epidemiology | EVENT ★ BACK TO THE FUTURE

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EVENT ★ BACK TO THE FUTURE

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.

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[Morality. All the people he's hurt in the name of the Galra Empire. The list can go on and on, but Keith is fairly certain his younger self would have the biggest problem with how he looks in a mirror. He huffs out a breath and tosses some food toward the tentacle to buy himself time to craft a lie.

Being sneaky is far easier when he doesn't have to involve stories.]

He doesn't agree with the path I'm taking. But everything else we've tried—it doesn't work. It hasn't worked. [Keith looks toward him.] Ever have something you have to do, but you know it's gonna tick a bunch of people off? [It occurs to him that there's a chance he's going to blow it, but he's careful and shuts up right there, choosing not to go on.]

[Oddly, the conversation reminds him of another one from years past, the time when Solas had asked him something similar so long ago. He hadn't quite realised the weight of what the older elf had asked then, and now he's not certain if there's more to it than the other man is letting on either. But he's not Solas, and Meallan reminds himself that he can't let one situation drive him to suspicion of all others. Not everyone means to hide who they really are after all.]

A few times. [He admits it with a faint smile, his gaze moving to the tentacles as he thinks about the weight of what's being asked and his own experiences.]

I think what matters is why you think they'd be mad about it. If it's something that they wouldn't be happy with because it would hurt others, then perhaps you should think about if that's really a path you should be taking. If what you want is worth the cost of getting there.

But if it's something that they mightn't agree with for other reasons, perhaps because they feel you should be more willing to make the difficult choices, to sacrifice to gain what they want, and you would rather find a different path... It can still make others mad but I'd like to think in those cases it's worth it.

[Yeah, he should have expected that to be what anyone would say. Keith's level of caution and handling himself isn't always the best, but he still thinks this is the right decision. But it hurts. He knows that it would hurt his younger self because it hurts now to betray his teammates. Living the way he has, he hasn't exactly had a whole lot of people caring about him. Now he does.

Well, did. If he's pulled everything off correctly, they'll really believe he gave up on them. That's what he can hope for. That's all he can hope for.]

It involves pretending to be someone I'm not. You know those stories where the guy has to prove himself by doing some bad stuff? That's where I am. And I can get why it'd make him mad, but like I said, I don't see any other way. [He huffs out.]

It's a lot to deal with out of nowhere, so I thought I'd take a break.

It does sound like a lot to deal with. [Meallan agrees quietly.] More than I think a lot of people would want to have to put themselves through, let alone willingly.

But if you're certain it's the path that you have to take...

[He shrugs with his good arm, aware that it ultimately isn't his choice to make even if does remind him of another decision made by a friend not too long ago. This isn't the same situation, he reminds himself, letting himself thing it is isn't helpful for either of them.]

If you're truly set on it, I don't imagine anyone could talk you out of it, especially not a stranger like myself. And I imagine as well that you've already thought about the kinds of bad things you'd have to do, and if you can really live with yourself for doing them or if the cost is too high.

But if it makes your friend mad that you think you do need to do this and that bothers you... maybe it might also be worth at least trying to see if you can come up with another way? Are you certain there's no path that would make both of you happy?

[Make his younger self happy? Keith flashes back to his fight against Zarkon and how certain he had been that he could win, especially after he learned about his new blaster. It hadn't worked out, especially since Zarkon was both really strong and wielding a bayard that could trump anyone. He knows that if they could get that bayard away, Shiro may be able to help more. But it's all an "if" situation, and they haven't managed it yet.

Instead of answering the question directly, he decides to take on a different angle.]

Have you ever dealt with conquering jerks who think they should be in charge of ... just about everyone? Which, yeah, means taking everyone's freedom away. [He watches this stranger curiously.] 'Cause if so, what would you do to stop someone like that? Or an Empire, really. [Keith recalls being frustrated that ALASTAIR didn't have a timeline program that would point to their part of the universe. He still is, for that matter. If they had all the people here, they could do some real good.

