Oh, no. You are DOOMED.

[mansionstaff]

Mother Nature had one hell of a temper, and if not that, then perhaps a sadistic sense of humor. The world was Her plaything, a marionette at best, and the people who lived on it, rather unfortunate victims to Her sometimes violent moodswings. For only She could start with an overcast, grey sky, and splatter across it heavy clouds, treacherous storms, and relentless armies of snowflakes that had lost all endearment only to become companions of inconvenience and burden. Someone or something had maddened her greatly - or so would have been the assumption if one gave reason to believe in Sprites of Nature who controlled an entire world's plethora of environments.

Yet Smash Academy had only been given a taste of what was to come. And since they were such diligent and well-behaved little pets, She had reason to reward them. With more entertaining obstacles that would, no doubt, impede their precious plans that somehow took precedence to pleasing and sating her. No, they had not appreciated their darling sunshine days, clear blue skies, and painful sunburns.

"Stop playing at your human-made technological machines and bask in the glorious sun I gave to you!" she wished she could have said. But somehow winter's torment, she knew, would be a far sweeter revenge upon ungrateful children.

And that was how it had begun.

By stand alone days of simple snowfall and ambitious winds, there would be no suspicion of greater minds and hands at work. Steadily through the week, each day became harsher than the last. And like a great many number of battles in a war, there came a pinnacle for Her success. She sent the most worthy blizzard down to the surface in its invincible path and rendered for them a weekend She was certain the town and academy's citizens would remember for some time to come.

One moment was mostly peaceful, and as calm as unruly weather would allow. In some places music played. In some places, lights were dimly lit to provide a pathway. In some places, there was the happy clicking and tapping at a computer. In some places, showers and baths were being taken, savored, and enjoyed. And in other places, unsuspecting people had taken to idle chitter and chatter with other friends who were likely down the hall.

But in the next...

All went black and silent, save for the whipping wind and strangling branches of trees, as if whispering threats of what people would find in the dark.

---

[OOC Notes:
The following is a reminder of how things are going down for the next few days.

♦ This will last from January 18 ~ 20.
♦ The following are affected by the blizzard: electricity, heaters, hot water, TVs, gadgets, gizmos, the network. Congratulations, you've been officially stripped of your luxuries. (No computers for you.)
♦ The school's backup generators will work for about one hour before mysteriously failing. What's causing it to fail? Maybe some of you should go check out the generators themselves...
♦ The blizzard causing this blackout is pretty powerful. You probably don't want to go skipping through it lest you get blown away (in a bad way) and never return.
♦ Power will be restored, and the generators repaired, by Monday morning, January 21.]

Comments

[loverofinnocence]

He listened to her carefully, turning her words over with some consideration. So she had already taken to foreign customs and holidays. But she had her right to. Caim had given his own gifts as well, including for Furiae. Had had no need for a special day to do so, however. He preferred some form of spontaneity, if he had much of a choice. Although that kind of thing was much easier to say to himself than it was to confess to aloud. He liked keeping most of his things to himself, however, and even with a voice he could admit to that.

She interrupted his thoughts and he thought she might trip. So he wound up lifting his hands in the event she needed something to steady herself. He was in her room, after all, taking up her personal space. The least he could do was be remotely helpful. And 'helpful' was a subjective word. She probably thought he was plenty helpful the way he was even there to begin with.

Instead, she sat beside him, or so he'd assumed that she had. His head turned and after a few moments, he was able to catch the slight glow that came from flesh so pale. It wasn't much. It was a little, though, and enough that he could get an approximate fix on her location. Her words made him smile a bit. Was she in a hurry to get rid of him? The very thought made him silently chuckle, though there was no mistake in the way he moved.

Leaning over, he fished for her lap and settled his forehead to her shoulder carefully. How kind of you to be so worried over me, dear sister. But if he'd had it his way, he'd no intention to leave her so quickly.

[stillawoman]

A brother who could speak no words, who could barely be seen. In this night, there was little way for them to communicate... had Caim words he wished to speak, but couldn't? As he settled himself against her, and Furiae felt his hands upon hers, that question came to her mind. She felt foolish a little, bringing him into a room that left him no way to speak, as if she had call him to be there with her herself.

But nonetheless, Furiae always enjoyed his company. And when she hadn't, when she had wished for a moment to cease existing, it had been from the exposure of her own feelings, her own heart. That day with the mistletoe, it was such a day-- a day that still Furiae tried to keep bury in her heart and to ignore. To not acknowledge the implications.

Right then, that was a day far from her mind. Instead as she sat there, Furiae enjoyed the feeling of her brother there beside her, his head upon her shoulder. She delayed in giving him the garments, though he could take them then with ease if she moved her hands from them. She had been ready to pass them on, but then, that simple action made her pause.

