Last night, mackerel clouds began to skitter across the sky,
and by this morning, a thin, high, wind-twisted layer of clouds
obscured the raging sun. This afternoon, the clouds grew thicker
and heavier, while the wind began to rise and fall sporadically.
As sunset comes on, a thin, dreary drizzle has begun, and the
wind has fallen silent. The light outdoors is of peculiar quality,
a yellow-green that makes the autumn landscape look bleak before
its time.
Josh is scrambling through town, chuckling at his poor luck and
lack of foresight. He doesn't have any heave covering against
the weather, and is coming down from the mountain. He picks up
his pace to a faster jog, leaving prints in the muddy ground as
he beats feet towards the Diner for shelter. And some food, of
course.
Layla comes down Katahdin Road. She is shaking trace water droplets
out of her hair. She keeps glacing skywards at the ominious colour
of the sky.
Dusty stands in front of the library, surveying his contraption
attatched to the roof. He frowns for a moment. "That'll have
to do." he sighs.
Sashenka stands on the porch of the boarded up Diner, taping a
sign to the door. It instructs all comers to head to the new storm
shelter in the library to weather out the storm.
People from the Farm have been back and forth through town all
day, supplying extra wood, non-perishable food, and strong backs
to the more elderly townfolk. They've been quite grateful for
help from the Diner-folk. At this point, though, they have returned
to their Farm, and the townsfolk are doing the last bits of battening
their hatches. Old Man Collins is hammering a second layer of
plywood over his vulnerable bay window, while Mrs. Collins helps
a quite elderly neighbor -- Miss Anita -- into their house from
her less fortified dwelling. Mrs. Whittaker, the town's telephone
operator and postmistress, is making fast the shutters on the
windows of the post office. Fred Lemisch, the librarian, can be
seen, fluttering in and out of the library, peering upward with
worried eyes.
Tan Sin is standing in front of the library. He tugs on one of
the boarded up windows to check it's strength, and then glances
back at Dusty as the boy speaks. "You did what you could
do Dusty, which is more than any of us. It will be fine."
Fred Lemisch steps into the street, peering once more at the sky
through his thick glasses. "M-m-mayb-be it'll m-m-miss us,
hey?" he says hopefully to Tan Sin and Dusty.
Sashenka surveys her handiwork, then goes into the Diner. A moment
later she returns, several jugs of water in her arms. She carries
them to the library.
Josh
There is something about Josh that makes him look older than he
actually is. The area around his eyes has a touch of darkness
to them, made even more prominent by the sea-green pupils. His
white-blond hair is starting to become unkempt, hanging to just
below his ears on a smudges, though clean-shaven, face.
His clothes are rumpled, the bottom edges of his blue jeans and
black sneakers showing more than the standard amount of road dust.
The woven leather belt he wears is unraveled at the end, and a
bit of white t-shirt is not tucked into the front of his pants.
The white t-shirt is covered by a denim jacket, which is fading
at the elbows. He carries a battered backpack over his left shoulder,
and a crossbow hangs off of hsi belt on his right side, the left
holding the bolt case.
Layla
She is a tall, willowy redhead with green eyes that curiously
compliment her dark Mediterranean complexion. She has classicallyNear
Eastern features.She speaks with a unplaceable accent - definately
not the flat American accent, but otherwise unplaceable.She is
wearing a long dark cotton dress with Indian embroidery.Copper
jewelry colours her wrists.
Sashenka
The woman before you is nearly six feet tall, a massive but well-proportioned
combination of soft, plump breasts and belly and rounded, muscular
arms and legs. The roundness of her weathered brown face is sharpened
by a slender, proud hawk nose. Her dark eyes are attentive, compassionate,
and just a bit mischievous; the wrinkled reminders of her laughter
spread out from them like fertile river deltas. Deep smile lines
bracket her wide mouth. It's hard to guess her age, but she's
probably within a few years of 40, one way or the other.
Sashenka wears battered black moccasins, stretchy grey pants with
grass stains at the knees, and a tunic-like black blouse with
grey and white animals woven into the fabric. A brown leather
pouch hangs at her waist. Her long, white-streaked cinnamon hair
is braided with scraps of indigo ribbon and loosely looped at
the sides of her head; on her crown are small piles of braids
reminiscent of rounded animal ears. She regards you with interest.
Dusty
Dusty's a small boy, roughly 14 years of age, with a wiry frame
and dishwater blond hair haphazardly chopped above his eyes. His
head is typically bowed, and he rarely meets anyone's eyes; if
you manage to capture a glimpse of his, you'll see they are a
luminous blue. His manner is meek and quiet, but he maintains
a wary attention to his surroundings. Dusty's clothes are a patchwork
of incongruent items; the base of jeans and layers of dirty shirts
has been repaired innumerable times with found objects. On his
left shoulder is a patch of tin attatched with electrical wire,
across his chest are several plastic lids stitched with yarn,
he has vinyl duct material on one arm, and a thick layer of electrical
tape hides the holes in his shoes. His scent envokes images of
grimy workshops, metal works, and engine compartments.
Tan Sin
Tan Sin is a tall, lean young man. He is asian, with short black
hair and amber eyes. The eyes are usually hidden behind small,
round, mirror sunglasses. He is dressed in loose black silk pants
and tunic, with carved bone buttons. On the back of his left hand,
the shining green tip of a tail can be seen tattoed on to his
skin. The rest of the tattoo disappears under his sleeve. He moves
with a slow, careful grace and his gaze is a combination of serenity
and insolence.
Fred Lemisch
This is a rotund young man with small features and large, square,
black glasses. He wears a dress shirt that is somewhat dingy with
age, and a touch threadbare at the elbows, but the collar is starched
within an inch of its life. His trousers are a little large for
him, cinched tight at his waist with a worn leather belt. His
black shoes are freshly polished.
He moves nervously, although his hands are dexterous and gentle
with the many books that fill his life.
Dusty looks to the sky. "Doesn't seem like it. Sasha, it's
gunna hit us, isn't it?" To the librarian, he offers "Soory
about the mess we made in your library."
Tan Sin says " taps one of the nails that hold the plywood
to the window. "That's probably what this fellow said. I
think it's time to just get ready for the blow.""
Josh arrives at the Diner entrance just as Sashenka is coming
out teh second time. He looks at the sign, and eeps, offering
his empty arms to the woman, offering soundlessly to help carry
the jugs.
Sashenka hands Josh a jug with a silent nod of thanks. As she
passes Dusty, she glances at the sky and sniffs the air. "Yeah,
Dusty, I'm afraid it is."
Fred Lemisch waves his hands desperately. "No, no, no...
p-p-please d-d-don't worry ab-bout it. You're saving the b-b-books!
They're what's imp-p-portant. I'm so g-grateful for your help."
Tan Sin looks over at Josh as he approaches with the jugs. "Did
you see any stragglers out there?"
Josh shakes his head quickly as he walks with Sasha, cradling
a jug under one arm. "Nope," he admits, giving Tan Sin
a curious look. "I was alone in the Cathedral when i saw
te clouds start rolling on." Dusty, who he does know, gets
a smile, and a free hand ruffles the boy's hair. "No worries,"
he says. "We'll be all right."
A gust of wind snaps through town, bringing a heavier deluge of
large, icy water droplets with it.
Dusty smiles for a moment at Josh, but a look to the sky brings
back a worried expression. "I sure hope so. I just don't
know what a Wyld storm will be like."
Fred Lemisch yelps as the cold water hits him and retreats into
the library at a quick pace.
Fred Lemisch steps onto the rotting porch, pulls the door open
on silent hinges, and disappears inside.
Sashenka winces as several chilly drops hit the back of her neck.
She drops the jugs off inside the library door and heads back
for more.
Library
This small, square, red brick building used to be the most nondescript
sutructure in town. Until someone put a huge metal cone on the
roof, open on both ends and lying on its side, with ramshackle
fins attached to the downward curve of the smaller end. This whole
ridiculous assembly has been welded to an old tractor wheel, the
axle of which impales the roof in its center. The cone is clearly
quite heavy, yet it moves gently in the breeze.
The remainder of the roof is in terrible condition; its few remaining
shingles flap miserably in the wind, and strong gusts occasionally
send one sailing far away. The brick walls are pitted and crumbling.
Yet on closer inspection you notice painstakingly patched blinds
shading the windows, and a pristine welcome mat on the rickety
porch. It is recognizable as the library only due to an ancient
particleboard sign propped next to the door, with the words "City
Library" in obsessively careful handwriting.
Tan Sin grimaces at the scatterd rain drops and then trots after
Sashenka. As he catches up to her, he asks "Do you still
have those radios that you told me about? The ones you used when
you rescued your friends from the hive?"
Old Man Collins gives Sashenka a friendly wave as he retreats
into his house and shuts everything up tight.
Josh drops off his own jug, catching up to Sasha, right after
Tan Sin. He's there to help her out, that much is certain.
As the rain starts to fall, Dusty springs to action. He rushes
about, once more checking the boards, the moorings, the cables
that inexpicably eminate from holes in the library wall. After
some time of checking, he stops back where he started, and mumbles
"O.k., enough checking. It'll either work or not. I'm hoping
for work."
Sashenka waves back at Old Man Collins, calling out, "Good
luck, Mr Collins! You have enough journeycake, right?" Clearly
knowing he does, she turns toward Tan Sin. "No, Higami took
those back, unfortunately -- but we'll all be inside for this
anyway, right?" She opens the door to the Diner and passes
out jugs and jars to Tan Sin and Josh, from a pile she's made
just inside.
Tan Sin frowns slightly as he accepts a jug. "Right."
He glances at the Collins house, and looks back at Sashenka. "But
if you ever sense a lull in the storm, or the eye, some of us
might want to check on the others."
Sashenka nods. "Of course. Hmmm." She looks up at the
sky, sniffs again. "Should have thought of that before. I
think we have enough time to nail some ropes between the houses,
so we can follow them around and not get lost if we need to go
outside."
Josh bundles his arms with some of the jars and jugs. Hey, a little
socialization never hurt anyone, right. As he wanders back to
the Library, he asks Dusty as he looks up. "Ok, what /is/
that?"
More gusts of wind begin to carry rippling sheets of rain over
the trees from the southeast, heading toward town.
Layla shudders and heads onto the library.
Layla steps onto the rotting porch, pulls the door open on silent
hinges, and disappears inside.
Tan Sin smiles. "That is a good idea. Tool shed, right?"
Without really waiting for an answer, he turns and trots across
the street, delivering the jugs. He then comes back, heading for
the shed. As he goes, he calls out to Sashenka "Have you
ever heard the parable about the Tiger who fought a hurricane?"
Sashenka sets her armfuls down next to Josh, in front of the library.
"Josh and Dusty, can you carry these down to the basement?
Tan Sin, let's hurry and get that rope/ We don't have long."
Sashenka notices that Tan Sin has already gone, and trots to catch
up. "No, I haven't."
Dusty sighs. "That," he sighs, "is a wind-changer.
It gathers the wind and changes it to push it down on the roof.
The old roof, and the new one we built inside, are strong if the
wid comes down on them. But if the wind turns upwards, then the
roofs won't last long. I hope this fixes the problem." He
pauses. "But we'll find out if it works pretty darn soon."
Josh just whistles, way impressed with that. "Well, damn,
I hope it does work. You'll be a hero if it does. But, let's get
that stuff downstairs, before Sasha gets mad."
Dusty nods, and, grabing some of the accumulating supplies, heads
into the library.
Tan Sin looks over his shoulder as Sashenka as she catches up
with him. "That's because there isn't one yet. I really hope
it stays that way. Parables usually end up kicking someones ass,
and I doubt the loser will be that." He points up at the
clouds, and opens the door to the shed.
Dusty steps onto the rotting porch, pulls the door open on silent
hinges, and disappears inside.
Josh steps onto the rotting porch, pulls the door open on silent
hinges, and disappears inside.
Sashenka laughs, shaking her head, and helps Tan Sin haul out
the big roll of rope. Then she grabs two hammers and a couple
of cans of nails, and starts nailing the end of the rope to the
Diner.
The wind begins to rise noticeably, whistling through the trees.
The rain begins to pound over roofs and ground, coming down mixed
with small pieces of ice that sting the skin.
Tan Sin says "One rope from each building to the library?
Like a fan, and we can try to remember where each one leads according
to their order.""
Dusty exits the library, accompanied by its rich, musty smell.
Sashenka looks at Tan Sin. "I was thinking of making a circle.
If you want to patrol, you'll want to be able to go quickly and
not have to return to the Library after every building, won't
you?"
Dusty says "You guys need help?""
Tan Sin smiles, and then winces as a piece of sleet cathces his
ear. "Better idea. Let's do this fast."
Sashenka nods at the boy. "Yes. Roll the rope over to Mr.
Collins' place, please."
Dusty scrambles over to the spool and rolls it as fast as he can.
Tan Sin glances at the boy and catches his shoulder. "Your
better at this than me. Let's trade." He hands Dusty a hammer
and then easily snatches up the large roll of rope. He then begins
to run through the village, spooling the rope off as he goes,
linking the inhabited buildings together.
Sashenka grabs a second spool of rope and, starting from the Diner,
goes the other way with it, nailing and rolling as quickly as
possible.
Josh exits the library, accompanied by its rich, musty smell.
Dusty rushes to keep up with Tan Sin, nailing the rope into the
buildings as fast as he can.
Layla exits the library, accompanied by its rich, musty smell.
Layla pokes her head outside of the library. When she's hit in
the face by falling raindrops, she exits the library and closes
the door behind her to prevent water from getting in. She leans
up against the library, using the wall for scant shelter.
Tan Sin charges up to the library, dragging a length of cold,
wet rope. "Make sure this doesn't get pulled away, please."
He dumps the end of the rope at Layla's feet and then charges
back out into the rain to help Dusty finish.
Layla takes up the rope.
Josh is on duty, so looks around for a moment. "What else
can I do," he asks.
As the two roping groups meet, completeing the rope circle, Dusty
drops the hammer and rubs his arm. "Ow, I've never done this
much hammering in my life!"
The sleet is slowly growing into hail, which clatters noisily
on nearby roofs. The wind continues to rise steadily. The air
is full of fallen -- and newly fallen -- leaves of all colors.
Sashenka hammers in a final nail. "I haven't either, kiddo."
She ducks as the hail hits her head, grabs Dusty's fallen hammer,
and races into the library. "C'mon, guys, let's get inside!"
The sky is an ugly, sinister gray-green.
Tan Sin takes a last look around and shrugs. "I guess that's
it. Anybody bring a Mah Jong set?" He turns and heads for
the door.
