Walls of Glass in Rain

When the rain starts to fall, as it has a tendency to do often, the walls go up. A thin metal dome, just enough to keep it out, covering the town within. But the rain still thunders and they can hear it, and it drives them to distraction. So, up goes the cloth covering. Thick and muffling it covers the sound of the rain, absorbing it to where the townsfolk don't even remember it was raining. In the worst hurricanes though, even that cloth is not enough. Then there is the glass. Premade solid glass dome covering the entirety of the town and some outlying areas. Because if it is good to cover one it is good to cover all isn't it? Keep the insides safe.

But oh, sometimes the outsiders pull at the coverings. When it is just the metal they can speak through it and be heard, and hear to some extent what goes on inside. When the cloth is on, the words get absorbed as if they never existed. Any effort to conduct communication is so garbled and muffled, both ways that is may as well be lost. The glass is even worse. Soundproofed. And the worst is there, the town forgets that it even has it up sometimes, they can see through it to what they want to see and do not have to hear or feel the reality.

So occasionally force is tried, the cover being ripped away, walls being assaulted. This is the only method that goes through the glass covering, thick and solid and all-encompassing as it is. The panic in the streets as the cracks begin to appear is overwhelming, frightening. They sometimes prepare to surrender, and other times run to patch the cracks with thicker stuff. If the assault is lifted early enough, they may still succeed, leaving the walls cracked but thicker than before, and it will take longer for the town to take them down. But if it succeeds... when the glass crashes in and the damage is done and they are open to the elements and the harsh realities... Ah, it is rare, but it is the only time they can feel the rain on their faces.