(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

B (oh look, i remembered to tag this)

[mannerless]

( wei wuxian, for his part, knows a thing or two about inclement weather and the value of not being stuck in it (thanks, november) - so when it seems as though the light dusting of snow is getting heavier rather than going away, he makes for the road without wasting any more time perusing the storefronts.

(the birthday gift can wait. lan zhan has never been one for caring about such things, anyway.)

but apparently, it isn't quite enough. by the time he's left town, the visibility is already fairly poor, which is nonsense, really - here wei ying actually showed a shred of precaution for once, and what does he get for it? this. haven't the technicians ever heard that rewarding such things is critical? how else is he to learn?

by the time he reaches the patch of road where namine (unbeknownst to him just yet) has gotten herself turned around, he's settled into boring meditation exercises for nothing better to do. 'happy birthday, lan zhan,' he'll say, 'for your gift, i took a whole fifteen mindful breaths on the way home. please try to contain your overwhelming pride and joy.' and then, of course, he'll feel terrible because lan zhan actually will feel pride and joy and that just won't do, this was hardly a proper effort. and-

is that someone up ahead?

wei ying squints against the elements, one sleeved hand lifting up to shield his eyes, and yes, that is someone. someone small, a child perhaps - a child who absolutely shouldn't be out in this. (gods, but he hopes they don't live back in town. he'll do it, he'll take them all the way back, but he won't like it.) pressing his lips together a moment, he calls, ) Hey, can you hear me? ( a shout into the wind. then the hand shielding his eyes becomes an arm blocking the top of his face, his head dropping a bit to brace as he takes up a jog to catch up.

slowing to a stop once he's close enough to be heard a bit better, his arm drops and he takes a good look at them for the first time... hey, he knows that face. isn't that sizhui's friend, from the birthday message? she has a name, what was her name? ) Namine, ( he says - a greeting, but with a slight note of recognition that suggests he's just remembered what she told him to call her.

a glance left, then right (he's not sure why - to see if she's got shelter nearby somehow? to see if she's alone? it's mostly just reflex) before he steps in and wraps a hand around her upper arm, supportive but not too tight. ) Hey, are you alright?

(/gently affixes gold star to)

[lethechained]

[ Slowing to a stop, Naminé peers into the distance. Burning time lingering in one place doesn't seem like an ideal option, but getting lost is even less appealing, especially in a situation she's very quickly becoming aware is more dangerous than she anticipated. (Should have known, really - a half-measure just wouldn't suit this place.) No matter how hard she stares at the trees, though, they aren't getting any clearer.

Turning one way to glance back and then the other to look in front - lifting an arm and tucking her head under it so that she can keep her eyes open against the snow - Naminé finds that there's only a little more evidence of her location in the fading view of the other trees. She twists away from the wind to brush the hair out of her face, and with her hand pressed against her cheek pauses to think, eyes still shut. She can figure this out, can't she? Nevermind the consequences if she fails, those are frightening enough; she's a memory witch, for goodness sakes. The recollections of every step are in there, she just has to sort them out.

Her preoccupation isn't entirely to blame, however, for the fact that she doesn't hear anyone approaching. Since his initial call is lost in the wailing wind as it is, Naminé's quite unaware of Wei Ying's presence until her eyelids finally lift, her attention inward. That lack of attention lasts all of half a second once she spots his dark figure amongst their pale surroundings; the poor girl nearly jumps right out of her skin when she spots him, her scarf-clutching startle visible even from a distance.

She looks like she's seen a ghost - which might be funny, since she wouldn't make such a bad one herself. Her cheeks are flushed pink from the chill and the gale's abuse, but the rest of her is as pallid as ever as she stares openly at him, as if in disbelief. She'd thought she was quite alone - maybe even hoped she was, for the sake of any unfortunate soul that might be in a similar predicament. ]

Wei Wuxian? [ Her response to her name is both more sure and less than his. She knows precisely what his name is, that much is clear by her tone and how readily she uses it, but she still sounds caught off-guard by the fact that she has cause to use it in the midst of all this.

Unconsciously, she's tempted to glance around when he does, even though she's already done so - as if she'd see what he's looking for, somehow, unaware as she is that she's what caused the inspection in the first place. He'll find she's quite alone, which would probably be an irresponsibility on the part of her caretaker if she, you know, had one. Having recovered from the shock of his arrival, Naminé's eyes follow his hand with instinctive focus as he reaches toward her, a reflex that she's never quite gotten rid of. His grasp seems to distract her momentarily, but she doesn't let it last; ]

Yes, [ she responds automatically, head lifting again with a tiny note of hurry. Just as quick to second-guess herself, ] For now. I--

[ Right then she realizes that she ought to raise her voice; maybe half of that was probably audible. Lifting her chin a little as if it might help, ]

I thought I might be lost...! [ If she is, though, then that's both of them, isn't it? But she likes those odds less than, ] We're still on the path, aren't we--?

[ Or so she hopes. ]