partially millitimed to February 16th

[configuration_birdwatcher]

Bastion walks into the bar today and is immediately redecorated by forces unknown into a shiny red-and-black colour scheme with gold accents and filigree everywhere. Ganymede, sitting on their shoulder, is unaffected (despite the icon) except for a confused chirp as his perch changes colour beneath his feet. They retract their head back in surprise, and then look down to examine their inexplicably repainted chassis, rotating their manipulator arm through its range of motion in front of their face to get a better look at the designs. From what they can see of it, it's very... intricate. Even their eyelights have changed from cyan to yellow.

After a bit of time indoors, they head out to the lake, intending to explore a part of the Milliways grounds that's not the forest. They assume that whatever the bar did to their colouration is for some kind of special occasion, but they're not sure what holiday it is now, and they're curious how much the season has changed. It looked like early spring last time, but now it's snowing. Has it been several months here? Did time run backwards at the bar? Or is it just an ordinary late-winter cold snap? The snow continues to fall.

They step back indoors somewhat later to warm up, only to discover (with some alarm) that the bar is now nearly empty of patrons. Wait, not empty. It's full of tiny people.

[OOC: The first part of the post is Millitimed to the Lunar New Year, the last part is current, and the middle stretches like taffy between the two. Catch Bastion in any of these times and places! They're still regular size, but open to tags from shrunken pups.]

Comments

[sticktothemission]

Should Bastion wander over towards the bar a tiny Reaper is still upon it. He got Bar to give him a little hammock, the kind people usually get their kittens, and he's lounging in it with one hand tucked behind his head. In the other is a very tiny book.

[configuration_birdwatcher]

They've carefully picked their way from the back door over to the bar, making a special effort to watch where they walk so they don't step on any tiny people or tinier rats. The fact that even the rats are much smaller than usual narrows down the possibilities for what happened, and casts significant doubt upon the most concerning one in which something swept through the bar removing all the patrons more than a meter tall.

Ganymede looks a little too interested in one of the miniaturised waitrats as it skitters past carrying an equally tiny delivery. // That's not a bug. Don't eat it, they beep to him as they walk up to the bar. Addressing Bar herself, Bastion asks, // Why are most of the patrons shrunk down?

// Oh, hello. They're having difficulty identifying what kind of being the tiny lounging patron on the bartop is. There doesn't seem to be an omnic under the robes, but they don't detect any indications that that's a living human either.

[sticktothemission]

Jesus, it's like looking up at a Titan. A very ornate and fancy Titan, but a Titan all the same. Only this one has a yellow bird with it. The Bastion must be doing well for itself to have paint job like this.

"...hi," Reaper offers, a shade wary. He sticks a finger in his book to mark the page as he closes it, giving his full attention to the omnic. "The waitrats dropped a shrink ray."

[configuration_birdwatcher]

A Titan accompanied by a correspondingly large bird. Reaper doesn't register as a potential snack to Ganymede, but his shiny metal boots are very captivating.

Bastion waves to the tiny person. // That explains the immediate situation. Why did they have a shrink ray?

Apparently shrink rays are also something Milliways has.

[sticktothemission]

"No idea."

Reaper does not care for the way Ganymede is cocking his head at him. Like a giant, feathered dinosaur who's found something interesting. He doesn't know enough about birds to know if moving is a bad idea or not, though, so he's just going to keep lounging.

He can always wraith away if he decides to get too close.

[configuration_birdwatcher]

Bastion isn't surprised that the tiny person doesn't have an answer, not that this stopped them from asking the question just in case. Milliways has proven to be full of weird things that shouldn't be possible and come out of nowhere. They turn their head to look at Ganymede, who doesn't meet their gaze very promptly because he's too busy watching Reaper's shiny boots. Time to distract him.

// Bar, can I have some seeds for Ganymede, please? A dish materialises, and the bird hops down to eat out of it.

[sticktothemission]

Aaaand now he's closer. Great.

Reaper reopens the book enough to note the page number and snaps it shut. He rests it on his chest, just below the bandolier, then brings his free hand up to join the other in cradling his head. He's trying to figure out the best way to handle this. They don't seem to recognize Reaper, which is fortunate, and he's not keen to clarify if this was the unit wandering around Sweden. Lindholm picked that one up, which means they're with Overwatch, which means he needs to watch what he says very carefully.

But if he plays his cards right, maybe he can learn something useful. Which'll be easier to do if pretends he has no clue what an omnic is.

"Nice paint job. You a display model?"

[configuration_birdwatcher]

// No, it happened spontaneously when I entered the bar. I'm hoping it'll go away when I return to my world, because it's incredibly conspicuous. It's very pretty, though.

Winston did bring the Overwatch roster up to speed on how a Talon cell led by an operative in a black coat and a mask broke into his office and wrecked the place, but Bastion hasn't seen the security footage and Winston didn't describe him in quite enough detail for them to recognise him on sight in Milliways. At least, not when they're not expecting to see a Talon operative and he hasn't turned into a cloud of smoke so far.

[sticktothemission]

As we said, fortunate.

"And conspicuous is bad?"

It's definitely a little unnerving talking to an omnic who has an eyelight bigger than he is and he hasn't had to take down a Titan in years. It'll probably be best to just wraith away if this goes south, disappear back behind Bar's counter. Escape route planned, he continues to lounge seemingly without a care in the world.

[configuration_birdwatcher]

That's a more difficult question to answer than they thought, and Bastion takes a moment to think about it. If they don't have to fight anything, then theoretically it shouldn't matter that the reflections from their spangly paint job would give away their position. At the watchpoint, at least, they've been safe so far; they can't say the same about Milliways, but they have been told that the dangers found at the bar are mostly predictable and avoidable. However, none of this rationalization makes them less uneasy about the idea, and considering that the watchpoint has been breached in the recent past it's not a completely unfounded worry.

// It's a bigger risk than I'd like to take. Also, the sudden colour change would be difficult to explain to my colleagues.

[sticktothemission]

Perfect. Exactly where he wanted the conversation to go.

"Understandable. Take it that means they don't know about Milliways?"

Confirmation on that would be lovely.

[configuration_birdwatcher]

// Probably not. I haven't told them about the portal, but since it appears randomly in doors at the watchpoint they might have come here independently and not told me.

If none of them can get the door to stick around to prove it to each other, it could happen!

[sticktothemission]

It could! It is definitely something to keep in mind.

"Watchpoint? That like a garrison or something?"

[i_am_your_host]

Emcee comes downstairs and immediately wonders about the lack of people. Perhaps it's just one of those nights? With Milliways, some days it rains, some days it pours, so who knows.

In any case, Emcee has unwittingly avoided the shrinkage, and is making his way to the bar when Bastion wanders in from outside. Emcee stares, and cocks his head, kind of sure it's the same robot he'd met, except this one has a whole new paint job-- Wait, no, he's pretty sure now--they've got a little bird friend!

"Hallo, there," he greets Bastion, smiling with a hand raised. "You came to my New Year's Eve party, did you not?"

[configuration_birdwatcher]

Bastion waves back, and makes the same greeting beep they did at the party. Ganymede doesn't look much different either, which probably helps when his robot companion is now shiny and sparkly enough to match Emcee's style. // Hello Emcee!

[i_am_your_host]

"Ah! Well, it's nice to see you again. How splendid you look!"

Bastion had been covered with patches of moss and flowers at the party, so that was pretty festive, in an unintended organic way.

Emcee is about to add something when out of the corner of his eye, he spots movement from the tables. He does a double take and realizes that the bar isn't exactly empty of people--they've just been shrunken down.

[configuration_birdwatcher]

Bastion has a gift for looking stylish without trying, it seems.

They answer Emcee with an upbeat voo-vwee vweeoop, then follow his gaze and, yeah, tiny patrons. They don't really know enough people at Milliways to spot any familiar faces at 1/30th scale and thus differentiate them from new patrons who happen to all be two inches tall, but the absence of regular-sized patrons worries them. // Thank you for the compliment.

[OOC: apologies for the wait!]

[i_am_your_host]

"It must be another Milliways thing," Emcee sighs. "There has been no shortage of strange or magical occurrences lately. People getting sick and thinking they were someone else, being de-aged, sneezing glitter..." He huffs another breath with a wave of his hand as if to say et cetera, et cetera.

He then looks up at Bastion, questioning and curious. "I wonder, is there a way for me to understand what you are saying? There must be. One-sided conversations are rarely sustainably engaging for anyone involved."

[configuration_birdwatcher]

Also kobold invasions, for example. Bastion actually hadn't heard about most of the ones Emcee cited, although they did see a sign warning of 'hallucinogenic flu' a little while ago.

The omnic nods to Emcee, and begins picking their way over to the Bar. They watch their feet carefully out of their secondary eyelight as they try not to step on any mouse-sized patrons or insect-sized waitrats. Once they're there, they beep a request and Bar materializes the whiteboard and cyan dry-erase marker they've been using to talk to some of the human patrons, along with an eraser. They hold it up for Emcee to see when they're done writing.

'I can write responses. Bar might also be able to provide you with translation equipment; she did it for a waitrat.' Their handwriting is neat and regular.

[i_am_your_host]

Emcee hadn't been aware of an invasion of small creatures, and thankfully all his shiny possessions remained unpilfered.

He follows Bastion to the bar, also watching out for anyone who might be underfoot. And when they start writing on the board, his eyes widen with surprise.

"You can write! Oh, wonderful, that certainly makes things easier. A translation device might be even better."

At that, a small earpiece materializes on the countertop with a note on a napkin. Well, it's just a smiley face in any case.

Emcee thanks the Bar and examines the thing for a moment, finding a volume dial and a power button. "These modern gadgets are so beyond my time," he chuckles as he fits it into his right ear. "There. Does it work?"

[configuration_birdwatcher]

// Hello, world! The earpiece translates this on a slight delay, so it doesn't collide with the cheery whistle Bastion makes to accompany it.

// It looks like it's working.

[i_am_your_host]

"It does work!" Emcee replies with utter delight, as the somewhat tinny but perfectly coherent voice translates directly into his ear. "What a marvelous invention. I wonder why the bar's translation field doesn't automatically work with your language."

[configuration_birdwatcher]

Translation field? Well, that explains why they've only had to use one language module in here. They already suspected there was something similar for wireless networking.

// You don't have the parts to pick up most of it. Spoken omnicode encodes the meaning in a wireless data transmission and uses audio cues to convey inflection.

[i_am_your_host]

Emcee pauses, blinks, tilts his head. He heard the words just fine, it's just a bit technical, but he learns quickly.

"Omnicode? That is what you speak?" he says, nodding thoughtfully. "Fascinating! I think I understand. The little flying drones that live here are my friends, and while I usually rely on Jay to translate their speech, I've developed a kind of rapport with George based on his--audio cues."

[configuration_birdwatcher]

// I know George! He's very friendly. The drones seem to be thriving here. Bastion usually doesn't bother with metaphorical phrasing, so they wouldn't actually put it this way, but they think George is a good egg.

// That's the name of the language, yes. It was developed specifically for use by omnics, and all of us can speak it. Ganymede starts preening his feathers up on Bastion's shoulder, unconcerned with the conversation.