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

[tenderhoof]

And so Aquenda was a responsible rider and ditched her Kodo. Pawne shed a single big fat kodo tear but otherwise did nothing.

See, a wild one might thrash around and destroy everything. Good thing all the fighting spirit was bred out of the riding ones... Along with their will to live.

Still, Aquenda felt pretty bad about it. She didn't want her to freeze in the blizzard, but was this better or worse? At least the stables had room for a kodo... And, you know. A place for pooping. Which Aque did not think about until now.

Hm.

"We need to hurry! Um, please." She followed at a jog as it was, her hooves finding no holding on the slick tile, but at least she hadn't fallen yet.

[fluffyhearted]

They were in the common room, which at least meant that the kitchen wasn't too far away! Just tucked right at the end in the corner, as decided by Michelle, architecture extraordinaire.

Once they were over, Aquenda guided at least by Maisy's light, the small woolly creature was faced by the trouble of being only 2 feet tall: not really being able to navigate a kitchen! There were cupboards here and there on her level, but without hands, all Maisy could do was paw at the doors.

"Maaa, mareep..."

She didn't even know if there would be anything interesting inside them!

[tenderhoof]

Kitchens were pretty wild and crazy things. You had a box that could cook things inside it without any fire, a much large version that could also boil water on top of it, a box that kept food cold, a device that controlled the flow and temperature of water... Seriously, what the hell? Still, they were pretty convenient for the city lifestyle, she supposed...

What the heck would grease be kept in, though...

She checked the cupboard under the sink first. And pulled out a plunger.

Yes, the Smash kitchen totally had a plunger in it.

"...What even is this?"

[fluffyhearted]

"Mareep," came the answer from Maisy, not a note of confidence in her voice. She really had no idea what it was Aquenda was holding, and her head tilted at the curious sight of it.

She wanted to ask if it would be any good, but that the Tauren didn't even know what it was, whelp- it looked better to continue searching the cupboard. Maisy stuck her nose in this time, not really helped by her light that was behind her. But she felt things bump against it and, having no hands to pick things out, she tried to maneuver the objects in front of her out of the cupboard with her head.

And out came a bundle of washing liquids, bleach... still in their bottles, thankfully.