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

[predomination]

No sense arguing with confused- and apparently lonely- animals. Oh! [and yes, here comes their little portal they're just gonna scurry off into, though Urahara seems disappointed when it's all over.] I was hoping it would open a bit closer this time.

[misspotts]

[She looks over at him.]

Is that what happens every time?

[predomination]

Mmhmm. Without fail. No variation, whatsoever. Unfortunately, I haven't really been able to get any solid information on the portal, itself yet.

[misspotts]

So no idea where it actually goes.

It's one way to get rid of them, at least.

[predomination]

I guess it takes them back to wherever they came from. [he taps his pen thoughtfully against the notebook he's been scribbling in.] They did have to mature and grow in this dimension to reach that stage- maybe their dimension is just unsuitable for that.

[misspotts]

So they're using ours as their nest of sorts.

[It was interesting, though not in a way that makes her want to keep them around to study.]

Hopefully they're not leaving any new...children behind.

[predomination]

It shouldn't be that hard to find and dispatch them. It's only when their numbers are this huge that there's a problem. [he pockets the notebook.] Not that I expect to be here much longer...

[misspotts]

[She looks over at him curiously.]

Why's that?

[predomination]

My being here is a bit of a fluke, or so I've been told, and I haven't found anything to disprove it. Something caused by... all of this. [he waves his hand to indicate the whole mess, and then rubs the back of his head, looking a bit sheepish.] I'm sure there's a technical term, but it seems to basically be timeline nonsense.