The Universe's Mixer

The day was crystal clear. Warm, even, considering what time of year it was. Kids were happily running around the park wearing their shorts and maybe a light sweater. Flowers had bloomed unseasonably. Bees and butterflies busied themselves while birds sang.

To top it all off, in a nice grassy area some picnic tables popped up. They were all covered in food and drink. A big banner unfurled across a nice space that could be seen from the road. It touted "Annual City Picnic" in bold black lettering.

After some research Susan had been able to locate a proper practice range for archery and decided since the weather was nice some practice was in order. With bow and arrow along with her quiver she looked to be a simple student but not many knew the truth, this time period was still most confusing. *Especially the way people treat each other, there is such a thing as being nice* she mused to herself as she walked. That was when she spotted the great coat passing her way, the coat being common among the RAF in her time period. "Excuse me sir!" she called to the older man,"I could not help but notice your coat, Royal Air Force by chance?" hoping he was also from her time.

[see here for the guest list]

Ice sculptures: check
Roast pig: check
String quartet: check
Candelabra: check

Although Vandal stood in the castle he'd known for around a thousand years, it was hardly recognizable. The cold, spare remnants of history were obscured by lavish party decorations. Vandal himself was dressed in his courtly attire, cravat and all. He paced a little impatiently, having completed preparations early and now waiting for the guests to arrive fashionably late.

He pulled a PDA out of his pocket to check the time, and waved to one of his staff. "Tell Dino to open the drawbridge. We are officially open."

Today after a session with her tutor Susan was on a mission: to find more stable housing that would take a young woman not from this time period. So as she walked the streets with quiver in hand (passing for a traveling Ren Faire actress to most) she looked over the addresses she had been given. Most of the houses seemed to be nice but something felt wrong, either there was too many older men (not the age of her brothers or Caspian) or something was just amiss. So she kept looking at the rest of the list as she walked.

"This one looks nice" landing outside a boarding house for young ladies and deciding to come back for a look after a cup of tea at the near by cafe. So there she was, looking average but very out of place at the same time as she went over notes from the afternoon of looking at places to live.

Jack was rather ambivalent about Valentine's Day. He liked it, because when he had a long term significant other -long term meaning a couple weeks, he received gifts and Jack liked receiving gifts. However, when Jack was painfully alone, as he was now, it was just depressing to watch the slew of straights wander about gushing over chocolates, candies and shades of rouge. Maybe it was because he was lonely, but he stood out on the street corner, looking out over the City with a certain degree of frown on his features.

This, to be plain about it, sucked. Valentine's Day alone sucked. But Jack would endure, he always had before. He'd just order some flowers, have them delivered to himself with a mystery note attached and make it look to all around him like he was involved.

He didn't feel it at first. The shift in his emotions and a sting in his heart. He didn't notice it until his eyes caught sight of a young girl crossing is path. "Hello," he said, trying to draw her attention. Something was off, something was not right.

[Open to whoever might find themselves at the City hospital in the snow]

Rincewind had happily put on his new uniform while humming to himself in his bunk on Serenity. He had heard from overhearing that this had belonged to the ship's doctor before, who now worked at the hospital.

"It would be great to meet him at the hospital!" Rincewind thought to himself. "Maybe Dr. Cameron knows him. She's so pretty and smart. I hope I don't knock her over again. Or anyone else. Maybe I should take the staff along just in case. No, I don't need magic here, especially not at the hospital. I have to get the hang of how everything operates here. I mean, without imps or anything! I was right all along, there is a better way to do things than magic. Most of the time."

He smiled broadly and pushed the button to walk out the cargo doors.

And stopped short. His uniform did not come with winter boots, and the snow was definitely falling.

"Crud. Bulls bollocks. Luggage!"

The Luggage reluctantly creaked over from the engine room, where it had been trying unsuccessfully to romance the machinery. In short order, Rincewind had a fur coat, fur-lined waterproof boots and a fuzzy hat. What winter outfit would be complete without a fuzzy hat? He bet even the vampires in Uberwald wore fuzzy hats in the winter.

The wind was powerful but Rincewind was determined not to be late (well, too late) for his first real day of work in this City world place. He was ok not doing much of anything at the Unseen University, because let's face it, the UU owed him. He did all the dirty work, taking tourists to the end of the Disc (literally) and keeping interesting times from turning into dead times.

