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

[hair_guitar]

[... It's following her! Nope nope nope NOPE NOPE NOPENOPENOPENOPENOPE!

Ellen only screams louder when she realizes the headless smoke-stump ghost is in hot pursuit and sheer, brainless panic kicks in spurring her to only run faster through the hallways, screaming her fool head off the whole way. That thing... it lost its head somewhere along the way so that can only mean--

IT MUST BE AFTER HER HEAD!]

IT'S GOING TO CHOP OFF MY HEAD!

[RUNNING RUNNING RUNNING]

[losingherhead]

[Chasing after a terrified human, smoke billowing behind her.... Its almost familiar, in a way. She can tell she's missing a few things. The forest. Her horse. Her own head underneath her arm. But the chase brings back an experience she can't fully recall. All she'd have to do is bring out her scythe and exterminate the unwanted eyes that gazed upon her form.

But that would upset people. People she liked. Upsetting people generally seemed to lead to misery and horror from everyone. And that was the opposite of what she wanted. Plus, the girl obviously didn't deserve anything like that. No, she had to keep a clear head. As best she could given. You know.

The real priority was making sure NO ONE WAS SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER OH GOD OH HECK. She shoots a jet of smoke in Ellen's direction. It didn't have the same range as it did outside of the school, but maybe it could reach the girl's hand or leg if she gets close enough. But damn why does this girl have to be so fast and loud?! WHY DOES EVERYTHING WITH HUMANS HAVE TO GO HORRIBLY WRONG LIKE THIS.]

[hair_guitar]

[It might have been something of a relief to Ellen that Celty had come to the decision to not chop her head off after all. At another time, she might not even have been running like this... but, unfortunately, Celty had come across her at just the wrong time. And then made nothing but decisions that would only escalate things.

Take her decision to go for that grab, for instance.

As soon as the smoke catches Ellen's arm, her shrieks somehow get even more shrill and the fight part of her instincts kick in, now that flight is less successful.]

LET ME GO!

[... Celty will now find herself under bombardment by textbooks. Followed by whatever else Ellen can get her hands on. Is that a fire extinguisher? Yup. A painting off the wall? You'd better believe it!]

[losingherhead]

[Oh thank goodness! If she can just hold onto her long enough to calm her down, everything will work out fine.

And then several textbooks fly toward her. She barely dodges a Calculus book before Chemistry feels a need to wham straight into her arm. Is... she seriously throwing books at her? Doesn't she need those for homework? She directs another jet of smoke to pick up the books, which is exactly as difficult as it sounds. Just as she's prepared to try levitating it back to the student, the fire extinguisher slams into her stomach.

She collapses to the ground, releasing Ellen, and the books go flying in whatever direction pleases them. She grips her stomach in pain and a ginormous fog of smoke jets from the stump into the hallway. Its almost akin to screaming.]

[hair_guitar]

[Studying?! How can she be worried about studying when there's some headless going trying to chop her head off and wear it around like an Ellen-hat?!

And she's free! She stumbles a few steps when that smoke limb releases her, looking up just in time to see the ghost fall and... release... a... huge cloud of smoke into the air.]

....

[Which only makes Ellen scream ever louder than before because NOW SHE MADE IT MAD and turn and dash around the corner, running just as fast as she can.

And that's pretty fast.]

[losingherhead]

[Celty's just gonna lie here for a long moment.

Wonder if this is what "getting the wind knocked out of you" feels like. Her stomach in a strange state of emptiness. Judging by the ceiling above her, maybe getting the smoke knocked out of you is the better phrase for her.

Why is this her life.

Maybe she could get back to the room, put on different clothes, and try to look as normal as possible. Or just lie here. Oh sweet ground, you're the only one that doesn't hurt her. Almost as nice as beds.]