epidemiology | EVENT ★ LOST IN TRANSLATION

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EVENT ★ LOST IN TRANSLATION

RETURN TO OSKA

Upon arrival in Oska, new and returning recruits alike will find that something strange is going on. Any attempts to communicate with someone who doesn't speak the same language as you will be just that -- like you don't speak the same language. Let's hope everyone is good at charades, because you're going to be out of luck for a full day.

On the second day, a text comes across -- surprisingly intelligible to everyone. Is it over? Well . . .

crowley:
Hello, Audentes. We are currently experiencing magitek difficulties, as you may have guessed already. Temporal insects have arrived with our latest arrivals, and as you may imagine, we have had our paws full.

cherenkov:
We are working out how to mitigate the pest problem for good. For now, please put your unpleasantly huge feet to use and stomp them out. Or other such methods.

crowley:
We have created a quick patch to facilitate text-based communications, but verbal translation will continue to be down until the insects are exterminated. Thank you for your patience.

It's not over.

TEMPORAL INSECTS

This invasive species has worked its way in through the rifts along with the newest batch of arrivals, and information on them is available in the library (provided you can read the language it's written in!). It seems they behave like locusts, living quietly within the space between rifts for many years until their numbers suddenly balloon and they begin to swarm in search of food.

These bugs move fast and pack a nasty bite, but are unarmored and easily squished. Each one is about the size of a football, and leaves a little tell-tale slime trail that makes it easy to track. They can cling to any surface, and won't hesitate to leap onto attackers and bite if they feel threatened. One can take a decently sized but non-lethal bite out of someone, but a number of them together will pose a real danger. If punctured or squished they tend to explode into moderately acidic goo that can cause caustic burns if not immediately washed off.

They are attracted to any area of high temporal energy, which can be literally any surface, corner, or point on or within the castle and its grounds. As they begin to feed they cause temporal distortion in the area. This manifests as the immediate area seeming to flicker backwards and forwards through time. An insect gnawing at a table leg in the dining area, for example, might cause the area to stutter between years and years of dinner parties, ghostly attendants of all fashions and species appearing and disappearing as they enter and leave the affected area.

An onlooker can't interact with temporal distortions directly, but if the insect is left to its own devices, it will eventually eat through all of the temporal energy and render the immediate area gray, frozen, and completely inert. It's highly recommended you kill or otherwise chase off an insect before it manages this, as it can do irreversible damage to a world.

For affected Oska locations, please see this post.

OOC NOTES

The translation errors will continue through the rest of the month. For more information or to ask questions, please check the plotting post here!

New bounties are available in Oska!

Please remember to fill out your squidge success form before August 31, 23:59 UTC! Filling the form out is mandatory, even if you do not have the 3 squidge threads. You will not pass AC if you do not fill out the form. Characters who have been accepted on August 20th are exempt. Please direct questions relating to the success form here.

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Warm, huh?

[ probably not something in the refrigerator then, unless he plans on nuking something. which he had been, up until a couple of moments ago, when he realized pushing some buttons on a microwave isn't too terribly impressive. and he's always eager to impress when it comes to a pretty face.

he puts a hand to his chin, considering his new options. he's no hunk when it comes to the kitchen, but he's no slouch either. ]

Well — let's see our options, doll face.

[ he closes the refrigerator and strides over to where she'd been poking around the drawers. there's nothing really in there, and so he reaches over her to pull some cabinet doors open. some items he can't recognize, but he thinks he might have spotted a tub of oats back there... ]

How do you feel about oatmeal? It's not the fanciest, but it's a quick fix for sure.

[ Not that Lance would know, Alice finds herself pausing in her stride, harboring some slight disgust over being called "doll face". She hates any comparison or reminder of the Dollhouse and the Dollmaker in Wonderland. It's an unusual nickname for her, something that actually makes her wonder if she looks the part.

But it's an innocent comment, what she assumes to be a compliment; a really weird compliment. ]

It's a meal, it's still food. It doesn't have to be fancy. [ He seems a little eager to please; Alice curiously shifts her posture to peer over what he's doing, all from a safe distance. Engraved habits aside that called her to be suspicious kindness aside, she felt that she was being rude. ] I'm sorry, I should be a bit more grateful and give you my thanks. You're going to a great length, I just hope taht you don't forget to eat, yourself.

[ compliments of that nature — little nicknames or petnames that he flings around at the drop of the hat — they are mostly careless, and oftentimes reflexive. not to say that they are meaningless — she is so small, and so quiet, with wide eyes and a delicateness to her that reminds him of a doll, something precious and treasured — but they can be, just as easily, replaced. had he known she didn't like it, he would have dropped it quite easily.

it definitely wouldn't have been the first time. ]

I could go for some oatmeal, [ he says, just as easily. he grabs up a tub and makes his way to the stove, now poking around some of the drawers for a pot. ] I was figuring we could eat together, after all. [ he grins at her over his shoulder. ] I definitely wouldn't mind your company.

[ He wouldn't mind her company. Alice is easily falling into a pattern of silence and slowly processing anything Lance says. He must not have anyone else here, Alice thinks, to want to sit with a miserable person like her. ]

All right.

[ That's fine by her since she originally came down here to eat and it's also a good thing to ensure that he eats. She hadn't meant to be meek, but she knows she should be polite. ]

I'll eat with you, Lance.

[ And very innocently, Alice takes a seat at an open table, splaying out her skirts. ]

[ he seems to perk up rather visibly when she agrees to eating together, perhaps even more so because she said his name. (that means she bothered to remember it!) ]

That's — great. Just, uh. Make yourself comfortable! This shouldn't take long.

[ really, most of it is just boiling the water and waiting for the oatmeal to heat up, but he decides to go a little out of his way to make it that much more appealing and gathers some fruits to cut up so that they could have it on the side.

while he does this, he takes care to still give alice his attention. ]

So, uh... Alice. Tell me about yourself.

[ That's awfully generous. Alice is left swinging her feet back and forth as she sits, enjoying being indoors again. It's strange to Alice; no one's really ever stopped to ask about her. She never really introduced herself to people beyond her name and that she was from England.

She doesn't know how to answer that question without some sort of worry of a stigma still attached to her and her past. ]

Well? I'm from Oxford, England.

[ How does she even answer this? ]

And I was living in London before I came here. I was a matron and maid to orphans. [ "Or I was supposed to be" she almost utters. ]

That's about it, really. [ She's not aware that it sounds completely aloof, but Alice is a modest person by nature, she doesn't like to brag about her successes or failures. ]

[ she must be shy, he thinks, when his mind stalls on her words. "that's it", she says, but she looks to be right around his age, give or take a few years. if someone had asked lance that question, he'd be able to tell at least ten minutes' worth of information!

with the oatmeal heating up, he turns a bit more to face her fully, brows lifting. ]

Orphans, huh? That's real nice of you.

[ no matter. if she's shy, he'll just have to coax the information out of her! ]

You must be real good with kids, then.

Ah-

[ A bit of shyness and more of being so socially stunted. She's still unused to others asking about her life. Positive things, things that no one's really stopped to ask her about things outside of treatment. She had to stop and think about her words, each time. Alice wasn't really prone to fidgeting that much, until now.

She doesn't add that's the norm for girls her age when they're not married. She doesn't add that it was either Houndsditch or the streets. So Alice just nods. ]

Children aren't so bad.

[ And she certainly doesn't add how some days she struggled to care for them. ]

It was a rewarding job, certainly, I learned a lot from it. I only hope I'm better than I was before I arrived there.

[ She was just thrown into that role and had no experience. As usual, Alice would say she was terrible. ]

[ he catches the hesitation on her part, and he's a little less sure now if she is merely shy, or actually uncomfortable, but too polite to say anything about it. in an effort to subtly switch gears, he puffs up a bit with a hand on his chest, turning some of the attention back on him so that she might fidget a little less. ]

I'm pretty good with kids too, y'know. [ he gives her a little grin. ] My family's pretty huge, so there's usually at least two or three little ones running around, and not to brag [ he's totally bragging ] but I'm pretty much their hero.

So you're an older brother?

[ That's precious, really. If it's a switch of conversation off of her and onto him, she's more than happy to oblige. ]

I would imagine so; I adored my older sister. Little siblings always look up to the oldest. They pave the path, as it were.

[ he grins a bit, pleased to see her being engaged in the conversation. again, another win for him. ]

Yeah, I hear you. I'm in the middle, so I get to be both. [ though sometimes it isn't always so fun, but in regards to what she's saying... it is pretty neat. ]

Really?

[ Alice displays one of her rare smiles. ]

I can see why you would be good with children. You can be the older sibling and have the experience of being the younger. [ That's precious. Really. ]

[ lance hesitates a moment, eyes widening a fraction when he sees her smile. he doesn't know why, but.. something tells him he's witnessing something pretty dang important right now.

bolstered by this, he cannot help his playful grin. ]

Careful, [ he teases, ] or I'll think you're flirting with me~

[ That smile fades as quick as it comes. Her? Flirt? She doesn't know the first thing about flirting. ]

A compliment doesn't mean I'm flirting.

[ the sudden lack of her smile is disappointing, but not all that discouraging. in fact, lance actually laughs a little, but it's a good-natured sound. ]

So what does?

[ yeah, let's stick to talking about flirting. it's almost as good as flirting itself! ]

I don't flirt.

[ That would be implying that she knew how to flirt, at all. Alice doesn't even bother hiding the eye roll as she adjusts back in her seat. It wasn't as if anyone's really told her what it was like to have feelings beyond friendship. All of that was beyond Alice. ]

[ her tone is curt, and maybe normally it might have shook off any other guy...

sadly, lance is as persistent as he is obnoxious. ]

Fair enough. If I were as pretty as you, I probably wouldn't need to flirt either.

[ HASHTAG SMOOTH AF ]

[ Alice doesn't know how to react to compliments. Sure, she's been called pretty a few times (even by some that there are less than desirable), so it leaves her momentarily staring at him. She does what she can to brush it off, hiding behind her hair as she looks down at her folded hands on the table.

Obnoxious, yes, but good natured. ]

No, I'm a lady.

[ That's all she can say. ]

[ ah.

well. fair enough. lance may be a frickboy, but he's also something of a mama's boy, and he knows his mama would have his head right now if she heard him making a girl feel anything less like a lady.

so he relents a bit, and holds out his hands in supplication. ]

Okay, so... What does a guy do to make a lady feel beautiful?

I don't know.

[ She's never given that much thought and nor does she care about feeling pretty. Alice turns away, glancing down at the table as she rests her head on her hand. ]

There are more important things to worry about, not making a lady feel beautiful.

Really? Like what?

[ the state of his universe? princess allura's imprisonment? his own family's fate??

the oatmeal he's trying to cook??? ]

[ Survival, staying sane, the safety and well-being of others-

All of these are too pessimistic. Alice manages an awkward smile, and just simply says. ]

Getting to know your surroundings so that you're successful for each mission and the next.

[ A mild way of saying all of those things, yeah. At the moment, Lance strikes her as fairly naive. He doesn't seem like the type that has seen a lot of hardships. He looks healthy, he's sociable, and well-meaning despite his flirting. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

EVENT ★ LOST IN TRANSLATION

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ruins this beautiful moment in 3... 2... 1

LE SIGH

c':

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