EVENT ★ PREPARE FOR TROUBLE

[futurologists]

READY After two weeks en route, the Mothership (maybe you should come up with a new name for it?) arrives at the rendezvous point. ALASTAIR technicians rift aboard and get to work, scurrying about the captured vessel to fiddle with controls and levers and buttons. After roughly a half hour, there's a flash of light -- And the Mothership is moored to Oska, tethered to the fragmented universe by strands of magitek and now safely encapsulated in the cloaking barrier keeping Oska hidden from prying eyes. Though Zymandis at large is no longer a problem, there must be teams still out there who are undoubtedly angry about losing their home base, so keeping the barrier up is a matter of safety. Once they're ready, Audentes can disembark the Mothership via teleportation pads, beaming them directly to Oska's courtyard. There is already a line forming here of curious ALASTAIR recruits looking to teleport up to the Mothership and look around, and in fact, if you think Oska is a little more crowded than usual . . . you'd be right. Usually only occupied by support staff and the occasional off-duty team or two, Oska is bustling with activity, similar to the sort of crowds seen at the Nondenominational Winter Celebration or Recollection Day. Except now, there is no revelry nor merriment, only a lot of people preparing for something very big on the horizon. SET While Audentes was off capturing the Mothership, it seems as though the TIMELINE.exe has calculated the most likely location of its twin, Zymandis's Timeline machine. Rift technicians are double-checking his work to ensure it's somewhere that recruits can safely rift to, but they're hopeful that they'll be able to deploy teams shortly to make short work of Zymandis's mechanical heart. In the meantime, the technologically gifted are requested to help ALASTAIR scientists and engineers devise an upgrade for the TIMELINE.exe; if his calculations are correct and Zymandis's machine is where he says it is, it's important that its operating system is overridden with the new TIMELINE.exe 1.0.03 file. Otherwise there will be a chance that the universe-purging operating system that Zymandis follows will survive and all the efforts ALASTAIR has made through the centuries will be for naught. For those who don't know their way around a motherboard, there's plenty of things to do -- with how many teams are in Oska, preparing for what is hopefully the final battle against Zymandis, you're likely to run into a familiar face or two. If socializing isn't in your wheelhouse, hone your skills in the courtyard or, for a bigger challenge, in the training room. ALASTAIR support staff could also use assistance in the medical center or greenhouse, preparing vials, potions, and tinctures for use in the battle ahead. And if you're feeling really altruistic, stop by the kitchens to prepare some food for the one thousand Zymandis prisoners now filling the dungeons. You didn't forget about the prisoners, did you? Of the captured Zymandis agents, only a small portion of them have agreed to join ALASTAIR. The rest are either too deadset in their belief in the Zymandis Timeline machine, or they're too distrusting of ALASTAIR to even consider joining up. The dungeons of Oska castle have not been used for their intended purpose in centuries -- prisoners are usually given a simple, heavily-guarded room somewhere in the castle -- but with this many prisoners, there's really nowhere else to put them all. Perhaps if someone were to be kind to them, they might change their mind about joining ALASTAIR's cause. There's a lot to do and a lot to prepare for, so don't forget the relaxing opportunities that Oska has to offer: the baby squidges are due back on Zeta-12 soon for their maturation ceremony, so give them a warm goodbye while you can; the hotsprings is always a good place to relax one's muscles after a warm day; and the library is available for those who like to settle in with a good book in a dimly-lit room. Most importantly, take advantage of this time in Oska. You'll need all the preparation you can get. OOC NOTES Welcome back to Oska! If you have any questions about this log, please direct them to the game FAQ. You may also submit mission ideas or player plots at any time. Guest characters will be admitted to the comms until 14 October 23:59 UTC, so there's still time to sign up! We're excited to see some familiar faces and can't wait for you to be a part of the season finale. We're in the home stretch now, so if you haven't taken the time to review our updated schedule, please do!

Comments

[purrtagonist]

[it doesn't take long for Akira to find what he needs-- some onions, carrots, spices, heavy cream and other ingredients- and once he's collected everything he needs? he spreads it out on the counter and reaches for a knife, rolling one of those onions onto a nearby cutting board]

[instead of slicing into the vegetable himself though, he flips the sharp utensil in his hand so the handle is facing Peter]

How good are you at chopping onions?

[if Peter wants to help, Akira has the perfect way for him to do so!1]

[webdesigned]

( whoa, that looks dangerous, even for a kid with reflexes fast enough to catch a fly out of the air. consider him impressed by your knife flipping skills. Peter carefully plucks the blade out of Akira's hand, before contemplating. )

I'd give myself a solid 4 out of 10. ( is that actually solid, Peter.... still... he's very easy to instruct. if he needs to change his methods, it won't take much to get him to. )

[purrtagonist]

[yeah, it sure is kind of weird how good he is at handling a sharp knife, huh??? almost like he has experience. . .]

Four out of ten works. Solid skills, but room for improvement.

[uh. lots of improvement, that is]

Want me to show you how before you start?

[webdesigned]

( maybe that's just normal in japan??? probably, right?

as for an example, Peter is not too proud to refuse. ) Sure. Maybe when I head home one of these days, I can impress my aunt with my onion chopping skills.

( that'd be more kitchen knowledge than he'd left home with, after all... for the record, Peter does not flip the knife in his hand to give it back. he just switches his grip to the handle so there's room for Akira to take it from him. )

[purrtagonist]

[I mean, it's normal for anime Japan, sure]

Careful. If you show off too much, she might make you the official chef of the household.

[he takes the knife back, before grabbing an onion and getting to work. he's totally dicing it just like those fancy chefs do on food network, by the way]

[webdesigned]

I'd say "that'll never happen" but she's got more of a life than I do these days, so maybe.

( Peter leans against the counter to watch, and... uh... that sure is a demonstration, though possibly not one he can emulate. )

I think I might need to see this at half speed to have any idea what you are doing.

[purrtagonist]

I can narrate the steps too, if that helps.

[he uses the knife blade to push the freshly diced pieces aside, before grabbing another onion and getting to work! he goes much more slowly this time. . . first cutting the onion into halves, then slicing vertical lines from the stem to the bottom, and then cutting horizontally so the onion falls into nice, neat little squares. IT'S COOL]

Maybe I should write my own "how to dice an onion" guide book.

[webdesigned]

( he laughs. )

Hopefully most people are aware. I'm a rare hopeless exception.

( still, the slowed steps seem more easy to replicate. When akira offers him the knife back peter manages to get the onion in a fairly reasonable dice, if a little larger and less consistent. )

Is all cooking this emotional? ( he squints at the fumes of the onion, but only once he's done cutting. )

[purrtagonist]

. . . only if you feel bad for vegetables getting chopped into pieces?

[Peter plz]

[webdesigned]

( AKIRA IF YOU DON'T CRY WHEN YOU CUT ONIONS YOU MUST HAVE SOLD SOMETHING TO THE DEVIL OK )

Pretty sure its the sulfur irritating my lachrymal glads, but I do feel at least a little bad. ( he would know the exact reaction that makes a person cry cutting onions, wouldn't he??? )