016 | The Good Old Days

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Ageswapping
When: July 15-17
Where: Everywhere
Summary: A breach in the space-time continuum is messing things up.

Edit: OVERFLOW is here!



The Far Shore has been dealing with a lot of space-time pulsating through the past week or so and everything is culminating on the night of the 15th, even though the Heavens are preparing for an all-out Obon bash. They had planned to have the celebration on the 15th itself, but Amaterasu asked to postpone a day due to the horrible feeling that is permeating the Far Shore.

And it turns out she was right to postpone everything. In fact, it will have to be postponed another whole month at this rate...



Before

Late in the day on July 15th, the new batch of shinki will arrive to a Far Shore with a thick, tense atmosphere. All night on the 15th it feels like something is about to happen - and it's difficult to tell whether that something will be good or bad. Any attempts to contact the management of the Far Shore have fallen on deaf, slightly harried ears and so everyone is left to their own devices to try and figure out why things are so tense.

July 16

Just after midnight, an explosive shock wave rips through the Far Shore, bringing on the age changes with it. Even the spirits of the Far Shore seem to be affected - for example, the library goblins are either toddling around on wobbly legs or are dragging themselves from place to place and looking decrepit. There are a few gods and shinki that seem to have been exceptions from the change, though it is not clear why.

July 17

Another wave of energy comes in the early morning of the 17th. Fewer people are affected this time and it seems to alter those people's ages a second time. There is no rhyme or reason to who is being affected further. Several of the library goblins have just dropped dead from severe old age. Oops.

Aftermath

Late on the 17th brings about one final burst from the energy that has been plaguing the Far Shore. For a short moment, every new temple glows with a soft light, seeming to beckon to their owners. But the light is gone quickly and everyone will find themselves back to normal with complete memories of everything that happened during their age adventures. The goblins that died, though, are still very dead. Looks like the library will need to get some new help soon.

In Summary:

• Meet the newbies
• Get aged or de-aged
• Deal with other too young/too old people
• Try to handle the consequences
• Have fun~

Comments

III

[junkyarddog]

[Ken, as a teenager, has developed any number of horrible habits. Eating highly questionable things, dog mannerisms, avoiding baths, Japanese sentence enders. But there was a time when he had none of those traits, and wasn't even called Ken, and Hibiki's had the unbelievable fortune to encounter him during this briefly acceptable period of his life. He doesn't even technically know Japanese at this point in his life, and the only reason he and Chikusa are able to communicate with anyone in anything but Italian is because of divine intervention.

He blinks at the invitation. He's never been invited to a tea party before. He's...not even entirely sure what one entails. But she's a kid like him, so she can't be bad, right? And all that stuff sounds...tempting. Amazing, actually. Stuff he's vaguely aware of the existence of, but it doesn't feel familiar. Even without memories...he doesn't think he's familiar with that kind of stuff.

He'd like to be, though.

Still, wariness rules him first and foremost, and he gives Hibiki a wary look.] ...are there gonna be adults there? We don't trust adults.

[kurukuruchan]

[ Wariness right back. Though in this case it's more like innocent confusion. ]

Why not? Adults are nice.

[junkyarddog]

Nuh uh! [Ken shakes his head emphatically.] They're scary and they can hurt you and you can't stop 'em 'cause they're bigger and stronger! [He doesn't remember why he thinks these things at all, but to him it's perhaps the most basic fact he knows.] That's why we're hiding from 'em.

[He glances down at the invitation again, and there's a look of almost pained longing before he hands it back.] I don't think we can come, if there's gonna be adults. [He vaguely feels like this needs an apology, or at least that the invitation to something so nice deserves some form of repayment. So, after a moment he digs into a pocket and pulls out a (gently melting) chocolate bar - still wrapped - and holds it out to the girl.] You can have this, though.

[kurukuruchan]

[ Is that - chocolate? It looks strange. She's just. So confused by this whole exchange. ]

Nobody gets hurt at parties.

[ Oh, she knows! So she grins reassuringly. She knows how to fix this. ]

Pinky swear!

[junkyarddog]

...they don't? [Quattordici seems mystified. The idea of somewhere that people don't get hurt by adults seems fairly foreign to him.]

What's a pinky swear?

[kurukuruchan]

[ OH BOY SHE GETS TO SHOW OFF HER LEARNINGS.

Hibiki holds up a hand with just her pinky finger extended. ] Do this.

[junkyarddog]

[The boy does so, looking mystified but kind of intrigued.]

hibiki touched the mutt.

[kurukuruchan]

[ Great! An attempt is now made to link their pinkies and bob them up and down. ]

Pin-ky pro-mise, liar's got-ta drink a thou-sand need-les!

[ Now to seal the deal. ] Par-ties are - safe.

[ See? Don't you feel so much better now??? ]

He's clean...for now.

[junkyarddog]

[Quattordici tilts his head, watching and listening to this with fascination.] Is it like a spell...?

[kurukuruchan]

It's a promise!

[ Hibiki nods. ]

Friends don't break those.

[junkyarddog]

We're friends? [Quattordici looks surprised, but a little pleased.] I don't even know what to call you yet.

[kurukuruchan]

Hibiki.

[ There. Problem solved. ] Everybody's a friend. So everybody can play together. For sure!

[ She's looking at the little boy happily enough that it's like he's her Only Friend, though. ]

[junkyarddog]

[Well, Quattordici has other people he likes, so Hibiki isn't his only friend, but he beams back at her plenty happily all the same. It's nice to have another kid to hang around with, and maybe he can actually attend her party after all.]

They call me Quattordici. [A pause.] If I come...can I bring some other kids?

[kurukuruchan]

You know some other kids??

[ THAT SOUNDS AMAZING. ] Bring them, bring them! There's enough for everybody!

[junkyarddog]

Yeah. Like I said, we're hiding from adults. But if it'll be safe at the party... [Quattordici really wants to see what the party is like. He wants to have cake. And if nobody will get hurt, it'll be okay if they go, right? He wants to bring Quarantanove, at least.]

[kurukuruchan]

It will be. There's lots of hiding places, too.

[ Tons and tons of rooms. ]

[junkyarddog]

[That gets Quattordici beaming. If there's lots of places to hide, then it's definitely not dangerous, and not even Quarantanove will have to be too nervous about coming.] Okay, we'll come! Maybe we can play hide and seek.

[kurukuruchan]

[ You have good ideas, Quattordici. Hibiki jumps up and down, excited. ] Let's, let's!

The castle's right down - [ She looks around and points. ] This road. Get everybody to come.

[junkyarddog]

[That just interests Quattordici even further, as though that was necessary.] It's in a castle? [The difference between temples and castles is probably marginal at best, but Ken still finds the idea of getting to run around a castle super cool.] Is there armor and stuff? And secret passages?

[Probably all his knowledge of castles comes from books Quarantanove may have read to him, although he doesn't remember this. But his idea of castles is very fairy tale-based.]

[kurukuruchan]

Could be!

[ None of this had occurred to her, but now that it has, that all sounds like an amazingly large amount of fun. ] Looking for them can come after tea.

[junkyarddog]

Okay. [There's a slightly grudging tone to this agreement, but Quattordici is willing to accept that if it's the girl's party and her castle, it's her rules.

A thought occurs.] Uh, what do I call you? [He waves the paper.] And what's this say? It's pretty.

[kurukuruchan]

"Hibiki" is good!

[ She nods to the paper. ] That talks about how much fun the party's gonna be. Are you bad at school?

[junkyarddog]

My number's Quattordici. [He frowns at the question, somewhat perplexed.] I don't remember...but I know I can't read.

[kurukuruchan]

That's okay. There won't be reading at the party, either.

[ Except on Friend Tickets. But you don't really need to read those to trade them....

So she grins. ] Thanks for coming, Quattordici!!

[ She speaks Ipalian with a Prench accent. ]

[junkyarddog]

[Quattordici isn't accustomed to manners, having never exactly been taught them, but with this clear of an example being made for him, he instinctively feels like he should respond in kind.] Thanks for inviting me. Er, us. [He's almost shy in his awkwardness at trying to be polite, but he's got a new friend and there's going to be a party and cake and exploring a castle, so things are pretty great right now and it's worth making a little extra effort to make the person who's offering all that happy.

Still, words don't feel sufficient, which is one of the reasons manners remain largely foreign to him even aside from never having been properly taught. So, after a brief pause, he asks - ] Do you still want the candy?

[He's still got the chocolate bar in hand, which he offers again.]