Josh looks up to the sky as Sashenka shouts, and pales, just a
little. Taking orders well, the Kinfolk wheels around, scooting
inside again.
Josh steps onto the rotting porch, pulls the door open on silent
hinges, and disappears inside.
Sashenka stands at the door, waiting for Dusty before entering
the library.
Layla steps onto the rotting porch, pulls the door open on silent
hinges, and disappears inside.
Tan Sin steps onto the rotting porch, pulls the door open on silent
hinges, and disappears inside.
Dusty picks himself up and hurries his tired frame toward the
library. As the cone on the roof lurches in the wind, he grins.
Dusty steps onto the rotting porch, pulls the door open on silent
hinges, and disappears inside.
Sashenka steps onto the rotting porch, pulls the door open on
silent hinges, and disappears inside.
LIbrary
The interior of the library has been drastically altered, and
recently. At first, all you see is sheet after sheet of some kind
of black material, attached together with wires, bolts, boards,
and just about anything else you could imagine finding in a workshop.
The sheets rise up to a point in the middle of the room, apparently
forming some kind of cone-shaped internal roof inside the library.
Stretched over the sheets are a myriad of steel cables; each stems
from a hole in the wall, tangles with other cables, and escapes
through yet another hole. Water that leaks through the outer roof
sheets down the inner into a complex gutter system, which shunts
it out the cable-holes in the wall. The books -- and their shelves
-- are not immediately apparent.
One of the panels in the cone is hinged, and lifts easily to form
a door. Peering inside, you find the books -- their shelves are
arranged like the spokes of a wheel to support the massive inner
roof.
Obvious exits:
Basement Main Street
Layla rubs the sleet out of her eyes and shakes the rain out of
her hair.
Sashenka shakes her head, sending water and ice spraying about.
"Darn, I forgot to bring towels." Brushing herself off,
she heads for the basement.
Fred Lemisch nervously wanders from shelf to shelf within the
cone, twitching plastic here, testing the strength of the wood
of a bookshelf there. He smiles at Layla as she enters, and pushes
his glasses up his nose. "Hello! It's so exciting, t-t-to
have so many p-people here."
Dusty opens the door, letting in a wash of fresh air, and enters.
Layla moves in small circles as she takes in the sights. "Wow.
It's really amazing with what's been done with the tarp."
Josh opens the door, letting in a wash of fresh air, and enters.
Dusty enters, carrying an armload of jugs and assorted other supplies.
"Hi Layla" he pants as he lumbers into the basement.
Fred Lemisch somehow manages to look pleased and frantic at the
same time, wringing his hands vaguely. "Yes! D-d-d-dusty
and his friends are g-g-geniuses!"
As he disappears into the basement, Dusty pants happily "Well,
we're not really geniuses, just desperate..."
Layla says "Hey" to Dusty in return. She is still looking
at the array of pulleysand tarp in amazement.
Josh wanders in, carrying more thing. He chuckles at Dusty's modesty,
and Layla gets a smile all her own. "Hi," he says, then
"Excuse me," as he bustles past the others to head downstairs.
Dusty emerges from the basement, and rests against a taut cable,
panting.
Josh gets out of Dusty's way, bringing down his own stuff.
Dusty squishes out the door.
Josh comes backupstairs, nodding once to each of the others before
scrambling back outside to get more stuff.
Josh squishes out the door.
In the basement...
Fred Lemisch flutters a bit and descends into the basement to
check on things there. He is, evidently, not used to being a host.
Fred Lemisch drifts uneasily around the room, looking at everything
that has been brought in. When people begin to arrive, he startles
and nervously tugs at the corner of a rug with his foot.
Tan Sin has arrived.
Dusty slumps into a corner, absolutely exausted. "Well, here
we go," he offers weary but hopeful.
Basement
The library's basement consists of one damp, chilly room. A few
brightly colored rugs, somewhat threadbare and moth-eaten, have
been strewn on the cracked concrete floor. They are complemented
by an array of beaten, crooked, and otherwise unhappy-looking
chairs. The walls are lined with a bewildering array of jars,
tins, and crocks full of dried and pickled foodstuffs, as well
as jugs of clean water and other, more alcoholic-looking beverages.
(Those who know Sashenka may guess dandelion wine and cherry cordial.)
A few crates cluster near the chairs; on their sides, they provide
storage space for a few books and table space for a collection
of candles and hurricane lanterns.
Contents:
Sashenka
Layla
Josh
Tan Sin
Dusty
Fred Lemisch
Obvious exits:
Library
A smile runs around the general location of Fred's mouth, but
he seems too nervous to actually grab it and use it. He nods to
Dusty.
Tan Sin surveys the room while brushing the water out of his hair.
He glances up as Sashenka enters. "I don't suppose there
are any towels?"
Sashenka shakes her head sadly. "I just realized that I forgot
to bring any."
Josh stops halfway down the stairs, watching for the moment. The
sounds against the roof make him a little quieter' now.
Tan Sin sighs and glances around the room. Spotting a pile of
bedding in one corner, he fishes out a blanket. Unconcernedly,
he strips down to his small clothes and hands his dripping garments
out of the way. He then wraps the blanket around himself and curls
into one of the chairs.
On the roof far above, the pounding of rain and clattering of
hail set up a steady background of white noise, over which the
moan of the wind sounds as it tests the library's structure gently.
Dusty lifts his weary head to fix his eyes on the ceiling.
Sashenka can't resist an appraising glance in Tan Sin's direction,
but then she settles down to organizing the stacks of supplies,
letting her braids drip around her.
Fred Lemisch turns crimson as he realizes what Tan Sin is doing,
and he hurriedly busies himself with getting a cup of water.
Josh hasn't even really noticed, but that bedding looks very soothing.
He hops off the stairs, moving around the crowd to get a blanket,
which he spreads on the floor before lying down on it, facing
the ceiling.
Thunder rolls overhead.
Long distance to Andreas: So, you're traveling down from the north
again...
Andreas pages: I should really know better. ;)
Long distance to Andreas: Wwx snickers. Yes, perhaps after this,
Andreas will change his route. ;)
Andreas pages: I hear nice things about a slightly more round-about
path that leads from Canada through New York and then northeast.
A few hundred extra miles, but so worth it. :)
Last night, mackerel clouds began to skitter across the sky, and
by this morning, a thin, high, wind-twisted layer of clouds obscured
the raging sun. This afternoon, the clouds grew thicker and heavier,
while the wind began to rise and fall sporadically. As sunset
comes on, a thin, dreary drizzle has begun, and the wind has fallen
silent. The light outdoors is of peculiar quality, a yellow-green
that makes the autumn landscape look bleak before its time.
There is also a buzzing, tingling feeling to the air that makes
this feel, to your sea-rat's bones, Not Right. You've felt the
edges of something like this once before: when your ship had a
close run-in with one of Zelda's Children. The ship was never
quite the same after that; the semi-sentient kudzu-kelp stuff
was a bitch to scrape out of the hold.
Andreas scratches the back of his neck where hair would be standing
up, if he had any, thoughts on long-dead weeds that crooned almost
subsonically every crescent moon.
A small, blonde girlchild steps out from behind a tree onto the
trail immediately in front of Andreas. She is wearing an immaculate,
hand-knitted white sweater and a green skirt. Her feet are bare.
Her eyes, as she looks up into the big man's face, are inhumanly
beautiful, full of colors that defy the brain's ability to discern
them entirely. "Hello," she says gravely.
