epidemiology | MINI-EVENT ★ WELCOME/RESCUE PARTY

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

“...Hair of the dog? Ugh, no thanks.” Knives scoffed, her nose wrinkling in disgust. Having grown up with immigrant parents who always practiced traditional Chinese medicine, she could proudly claim having an open mind about a lot of things. But eating dog hair, even for medicinal purposes, was where she drew the line.

“I could totally go for some food, though. Like a big juicy burger, a milkshake, and maybe some poutine! MMMmm, poutine~” The idea of actual food sent her to a blissful daydream where she was back home at McGills, stuffing her face full of yummy food while surrounded by her friends. Safe, dry, and happy.

Ban’s sudden movement broke her out of the spell, flinging her back to sad, wet, and shitty reality. Flustered, she quickly picked up her sai and scrambled after him. His warning of her might needing her weapons made on end. Why did she have to end up in such a scary place?

“Okay, I have, like, a bajillion other questions about what the heck is going on, but they can wait. For now, I just wanna know where we’re going and how long it’s going to take us to get there? Cuz I’m so over this rain. So over.”

Ban's long legs were handy in their stride, making it easy to step over fallen branches and tree trunks without any sort of effort. He paused on occasion to make sure Knives was following, albeit not checking too intently on her. He was following the mission to the letter, longing for something to eat and drink when he got back as well.

On occasion, as she was talking, he opened his mouth to respond. She kept going without hesitation and he just sort of let her go on. Ban realized swiftly enough that her concerns with the forest didn't seem to break her spirit. Some people would have stayed frightened, but Knives distracted herself rather easily.

The more she talked about it, the worse it got. He heaved a sigh and looked back to Knives. Finally, there was a pause.

"We're goin' to the home base--Oska. What's poutine?"

Despite her own short legs, Knives had no problems keeping up with Ban. Not only did her father teach her the art of dual wielding, he also drilled into her the importance of keeping up her speed and endurance. Thanks to the rain (and her purging episode), she was sober enough to avoid tripping the local terrain.

So physically, she was feeling great. Emotionally...Well, she could be better. Even though Ban occasionally checking up on her was comforting, the forest still gave her the heebie jeebies.

Talking non-stop helped distract her, but she made herself pause when it seemed like Ban was getting irritated at her. Shock quickly replaced any self-consciousness with his question.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe you don’t know what poutine is! It’s only, like, the best food ever!” She shook her head incredulously. “It’s got everything--french fries, cheese, gravy. All melted and yummy and awesome. If you never tried them before, then I’m so sorry for you because you seriously haven’t lived until you’ve tried poutine. Seriously.”

Ban blinked with a minor pause to it, watching Knives catch up with more ease than most folks coming out of a bout of drinking might have been able to manage. It wasn't expected but still--a good sign for later, he imagined. They were a mile or so out, which wouldn't have seemed terribly daunting otherwise, but in thick jungle it could easily become much more of an overbearing hike no matter how quickly they went. If something in the woods wanted to go for them, it would just add to the time.

Even so, Ban felt no qualms with pausing for that little bit of conversation. Cheese. Gravy. French fries? He echoed the words.

"French fries? Never heard of 'em~."

Knives seemed excited, though. It seemed like a fair advertisement.

“Wait--you’ve never heard of french fries before?” Knives stopped mid-step and stared at Ban incredulously as she tried to wrap her mind around the concept of a french fry-less existence. She honestly couldn’t imagine something so miserable, so much that she started tearing up. “Oh my gosh! That is so…sad.”

Shaking away any would-be tears, she started walking again, eyes filled with determination. “That’s it! As soon as we get to that Oska place, I’m making you french fries. I’ll even make you some poutine too!”

Any semblance of peace she felt quietly disappeared when an ominous howl pierced the night. She let out a shriek to match, clinging onto Ban's arm. “What was that?!”

"There should be supplies for i--"

Ban's impression of Knives remained on a dangerous slope. Jagged edges marked it, going to midway points before plummeting in quick bursts. She was a food enthusiast which gave her some brownie points but the shriek that rang in his ear was enough for him to consider plunging one pinky in it to see if he had ruptured an eardrum.

"--Well, I'm not sure what it is but it might not even be after us."

Not that Ban was stellar, himself. Knives held onto his arm and he offered no semblance of comfort or even a hint of security. It was as if he could have cared less about being torn apart by wolves or whatever abominations lurked in the dark, there. As unheroically as possible, Ban began walking once more without any sort of inclination that he'd be a gentleman.

"Could be huntin' somebody else."

Ban's impression of Knives wasn't surprising. If she had a Canadian dollar for every person who had mixed feelings about her, she would be filthy stinking rich. Most of the people in her life said at some point that she was annoying or just too much to handle. Over the past year, she tried toning down the more extreme parts of her personality with mixed results. Her obsessive tendencies had gone down, but her hyper-activeness seemed to be here to stay.

"You're probably right. We're totally safe!" Despite that, she still clung onto him. Better safe than sorry, right? "And sorry for screaming all the time. Guess I'm still kinda freaking out over everything. Getting stupid drunk, getting kidnapped by a mysterious organization for mysterious purposes, getting stuck in a creepy forests with deadly monsters--it's just a lot to process, you know?"

She paused for barely a second before breaking the silence again. "Hey, I just realized something! We've been hanging out for, like, an hour now, and we haven't even exchanged names. What's up with that?" Finally letting go of his arm, she held out her hand, smiling expectantly at him. "So let's do this right! I'm Knives Chau. It's nice to meet you, Mr...?"

Admittedly, Knives was safer than one may have expected. The hungry creatures in the forest likely wouldn't bother getting close with Ban around as he let his murderous gaze rake across the forest a few moments, directed at pretty much everything but Knives. When he put his eyes on her, his expression was dull and somewhat devoid of that presence. It made him look a little boring, so he seemed somewhat disinterested.

It wasn't easy to flip the switch and grind to a halt so easily, so it just made it seem like he wasn't really paying attention.

"Doesn't sound like a weird evening to me," Anything that Knives described, at least. Part of his group of knights, that sounded like a few of his weekends outside of joining ALASTAIR. Ban stopped from intimidating the creatures around them to look to Knives' hand, lifting a brow. He took her hand and shook it when offered. "Don't worry about it. Pretty sure you're not supposed to be thinkin' about good manners too much at the moment. I'm 'Undead Ban'."

With no surname to speak of, Ban always went with his criminal alias.

MINI-EVENT ★ WELCOME/RESCUE PARTY

i'll bring the popcorn

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject