Awoken Comm

AUGUST 27, 2031

NEW YORK CITY, NY (August 18, 2031) - Residents of New York began stocking up on supplies and locking their doors on Thursday as a magic storm that battered Philadelphia, PA this week approached the city's outer limits.

Expected to hit Manhattan on Saturday, the little-understood phenomenon, named Storm Lethe, formed around six weeks ago near Atlanta, GA. It gained in severity as it made its way to the northeast, and is now rated as a category three storm - two steps below the highest level for both physical and metaphysical effects.

While the storms are known to mutate as they strengthen, residents of Philadelphia reported strange absences of memory over extended periods, which has made it difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain the precise effects.

Jon O'Shaughnessey, station chief of the Department of Metaphysical Security for the city, said in a press conference on August 16: "From what we can ascertain, the storm's effects appear to be a form of collective amnesia that is somehow triggered by sleep.

"Citizens have reported losing all memory of their days from when they awoke to when they fell asleep. These reports have been confirmed by DMS agents, who have been awake for multiple days through stimulants," he continued.

New York authorities warned residents that the reported effects of Lethe meant that it would be more important than ever to stay in their neighborhoods and avoid travel at all cost. They urged residents to remain calm, but to be vigilant, and to look after one another, preferably from behind the safety of their own doors.

Benjamin Locke, deputy station chief of the DMS in New York, said: "We understand that the effects of this storm are said to be particularly strange, but that, of course, may change when it actually hits the city."

Known as wyrdstorms, the disruptions are meteorological and metaphysical events that have emerged since the Cross-Dimensional Hainault-Gibbs Faultline first came into existence over 15 years ago. Their severity has lessened since the initial days of that event, referred to colloquially as 'The Fault', but they can still present a serious hazard to human life.

The effects of one storm mutated into a viral pathogen that killed thousands in Atlanta in 2027, while the Los Angeles Ruins were subjected to overlapping storms in 2029 that appeared to bring human thoughts to life - often with terrifying results.

Modern science is at a loss to predict when the storms will appear, or what effects they will manifest. Judging by the path of Storm Lethe's progress so far, New York residents should expect it to last for around one week from Saturday, said Eoin Murphy, a meteorologist with the New Associated Press.

Some Awoken humans have been known to be immune to these effects in the past, but Erin Kaspersky, an Awoken senator from Philadelphia, said that she did not remember the events of the storm and was therefore unable to comment.

( article under the cut )

Nothing like a long night to make you collapse in bed from exhaustion. Too bad my brain is still on.