Andreas, no fool, bends at the waist in Official Merchant Dealing
with Nobility/the Very Rich/Fae bow #1. "Good day, lass.
Wet out, I'm thinking."
"Very," she replies, inclining her head in acknowledgement
of Andreas' obeisance. "And it will become moreso. You should
beware the turn in the road with the old sugar maple." She
backs off toward the trees, and an impish grins breaks over her
face. "And you should run." Then she's gone, the only
thing remaining is her laugh, playing over the raindrops as they
grow heavier. "Tell Grandma that it will be all right!"
her voice echoes. And then the wind picks up.
Andreas squints up at the sky, grumbles under his breath about
no one ever telling him to do anything *enjoyable*, and starts
picking up his large feet faster than before.
Just before you reach the bend, the wind whips up something fierce,
like something alive. There is a screeching, rending sound to
your left and up.
Andreas moves instinctively, diving right and forward before his
brain has even fuly registered the sound.
The old sugar maple splits down the middle with a bloodcurdling
scream that is almost human. The wind dances away toward the mountain,
making a sound like laughter. An enormous branch from the tree
lands where Andreas had been only seconds before.
Andreas picks himself up, brushing mud off, pale under his tan.
"So *that's* what a maple looks like? Damn."
Long distance to Andreas: Wwx falls over.
Andreas makes a mental note and picks up the pace towards town.
Andreas pages: He's not exactly a floraphilic person. :)
Long distance to Andreas: Wwx giggles. We can fast-forward you
to the town now, if you like. You're running into a rising wind,
heavy rain, and bits of hail. :) There's a sign on the Diner door
(for now) that directs people to the storm shelter in the basement
of the library. You can just wander in and drip on folks. ;)
Andreas pages: Hustling towards Main Street, yah?
Long distance to Andreas: Wwx waves you on. :)
You paged Rowan with 'Where might you have been that would have
taken you a while to get to town?'.
Rowan pages: Uhhhh... There farms out of town that aren't the
main farm?
Long distance to Rowan: Wwx noddles. A few small ones, yes. Out
there to warn them, or convey food or something?
Rowan pages: Warn, convey food, and help carry/batten down stuff
they can't cope with.
Long distance to Rowan: Wwx nods. You were on your way back to
town, clouds heavy, drizzle starting, when a little blonde girl,
wearing an immaculate white sweater and green skirt, stepped out
of the woods in front of you. "You need to hide quickly.
You won't make it back to town in time." Her eyes are beautiful,
but seem lit within by an unearthly light. "There is a small
cave here. Hide there. Run to town during the Eye."
From afar, Rowan, therefore, hid. *grin*
You paged Rowan with 'She ran off, laughing, and said, "Grandma's
in her element now, isn't she?"'.
From afar, Rowan calls after her, "And revelling!"
Something crackles in the corner of the room, and a blue glow
limns one, and then several of the pipes along the ceiling of
the basement. A ball of living electricity drifts down, sizzling
and humming, to dance over the surface of a metal water jug.
Dusty jumps and presses himself against the wall. "DON'T
TOUCH THE JUG!!!" he yelps.
Sashenka jumps and nearly drops a gallon jar of watermelon-rind
pickles. "Good Mother!" she yelps, backing away from
the jug. "What is that?"
Layla initially jumps, then settles into a low crouch.
Josh rolls over, coming up to a crouch. "Gah," he says.
"Everyone, on guard," he says.
Andreas clumps in, a dripping, looming mass garnished with maple
leaves, the odor of wet leather preceding him by several feet.
"An Elmo, they're called. Never seen one inland, afore. There
room for one more here?"
The ball of blue fire condenses into a sphere the size of a small
fist, and then rolls in aimless circles around the base of the
jug.
Tan Sin's head whips around to follow the ball lightning, and
he sniffs warily at the sharp, ozone smell.
Dusty watches the ball with eyes wide as lanterns. He shifts slightly
towards Andreas. "I... I.. Is it dangerous?"
Sashenka looks up at Andreas, surprised. "One of you, sure.
Another of those, I don't know." She looks back at the "Elmo"
warily. "Sorry, I forgot to bring towels."
Fred Lemisch backs away from the thing slowly, awkwardly feeling
behind himself to keep from tripping over chairs. He fails in
this endeavor, however, and totters over a particularly rickety
one, taking it and himself over onto the ground in a loud clatter.
Layla asks the obvious in a nervous voice, "What's an Elmo?"
At the sound of the clatter, the glowing blue ball leaps up and
buzzes along the table toward Fred.
Sashenka rises and moves around the edge of the room toward Fred,
squatting next to him. "Fred, you okay?" She reaches
a hand out to help the librarian up.
Dusty shouts "LOOK OUT!"
Fred Lemisch takes Sashenka's hand, large eyes pinned to the 'Elmo'
even though his glasses are askew.
Andreas moves with a blur and a gleam of metal, and something
long and thin flies through the air.
Tan Sin uncoils suddenly from the chair, his arm whipping out
to grasp the back of Sashenkas shirt, yanking her backwards.
Sashenka's head snaps up at Dusty's shouted warning. She grabs
Fred's hand and pulls him up, grabbing him by the waist as he
rises and turning to put her massive back between the librarian
and the buzzing ball. Tan Sin's yank sends her off-balance and
she stumbles sideways and back.
The blue fire stops short and leaps to the knife now buried in
the table. It sizzles happily up and down Andreas' blade.
Josh stays in his crouch, waiting to see where the ball goes next
before he moves, and visibly relazes when Andreas' blade ground
it for now.
Fred Lemisch yells and flails awkwardly for a moment before falling
on top of Sashenka.
Tan Sin reels Sashenka into his arms and tries to ease the entire
contorted affair of bodies to the ground in a controlled fall.
Sashenka twists and rolls, with Tan Sin's help, into a not entirely
undignified heap with the two men. She looks sheepish. "Sorry,"
she says toi Fred, then repeats it to Tan Sin.
Dusty stays motionless, eyes reddening as he stares without blinking
at the knife.
Andreas arches his eyebrow at the tangle of bodies on the floor
and shrugs off his outer layer, which falls to the floor with
a *squelch*. "Electricity sprite. Loves metal. Dangerous,
but like an eel, not a Bane, if you know what I mean. Can anyone
here talk to it?"
"No problem." Tan Sin gathers up his blanket again and
reseats himself.
Josh blinks, impressed with Andreas' easy explination of it. "I...can't,"
he admits, sheepish himself now.
Fred Lemisch raises his head, only to realize that he landed face-down
in Sashenka's bosom. If he was crimson before, he is... well,
even moreseo now. He attempts an incoherent apology before trying
to scramble off the heap without further embarrassment, falling
over onto the floor again before managing to get himself upright.
After a moment, he straightens his glasses. A moment more, and
he remembers to smoothe his hair.
Layla asks "Talk to it?"
Sashenka sits up and scoots back to lean against the wall, acting
nonchalant. "Umm, no, I can't."
Andreas gives Layla a smile and little shrug. "Out of my
league, but I've seen it done once or twice." He pauses,
remembering. "Of course, her hair stood up straight for a
week..."
The walls shudder noticeably under a more intent assault from
the winds.
Dusty pages: Dusty would like to try to talk to it, but has no
idea if he can. He's thinking at it, if that does anything.
You paged Dusty with 'What's he thinking at it? :)'.
Sashenka scoots away from the wall and stands up, rubbing her
arms.
