Young Writers Society

Ky didn’t move for several long minutes, instead opting to rub her face and take deep breaths and decompress as much as was possible without actually relaxing. She had no guarantee he wouldn’t come back. That wasn’t likely, but it also wasn’t guaranteed that he wouldn’t change his mind and want to come have the last word. She couldn’t afford to let her guard down until she was certain he wouldn’t.

She also clearly couldn’t leave yet. She had no idea where he was going and no desire whatsoever to run into him again tonight. If he was going to his room, she needed to allow ample time to be sure he’d be up the stairs before she attempted to go to hers. And, well, if he’d stopped to take a break in the hall to rest after that tense interaction, she didn’t want to run into him there, either.

Gaius resolved to head to the library to do some research. Ky definitely wouldn't be in there. He started for the stairs.
At that moment the entire Keep shifted. It jolted, just once, but hard enough to send Gaius crashing to the ground. He lay still for a moment, feeling the stones under his fingers as they reverberated with the aftershocks. His leg was shooting pains up his body to the point where he nearly curled up to try and make it stop. He was trembling...what had just happened? What was going on?
Gaius lay there for another moment, panting, then slowly, agonizingly dragged himself into a sitting position. The gods? Were they awake or was that only the start? A warmup? He prayed it hadn't begun yet. It was too early.

Ky yelped in terror and jumped up so fast she knocked her chair over and then tripped over it as she stumbled backwards. What the hell?

What happened? What was she supposed to do? Probably pick up the chair, to start, but she didn’t. She glanced at the table. Should she go under it? She looked up at the ceiling and imagined the entire Keep coming crashing down on her head. The table would do nothing to protect her.

She had to… had to… to…

Go outside? No.

She definitely didn’t want to face whatever had done this.

Maybe go up to the top floor so that when or if the Keep collapsed she’d be on the top of the stack rather than the bottom? She didn’t know.

She needed to… go find someone to tell her what to do.

She bolted into the hallway.

(Wow Ky hasn't done earthquakes before huh)

Gaius was still sitting there. He tried to rise as he saw Ky, eyes wide. "That wasn't just me then?" he demanded.

(She has not haha)(and she would panic even if she had haha I started crying the first and only time I was in one and it was incredibly mild and I still get roasted for it haha)

She let out a pained whimper, all her language skills scared out of her, and looked around fearfully.

(I've been in a couple that were very mild; I only remember one that shook the house badly enough for me to stop and freak out.)

He managed to get up. "I...I don't think they was it. We would know if it had already happened. I need to send scouts, though...find out where that came from..." Gaius rubbed his head; it had taken a nasty knock when he fell.

(Fair enough. Mine was in a sketchy ass hotel in Mexico that I was already uneasy being in haha they had us on the fourth floor and on the way up I saw a ton of cracks in the mortar between the bricks. And then there was a slight tremor and sometimes I have health issues that make me shake so I thought it was a me thing but then it didn’t stop so I look over at my friend who was rooming with me and go “do you feel that?” And she goes “what?” And I go “the shaking” and she goes “…nothing is shaking. Are you okay—?” And before she finished the beds started shaking violently and I started crying haha it lasted five seconds tops and we went downstairs and it was anticlimactic and fine and they comforted me until I felt better and then were like … *smirk*)

“If… what happened?” She managed.

(Oh god)

He shook his head. "It shouldn't have. Shouldn't have happened yet." He limped toward the stairs. "They'd be early."

(Haha yeah. Everyone thinks it’s hysterical how scared weather makes me lol which, like, fair. I’m very hard to ruffle in general which is apparently infinitely annoying lol like I wasn’t scared when our fucking boat literally sank xD shook off almost drowning as soon as I caught my breath, etc. and then I burst into tears the first time it thunders too loud haha)

Gaius was making no sense at all. She followed after him urgently, suddenly forgetting the fact that they were not friends right now. “…what? Who? … the trolls?” Gods. Were there more?

(Homie I want so badly to recommend Magnus Archives right now because it's one one specific fear entity that caters to fear of weather)

"The gods." He started up the stairs, grunting in pain. "I need to check on my family and then I need to get the scouts."

(Haha gosh… those are horror tho, aren’t they? Am a wimp lol my other Achilles heel lol)

That was even worse. And did nothing to relieve her panic. But Aleth had left her with the ability to function when panicked, once the initial jolt was past. “What-what do I do?”

(Yeah they're horror. I'm not generally a horror type person either but they're really great and start out tame enough, just uneasy feeling. They're sort of like campfire stories? Something you would tell to spook someone at a sleepover. And the plot later on is SO good.)

"I don't know." He didn't, for once, have any idea what to do other than make sure his family was safe.

(Ooh… I may check it out then and see if I’m too big of a wimp lol)

What? No. No, that was unacceptable. She was going to follow him around until someone told her what to do.

"Check on Tadaaki," he suggested after a moment.

“Aaki!” She’d forgotten anyone existed except the two of them standing here. She had the vague concept of the Ashes and the scouts but they didn’t process in her panic. But her friend. Her best friend. And his family. She had to go make sure they were okay.

She was a step below him on the left, and instantly slipped past him and sprinted up the next three-four-five steps before she caught herself. She was being rude as fuck. She caught herself and slowed as she took the next step, the momentum carrying her forward. She thought that was enough to be able to turn around, but it wasn’t, and she ended up stumbling two more up, backward, before she caught her balance on the landing.

“Sorry! Are you, uh, okay?” She gave a questioning double thumbs up. She couldn’t just abandon him on the stairs. She felt incredibly ableist right now even though she wasn’t trying to be. She needed to control herself. Help him if he needed it. “You good?”