#interactions: winter

[blackcatxmagic]

Closed starter: Hubert ( @angstfactory ) Location: The streets of downtown Cardinal Hill

"Thank you," Winter said when the owner of The Twilight Cauldron handed him his money. His name was Copper, Winter knew that from his name tag, but he vaguely remembered that that was short for something else. Or was it? Was that a real memory, or was it getting mixed up with some of the others swirling around in Winter's head. Just as bad as not being able to remember so much was the fact that Winter couldn't even trust the things he thought he did remember. How could he be sure? There was just no way to be sure. So Winter thought maybe Copper was short for a longer name (though he couldn't imagine what), but trying to recall the memory more clearly was just depressing the hell out of Winter, so he put his money in his now empty satchel, thanked Copper again, and walked outside.

Would he ever get his memory back? Would it ever get better? Those were questions that Winter used to ask a lot, but these days, he was asking them less and less because he was pretty sure that he knew the answer. So Winter just tried to focus on another successful day of selling his honey. He'd gone to his usual venues around town, making his sales, and now Winter's satchel was empty but his wallet a hell of a lot fuller than it had been, not that that was why Winter did this. It was one of the happiest things in a life that had become rather bleak, sharing his honey with the people of Cardinal Hill.

As Winter walked out of the Twilight Cauldron, he looked back over his shoulder one last time, giving Copper another glance, trying one last time to try and remember his full first name, and it turned out this was the worst time to do so because Winter slammed right into someone else walking down the street. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" Winter exclaimed, falling to his knees; he was glad he'd sold the last of his honey already, worried that the jars would have broken in the collision. "Are you okay?" Winter asked, looking at the man he'd run into, and immediately Winter was hit with a sense of extreme déjà vu. This happened sometime, and immediately Winter knew what it meant. "We know each other, don't we?" he asked, sighing. Winter shook his head, and then he explained, "Maybe you know already, but...I sort of had an accident a little bit ago, and now I've forgotten a lot of things...including people. I'm sorry..." Winter's cheeks pinked, embarrassed by this whole incident.

[alfiexnorris]

Oh Crap [Alfie & Celine]

So as far as Alfie could tell he was only in his current predicament because of money. If he had been able to pay to go to the school, he wouldn’t have been a slave, so, the only logical thing for him to do was to make money. If he made money, he’d be able to pay for school on this hell island, and he wouldn’t have a bunch of roommates, he’d have his own flat, and he wouldn’t be a goddamn slave. Hence, to fix his situation, he needed to make money. Since the island didn’t seem to have a drug trade that he knew of, or at least a very open one, his next option was what he was better at anyways, stealing. 

Casing the place was easy, and getting in would be easy too, when he was sure no one was around Alfie slipped his lock picking tools from the backpack he kept over one shoulder, and after a few moments of fumbling that reminded him of when he was new to this he was able to get into the room and when he did- jackpot! The room was full of very sellable things. Walking in he closed the door behind him quietly. It was quiet, no one should be home, this was the time when most people were out and about so after taking off his backpack and putting it down on a chair he opened it and began to pick up items, inspecting them before deciding if they were good enough to take and sell, or if they were something that would be obviously missed. 

He was proud, luck had always been on his side, but with his pride came a level of stupidity he had never considered before, the kind of stupidity that didn’t let you know when your luck had run out as Alfie’s obviously had. 

@winters-lust​

[blackcatxmagic]

Closed starter: Annette ( @ritualove ) Location: Winter's house Response to prompt 5 and plot 6

Ever since seeing the figure in his bedroom, Winter hadn't been able to shake it. What the hell had that been? Maybe if this had been before his talk with Ori, even if this had been before he'd learned that there was at least enough magic in the world that he'd somewhat successfully used magic to make someone forget things (though not the intended target since it had backfired and affected him instead), then maybe Winter could have chalked it up to tiredness or something. But if Ori was to be believed - and Winter genuinely saw no reason for the other to lie to him - and combined with all the other weird things that had been happening in Cardinal Hill, well...Winter had to believe that it was real. And if it was, then Winter couldn't ignore the fact that something was very, very wrong. He just didn't know what.

