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

[smalltempered]

[The bug's certainly a rather nasty sight, with all the blood everywhere and everything. It's like an alien movie or something, Shizuo thinks, the sorts he and Kasuka aren't supposed to watch late at night (though Kasuka likes to sneak in with the remote under a blanket anyway, and Shizuo would always follow despite himself). But these musings are cut short when the boy speaks, and he looks back up to this new stranger instead.]

Oh. okay. ...Thank you? [That answer pretty much confirms things, anyway--even if the phrasing is all odd. This is what has Shizuo's bemused expression forming at first, though it only deepens as he properly takes in everything else about the boy besides his speech and his very long spear. Shizuo rubs at his arms absentmindedly, where bruises are starting to form and scrapes are already beginning to bleed a little--a familiar residual ache from lifting the table earlier is beginning to set in, now that his anger has worn away. But for once, Shizuo finds there's more than enough here to distract himself from the pain for a moment.

Firstly, and most importantly:] Hey, where's your shirt?

[heelies]

[He gives the boy a curious look for this question that seems so out of place while they stand surrounded by the mess of slaughter and the debris of battle.] What mean you by this? Why, right here is my tunic. [So speaking, he tugs at the fabric which hangs from his waist.] Moreover, you are injured. We ought to find water with which I might clean your scrapes ere I bandage them. Come now, let us leave from here. [For this is what concerns him far more than the boy's peculiar appearance or his astounding strength, of which he had caught only a glimpse but he is quite sure that he saw him lifting the table with apparent ease, as an ordinary boy might lift a stick which he imagines to be a weapon the same caliber as his father's.]