WEEK 05

[modmachine]

Weather: The temperature has dropped another notch, enough to start being seriously uncomfortable for those who sleep outside with no cover. Tuesday and Wednesday will have freezing rain at night, though it’s not snowing as of yet. Some of the kids wish it would, though, the closer it gets to the Festival of Lights.

Moon Phase: Monday brings the new moon, not that most people will be able to see it through the gathering clouds. If you look, though, it's possible to see the waxing crescent in the early morning late in the week.

School's Out: This week is finals at the college, and as a result, Friday through Sunday see a large number of the students moving out for the winter holidays. Most of those who opt to remain are shuffled around in order to leave two buildings - the senior hall used by students in the sciences and one of the freshmen halls - completely empty. The official explanation is building maintenence. On Wednesday, Ryoji will get a text from Ci asking if he's staying over for the holiday.

Winter bluster, winter blow: Things are starting to get a little messy in the Winter Court as their season approaches. For most of the last year, the Court has been run by committee, after the last Winter King inexplicably vanished. No successor was named, and with the seasonal coronation less than a month away, the court's usual plots and intrigues are starting to spill into the open. As of now, things seem to be divided between three factions - a group of diehard supporters of the previous King, certain he'll return; a group supporting the former brother-at-arms of said King, who may have been involved in the disappearance; and a third group supporting the King's protege, clearly hoping that the youth's relative inexperience will make him an easy puppet. Business as usual in the Winter Court, but it has the potential to spill into the others and turn nasty.

Day Zero: Network Zero’s been alight with chatter for those who follow it. There’s been clear footage of something that appears to be a man with a knife on fire in one of the warehouses - and yet none of the fire seems to catch anything around him. There’s also a report that the person who took this footage is in the hospital for a broken bone, though there haven’t been any updates yet. The local Sin-Eaters aren’t thrilled about this either, and on Friday night two teenagers are spotted around the area, along with a trio of younger boys armed with a camera.

A Strange Guest: Casper's new... ahem, roommate, is causing a few side effects. Most prominent will be the small patches of black and dark blue scales - they start tiny, like freckles, but grow in over the course of a few days to something better called patches before they stop. And the entire time they're growing in, they itch like the bejeebus. On the bright side, after some adjustment, the new addition is alert and willing to communicate... as long as Casper doesn't mind that he's going to have a near-encyclopedic knowledge of astronomy before the week is out.

Words for the Wicked: In the park where the hunt took place last weekend, something is writing on the trees. It starts out with just scratch marks, but before long it's scraps of the sorts of conversation you might overhear in the park, people talking to their children or dogs, that sort of thing. On Friday night, however, the words start to take a darker turn - KILL IT is repeated in numerous places, sometimes accompanied by the words TROPHY and MONSTER. And on Sunday, all the words are gone, except for a single phrase written under the hole made by a stray bullet during the hunt - i'll hunt you back.

Frostgrowth: The entrance to the Hedge used by the recent Goblin Market is continually frosty this week, as is the Underworld entrance used by Ryoji and Casper. The changelings in particular are wary about the change, though none of them seem to have put it together with the other strange patch of frost. Lingering at either location too long will draw the attention of the Frostiron Guardian more quickly than usual.

Trains keep on rolling: Construction on the building in the Sixth has progressed far enough that watching the building is pointless even for the thickly built man, who has instead resumed his trainspotting ways.

Weekly service: The nighttime bell-ringing at St. Madeline's church occurs again on Sunday night, this time drawing a bit more of a crowd. In hushed voices, a few people approach the Acolyte responsible for the bells about organizing a regular service of the church of the dead. She seems uncertain, and no formal plans are made that night.

Put Yourself Back Where You Came From Or So Help Me: On Thursday night, Tobias will have a brief visit to his lair through the Primordial Dream - another, weaker Horror, still wary and apparently checking things out. It's hard to tell exactly what the creature is, but the impression is of something shadowed and low-to-the-ground that leaves behind a smell of soured wine.

Comments

[dangerouslyinlove]

Ryoji nods, looking over them. "I don't know which we're starting off with, but I guess I should pick one and go with it..." If he starts more than one at the same time he's going to get confused.

