EVENT: Snowed In

[the_npcdo]

[Early Monday afternoon, the snow starts. At first, a charming novelty glimpsed through the classroom windows, but within minutes it becomes a veritable blizzard. Any classes being held outside are urged to bring themselves inside. Within half an hour, the power's cut out and the snow is piled high enough to make entry/exit from the buildings difficult. Within an hour, it's impossible. Snow is piled halfway up the first floor windows, and most of the doors have frozen shut. The second story windows seem to be working just fine, though, as are any rooftop access doors.]

[The blizzard finally calms down, but students and faculty are trapped inside--or outside, if they managed to be on the wrong side of the doors during the storm. The power's out and the cold is starting to seep in through the insulation. Worse, there seems to be some kind of unseen presence in the buildings, an eerie cackle echoing through the empty halls or an unsettling sense that you're not alone.]

[Someone's going to have to restart the generator before we end up with a school full of studentcicles. It wouldn't hurt to clear some pathways out of the buildings, either.]

Comments

[inchesofevil]

Are you kidding? Of course not! Look at that shit! [gestures aggressively at windows] No, as far as I'm concerned, we're on lockdown until I hear otherwise.

[he grabs his coat from the back of his chair and shrugs it on before sitting down] Y'all can do whatever. Just stay in the room.

[he's not even going to tell them to keep it down, because the last thing he wants in a cold, dim room is quiet.]

[tsunderbolting]

It's just a snowstorm and a blackout.

[ No big deal.

But nope, she's not dealing with this, she's not staying here when she could be doing something to help the situation! She's going to storm off (get it? storm off? in a snowstorm?) or at least attempt to sneak away if he's not looking. It's not like he can do anything to her, right?

..... Right? ]

[inchesofevil]

[he folds his arms, staring off into the distance through the windows like someone watching a furious dog at the end of its leash.]

That is more than just a snowstorm.

[not that "just a snowstorm" wouldn't have him reacting pretty much the same way. he IS from texas.]

[Duncan might look like he's not paying attention, but he's actually hyper-alert and Mikoto's sneaking attempt doesn't go unnoticed. He doesn't even bother turning away from the windows.]

I swear to god if you walk out that door I am going to give you, like, a week of detentions.

[tsunderbolting]

[ Of course it's more than just a snowstorm. They're in this kind of school. But she's brushing it off as simply something simple because there's other people around. Frustrated, she twists the heel of her foot onto the ground, scoffing as a wide mischievous grin slipped her lips as she shrugged her shoulders. ]

Go ahead, but I ask you this: what's more important, temporarily giving a person's safety or going and finding the cause of all this and guarantee it.

[inchesofevil]

[it's okay, this is basically a class in healing magic, Duncan's not exactly concerned with preserving the masquerade in here. everyone present should already know, whether or not they're aware the others do.]

[he turns to face her. wow mikoto that's not fair and you know it.]

Me not getting sued for letting you die of hypothermia, actually.

But if you really want to leave that badly, how's this: beat me in a contract duel and I will let you go.

[he spreads his hands in a wide shrug] I mean, I'm a literal demi-god, so good luck, but I'll make you that offer.

[duckduckdeux]

[ Duck will accept the help up, for she is a weakling. ]

Um, it's fine! Really!

I'm sorry if I scared you too! [ That's the only explanation she has for this girl's sudden scream. ]

[tsunderbolting]

Alright. Don't go easy just because I'm a kid.

[ It doesn't matter if he's a demi-god or whatever, she'll find out a way to beat him. ]

[inchesofevil]

[...WAIT MIKOTO NO]

You're not supposed to say yes!

[tsunderbolting]

[ ... She twitches a brow in frustration, folding her arms over her chest. ]

You were bluffing? [ AMAZING, DUNCAN, WOW. ] Now I'm kind of disappointed, teach.

[inchesofevil]

[he drags his hands over his face with a groan.]

"Doc."

I didn't spend thirty-thousand a year to be called "teach."

[he sets his hands on the chair arms] Alright fine. [and pushes himself to his feet]

If you win, you get to walk out of here free of disciplinary consequence.

If I win, you have to stay until I dismiss you, and be my TA for a week.

Do we have a contract?

[tsunderbolting]

Just 30,000?

[ Mikoto throws a wide shrug of her shoulders before nodding in response. ] Yeah. Let's do this.

[ofsevenseas]

[He smiles at that, though it might be hard to tell in the dark]

If the paths are still clear, please return to your immediately if not - gather in the library, it's the best insulated room in the building. I'll be finding the Maintenance staff and see if we can get the generators up and running.

[ofsevenseas]

[He stares for a moment, unsure what to think of how Duncan suddenly spazzed. It's not that much colder in the halls, is it? Or was it something else? The Djinn started down the halls, grabbing at the doorknob to the janitor's office and pulled when they arrived. It rattled, but didn't give]

Damnation. It's locked.

