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

[keystaff]

I'm okay. I'm just glad we got through it this far at least. But I'll still do my best!

[Sakura herself still has limits regardless of how powerful she has become. She wasn't powerful enough to sustain the magic necessary for Yue in his true form, for example. It may not take her a day to recover each time she uses or transforms a card now, but even so.]

[yaomomo]

If you're certain...

[She does worry, but only because she doesn't know her limits. Still, once Shield is down, she checks on the bugs to be certain they're totally dead before she urges Sakura to join her in moving around them.]

My worry here is how we can keep in contact with the rest. We need to regroup eventually.

[keystaff]

I'm sure everyone else is around too. Dealing with more of them, probably. I just hope they're all okay too.

[Momo isn't wrong. Eventually they will need to all regroup and check in with each other. Sakura's just not sure how long this will take exactly.]

[yaomomo]

If we managed to get here okay, I believe everyone should be fine. This is something that's done often, isn't it?

[Moving from mission to mission, that is. She's at least aware that there's some sort of common protocol to how everyone moves from city to city, so it wasn't too unusual.

[keystaff]

The different missions? Yes! I've been on a few through my time with ALASTAIR. They often have us traveling a bit. So this isn't the first time. Just it wasn't trains before. When we were taking care of the squidges that was traveling by foot, really...

[As one example off of the top of her head. But depending on when Momo or some others arrived they might have missed that mission, let alone others before it.]

[yaomomo]

Squidges?

[She managed to miss that mission, or it had not been visible to her at least as everyone was too worried about bugs at that time. Either way, it's the first she's heard of them.]

[keystaff]

They were like....little...goo babies? They sort of looked almost like different coloured gummi bears or something, actually....but we had to look after them. Like babysitting, I guess.

[Which sure was an experience. Yup.]

[yaomomo]

Oh, that's... kind of cute, actually.

Why were you taking care of them?

[It's certainly not what she'd consider a normal mission thing, that's for sure. Isn't that too unusual?]

[keystaff]

Well, they needed help to get somewhere special that helped them grow up. We found them as eggs and all, so someone had to help......

[And well. Apparently that was why ALASTAIR sent them there. Sakura somehow managed, at least.]

So I guess it can be hard to really know what to expect with some missions.

[yaomomo]

... So majority of the missions here are done by everyone? Is that safe to do, when they don't provide a standard training for everyone?

[It sounds like it would be so messy. Of course, skills on their own was very important, but such a scattered way of doing it like recruiting people from backgrounds and experiences that vary so much sounded like a mess. There didn't seem to be a general guide for anyone to follow, or proper training for specialized skills like that.]

[keystaff]

Yes. Or, well. Everyone helps out. Not everyone is necessarily fighting or whatever. We try to have some people also holding back to support and heal or stick to their skills to help in other ways too. I guess training would help but I think a lot of us also have our own magic or skills or powers we already know how to use.....? And we just have to all work together to get through the missions, really.

[Pretty much. It's complicated but Sakura still does her best to help out. Sometimes to her detriment when others realize how much she pushes herself, but that is why they keep an eye on her.]

[yaomomo]

I suppose. It... just seems odd, simply trusting and expecting people to be able to handle all this without a standard procedure. Regulations are rather important.

[Not just because they give structure, but... Well, for her, it was nice to have a fallback or protocol. Grasping at straws and hoping it'll all make sense is a much harder task in comparison.]

[keystaff]

I guess I'm used to kind of....winging it, with the Cards back home and all anyway. But I suppose you're right. With this many people involved.

[But it isn't like Sakura is necessarily an expert. She's used to working with Tomoyo, Syaoran, Kero and Yue at the most.]

[yaomomo]

With the kind of power you have, it would definitely benefit this organization to have you. Even now, this situation does work out for the best because of your diverse skill.

Still, to think that there are worlds with abilities like this...

[She sounds more pensive than anything, but not quite distracted, not when she's reloading her gun with bullets she's forming from her palm.]

[keystaff]

I guess. With the number of cards and potential applications of some of them. I'd only really used it with capturing the Cards back home. Or dealing with the situations Eriol-kun made to help force me to change them with my own magic.

[She just never used them nearly as diversely or frequently and casually, back home.]

[yaomomo]

When you say capture... Are they rogue spirits?

[She never really did ask the mechanics of that, but it's odd. How do you simply 'capture' a card, and not purchase it-- or even look for it.

It's... she thinks of the mechanic behind it, and what she's seen, and perhaps that was the easiest way to conclude it.]

[keystaff]

Hm. Well, I guess you could call them spirits. But they aren't rogue, now they're under my control as Mistress of the Cards once Yue-san accepted me.

[It's complicated okay. And she's never really actually. Had to explain this before coming with ALASTAIR and all.]

[yaomomo]

Ah, forgive me. I meant in the past. Surely, they had been before you caught them.

[She's curious, after all, but she accepts the explanation.]

Who is Yue-san?

[keystaff]

Oh! Yue-san is one of the two Guardians of the Cards. He rules over the ones under the moon's power, and Kero-chan rules over the ones under the sun. Neither of them are here, but I'm still doing my best.

[Even if she is without them and their guidance, and Syaoran's, she still has the other ALASTAIR recruits.]

[yaomomo]

Ah, so you also had guardians with you? Or do they simply observe?

[Don't mind her asking so much-- actually do, since well...]

Tell me more about it next time. For now, let's finish up the rest of the cleaning, all right?

[keystaff]

I only had Kero-chan at first. But later I found out about Yue-san. Both of them have helped me a lot, when dealing with the cards or situations where I've later had to use my own magic to change them.

[But the other is right. There's more pressing concerns to deal with, so she gives a nod of agreement at that.]

[yaomomo]

I'd like to know more about later then.

[And with that, they're off to fight again. There's still a lot to tackle, after all. Maybe end the thread here?]

[keystaff]

Later.

[When things are (relatively) calmer at least.

But Sakura does her best to help, using the Cards as seems necessary.

Cool to end here with me!]