[notachickenhawk]

"Probably. Do you get a syllabus or something ahead of time, or not until class starts?" He can make a guess at which one they'd go for first, but he has no real idea how college classes run.

[dangerouslyinlove]

"A week before the class starts," Ryoji says with a nod, "So that's probably enough time...?" But he's not very good at reading for a long period of time.

[notachickenhawk]

"... Is it? It would be fine for me, but I don't know how fast you read." Given his tendency to almost always have a book in his bag...

[dangerouslyinlove]

Not fast. Not fast at all. "It'll be fine. We won't be expected to have read the whole thing by the beginning of class anyway..." He's going to get behind quickly, he can feel it.

[notachickenhawk]

"Yeah, I guess. I was always done with the books we had to read for class by the second class on it." And then he'd get in trouble for doodling. Because of course that's what the teachers cared about.

[dangerouslyinlove]

"Wow, really?" Your life is very different from his, Tobias. "I usually just struggle to keep up..." He's impressed!

[notachickenhawk]

To be fair, it was middle school level reading. "It's not like it was as thick as this... but I still read a lot."

[dangerouslyinlove]

"That's good. I wish I liked reading more, then this wouldn't be so hard..." He's not always super good at it, is the problem. "What kind of things do you like to read?"

[notachickenhawk]

"Uh..." He shrugs and digs into his bag, pulling out a science fiction novel. "Stuff like this. Not fantasy. I've... had enough of vampires, honestly."

[dangerouslyinlove]

"Yeah, I can guess why." Vampires are not the nicest of people and Ryoji doesn't usually care for them himself. But, note to self, Tobias likes books.

[notachickenhawk]

"It's kind of fun to imagine life out in the stars, anyway. Spaceships and faster than light travel and wars that end up working out okay..." He slips the book back in his bag. It's... just a dream, and he knows it.

[dangerouslyinlove]

It's a nice dream, though, and Ryoji smiles a little. "Yeah, it is," he says with a little nod, "...I can give you these when I'm done with them, if you want?"

[notachickenhawk]

"Oh - uh. Sure. But don't you want to sell them back at the end of the semester?" Even if he doesn't get much for it...

[dangerouslyinlove]

Ryoji shakes his head. With some of his textbooks he would, but-- "No, it's fine. They weren't a lot and if you'd like them then that's even better!"

[notachickenhawk]

"... Thanks." This guy... he's way too much. He doesn't want to push his luck, but it's just... so hard to see him ever doing anything intentionally bad. Dumb, maybe. But bad? No. He's not sure what to do with it. "So... uh. What do you do for fun while you're here?"

[dangerouslyinlove]

Ryoji is much, much more likely to do something stupid than malicious. He is more than willing to admit that. He can be kind of an idiot and he knows it, partially because Thanatos tells him quite often. "Well, sometimes I go to parties and stuff, or I just hang out with people, or play video games or things like that." Mostly he likes being around people.

[notachickenhawk]

"... Are parties really that fun?" He's always thought they were way too loud.

[dangerouslyinlove]

"I like them! But they're not for everybody, I guess." Ryoji is more tolerant of loud things than Tobias likely is.

[notachickenhawk]

"Yeah. I'm more of a book person than a party person. I've... never really been to one outside of school, though." He pauses, and raises an eyebrow at Ryoji. "That wasn't an invitation to drag me along to one, though."

[dangerouslyinlove]

Ryoji laughs. "I won't, I won't." Hm... "What if I had a party, though? Just a small one?"

[notachickenhawk]

"I... I mean I don't know a lot of people. ... But as long as I get to leave when I feel like I've had enough." It's Ryoji. How bad could it be?

[dangerouslyinlove]

"Why wouldn't you get to leave?" That's kind of a weird condition. But Ryoji shrugs and smiles. "Well, if I do have one I'll definitely invite you!"

[notachickenhawk]

"Some people get weird and guilt trip you if you try to leave early..." At least, that's what he's seen. Mostly those are adult parties he got dragged along to, though. "But okay."

[dangerouslyinlove]

"That's not very nice." Ryoji wouldn't do that. But he grins all the same. "Great! Maybe I'll start small..." Not like there's anywhere he could throw a big party, but details.