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

[badnewsboy]

[ that's even worse than no to him. can't remember carries some bad connotations with it, weighty and full of doubt. while he keeps his distance, he also relaxes a little, canting his head to the side. ]

Um ... well, I suppose it sort of does, doesn't it? Someone told me that this is where people take care of the timeline, and it's in trouble because of all the bugs.

[ we'll just not talk about this ever after it reverses. ]

I'm not certain of getting back, but it almost seems like this place needs our help.

[expatriates]

Help?

[ The very notion seemed anathema to everything she'd been taught. There was no help. They were too weak to survive, and they were an enemy until proven otherwise—what cause had Black Widow to intervene? She furrowed her brow to fix on the boy. ]

If the bugs are causing trouble, you should be helping yourself to get far away from here.

[badnewsboy]

[ perhaps it was that Loki had been so swallowed by the expectations of evil among his peers that he had defiantly pushed against it.

or he really did want to help.

he's a skinny, short thing with long limbs and a face that is a friend to clever schemes everywhere. the hood over his face shadows his forehead, but does nothing to dim the color of his eyes. ]

That doesn't really solve the problem, does it? Besides, I'm sure there's some satisfaction to be gained about saving a place of importance.

...

Right?

[expatriates]

[ Satisfaction, maybe, but nothing concrete. Solving the problem has always meant something different to her than to other people. 'Good people.' He made it seem so straightforward and logical, but the logic he used was so foreign to her that she could not follow it.

Curiosity, though. She could follow that. ]

You want to go after them. [ That, she can do. She pulled a kitchen knife from the back of her pants. ] I can solve that problem.

[badnewsboy]

[ she's kinda scary, but Loki's done scary before. Leah is scary in much of the same fashion. she was the designated muscle, breaking fingers when Loki couldn't use words (he didn't like the whole breaking fingers thing, but she was awfully good at it). ]

Er—that's a little vague. The bug problem? You mean the bug problem, right.

[ please say she means the bug problem. ]

[expatriates]

[ She takes that opportunity to look at him like he's stupid for assuming otherwise: as long as he was useful to her, he had nothing to fear, obviously. The scowl lasts only a moment. ]

Yes. The bug problem.

[ Said with tight-lipped patience. ]

What have you got?