic camp, the one that the Other might have attacked. That one would have valuable information.

It pants, letting the people interact with it. It'll have to reveal itself as an alien later, but it can wait.

The Silence of the Storm

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