(OTA) A not so warm welcome

[firacrux]

WHO: Seifer Almasy
WHERE: South Village Park fountain; Around town
WHEN: December 7th - 8thish
OPEN TO: Anyone
WARNINGS: Swearing. Usually lots of swearing.

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Fountain Arrival:

One good thing about growing up near the ocean your entire life was that it's very uncommon to not know how to swim. The downside being the water was never this cold. It felt like a dream, no, worse, it felt like clawing through Time Compression all over again as he breached the darkness into blinding daylight with gasping breaths. The shock of icy air was in many ways worse than the water, chilling him straight to the core as he flopped gracelessly in a sopping pile on the ground, coughing water out of his lungs. Hyne, what a terrible way to wake up.

After spending a few moments laying on the ground spluttering water out of his lungs and wondering what his life had come to Seifer finally pushed himself up, shivering. Miserable. It was cold, he didn't know where he was, and he had no idea who he'd pissed off this time. Whoever it was he must have really done it to find himself tossed, presumably drunk, into a fountain in the middle of winter. Wait.

"...When the hell did it turn winter?" He glanced down at himself then, finally realizing that his clothing didn't feel right. "And why the hell am I dressed like this?" He looked like a mental patient. Did he have a psychotic break? If so, who the hell throws mental patients in fountains? Even giant assholes like Seifer. Not that he could blame them, but still! That's just screwed up. With no one immediately around to hear him talking to himself, he presumed, Seifer decided to shuffle off toward the nearest building he could find. Maybe someone would take mercy on him and give him a towel before he froze to death.

Out and about the town:

This place had a serious rodent problem. He'd never been anywhere with mice just running around out in the open like it was nothing. They could really use some of Timber's cats here, or a truckload of traps. So far in his wanderings Seifer had managed to dodge stepping on any of the bold little creatures though it was quickly becoming increasingly hazardous to explore. Everywhere he went was a minefield of mice darting around, chewing on things, skittering right at him as though he weren't large enough to step on them and make them into tiny mice pancakes. Although, something was weird, anywhere the mice went was covered in thick ice. Which didn't make much sense to him at all, were they that hungry they were trying to eat ice? Or was he missing something?

Wait, no, crazy, of course. Just one big hallucination that was the obvious answer to all of this. He never expected he'd go this crazy, and yet the evidence couldn't be denied. One such piece of evidence was a small evergreen shrub of some kind he'd just witnessed a mouse go skittering out from beneath that was now a very intricate ice sculpture. Idly he meandered over to tug at one of the frozen over branches in wonder. "Guess I have a vivid imagination." He mumbled to himself, now more certain than ever that he was just lost in his own delusion. Probably meandering down the street somewhere screaming at himself. Or locked up in an institution.

Comments

[firacrux]

The whole thing was frozen solid. If that happened to a living person they likely wouldn't last long. The effects appeared even worse than a Blizzaga to him.

Her comment earned a thoughtful expression and an agreeing nod, yeah, that did sound exactly like the highest probability. "In that case, maybe we shouldn't be outside encouraging them?" They had something in common, everything ready to kill you? Just like home. Granted she should probably be careful not to tempt that fate too much. Seifer had it on good authority that fate took every challenge very seriously.

[spoileralert]

"I was just headed to the inn," she suggested. She had been distracted by the rando staring at a bush-cicle. She nodded in that direction.

"It's warmer anyway, and there's food."

[firacrux]

Could she blame him? It wasn't every day one saw a bush-cicle of such detail. He had to find out what might have caused it. Now that he knew it was a tiny animal that might also turn him into a human-cicle, however, his curiosity had been sated.

He nodded at her suggestion. "Yeah, I could eat. Say, what do they charge around here? I'm new in town don't really have a job yet." He'll get one soon enough he just had to figure out how you were supposed to go about doing that.

[spoileralert]

Preferably one never had to see a bush-cicle. Unfortunately she'd seen plenty of icicles of different kinds living in Gotham. She wasn't really interested in seeing more.

"They don't. There aren't enough of us here for there to be a proper economy. C'mon." She turns to lead the way to the inn, but slowly. They were kind of relying on Selina to keep the mice at bay, and that was difficult when there was more than one person.

