Snowstorms and matchmaking: An early Valentine's post

[shardofwinter]

Winter in the Nexus has been especially present this year. The weather has presented plenty of hardships for the past few months, something which numerous people have bemoaned. It doesn't look set to change, either. If anything, Winter seems to be going stronger than ever. There are no signs of it winding down at all.

Everything seems normal at first, the usual hustle and bustle has the Nexus thrumming now that people have adapted to the cold conditions. Then, rather suddenly, everything kicks into gear. The wind starts to howl, battering people to and fro. Not long after that, the sky becomes thick with snow, making it nearly impossible to see, the biting cold driving people back inside. It soon becomes completely inhospitable to all wandering around outside.

In the hurry to get out of the storm, people end up scurrying to the nearest available shelter. Apartment lobbies, houses, cafés, shops, restaurants, the library... Anywhere and everywhere that offers some shelter. Peculiarly, people seem to end up in pairs as they hide away from the cold. Looks like everyone is going to have to huddle close together. For... warmth... We'll say it's for warmth.

((This is entirely an excuse to shove characters together and force them to spend time with each other. Feel free to have as many threads as you like, trying as many combinations as you like, where ever you like. Brave souls can try and berate Reynard if they really want to.))

Comments

[juststeverogers]

Steve had been making his weekly grocery run before getting caught in the storm. It had been perfectly fine out when he'd left, if not cold and windy and dear god did he hate the weather. It wasn't even that bad when he left the store!

Sure the wind was picking up, but he had only made it about half a mile when the snow made it impossible to see and he could feel the cold stabbing him in his lungs. Nope. Nope nope nope.

Steve ducks into what looks to be a bus stop shelter and jabs at the button to turn the heater on. The little red light above him makes him sigh in relief, but it's barely working.

[hellburger]

Eventually, a shadow comes trudging through the blizzard and darkens the entry of Steve's bus shelter.

"Fuck you, North ..." Miller mutters under his breath as he beats the accumulated snow off of his fatigues. It takes him a moment to notice the other occupant; his aviators are crusted with ice. He pulls them off to get a better look at the huddled figure.

"Oh! Hey... uh... Lovely day, huh?"

[juststeverogers]

Steve has tried to get into any of the nearby buildings, but they're all locked up tight. So he's still huddled under the tiny heater lamp in the bus shelter, shivering hard enough to chatter his teeth. How he hasn't managed to have his teeth fly out of his jaw is anyone's guess.

"L-lovely day to be inside m-m-maybe." His grocery bag is sitting on one of the two benches while Steve shakes under the lamp. "This storm c-c-came in f-fast."

[bornstrong]

Iphigenia hadn't been minding the cold as much lately--let's say she got used to it.

Until now.

She was headed out to get a cup of tea at a cafe (she's recently discovered the joys of warm beverages in cold weather) when the storm hit. Now she's in a tiny clothing shop, the closest warm place she could find, and she's still cold. The wind seems to be coming into the shop through any drafty spaces, and she can see the snow whirl around outside.

The princess shivers, wondering how she's going to get back home.

[red_room]

The door to the clothier swings open again, probably to the dismay of the princess. There's a redhead shuffling in with her shoulders up to deflect the weather as best she can.

"--going to cut out. Weather's giving me trouble." Natasha stops talking to herself, but pulls a small device off of her ear and deposits it into her jacket pocket. She actually has to give effort to get the door shut again in the gusting wind, and when it does finally close Natasha looks miserable and nearly frozen.

"I thought this place didn't get weather." Someone is not happy.

[auspex_caelo]

Stratos looks up the moment the wind starts to rise, giving the sky an indignant look. He saw no omen of a storm! And yet, there’s the snow beginning to fall thicker and thicker. There’s no mistaking the strength – the ferocity - behind it. The elements affect him much less harshly than they used to, but he wasn’t raised to take chances with them. He wraps an extra warding spell over himself and hurries to find shelter before the storm slows him down.

His original plan to reach the library is abandoned; there’s an inn nearby he can aim for. It’s not quite a Tamrielic tavern, but they keep a good fire and that’s what matters.

These two need to get to know each other better I think.

[brave_heart_verity]

The good thing about proper New York swearing is that the longer you go, the less you enunciate: by the time Ver makes it through the door of the in, she might as well be speaking dolphin. And she does have the good graces to stop when there are people around.

Shaking the snow off her boots and coat and hair gives her glasses time to defog. She might even be able to see where she's going in a minute. Right now she's relying on the instinct to get dry and then get warm. Mission in progress.

[rekindledtitan]

Blaze has been unusually absent from her Nexus patrols, but her people are tracking a few signals from here nonetheless. The bleating of a sensor beacon (one of the few which hasn’t yet sprouted legs) draws the Guardian charging back - and straight into the heart of the rising blizzard. After the stifling Venusian heat, it’s… bracing.

She’s just glad to land with her helm on.

No telling what’s caused this yet (unless the rumors about a winter spirit are true) but in the meantime there’s work to do. Blaze leaves the data collection to her Ghost and marches grimly through the howling wind, ignoring the snow that tries to collect on her plate. If anyone’s in trouble out here, she can see them safe.

[notalldead]

At one point in Blaze's trudging, a hat rolls past on the sharp winds and plops against her leg. It's a battered brown stetson, likely quite familiar.

But where's the owner? Maybe he just lost it and didn't think to chase after it. But then again, this is Jesse and his hat. He doesn't just give up on his HAT.

Maybe he's still close by?

[pathfromdarknesstogrey]

Dia'ndria Starfall has been one of those infamous people who's been bemoaning the current weather conditions of the Nexus, having to layer up in heavy clothing. Longcoat, heavy pants and boots, the like. However, what she wasn't prepared for was the sudden rise in Hoth-like conditions while exploring the Nexus for anything interesting.

As, see, one needs to be prepared for that level of cold.

Even in the thickest and snowy winds, anyone nearby is probably alerted to Dia's presence by the flash of her saber activating, and the red beam standing out like a beacon for a few moments before she slams it into the side of an abandoned building, cutting an opening into the collapsed skyscraper's wall to make her own way in--as the entrance isn't immediately apparent in the low visibility, and she finds the direct route much more efficient.

Once the hole is cut large enough, there's a thrum of Force power as she shoves the chunk of concrete and rebar into the building and scrambles into the hole, using the lightsaber to light the way and generate heat.

It's an old, abandoned office structure, but it's at least out of the direct blizzard and wind, "Hello? Is anyone else in here?"

[brother_alone]

"Fucking tits did you have to make a hole in the wall?" Comes a shivering and decidedly ordinary young man pulling his beanie down further on his dark curly hair.

Josh had been scavenging for firewood when the storm struck. And unable to find his way back to the place he's squatting in staying in, he'd taken shelter in the first place he'd found.

"J-just me in here. I already had a look around."

[rogueinladysclothing]

When Amelia agreed to help Reynard keep Winter around, she didn't think he was going to dump a snowstorm on them. Sure, she expected it to get a little worse, maybe a little colder, but now she's stuck in a tiny little cafe at the edge of the commercial district.

Seriously?!

If she's going to be stuck here for a while - which it looks like is a very real possibility - it's time for a cup of coffee (or two).

[makeachoice]

He can remember to put on four layers of clothing, but he can't bring a pair of gloves. Or a hat. Or a scarf. Or boots.

Chris is hardly prepared for this snow storm, and he's mentally kicking himself for deciding to go outside. The journey back to where he's staying sounds less than ideal because it'll involve a lot of trudging in the snow in a place he's really unfamiliar with combined with blinding winds. That's definitely not happening. He decides to take cover, and luckily, there's a cafe in the area.

