Alex was not a morning person. She was also not a 5 am person. To her, there was all the difference in the world between the two. So when she groggily turned over to stare at the clock on the her bedside table, trying to find an angle that let her see past her plushy dog and flower vase, she stared at where the clock [i]should[/i] have been – yet she saw no blue neon glow. The banging continued on her window, and did nothing to stop her increasing annoyance. She realised after an entire minute of staring at her table that the clock was, in fact, covered by a book. That’s right. The glow from the clock always kept her awake, so she always did that. Trying to drown out the noise which would undoubtedly induce a migraine at any moment, she reached over to pull down the book.

She couldn't seem to reach it, and her tired stupor meant that she managed to get everything [i]except[/i] the book. She accidentally shoved Kujo, her plushy toy dog, to the ground, along with several coins, and almost her flower vase, but the book just always seemed right out of reach. The frustration grew, and in a ditch effort, lunged forward. Not only did she get the book, she managed to hit literally everything else on the table. With a crash that was drowned out by the storm, her lamp, alarm clock, flower vase, small pile of books, wallet, water bottle and smaller plushy toy cat-- Sir Fluffens, Esquire -- all smashed into the floor. Alex laid there for several seconds, trying to fully comprehend what just happened.

“Eh?” was all she vocalised, before groaning inwardly. With the energy of a sloth, she slowly crept out of bed and glanced at the 5:27 on her fallen clock. With another groan, she started the arduous task of putting everything back – everything was arduous to her at 5 in the morning. After she completed that, she stumbled to her wardrobe and pulled out her sleeping gown, wrapping it around herself and moving to the window. Pulling aside the curtains, she grimaced at the window visibly rattled in front of her, as if it almost threatened to outright rip off. Thankfully, the glass held, but she wasn't sure the same held true for the town. The weather had been fine the past couple days, so what happened? Just a freak change of weather? Well, obviously. What else would it be? On this thought, she turned and collapsed back on her bed, finding no more merit in contemplating the intricacies of the town's erratic weather.

Except the damn window kept rattling. And she was already awake. With another groan, she pushed herself up, and questioned when she last had to wake up this early. There wasn't much point to it, so she always slept it. It helped that her job entailed evening work. She sluggishly moved downstairs, being careful not to stumble in her early morning stupor, and moved through the hallway to the living room / kitchen.

“—it’ll be a [i]lovely day[/i], they said. It’ll be a [i]sunny[/i] day, they said,” the annoyed voice of her father from the kitchen. “Winter would just [i]disappear[/i] as if it were never there, they said.” She moved into the living room to see her parents sitting at the couch, watching the TV. “Hm, yes, I can see where they were coming from.” The room had a full view of their garden through a large window, so the effect of the wind outside was easily seen.

“Mornin’,” she tiredly said, moving to the pantry to get some cereal.

“Ye’ Gods, I didn't think it was biologically possible for you to wake up this early,” her father remarked, actually having to speak louder to be heard over the roaring thunder.

“Eh? What? I don’t think that’s a thing.” She blinked, confused.

“Don’t pay any attention to-” her mother started, but was interrupted by the single loudest boom of thunder she had ever experienced. The electricity shut of completely, the lights turning off and television going black, and the three of them just stewed in silence as the world suddenly and randomly got a whole lot quieter. Her mother broke the silence. “Huh.” Back to silence, save for Alex’s quiet munching of her cereal.

“Well, that’s done. I’m off to bed,” her father swiftly said as the conversation ran dry, her mother nodding in response. Both of them left the room, leaving her to contemplate if getting breakfast was the wisest choice. Now she felt like she couldn't go back to bed at all.

Well, she had until evening before she actually had to do anything, so set herself to just walk around town for some sort of idea. Finishing her cereal, she changed out of her pajamas and dressing gown, and into a long-sleeved shirt with a grey wool jacket and scarf, and a pair of jeans. She made she to do herself up with make-up, and to check that any traces a beard was not there -- all in all, make sure that nobody would be confused on what gender she was. She left the house and started walking to the general direction of the bar – she wanted to see if the storm actually did any damage. She hoped not.