EVENT ★ LOST IN TRANSLATION

[futurologists]

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.

Comments

[boneafide]

And honestly, Papyrus just thinks they're wandering around for fun, so he won't care which direction they go. Unfortunately, the needless chatter will continue throughout the whole duration, since it seems he in his 20 years of living, has yet to learn to shut up.

"...And that's when Lucida grew a tail! I've never had a tail before, so it was really amazing to me- oh, I do miss her... I hope she's doing alright. Do you think we'll ever get to go back and visit? I think she'll remember me!! I'm very memorable. Ah, we're in the kitchen now?" Yes, it seems, they are definitely in the kitchen. Well, he supposes he could eat. Maybe this is a dinner date now?? No skin off his nose. Literally.

[asscan]

If only they'd had a little more points of connection before this impromptu meeting. Laedo would have at least recognized a name... but no. As Papyrus exclaims and Laedo realizes just how hungry he is, he loosens his grip from the... man, he supposes, if only because of the creature's height, and begins to forage. His gestures are hasty, for this is but a diversion as far as he is concerned. "Do you eat?" he asks, short, clipped. He mimes holding something to his mouth, nibbling.

[boneafide]

The skeleton gives a nod, following after Laedo still even after they've stopped linking arms.

"Yes, I would love to eat! Although, it would be more romantic if I cooked for you or something- it's the least I could do, after you've made me such a nice present!! It's a little difficult though, cooking in that kitchen when it just makes everything you want! I'll have to trick it into giving me just ingredients and not ready-to-go food..." Papyrus continues, tapping his finger to his chin in thought.

[asscan]

While Papyrus thinks, Laedo continues his investigation. The kitchen might have all anyone could ever need, but it might also be responding to the whims of those present: while Laedo craves hearty food to replenish not only his physical body, but to fuel the magical field said body is always trying to generate, Papyrus' hard thinking means that the askan is opening cupboards and pulling out tins faced with green print in a style he cannot read, pictures of red fruits across the front. Bags and boxes of cardboard-dried noodles all but spill out of one cabinet shelf and Laedo curses in a golden tongue, then backs away into the middle of the room to wipe his face from forehead to chin as though he's trying very hard to smooth some kind of meltdown.

He points at Papyrus, then at the mess. "See if you can find anything in that waste," he suggests, even though he knows the words will be lost. For himself, he beelines now to the cold-boxes, hoping for even a hunk of raw meat. He hates eating anything unprepared, but thoughts of gnawing on cow-sized ribs (even in this form) sets his stomach to rumbling again.

[boneafide]

"Oh! It worked!" Papyrus cries out in glee, as boxes of spaghetti and tomatoes appear in the kitchen. He's rather proud he got this right on the first try, although Laedo seems less than pleased. Well, of course, this isn't a fully assembled spaghetti dinner yet, of course he's disappointed! And so he gets working right away on beginning to cook, boiling some water in a pot, and breaking up the spaghetti strands so they aren't so long. Next, the tomatoes are brought out and placed on a chopping tray, as Papyrus begins to whistle somehow without lips.

"Right, can't forget to wash my hands for this part!"

Because after he washes his hands, he begins to immediately start punching the tomatoes into a pulp. Literally just fucking smashing the hell out of these tomatoes.

He might get the spaghetti part right this time, but he's still going to never get that sauce part right.