Since the vision, Winter had spent some time journaling about the incident, wanting to make sure to write down all the details, not wanting to forget anything. If he didn't do it right away, Winter had learned that he would forget the finer details, and this felt too important to risk that. Once he was done, Winter sat in an armchair by the fire, looking out the window at the falling snow, trying to process everything. It was a lot though. As he was sitting there though, someone knocked on his front door, startling Winter. Who was making a house call during a blizzard? Right away, he thought he might know, so Winter smiled as he walked to the door, opening it to see if he was right.

[blackcatxmagic]

Closed starter: Forest ( @puddlexdeep ) Location: Tunes

Winter had been feeling a little bored, so he found himself in Tunes on a cold, winter day. The bees didn't take up nearly as much of his time in the cold weather as they did during bee season (which was basically the rest of the year), so he had much less to do these days. Even though he couldn't remember it, Winter felt like he used to have more to do in his off-time, had had more friends to spend time with, but now he led a pretty solitary life. Yes, there were friends like Annette and Stoker to hang out with, but the few that he had couldn't always be available. That was okay, to only have a few good friends, but Winter couldn't shake the feeling that things used to be different. It was like he had this whole other life inside of him, but Winter could no longer remember what that felt like; only a vague feeling remained. He hated that the most about losing so many of his memories, the fact that they seemed to almost be there, just out of grasp; Winter would have rather remembered nothing.

So now Winter was in Tunes just going through the music, no real aim in mind, just trying to kill time. It wasn't like he was looking for anything in particular, though he did find a record that his dad would like for Christmas, so it wasn't a total waste. But as he was looking through various artists, Winter glanced up from the rack he was at and saw them, stopping immediately. This happened sometimes: Winter would see someone he knew that he knew, but he couldn't remember the finer details. That feeling was even stronger now though: Winter looked at this person and felt his breath stop, so stunned by the sight of him. This couldn't be just a casual acquaintance, could it? Winter felt like he and this person had something binding them, something strong, though he was also aware of the fact that he could be imagining a relationship where there was none - his memory wasn't exactly reliable.

Still, Winter did something he never did when he had these feelings: he approached the person with the intention to ask. The closer he got to the other, the more Winter became convinced that he knew him, and finally he reached the stranger (stranger?) and asked, "I'm sorry...I know this is really weird, but...but do we know each other?" He realized that yeah, that was weird without context, so Winter quickly explained, "I've been having really bad memory issues, so I'm sorry if I forgot."

[blackcatxmagic]

Closed starter: Annette ( @ritualove ) Location: Hallowed Woods

Winter hadn't been much of a hiker before his friendship with Annette. Yeah, he'd been in the woods - pretty much everyone in Cardinal Hill had given how, well, woodsy it was in the surrounding areas - but he wasn't exactly an avid hiker. This wasn't something Winter remembered, but he could tell by how rough his first few hikes had been. While he was in good shape, Winter hadn't been prepared for the steep hills and rugged terrain the first time he'd gone out in the woods with Annette. But now he was becoming a bit more seasoned, and a hike like the one he and Annette were on right now was nothing for him these days. "I have to admit, I get why you like the woods so much," Winter told Annette as they hiked, looking around the trees. He had always thought that his friend's proclivity for hiking was similar to him and apiculture: it was something that helped center them. Everyone had their thing, and Winter's was beekeeping while Annette's seemed to be hiking.

But there was another reason Winter had asked Annette if she wanted to hang out besides just wanting to spend time with his friend. Ever since their conversation the other day about the windstorm, Winter had been thinking about what they'd talked about, and he'd had an uneasy feeling. It was like there was something hidden just below the surface, a sensation he often felt, but more so now. And then Winter had been hearing rumors, which he'd written down in the notebook he always carried with him immediately before he could forget, and that troubled feeling only grew. Hiking behind Annette, Winter looked at his notebook, seeing something else's he'd written to remind himself to ask, and he wondered, "Hey Annette...didn't you say you've seen some strange things out here?" Winter thought maybe that would be a good segue into talking about some of the things he'd been thinking about.

