redshiftlogs | december 2019. welcome to the void.

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december 2019. welcome to the void.

Who: Everyone in Anchor.
What: Sixth Introductory Mingle
When: The Month of December 2019
Where: Around and outside the city.
Warnings: Please add any warnings in the subject lines.

Redshift: Welcome to the v͖͕̺̲̘̱̜͎o̴̦̣̠̦̘̹͞i̯̖d̛̪̬͈̱̦̝͍̕.

Click here to read what characters will experience when arriving in Anchor.

a. the generic holiday cheer prompt.

It's a dark, quiet, uneventful night. Only those up and about in the wee hours will notice something odd starting in the park.

It's snowing.

The phenomenon seems to be coming from a small bank of unmoving clouds hanging suspended above the trees and lake. A cloud that, upon closer inspection by any scientists in the room, appears to be made of harmless nanites whose sole purpose is to unleash a cheery, blustery kind of weather that remains mostly contained to the park.

Some bots are out serving hot chocolate, cider, flavored snow cones, and other small baked treats. Others are building a solid-looking bit of scaffolding that the snow is rapidly turning into a sledding ramp. In fact, there are sleds ready and waiting at the foot of the slide. The smaller ponds have frozen over in a sharp cold snap that came with the nanites' release, and there are other bots handing out ice skates - careful, though, because one of them is a chef bot and he's made the blades of the skates ridiculously sharp. At least they'll glide well?

Around the middle of the day, the intercoms squeal loudly, crackle, and start pouring generic seasonal music out into the air. Is it for Hanukkah? Christmas? Kwanzaa? Some strange holiday no one has heard of? Who knows, since half of it is in alien languages, but man, it sure is peppy! And kind of annoying after a while! Maybe someone should hack the system and change the music up?

b. the body heat trope prompt.

As the day wears on toward evening, the nanite winter storm starts to gather a little more force, sending cold seeping through the halls of Anchor. There are pockets of warmth here and there - notably, for once, the agricultural areas are largely unaffected thanks to their temperature regulators--but most of Anchor has a wintery chill, and snow is starting to bluster across the levels from bottom to top. Temperatures continue to drop when the suns go down.

The bots are out being helpful, though they can't stop the storm. They're rolling around handing out blankets and thermoses of warm drinks. Unfortunately, it's one blanket and one thermos per two people. Better get cosy - it's going to be a long, cold night!

c. the terrifying monster attack prompt.

The cold has woken up some creatures that have been slumbering away in one of the sealed-off areas of the labs. They couldn't get through the door that kept them caged, but they sure could freeze the windows and escape that way when they got cold enough to break. The little critters make a beeline for the park, prepared to wreak havoc-

If eating snow and ice and rolling snow into tiny balls for meal stockpiles is havoc.

These little creatures look conspicuously like the western dragons of Earth, though most are no bigger than a person's forearm. Their wings - some strange shade of white that sparkles when they move - seem largely decorative. They use them to communicate, to posture, and to keep themselves balanced when they rear up on their hind legs, but none of them appear able to fly. They're a mix of colors, blue and silver and white, some of them with a variety of shades swirling down their bodies, others with one color on their bellies and contrasting colors on their back and head. Some have splotches, or speckles, or tiger stripes of blue. They breathe steam and can freeze things with their clawed forepaws.

Also, if you feed them a flavored snow cone, they will follow you forever. No, really. You'll have yourself an undyingly loyal new pet.

Navigation.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

HOLIDAY CHEER

[ Sure, that tinny repetitive music is obnoxious as hell, and some part of him is a little worried about whatever has made a cloud just appear above the park like this... but for once, Ben Hargreeves isn't worrying all that much. Because to him, all of this is an opportunity. He hadn't really had much opportunity, back on Earth, when he was alive, to participate in any of these kinds of activities.

He doesn't intend to waste the opportunity, now.

