EVENT ★ BACK TO THE FUTURE

[futurologists]

BENDED TIME As outlined in the OOC post, things start to slow down and grow quiet in Oska for a few days as the bugs crawl away and slowly disappear. But then the cocoons hatch. Fully grown temporal insects claw their way out of them, each about the size and temperament of raging bulls. They come out far more aggressive and eager to fight, are are willing to take on anything that moves with jaws and claws alike. Except, of course, another insect — when two of them encounter each other, they enter into a mating dance and then slip away into another dimension, leaving behind only the temporary ghosts of years gone by. If you can’t find a way to pierce that thick shell to take one down, better find another one to pair it off with instead. Just try not to get bit while leading them around and find yourself suddenly 5 years old again. The insects aren’t the only thing going on in Oska, though. As it turns out, unicorns really hate this adult form of the temporal insects, and will start kicking their way out of their stalls in the stables to get at the insects in an attempt to impale or trample them. According to Uruz they’re gallant warriors, but not always quite cut out to take on a bug, and can easily get themselves hurt or killed. She would really appreciate recruits taking a moment to recapture any stray unicorns they may come across and leading them back to the stables. Try to avoid any insects on the way, or you’ll find yourself suddenly fighting insect and irate unicorn, which is no one’s idea of a good time. The lake is getting more active, too. All the fighting has woken up something in the depths of it. Dark red tentacles sometimes creep up onto shore — and don’t worry, this time they don’t belong to a sea goddess. The tentacles don’t attack unless attacked, and can in fact be quite agreeable. Nodes along the length of them act as primitive eyes, which see well enough to interact with anyone nearby. They’re also all a little peckish. Toss a tentacle a bit of food and watch it curl around and ingest it using tiny mouths on the underside. It might even be willing to play a few rounds of fetch or slap a bug into the sky for you if you put it in a good mood with a morsel of food. The senior ALASTAIR members can be seen out and about and doing their part, too. Uruz and Dagny fight as a team, centaur and elf, sometimes fighting back to back and sometimes as mount and rider. They’ll stop and lend a hand, but the cats are a little less generous. Cherenkov and Crowley fight inseparably and use magic and science in deadly combination to ward off and destroy the bugs, but can usually only be seen darting on their way from one place to another. They have a lot of magitek to repair in the destructive wake of the insects. Pomarr, neither as senior nor as invested in actively picking off the bugs, offers shelter near a tentacle-free portion of the lake, calling down storms to toss away bugs for her and anyone in the vicinity. OOC NOTES This log spans a week ICly. Characters will find themselves beginning to understand each other again as the bugs first vanish, as the effects of the cats’ work on the magitek pays off. The translation problem will be completely fixed by the time the cocoons hatch. All of the bugs will have been killed or shipped off by the sixth day, leaving the last day before their departure to the next mission blissfully relaxing. Any temporally misplaced recruits will be back to normal by the last day, as well. A reminder to anyone still texting: the texting feature of magitek jewelry operates based on thought! There are no physical keyboards, recruits merely think the message that they’d like to send to another recruit.

Comments

bug off

[grunehexin]

[The only one who seems to be nearby, at the moment, isn't like to be much help- seeing as she's maybe eight years old, at most. Cowering in the corner of the room, the only thing that prevents her from screaming is the frozen jaw, muscles tight in fear, tying to scramble even further away, but.

That was impossible.

A whimper was all that slipped out, her unnaturally small, bandaged feet slipping usefully across the stone floor as the hunter's arrow slammed into the insect's eye and it reared back with a flailing cry.

What kind of nightmarewas this?]

[dishearten]

( he doesn't notice her, not at first. fair to say he's got plenty to distract himself with, after all, and scrambling away from the massive insect is more of a priority. still, survival is knowing his surroundings, and that means he can't ignore her presence for long, especially when he chooses to evacuate to a place not particularly far from her.

he doesn't like humans, just in general. he hasn't been very close to young ones often, both by preference and because no human would have let him, and that was more than fine with him. he can tell she's too young to protect herself, and her feet... he doesn't get a chance to look long, but it's clear that she can't walk well, if at all.

the Huntsman could run, and leave the girl behind. the monster would keen toward the weakest, and he'd at least make it out with his skin. if it were any other variety of human, he might have; one so young, not even he can leave behind. apparently he's not completely heartless. )

Stay back.

( when he moves in front of her, his cloak is practically enough for her to disappear in. hide in, if he doesn't make it through the confrontation with the monster she might just be able to stay lost in it long enough for the monster to give up and go on its way. as for how he intends to deal with it, well, that's a very good question. )

[grunehexin]

[She doesn't have the strength or the mind to reply, not now, not with the thing from nightmares still in sight. She was raised with the fear of werewolves in her, raised to fear the woods, but this-

She hadn't seen this in any of her texts, heard of it in any of her tales...