But five paladins with five robot lions, one of which is useless against the big guy in charge?

It feels hopeless.]

[A dark little smile curled Meallan's lips at that question, and he nods without hesitation.] I know a fair amount about that situation, yes.

Someone who thought himself a god, who wanted to tear our world apart to claim power for himself and raise himself to the godhood he thought he deserved.

We killed him, although it was far from easy. [He shrugs a little and glances sidelong at the other man.] I don't know exactly what it is that you mean to do to stop these people, but if it comes to something like that I would be the last person to judge you for it. Sometimes death is necessary, but it's important as well that it be something you can live with afterwards.

["Living with it" isn't really an option that he's counting on having. If he succeeds—and there's a pretty strong if underlying everything he's doing—then he'll see what comes from there. It's not that he wants to die, but if he's facing the reality of the situation head on, he has to face the fact that he'll die even if he does succeed.

Taking out one part of the Empire doesn't mean everyone else falls with it. That just seems to be simple logic.]

You said "we." [But really, this is what Keith should be sticking with.] You didn't handle a guy like that alone.

Of course not. [Meallan gives him a wry, sidelong smile at the thought.] I'm one man, and he had an army and power not seen outside of stories. If I'd tried everything alone, I wouldn't have made it past our first battle and then everything would be lost. As it was, even with help I didn't expect to actually walk away from fighting him.

But while there were a lot of people who helped me along the way, there were times when they couldn't, when it was just down to myself. So I know a little of what it's like to face someone like that alone.

[He shrugs with his good shoulder, not entirely comfortable moving the half-gone left one.]

But I don't know everything of your situation, so I'm not going to assume that what worked for me would work for you. In the end I'm afraid you're the only one who can really decide what you should choose, although you might find some who are willing to help, if you let them.

I'll have to think on it. [Going about it alone and failing just to keep people safe would also mean that they were out a paladin while Zarkon still lived. Keith does see the reason in that being stupid, but he's been caught up in his narrow idea of doing things for so long that he refused to see anything else. He can be stubborn that way.]

Hey, what's your name? [It feels like a good idea to ask, even if he doesn't know that he'll be here for long for it to matter overly much.]

That's as much as I'd ask, that you at least think about it. [He knows he can't force anyone to change their plans because of what he believes to be the better idea after all. And thinking about it is a step above what the case might have been before.]

My name's Meallan. And if it helps at all, I'm always willing to listen if you wanted to talk about this further, or anything else for that matter. It mightn't seem like it, but being here can be something of a good thing in giving you others to talk with and get new ideas from.

Would you mind sharing your name with me as well?

I'm not sure how long I'll be here, but thanks for the offer. [Figuring out that he's here as a result of the bug situation had really put the whole experience into perspective. Still, that's what made this conversation come about.]

Anyway ... I didn't mean to deceive you, but my name's Keith. The guy I'm worried about bothering is me, just younger. [Not much younger, but young enough that this would be a big blow for him.]

Edited 2016-09-19 22:47 (UTC)

You're Keith?

[That surprises him more than he'd expected, and now he's wondering if he'd missed a clue of that earlier. It's more likely that he's simply a little on edge still by older friends who had been similarly sneaky with him in the past, though Meallan tries to put that firmly from his mind.]

And... this younger version of yourself, he wouldn't agree with what you plan on doing? Is that it?

[After a moment, he gives a rueful smile. It's misplaced on his face, but bittersweet just the same. It's uncomfortable admitting this, but he does nod after a moment.]

He'd have a bigger problem with the part where I abandoned my team to go it alone. The bad stuff ... I think he could come to terms with it, but not the rest. [Loneliness is killer, in summary, but he's hurting people to maintain that charade.]

Maybe it's something to think about? [He offers with a small smile.] As I said, trying something like that alone... even if you have your reasons, it could mean putting the entire plan in danger for it. Maybe you should ask yourself if there's really no way for your friends to help you. It sounds like they're the type who would want to help if they could.

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EVENT ★ BACK TO THE FUTURE

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