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

let's just play off that OOC word slip-up as an IC one...

[sengetsu]

Ah, living quarters, rather. Sorry - too much on my mind right now.

[he gives her a small, sheepish smile]

And no, they're not. They eat time energy or... something, I'm not entirely clear. But it's disrupting the magic that lets us all communicate despite speaking different languages.

... aslkdjfa oh stars i thought it was intentional I'M SO SORRY

[onethousen]

[ Ahhh, that makes sense to her. She nods, moving on as he does. The most surprising news is what he says about communication and language. Chihiro trots ahead to be better at his side when she looks up at him, eyes wide. ]

You mean not everyone here is Japanese?

[ ... look there's an order of details to cover?! ]

haha it's okay THESE THINGS HAPPEN

[sengetsu]

No - some of them aren't even human. [he's gotten used to it, but he remembers how weird it was to begin with, so he doesn't really blame her.]

/face in hands alskdjf ah... thank you for being forgiving alksdjf

[onethousen]

Huh?

[ Her eyes widen again, blurting out before she stops to think on the why: ]

Are there spirits here too?!

hey, it happens!

[sengetsu]

[Her word choice seems a little odd, but he chalks it up to the linguistic shift and moves on]

From our perspective, I suppose so, but I think most of them regard themselves as perfectly ordinary inhabitants of their own worlds.

[onethousen]

...

[ She gives him a quizzical glance. Wouldn't a spirit identify as a spirit? She's probably misunderstanding something, but she doesn't know what. Humans identify as human, right? It isn't the same for everything?

In the end, she nods, following him into the halls of a castle that feels like it could almost be part of an amusement park. For some reason, that sends a shiver down her spine. ]

I guess that makes sense... we're really from all different places, huh? Is it... is it hard getting used to things here? Like how things are supposed to go?

[ It's her inept way of asking about culture shock here. She doesn't know the term, but she can think of it as a smaller concept, moving even between culture of a city and culture of a smaller town in the mountains. Culture shock on a much larger scale is inevitable. ]

[sengetsu]

Mm... [he's silent for a moment, sorting out an answer in his head] It wasn't too hard, for me, after the first few weeks - but we were on a mission, and there were things that needed to be done I could help with. I find that very grounding, but you may not.

[he breaks off, and pauses to point down a hallway] The dining hall is down there, and the kitchens are past it.

[onethousen]

[ She looks down the indicated halls, nodding dutifully, keeping track of the locations on her mental map. She has a pretty good sense of direction once she knows the vague shape of a place. He's helping her learn the shape of this one; weird castle in a foreign land as it is. ]

Is there a pantry in the kitchens? Are we meant to cook for ourselves?

[ Mildly concerning, but she can manage that... she thinks. ]

Knowing what needs to get done... Um, I think that helps. So you know what to focus on doing.

[ So she has something to hold on to while the knowledge sinks in that her parents aren't here and won't be, and that she's not going home anytime soon. ]

[sengetsu]

[he shakes his head] No, food just sort of... appears in the dining hall. I don't know what magic it is, but I have to admit it's very convenient. I don't know if there are supplies in the kitchen - I haven't had time to look - but there's some herbs and vegetables in the greenhouse and fields. [largely his work, though he doesn't say that]

Exactly. Even if it's not things you're used to doing, having something to do makes it easier to think things through, and get used to everyone else, I think.

[onethousen]

... Um, that does sound [ SCARY, her mind shouts at her, a big fat blinking WARNING WARNING going off even though he's essentially implying it's fine and expected ] simple.

[ Another pause... hands curled into the fabric of her shirt like she's holding herself together through an act of will. Chihiro drops her shoulders and breathes out. It'll be okay. This is improbable and frightening, and it'll be okay. ]

It's okay if people take those vegetables and herbs? Or... or help tend to them?

[ As for the rest of what he says, she can only nod, forcing herself to let go of her own shirt. ]

Yeah. It's how you can learn about each other, and where you are.

[ It's how one can earn their place. She isn't sure why she believes that, but she does. ]

[sengetsu]

[He gives her a small smile, which he hopes is reassuring. This whole situation is hard enough without the uncertainties that come with being young.]

I'm the one that's done most of the tending so far, so both things are certainly fine. Though there are some ah... rather odd things growing in the greenhouses. I pulled back some of them, but I'm afraid they've probably had a chance to regrow while we were gone on the last mission.

[onethousen]

... If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to help pull those back with you. If that's all right.

[ Her gardening experience is on the low end of the spectrum, outside of some school projects and her mother's herb garden, but she's willing to learn. She's extra willing to be useful, to anyone, and he's the first person she's met and talked to here. (Sorry, Kojuro...) ]

[sengetsu]

I'd be deeply thankful, actually - it's not complicated work, but it's a lot of it, and I don't have much help. [And he's not just saying that to be nice, it's all true. She may come to regret that offer]

[onethousen]

[ Until the callouses form and she figures out how not to make her muscles aches when helping out... but regret the effort itself? Not that, surely not that. His statement has her straightening and looking straight ahead down the hall. ]

Then I'll definitely help. Show me what I need to do, and I'll do my best to get it done.

[ Give her a task to see through, please. It's what's going to help keep her grounded once the shock of her new situation wears off and she realises how utterly cut off from the familiar she truly is. ]

[sengetsu]

Certainly. Though this bug thing needs to get dealt with first - they don't seem particularly interested in the plants themselves, but they go after nearly everything, including walls and furniture.

[onethousen]

... Are we sure they're not giant termites?

[sengetsu]

Giant time-eating termites, maybe. Ah, speaking of - if it seems like things are flickering between the present and some other time, that's an effect of whatever it is they do. We can't actually interact with the other times.

[onethousen]

[ she gives him a mute stare. ]

I keep expecting you to say something normal, Katakura-san. I think I need to stop expecting that to happen.

[sengetsu]

[He sighs] I wish I could tell you otherwise, but you're probably about right. All the normal things get buried under the weight of the strange ones.

[onethousen]

[ she echoes his sigh, unintentionally. ]

I was supposed to be starting school, not a new job...

[ ... "new?" she shakes off that odd feeling. ]

Um... there's not any school around here, is there?

[sengetsu]

No, though there's an extensive library, and I'm certain some of the more knowledgeable recruits would be happy to teach you things if you ask around.

[onethousen]

... Is that like getting an apprenticeship for education?

[ She's never had to hunt down a tutor like this before. Where to even begin? It's... such a normal kind of overwhelming thought, she focuses on it. ]

[sengetsu]

I... suppose so, in a way. [it's not something he's had much experience with - all his scholarly skills were taught to him by his father or Lord Terumune.] I'm not much of a scholar myself, unfortunately.

[onethousen]

[ Chihiro nods to accept his answer. Not many are, that she knows of, at least. ]

What is it you do, if that's okay to ask? Back home... and here, I guess. What have you been doing here?

[sengetsu]

At home, I do anything my lord requires of me - help train the army, devise tactics, make sure taxes are being collected, that building projects are under way... [all of the things, basically]

Here, it depends on what the mission calls for - a fair amount of fighting, so far, but also setting up camps and helping rebuild things.