Dusty pages: He's thinking 'Uh, hello, mr elmo, uh, can you hear
me? Please don't hurt us, we don't mean you any harm, we're just
trying to stay dry, uh, mr. elmo... uh'
The ball of lightning coalesces and drops off the table to bounce
gently along the floor toward Dusty. It pops a couple of times.
Josh moves to the smaller boy's side, ready to shield him if need
be.
Sashenka is next to Dusty -- well, largely in front of him --
almost instantly.
Andreas pages: This town is always so rough on my outfits...am
I in a position to toss my wet jacket over it?
You paged Andreas with 'Nah. Everyone's gettin' in the way. :)'.
Layla slides off a copper bracelet and slides it towards the sprite.
Dusty stiffens. "Uh, we really really don't mean any harm,
Mr Elmo, sir. Please don't hurt us. Please. There is lots of n-n-n-nice
metal outside, in a pile outside the diner... you'd like it, really..."
Sashenka looks down at Dusty quizzically, then at the Elmo.
Distracted from Dusty, the electricity curves toward the bracelet
and encompasses it gleefully.
Andreas grabs his wet coat off the floor and tries to peer over
shoulders and spot the electrical ball.
After a few seconds, the ball bounces up and down in an oddly
friendly manner before fading out with a crackle and a whiff of
ozone.
Sashenka relaxes with a sigh.
Josh flops back down on the blanket. "Dusty...geez, what
kinda brain you got in there? You always think of thje smart stuff
like that."
Dusty looks with confusion at Josh. "But, all I did was tell
it about the old metal siding dumped behind the diner! Do you
think it understood?"
Layla walks over to her bracelet. She crouches down next to it
to get a good look at it before touching it.
Josh uses a hand to indicate the empty space where the elmo was.
"I'd say so," he says with a grin. "Good deal."
Sashenka says "Well, it went somewhere, and looked pretty...
happy about it. Or was that just me?"
Andreas sinks back against one of the walls, giving Dusty and
Layla approving smiles. "Fast work with the jewelry, too."
Fred Lemisch sighs heavily and gingerly seats himself. He tugs
his handkerchief from his back pocket and mops his forehead.
Dusty smiles at Layla. "I dunno what made it go away, but
thanks for the decoy. I was thinking he wanted to try dancing
around on me for a while."
Layla smiles quietly and picks up her bracelet. Her brow creases.
"It's not even warm." She gives it a sniff before placing
back on her wrist. At Dusty's comment, she says, "Oh. My
pleasure."
Sashenka gives Andreas a perplexed glance, then hunkers down to
prepare a plate of cold smoked salmon and pickles. She sets it
on an unused chair, then adds a jumble of cups and sets a jug
of water down next to it on the floor. "In case anyone's
hungry..."
Josh shakes his head, laying back down. "Maybe later,"
he says, relieved. "Um...any ideas to pass the time? Unless
something else this way comes?"
Dusty pushes himself up and trudges over to the supplies. He sniffs
deeply, then plunges into a stack of journeycake.
A high, keening whine begins above and outside. It is joined by
many similar voices, and the cacophanous chorus sings counterpoint
to the wail of the wind, breaking occasionally into yelps and
barks.
Dusty sighs in the middle of a journeycake. "What now?"
Sashenka's plump hands curl into loose fists. Under her breath,
she mutters, "As if the wind alone wasn't bad enough."
Tan Sin rises out of his chair and stares up at the ceiling. "Anyone
have an idea as to who that may be?" He moves across the
basement and stops at the foot of the stairs, looking at the door
above.
Andreas blinks some thoughts away. "Does anyone know what's
going on? There's nine kinds of oddness outside, and I've got
a gitchy feeling that I haven't felt since...well, in...in a long
time."
Sashenka nods. "Yeah. Hurricane. Zelda, I think? There's
a great big Wyld-spirit in it, or so I've heard." She makes
a face. "As if a hurricane isn't bad enough by itself!"
Josh props himself up on his elbows. "According to what folks
here say, it's a Wyld Storm. Which'll explain most of the goings-on.
But...Gaia knows what's up there now."
The eerie baying grows louder -- evidently closer. Close enough
for the keen of hearing to discern low growling and barking. To
the uninitiated, it might sound like a pack of werewolves running
down their prey. But to those who know werewolves, it certainly
isn't anything nearly so friendly and familiar.
Layla shivers visibly.
Andreas lets out a deep sigh and and reaches for the dandelion
wine, hand trembling a tiny bit.
Josh nearly jumps. "That sounded...wolf-ish to anyone else,"
he asks, his own enhanced hearing picking up on the particulars.
Dusty slinks slowly back to his corner, grabing some salmon and
another journeycake on the way.
Sashenka wraps her arms around her waist (well, a little way around
her waist) and sighs. "Maybe whatever it is will just run
on by?" She doesn't sound too hopeful. She holds out a cup
to Andreas as he uncorks the dandelion wine.
Tan Sin takes a step forward, and shifts as he does so, his form
pouring into that of a huge hunting cat. "I will see."
he growls in the mother's tounge. The stairs shake lightly as
the tiger pads it's way softly up to the door.
The whole building, basement and all, feels like it shifts a few
inches as a wall of wind pummels it. The hail is clanking on the
roof, probably leaving dents, as the hits sound particularly solid.
Andreas pours for Sashenka, saying something softly to her as
he does so.
There are some clicking sounds from above as Tan Sin fumbles with
the door, and then it creaks open, only to close again a moment
later.
Sashenka takes a swig of her wine, then shakes her head. "Connecticut,"
she says, then turns her head toward the stairs. "Cats. Always
running off by themselves." She takes another swig, sets
her cup down, and turns to follow the were-tiger.
Dusty's hand reaches toward the ceiling, as his face grows dim.
"I wonder what that sound was... I hope its working..."
Josh looks up again. "Looks like it." He stands up and
starts pacing.
Dusty turns to Sashenka. "Be careful out there."
Sashenka nods. "You better believe it." She walks up
the stairs and out the door. There is a definite creaking sound
in the floor as she changes form upstairs, gaining several hundred
pounds.
Tan Sin pages: Like I said, prowl the room trying to guess what's
happening outside. If I hear Sashenka coming up, I'll wait for
her before I put my head out in the rain.
You paged Sashenka with 'You wandering up to the library to poke
your head out too?'.
Sashenka pages: Yup.
You can't sense much through the barricades, so you do have to
peer outside.
Gathers Gaia's Milk comes up from the basement, shifting to her
bear form after she closes the door. She pads out from under the
cone-roof and up to the door to peer outside.
Tan Sin is crouched by the front door, obviously listening to
the storm. He shifts his gaze to Sashenka as she comes through
the door and growls softly "I'm going to look outside. Stay
silent. And be ready to catch this door if it trys to bang open."
He fumbles with the latch and begins to open the door.
The hail is approaching golf-ball size at times. You see a tree
fly past, over the rooftops through the rippling sheets of rain.
At the edge of your vision, you see a running form on four legs.
And then another. And another. A touch of color here and there,
flickering red and white hounds of enormous size, leaping with
a peculiar, sinuous grace. The bays reach your ears, unimpeded
by the walls, and the sound grates not on your eardrums, but somewhere
in your gut, leaving a quivery feeling behind.
Gathers Gaia's Milk rears up on her hind legs and holds out a
big, soft paw, ready to catch the door.
The door bangs into the big paw, with enough force to bruise even
a bear.
