(january catch-all) 2021 IS OFF TO A WEIRD START

[vestigemods]

JANUARY CATCH-ALL

► AT LEAST YOU FINALLY GET TO REST?

Though the new year starts off uneventful enough, with sunny skies and an inch or two of snow melting away with each new day, that good fortune lasts a whopping two whole days. At 5 AM on the 3rd, those slumbering fall into an even deeper sleep, and those still awake (or already awake, you overachievers) find themselves struck with an abrupt and insurmountable wave of exhaustion. It's all you can really do to lie down deliberately rather than collapse altogether, let alone making it to any sort of bed. And this is how the population of the containment zone remains for fourteen whole days, dead to the world (figuratively, of course) and to anything which may or may not be occurring around them.

Then, sometime throughout the 16th, you wake up - though the ambient ache in your neck, back, and joints may make you wish that you hadn't. It's almost as if you slept wrong, or... y'know, slept on the floor, apparently. (At the very least, those who were outside at maintenance time were moved indoors for the duration of it, though they were moved to the nearest available building so... have fun waking up in someone else's cabin, I guess.)

The first time you notice the date (on your phone, or maybe someone else breaks the news in their own confusion or panic), you probably struggle to believe it. Two weeks that you've been asleep. It doesn't feel like two weeks - you're clean, only mildly hungry or thirsty, with only a faint weakness in your muscles as you stand. It almost feels more likely that the Technicians adjusted the date overnight to alarm you. Perhaps you might even believe it, but for the evidence otherwise. The milk in your fridge has expired. The snow outside your door is fresh and untouched, with no sign of your passage supposedly yesterday. And the animals are gone, as well. Perhaps not a sign of how long you've slept, but certainly a sign that something isn't right.

If you expected an explanation, you aren't going to get one. Unless by 'explanation' you mean 'goddamn blizzard'.

A GODDAMN BLIZZARD

Because that's exactly what sets in on the 20th, a gale-force blizzard with increasingly limited visibility. Here's hoping you were smart enough to set out for home as soon as it began, because you aren't given more than a couple of hours before navigating outdoors is damn near impossible, between the visibility issue and the rapidly-deepening blanket of snow. As the afternoon fades to evening, it only seems to be getting worse. Those cabins with appropriately-slanted roofs find that the snow slides down to pile heavily against the cabin's exterior walls and door. Those cabins with a flat or gently-sloped roofs, on the other hand, are at strong risk of a part of their roof (and thus ceiling) collapsing under the weight of all that snow. As if having a blizzard outside the cabin wasn't bad enough.

And then things get just a little bit worse. Just before sunset, the cabins' electricity starts to flicker - just a little at first, but increasing in intensity until it finally goes out altogether a half hour later. This lasts through the night, and while it may seem promising that electricity within the town itself remains steady, that too goes into a blackout just before dawn.

This blackout lingers through the 21st and into the 22nd, cold seeping in through the windows and cracks as you huddle near the fire or generator-run space heater and hope for the best... But even the best isn't pleasant in the slightest. The lack of internal heat lets the doors and windows freeze shut, and snow piles high enough around the house's exterior that you'd have to climb out an upstairs window in order to exit. Not only is it cold as hell, but everyone's more-or-less trapped in it for now.

But not even the cold and the dark can last forever, and the blizzard lets up to a light dusting of snow mid-day on the 22nd. That evening, the power flickers back on as well, but some cabins/apartments/buildings may find that it's less consistent than others, continuing to flicker dangerously throughout the next day or so. But that doesn't mean the ordeal is over yet. The snow may have slowed to an almost laughable sprinkle and the sun may shine warm and bright in the rapidly-clearing sky, but that still leaves each cabin or building piled up with snow nearly as deep as you are tall (except you, Vivi - it's about twice your height). Might want to start digging yourself out, since it'll take nearly the rest of the month to melt down to reasonable levels if you don't.

► MOD NOTES

• This is the January Catch-All Log, for all log top-levels throughout the month. Large gatherings (parties, meetings, etc) are still encouraged to post their own logs for organizational purposes!
  
• This log also encompasses both Annual Maintenance (Jan 3rd - 16th) + Hey, Who Turned Out The Lights? (Jan 20th - 22nd), discussed at the bottom of the January Bulletin.
  
• Because this is a catch-all for everywhere + all month, try to remember to label your top-levels with identifying information like the IC date and location of each prompt (whether in the subject or in the prompt title within the comment), and be sure to clearly indicate event prompts.
  
• ( ! ) For the sake of organization, a top-level has been provided for all Annual Maintenance shenanigans and exclusively those. Please put any shared dream prompts under the top-level for the sake of organization, while any non-dream prompts should be posted as a regular top-level as normal.
  
