Wordwhirlwind

Be warned, citizen. You are entering an info-hazard area.

— Scrum

Wind in Scrunk is the amalgamation of a dozen or so different ideas of what wind could be, brow-beat into cooperating. As can be expected, it doesn't quite behave itself at all times and one of the most common manifestation of Scrunk's strange winds is the Wordwhirlwind phenomena. It can happen anywhere and at anytime across Scrunk, with letters and runes weaving through gales and paragraphs striking the world at hurricane speeds. Though it is mostly harmless, more than a few Scrunk citizens have ended up with some inappropriate word plastered across their face.

What Is It?

Wordwhirlwind is a weather in Scrunk where bits and pieces of ideas are picked up by passing gusts and take the shape of letters, numbers or even words. These mix together and under the right conditions gain strength to become a full Wordwhirlwind, a howling storm of wind and words. Wordwhirlwind are visible from a distance, with all the letters imprinted into the wind swirling through it like tiny inkblots. Particularly nasty Wordwhirlwind are black with ink.

As the wind impacts with matter, it leaves the imprints behind - words, phrases, even entire paragraphs become splattered against stone or metal, or some unfortunate face. Fragment of ideas, concepts or stories spread out as the storm spreads.
These imprints are harmless and fade with time, but most citizens of Scrunk avoid Wordwhirlwinds when they can - just in case.

These sentence-storms continue either until the wind-ideas have expanded all their energy or until the Cleaners arrive to wrangle them back into behaving.

Scrum enjoys watching Wordwhirlwinds pitter-patter letters against the world, provided it is safely behind something.

Why?

Wordwhirlwind form when the component ideas that form wind in Scrunk become excited about something. They pass over almost every part of the Scrunk (even space has "solar-winds", of sorts) and so they come into contact with a wide range of different concepts. When they begin picking up letters and words, the ideas sometimes start to read and talk about them. On occasion, they pass over something really interesting and that's when the trouble starts.

The ideas and creatures that make up Scrunk wind have notoriously short memories and attention spans, which can exacerbate the problem.
The same concept can get them riled up again and again, making some areas of Scrunk inclined to storms of Wordwhirlwind. Different configuration of component-ideas have different 'favorites', and so different days bring different storms.

Wordwhirlwinds are wholly unpredictable as to when they'll appear or how strong they will be. They aren't terribly common, but occur often enough to be well-known and well-moaned-about hazard, particularly in areas where they happen frequently. The Cleaners never let them go on for too long, though Scrum has been known to request that they let the storm continue without interference from time to time.

by Rock Cafe.info

Component Ideas

Air and wind are never the same in Scrunk, but change every day as different discarded concept of what they are or could be take turns being wind in the pocket-dimension.
No one knows exactly how many different of these component-ideas there are, except for possibly Scrum.
Below are some examples.
The Breath
'Wind is the movement made by gods breathing' was the basis for this idea, but its creators abandoned it and it was banished to Scunk. It enjoys natural scenery, long drifts on the beach and dogs. It hates dystopias and avoid cybernetic creatures as much as it can.

World-wide Elemental
'Wind is a single entity of vast proportion, a world-wide living thing' was a promising start that never got anywhere. It rotted away in a stagnant world until it was transported to Scrum for storage and archival. It has a terrible sense of humor and talks to much, but is at heart a decent sort.

Categories

Wordwhirlwinds' strength depend on how excited the component ideas become. Cleaners have their own, clinical distinction but most citizens of Scrunk use the following:
Word
The mildest kind, often spawned by memetic hazards. The component ideas latch on to a single word of small idea, but it quickly burns itself out as their attention drifts. Word-class storms only last for minutes and at most half an hour.
Sentence
Sentences last longer and spread further than words. It is also far less coherent, with the letters and numbers of the sentence or sentences the storm has picked up getting scattered across wildly. Sentence-class storms can last for hours.
Paragraph
This is where the Cleaners get involved. Paragraphs last for days and rage across worlds. Entire cities can be splattered with fragments of words and most citizens stay well inside if they can help it.
Story

THIS INFORMATION IS CLASSIFIED. MOVE ALONG, CITIZEN.

— Cleaner A14-C