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]

[ the City does nothing but confirm his suspicions, but even so, there's no time to think on them. he's faced with something large and hungry and possibly angry (do bugs have certain complex emotions?) with two very convenient outlets in front of it.

Loki opens his mouth like he's about to try and reason with the thing—or at least slow it down to some extent—when Jason grabs him by the hood. ]

—Hey!

[ he starts, before stumbling backward on legs more adept to fumbling than doing much gracefully. he's quick, and he's used to running away, plotting for clever schemes and using all sorts of helpful trickery, he was not built for fighting. while he's a lot heavier than he looks, he follows after Jason enough that it doesn't hinder them too much.

a few steps back to avoid some slimey bug mouth bits and Loki sticks his tongue out at them. the gesture, mortal enough, doesn't seem either enrage them further or sedate them, instead they're ever bit as infuriated. that is, until they catch wind of one another. the bugs from the dungeon and the one at the rear meet with diminished interest in the two boys, and more at one another.

Loki puffs up a big, exaggerated sigh of relief. ]

Love conquers all, I suppose. Or lust? Ah, well ... details.

[tirejacking]

[Who tries to reason with monster bugs. They're bugs, they can't even appreciate a good quip, let alone a measured argument. This is why you need yanking around by the hood. Which is...surprisingly difficult, at first. Jeez. Someone's been eating his Wheaties. But Loki takes a hint, and that's enough to get them out of the danger zone before things get—

...well. Awkward, mostly.]

Guess there really is someone for everyone. [Bug romance. Gross. They're safe from the crossfire, on the sidelines—they're also locked in, but surely between the two of them that'll be a non-issue. Once the coast is clear—so they're also...stuck. Jason gives the bars a rattle to be sure they're secure before letting go of the door to rake his hair away from his eyes.] Now what?

[This was your plan, bud. Surely you were going somewhere with this.]

[badnewsboy]

Once they find each other satisfactory for rutting, they'll disappear into some other place to fulfill their lusts. [ he says it so easily, so straight-forward, that it's hardly embarrassing at all, least of all for him. being an Asgardian, and with the help of the mortal inter-webs, he's seen his share of those lusts fulfilled. ] After that, we'll be free to escape, and this little pocket universe will be down two horrifyingly fugly bug beasts. Huzzah and all appropriate exclamations.

[ the bugs are circling one another, testing the air with a click click click of hooked feet. they turn this way, then that way, then this way again, as if in the beginnings of an elaborate dance. Loki watches with mild interest, but more so because he's seen it before, and less because he's actually interested.

he leans against one of the nearest walls, sliding down to his butt with a huff and tugging at his hood. ]

... Only hundreds and hundreds to go.

[tirejacking]

So we go matchmaking?

[As if he's already committed himself to weeding out the hundreds and hundreds. It's...a method. Slow and not necessarily foolproof, but at least it seems to work. Until they find something that works better. Hundreds and hundreds aren't going to thin out on their own.

They sure are taking their time, though. Jason's hardly a sheltered kid. But, y'know, there's Gotham backstreets and then there's playing voyeur to new and exciting methods of alien insect courtship. He rocks on his bootheels and huffs a breath out impatiently while the bugs circle each other, watching the display intently as if expecting a catch. When it doesn't seem to come—and when the intricate insect courtship procedures don't look like they're going to finish any time soon—he paces back through the narrow confines of the cell to check for another way out.

He raps his knuckles against the solid stone of the wall.]

Seems like a lot of trouble to snatch a bunch of people up for blind date bait.

[badnewsboy]

[ he's fiddling with his hood, and he pulls it forward over his eyes, the fabric pinched between his gloved fingers before he releases it. it bounces back, and Loki puffs.

it would be a long time before he tires. plus there's still the whole account of how and why he was here that he's been pointedly ignoring for the simpler, less stressful (in comparison only) option. Loki's been tossed around plenty, so while this isn't exactly a surprise, it's not expected, either.

Jason brings it up, and Loki's forced to recognize it for what it is. ]

Aye, I'd be inclined to agree. We're not exactly the exterminators that they need, and yet ...

[ there's the translucent glimmer as reality begins to bend, and Loki looks up as he feels the awkward tension applied to the fabric of the cosmos. while he's resisted learning magic, he's still attuned to the affects of it. ]

There are people in need, it's a difficult predicament to ignore. I may not be hero material, but I can help.