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]

You're right but if someone grabs you and pulls you into range, you'll know what to do. And you can hit them in the nose, too. Noses are delicate; they're easy to break and it hurts a lot if they do. So they'll have to let you go. But if that doesn't work, there's other places to target.

[There's a very brief pause before she continues.]

Like here and here.

[As Ayumu speaks, she taps each of Chikusa's temples in quick succession.]

The skull is very thin and weak in your temples. If you strike an opponent here, you can really hurt them. Maybe even finish them. It's not a move to use unless you're desperate or intend to kill.

[Another pause, followed by a sisterly smile.]

There's vulnerable areas along the jaw and neck, too.

[kokuyoyo]

Eyes, nose..... and temples. Okay.

[Rubbing at one side of his head with one hand, he uses the other to carefully touch at his neck.]

I don't know the jaw, but, um.... The jugular? Is that one?

[A pretty big word for a little kid throwing rocks.]

[kagenonadeshiko]

[Ayumu nods, beaming. It is a big word for a little boy and she's pleased he knows it.]

Yes. The jugular is the name of a vein, right here.

[She gently nudges his finger to the proper place.]

If you cut someone's throat here, they'll bleed out quickly and everything will get extremely messy. But there's another spot, an artery, that's quite effective for dispatching an opponent long enough to escape or hide them to avoid discovery.

[Ayumu guides his fingers to another spot on his throat, where his cartoid artery is located.]

If you can get someone in a headlock and apply strong enough pressure here, they'll fall unconscious. However, if that doesn't work, a sharp blow to the back of the head works well.

[As Ayumu speaks, she slips unconsciously into a patient instructor tone, one that she's perfected by adulthood but she's already capable of assuming with ease as a teenager.]

[kokuyoyo]

[The further this little lesson goes on, the more he seems to ease up, letting her tilt his head and tap where she needs to in favor of paying more attention. If she wanted to kill him, it's becoming clear to him that she could have done so a while ago.]

But a headlock means you have to be strong, right...?

[His skinny arms don't exactly inspire confidence. Maybe he'll stick with something to the back of someone's head.]

[kagenonadeshiko]

[Ayumu notices that he's relaxing now, too, and it makes her smile a bit. Good. He seems like a clever boy, smart enough to pick up on the fact that if she'd come with intent to harm, this conversation wouldn't be happening. That helps her relax a little, too.]

Well, strength helps but that alone doesn't win fights. Speed and smarts can win a lot of fights, too. People like us can't rely on strength because we're small and skinny. What we have to count on is superior technique and leverage.

[He is really is a bit too skinny and short for the techniques she has in mind.]

A blow to the back of the head with a weapon should be easier for you to manage. A plank of wood or a rock would do nicely.

[It's unfortunate - or perhaps fortunate - that Ayumu doesn't know what a slingshot is.]

[kokuyoyo]

...I've been trying to make stuff like that.... [He seems hesitant to admit this, his voice a soft whisper.] Things that knock people over or hurt them in the head...

It's easier to set something up than reach a person in front of me...

[aka this upper floor is rigged as shit]

[kagenonadeshiko]

That's good thinking. It's always better to plan ahead than be caught unprepared.

[Her voice is oddly sweet, warm and encouraging, despite the subject matter. Smarts should be rewarded in her opinion.]

Think you could show me some of what you made? It might be easiest to build on what you have at first.

[It'll give her an opportunity to assess the boy a bit further, get a better sense of what his limits are, and how to improve upon them.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Being praised like this, so sweetly and encouragingly, is a completely foreign experience for him, with or without his memories. He doesn't seem to know how to react as he blinks up at her with wide eyes before, shyly, he glances down again.]

...Maybe just one...

[Can't let everyone know about the complete layout of his traps and all, you know.]

[He goes up the stairs, scurrying the last few steps, and goes over to the nearest classroom. He glances back at her, waiting until she's close enough, before he opens it just barely wide enough for her to stick her head through. When she doe so, she'll be able to see that there's a string set up not far if the door opens too widely (although there's still some leniency for a panicked child). The string is apparently connected, in a fairly complicated manner, to...]

[Well. Chikusa had said he'd use something to hit someone in the head, but this rather looks a lot more like rudimentary spears lined up to pierce someone.]

[kagenonadeshiko]

[Just one is fine with her. One step at a time as things go.]

Not bad! Not bad at all!

[She studies it intently for a few minutes. It's a bit primitive but the idea's fairly sound, she thinks. Overall, it is a pretty good trap. But she offered to give advice and that's what she intends to do but first she needs a little more information about this particular room.]

But I have to ask - what is it protecting? See, it's very important to conserve your resources as much as possible. It's a waste to have something guarding an empty room unless that, too, is a trap.

[It doesn't seem to be though. There doesn't seem to be any outward indicators that makes it look like they're anything particularly special inside.]

[kokuyoyo]

Um... Me?

[Another scruff of his toe against the floor.]

If I can't scare someone off... Then I could slip in here without triggering the trap.... And then they'd follow, and open the door wider, so...

...I didn't want it to be a room we used a lot.... Or else maybe Quattordici would get hit by accident...

[kagenonadeshiko]

[The boy seems awfully young to be this worried about pursuit and intruders. It's a little hard for Ayumu to imagine what kind of enemies the children here might have but his fear's too palpable to simple be dismissed as an overactive imagination. If this was simply some kind of game, the trap would be a little less lethal, she thinks. Then again, she doesn't think she knows much about games herself.

She stands there, thoughtful and quiet, as she mulls over this new information.]

I see. Well... If I was an intruder, I'd only bother with this room if it looked like it might be a place of importance. So maybe you should hang up a sign.

[A sign written in childish script might confuse an enemy expecting older quarry. Or lull them into underestimating the children. Either way, it'd be a small improvement.]

[kokuyoyo]

Oh... [He droops some more, but nods.] Then.... I'll do that when we get more things to write with.

[....But something is bothering him, and he looks up.]

...The books can't be read.

[kagenonadeshiko]

Huh? What do you mean?

[Does he not know how to read? It sounds like he knows how to write so that'd be a little weird if he didn't.]

Can you show me?

[kokuyoyo]

...Okay.

[Carefully moving away from the room, he does a double check of the stairs- first at the top in case anyone else is coming up and then again at the bottom to make sure the coast is clear. Once that's done, he leads her to the library where he pulls out a book at random. Opening it, he holds it up to her.]

It's just weird symbols....

[Kanji. He means kanji.]

[kagenonadeshiko]

[Ayumu leans in to get a closer look at the pages.]

Oh! I can read these. Some can be read different ways and there's a few that are a little strange but this is a language. It appears to be a science book of some sort.

[Is the boy illiterate? Somehow the notion he might be doesn't strike her as particularly unusual. Maybe wherever she's from, literacy wasn't as well spread among some groups.]