Baby it's cold outside [mingle]

[ourearth]

Date: 23.12.2018-30.12.2018
Characters: Open!
Note: Timeline behind cut at the bottom of the post!

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23-24th December
With the schools out for Christmas, and the last few days of Christmas shopping closing in, there really is no escaping it now. Everyone but the best prepared is rushing to finalise the last little bits. Excitement is gathering as the shortest day of the year comes and goes.

The weather reports for Christmas are standard: grey, with light showers and patches of sun. As usual, a high chance of snow was predicted at the beginning of the month, but as the day approaches it has changed back to the more seasonal and typical (if less picturesque) weather: rain. But, with days to go, that suddenly changes again, as the weather reporters talk about the sudden turning of an artic wind, bringing with it sub zero temperatures, and maybe, just maybe, a white Christmas.  Temperatures drop to -5c during the day and -10c overnight, particularly cold for this part of the world.  On the morning of Christmas Eve, with less than 24 hours notice, the snow begins, falling lightly at first, and then heavily. By lunch time, the south east, including Mossgate, is a foot deep in snow and chaos has spread. Just a covering of snow is enough to cause panic, with infrastructure and transport unequipped to deal with it, and this is unexpected and heavy, and there has been no time to prepare. The trains have given up, promised refunds, and stopped. The busses have also all but stopped, and in Mossgate town centre just one or two an hour are running to the villages to ferry home those still stuck in town. Gatwick airport, which is having it's worst year since the ash clouds in 2010, has also officially given up and closed, redirecting flights to Stansted or Birmingham. Just after midnight, even the motorways close, and the smaller roads are unpassable much earlier. Panicked shoppers, trying to grab supplies for the unexpected weather, are being shooed out of stores early so that coworkers have a chance of getting home before the last transports stop. And it's still snowing. By nightfall there's almost two feet of snow, an almost unprecedented amount, and the news is talking about the possibility of powercuts and disruptions to water supplies. Sure enough, around 8PM, a powercut hits Mossgate and the surrounding area, wiping out the last of the Christmas cheer in the town centre as the festive lights go black – along with everyone's houses.

Christmas Day
Christmas morning opens to fresh, white snow all around, picture post card beautiful, and small showers keep it fresh looking for most of the day no matter how many snow angels, snowmen and igloos are built. That's probably little compensation for those stuck: the news is full of heartfelt stories of the struggle to get home for Christmas, and of locals in towns and cities along the southeast welcoming people stuck into their homes for Christmas. While the power is back on in Mossgate town centre by about midnight, the surrounding areas, including Moss Manor village, are still without power, with the word from the electricity board that it's unlikely to be fixed anytime soon. Neighbours with gas cookers and stove tops suddenly become the most popular people around (but at least with the temperatures outside dealing with food from the fridge and freezer is relatively easy).

In Moss Manor, the church hall, which has both a gas cooker and gas heating, is opened up for those who are unable to stay in their own homes. People are invited to bring along what food they have to share and join in with a community Christmas. The community feeling is only shattered when the power comes back on at 5:20PM, just before the repeat of the Queen's Speech on BBC2 and Strictly Come Dancing on BBC1 start. A short but fierce battle ensues over which to show on the big screen. With moments to go, Pat Marsh puts her foot down and casts the deciding vote for Strictly, promising that she'll show the Queen's Speech from iPlayer directly afterwards.

As if that isn't enough, Mossgate and it's surroundings have one other surprise waiting for them on Christmas morning. Father Christmas has been through the entire council area, and apparently not one single person has been good. Every fire place has been decorated with traditional stockings full of neatly wrapped coal, one stocking for each member of the family. For those who don't have a fireplace, the oven has been selected as a replacement, and the stockings hang merrily from the oven door instead. If it's a prank, it's seen as bad taste, especially in homes with small children, but it's also generally agreed that given the weather it's rather backfired (not that anyone still has a coal fire but still).

25th-30th December
The snow finally stops overnight on Christmas evening/Boxing Day morning, but it remains cold, the temperatures only picking up at the weekend. Between the remaining snow and the ice formed where it melts, transport remains awful, with the connections to the villages particularly bad. Due to the Highspeed line, the trains from Mossgate to London are back up and running by the 27th, but other routes take days to be cleared. Likewise, the motorways are at least traversable by the 26th, but some smaller roads are still unaccessible until the weekend. Food supplies are slow to come through, and when the stores reopen on Boxing Day after Christmas closures, the shelves are immediately stripped bare again, especially of essentials such as bread and milk (although anything and everything is subject to panic buying, up to and including shampoo).

All of this chaos doesn't stop some people going out to the Boxing Day sales, with queues forming outside Next, which has advertised it's traditional early opening times of 6AM, despite the cold and the snow (and the fact that they don't actually manage to open until almost 7 due to lack of staff).

But as the temperatures rise back to a seasonal temperature in the single figures, things start to return to normal in time for the count down to New Years.

Timeline:

• 24th: Heavy snow starts unexpectedly in the morning
• Transport is badly affected
• A powercut hits the Mossgate area at around 8PM
• Power is returned to Mossgate town by midnight, the villages including Moss Manor won't have power until well into the 25th

• 25th: Stockings appear overnight for each member of the family in every home containing coal
• Moss Manor church hall is opened to the community
• Moss Manor and the other villages have no power until 5PM

• 26th-29th: Panic buying and lack of supplies affects food availability
• The snow continues to affect transport

• 30th: Temperatures return to normal for the time of year (0-10c)

Comments

[vernal_miss]

[It takes effort to keep smiling, so the effect starts to slip.]

Mostly trying to keep my hands working. I fall asleep when I sit still too long, but I don't think I'll sleep through another day again.

[iamnotgod]

[Walter winces. Definitely sounding like a seasonal effect, then. A few suggestions come to mind, only for each to be dismissed almost immediately for sounding either too banal or too clinical.

And then an idea hits him.]

Have you gotten to draw more, this week? We could work on something together, over the Network.

[vernal_miss]

[That wince is noticed, yet he doesn’t express further worry over the matter. Instead, he makes a tempting offer that gets a perk in her response.]

Could we? That sounds fun! I haven’t been drawing much.

[iamnotgod]

[And now they can reinforce each other's newfound good mood!]

Then we can both get back into it, then.

[He's only gone a few moments to fetch his sketchpad, but he'll wait for Nel to grab her own before starting to make any further suggestions.]

[vernal_miss]

[Walter acts too quickly for her to say something until he comes back with his sketchbook.]

Sorry, I can’t draw now. I can definitely draw with you tomorrow! But I think my mummy might come looking for me if I’m away much longer.

Would tomorrow be okay instead?

[Video]

[iamnotgod]

[Walter gives Nel an apologetic look.]

Fair enough. See you tomorrow, Nel.

[vernal_miss]

[There's a clear note of cheerful anticipation in her voice.]

Thanks! Merry Christmas, Walter!

[Following the call on the holiday, the next day Nel will be laying in her bed mid-morning doodling on a page of her sketchbook marked by her number to link it to the network. None of the doodles are all that detailed or complex, and certainly not her best quality, but she is sleepy and putting too much effort is tiring for her in her state of recovery.]

[iamnotgod]

[And during that time, Nel will get an extra 'Hello! :)' added to her page - well out of the way of her doodles, of course, but also clearly not in her handwriting.

He hasn't enabled audio on his end just yet - and he won't unless Nel wants it.]

[vernal_miss]

[Head lifted from the crook of her arm when she spots the letters appearing, she smiles and writes back underneath.]

Hi! Should I open a new page? What do you want to draw?

[Switching to audio isn’t her immediate thought given Nel still has family constantly checking on her.]

[iamnotgod]

Only if you're saving this for something. We could draw a scene with sun, to contrast with all this snow?

[vernal_miss]

Not saving them, but maybe they aren’t the best for the scene. [Especially considering she had drawn several at quite an angle that made them skewed. As such, Nel opens her sketchbook to show two pages, and writes her number carefully in a corner on the fresh page pushed up on her elbows so she can look straight down. She proceeds to faintly mark the horizon, then writes to Walter on the other page.]

I can draw plants much better now, so I can draw a tree or some flowers.

[iamnotgod]

[Walter moves on over to the now-available page.]

That's great!

[He starts sketching in a few wisps of clouds - not quite a cloudless day, but it'll be a nice sky once he adds the appropriate blue.]

