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 Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2025 8:09 pm
Quote: Catching Wind (14) : The winter wind has never been gentle, but this is something else entirely. Snow whips around you with sudden force, rushing in sharp bursts that feel less like weather and more like someone. Sometimes it's strong enough to feel like a person is colliding with you--brushing past your shoulder, nudging your back, grabbing your wrist or ankles--or even wrapping around you entirely, like unseen arms. Sometimes it’s only a light, fleeting touch--maybe even comforting, but most of the time the gusts feel insistent, intrusive, even aggressive, as though the wind itself is following you with purpose. No matter how many times you look, no one is ever there, just the swirling snow and the unsettling sense that something unseen is trying to get your attention...for better, or worse. Shulang liked winter on good days. Normally, he was a summer man, enjoying the warm sun and perhaps visiting the pool, if he were in a more confident mood. But winter also had its good sides: warm drinks, roaring fires, and an excuse to wear clothing that completely covered his body without needing to worry about if he stood out too much for wearing something long when it was too warm outside. He preferred keeping himself wrapped up as much as possible. He deeply valued his privacy, and that included his very body itself. So the wind currently trying to strip him was starting to piss him off. His scarf kept getting unraveled, and the wind seemed to be trying to yank his boots off, curling around his ankles, and then his wrists. A glove did indeed fly off and he cursed himself for not getting the more expensive kind that would fit his slim, long hands better. He began to chase down the glove, only to be bowled into a wall by a cross wind. "Fuuuuck," he growled to himself as he straightened and shook his head. Where'd my damn glove blow off to?
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2025 8:39 pm
It was definitely an intensely windy day. Ashe was glad for the thick leggings under his cute little skirt, not just because they were keeping him warm, but also because it probably would have been more than a bit awkward otherwise. He was also glad he'd decided to tuck his hair into a bun for this little run to get a nice coffee, because even if it left his ears a little cold over his scarf, it meant that it wasn't constantly getting blown into his face.
The wind seemed especially...weird, today. Strong, yes, but also...playful? In the way that people usually anthropomorphized it for children's movies. But it really did feel like it was tugging at his clothes and pushing him along. Like there was some kind of Greek-style wind spirit that was having a laugh at his expense.
And then he got smacked in the face with a glove, and jolted, reaching up to catch it just in time to see a man with a single glove on--so probably the owner--stumble into a wall in a way that looked very...pushed. Ashe winced, and then jogged forward.
"Hey, are you okay?" He asked, gently.
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2025 9:00 pm
Shulang's immediate response was to get snappy, angry and embarrassed at the fact that someone was witnessing him get buffeted around by the wind. He chose instead to take a deep breath and try to push past the initial burst of anger and shame. He didn't want to be seen as the angry, miserable ball of nothingness he was for... far too many years of his life. He took a second deep breath and smiled awkwardly. "As okay as I can be," he said with a small huff. "The wind would really like it if it could take my clothes off, apparently." As if to prove his point, his scarf suddenly flipped up and smacked him across the face.
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2025 9:08 pm
Ashe snorted, holding out the glove he'd caught in a conciliatory sort of way.
"The wind does seem...remarkably handsy today," he said, with a bit of a laugh. "But as long as you're not hurt. I'm guessing it took this off you?" He had to admit, he was a little curious about what had the wind behaving in such an...interesting way, but, well, there probably wasn't an answer for it.
There were so many weird things happening in Destiny City all the time, but especially during the holidays, that Ashe had to just believe this was one of those things. He would have said that this was harmless, but honestly, he couldn't really consider it such when it had clearly at least tried to hurt someone.
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2025 9:42 pm
Shulang's relief was probably pretty palpable at the appearance of his glove in the stranger's hand. "Yes," he said, sighing as he gently took it from the other man's hands. "Thank you for catching it. I should buy some better ones, if the wind will keep acting up like this." He tugged it on his poor, freezing hand, and then rubbed them together, trying to generate some warmth for the glove to capture and hold close to his nearly frostbitten fingers. "I do love living in Destiny City, but sometimes I wish I lived somewhere slightly less strange. Like in a place where the wind doesn't seem to think I'd look better naked," he grumbled, mostly to himself, and not expecting the stranger to either hear him or respond to him. Not that the wind should really think at all, in the first place, but he was fairly certain there was some kind of life within the wind. Something overly playful and certainly overly annoying, to boot.
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2025 9:53 pm
"To be fair, this is pretty weird behavior for the wind," Ashe said, with a little sigh. "But better gloves might be worth it just for the sake of not freezing your fingers off."
Still, at least this was someone who mostly liked their mutual home. That was nice.
"Mm, I was away for a few years and just came back in January, and I hadn't realized how much I'd missed all the little bits of strangeness until they were back in my life. This really is a special place, even if it's special in a strange and sometimes unpleasant way." He wondered, briefly, if the man in front of him knew the full story of Destiny City's weirdness. Ashe supposed there was no way to know.
"I'm Ashe, and I know these are weird circumstances, but I was planning to get a coffee at a little place not far from here--do you want to get some warm drinks and see if the wind dies down? Unless you've got somewhere to be urgently."
It'd be nice to sit and talk with someone before he went back to his apartment, at least.
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2025 9:56 pm
Dunnottar froze for a moment at the invitation. Was that... only a friendly gesture, or something more? He supposed he would know if the man asked for his number... ...And, if he were honest with himself, perhaps.... getting out there wouldn't be so bad. Even if it went nowhere, at least he could be friendly with someone for a little while. "I don't see why not," he decided. "Thank you. I'm Shulang."
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