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

[sweetdeath]

[He sits up, blinking. His head doesn't hurt, but he's scraped and scuffed up everywhere, and although the shock of the fall kept him from noticing it hurt at first, he realizes when he looks down at his palms and sees he's scraped both of them trying to catch the branch on the way down.

They're bleeding a little bit.

Asato's chin wobbles, his eyes fill, and he hides his face in his arms before he bursts into tears.

He's way too old to cry. It doesn't even hurt that much!

But he wants somebody to wash his hands and tell him it's okay, and he doesn't even remember who that somebody should be, much less how to find her.]

[erogappa]

[ What. What. Oh, come on, he's not hurt that badly, is he? Shit. ]

Stop that!

[ Gojyo yanks at the fallen branches and whatnot, clearing them off the other boy so that he can see for sure if he's hurt or not. So far it just looks like he scraped his hands and maybe bruised his butt, but that's nothing to cry over! ]

Boys don't cry.

[sweetdeath]

M'okay.

[Boys don't cry. Right... Asato hunches his shoulders defensively, rubbing the dirt and blood off his hands onto his pants. His voice is still all choked up and his eyes are watering, but he swallows back the actual sob that's threatening to follow the others, and wipes his eyes on his sleeve, and looks up at the other boy.]

T-thanks....

[He's helping, after all. Asato'd thought maybe he was going to be mad about the crying when he yelled, but he just looks worried. He must be really nice.

He sniffles, and tentatively starts to get up.]

... where are we?

[He wants to go home, but that's a baby kind of thing to say, and he's not gonna be a baby. Even if the tears are still threatening right behind his eyelids.]

[erogappa]

[ See? It's not bad enough to cry about. Chin up, walk it off, be a man and other macho catchphrases! ]

I dunno. [ Does he need to be the big brother here? He can do that! He's got real strong ideas about doing that, and why it's important. Gojyo straightens up and takes a step or two back toward the gate, looking around at the countryside. ] It's a weird place though, huh? All these big houses with nobody in 'em.

[sweetdeath]

[Yeah, all that stuff. Asato sniffles, and wipes his nose on his sleeve. There's one good thing about falling out of the tree, though, and that's that he took a bunch of ripe (and some less ripe) oranges down with him.

He digs a couple out of the welter of leaves and sticks, and holds one out to Gojyo as he follows him those couple steps toward the gate. He's found a friend, maybe. He doesn't want to get too far away, because he doesn't know anything else about anybody here.]

Yeah... it looks like a really fancy neighborhood.

[He sniffles, and wipes his nose again, trying to pretend it's just running. He's not scared. They're not gonna get in trouble. Nobody's around, anyway.]

I wonder where everybody went?

[erogappa]

[ Hmm? Oh, thanks -- he likes oranges! He can't remember ever having eaten one, but he knows exactly the best way to peel them so he doesn't get that spray of orange oil in his eyes. (It hits his shirt instead, but who cares about things like that?) ]

The only people I've seen so far are kids.

[ Which clearly isn't right. Not only do kids need adults around, but this place clearly wasn't built by and for kids. Everything's grown-up sized.

He takes a contemplative bite of his orange. It's a little sour, but juicy. ]

Maybe they're all dead?

[ He doesn't sound at all concerned by that. ]

[sweetdeath]

Everybody? Do you really think so?

[Asato lags a step behind, puzzling out the peel of his orange and casting careful glances at Gojyo, who got it all peeled really fast. He's a lot more unsure about getting the peel off his, and he's surprised by how sour it is when he finally pulls the last scrap of peel off and bites down, but the spray of juice that gets him in the face is the worst part.

He mops his face on his damp sleeve again, leaving it all sticky this time, and rushes to catch up.]

That'd be awful! Everybody's families...

[Even if they don't remember. Especially if they don't remember. That's worse.]

[erogappa]

[ If there's nobody around, they should go through the house and see if there's anything worth taking. Food, a change of clothes, weapons, money... ]

Not our families. Theirs. [ He waves to the temple building, where clearly neither he nor Asato had grown up. This is a stranger's house, it's fine. ] Whoever used to live here. Our families are fine, wherever they are.

[sweetdeath]

But I don't remember what my house looks like....

[This all looks too fancy, but what if he did grow up in one of these houses? What if something bad happened, and he forgot, and his family's gone?

He sniffles, and tries very hard to hold the sniffle in. It's not stopping his eyes from stinging, though, and he speeds up a little, not wanting to get too far away from Gojyo. Anything could happen. Something bad clearly already did.]

[erogappa]

[ He doesn't remember anything either? Crap. ]

I know. It's because you got kidnapped. We both did.

[ Given that Asato was risking life and limb for an orange, the kitchen is the logical first stop. Let's see if there's stuff for sandwiches! ]

But it's gonna be okay. I'll look out for you until we find our way out of here.

[sweetdeath]

[to here]