MINI-EVENT ★ WELCOME/RESCUE PARTY

[futurologists]

WELCOME/RESCUE PARTY The temporal insects have all either been squished or hopped into another dimension and all of Oska's inhabitants have gone back to their (relatively) normal selves. However, they didn't leave before chewing through some of the rift magitek, causing the new arrivals to end up in a slightly less safe place than the castle. The new Audentes recruits are dropped right at the edge of this pocket universe in the untamed forest. It's easy to lose your way in here, and to make it even harder, it's dark and storming. Going off without a buddy or two isn't recommended; you may walk in circles for hours. Meanwhile, a select few recruits receive a frantic message from Dagny begging for their help in locating these members and bringing them safely home, promising a reward in return. The forest is home to a whole host of unusual creatures, some friendly, some not. While you're avoiding a run-in with them, you'll also have to be careful not to step into the pockets of distorted reality left behind in the temporal insects' wake. Each pocket seems to be from the time before Oska was ALASTAIR's HQ, when it was still just a crumbling universe. The feelings and sensations are vivid; the earthquakes feel very real, as does the falling debris, so watch your head. When everyone has returned safely to the castle, Dagny will be waiting with the promised rewards. Each established recruit who participated in the rescue and all the newcomers will receive two bracelets, both made of a thin gold chain, and the instructions to give the extra to somebody close to them to tighten their bond. OOC NOTES Established recruits are entrusted with diving into the forest and bringing the newbies back to safety. Once they have, everyone is welcome to get situated in Oska until the next mission starts. Characters aren't required to give their second bracelet away, but those who do (or have their bracelet stolen/lost/found) will find that the moment both bracelets are slipped on, they'll share a significant memory of theirs with the other wearer and vice versa. This is a one-time effect and will not work after the first time, even with different wearers. Please note again that this log occurs after the temporal bugs have been cleared out. Due to the OOC extension of the previous event as well as this mini-event, the IC time between the bug extermination and the start of the mission has been extended past the 24 hours stated in the dossier to around half a week. As a reminder, this log is open to newcomers and those who signed up on the OOC post only.

Comments

[riastraid]

[ Spirits, huh? Lancer stifles a chuckle at her reaction, instead finding the bath house mirror with an owlish smile. ]

There're hot springs now? Man, I've missed out.

[ He leaves out the bit about nearly getting dropped in some pre or post-apocalyptic pockets of reality or... whatever that all was. At the end of the day, it's just some rain. He abandons his muddy hair as a lost cause, waving ahead instead. Speaking of onsens, ]

—Do spirits need baths too?

[ Looks like a pretty normal bath house to him. ]

[onethousen]

Now?

[ She looks up at him, hands held out at her sides in her surprise. She hadn't heard about anything like that happening yet; granted, two weeks and then some isn't much time to learn all about a complicated organisation that moves across realities and dimensions. Particularly not when one only has a simplified understanding of corporate structure in the first place. ]

You mean you've been here before?

[ Which — has her just the right kind of distracted; she can answer his question without thinking hard, meaning she actually has an answer. ]

The owner said spirits did, just like humans do. Where else are spirits going to go to relax away from the human world? Or something like that. It's not a place humans are supposed to be.

[ So when she turns back to look at it; recalling... what? An elevator, a series of stairs, the golden glow of the polished wood and the series of round baths overflowing with herbal scented water. A giant mud encrusted being, and the bicycle pulled out of their side. It's such a strange series of images. Each one feels like a memory. No, not just feels like. That's what they are. ]

[riastraid]

[ His response is distant in his own way, less lost in sentiment and more noncommittal. ]

I've passed through. [ For some months, but who's counting. It didn't matter much that he'd left. And he doesn't look for the significance of being brought back. Instead, Lancer walks without a sound, trotting up to the wall to take a closer peek.

A place for spirits to go...

This whole vein of conversation has a wry humor to it, and he can't help a thin smile. ]

But you were there, huh? Does that make you a spirit—? You're awfully solid for a ghost.

[onethousen]

[ The question has her pulling back, shaking her head firmly. ]

No! I'm human! I mean, I'm alive and human. I'm not a ghost. I'm not a spirit, either. I think they'd be insulted if you said I was...

[ But once she's past her own knee jerk response, she's examining his face. It's that smile that has her squinting just a little, keeping her hands close to her chest now. He might be joking. She's not sure, and being on uncertain ground with a stranger means she's more careful than she is with someone she feels more secure around. ]

... I only recently started remembering that place. It's been confusing. Familiar, but confusing. Seeing it down here is really weird. I... won't be going back for a long time, I hope.

[ Because she has a firm sense that the time she next sees that bath house with her own eyes, she'll be dead. ]

[riastraid]

[ What sensitive spirits she must know. Admittedly, it's a varied bunch, some that'd turn their nose up at the living, some ambivalent, some just wistfully envious. What motley crew did this bathhouse have? How did she make it there—and more strangely, how'd she make it back? Spirits weren't usually so benevolent. Nor were they cruel, per se, but... still, curious stuff.

He hums lightly. ]

Well, that can't be helped. It won't make much sense until you've died, right?

[ There's no weight to his words—talking about death comes as casually as his greetings and quips, and transitions just as easily. ]

What's a [ living, breathing ] kid like you doin' wandering around places like that anyway? I knew guys who wouldn't risk meeting a spirit if I'd paid 'em. [ Crowds he'd hung with were very willing to stay huddled by the fire a whole night if the Otherworld made so much as an ominous whisper. ]

[onethousen]

[ Nature spirits might be more disinclined toward human associations in realms that weren't predominantly human, for their own reasons. Chihiro hadn't believed she had grounds for complaint. She doesn't recall all of it with the clarity she'd like, but it's not so different by now than not remembering events of a few weeks past back home. Like what her friends had said, or why she'd been bothered that her first bouquet was one for saying goodbye.

She hums her own agreement, an unintended mimic of his own humming. ]

Right.

[ She seems to have no more attached weight either. Death is a given, at some point. When she's dead, she will go on to the Spirit World. She has to concentrate on not leaving for there from here. ]

I... I think it was my parents? I don't remember everything still, I'm sorry. There was this tunnel, for one of those amusement parks? The ones that never opened. Then there was a creek, only later it was a river... and the sun set, and my parents didn't stop eating food that wasn't theirs. Then we were stuck.

[ She looks away from the bath house scene, holding up her hand in front of her face. Her fingers twitch as she stares at the lines etched in to her palm. The memory of looking straight through her hand is a chilling one, even distant and fuzzy in memory. ]

I was starting to disappear. Haku... Kohaku helped with that.

[ He remains Haku to her, but Kohaku was his more correct name. It feels right to use that name in a place like this, separate and distant from wherever he is now. Somewhere in the Spirit Realm, freed from his obligations to Yubaba. That's a more pleasant thought than the sullen worry over her parents and how, illogically, she worries they'll notice she's missing. They'd tell the police, she knows it. Would they search all of the woods by their new house? ]

[riastraid]

[ Her story is floating, contextless pieces and names, and he can't parse it all. But such is the way with most spirits—isn't that why ghost stories still spooked people? The mystery. Had to take a broader approach when trying to understand these things, and he knows as much. Sometimes, all it took to cross over was a creek. ]

So you got someone to guide you back? Good, good. [ Nice of this Kohaku fellow to not be a huge dick (or like, a chaotically neutral dick) about things, as is often the way of their kind. ] Humans shouldn't hang around places like that long. You'd be surprised how much you've got to lose.

[ Disappearing isn't the worst of it, but he doesn't pile on the sordid details. He keeps his eyes on the mirror instead, wistful with envy. A bath would be nice right now. ]

Well, not like it's a concern now.

[ In his experience, things were pretty safe here. ]

[onethousen]

No... it's not a concern now.

[ She agrees, stepping back from the mirror into a world she's not meant to be a part of for a long time yet. Chihiro still shakes her head, finding the knowledge is there where before it was impressions and inklings of things that had happened. Dreams that weren't dreams, but instead true memories. ]

He wasn't exactly a guide. He didn't have that freedom. He let me know which way to walk, but I had to do that on my own.

[ As far as being surprised how much she has to loose... she glances up at this man who seems to understand (and probably is not human, with how he says what he says) what it is that she's talking about, without calling her a child with an overactive imagination, or as annoying, a liar. ]

He's a good spirit. Even if he offered to the others that I could be eaten if I didn't work hard enough in the next few days. I mean, my parents were already pigs. It kind of felt like everyone was making threats about that stuff anyway.

[ IT SUCKED. News not forthcoming at eleven. ]

Ah — I'm sorry, I've been rude! My name is Chihiro Ogino.

[riastraid]

[ If he'd grown up in the right era, he might've been quicker to judge. But he's seen swans turn to gods, gods turn to eels, eels turn to ragged hags with broken ribs. He's never been human. This makes more sense to him than, say, a toaster oven. If anything, it's odd to meet a human so open to 'delusions' like spirits. Maybe he should count himself lucky?

He listens until it's time to wave off her apology—don't worry about it. ]

Lancer. Nice to meetcha. [ will she ever get a spirit's proper name the first time? mysteryghost.gif ] If you made your way outta that mess, [ he thumbs over to the mirror before it can shift ] these missions should be a cakewalk. You probably won't get eaten or anything.

[ Probably. He might not qualify as a 'good' spirit, but he'd help her not get eaten by sand worms, anyway. ]

loose.................... so much to loose

[onethousen]

[ Learn no spirit's proper name until they're ready to actually tell her... or she remembers through years of forgetting. Otherwise Lancer sounds perfectly respectable. ]

It's nice to meet you, Lancer-san.

[ Even as he thumbs over to the mirror, the scene starts to shift. She glances back, but now it's consumed by water, a quiet, glass surfaced sea that stretches into the horizon. The sense of time spent in the bath house that's now disappeared remains, stronger than ever. ]

... I'd prefer not to be eaten. [ She admits, unable to stop herself from a small shudder. ] If you say so... it all sounds intimidating, not having been through it yet.

[ Considering what we've learned about how one meets sand worms, thank you, Lancer. Endless gullets are not appealing ways to go. ]

There's no helping having to get through it. I'll do my best. No... better than that.

shhh i didn't even notice

[riastraid]

[ He laughs, breezy. It's almost out of place—somber viewing hall, possible impending death by digestion—but he casts that aside with a sincere snicker. What an honest kid. ]

Yep, that's the spirit. [ He pats her shoulder before he starts to stroll, attention flitting like a magpie to the next shiny screen. ] Because, what's the saying... [ A motto in his life that literally never pans out, and the children he'd known in his own war were never saved by their bravery. More like the opposite. But that's why he has to respect it. ] 'fortune favors the bold.'

[ actually he's a horrific role model, please don't listen to anything he says, chihiro ]

Just don't overdo it.

i am blessed by friends

[onethousen]

[ She blinks at his laughter, not sure if she should be smiling in response. She does when he pats her shoulder, shifting her weight and glancing between him as he strolls, then back in the direction that leads toward the upper levels of the castle.

Fortune favours the bold.

She doesn't know if that's true, but... ]

I don't need fortune... but the only one who can live my life and achieve my goals for me is me.

[ Her goals being simple: get home, get into school, and in the most simple and complex of ways, grow up. She takes a step back from the wall, still watching Lancer. "Just don't overdo it." ]

Please be careful too, Lancer-san. And um. There's some nice baths in the castle, too, if you don't feel like heading to the hot springs. Though if you want to head down to them, I can bring you a towel and robe.

[ Her attempt to be helpful while, you know, pointing out that he needs to bathe. ]

[riastraid]

[ How resolute. Despite how badly it ends for people (and for him), there's something to be said for strength of will, the stubborn spirit to keep on one's path.

Lancer relates, but that isn't why he sticks around.

He pauses before he gets too far, taking the sweet time to backpedal a few steps and—give her a noogie, fluffing her hair up into a frightful mess. AS SHE DESERVES... His irritation is exaggerated with an obviously overblown sigh. ]

All right, brat... I get it. [ he's going. and it's not like he enjoys being like this, okay! people from the 1st century still bathe on the reg, this is ageism.

...But it's still a nice offer. All this talk of bath houses—who wouldn't go to the springs? ] And I'd appreciate that.

[onethousen]

[ She lifts her hands up to pat her hair back into compliance after that frightful fluffing of doom! Offering a nonverbal protest for the upset of her hair, she snorts and then smiles when he accepts the offer.

... While still stroking her hair back into compliance. ]

Okay! I'll get right on that, and I'll leave it for you with your name on a note! See you later, Lancer-san.

[ She now escapes with one hand on her head until she's a few meters down the hall, at which point she breaks into a jog and heads off to do as she said she would. Consider one towel and one really big robe properly delivered to the hot springs, with a nicely written attempt at "Lancer" in katakana pinned to the robe. ]