my oath shall be sped;

[agogemod]

WHO? Everybody!
WHAT? The January TDM.
WHEN? The mythic dimension of Vorspiel.
ANYTHING ELSE? Violence, as always. Please warn in subject lines for anything beyond physical violence, and move to a personal journal if things go beyond PG-13.

JANUARY TEST DRIVE MEME;

Vorspiel; a land of song.

arrival for new recruits

You wake up in a patch of verdant forest, with the birds chirping all around you. You're not in a clearing; your body lies between the trees. Near you, a frail woman with tired eyes rocks back and forth. You have none of your clothing, just black military-issued underwear, and none of your previous possessions beyond the one you chose (if you remember choosing) to bring with you.

When the tired woman notices you've come to, she speaks in a tongue you won't recognize, but somehow understand, in tilting tones that somehow always rhyme. Tired and sorrowful though she is, if you have questions as to what's going on, she'll answer: you are a member of COST, a paramilitary organization of time travelers fighting against the Regency, a tyrannous kingdom of the future who are trying to stamp out freedom and individuality in the name of peace.

She will provide you with the clothing necessary to fit in, and show you how to use your BCE implant to look up information on this dimension and its social and political mores. She won't let you leave until you're properly dressed to fit in, but once you are, she'll wish you luck. She thinks you'll need it.

And, she says as you depart, if you see the Gods, spit on them. They will do you no favors here.

ARRIVAL FOR VETERANS

While on BASE, you'll receive a message on your BCE.

URGENT MISSION: VORSPIEL UNDER MAJOR ATTACK. ALL POSSIBLE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO PROVIDE AID.

ACCEPT: Y / N ?

Selecting 'Y' will instantly teleport you to Vorspiel. Or maybe you're not the volunteering type, but your BCE glitches and signs you up anyway. Them's the breaks.

When you appear in Vorspiel, you'll find yourself in that same forest with the same woman who is ushering new recruits. She will give you clothes and wish you luck-- though luck, she says, is something true heroes have in short supply.

VORSPIEL

Regardless of how you got here, your BCE will have a short rundown of the situation once you arrive.

Vorspiel is a mythical, magical dimension rich in rare and precious resources. During the course of the war, it's been fought over by both sides. The Regency has recently allied with the leader of the misty country of Nibelheim to issue what is known as a Time Break; a sort of spell only possible in ancient dimensions such as these. Essentially, linear time has been destroyed in this dimension. Everything is happening at once, simultaneously and perpetually, a never ending cycle of lives and deaths and battles. While Vorspiel is a vast dimension, its borders have become warped; it is possible to walk from one country to another across the sea in a matter of moments, by accident. While the BCE is trying to send people to Nibelheim, it's entirely possible it misses the mark completely, or sends them to several places before they reach Nibelheim.

This chaos is meant to be a punishment: bow down before the Regency, or nothing will ever be the same again.

There is good news, though. Vorspiel is a dimension of inherent magic; singing or humming or whistling certain magical tunes will have an inherent effect upon one's surroundings. The BCE lists all the spells, though it notes that some have varying results (AKA go wild, guys, have fun), and the ones named after people will do little unless the person in question is present (a statistical unlikelihood).

As you enter different parts of Vorspiel, the BCE will sometimes give you different assignments, prompting you to take this action or that. If you have any questions about how this setting works, feel free to ask!

THE RHEIN

You come upon a giant river with clear and beautiful water. The sun shines down upon it in yellow light, and wherever the light touches it, gold floats to the surface of the water. The BCE will prompt you to fetch as much of this gold as you can-- it is an extremely powerful magical resource, rheingold-- but it will not warn you about the Rheinmaidens.

The rheinmaidens are mermaids, essentially, and at first, they are very friendly and gentle, singing nonsense songs and welcoming you to their home. But as soon as you begin to make any moves toward the gold, they will curse you, dive for you with surprising speed, and attempt to drown you. They will be vicious, and their natural element is water. You're in their territory, taking their things, as far as they are concerned. They have every right to kill you.

Killing the rhienmaidens will work... for a minute or so. And then they will rise again. Wounds will undo themselves-- whether they're inflicted by the rheinmaidens or you. Drowning doesn't seem permanent either-- you're pulled under, and all air escapes you, death befalls you... and then you wake up a moment later, standing on the shore.

Time has been fundamentally broken. Nothing done here is permanent.

WALHALL

You stand outside a fortress bathed in rainbow light atop a glorious mountain. Around you, the air is cool and still, and the roof of the sky seems terribly close. No matter how far toward the fortress you run, you can never make it inside. And thundering footsteps are coming just around the mountain pass, coming for you.

Lumbering giants wander around the fortress, searching for something they mutter and murmur is theirs. If they see anyone around, they will attempt to carry them off, kidnapping them for unknown purposes. They do not seem interested in eating their catch; they seem more interested in kidnapping it. Still, they are dangerous, brutish and sloppy with their strength. It is best to avoid them if possible, hiding in the trees.

Or perhaps you'd rather fight these fifteen-foot monstrosities on your own?

Of course, if you kill them, they just... come back. Death cannot be permanent in a place where time has been caught in an endless loop.

NIBELHEIM

The misty country of Nibelheim is located within a network of caverns dug into the side of a great mountain. It's a foggy, polluted place that brings to mind a city on the brink of the industrial revolution, not unlike Victorian London, though Nibelheim is entirely underground. There is smoke and smog everywhere, and living conditions are generally poor. The rich class is one family, ruled by a Nibelung named Alberich. He has various objects of great power that keep him enslaving his fellow Nibelung, working constantly in factories of his making. He has allied with the Regency to achieve this goal, and the time break within his home dimension is due in large part to his planning and plotting.

Human visitors to Nibelheim aren't unheard of, due to trade, though they are in a minority. Nibelungs, for the record, look and feel and act completely human, but they are ultimately alien, averaging a foot shorter in height at least, having naturally sallow skin, large eyes, hairless regardless of gender, and long, nimble fingers. They are a race of people made to live underground, and it shows; most can see in the dark, and climb nearly any surface. They are famed as smiths and metalworkers. Most just want to make a living and feed their families, though Alberich's clan keeps them in line.

Your duty here, the BCE says, is to try and befriend these people, the average Nibelung, and spark some kind of revolt. There are Regency spies everywhere, however, so be careful; you cannot call for rebellion in an open voice on every street corner. No, it's better, safer, to be subtle about it. Win the trust of a local businessman, seek out influential Nibelungs and figure out their opinions. Be tactical, be clever, be quick.

And avoid Alberich and his family at any cost.

But if you can, try and save some of the Nibelungs. Due to Alberich's machinations, Nibelheim is the only part of Vorspiel that has been untouched by the time break, but that will only stay true for so long. If you can convince any Nibelungs to join COST, they will do so willingly; you'll just have to escort them to safe places in hidden back rooms within dingy bars and forgotten libraries, the places where COST cells have been fermenting under the nose of the Regency. Don't get caught, and be careful; save as many as you can.

AT THE BASE OF A GREAT TREE

A man lays dying. He looks very much like the woman who introduced you to this place. Regardless, he lies in a pool of his own blood, a stab wound through his heart. The time break keeps him from ever truly passing into the next life; as soon as he dies, his eyes open, and he begins the process of his last painful moments once again.

Each time, he begs you to avenge him and find his love (or sometimes his sister; he seems very confused), and if you ask him his name, he will only respond that he is, "the woeful one". And then he will die again, for the hundredth time.

In the trees, warriors watch, poised to attack. They see you communing with their enemy, and they wish to defeat you as well. These warriors care little for your protest; they are locked in an endless battle that they cannot free themselves from, and you have just joined it.

IN THE FOREST

There is a serpent, larger than anything you have ever seen, sitting at the mouth of a cave. It sits upon a hoard of gold that may be familiar to you. It may not, but the BCE will inform you of what it is: rheingold, an incredibly potent and valuable magical resource.

Regardless, the serpent will attack anyone that comes near it or its hoard, even by accident. It, too, is caught in an endless loop of battle long over, for it calls you boy and foolish young man regardless of who or what you are. It speaks in a deep and sonorous voice, and will not stop until its head is cut off. The creature is obnoxiously large and highly dangerous, and battle with it will be long and painful, not least because, like everything in this place where time has been so fundamentally broken, it is very bad at staying dead.

Be careful when you fight it -- if you accidentally get some of its blood in your mouth, you will be suddenly and temporarily able to understand the language of birds. Which is cool, but also, you know, distracting.

The birds will tell you to find the Valkyries, who will bring you great fame and glory. They will also tell you to run, for Fafnir does not die so easy.

AT THE END OF THE WORLD

You are at a funeral. A golden-haired woman stands upon an unlit pyre, standing next to the man who, she sings, is her dead husband. Her song is beautiful and loud and incomprehensible, and when the pyre is lit, the fire swallows her whole. But the burning doesn't stop there; it begins to destroy the assembled mourners, the forest around it, the castle, the very river burns. The fabric of the world crackles and sets to flame.

Run from the flame all you like, but it always licks at your heels.

There is a trick, though, to saving your life. If one is truly unafraid of death, the fire cannot harm you, or anyone you touch. The BCE won't warn you of this; it doesn't know. But if you are unafraid, you can simply walk through the flames unharmed.

It will bring you to a wide field atop a mountain, where a woman lies sleeping. It's the same woman at the funeral, peaceful in sleep, unmoving, unsinged. She can be awoken by a kiss.

Of course, awakening her will begin the cycle again: the pyre, the fire, the fearlessness, the clearing. Over and over again, endlessly, until the BCE manages to pull you out.

This is the will of the Regency.

As a final note: This will not be the main mission for January. This TDM is meant as a one-off to dump characters into a setting they don't have to read a ton of infopages for, while still getting a sense of what Agoge could be (and as always, this TDM is game canon).

The main mission for January will be the Gallipoli campaign, as detailed here. Future missions for Agoge are always listed here months in advance.

NAV. NETWORK LOGS OOC MEMES PLURK

Comments

ryoji mochizuki | persona 3 | so new | ota!

[impend]

vorspiel (arrival)

[ Best wishes in the new year, he said. Has that happened? Had they changed their mind, perhaps, as he turned away? Was this -- but it's not afterlife, even though things are too unreal to be anything but. Disorientation, feeling like his limbs are attached too-loosely to the rest of his body, feels like his head is attached too-loosely to the rest of him, but Ryoji recovers enough to get himself into the clothing provided, using the scarf as sash; the bright yellow stands out against the dark tunic, but it's nothing like how the rest of him stand out with his pale wan face and dark hair. He's already conspicuous enough as is, probably.

He should have been paying a little more attention to what the woman was telling him, really, but half his mind (half his heart) was still in the place he left, the faces gazing at him with mixed fear and something else he can't quite place. Time-travelling. This place, where it was constantly in motion, being shaped and re-shaped without an end in sight. It's supposed to be a punishment, they said, see how powerful the Regency is, nothing can stand against it. Maybe that isn't true. After all, they had chosen to go against the flow of fate, to stand their ground against Death. There will always be hope - and maybe, he can have a hand in it, in this place. ]

@ROKKR
If anyone is around out there, do you want to team up?
It's scary being in a strange place all by yourself, you know!

the (rhein)

[ The first two times, when they grab for anything they could reach, his hair his sleeves his scarf and pull him down under the cold wet flickering half-light of the water it's a little bit scary, but it's not as scary as standing on the shore of the river once more, clothing dry, not a claw-mark in sight.

Ryoji doesn't want to hurt them, not really, because what wrong have they done? Even if the instructions given by the BCE were true, even if it was order that should be followed, shouldn't there be some sort of respect given to the ones who were here before? It feels intrusive and rude to just come in, he a complete stranger, and take whatever he wanted. It feels wrong.

The next time, he makes his way towards the waters but doesn't stray too far into the distance where their hands will reach. If you're still alive and not drowning or being attacked, he'll address you. ]

Maybe we can talk to them. They don't seem like they're doing this without reason.

at the (end of the world)

[ It all reminds him of something else, this endless cycle of death and rebirth that exist in this world. In a way, that's all there is to it - he understands this, that death is the end of all things but also there is some kind of logic to it, a brief half-beat of rest before the tune begins anew. Life will always continue on, that's what he'd learned. This fire is just one of those things. Something else will arise out of the ashes - only to burn again, maybe.

