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

[winces]

[ he touches her hand, and she immediately tenses up. her head shakes, her hair fluttering wildly at her back while her free hand lifts to rub furiously at her damp eyes. already tears are streaming down her face, the damn broken open by her own desperate need for release.

like hanzo, she feels selfish, taking what was clearly a poignant moment for him and twisting it into her own perspective. ]

N-No, I'm— [ sorry, and lonely, but mostly she is just so very tired, and should his hand persist against hers, she will take a few stumbling steps forward before she finally falls to his side on her knees.

she smiles at him, somehow, and it is a broken, helpless thing. ]

I'm jealous.

[ it is a tiny confession, one she is ready to admit now that they're closer, and only he could possibly hear. ]

[whatshimadayou]

[The way she tenses, he understands; he doesn't withdraw. The tears are understandable, as he struggled against his own, refusing himself that. Release is too much of a kindness at the moment for himself.

When she collapses near, he hesitantly places an arm around her shoulders.]

A terrible thing, to be jealous of a man like me.

[But envy is not a thing that can be controlled. Just tamed. It is how she feels, and he would be lying if he was not envious of others to some degree.

Just as he'd been envious of his own brother for almost their entire lives, until that fateful day.]

oops you're right -- wrong word :x

[winces]

[ she leans towards his touch, curling in on the circle of security he makes with his arm and chest. ]

I envy what you have, [ she corrects, to ease perhaps both their minds. ] You have back what you almost lost... [ even by his own hand, a loss like that is still a loss. ]

Why fight it?

wat

[whatshimadayou]

[For once, he sorely wishes he'd be more sober for this. Perhaps not necessarily because he would be better at comforting, but just choose slightly better words. Think more clearly.

But he relaxes, a bit, just holding her.]

I almost killed him. I destroyed our futures. He cannot live as a normal man.

How could I simply accept it?

jealousy vs. envy!! shh it's the english major nerd in me

[winces]

[ she recalls the man she had met over the magitek. he was gentle, and cheery, and warm where his synthetics weren't. ]

He seems to have.

[ she lets her head rest against the cradle of his shoulder, as gradually her tears slow, till they no longer make her breath hitch. ]

Maybe his forgiveness is as much for him as it is for you... Will you deny him that?

[whatshimadayou]

[He is quiet, considering her words. That it would develop Genji, to accept his forgiveness and move on.

Hanzo stubbornly has told himself that his brother had simply been foolish. The fury that he holds has been to himself, for his greatest mistake. But if it would help him--]

I do not know.

[Gently, he touches her hair.] You would see us reunite properly. Despite knowing what I did.

[winces]

[ the gesture is soothing, and she finds herself leaning into it quite greedily. ]

Is he looking for you now...?

a million years later

[whatshimadayou]

Perhaps not looking. But he is here.

I know his thoughts. What he wants. [He continues, gently stroking her hair.]

[winces]

[ she starts a bit at that, glancing up. ]

How...?

[whatshimadayou]

He has told me. He is not subtle, for all of his training.

He wants... to connect again. He has forgiven me.

He wants me to forgive myself.

[winces]

Maybe it's time you try.

[whatshimadayou]

[Tiredly, he sighs, his fingers gently curled into her hair.]

Maybe.

Everyone fights so hard to tell me to begin to move on. I do not know that I could have such forgiveness for another, if the circumstances were different. It is baffling to me.

[winces]

We're all different, [ she murmurs, her own voice growing soft. pressed close as she is, it is easy for her to glance down at the object in her hand, before curling her hand around it once more, tucking it close to her chest. ]

If we could so quickly forgive ourselves, everything would be a lot easier...

Maybe that's why, sometimes, we have to let others do it for us.