When he gets to it, his first thought is that he needs something warm. He's currently staring up at the drink options, glad to see that they all seem relatively normal. Even the Nexus has it's chai lattes and whatever. But he's not looking for something extravagant. A simple coffee will definitely do.

"You're my hero," he says to his cup of coffee before taking a sip.

[brave_heart_verity]

Verity had been on her way home from work when the storm hit. Well. Technically, she'd been on a detour to a little chocolate shop she likes, peering in the window like a kid, wondering what to get. Something with strawberries for Naugus, and Matt likes just about everything... It was the wind that convinced her to finally go inside.

Right. The wind.

So the good news is, when she looks away from the chocolates long enough to realize she's not getting home any time soon, she's in a chocolaterie. The bad news is, she's in a chocolaterie.

She is getting those cherry bonbons now, that's for damn sure.

[makeachoice]

The amount of snow that Chris has had to deal with within the past few weeks is enough to make him consider moving to somewhere warm and staying there for the remainder of his life. This storm certainly isn't deterring him from that option. His weather app, unsurprisingly, doesn't apply to any areas within the Nexus, and he's hardly the type of person to recognize an incoming storm, so of course he went out and had no idea what he was really stepping into until the storm actually hit. At that point, it's really too late to do anything about it.

The bluster of snow hardly makes it easy for him to head to his destination; hell, he can't even walk in a straight line because of it. There's no use fighting against it, so he decides to take cover in the nearest shop, uncaring of what's actually inside.

When he pushes the door open, a sweet smell immediately caters to his senses. Also, out of all the people to be caught in a storm with, he catches eye of someone he actually knows. Being in a chocolate still with a cool person like Verity is definitely ideal.

"Yo, yo, yo!"

for naugus

[rakash]

There are parts of the commercial district with fancy future tech and high-end fashion and quality food, where the streets are busy and bright. This...isn't that. This is a bit shabbier: more old places, more empty places, land of those little hole in the wall joints that sometimes turn up surprise rare finds for the adventurous - especially if you know who and how to ask.

Nobody's done any shopping in the tiny little bookstore for some time; even the closed sign in the dark window wears a comfortable coat of dust. You certainly wouldn't know to look at the place that someone or something has been using the even tinier apartment above the shop as a hideout, on and off, for months. No one's ever seen him going in and out of that one small second-story window, either. He's the careful sort.

Styx is there now (goblin eyes just fine without lighting lamps, thank you) watching the heavy snow fall past the window without an ounce of appreciation for the pretty sight. "Ugh," he mutters to himself, and then "Fuck that."

He's got a passable little stash of supplies up here. Maybe he'll just go back to sleep, wait it out. He's certainly made do with less in worse.

[ixis]

Too bad for Styx that the relative peace of just hunkering down and staying warm is interrupted by a loud booming and banging downstairs. The sound of several heavy things falling to the floor in an avalanche heap, if one had to guess.

Maybe it could have been ignored if that had been the end of it. It goes relatively quiet for a moment or three afterwards; maybe it was just a rat who upended a perilous stack of books. But there's soon a loud crack of wood as well, the pieces audibly clattering to the ground afterwards. And then there's the boots clomping around.

So much for that hunkering plan.

Whenever Styx prepares himself to face whoever is invading his hideyhole and heads downstairs, he'll come across a bizarre-looking mage, armed with a jeweled staff and large biceps, rummaging through the dusty odds and ends of the abandoned shop. His tail swishes back and forth along the floorboards, stirring up all manner of dust as he moves.

[red_room]

Natasha has been caught out in a lot of bad weather over the years. This is one of them. The sudden onslaught of gusting winds and heavy blinding snowfall seem supernatural in nature, but it's hardly something she can deal with on her own, especially in a place that abhors violence.

The reports she'd been stepping out to make have been tucked away in her bag, and she has personally picked the lock on and broken into a darkened bakery, closed for the day. Or perhaps for good, since there doesn't seem to be any power to turn on so she can turn the oven on for warmth. This may have been a mistake, as she shivers involuntarily.