[alfiexnorris]

Long Time No See Alfie & Celine

An alien. Whoever decided that this was how an alien should dress should be shot. No judge, no jury, straight to executed. Also, whoever decided that Alfie’s biological reaction to being exposed and humiliated this way- they should be shot as well. Even if it wasn’t like he could control the fact that the humiliation was turning him on, and he was aching to be both ignored and touched. God this was so confusing. 

He handed out refreshments at his station, like a good slave, and was feeling far to embarrassed to be pissed off, though he was sure pissed off when he had been told to change into the costume and was dragged over to this station. The anger had worn off, he was just trying to get through the day and hoping no one asked anything about the... special equipment he had for the day. 

Heaving out a sigh he handed someone their refreshment and kept his eyes on the table, cheeks burning as he tried to adjust the stupid “Costume” over his stiff self. It wasn’t until another person approached the table that he looked up and his face turned even redder when he saw a familiar face. “Heyya,” he said, somewhat chagrined. “Ah- Long time no see, yeah?” 

@winters-lust​

[blackcatxmagic]

Closed starter: Paige ( @pilferedpromqueen ) Location: Serene Scissors

It was happening again. Winter was sitting in the chair at Serene Scissors waiting to get a haircut, and it was happening. Normally Winter went to Main Street Barber Shop for his haircut, not for any particular reason, just because he'd been going there for a long time (and actually remembered going there for a long time), so it was familiar, comforting in its own way. People tended to take familiarity for granted, Winter had learned, and he'd been the same. Not anymore though - now Winter understood the value of it. But they'd been really busy when he went today, and Winter was so busy the next few days, so he decided to stop in Serene Scissors for a cut instead. And now he was sitting in the chair, looking at the stylist and realizing he knew her but couldn't actually remember how. This was a common occurrence for Winter, but that didn't mean he enjoyed it.

As the stylist put the cape across his front, Winter wondered if he should say anything. What if she remembered him too and thought it was weird he wasn't mentioning it? Though Winter supposed that could go both ways - she could bring it up too. Still, Winter felt rude not addressing it, so finally he cleared his throat and asked tentatively, "Sorry, but...do we know each other? Like did we maybe go to school together or something? I know it hasn't been that long, but...I can't quite remember."

[blackcatxmagic]

Closed starter for Mags ( @veilxstars ) Location: The Maplewood Inn (Mags's apartment)

After Mags had come into The Cozy Quilt, Winter had been working overtime on her order. It felt vitally important to get it down as quickly as possible, even without Mags emphasizing it that much when they had talked about the order. Similarly, it had felt important to get the order exactly right, and for days Winter felt like if he wasn't sleeping or tending to his bees, he was working on the woman's quilt, doing it exactly to her specifications. And something strange had happened when he did, something he didn't usually feel when he worked on quilts. It was like there was a charge in the air, like his fingers sparked against the quilt as he worked on it, and Winter didn't quite know how to explain that. All he knew was it felt like he really had imbued this quilt with protection; Winter hoped that was true.

Mags had only given her address, no phone number, which made sense. She couldn't have talked on the phone anyway. Of course, Winter could have just waited for Mags to come back to the shop for her quilt, but with how urgent her request had seemed, Winter wanted her to have it right away. So after folding the quilt neatly and putting it into a bag, Winter headed over to the Inn. Since Winter didn't drive anymore, he had to walk, but that was okay; he liked the crisp fall air, and it helped keep him in shape, walking everywhere. Besides, the Inn wasn't terribly far from The Cozy Quilt anyway. With the bag slung over his shoulder, Winter headed to deliver the order.

Once at the Inn though, Winter wasn't sure what to do. Mags wouldn't hear him knock on the door or ring the doorbell, so...how would she know that he was here? Maybe he should have just waited for her to return. But he was there now, and Winter thought that maybe Mags had some sort of system worked out. Actually she might not even live alone. So with that in mind, Winter knocked on the door and waited, hoping Mags would somehow know he was there.