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

[pummelling]

[Herding a disgruntled unicorn back to its stable is not, in fact, the walk in the park it appears to be: Jin's exhausted all of his concentration on this singular task. Sure enough, as soon as Gwen's voice rings out behind him, the kid jumps half a foot in the air and yelps in surprise, which means that his bow drops with a crash to the ground, which means that the unicorn is now stamping in confusion and anger.

Needless to say, he's not pleased.

Jin whirls around with a scowl on his face. He's evidently trying to look Tough, which is hard when puberty hasn't shown up to un-round your baby cheeks yet.]

It is not, and I'm carrying it fine, thanks! [he hisses, patting the unicorn in an attempt to soothe it. (It seems to work a little-- the creature snorts, merely annoyed now.)] Go find your own unicorn, lady.

[construing]

Who says I'm here for the unicorn? Because I'm a girl, I have to like unicorns? Nuh-uh. I resent the unicorn-holing.

[ releasing the webline, gwen drops, turning as she does to land lightly on her feet. one hand on her hip, the other extends at the wrist to point at him. ]

Not meaning to burst into what is clearly a situation under control here, but…you're going the wrong way, kiddo.

[pummelling]

[There's a long silence. Jin looks at her, then at the unicorn-- which he likes too, excuse her-- then back up at Gwen with a defiant expression upon his face.]

No, I'm not. [He grips the unicorn's reins tightly in his hands.] We're going back to her stable. It's that way.

[construing]

[ when anyone asks why gwen does not want kids, she will point to moments like this.

so.

many.

moments. like this. ]

Yeah, [ she agrees with a nod. gwen jabs a thumb over her shoulder. ] There's also a running of the moths blocking the next hall. So unless you want Corny over there trying to gouge a hole in the wall you need a different route.