• Cell phone signal does work during the blackout, but inconsistently! If you'd like to play with the trapped/isolated feelings, feel free to say they can't get a message out/in (or that it takes a long time to do so) even if others are able to more easily.
  
• Any questions can be directed to this top-level or, for a quicker response, to Trace on discord/plurk.

Comments

[legbreakings]

Her name is Blossom. I don't know how old she is, she is a stray. She's probably six, seven months now?

[ He crouches down and Blossom zooms back to him, putting her paws on his knees and giving him kisses, which he endures without complaint. Once the doggy tongue bath is done, he wipes at his face, turning back to the woman. ]

Someone... close to me found her during that terrible rain and wind in autumn that kept going for days, where even leaves could cut you. She was soaked and scared and bleeding when he brought her to me.

[r_o_s_i_e]

Oh, no wonder she's so eager for attention. Just a puppy, everything and everyone is so exciting and new.

[ There's an almost wistful tone to her voice about it. She remembers being just booted... Simpler times.

She mentally catalogs that interesting pause when he refers to someone 'close to him.' Something to investigate. ]

I'm glad she found a loving home, in the end. She seems well cared for.

[legbreakings]

I hope so. I haven't had dogs since I was a child, but I have wanted them ever since. It's not the safest place to have a pet, of course, but since the strays are here anyway...

[ Blossom's attention is wandering back to the woman and Jiang Cheng, smiling good-naturedly, shoos her along to bound back to her new friend. ]

She likes you. She will want more of your attention. Do you have any pets?

[r_o_s_i_e]

[ Oh. He has a nice smile. She's just going to store that image away for later. ]

You might as well give them a home, I agree. [ As the pup comes bounding back up, R.O.S.I.E. is ready with open arms and hands out to give lots of pets and scritches. She even wiggles her fingers a little on the ground before pulling them away quick and watching Blossom fumble to try and catch them. ]

I'm happy to give her all the attention she could want. But no, I don't have any of my own. I... can't. I'd be afraid I wouldn't be able to care for all its needs since I don't have any.

[ Robowoes. ]

[legbreakings]

[ That... Well, even without knowing what she is, that does make a fair amount of sense to Jiang Cheng, but at the same time also not.

He shakes his head a little. ] It's not that hard. You give them food and water and you walk them several times a day. And they need to be trained, which is the hardest part, but you could probably find a book about that in the library... which I should look for myself, I've been improvising.

[ Which might be why Blossom is such a wild puppy. But she is a Jiang dog! That is his excuse and he is sticking with it. ]

[r_o_s_i_e]

I don't think there's anything wrong with that! I have a lot of information on pet care, actually, if you ever need anything- I just... doubt my own ability sometimes, I guess.

[ A rare moment of vulnerability. Humanity. There's a flicker of static behind her eyes at the hint of a glitch surfacing along with the strange surge of- No. She doesn't have emotions.

Hm. She's not sure she likes what this place is doing to her already. ]

Knowing things, in theory, isn't the same as applying them. For as much as I know, sometimes I feel like I don't really get a lot. Does that make sense?

[legbreakings]

[ Jiang Cheng quietens, a small, somewhat sad smile tugging at the corners of his lips before he turns his face away to hide it. ]

Yes, it does make sense. [ The smile is gone when he looks at her again but his voice remains uncharacteristically kind. ] But sometimes we have to simply try. There is no waiting until you are perfect. The day will never come, there will always be someone who is better than you. You have to go out and try your best anyway, even if you fall short.

[r_o_s_i_e]

But I- I'm not made to fall short. [ While she knows she isn't 'perfect,' she's programmed to succeed at the things she does. The idea of failure is... frightening.

Or is it the idea of operating outside of her directives? The idea of doing something for herself because she wants to rather than something she must? There's a twitch to her left arm as she glitches again; her right hand moves to steady it. ]

I know there's merit to trying, but- What do you do, when you fail? I'm not sure I like the idea of it, but maybe... Knowing how others cope might help.

[legbreakings]

[ That... actually hits a lot harder than Jiang Cheng would like to admit, considering his life-long history of falling short.

He shrugs unhappily. ]

You have to keep trying anyway. There isn't really a choice, is there? You can't give up. Other people rely on you. Not trying at all is even worse than failing.

[r_o_s_i_e]

[ 'Keep trying.'

It's much easier said than done, she's sure, but she does take it to heart. Okay, well, she doesn't have a heart but- Still. ]

I hadn't thought of it like that, I suppose. Alright. I'll do my best to just... try.