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

[araigneedusoir]

[Of course she knows, she knows better than anyone else. She learned through all their battles, all their verbal sparring matches and all the odd and assorted meetings in between. Widowmaker didn't need the assurance, didn't need to be reminded...but it was still nice to hear.

There's a flicker of pain in her eyes at the mention, the unspoken and the spoken. This time it's her that reaches out, fingers ghosting against the chronal accelerator, tracing a part of the edge before her hand is dropping away back to her side. She doesn't want to think about it, about the fact that Tracer could just suddenly be up and gone one day soon.

As much as the thought may have been appealing years ago, now she dreads it. She's the only familiar thing in the mess her life is now. Her old rival.

Ironic.]

Alright. [She offers a small smile, rubbing a hand over her face again.] It'll be nice to have you fighting by my side.

[zipped]

[ There's a tightness in her jaw as she watches that touch ghost the now dead device, not a single flicker of life seem to emit. It was completely silent and cold. Probably silly of her to still wear it, really.

It isn't hard to tell what she may be thinking about. This time Tracer can't bring herself to smile, reassuring or not. However when she watches the smile lift Widowmaker's own lips does she feel herself do the same in response. ]

I'll bet. No more annoying pest ticking you off, right? [ The smile shifting into a grin with a now twinkle to her eyes. It certainly shaves off her older looks off. Her hand reaches out with an open palm for the other woman to take. ] Right back at you.

[araigneedusoir]

[On the contrary, she rather missed those days. No matter how irritating Tracer got or how dangerous their battles became, it was better. In hindsight if she could go back and fix it, she would have refused to pull the trigger a few times, stopped herself from assassinating just those few.

It made her wonder how the world would have turned out.

But the 'what ifs' were useless, just pointless conjecture to entertain her in the between. It was what she'd been doing since she came (back?) here.]

You can tick everyone else off for once. [Her smile becomes something more genuine with Tracer's grin; her own hand lifting to take the other's offered one, squeezing it slightly.]

[zipped]

Don't I always, love? [ Tracer squeezes that hand in turn, letting it go after a moment to hum with thought. ]

Though 'suppose now here's the problem. It's been some time since I've heard of Talon. [ Or maybe the proper term would be when. She's heard of them but various timelines, as of recently she's been pretty much a, well, ghost. ] At least the next I see 'em they'll be in for a bit of a surprise.

[araigneedusoir]

Touché. [Her own hand drops back to her side once the grip is released.]

It's not hard to find them where I am presently. They've gotten a bit out of control, even if I've been cutting back their numbers. [There's considerably less of them then there was, but she was hoping with Tracer's assistance they would dwindle away to obscurity again.] Oh I'm sure, it will be amusing to see the aftershock.