It's all she can do to obey, to stay back, behind his cloak, clutching her head and praying to wake up.

But it wasn't working.]

[dishearten]

( he's raised by wolves, he's used to fight or flight. and he's not so unused to protecting something unable to protect itself. granted he's never fought to defend a human before, yet she's not so different from a wolf pup. he may dislike most humans but this one hasn't had a chance to grow into the form he so dislikes. not even he can leave her behind, and it's an odd thing to realize about himself.

as the thing lunges forward, it throws plenty if it's weight into trying to run him through. no doubt it would have if he hadn't ducked out of its range. the claw gets trapped in the wall, and the creature struggles to free itself, and that gives him enough time to land a blow.

he's an archer more than anything else, but that doesn't mean he can't do a bit of damage with his knife. one hand pulls on one of the massive horns, one finds the damaged eye he's already injured. this time the blow can sink a little deeper, past the eye and to what stunted remains of a brain the thing has. it's disgusting and brutal, but the roach stops trying to struggle free of the wall, instead creaking into a heavy pile on the floor.

one down, though the huntsman would rather not have to encounter another.

he grunts as he tugs the messy dagger from the eye socket, wiping it on his cloak and tucking it back in his boot, before pulling back the fabric enough to check on the tiny human. she is quite tiny, now that he looks at her closely. ) Did it hurt you?

[grunehexin]

[The crone would have chastised her something fierce if she'd seen her looking away like this, cowering in the face of the supernatural when she was supposed to be a witch. But she can't help it, it isn't like the werewolves she's been acclimated to are anything like this...

She tries to imagine it's a werewolf and not this... insect, if only to make it seem less foreign, but the creature is screaming and attacking, and the... hunter? is fighting, and it's all she can do to clap a hand over her mouth and not scream.

But then it's over, and the floor shakes beneath her aching, newly bound feet, and she anxiously casts her eyes up towards her savior, cheek wet with tears. She couldn't be more than six or so, in a now dirty nightgown, feet and legs bandaged tightly up to the knee.

It registers too late that he's speaking to her, and she tries to find her voice, swallowing heavily.]

No...

[She's hurt, bones in her feet freshly broken and swollen, but that hadn't been the work of this temporal bug.]

[dishearten]

( she claims not to be hurt, and while he supposes its true that the insect didn't harm her, he knows what the bandages represent. she was hurt before the thing ever attacked. it makes a fair bit of sense, that the monstrous bug would go after something injured and weak. he's seen it time and time again in the wild. that might be the way of things, letting nature run its course...

yet he can't escape the feeling it would be wrong to leave a human so young and defenseless unprotected. it'd be like leaving a wolf pup to survive on its lonesome, the chance of survival would be quite slim with the current situation. it's not like him to care about the livelihood of humans, yet especially small ones haven't done much to deserve his ire.

where Graham would ask before acting, the huntsman simply acts. it's a little rude, but when you are raised by wolves you tend to miss out on social graces. he lifts the girl up with no warning he's going to do so, and the only mercy he grants is that he keeps her to the less bloody side of his clothing. )

We need to get somewhere these creatures aren't.

( no nonsense, no room for argument or conversation. that's pretty much what is going to happen, according to the Huntsman. )

[grunehexin]

[He smells familiar.

It's a strange thing to notice, when he suddenly picks her up, such a sudden change in their positions, but he smells like the werewolves. And even as terrifying a presence as the beasts could be, especially when she was summoned before them...

They protected her wood. Her village. Her.

So she clings to his shoulder, even if its just a dream, burying her chin into his shoulder so that she can still peek teary-eyed over his back, fingers digging in as tight as a child her size can manage.

Nodding.]

[dishearten]

( he's not an expert on emotions and reactions, not when it comes to humans. still, there are some that he can comprehend quite easily. emotions that aren't trained by society, the ones even animals exhibited, those he could see perfectly well. and it doesn't take a lot to notice the girl is frightened, be it of him or the insects hunting them or simply the situation she's in.

his grip gets a little gentler, even if it doesn't lessen much. he refuses to drop his tiny cargo now that he's decided he's going to mind it. her nod is good enough for him, and he moves with easy dexterity, trained silence of someone that's been taught to track, to limit his presence for the sake of a hunt and the sake of avoiding predators alike.

when he hears a scrabble of claws on the tile floor, he whistles softly, knowing without looking what was behind them. hopefully the wolf padding out from the shadows doesn't disturb his brother, who seems a little confused — while the Huntsman wonders why, he'll have to sort it out later. )

He'll take us somewhere safe. ( he forgets that he needs to relate such things out loud, conversation isn't something he keeps on with wolves, yet humans need that reassurance, and for once he cares enough to grant it. )