But this hospital, this seemed like meaningful work! He hoped he didn't screw up and get kicked out really soon. He didn't have high hopes he would manage never to get kicked out, but he hoped it would at least take a while. Hey, maybe he'd actually prove to be good at this technology and saving people's lives thing!

He pushed his way through the snowy parking lot and coughed as the sliding doors slowly slid open. He had made it. Rincewind hoped the heat was working. He quickly presented himself at the front desk and was assigned to helping whoever was on clinic duty.

Ok, he could do that. Breathe, Rincewind, breathe.

The City wasn't too up to speed on a lot of things that humans required in their daily lives. It liked order, and it liked rules. It also liked bending things around to fit whatever it wanted it to that particular day. But one thing that it was very sure of was that kids needed to go to school. In order for kids to go to school, they had to have teachers.

The concept of parent/teacher conferences was something that it had come across recently. It didn't quite grasp the idea that the parents were supposed to talk to the teachers and find out what their kids were doing, and if they were passing or having problems. It just thought that it was a time to get everyone in one room. Thus, it thought, it could be the same thing to have student/teacher conferences and accomplish the same thing.

It sent out a flier to all the school-aged kids that it had brought in as well as the adults he knew did teaching things within the City's walls. It hadn't previously realized how many of them it had collected, seeing the list of names, it became a little excited. Not to mention a little bit proud of itself. It was furthering the education of the youths!

There was absolutely no consideration to the fact that it was snowing very hard outside, and very few if any of these people had a vehicle. All it cared about was getting them all in the same room.

( OOC )

After taking her leave of Liandra Susan went to locate the free hostel the older woman had spoken of. She figured at worst it would give her a safe place to recover from her cold while making more stable plans in terms of housing and maybe school or a job. While walking she had bound a small pamplet that solved a few questions but caused more in her mind, was this place like the wardrobe or something like the White Witch?

"Just wish I knew where they were" she finally whispered under her breath, speaking of her brothers and sister plus Narnia friends. "Oh Aslan, please send some wise counsel that can help me understand" she whispered once more. As she walked she looked for the hostel and at the same time was trying to keep the fact she felt as miserable as she looked from showing.

The month she had spent on the rooftop shooting arrows into mobs of zombies had taken its toll via the too thin frame and her cold along with lack of sleep. But as she slipped the quiver and her bow back over her shoulder all Susan needed was a safe haven to recover and maybe a friend...

Susan had been trapped on the rooftop for what felt like weeks by now. She had become a roof based fighter via her bow and arrows, shooting into mobs of zombies to help others escape. It was something the young queen knew she had to do and then it went quiet again. She had not slept much since landing in The City and to make matters worse she was also getting sick. It would turn out to just be a nasty cold but anyone who ventrued past the roofttop she was holed up on would only find a young teen girl that looks as miserable as she feels. For now she held onto her bow and arrows, wrapped up in a blanket she had found a few nights before.

Susan Pevensie was offically both sick and miserable in more ways than one.

Susan Pevensie had found herself in a dark alley with only her bow and arrows, but she knew something had to be amiss. "Feels like the White Witch" as she slung the quiver onto one shoulder and ventured beyond the safety of the alley (which she saw was behind some sort of place selling food). She only knew this place was not her native England or even Narnia but she would not let anyone see how scared she actually was. The young queen moved with a sense of purpose as she slipped one arrow into her bow, having a weird feeling she would be back in battle.

Her feeling was correct.

Within a few short minutes Susan was ankle deep in a battle against zombies, something she had never seen before. But something in her knew one thing, she had to find someplace safe and fast! But anyone could see the young woman was a crack shot, abet with a semi unusual choice of weapons of course. As she dove into a doorway to fire off another shot she found herself in a sporting goods store. "Well I do need to restock the arrow supply" finding just enough cash to restock her quiver with her choice of arrows (complete with red feather tips). As she restocked she sent a few more arrows flying right into various zombies and dove into another entryway. This was kinda fun but getting very old very fast. But the music blaring from a nearby radio gave her just enough time to slip away and send a few more arrows flying in the process.

The whole time she was thinking of one thing,*Oh Aslan! Point me to a haven of some sort! Point me to the local version of the How!*