[bestdadinamestris]

Damn the timing of this storm. Just when he was going to get back to the office after stopping in for a bite to eat. Guess that's how it goes sometimes, though.

The abandoned bakery is the closest thing when he decides it's time to give up getting back to the phone booth home. He pushes his way inside, a little surprised when the door gives way so easily. After brushing off the snow, he looks up, confused and a bit surprised when he finds Nat inside.

"Uh, hi there." Smooth, Hughes. Smooth.

[dembonyhips]

It's another frozen corpse!

Wait. No.

It's just Fortyskey. She's unfortunately oh so lucky enough to be caught outside when the storm hits so suddenly, and powerful enough to make Arthas's Endless Winter jealous.

Fortunately there's less bullshit knockback mechanics. Instead, we have Fortyskey, who's fairly resistant to the cold, trying to trudge through it, and only marginally succeeding. Mostly because of the basketball-sized fel-green flame she's got between her hands and close to her torso. It's mitigating the storm's effects somewhat on her corpse-like body, but.

It's still slow going. She's lucky she's a hundred pounds soaking wet, and powerful winds plus robes equals a lot of resistance to have to push through. In addition to the ice and snow all over her.

Either the flame marks her location to the sharp-eyed, or the cussing like an orc sailor will attract someone's attention. She's trying to find somewhere indoors so she can collapse and thaw out. This shit sucks.

[drehnifusbahi]

He squints up at the sky as he leaves the library, watching the clouds roll in. Before he's even made it a block, the snow is falling - and it seems to be coming down harder and harder with every moment that passes. Could a natural storm have developed so quickly?

Natural or not, though, living in Skyrim has taught him how to react to unexpected snowstorms: duck into the nearest convenient shelter. In his case, that's the library he just recently left. So he turns and races back in, finding a quiet corner of the stacks to curl up in and wait out the storm.

[smartass_captain]

The cold seeps into the library, the wind howling loud enough to make the walls groan. And then there's the telltale sound of the door clattering open, letting in another wave of frigid air before it's forced shut again.

"Hell it's cold out." Comes the muffled voice of Jim Kirk, stamping the snow from his boots and trying to get the snow out of his hair.

Snowball Fight!

[shoulda_toined]

(Being a Cartoon, Bugs isn't bothered by the cold unless it's funny, and with everyone else being a shivering mess he finds it more humorous to engage in a one-man snowball war. And so Square Fort Bugs is facing off against Round Fort Bugs on opposite sides of the street.)

(Square Fort Bugs:) Fire da cannons! I wanna see our flag planted in dat fort by sundown!

(Round Fort Bugs:) Hold da line, boys! Don't give an inch!

((OOC: Snowballs will fly harmlessly above your head unless you specifically want to get pelted, in which case, have that happen in the reply thread and Bugs will apologize. Alternatively, join a side!))

[icebearforpresident]

[Sudden blizzards would normally make Ice Bear happy, but he's a working bear today, and the cold weather is slowing him down. Unlike most other people, he's actually sweating a bit, instead of freezing his paws off. The bear is currently standing outside his work establishment, a small hole-in-the-wall italian bistro, wearing an apron and hat. The building itself might be a little warmer than outside, given there seems to be a warm clay oven in the back of the shop which is all fired up.

The bear is gesturing for anyone to come inside, offering to open the door for them. See, he's a nice friendly polar bear after all.]

[brother_alone]

Wouldn't be the first time Josh had found himself caught in a snowstorm. Probably wouldn't be the last either, considering where his folks kept getaways at.

When the weather rolled in Josh already had an armload of wood gathered to make a fire back at his place, but there would be no way to get back there in white out conditions. He hurries for the nearest place he can find--a tiny convenience store with a bright 'OPEN' sign on the door-- and dumps the wood outside the door to get later as he hurries inside.