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

Axel | OTA (with one closed prompt)

[small_reservations]

July 15

[Axel's not completely insensitive to the tension of others, but he's also a jackass, so he's been harrying the heavens to no avail. The whole infrastructure feels like it's about to have a meltdown, and when that happens, who knows what'll go down, both here and in the mortal world?

To relax these worries, he decides to head out on a walk with Ironclaw ne Pookie, attaching a harness and leash to her. He can be found arguing with said cat outside his home temple.]

Look, it's just a walk!

I won't be moving until you release me from this foul device, idiot porcupine.

You're supposed to be an indoor cat!

July 16 - Morning (Closed to residents of Hestia's Temple)



[The next morning, Hestia's temple is greeted by an unmanly shriek of a kid whose voice is still in the process of breaking.]

What the hell?!

[It's a familiar tone, to some, but definitely pitched differently. Pookie gives him a lazy swat from her perch at the head of the bed. She's... not a kitten anymore. He climbs out of bed, legs actually dangling above the ground.]

Feed me.

I'm... I must be ten years younger!

I don't care. Feed me.

[So Axel - now Lea, really, by the beating of his heart - lets the cat out of his bedroom and looks around. What if the same thing happened to the others?]

Ken? Chikusa?

July 16 - Later



Hey, you got a minute?

[Now that he's actually dressed (in clothes borrowed from his shinki's wardrobes), Axel's investigating. This can't be confined to his own temple, right? It's gotta be somewhere else too.]

Noticed anything odd lately?

July 17



[The next night brings about another change. No longer is Axel trapped in a childlike body - mainly because the owner of said body wouldn't recognize the name if you told it to him. Lea wakes up, and almost immediately starts exploring the world around him... and making trouble. Whether he's painting the sidewalk, picking fights, exploring where he shouldn't be, or releasing animals, he's a kid enjoying himself. Probably too much.]

((OOC: Replies for the 16th and 17th will be from nobodyperfect.

chikusa time

[kokuyoyo]

[There's no response, when normally Chikusa would come running at the call of his name. Which is probably enough for worry. However, if he listen, Axel can no doubt hear the sound of soft sniffling and barely muffled sobs coming from one of the rooms.]

Yay!

[nobodyperfect]

[That's... worrying. Even more worrying is the crying. It's like a horror movie. At least the temple's not dark this time...]

Chikusa? Are you ok?

[He goes to the door to the room his exemplar normally uses, and raps softly on the door.]

[kokuyoyo]

[A hiccup of alarm, and then the sounds behind the door go quiet.]

[....Yeah, it's kind of like a horror movie. But Axel isn't getting an answer here.]

[nobodyperfect]

[He's not getting an answer, so he checks the doorknob. Even if it's locked, he can get the master key. Probably. Might need to pull up a chair to reach its hiding place. Why did he have to be so short when he was a kid?]

Morning

[junkyarddog]

[There's no response from Ken, either. The noise from Chikusa intervenes before any investigation of Ken's whereabouts can be undertaken, but if Axel is sharp-eyed when he's following the sound of Chikusa's sniffling, he might notice a wide eye peering at him from behind the crack of a door.

And, when Axel inevitably exits the room Chikusa's in, a small blond kid is lurking just outside, clearly having been worried for the other boy...or perhaps just listening in. But as soon as Axel walks out, and practically into him, the boy goes pale and skitters backwards.]

Re: Morning

[nobodyperfect]

[Axel is shocked for a moment before he barks out a name.]

Ken!

[This kid is at least recognizable - the shock of yellow hair, the scar. He's not so generic as Chikusa. But he looks even more flighty, so Axel drops to a crouch.]

Are you ok?

[junkyarddog]

[Ken only retreats further at the loud voice. His expression is trying to be a glare, but there's too much fear in it to be intimidating even if a scrawny kid his age could intimidate a healthy teenager.]

...who's Ken? That's not my name.

[nobodyperfect]

[... Well that's weird. Maybe they changed their names later.]

Sorry, sorry.

[He runs a hand through his... much shorter than usual but still spiky hair with an exasperated sigh.]

Today's weird, isn't it?

[Weird enough that Axel's in pajamas with a can of food in his hand. Weird enough that he's little. But then the damn cat returns.]

Are you an idiot? Feed me.

July 16th afternoon!

[missingache]

[Running around after all of these kids was exhausting, but Roxas can't really turn down someone asking for help. So he stops and turns around only to stop and stare.

This person in front of him looks familiar, but not in the way he figured it would. No. This isn't someone from Sora's memories... oh! This is someone Ven knows!]

Lea?

[That was the name, right? It's the name Axel mentioned when Sora was saved...]

[nobodyperfect]

[Axel shrugs. This is complicated.]

Sorta. And sorta not. I'm still me, Roxas. Just... my body got younger.

[And he's got emotions because of it. At the moment, that emotion is embarrassment.]

Did you feel anything weird last night?

[missingache]

That's what I thought... I've been around something like this happening before.

[Just not here.

Roxas thinks before nodding.]

Yeah. I can't find Sora now. I woke up like I always do, and I thought he was still asleep. But... he wasn't in bed when I went to wake him up! I don't feel any different, but maybe he changed?

[nobodyperfect]

Do you need help looking?

[Axel can at least manage that much, even in this form.]

The same thing happened to my shinki, except they got younger mentally too. Maybe it's because they're shinki, but if it's not, that could've happened to Sora.

July 16, Later

[reformedsinner]

Yes?

[Gonou looks up curiously at the redheaded boy. He's only a few years younger than Gonou himself, it seems, mid-teens instead of late, and his clothes are terrible -- but his expression is serious, and that's enough to overcome Gonou's natural antipathy towards teens.

(He's just not far enough away from dealing - unwillingly - with them as peers.)

He closes the notebook he's been jotting possible theories down in and tucks his pen behind his ear.]

Do you mean anything odd besides the fact that I have no idea where I am?

[nobodyperfect]

Yeah, I guess.

[It's about the time for new people to show up, after all.]

Like people turning younger kind of odd.

[It's annoying - the affected don't have any clue in most cases, and the unaffected don't know a thing about it.]

Also I'm looking for two little kids. One is blonde and has a scar on his nose, the other has short brown hair in a kind of bowl cut.

[reformedsinner]

You could try the school. I've been swarmed with children all morning, although those descriptions don't sound familiar.

... If people's ages are changing, that would explain why they're all so young.

Cho Gonou, incidentally.

[He offers a polite inclination of his head.]

July 17 - Age 4

[little_wave]

[Kairi has no concept that painting the sidewalk might be a bad thing. She just sees an arts & crafts project.]

Ooh - can I help?

[She claps her hands excitedly.]

[nobodyperfect]

[This kid's a lot younger than him, but she's cute. He can baby-sit until whoever's responsible for her shows up.]

Sure! What's your name? I'm Lea, got it memorized?

[He taps his head with a grin even as the other hand passes Kairi a paintbrush. There's a lot of paints out - looks like he raided a hardware store's sample bin or something.]

[little_wave]

YAY!

[She stomps the ground with both feet in her excitement before taking the brush.]

Nice to meet you, Lea. My name is Kairi.

[And she drops to her knees to start painting.]

16, L

[littlest_knight]

[ Zero turns at the question looking a little confused. ]

Odd?

[nobodyperfect]

Yeah, odd. Like time warp stuff. Not like talking cats.

[The latter is normal.]

[littlest_knight]

......

[ He blinks, more confused than before but if he's looking for something odd then... ]

There's a large monster following me around.

July 16 Afternoon

[lookingforhead]

[It's been pretty much one strange thing after another since she got here. It's a shame she doesn't have her past memories to compare them to.]

Now that you mention it yes. Are there more kids around than usual?

[Strange. Sorta like a woman in a black outfit and a yellow cat eared motorcycle helmet responding via text on a held out phone?]

[nobodyperfect]

Yeah, there are. And most of them SHOULD be adults and teenagers.

[He crosses his arms. It's hard not to take this personally when his household's been so affected.]

Something time-warpy happened last night... I'm normally almost a foot taller.

[lookingforhead]

[She nods. She's not noticed much change in her own area, or if something did happen to Sharak she missed it. But she's noticed everyone else it's been happening to.]

I see. Does this sort of thing happen often? What could be causing it? An Ayakashi? Do we have to find it and fight it to change everyone back?