He can be found by the frozen pond, lacing up ice skates and taking tentative steps onto the ice. At first, it's clear just how much of a novice he is. But with a little bit of time, and perhaps some help from a more experienced friend or stranger, he starts to get the hang of it. They might not have learned this at the Academy, but he'd learned how to pick up skills quickly, how to pay attention and notice his own stance and balance, how to persevere. So eventually he is gliding peacefully around that pond, looking tranquil and exhilarated.

Much less tranquil is his attitude while sledding. He loves the speed of it, and can be seen heading down that slope repeatedly, grinning brightly, laughing and whooping loudly. Come join him! ]

BODY HEAT [closed to Cole]

The cold has only just started to permeate the corridors of the Anchor as Ben makes his way towards Cole's room. He is preoccupied enough with his own thoughts that he barely notices it starting - he was already feeling so nervous he was shivery, already had his hands buried deep in his pockets. But then, halfway there, a bot stops him, insistently shoving a blanket and thermos of something warm at him. Distracted, Ben takes them merely because it's easier than arguing.

It's been two days since he last saw Cole. Not long at all, by any standards, except that he had gotten so into the habit of seeing him at least once a day, even if it was only for a few moments. But then he had had that conversation with Klaus, the one that had shifted his whole worldview so radically. And Ben had needed time. He'd spent much of those last days alone, in his room, in his bed or with his head buried in his hands, just - trying to sort it all out. Trying to think his way through it.

But it had only left him more tangled than ever, and Ben is worried that Cole might be lonely or hurt or think he's done something wrong to make Ben stay away, and the truth is he just. Misses him. He misses him badly, and so even though he's scared, he makes that journey. The wind is getting icier as he rounds the corner and reaches the corridor that the little storage room lies off of. His heart is racing, his stomach all in knots. Ben can't stop himself from imagining all the worst case scenarios, that this is going to all go so wrong, and it will be his fault for ruining something that was so good.

He just focuses on breathing, notices with vague confusion that he can see his own breaths in the air, and knocks lightly on the door to the little room.

"Cole?"

Oh, his teeth are chattering. Is that nerves? When did that start happening?

"It's- it's me, are you in there?"

Edited 2019-12-12 08:32 (UTC)

Something's happened to Ben.

Cole doesn't know what, but he knows Ben wants and needs space and so he stays away for now. Ben will come and find him when he's ready and Cole is a creature of infinite patience. Or, mostly infinite patience.

He tries a few things while Ben is thinking. He raids one of the storage spaces for clothes and tries them on, surprised they they feel different from his own clothes. Not so stiff and rough.

When Ben does come, Cole can feel his anxiety and concerns churning and tumbling, knotting inside him and he's also pleased that despite it, They seem to have stayed calm, recognising there's no actual threat.

He opens the door and sees Ben's breath, the shivering and he feels the pinch of cold on him. "You need to come in- no, too cold, we need to go somewhere with mattresses, blankets, things we can use to keep the cold away from you. Maybe wood, we can start a fire. Yes." He steps away in a curl of smoke and back in the next breath with an armful of blankets.

He's managed to stay clean, skin still pink, hair finally revealed a pale gold blonde, fine and soft.

Ben has imagined this moment about a few dozen times that morning alone, his mind anxiously worrying at it, like picking at a scab. He'd imagined Cole seeing him and understanding all of it right away and asking him coldly to leave. He'd imagined all the same, only with Cole turning him down gently, which was somehow much worse. He'd pictured Cole, wretchedly depressed at Ben's absence the last few days...

But he hadn't imagined whatever Day After Tomorrow bullshit is happening to make the temperature plummet all around them, and it really throws him. Cole is talking about the cold and how to avoid it and Ben's brain is just scrambling to catch up.

Ben, who had grown up around Five, is unusually comfortable with people disappearing and reappearing mid-conversation. He merely blinks when Cole vanishes in that swirl of smoke, only to return again a moment later. It's not surprise at the teleportation that makes his heart stutter like that, when he returns.

It's because Cole is right there in front of him, looking... well, cute. Really cute. Ben doesn't realize until that moment that Cole is wearing different clothes, ones he's never seen before. But the rest of him is just like Ben remembers. When had he come to know his face so well? To feel so happy just looking at it, like every shade and angle was in just the right place? Ben absently notices that his heart is pounding hard. He has no idea how much of his revelation and new understanding of his own feelings Cole can feel. There is no lying to him, no pretending. But that doesn't mean it is going to be easy to find the right words to say.

But despite all that fear, he is happy, too. That same surge of happiness he feels every time he sees Cole, only now, Ben recognizes it for what it is.

"I'm, um. I wanted to- I."

The words are all jumbled, and Ben can't seem to make them all go together. It doesn't help that he's shivering harder, now. The cold is so intense that Ben manages to set his mind to practical matters, for a few minutes.

"There's. An empty room, over there. It's - got a mattress. Maybe. Furniture we could burn."

He pulls his hood over his head because his ears were starting to really hurt, actually, and when he can see Cole will come with him, heads in the direction of the unoccupied quarters. He could have taken Cole back to his own room, but it's further, and there's a chance Allison and/or Klaus might be there, and.... he really doesn't need interruptions or an audience for this, if it goes badly. Which most of Ben is unconsciously assuming it will.

Cole remembers the hike to Skyhold. People shivering and dropping to their knees, only to be hauled up. Cullen carrying a child on either hip, rugged up in his furred cloak, Cadash digging her way through the snow with her shield while Solas strode ahead, the light of his staff guiding them up the mountain.

"Soon," Cole promises. "You can say everything you need to when you're not going to freeze." He bundles them towards the room, making sure Ben is ahead of him, then shutting the door and checking the cracks aren't too big, won't drop the temperature too much. "Blanket on bed, strip off your outer layers, blankets on top. The mattress will hold heat underneath." Cole's practical survival skills don't get a lot of use here, but for once, he can use them.

Ben is grateful for the directness and simplicity of Cole's instructions. They had learned about this stuff, at the Academy. Extreme weather survival. But most of it had been just after Five had disappeared and Ben had been so sick with worry and so little of it had really stuck in his memory. Cole stays calm, though, tells him what to do, and Ben does it.

He lays the blanket that the robot had given him onto the mattress, pulls off his jacket, setting it down at the corner of the mattress. He kicks off his shoes and sits down, hugging that hot thermos to his chest. He looks up at Cole, frowning, asks through chattering teeth:

"My hoodie, too?"

His brain is sluggish now, not sure just how many layers Cole meant, but he seems to know what he's doing and in spite of his nervousness, in spite of all that emotional turmoil, Ben trusts him utterly and implicitly.

Cole looks at the hoodie, then nods. "Hoodie too." He's already spreading out the blankets, quick and neat, and helps Ben get the hoodie off. "Jeans too, then under the blankets and I'll join you."

The hot springs, if they're natural, would have been a good place, but they can't get down there.

He isn't wearing a lot to begin with, because he doesn't need to. He grabs the jacket and adds it to the weight of blankets. The hoodie can come in with them and go back on once Ben's warmed up a bit.

"When you're in, curl up to conserve heat." Once the blankets warm, it'll be safer to uncurl and cuddle instead. Cuddle for survival, not just because it's nice.

Ben trusts Cole. He's sure Cole is right and that he should take off his hoodie and his jeans, and yet he still hesitates. That same squirming unease and shame and nervousness he'd felt before they went into the hot-spring, but amplified tenfold. He's jarred out of it when Cole starts helping him tug off the hoodie. Ben just sets aside the churning embarrassment he feels, stripping quickly out of his jeans and moves where Cole tells him to, curling up into a tight ball under the blankets.

It's convenient, in a way. Makes it easier to hide his face. But of course, with Cole, there really is no hiding. Even if Ben says nothing and he can't see his expression, he will be able to feel what Ben is feeling. Right now it is that shame and embarrassment, but also gratitude that Cole is here, and fear, so many kinds of it all twisted up together.

At first, it's really unpleasant. His clothes had at least been a little warm and the blankets feel so cold against his bare legs, and he shivers and shivers, hands tucked in between his stomach and his legs. On the other side of the portal, They are feeling considerably more worried about this situation than they were Ben's fluttery nerves coming to talk to Cole.

"Are you- ok-kay?"

Miserable as he is right now, Ben still worries about Cole. He'd like the warm water so much, he must hate the cold, and even if it isn't dangerous to him as much, or at all, Ben doesn't want him to be unhappy.

Cole finishes securing the room against the cold and then uses the last blanket to pin over the mattress, making their own private tent space. Trying to breathe under all those blankets would be hard, it's better to get some air warming above while he gets Ben back up to functional.

He knows his own body isn't the warmest, but it will have to do. He slips under all the blankets and curls around Ben's back, shifting his arms around him, one leg pressing into the curve of Ben's and the other slightly covering his.

"I'm fine. I don't suffer the cold, I just feel it." He's wearing the sweatpants and tee still, since his own body warmth is, from his memory, not as helpful as it could be. "Hey, I don't know if this will translate but... if you can help make Ben warm, you should." His hand slides so his fingertips rest on the edge of Ben's stomach. "No threat, but he's very cold. Cole, like space, not neutral like your places. He needs to be warmer, like the showers."

He didn't know if They would understand this. Or if They could help if they did.

Ben swallows hard when Cole finishes setting up their little sanctuary and settles himself so neatly against his back. He might not radiate as much heat as another human being would, but he is still a little warm, and his presence helps more than he might realize. Because feeling Cole so close to him, holding him like this, Ben's heart is racing, and he's all full of adrenaline and elation and nerves, and it helps him to stay warm.

For a moment he is confused at what Cole's saying, until Cole's fingers are touching his stomach. Ben starts at that, but then settles once again. He understands. Cole is talking to Them, reassuring Them. Asking them to make him warm. He's not really sure that's something they can do, but Ben notices it, now. Faintly in the bottom of his mind, nothing like words, but just - alarm. Restlessness.

"Tell Them - sorry. If you can."

It's still a new thing to get used to, thinking of this connection as something that can be just as unpleasant for Them as it can be for him. Ben feels a twinge of guilt, now, to be causing such concern.

But it is quickly lost beneath other matters, because Cole is here, so close to him, helping him, and trusting him, and would he even be doing that, if he knew? The much larger guilt that Ben feels is letting this happen and liking it so much. Because it feels good, Cole's body draped against his like this. It's new and wonderful and he is so afraid that he is going to say the wrong thing and Cole will move away, break off the contact.

"Cole, I- I have to tell you -"

The words are so difficult. Ben focuses for a moment on the feeling - nothing new, but something he has only recognized recently. How happy he is, every time he sees Cole. How it makes his stomach do flips, how much he liked it whenever Cole would hug him or hold his hand. How joyful Ben felt when he could make Cole laugh or smile, because he thought Cole deserved those things, and making him happy is the best thing. How much he likes Cole's face, his hands, the outside of him. How he feels more comfortable around Cole than he ever has with anyone. How all these things aren't, in fact, what he feels for his siblings or what he feels for his friends or what he's felt for anyone else before, ever.

Cole settles and relaxes, letting his body go a bit heavy, because heavy is secure and warmer, even if just in the mind.

"They can hear you, Ben. They can... They know you don't mean to be cold." He lifts that hand to rest on Ben's face, to help warm his cheek and ear again. "And you couldn't say or think anything that would make me leave you. I know you, Ben. You don't have to say it out loud if it's too hard right now. We can wait."

Cole can wait. Ben's health is more important. And he already knows, even if they still need to talk about it.

Ben Hargreeves | A nice spicy mixed of open and closed

Body Heat

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Holiday Cheer

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