Tan Sin sinks to the ground in a tense crouch. Golden eyes watch
the hounds, tracking their movements, seeing if they are approaching
any of the buildings.
Gathers Gaia's Milk grunts softly but holds on.
One flows to a stop and turns its lean, elegant head to look at
the open door. Red ears prick with momentary interest, and eyes
as indifferent as the dark between stars observe the two watchers.
Then it turns, dismissing them, and runs on.
Gathers Gaia's Milk's bright eyes follow the flowing shapes, and
her black muzzle twitches as it sniffs the air.
Tan Sin flicks a gaze up at Gathers Gaia's Milk and backs silently
away from the door. "I think they care nothing for us"
he breathes. "Perhaps it's best if we ignore them in return."
You paged Tan Sin with 'When it turned to look at you, you had
a brief inkling of what it might be like to be a small cat, confronted
by a large dog, looking desperately for a tree. :)'.
Tan Sin pages: Okay, sure, but will I admit that? I think not.
Just silly spirits. Silly big, scary spirits...
Gathers Gaia's Milk slowly hauls the door back into position,
careful to make sure it latches, but as quietly as possible. She
nods her big head and backs away.
You paged Gathers Gaia's Milk with 'You caught a brief tang of
something that could only be described as cold and otherworldly.'.
Gathers Gaia's Milk twitches her nose. ~I don't like their smell.
I hope they run past and far away.~
There is a distant muffled boom.
Tan Sin snorts and turns to clean his fur. ~I think they were
just passing through. I- ~ At the sound, the tigers head turns
back to face the door and it's ears cock, trying to fine where
it came from.
Gathers Gaia's Milk's head swivels toward the sound. She snorts
softly. ~What now?~
Gathers Gaia's Milk pages: I presume it's not just thunder?
You paged Gathers Gaia's Milk with 'Nope. That was something...
coming apart, you think.'.
The sound seemed to come from the side of town occupied by the
Diner, but probably farther off. Maybe one of the houses beyond
the Diner, or perhaps out on the Farm?
The wind ceases suddenly.
So does the rain and hail.
Andreas pries the knife out of the table and begins carefully
sharpening it.
Dusty closes his eyes, and whispers "I hope they'll be o.k."
His hands form tight fists as he pulls himself into a ball.
Layla listens very carefully to the creaking floor above.
Andreas smiles grimly. "A werecat and werebear on their home
turf? Pity whatever's making the noise."
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.
Andreas pages: I'm hoping that's water?
You paged Andreas with 'Sure *sounds* like water. :)'.
You paged Andreas with 'Doesn't smell like buckets of blood. :)'.
Andreas pages: Oh, good. I imagine ichor has a piquant aroma,
too?
You paged Andreas with 'Yes, and you only smell 'damp.''.
Josh sidles over to Dusty, giving him a reassuring smile. "Hey,
they'll be okay. Trust in that."
Dusty eyes shoot open. He stumbles to his feet and scans the ceiling,
looking for dripping water.
The dripping sound is being elusive, echoing from all the dark
corners and other hard-to-investigate places.
Dusty scrambles up the stairs, checking the plastic shrouds that
seal the books, and checking the roof which heaves inches above
his head.
The roof seems to continue intact, and the contraption on the
roof seems to be working all right.
Dusty pauses after his check yield nothing, then rechecks. He
heads downstairs. "Nothing, no leaks, the books are fine.
Wierd."
Josh stands up again, watching the side of the room opposite Dusty.
He looks around to see what jugs are empty now, just in case.
Drip. Drip.
Andreas picks a point midway between Dusty and Josh, listening
carefully.
Layla watches the walls, the floor, and all places that aren't
obvious.
The dripping sound is certainly louder in the basement than upstairs.
And it seems to be coming from Josh's side of the room.
Dusty creeps close to Josh, trying not to make a sound. He starts
inspecting each brick of the basement wall, feeling for wetness.
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.
"Um, Dusty," Josh says quietly. "I think something
is over here."
No wetness, no water in view at all.
The wind ceases suddenly. So does the rain and hail.
Dusty steps back. "Oh, I see. It's an old drainage pipe right
behind this brick." He taps a point on the wall. "It's
just sprung a leak. Probably not a problem."
Layla shifts from foot to foot uneasily. "What can be taking
them so long?"
Josh relaxes, some. "Okay..." he says, calming a little.
Andreas cocks an ear. "Odd..."
Andreas starts climbing the stairs. "Be right back...not
every day I get to see Zelda's Eye."
Tan Sin glances up at the bear hulking over him. ~I think we lost
a building. Do you want to risk taking a look now, or should we
wait for a lull?~
Gathers Gaia's Milk's ears twitch. ~The houses!~ She jumps for
the door, pauses as the wind dies, then continues.
~Well, that would be a lull I suppose.~ Tan Sin follows the bear
outside in a wary crouch, senses searching for danger.
Gathers Gaia's Milk paws the door open and pads outside.
The wind has died down to merely a hair-whipping, leaf-dancing
level and the storm likewise, the rain pattering off to a near-normal
heavy rain. The comparative quiet is sudden, like a shout of silence,
for all the background noise of the rainstorm. However, the air
is electric with tension, all the more apparent for the lack of
appropriate special effects.
Overhead, the clouds seem to be breaking apart, the rain coming
in gusts with gaps, like torn clothing scattered by the wind.
Suddenly, the rain ceases entirely, and overhead the clouds start
to thin to dark gray. All around the horizon the black clouds
of the storm still whirl, with this one area of gray set like
a stone in a pendant. The spiral pattern of the storm is clearly
visible, spinning in and out of this one gap in the center.
Gathers Gaia's Milk steps outside and gasps. ~The eye?~
Tan Sin nods. ~I think so.~ He turns and pads over to the basement
door, clawing it open. ~We are in the eye of the storm~ he growls
down the stairs.
Andreas has arrived.
Tan Sin growls down the stairs, ~We are in the eye of the storm.~
Dusty thrusts his arms out and starts to feel about. He lets out
a little moan. "I... I... can't stop..." As he thrusts
about, he knocks over a jug which spills its contents onto the
ground.
Josh looks to the stairs, way too curious for his own good. "Rowan's
gonna kill-" but he's cut off as Dusty starts to act. "Crap...Dusty,
what is it," he says, getting closer to teh smaller lad.
Dusty blinks furiously, and rubs his eyes hard. "My eyes,
they... can't stop" As he looks at Josh, his eyes widen and
shift away. His eyes move to Layla, rest there for a moment, then
a gasp escapes from his lips. He immediately buries his face in
his hands and collapses to the floor.
Layla moves over to Dusty's side. She's very careful not to touch
him.
Josh moves to Dusty's other side, but acts before he thinks. He
puts a gentle hand on Dusty's shoulder. "What is it? What
are you feeling? What do you see?"
Fred Lemisch sits up from the unintentional nap he took with his
head buried in his hands. He watches what's happening with Dusty
worriedly, more than a little bewildered.
Dusty keeps his face buried in his hands. "My sight... I...
I can see through things, I guess. Like that wall, and... well,
anything. But I can't turn it off!"
Josh looks up, wincing. "Anything made of Lead around here?"
Gathers Gaia's Milk looks around at the swirling clouds on
the horizon. ~We'd better hurry.~ She moves with surprising speed
in the direction the boom came from.
Tan Sin sniffs wairly at the air and growls softly. He then turns
and bounds off after the bear.
In the street, in front of the Diner, lies a large, thick, wooden
door. It doesn't look like it came from a house. It looks, in
fact, very much like the door from the 400 year old barn over
at the Farm. Various bits of timber lying the street, sticking
out of a few holes in buildings, etc., seems to bear out this
theory.
Andreas glances skywards warily before following the bear and
tiger.
Gathers Gaia's Milk pages: Would this barn be the one Lucas is
using?
You paged Gathers Gaia's Milk with 'No, not that barn. This was
an unused barn on a distant part of the property, where there'd
been a farm a few hundred years ago.'.
Gathers Gaia's Milk pages: Oh, well then.
You paged Tan Sin with 'You notice that a piece of straw has been
driven cleanly through one particularly large chunk of timber.'.
Tan Sin stops to stare at the piece of straw that has imbeded
itself in one of the chunks of wood. ~We should do this quickly,
I think~
Gathers Gaia's Milk stops next to the door and sniffs it. ~Yes.
To the farm.~ She dashes off in that direction.
The eye of the storm is now directly overhead. The hurricane winds,
screaming out around the boundary of this still center, merely
emphasize the relative quiet of the air here. Everything is balanced
here, the weight of the storm, like a mountain of air, pressing
hard on this one point. The gray light filtering though the clouds
takes on an eerie aquarium glow, limning the edges of things with
hints of color in the relative silence. You are the mouse under
the hawk, as though you were completely without shelter in the
storm's vast and pitiless gaze.
The tiger bounds along, occasionally rushing ahead, and then stopping
to stare at the sky or a new scene of destruction. In general,
he stays with the bear as they approach the farm.
Gathers Gaia's Milk dashes as fast as she can, head down, singleminded.
From afar, Andreas hmms...there's no way I can keep up with a
bear or tiger going anywhere near full-speed.
Andreas walks around the library double-checking the structural
integrity, keeping a careful eye on the sky.
Barn timber litters the area. Miss Anita's feeble old house has,
in fact, come down, but as the Collinses foresaw the difficulty,
there's nothing major lost.
Rowan, in hispo, almost runs into Tan Sin and Sashenka, so intent
is he on getting to town. ~Whoa,~ he says. ~Need help?~
Without warning, the edges of something still too faint to determine
emerge from the swirling pattern of the clouds. In moments, the
outline is clear; a vast structure spiralling down from the eye
of the storm along the cloud-edges to the ground. Just where it
touches is hard to determine, like the end of a rainbow, but as
you look you can see that the whole of it must be enormous, each
spiral encompassing the fifty or more miles that is the circumference
of the eye. Faint suggestions of distant architecture become apparent
on this wierd apparation, then movement. Tiny figures, no more
than misty pinpoints, are passing up and down this spiral staircase.
Gathers Gaia's Milk kids to a stop. ~Rowan! Safe. Good. Checking
out farm,~ she pants.
Andreas bolts inside for a moment.
Andreas thunders down the stairs. "Friends and neighbors,
there's something *very* strange going on out there. Some sort
of...cloud staircase? I--you might want to come and see."
Layla asks "Dusty, can you come?"
Josh looks up from Dusty, who's on the ground with his hands over
his eyes. "Curious, but Dusty's got X-ray vision that now
won't torn off. I need to get that helped."
Dusty takes his hands off his face, then lifts his head. He slowly
opens his eyes, sees Andreas, and immediately shuts his eyes and
puts his hands over his face, letting out a slight moan.
Andreas nods sadly. "I get that a lot."
Dusty regains his composure, and says "I.. think I can go
upstairs... but someone will have to lead me up the stairs. I
can't seem to see them."
Andreas glances back upstairs with worry. "I'll make sure
the way is clear."
Josh takes Dusty's hand. "Here," he says, standing up.
"I'll lead you. C'mon..."
Layla takes one of Dusty's arm. "Ready?"
Dusty takes his hands off his face and uses the support to stand
up. He unconciously opens his eyes, blinks, then straightens.
"Wait... there, its gone. I'm fine. Thanks, I'm sorry about
all this." He turns to Layla, then blushes. "Sorry"
he whispers, then heads for the stairs.
Layla follows.
Fred Lemisch wanders after the others, but is sidetracked by checking
all the books in the library proper.
Tan Sin digs his claws into the ground and comes to a skidding
halt, staring at the sky. His tail lashes with curiosity, and
he strains to make out more detail of the phenomena.
Gathers Gaia's Milk's eyes wander up from Rowan and she falls
back onto her haunches, gaping at the sky.
Rowan skids completely to a halt. ~Was helping the smaller farms,~
he starts to explain, and then follows the others' gazes to the
sky. ~The hell?~ he asks, oh so eloquently.
Rowan pages: Hey, Heightened Senses.
You paged Rowan with 'You can just pick out the many, many individual
shapes, moving as if in a dance past each other, up and down the
stairs. They're very misty, flowing and changing constantly.'.
Tan Sin is staring intently at the stairway, trying to make out
details. He spins in place, trying to find where it touches the
ground.
Andreas emerges from the library, holding the door open for the
people following him.
Townsfolk are emerging from their houses to look around. Over
on the Collins porch, Miss Anita bursts into tears and is gently
led back inside by Old Man Collins, whose wife tests the strength
of their porch (which, as some may recall, was broken by the hoodlums
in town a few months ago). Mrs. Whittaker emerges from the post
office, shakes her head sadly at the broken house, tsks worriedly
over the broken bits of barn, and then stares, amazed, at the
sky.
Layla exits the library, accompanied by its rich, musty smell.
Josh exits the library, accompanied by its rich, musty smell.
Dusty exits the library, accompanied by its rich, musty smell.
A vast structure spirals down from the eye of the storm along
the cloud-edges to the ground. Just where it touches is hard to
determine, like the end of a rainbow, but as you look you can
see that the whole of it must be enormous, each spiral encompassing
the fifty or more miles that is the circumference of the eye.
Faint suggestions of distant architecture become apparent on this
wierd apparation, then movement. Tiny figures, no more than misty
pinpoints, are passing up and down this spiral staircase.
Layla opens the door tfrom the libary and peaks out. When she
sees the crowd, she moves into the street.
Sashenka, still staring, blurs and shifts into human form. She
stands up, her eyes taking on a look that is somehow both intense
and dreamy. She says something under her breath.... Maybe "the
wind people"?... and echoes Tan Sin's turning motion, looking
for the bottom of the spiral stair.
Josh scrambles up the stairs, looking at the staircase. "Ok,
this is new," he says, trying to be witty.
Dusty walks out of the library, head hanging slightly. When he
looks up he stands stock still. "My god..."
Rowan stares, jaw dropping. He'd help Mrs. Collins, but he's too
busy being banjaxed. ~Wyld,~ he mutters, as if it made sense,
and just continues looking.
The storm continues to travel northwestward, its progress marked
clearly by the advance of the cloud wall and the strange staircase.
The spiral of the staircase does not resolve clearly... perhaps
it's a double spiral. Or a triple. Or quadruple. Or less. Or more.
Andreas squints and moves close to Dusty. "The pirates who
assaulted the giant peach, maybe? What's it look like to you?"
Sashenka turns to face the oncoming edge of the staircase, and
takes a step forward.
Dusty stammers "I... can't describe it. Is my vision still
screwed up? A big staircase, maybe 4? That can't be real, can
it?"
