Let the Stormy Weather Bring Us Together

[Nana_MelaNinja]

Ezra Grey huddled deeper into his thin coat as he braved the fierce elements, desperate to keep warm. It had begun to snow ten minutes earlier as the young college student emerged from an inconveniently-located convenience store, groceries held tightly in his threadbare-gloved hands. Since then, the winds had picked up and the snow was starting to accumulate on the ground, making the way home that much more of a challenge. Home for Ezra was what it had been for the past three months: Roader House*, the only co-ed dormitory located on the campus of Lancaster University*. Normally, Roader House was filled with the cacophonous music and raucous ravings that one would expect from a co-ed dorm. However, a calmness had settled over the dormitory, brought on by the arrival of Thanksgiving break. In the days leading up to the holiday, students had vacated the premises in droves, eager to reunite with their loved ones at home. The peace and quiet came as a blessed relief to the admittedly curmudgeonly Ezra; it nearly negated the heaviness he felt at being unable to secure a plane ticket to see his own family. What was more, he was among the few residents of Roader House for the entirety of the break. Aside from the security workers that worked throughout the year and stayed mainly on the ground floor, Ezra, to his knowledge, would have Roader House to himself. To his knowledge being the operative phrase.


Emboldened by this prospect, he quickened his pace, determined not to let the foul weather impede him. Though the cool temperatures helped to maintain the integrity of the perishables Ezra had purchased, Ezra himself was beginning to worry that he would turn into an icicle if left to the elements for much longer. Minutes later, Roader House came into view. With great relief, Ezra swiped his key card over the security panel and gained entrance into the building. His steps sounded somewhat ominously throughout the empty halls as he made his way onto his floor. Before stopping at his dorm room, Ezra placed his groceries in the kitchenette, certain that they would remain untampered with. Now relieved of his burdens, he arched his back and groaned before rubbing his hands together in an effort to get warm. To assist in this effort, Ezra turned on the kitchenette's oven with hopes that it would eventually produce enough heat to warm the room. Satisfied, Ezra left to change his clothes that had since dampened after coming into contact with the snow, leaving the kitchenette unattended. 


@ilky


((*These names were made on the fly. We can change them if you'd like.))

 

[ilky]

Huddled under two blankets, with arms wrapped around her knees, Calypso sat upright on the bed, watching the white flecks fly almost horizontally against the backdrop of the overcast sky. Even she, who seldom paid attention to weather patterns of any sort, observed and acknowledged this as the beginning of a snowstorm. The breaths escaping her lips formed tiny white wisps that dissolved as quickly as they had been formed, though she had hoped that they would fog up the glass, so that she could trace her finger through the condensation.


"Maybe... I'm too far away..." she muttered slowly, her gaze shifting from the clouds beyond the clear surface separating her from the outside, to the little clouds she was forming all by herself. Usually, she would be less inclined to appear as dazed as she did now, in case people noticed, and avoided her with the assumption that she was not quite right in the head. Throughout her prior schooling life, she had been picked on and told off by various people for having her head in the clouds — so, afraid of being treated likewise at university, she had resolved to be more conscious, and aware of her surroundings when people were around. Although, now that she was on her own, she all too happily reverted to her old habits, certain that no one else had stayed back at the dorm. Quite predictably, it seems the rest had gone home for Thanksgiving, and she had seized the opportunity to be by herself for a week. Her family never really celebrated the occasion anyway, so she didn't really need to visit them. Add the fact that the storm would almost certainly hinder anyone from coming and interrupting this gift of peace, was something that reassured Calypso. 


The rumble that suddenly erupted from her stomach could have been the thunder to accompany the bad weather. With her concentration now interrupted, she giggled at the quivering sensation from within her abdomen, "Alright, time to hunt, my famished beast." Still wrapping herself in blankets, she lifted her feet, snugly fitted in woollen socks, off the mattress and onto the ground. One might've mistaken her for a giant cocoon as she made her way along the corridor and arrived at the kitchenette, where she caught sight of something even more bizarre than she perceived herself to be. 


Groceries! B-but... that's impossible! How did they suddenly appear? There's no one else but me... mind racing, she walked over to pick up and inspect some of the food items. Spooked out and terrified, she never even considered that there might have been another student who had stayed behind this week. Mental images of masked murderers and deformed ghosts from the horror films she had been watching by herself the night before now flooded her head, causing her to turn around and sprint back to her room — only to trip on her own blankets, on which she had loosened her grip. Regretting her decision to leave the room, she yelled in frustration as she tumbled to the ground in a heap. Great, if there's really some killer here, they're sure to find me now. 