I'll handle the sky, if you'd like?

[vernal_miss]

[Content to watch as Walter starts to mark the start of the clouds, she notices the new writing and is quick to write back.]

Yes please!

[It’ll be a good minute before Nel starts in on her contribution, having to take time to fetch her colors, and when she does begin, she starts with faintly outlining stalks and flowers with lines and circles, the largest at the bottom of the page.]

[iamnotgod]

[And lo, here comes the sun!

There are no clouds blocking it, meaning Nel can put sunshine effects on the plants however she likes when she gets that far.]

Does morning-towards-noon sound like a good time to set this picture?

[vernal_miss]

[While it does not take Nel long to map out the basic outlines for the flowers in the foreground and midground, she is surprised by how quickly Walter is already adding light effects into the sky. She pauses in her own work to watch, feeling as though she is watching a video on the internet of someone drawing rather than out of her sketchbook.

Noticing the question, she’ll answer.] Yes. That should make everything nice and bright.

[Getting back to work, she starts to sketch the largest flower in the foreground. As she does so, Walter will be able to see that Nel is adding a high level of detail to it – something most artists would need a picture to replicate.]

[iamnotgod]

[Walter, alas, can't tell that Nel is just watching, so he continues on placing the sun once she gives her answer.]

I see we're both going to contribute quite a lot of detail on this project! ;) Plants do seem to be your specialty.

[The text is added about as fast as the sun - and while Walter's not working on either thing simultaneously, it may perhaps look like it.]

[vernal_miss]

[Her lines are not as clean as those made by Walter, but she is putting in the effort to be detailed.]

Thanks! I know them a lot better than I used to. I can see the ones I’ve met in my head whenever I want.

[Hopefully Walter won’t finish the whole sky before she manages to outline her first flower!]

[iamnotgod]

That's a really useful trick!

[No matter what was being visualized, being able to do it in the first place is still cool.

And he doesn't go quiiite that fast, though it's a deliberate effort after the first minute or so.]

Would it work if you were just looking at pictures of them, or do you have to 'meet' them in person?

[Something about the phrasing strikes him as odd - a little anthropomorphic, perhaps?]

[vernal_miss]

[Should Walter finish the sky soon, he can always help with drawing the field. There are going to be quite a few flowers after all. Otherwise, maybe the scene could use something else.

Nel responds to the comment about the trick with a happy face, then pauses to consider the question that follows. The marks around the word meet seem odd...but she answers.]

Pictures won’t work. I have to be able to touch them. Then I know exactly how they should be.

[iamnotgod]

[Like some animals, perhaps? An elk?]

That sounds amazing! :D Can you alter them, once you know how they should be?

[The coloring-in continues, to a point. He starts in at the sun, then works backward for the shading of each part of the sky.]

[vernal_miss]

[Animals would be fantastic. Perhaps. But why not dinosaurs?]

I really like my magic! I haven’t tried to change them, but I’ve been making new ones grow and fixing some that got hurt.

[Nel manages to finish the outline of the first flower, and after a critical examination of the whole, moves on to the next with a different type of flower. This one will be a corn poppy plant.]

[iamnotgod]

[A very valid point, that.]

Very commendable acts, Nel, both of them! :D

[The variation of plants in this field is noticed.]

What would you say to me adding a weather balloon or the like?

[He's not going to up and add something without her permission.]

[vernal_miss]

The cats do like that I make catnip for them.

[Nel has yet to really think of her magic on a broader level, especially since she has only been able to make flowers and smaller plants so far. That, and for the time being she is forbidden from using her magic.]

Go for it!

[This picture is equally Walter's work.]

[iamnotgod]

Of course. As long as they don't take too much!

[But then, that wouldn't strictly be Nel's fault...

And at Nel's approval, a small weather balloon is sketched into existence on the right side of the page.]

[vernal_miss]

I don’t know if they can. Catnip only works for about 10 minutes, then they have to wait 30 minutes to for it to make them feel good again.

[Living with so many cats has made it important to know a great deal about them.

Nel continues with sketching the flowers, moving to smaller and smaller sizes until the field starts to gain depth. With the flowers outlined, she lies down to the side of her sketchbook momentarily to rest. Color should be next for the blades of grass and flowers alike.]

Is it okay if I take a break?