And what was he to fear death? It's something inside him, he breathes and lives it (ironically speaking), and Ryoji doesn't move away even when the flames catch the hem of his scarf and flares right up to lick at his hair and his cheeks. He should be scared, but it's such a little thing, the flames. It's nothing compared to the pain of knowing of one's true self.

This is not final, he thinks. This isn't the end of all things.

The clearing is so green it hurts his eyes to look at, and Ryoji looks around - a little confused, a little awed, but more curious than anything else. That was the same woman who'd been singing earlier, the song continuing even as she burned.

Ryoji doesn't draw closer; he rocks his weight back on his heels with a hmm sound caught in the back of his throat, and looks around the surroundings. Clear, clear sky, the silent trees waving in the breeze. ]

....I don't think I'm quite the sort of prince that she's looking for.

the eternal (wildcard) option

[ wildcard! hit me up with ideas here or via PM i'm open! ]

un: @WEHFRIED

[gerechtigkeit]

I'm familiar enough with this place. Where are you located?

[While not his legend, per se, it's still the Nibelungenlied, and he knows how this story goes. And he's already highly irritated the Regency has meddled like this with a home that isn't his, but Siegfried is still attached to in a way.]

un: @ROKKR

[impend]

[ ryoji still jumps a little when the reply comes; the forest is so quiet, so devoid of any activity, human or otherwise, that he half-thought that he was the only one here.

How wrong he is, as always. ]

Uhh

In a forest?

That doesn't help.

Where are you?

[gerechtigkeit]

Follow the location on my BCE. It's public. If you're by the forest, you're not far from me.

[Sure enough, if Ryoji follows to Siegfried's location, he'll find him. He's pretty freaking tall, and kind of hard to miss- being 6'2" and having silver hair tends to do that from time to time.]

[impend]

[ okay, he's still new at this whole BCE and COST and everything, okay? forgive him if he takes a little bit to find Siegfried... but when he does, Ryoji gives him a glance, and a tentative wave. ]

--Hey!

You were the one I was talking to, right?

[gerechtigkeit]

[It's fine, Siegfried is incredibly patient, even when in a situation like this. Ryoji's call out to him causes him to turn his head and blink, before nodding just a little.]

That would be me, yes. [The forest is vast, and if he remembers correctly, it's also home to several creatures. He takes a moment to look the other over and nods.]

You're new, correct?

at the (end of the world)

[hakanai]

[This place is a pocket of peace when the warrior sleeps; she is free from her song and sorrows, while everyone else is free for a little while from the brutal cycle of flame. Not that the embrace of that fire harms Yoshitsugu in any way. He doesn't have any way of knowing why it does nothing but warm him pleasantly but as with most things the samurai has merely accepted it as fact and gone with the flow. Together, he and this sorrowful woman have been enjoying the quiet for a good few hours when the new face appears and speaks to the air.]

[It's enough to stir him from his rest, behind a nearby tree. Ah. This one...]

Are you sure?

[Yoshitsugu quips with some mild humour, standing up and dusting himself down before striding over. His demeanour quickly turns more quiet and solemn when he reaches Ryoji; there's a long command baton grasped in his right hand, which he taps into his left as he peers at the newcomer with interest.]

It's best she sleep, anyway.

[impend]

[ It is quiet and it is peaceful; Ryoji wouldn't mind sleeping here, either; a little bit of rest from all the burning chaos seem attractive right now.

He isn't looking out for anyone else to be here, so complete is this almost disquieting silence, that he is quite startled when Yoshitsugu emerges from where he was resting. A quiet Oh escapes his mouth before he's clapping his hand over his mouth, but there is no need for any concern. The woman sleeps on, expression peaceful and unchanged. ]

If we wake her up, is it going to start again?

[ The fire, burning through her bright hair, the spectators and the mourners flaring bright in columns of fire. The green grass blackening with the blistering heat.

Ryoji looks down at her once more, then back up to the other. ]

The rest is nice. I won't do it anyway.