~Like magic, only real,~ Rowan mutters, still staring.
Josh grunts an affirmative. "Nope. I'm seeing the same thing."
As the eye of the storm approaches Katahdin, the lightning which
has been discharging itself on the peak momentarily ceases. The
strange glow of the eye limns the edges of the mountain like light
glinting off a very sharp knife, then the very peak of the mountain
begins to glow. Suddenly, the tip of the peak glows white-hot,
discharging an immense beam of sunlight brightness upward to strike
the eye of the storm. The slow but inevitable movement of the
eye stops dead, as though snagged on the beam, and complete silence
falls.
This requires silence, at least from Rowan. This requires silence,
and utter astonishment.
Dusty stops breathing for a moment, mirroring the silence.
Josh looks, and makes a conjecture. "If that's an anchor,
that cannot be good..."
Sashenka winces at the intrusion of this sudden light into her
reverie, then stares.
The tiger shifts its eyes from the staircase to watch the mountain.
After watching silently for a few moments, he shifts his gaze
back to the staircase. ~I wonder... are we a stop on their journey
perhaps? And if so, who might be coming to visit?~
The light on the mountain suddenly - and silently - explodes into
a fountain of eye-searing brightness. Then it is gone, leaving
only a dark imprint like the shadow of a massive tree on the aching
retinas of those who were watching. The storm begins to move again,
ponderously, inexorably.
Sashenka blinks and rubs at her eyes. "What WAS that?"
It takes Rowan a moment to gather his wits, and then he asks,
~What the hell was that?~ to the world in general, rhetorically,
and then he's shifting and hastening over to ask Mrs. Collins,
while in glabro, "Want some help on the porch?"
Mrs. Collins, still dazzled by the light, shakes her head slowly.
"N-no, thanks. It looks like it's fine." Her voice is
just a touch faint.
Dusty shakes his head. "I don't understand any of this."
He sighs and rubs his eyes. "And my eyes are going to be
killing me for the next week."
Tan Sin snarls to himself and shakes his head, trying to clear
out the dancing spots the fill his vision. ~Or maybe I don't know
what the hell is happening" he growls. As his vision returns,
he trys to make out what has happened to the spiral.
The staircase fades from view; one moment it's there, the next
it has become part of the swirling clouds that are drawing nearer.
Andreas rumbles deep in his throat. "Bad weather's coming
back."
Sashenka lets out a tiny whimper as the staircase goes away. She
stares at it for another moment, then shakes her head to clear
it and looks down at Dusty. "After the hurricane, I'll make
you some cool compresses for your eyes, if they still hurt. Now
maybe we should go back in."
Rowan gets enough wits about him to ask, "Why were you going
to the Farm?"
Dusty drops his head and clings to Sasha's side. "I've had
enough of this. It can stop now." he says dejectedly.
Tan Sin tears his still blurry gaze from the sky. ~To check out
the damage. I'm not sure we have time now, after that... distraction.~
Josh walks back, over to Rowan. He looks around, just complete
puzzled by everything.
Sashenka puts her hand on the boy's shoulder. "It could be
a while before the storm stops, Dusty. But we'll be fine. I brought
some birch beer..."
The sky begins to drizzle on the town again.
Rowan tells the sky, "I get the hint." Generally, he
says, "Checked some of the smaller farms. They're all doing
ok. Let's go make sure /we/ do ok, yeah?"
Dusty lifts his head and smiles sadly at Mother Bear. "That
would help a little, I think."
Sashenka tousles Dusty's hair. "Well, let's go get some then."
She starts toward the library door, drawing the boy along with
her.
Tan Sin seems to have no intrest in charging around in the coming
storm. He turns and heads back toward the library, pausing outside
on the porch to wipe his broad paws off on the mat.
Sashenka steps onto the rotting porch, pulls the door open on
silent hinges, and disappears inside.
Dusty steps onto the rotting porch, pulls the door open on silent
hinges, and disappears inside.
Tan Sin steps onto the rotting porch, pulls the door open on silent
hinges, and disappears inside.
Josh steps onto the rotting porch, pulls the door open on silent
hinges, and disappears inside.
You paged Andreas and Rowan with 'As the last folk upstairs, you
notice that shadows, shaped like everyone who had been standing
in the road watching the mountain, wander off, seeming to chat
amongst themselves, heading for the northern road. They flicker
out of sight before you can follow them.'.
Rowan starts at nothing in particular, rubs his eyes, and heads
inside.
Fred Lemisch is sitting in the basement again, this time absorbed
in a book.
Sashenka trots down the stairs, steps over to a wooden crate in
the corner, and withdraws a birch beer. She pops the cork and
hands it to Dusty. "Drink up!" she says, and retrieves
her cup of dandelion wine from the floor.
Dusty guzzles the birch beer, stopping only to gasp for air. He
tosses his head and lets out a little belch. "Ahhhhhh...."
Sashenka chuckles and sits down in one of the less rickety chairs.
After a moment, she sighs and seems to deflate. She suddenly looks
very tired.
Tan Sin pads down the stairs and grasps his blanket in his mouth,
dragging it over to his chair. He drops it and spends some time
getting his fur in order before shifting back to his human form.
He then wraps the blanket around himself and settles into the
chair.
Dusty sits crosslegged in front of Sasha. After a moment, "So,
when do we get our fortunes told?" he asks with a giggle.
The wind begins to rise outside. The rain settles back into a
steady staccato.
Sashenka can't help but smile at Dusty's question. She leans forward
and drags over the wine jug, refilling her cup. "I need another
one of these first."
Sashenka finishes her wine and sets the cup down on the floor.
She crooks a finger at Dusty. "Scoot closer and turn around."
Dusty cocks his head with curiousity, then grins and does as he's
told.
Fred Lemisch sighs as his lids droop over his book. He totters
over to one of the sleeping areas and sits down, carefully peeling
his black shoes off and unbuttoning the top button of his shirt
before lying down. He folds his glasses carefully and sets them
next to his pillow. In just a few moments, he's snoring gently.
Sashenka sets her palms on the boy's scalp, poking around in his
haphazardly chopped hair. She makes a big show of saying "hmmm"
and "ohhh" and "I see" a lot.
Andreas settles in, back against the wall and a careful eye on the stairs.
After a few minutes of this, Sasha drops her hands. "Very interesting." She pints to a spot over Dusty's right ear. "You have a little lump right here" -- she touches the spot -- "shaped like a violin. This clearly means that you will be an accomplished and well-known musician. Or marry one." She laughs. "Or, in your case, build a fabulous new machine that makes beautiful music."
Tan Sin yawns and watches the proceedings with half-lidded eyes.
Josh lifts his eyebrows, trying to be encouraging. "That I would be interested in seeing."
Dusty giggles. "I don't know anything about music, Sasha. The things I make just go thump and squeek and, occasionally, KA-BOOM!!" He lets the last word out with wide outstretched arms.
Sashenka laughs, but it's cut off by a yawn. "Well, maybe it'll be a percussion instrument then."
Dusty lets out a yawn himself. "Silly" he says, then leans his head against Sasha leg.
Sashenka nods, letting her hand fall onto Dusty's hair as her eyes slide closed. "Very silly," she says through another huge yawn.
Dusty's breathing slows, and his body slackens as he drifts into sleep.
Tan Sin somehow curls into his tattered chair and drifts off, listening to the broken rhythms of the storm.
Josh goes back to his makeshift pallet, collapsing quickly into sleep.