 

[Nana_MelaNinja]

Upon filing into the comforting surroundings of his lone dorm room, Ezra flicked on the lights, the door shutting behind him with a light thud. The lights sputtered briefly, as they always did in the aging building, before bathing the 10x10 room in a gentle fluorescent glow. Ezra stretched once more as he entered his room, lazily strolling past a mound of clothes scattered around an overflowing hamper of laundry. Laundry was among the list of chores Ezra had been meaning to tackle during his one week's reprieve from classes. His full course load, in addition to his responsibilities as the floor's residential advisor, allowed little time for the student to attend to personal matters of his own. In an act of goodwill, Ezra had allowed himself the rare indulgence of sleep, another chore that had largely gone neglected during the semester, and spent the better part of the day dozing in bed, oblivious to the goings-on of the world around him. It was his understanding that the final student who was on record for travel had departed while he was fast asleep, intent on taking off before the snow storm hit. The student was supposed to report in with Ezra before leaving, but failed to do so. Several students had made similar mistakes; in fact, he noticed that some students simply up and left without informing him of their travel arrangements at all. Calypso, interesting name, was an individual that came to mind in this respect. Did she assume that because (nearly) everyone had left for break that she was relieved of her responsibility to share her plans with her RA? He had heard such logic from former floor mates he had supervised, and wouldn't be surprised if he heard it again in this instance. As soon as he gathered up the nerve, and once his phone's battery was charged, Ezra planned to contact the rogues to first ensure their well-being and remind them of their obligations.


Refreshed now by the ten hours of rest as well as his earlier sojourn into the brisk weather, Ezra went through his mental checklist of additional chores to complete. He would start on the laundry as soon as his dinner was completed. Afterwards, he would set up a call with his family. While the Greys would be unable to physically meet for the holidays, he would still be able to communicate with them via cell. That is, if the phone battery would ever finish charging. Ezra flopped onto his bed and leaned against the backboard of his bed to check its status. The device was an older model and therefore took an absurdly long time to charge. He had hoped that some progress would have been made during his grocery run, but the battery was only at 67% power, up 5% from when he had left. With an irritated sigh, Ezra set aside his phone and peeled off his damp clothes, adding to the pile of discarded clothing on the floor. In exchange, he walked to his dresser and, on a whim, produced a matching sweater and pants set. The sweater was one of those "ugly" Christmas sweaters, intentionally hideous and at least two holidays too early for him to be wearing it. It was a parting gift from his grandmother given to Ezra on his last day before leaving for Lancaster. At first glance, the sweater elicited an eye roll so severe that it gave Ezra a headache. His grandmother knew that it was the perfect choice. He planned on reserving the sweater for his reunion with his family at the end of the semester, but given the fact that it was incredibly warm, he was running out of clean clothes to wear, no one would be around to see him in his compromised state, and that the sweater eased his growing sense of homesickness, Ezra saw no harm in wearing the sweater a few weeks early. 


While Ezra straightened out the sweater over his thick mop of curly black hair, he heard a thump from outside his room. The noise would have likely gone unnoticed if it hadn't been accompanied by a frustrated yell. At the sound, shock began coursing through his being. What in the...? Ezra wondered to himself as he quickly fumbled towards the door. Just as he reached for the doorknob, he stopped suddenly in his tracks. He didn't know what was waiting for him outside, and had no way to contact anyone for help should he need it. He would have to take the proper precautions before doing anything hasty. Looking around his room for something, anything with which to defend himself, he settled on a nearby broomstick. Satisfied, in one swift motion Ezra opened the door and wielded the broomstick in front of him with a flourish... before staring agape at the sight before him. There were several scenarios Ezra had managed to conjure up in the short time it took for him to rise from his bed and venture outside into the hallway. A cocoon-like bundle of cloth pathetically splayed across the floor was not among them. With eyebrow raised and defenses lowered, Ezra walked closer to the strange object that now occupied his interest. "Um... hi?" The caustic response came across as more of a demand for an explanation than a standard greeting. Still keeping his grip on the broom, Ezra slowly crept around the faintly human-shaped blob of blankets on the ground, his mind racing to put together a possible explanation for such an intrusion to an otherwise peaceful night while trying his best not to poke the object out of curiosity.


((I included a picture of what his sweater would look like!))