[hakanai]

[He bows his head in affirmation. Since first getting caught up in the funeral pyre's fire Yoshitsugu has witnessed the kiss and recurrence of the cycle twice; while technically there is nothing he can do for this woman, for those she has lost, until the source of this magic is found? Sparing her from it for a while, and at the same time letting his sickly body recover from the 'adventure' the BCE has sent him on, seems like the kind of kindness his Lord Nagamasa would have approved of.]

[COST is making him too nostalgic.]

Yes. Until the cruel magic inflicted on this place is undone, she is best left without her kiss.

[He lets his arms drop to his side and looks back at her. Why this enchanted sleep in the first place? This world is like something out of the myths told in his own time.]

They've brought you in to a particularly chaotic first mission.

[impend]

[ it's almost like a dream, like the fire was just a figment of their imagination — but it's her who lays there in sleeplike death (deathlike sleep?). Maybe they're all caught up in her dream, this place where everything seem topsy-turvy, nothing making sense at all. ]

You mean it isn't as bad normally?

[ changing the course of time and space, of fate either for good or for evil, doesn't seem like an easy job to Ryoji — but this man seems capable, or at least collected enough. ]

I'm Ryoji.

[hakanai]

[Yoshitsugu snorts lightly before looking back to the newcomer.]

Not bad in this way.

[There are many kinds of 'bad,' after all. Their first mission was almost a haze in his memories now, the sheer heat of that desert way too much for Yoshitsugu's body, but there had been the expected violence and playing on the superstitions of others to stop the Regency's plans. France had been... violence and deceptions of a different kind. So much about what they'd left behind had promised nothing good for that land for decades.]

[Where they stand is the first place since home where magic is openly and obviously real. That kind of chaos is completely new to many members of the unit, the types of violence likely strange and unnerving.]

I go by Gyoubu in public. [He tilts his head and asks a very important question.] Have you tried singing yet? I've yet to find a tune that gets me to the place I should actually be.

the (rhein)

[lonelywar]

[For some time, Ashitaka has stood here at the bank of the river, looking at the light as it danced upon the water, at an impasse.

He knew what their orders were for this place. He might not have the BCE active and open, but the imperative seems to impress itself upon the walls of his mind, a stringent reminder. His fist clenches, mouth set into a firm yet slightly frustrated line. He wishes that their orders came with clarification, with reason that he could use to still his concerns and his qualms and his doubts. It seems to him that there was no justification here. Foreigners again in a foreign land (they always would be, and he was ever-so familiar with this feeling), but to lay claim to the natural resources of this strange, magical place? When its denizens seemed so defensive so that it could not be taken?

Since he has not responded in a while, many of the rheinmaidens had moved on to other points along the river, but occasionally one or two will drift to dazzle at the surface of the water, arms extending towards him as they reach out also with delicate lilts of song.

It's almost as if they beckoned, intending to attack the moment someone was tempted by the glittering rheingold once they got close enough to see it. But why?

Motion draws his attention laterally, and he sets his gaze upon the other young man. He doesn't recognize him, but there were many and more strange COST agents he had not yet met here. Regardless of the lack of familiarity, what he says is something of a comfort to Ashitaka. At least he didn't suggest harming them. It was bad enough that they were meant to take what clearly belongs to them.]

If only we were aware of our own reasons as well.

[But he has a point.]

If we wish to speak to them, we might have to do so in a way they might better understand.

[They hadn't responded to spoken word from him so far, but this did seem to be a land of song, after all...]

[impend]

[ The Rheingold was a commodity that they must secure, or so he'd been told - but why? There are too many facts and explanations missing, it seems, like they were lost in transfer from whereever it came from to the communicator now embedded in his skin. It feels like he's treading waters too deep for his understanding, the violence and the needless, meaningless sacrifice of lives leaving him feeling trapped and nothing more.

At least, Ryoji thinks, as he takes a step closer to stand at the edge of the river, they don't seem like they're aware of it. The one with the dark hair and eyes like his, one who grabbed him around the waist to pull him under, smiles at him with all the shining brightness of the gold in question. ]

You mean like a song?

[ Crossing his arms behind his back, Ryoji rocks his weight backwards and looks up at the sky, then back down to the Rheinmaidens. He's caught snatches of their melodies, but Ryoji doesn't know what any of it means.

Well, it doesn't hurt to try, right? If it goes wrong then... well, he will just come back, as always.

Ryoji crouches down, eyes nearly level with the maiden nearest to him, and catches the end of her song, humming it carefully back to her. ]

[lonelywar]

[There was much and more about this mission and this place that COST had not seemed fit to disclose - but, then again, that was fairly characteristic of them by this point. Perhaps he should feel honored and freed that they trusted so much in the judgment of their agents, but since they had apparently made quite a few mistakes during their time in Paris (and Ashitaka had personally engineered one of those awful mistakes), he has to think it comes with its own risks by this point.]

Yes. A song.

[He turns to watch the young man as he considers it, getting far closer to one of the aquatic creatures than he would feel comfortable with and serenading it right back. The rheinmaiden seems happy at this, flipping backwards into the water and swimming in a small circle before singing the next verse to what Ryoji had hummed, hand breaking the surface of the water and gesturing to him.

Ashitaka takes a few paces closer to them, though he's still a few feet away from the river bank.]

Better than attacking them.

[At least she wasn't trying to tug him down into the water. Ashitaka had nearly had that happen to himself, only barely managing to get away.]

I am not sure it will lead them to allowing us the rheingold, however.

[impend]

Don't worry, [ His voice is quiet, but with the closer distance it should still be enough for Ashitaka to hear. Ryoji lets out a laugh next, surprised but clearly delighted, as the backwards flip splashes a little bit of water his way. All in all, it's not entirely a behaviour of someone who's been drowned (or attacked) before by the same maidens. It's too carefree, too devoid of fear. ]

As long as we aren't trying to take anything, I think it's fine.

[ now if only they could figure out what they were saying, though... ]

Maybe... Do you think the spells will work? There was something about them...

[lonelywar]

It is too bad that is not what we are meant to do here in the first place.

[But that would be far too easy, right? If they had been told to come here and befriend the natives of this river, so that they then might be able to convince them to part with some of the rheingold.

Well... their directions didn't mention anything of these creatures. Perhaps that was a method? But Ashitaka gets the feeling that if they tried it now, it would only seem to be a shallow deception. They should definitely wait for a while and see if a better rapport might change that outcome.]

It is possible. [In his mind's eye he pulls up the spells that had been given to them, named in a way he can't really begin to understand. From the sounds that played out in his ears, though, they were beautiful.

But they were also unexplained.]

We do not know what they do, however. [A brief pause. He glances to the other young man.] I suppose... we could try some, and see what they do.

at the (end of the world (as we know it))

[ryuji]

[Death. Ryuji had feared it like it was a nemesis he staved off time and time again. It always seemed to circle around his group in the Metaverse, and came closer and closer as his time in COST had grown more than just the seedling it started out as. By definition, a persona user is one who understands his or her true self, and Ryuji had already mastered coming to terms with his own inner beasts, but the idea of death? No, there was so, so much more rebellion in his heart to sate before he shook hands with the the concept of it and readied it to pull him close.

This mission though- he had died more times than he could count. There was a suspension in belief now- that no matter what, the cycle would repeat and he'd end up exactly where he started. This was a mess- the type to toy with someone's heart right down to the core, and he wonders what type of palaces would exist under this world with all the corruption that a broken soul would have to endure to experience their worst last moments, over and over again, ad infinum into the darkness.

Upon this clearing, he had been burned alive, but like a phoenix rising from the ashes, ascendant in its own pissed-offness, Ryuji had eventually come to terms with the fact that he couldn't fight something that was bound to happen. It was a beautiful thing, really. And on the last time that he ventured upon the funeral, he survived it to find himself standing next to someone that he had never seen before in COST.

He grimaces at the sight of the sleeping beauty before the both of them, and curiosity, well... that's always killed the cat, right? He cranes his neck forward to get a better look at the familiar visage.]

Dude... you were in that burning place too? Kinda makes you wonder if that was her dream or somethin'

[impend]

[ A nemesis? Of course, it was a scary thing - maybe it's fear of the end of all things, but better yet it's a fear of the unknown. Not even he knew what was waiting for them when it arrived to greet them eventually. Actually, Ryoji might find it a little funny, being who (or what) he is, if he ever found out how the other feels about it.

Ryuji comes to stand next to him and they spend a moment side by side, looking down at the serene face of the sleeping woman. The sorrow frozen in sleep, but Ryoji feels like there's still hints of it along the curve of her closed eyes, the line of her mouth, and the song still echoes in his ear. ]

Maybe this is her dream, and the fire is what's actually happening.

[ He doesn't draw in any closer, or move to touch her -- the fire couldn't harm them, he knew that now, but it was nice to have a little bit of a peace and quiet among all the chaotic happenings. Just a little pause to all the misery and death. ]

I don't blame her. It's ... painful, losing someone you love.

[ryuji]

[He doesn't handle metaphysical questions like that all too well, so when Ryoji points out that maybe this isn't the reality of things, he furrows his eyebrows and tries to make heads from tails out of the situation. If this was the dream, then how did they pass from certain death into this? And she looks like she's sleeping, right?

Oh. Yeah. That's an important thing to point out. He nods over in her direction.]

She doesn't look dead to me or anything. Maybe sleepin'?

[For a second, he moves a foot forward, and then stops in his tracks. That sort of comment about love and loss doesn't exactly come from a person who hasn't experienced it. Ryuji is caught- because on one hand, everyone he's met over the last few months have told him to push aside feelings or pain in this line of work, but at the core of it, he still struggles to deal with his empathy towards people and their situations.

He just doesn't have it in him to tell Ryoji to stuff it, that a mission is a mission, and they have work to do ahead of him.]

You sound like you've lost someone yourself. Don't think I've seen you around the BASE. I'm Ryuji.

[impend]

[ On the other hand, Ryoji is all about metaphysical questions and all the rest of those deep, soul-searching questions.... But it doesn't really bother him necessarily if other people don't understand him. He's still trying to figure it all out for himself, living on borrowed time as he is now. But more importantly, it's the fact that they're here to do something, and that they obviously thought that he would be some kind of help in restoring the balance of this place. ]

All the same, we better not touch her in case something more dangerous happens.

[ At this point, he really wouldn't be surprised if she turned into a dragon or some kind of mythical creature and burnt both of them to a crisp for real, this time. ]

Oh, that's probably because I'm new. I haven't really met anyone properly yet.

[ also, seriously??? ]

Is it coincidence, or fate? I'm Ryoji!

[ryuji]

[At least her turning into a dragon would be better than babysitting a sleeping princess like this. But... Ryoji is right. It feels like one of those JRPGs where you get to the end of a long campaign and there's an object you're supposed to interact with, but you don't know it yet- there's a looming figure waiting in the shadows to bring about permadeath on one of your party members. Then, on subsequent playthroughs... you just stand there at the altar and decide life is better for the characters and don't commit to the chain of events that were meant to happen.

In that case, maybe Ryoji and Ryuji can have a happy ending too. He hesitates, and doesn't take further action just yet.]

Wait, no shit? [Ryoji... Ryuji... one tiny hiragana difference.]

It's nice to meet other Japanese people in COST. We're like the Ni-jis now.

un: @twintails

[parttimesoldier]

[While Suzuha prides herself on her adaptability in unusual situations, she'd still feel ten times more comfortable with someone watching her back. So when she starts fiddling with that BCE and sees another agent looking to team up with someone, she's all too eager to speak up.]

Tell me about it! Who knows what sort of things we'll find wandering around in these woods.

[impend]

[ giants and weird snake-dragons, apparently.

besides, twintails? here's hoping it's a cute girl! sorry, suzuha. he's incorrigible. ]

Would you like to team up with me then? There's strength in numbers, after all!

[parttimesoldier]

[ryoji, pls.]

There sure is! The name's Suzuha. Nice to meetcha, partner. ;)

[impend]

I'm Ryoji! Nice to meet you!! (/^▽^)/

Are you new, too? Or are you getting used to doing this?