epidemiology | 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She pinkens as she protests, tucking her chin down. "I told you that you were teasing me unbearably with that fire game." But she's not embarrassed enough to fluster and his lips are soft on her smallest finger, so she stares and listens deeply to his explanation.

"Those are sensual places too." His brush is tugging at her attention; she's more starved for true gestures of longing than she'd realised. "But yes, that is the place beyond all others..."

He eschews words, then, as he's gotten the information he'd like and he can see the distraction growing in her. Now is the time for action, since she has not stopped him. He dips his head once more, holding her wrist firmly still, and presses his lips where a moment ago his fingers were. Perhaps in truth they're not indulging quite the level of affection that he suspects the gesture is intended to convey, but in that, they are in accord.

This, he decides, shall not be in the note he leaves for his younger self. He presses his lips for a long moment before he pulls away and releases her hand, eyes on her the whole time.

Her heart thumps loud within her ears when he presses his lips to that most delicate skin and the heat of kiss makes the small vessels underneath dilate. She's dark eyed by the time he pulls away, already reaching with her free hand to pull him by the collar to close the last distance between them.

But his lack of hesitation makes her hesitate, at the last moment redirecting her touch to instead stroke his hair.

"Evan... this isn't your room. I don't think I should lay on that bed until the man who sleeps there invites me." She's quiet and staring hard, wary that this might make his call off this closening before they go any further.

"Will you come downstairs to mine?"

He glances at the bed in question, huffs. "It's my bed for a few days at least."

But he relents the moment he's said it, aware he's let his privately held ire get the better of him. She's got a point, of course, although his feelings about humoring his younger self's squeamishness are complex. It's one thing to wax philosophical about that kid, and quite another to have to work around him. It feels uncomfortably like having a younger sibling: the twenty-year-old Evan whose social mire he's invading feels like a presence, intimately familiar and exasperating and frustrating, but in some odd way, beloved. He shakes his head, shaking the thought off, and steps away from Serene straight-backed.

"I think I recall where your room is, now that I've got my bearings. Let's go." He heads for the door without further prompting, shooting her a wry glance as he does to cover up his brief frustration. "Afraid he'll work out what he's been up to in his old age?"

She thinks she's blown it when he bridles at her ask, pulling her hand away.

"I am keeping your warnings in mind." He should not have given them if he had not wanted her to pay attention to them. "I will not do him the disservice of encroaching upon his private places until I am sure I can offer him something substantial."

She takes his arm again for the walk back down, subtly squeezing his bicep. She lowers her lashes at that definition, shooting him a smile. "But let us not think of your past for now. I like you, you clever flirt. You and I can sate ourselves together and find out if all this between us has ever been more than a mutual admiration."

Oh, to have his little warning thrown back at him. Although the sanctity of his younger self's space had not been what he'd had in mind when he'd made that warning, he can see how his professions that he is a different person than that Evan have led here. She's not wrong, and he ruthlessly wrestles down his spike of irritation as they close the door and carry on down the stairs once more.

The way she then chooses to flirt makes him chuckle, closed-mouth against the sharp quality of that amusement. He gives her a sidelong look. As far as he is concerned there is nothing here but mutual attraction. She does not know him enough for anything more, not as he is, and he has not known her for a century... but now that they're on their way he's not going to ruin the mood by offering such a blunt response to the flirt, whether or not his mood seems to find it appropriate.

His smile and his response, therefore, are indulgent to the illusion. "What an exciting opportunity for a dry run," he teases instead. "You shall have to give me a full review of your conclusions once we've reached completion. You may be gaining the upper hand on my younger self, but I intend to remain as informed as possible until the moment I cease to be."

"A review? You will know exactly how I feel whenever I am free to speak. I enjoy being free with my praise when I am with someone I like, so please do not hold back from doing the same."

She has them practically trotting down the stairs as soon as they hit the staircase, eager to get behind closed doors again. She's sure enough that he's not one for public displays of lust that she restricts herself to shooting him lingering glances through her eyelashes.

"Hmmm." He chuckles again, but then as they're trotting down at pace he silences to focus on the transit. No doubt their haste parses perfectly well to anyone who might glimpse them: certainly they're not running from any bugs, not with that look on her face, and Evan has a moment of wondering if he's going to spark off gossip that his younger self is going to have to deal with.

Well, no matter. It's either turn back or continue on, and the choice is an easy one. He practically feels the weight of her desire when she glances at him. They emerge back into the hallway to her room before he deigns to speak again, this time in a low tone. "If I recall correctly, you carry your own contraceptive, correct?" There is, after all, more due diligence to attend to.

She checks there's no one behind them and that no doors look to be opening before she pulls her hand out from his elbow and wraps her arm about his shoulder. He's the perfect size to tuck in under and against her and she nuzzles his hair as she murmurs.

"I do, but we not be doing anything that needs contraceptive intervention, not unless we go for a second round." She pulls her key out from her pocket and unlocks her door one-handed. "I like to get to know my partner's habits first."

She opens her door...

EVENT ★ BACK TO THE FUTURE

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject