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

[kagenonadeshiko]

[There's another thoughtful silence. Her instinct is to chastise the girl, something about her apparent mindset rubs her the wrong way just a little. But another part of her kind of feels sorry for her, just a little. She's kind of a pitiful sight, blubbering instead of just picking herself up like that. It's kind of annoying and she probably shouldn't do this but she can just leave someone like that by themselves.

With a sigh, Ayumu stands up and holds out her hand.]

Come on. Let's go somewhere else.

[nibelungvalesti]

[This is a girl who'd been so brutalized by what had happened to her in the past few hours (as far as she is concerned) that she'd simply slipped into death from a poison she might otherwise have been able to escape. And yet nothing had improved.]

[Platina blinks up at her, a few times because her vision is hopelessly blurred.]

...Where is there to go? Do you know this place?

[kagenonadeshiko]

Not at all.

[Ayumu shrugs.]

But we're not getting anywhere just sitting here. So let's go somewhere else. I bet there's a lot more to see than what's right here.

[Though her tone's rougher, her expression blanker and a little more irritable, there's already hints of that no-nonsense, older sister brand of kindness she displays as an adult.]

Two of us have a better chance of figuring things out than just one, don't you think?

[nibelungvalesti]

We should find someplace safe, first of all. Someplace we can hide if we have to. [She is no match for warriors or even thugs, and she doesn't believe Ayumu would be either. And they can only run for so far, and so long.]

[kagenonadeshiko]

That's a good idea. It's important to have a home base.

[Ayumu's tough and brave; she might be able to get the jump on someone by striking a vital area or attacking from a blindspot. Even at this young age, she's has a few years of harsh training under her belt. Still, she's a child and small in stature at that. She wouldn't be able to defeat a warrior or hold off more than one attacker but it wouldn't stop her from trying.]

The sooner we find shelter, the better, so come on!

[Ayumu makes a grab for the girl's hand, not intending to let go until they're someplace safe.]

[nibelungvalesti]

[She doesn't mind the touch the way she'd shy away from an adult. But she isn't easy to tug; though short, she has strength forged from a life of hard work.]

[Luckily, no tugging is necessary; Platina totally agrees with the sentiment, and is in just as much a hurry to find someplace safe.] I would prefer to hide in the woods somewhere, but I don't see any...

[kagenonadeshiko]

[Ayumu squeezes the girl's hand once and looks around.]

I thought I saw one but it disappeared.

[She's referring to the spooky woods that sometimes appears and disappears around the Heavens. A forest no one can find would be the perfect hiding place, wouldn't it? Of course, they'd have to find it first.]

[nibelungvalesti]

The woods... disappeared? How would that happen? [She's not quite up on the supernatural, yet. Platina had lived a singularly mundane life.]

[kagenonadeshiko]

[Ayumu isn't either. From the impressions she's gathered of this place, wherever she's from didn't have anything supernatural about it.]

I don't know. I looked down the road and saw them but when I went back, they were gone.

[nibelungvalesti]

I wonder if the field I was in disappeared too. Or maybe the woods were where you were from, and now they're gone the same way that field is?

[She's trying to understand, but this is well past what she knows and has any experience with.]

[kagenonadeshiko]

No, I don't think so. That I came from a forest. I was in a bedroom.

[Though Ayumu can't say with any degree of certainty just how she'd gotten there.]

But maybe your field is like the forest.

[All of this is beyond her understanding, too. What a confusing situation to wake up alone and without memories in.]

[nibelungvalesti]

[Platina just shakes her head; she doesn't understand at all, and doesn't know where to begin.]

I just want to get somewhere safe. So I can figure out what -- what I'm going to do.

[kagenonadeshiko]

'Kay. Since there's no forests, we should look for shelter. I saw some old buildings. We could hide out in one of those.

[Preferably a place with walls of stone and very few entry points. It'd be much easier to hold and defend that way.]

[nibelungvalesti]

Oh, yes! If they're abandoned, they ought to be really safe. [No one ever even THINKS to look in abandoned buildings unless they have a really good cause.]

[kagenonadeshiko]

[She nods.]

I think so, too.

[They'll have to clear it first to make sure there's nothing dangerous inside but it's a plan with a goal and that makes Ayumu feel a little better about all of this. So she starts walking forward, still holding onto Platina's hand.]

If you see one that looks good to you, let me know, 'kay?

[nibelungvalesti]

Some of these buildings are so -- unusual. Amazing, really. I've never seen anything like them. I always wondered what it would be like, to go to a big city...

[Of course, she has no way of knowing the Far Shore is quite unlike anything in Midgard, having only ever been in known of her tiny village.]

[kagenonadeshiko]

I don't think I have either. The styles look different somehow.

[She means the Western style ones specifically but without memories to help her place context, she's struggling to find the right words.]

Cities are nice. It's easy to hide in them.

[nibelungvalesti]

This one seems so empty. Where is everyone? [The question is mostly rhetorical, but still -- her own village seemed more lively than this huge city a hundred times its size at least.]

[kagenonadeshiko]

[Rhetorical or not, Ayumu's compelled to answer.]

I don't know. Maybe everyone's out?

[A brief, contemplative pause.]

It'll be easier to gather supplies that way.

[If everyone's out, no one's there to guard their food pantries. After they find shelter, food and clothing should come next, shouldn't it? Maybe.]

[nibelungvalesti]

Do you think we can find a field?

[Given the temperature, the weather, the general air around -- she thinks this must be summer, and that means food is mostly in the ground growing.]

[kagenonadeshiko]

Maybe. I saw some places that looked more like the countryside.

[They looked pretty nice. And somewhere where they could easily grow or find food would be less risky than stealing it.]

Wanna go there?

[nibelungvalesti]

Yes, I think we should. Making sure we have supplies is important, after all!

[kagenonadeshiko]

Let's go there, then. I think remember the way.

[Ayumu starts leading them away from the more populated looking areas, looking for abandoned temples in rural areas. Never much of a conversationalist, she falls silent, focusing on the search itself. Her feet are starting to hurt from all the walking, she is just a little girl right now and barefoot at that but she doesn't complain, even she starts to visibly wince a little with each step after a while.]

[nibelungvalesti]

Oh dear -- you're hurting! [Platina reaches out to catch her hand and stop her from taking another step, more sensitive to Ayumu's pain than she herself seems to be.]

[kagenonadeshiko]

[Ayumu stops in her tracks, blinking a little in surprise. She is hurting but even at this age, it's hard for her to admit that to others. So she looks down.]

I'll be fine. I just need to rest a little.

[What she really needs is a pair of shoes and to get off her feet a while but she's nothing if not stubborn.]