[The multiple tails twitched and ears laid back in agitation]

[unidentifiedandfantastic]

[Ahh, such glorious chaos. The best thing about this, though? No class!

She's going to take this absolutely wonderful opportunity to go out into the snow with a backpack...and fill it with snowballs. What for, might you ask?

The answer becomes pretty simple. She's going to dart through the hallways, pelting unsuspecting people with them. With two arms and three helpful tentacles, she can make quite a lovely little hailstorm of them.

Of course, all anyone will be able to see is what looks like a shadowy orb floating through the hallways, spitting out wads of snow.]

[all_onis_are_true]

[It takes a bit, but eventually a good old-fashioned sheet rope falls out the window. Hiroshi ties the other end to his bed.]

Will that help?

[inchesofevil]

30,000 a year. That's a very important distinction.

[IT'S A LOT OF MONEY OKAY.]

[sigh he can't believe he's doing this. this is so dumb. he does kind of want to go easy on her because look at her! She's just a kid! but this is also a matter of principle, he can't let himself lose and have his other students thinking he's a pushover. he needs them not incentivized to challenge him.]

[so he's going to fight her, and he's going to go hard, because sorry Mikoto--you get to be the "you should take me seriously" example for this year.]

[at least it's probably warm in contract duelspace...]


[When he brings them into the duel, his normal casual clothes switch out for armour--leather, not metal, he's a cleric come on--modeled after some obscure occult mythos. Which, if you knew it, would mark him pretty clearly as a demi-god known as the Vahishta. Deity of clerics. Normally he'd have a sword, too, but he knows enough about Mikoto's powerset to have left that out of this particular duel.]

[He doesn't waste any time getting started. No banter, no nothing, just straight into the fight. First up, magic shield - reduces the effect of any elemental attacks; her lightning won't hit him as hard. Second, right on its heels, a holy bolt. He's aiming to finish this as quickly as possible, so it's a strong one.]

[tsunderbolting]

That's still not a lot of money.

[ Considering that Mikoto's from a rather wealthy family, it's practically nothing. But now that they're in the Duelspace, she doesn't have to hold back. Her power's at maximum, but she won't be going all out, if only because she has no plans on killing anybody today.

She doesn't want to become a murderer.

Mikoto doesn't hesitate as the bluish sparks of electricity spark from her fingertips, playing cautiously. Although she's excited she actually gets to fight, jumping in without knowing what the other person can do-- well, that's just suicidal. ]

Hopefully, you're not all just talk! [ She won't be using the Railgun just yet, but she will aim a strong amount of electricity directly at him. Enough to possible knock him unconscious, but not enough to kill. ]

[worldcup]

It does! [ Her eyes light up as she takes the rope made of sheets and ties it around her waist. ]

So... you'll pull me up, right?

[infinitejustice]

It's Athrun.

[Instinctive response. He doesn't process the rest of the information until after he gives his name. But he quickly figures out what's going on.]

Is that normally how you greet your fellow classmates in the dark? That book hit me square in the face.

[He's not asking seriously. That's just how he deals with getting smacked by an object.]

[hair_guitar]

Athrun?

[Oh, that's a relief! She thought she'd hit a ghost in the face with a book but she'd only hit Athrun in the face with a book.

....

Oh no, she hit Athrun in the face with a book!

This time she lets out a cry that's more dismayed than terrified.]

Oh no! I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you! Are you okay?

[hair_guitar]

[But at least she's a teeny one so it's easy for Ellen to help get her to her feet again.]

Um... [she coughs, as scary as this situation is she is this girl's senior so clearly it's of vital importance that she be coolheaded and collected in a crisis] I was just a little surprised, that's all.

[hair_guitar]

[Very bad taste indeed, but at least it's good timing as Ellen is just gingerly peeking around a corner.

If Ellen was still a cat she'd be clinging to the ceiling. But she's not a cat, so instead she'll just hurl her books up into the air and scream bloody murder instead. She might try to go for the ceiling anyway, but she only makes it about a foot.]

[worldcup]

... Wow, that was too easy.

[inchesofevil]

[Duncan is high-strung by nature, but during their walk he's downright jumpy. the slightest noise has him flinching and flashing his light to the edges of the hallway.]

[it is cold and it is dark and every so often he imagines he can hear a distant thump - scrape - thump - scrape echoing down the hall. by the time they reach the door his hands are shaking, and it's only partially because of the cold.]

Could always break it. [his voice is shaky too, in that particular quality of someone speaking through shivering. that, at least, is entirely because of the cold.]

Is it gonna be as easy as fucking around with the fusebox, though? What if we have to restart the generator?

[inchesofevil]

Fuck off, "that's not a lot of money!" [O F F E N D E D]

[he does a dodge-roll away from her attack, comes up in a crouch]

The US median income [he slams a fist into the ground, sending a shockwave of blazing white holy magic at her] is $26,000 per person!