epidemiology | EVENT ★ BACK TO THE FUTURE

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ah? [That was a little surprising. Not empathy quite as much as a strong attachment to her friends? Ban paused at that, wondering aloud.]

You don't like people doin' favors for you?

I don't mind, if I can do something for them in return. But I don't want anyone getting hurt because of me. Because they're trying to help me.

[It hasn't been a one off incident. It's dangerous, going after the feathers sometimes. People desperate and wanting to abuse their power and keep it.]

Don't maintain that sort of attitude. From time to time, your friends are gonna hurt, no matter what you do. Trying to keep 'em away from being hurt is only gonna make them feel the pain even worse.

Help--don't coddle. [The firm tone he maintained would have been impossible a thousand years before. Ban had changed, since then.]

Hm? I--I try to help. At least, with things like the cooking and cleaning and washing and that sort of thing. It just doesn't feel like enough in return for all they do for me.

[Yet they all keep reassuring her, telling her it is fine while she is still recovering her energy with each feather she gets back. It's a work in progress.]

Bein' friends with somebody means you're there for them whether you're helpful or not. Friends don't have to be strong, smart or talented.

[He offered her a shrug. Even someone with Ban's background could make heads or tails of what a friend was and why they were so valuable.]

Don't worry about being useful. If you can be useful, feel free to be useful. Otherwise, no good friend is gonna hold it against you if you can't be. They'd just be a business partner at that rate~.

I do my best! It's just sometimes when they get into fights to get my feathers back for me. I wish I could help more then, rather than feeling like I'm holding them back if they are worrying about me during all that. But you're right. They don't hold it against me.

[Sakura says with a faint smile at her lips in spite of herself.]

So, don't hold it against yourself. [He snapped back in return, clearly irritated and seemingly out of nowhere. Ban had, one time, been plagued by that thought when it came to Meliodas.]

It's 'What I can do for you' not--'What I have to do for you'.

What I have to do for you.....Y-yes.

[She does what she can to help, in exchange for all that the others do in assisting to retrieve her feathers. So she is still doing her part. Somehow, given how used to Kurogane's temper she is, she doesn't seem too cowed or surprised by Ban's outburst there either.]

[Ban clucked his tongue.]

Nevermind. No sense in me forcing my values on you. [He continued walking, shoving his thumbs under his belt. He began looking over the walls, wondering where the bigger bugs had gone to since he got the last one.]

I can tell you don't like a bit of it.

Or mine onto you. People....well, they can change. But you can't force that.

[Usually, if anyone does change, it's more a gradual thing. She's already noticing it a little within her group, even. It's kind of complicated. Particularly around the whole clone and magician issue, and the vampire one. But regardless.]

If they're willing. Some people know how to fix themselves, brat. They just don't want to do it.

[Himself, included. If he could manage it over the years, he'd outright refuse to change.]

EVENT ★ BACK TO THE FUTURE

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