[firacrux]

Oh he wouldn't necessarily agree with that, it was pretty neat, though the cause was good enough reason for alarm and slipping off back to the relative safety of indoors. Mice could get indoors though couldn't they? Especially in these older buildings. Well "older" style than what he was accustomed to, anyway. Still worth the concern.

"Really? No bartering or anything?" Surely there had to be some kind of exchange no one did things for free. That just didn't make sense to him. He sauntered along after her, trying to stay somewhat near the protective radius of the cat. "Any problems with the mice getting indoors yet?" Of course he had to voice the worst case scenario.

[spoileralert]

“None,” she confirmed, sounding almost as amazed as he did.

“People are really nice around here. Even the one guy I was sure was an asshole helps cut up meat for communal meals.” Bobo still managed to surprise her. Though to be fair, they hadn’t had the smoothest of introductions. She did accidentally punch him in the face.

“I’ve seen a few mice inside, but not even close to the number out here. They at least seem to know that they should be scared of humans.”

[firacrux]

"Hyne," Talk about stunning. People just... helping each other out? No currency or anything like that? It was hard to wrap his head around. Sure he could imagine it, anyone could, but actually expecting it to be in practice? That was the baffling part.

"Guy you thought was an asshole?" The butcher huh? Well hell, if this proved to definitely not be a delusion, he was giving himself another day or so to be sure, then he'd definitely have to get in on the earning his keep thing. Not that he had a lot to offer to a community like this, given that monsters did not appear to be a pressing issue in the area. He'd have to poke around to see what he might be able to do.

At her observation he nodded, still mindful to watch his step and avoid any unfortunate mishaps. "Unless they're outside, apparently. Never seen anything like this before." It was definitely pretty crazy.

[spoileralert]

She hmms questioningly at the word 'hyne' but is happy enough to let it go. Different universes, different cultures, all that.

"Oh yeah," she confirms, "he's definitely kind of an asshole. And yet, still willing to help out?" Bobo is an odd character to Steph, especially since his body language said 'danger' to her so clearly.

The inn wasn't really far at all, and before long they were in sight of it.

"I wonder if anyone knows a recipe for rodent poison..."

[firacrux]

Indeed, and Seifer had said it so casually simply because he didn't even think about it not being a recognized term by anyone else. Not important anyway. Just an expletive.

"Hey, come on, even assholes sometimes want to pull their weight." If there's a possibility assholes could fit in there, though, maybe that was hope for Seifer. Since he usually had a hell of a time getting along with people.

He hummed thoughtfully. "Think it'd help? They'd probably just freeze it." Be nice if they could do something about them though. This was getting to be a real problem.

[spoileralert]

She just shrugged. It didn't really matter to her as long as none of them bothered her. And Bobo hasn't, since the punching incident.

"They have to eat, right?" she pointed out quite reasonably. "Even if their food gets frozen it will still be digested. We just need a poison that isn't damaged by freezing."

[firacrux]

That's the spirit. Live and let live. Some people just weren't very sociable. Granted he didn't know about the punching incident.

"I think most of 'em are cold resistant. Wouldn't hurt to see if anyone's got any ideas. Plenty of weird plants around, sure something can be made into poison." How risky would that be for their various cats, though? Was that an issue? Seifer honestly didn't know. Still he'd rather be rid of the menacing mice given they were actively capable of killing them. That wasn't a great way to live, wondering when you might find yourself frozen to death by an adventurous mouse.

[spoileralert]

"It’s worth a try," she agreed as they made their slow, cat-paced way to the door. She grimaced at one of the pretty little rodents.

"Not that it would be easy to tell if it worked, with numbers like these."

[firacrux]

Seifer had the faintest idea that the cat was just taking her sweet time because she felt like it, as well. Like she knew they couldn't go ahead without her so she was basking in the power that gave her. Or maybe he was just assuming far too much of a peacat. Either way, they eventually made it to the inn, and thus relative safety.

"Unless we managed a big enough batch to take down a swath of 'em. Probably be too risky to try to send the cats after 'em." He wouldn't want the cats to die. That would be awful.

[spoileralert]

"Yeah, Selina doesn’t seem too eager to actually pounce on any of them. She’d know better than we would." Which was just as well. She may have been adopted by the cat rather than the other way around, but it would break her heart to see anything happen to the pretty creature.

Inside the inn Steph could take off her coat and shiver, then head to the fireplace. The cat did seem disappointed to be left behind.

"Definitely warmer."

[firacrux]

"Don't blame her. They can do that to a bush and a pile of boxes imagine what they'll do to any of us." Probably had done to some. Seifer was okay with not risking this one, he didn't have any ice resistance junctions.

Definitely warmer, Seifer kept his coat on but also trailed along after her toward the fireplace, glancing back to watch and see if her guard cat was following.

"Definitely fewer mice." He also agreed. Which was nice. Not being frozen to death would be ideal for his second day in the weird world of... wherever they were.

[spoileralert]

Steph dumped herself in a chair, relaxing in the gentle glow of the fire. The thing had been started every day since she'd been here, even in summer, and it was only now starting to be really pleasant.

The cat followed, of course. All of the attention was over there. She was rather sullen about it though, and made her displeasure known by jumping into Steph's lap and meowing loudly in the girl's face. Steph just started petting her. This was pretty typical behavior.

"Told ya. Lunch is ready in the kitchen if you want to go ahead. I'm gonna warm up a bit first."

[firacrux]

The very same fire had been quite welcome after he'd pulled himself dripping and freezing from the fountain just a day prior. Might be less enjoyable in the summer.

Is the cat creature okay? Seifer just rose an eyebrow, he didn't entirely understand animals having never been around them much. Deciding that whatever it was looked normal enough he turned his attention to the fire, kneeling down and stretching his hands out to warm them.

"Is it? Might have to go check that out." The whole concept of a free meal was still baffling to him. That people just... pitched in. No payment. Granted if they wanted to survive here there really wasn't any choice. In a way it made sense, they were all stuck in the same situation together. Torn from their homes and dropped in this strange place, now struggling to make the best of it. "Warm up first." He insisted, with no gloves his fingers were cold.

[spoileralert]

"I hear that, she agreed with a satisfied sigh. Selina had curled up and begun to purr.

"So when did you get here? Can't be long, if you don't know where the food is."

[firacrux]

The fire was nice. Seifer wasn't used to having to fight the cold so much. His home was mostly pretty warm, and if not Garden was heated. How easily you forget the conveniences of technology until they're gone.

"Yesterday, brand new outta the fountain. Speaking of, is that how everyone shows up? Pretty messed up to spit a guy out through water in the middle of winter." He really wasn't amused by that. So cold.

[spoileralert]

"It's the standard," she confirmed with a shrug. "Some people end up in the bunker instead. I'd say you should check it out, but with the mice around it should probably wait."

[firacrux]

"Right! The Bunker, friend of mine mentioned the Bunker I was gonna go try to have a search around with her sometime. Right now probably ain't the best idea."

Getting cornered in an unknown space with a bunch of freeze you to death mice? No thank you. He'd rather wait until the weather and the mice cleared out.

[spoileralert]

"I definitely wouldn't trust that they haven't gotten in there. You never know around here." You never really know anywhere, so you should never trust that the worst possible scenario isn't the right one. At least, that's how she feels about it these days.

"The bunker will still be there when the mice are gone. This kind of thing doesn't seem to last very long."

[firacrux]

"With my luck I'd blunder into a nest of 'em and no one would be around to knock me outta the ice." Which would be a really awful way to die, especially given he really didn't like ice. More a fire guy himself. Not to worry, Seifer was always prepared for and expecting the worst case scenario. Made him kind of a buzzkill at parties.

"No? You think they'll just take off?" Huh, he had no idea. So he should take that to mean strange things just happen around the town then?

[spoileralert]

The thought makes her shiver, and she inches a little closer to the fire.

"Yeah, probably. It makes about as much sense as anything else that goes wrong around here."

[firacrux]

"Is this common?" He asks as he finally stands to stretch. About time to go see if food exists somewhere nearby. He's hungry now that he's warmer.

"So, how 'bout that lunch?" If she's not going to go he'll go find it himself.