"You may stay, also, for however long you might like..."

Despite the small silence since she had last spoken, she talked as if it hadn't been there. But when she had said those words, Furiae wondered if he would want to stay with her too long. The dark would make it difficult, and he had surely only visited to make sure she was fine. And now that he knew, would there be little other reason for him to stay? Now that his duty as the older, protective brother had been seen to...

[loverofinnocence]

What he mostly thought of was their childhood. Caim had grown up with very few things that he was terrified of. Monsters in stories were victims to his excess of courage. There was something empowering about the idea that he had Furiae to protect. No monsters, no scary men in stories, no untamed animals would threaten her. For he had believed from a very early age that he would protect her from all things great and small. She had been his entire life, after all, whether she seemed to know it or not.

Did he still feel that way in the present? Yes. A bit. More than that, actually, but unlike his adolescence, he had neither the desire nor the drive to be so open about admitting to that. This was not Caerleon and he could only see how others would interpret such behaviour. It would have been easy to misconstrue and it would have placed a great amount of unnecessary attention onto his sister. So no. Sharing his feelings was something meant for the two of them only. He had no intentions of ever drawing someone else into that with him. Them.

Her words echoed between his ears and rather than replying immediately, he found himself unable to hide a smile. Yet she couldn't see it and he had to settle for the next best thing. So the hand he took from her he lifted to the corner of his mouth, so she might very well feel the effect her words had on him.

You are not rid of me so easily, Furiae. I allowed you to go once, but I shall not ever again.

[stillawoman]

She had commented before on the lack of his warmth, but as Caim took her hand into his to place against his smiling mouth, there was no such consideration in her mind. Certainly, if there had been any extra chill from his journey to her, it may have gone in the while he had been in his room - or perhaps the siblings shared the same lack of heat between them, that the difference between the temperature of her fingers and the temperature of the skin they touched were not worth noting too much.

Furiae didn't understand at first where her hand had been taken- yet at the same time, she did. His lips, though she had never felt them with her hands, were recognisable, much because of the risen cheek that stood out.

But she touched them slightly, but not along their full length, to recognise them properly as his, and his own smile brought one creeping along the edges of Furiae's own mouth.

Did Caim smile at her, much like he always did? As a child, the younger sister, who in her efforts and her trying words was so affectionate to him. That same smile that had confused her in the past, made her feel bashful, then made her sullen- much like a child would.

But as it made her feel sulky, as foolish as it could make her actions look to herself, Furiae didn't really mind it. It was becoming a part of her brother, one that by those months, she had become more and more accustomed to. And that he could find the time to look at her with such a glint to his smile, made her happier than any seconds of embarrassment could affect her.

There were no words she had to say. While her fingers lingered a little longer upon his mouth, Furiae soon enough moved them before they could become an unwelcome presence. Her hand went across Caim's cheek, resting against the side of it as she tilted her head against her brother's. For whatever reason brought him to her, even as a brother looking out for his younger sister, Furiae was nonetheless happy to have him there. And for however childlike her sincere affection for him seemed, for as much it made him smile and make her appear cute, she would continue her attempts to look out for him in the little ways that she could.

[loverofinnocence]

Caim wasn't fond of smiling. In a different age, in a different world, in a different time, it would have sufficed. He probably could have smiled his way through all of the conflicts rather than drawing his sword and having to train purely for the sake of protecting Caerleon. Probably could have. In those youthful days, he really only liked sharing the curve in his mouth with his family.

And Inuart, who might as well have been family, in his own little way. And if not by law, then certainly by practise considering how the three of them had been damn near inseparable.

Momentarily he missed those days. It happened on the rare occasion. Caim had plenty of time to think and to wonder. To try and piece together former times by hypothetical situations, actions, and overreactions. To see if the world would have changed any differently if he had reacted in a way other than how his history had carried him. And he ventured to assume that no matter what he would have done, they would have met the same end. If the Goddess had not been Furiae and some other woman, Caim imagined he still would have had to get involved. At some point in time the Empire and the Cult of Watchers would have come for their kingdom.

And there was still the merciless slaughter of their parents to consider. That had wounded him deeply, far deeper than anyone else could have known - save Furiae.

He felt his heart lighten a bit when she leaned into him. And as if to thank her for pulling him from his thoughts, he slipped an arm around her, not forgetting that night beneath the mistletoe. He doubted she'd forgotten either and while he had no plans to pretend it didn't happen, he still didn't loathe her or find her tainted or impure. He was still as fond of her as he was before, still as protective, still as caring, still as brotherly and unbrotherly as he could have been for the beautiful princess that was his sister.