THE AMAZING BASE.

[agogemod]

WHO? Everybody!
WHAT? Welcome home, nerds.
WHEN? Outside time and space, in the aether between dimensions.
ANYTHING ELSE? There is also a fish. Please warn in subject lines for anything beyond physical violence and move to a personal journal if things go beyond PG-13.

MYSTERY FISH;

question the mystery fish

DEPARTING GALLIPOLI

The order comes the day after the Marie Antoinette sets sail:

PACK UP AND GET READY TO MOVE OUT. WE'VE DONE ALL WE CAN HERE.

DEPLOYMENT: BASE.

WE NEED TO RESTOCK. BE PREPARED FOR MORE TRANSFERS ON ARRIVAL.

STAY SAFE. TIME-STEP EXPECTED TO BEGIN WITHIN THE HOUR.

FOR THOSE OF YOU NEW TO COST: FIND A SECLUDED SPOT AND TRY NOT TO EAT ANYTHING BEFORE THE JUMP.

The Time-Step

The transfer begins like a vibrating heat on the collar bone, just a hum of sensation.

But the vibration spreads. Veteran COST soldiers often refer to this phenomenon as "the buzz". The feeling builds, not unlike standing near a great engine or the wind-rattled branches of a massive tree. There is a long moment of motion sickness and you can't be sure if the world is shaking you from the inside out or the outside in. It may be better to close your eyes against the growing nausea, as the world blurs out of focus.

A star shines in the distance. You may hear the faint rustling of leaves. Some swear they hear voices in this moment, indistinct words echoing off nothingness. Others say they feel a touch of the divine, that the eyes of the eternal look down upon you. Ancient bones rattle just out of earshot, cold and brittle and nothing more than the suggestion of sound. Or maybe it's only an illusion, brought on by the powerful technology grafted into your skin.

One thing is for sure: One moment you are here and the next you are not.

The shift takes you from whatever solitude you could find aboard the Marie Antoinette to the temperature-regulated hallway of what looks like a very poorly put together space station. Droids rush up and down the long hallway, fixing broken bits of machinery or just chattering with each other. A few crows sit on high ledges, looking down and watching. Someone mutters something about a centaur around the corner.

And you might just notice, provided you were in Gallipoli long enough to acquire stowaways, that the parasites lurking on your skin are mercifully gone.

For new arrivals who didn't experience Gallipoli: You, too, will appear in this long hallway, filled with droids and crows and humans (still filthy and clad in ANZAC uniforms, carrying battered equipment from the first World War). And you'll be wearing the minimal COST-issued athletic underwear and holding whatever one item you were allowed to bring. Surprise!

READ THE BASE INFOPAGE.

home away from home

Those who have been to BASE before may find a strangeness to it all: BASE seems...still. The windows show a verdant world instead of the usual aether (though with the typical paranoia), and the halls are bereft of all but a few crows. A man stands at the end of the long hallway you arrived in, waiting for you to get your bearings before he speaks.

Except, you know, he's not a man. He's a centaur.

"It's been barely a week since you left, by my reckoning. But for you, I'm sure, it's been much longer. Still, much has changed. You may have noticed we are...becalmed. This is due, it seems, to an error in our ways. We kept something that does not belong to us, several wild creatures that are meant to be free. They seem to have psychically called out to their home, and their home responded; we are now somewhat stranded.

"But let me explain—the Aether is the nexus between worlds and times, but it is not a dead thing. Creatures live in it. We have crashed onto the back of one such creature, a mighty beast, as large as a small country and entirely undiscovered. We have found why the creature has intercepted us: we have accidentally taken captive some of its children. Shapers, the wild creatures I mentioned, it seems they form a symbiotic bond with the creature, and live happily within its stomach."

He frowns, considering this.

"Shapers, I should mention, are creatures that briefly infested our fair BASE. The issue was dealt with, though we kept some for experimentation. The coelacanth took issue with this, it seems. It can speak, of course; we are stranded very near its head, and if you wish to ask it a question, I implore you to do so. The creature is older than creation—older than me—and only speaks once to any creature it encounters. It's said its wisdom brings kings to their knees."

His eyes crinkle in humor.

"My name is Chiron and I am the caretaker of this place, for those of you whom I have not had the pleasure of meeting. More importantly, I am a trainer and a teacher of some experience; if you wish training or schooling of any sort, do summon me. I will be happy to assist."

He's easy to contact, often found in the library, the training area, his capsule, or elsewhere in the station, attempting to fix what he understands and arguing with crows.

"We intended to spend this time exploring, for this is a rare opportunity to discover more of an entirely uncharted world. I hasten you to see if anything on the coelacanth can be of use, but be careful. Take only what you need, not what you may want. I intend to learn my lessons well; these creatures are not pets. Takes food, water, and any materials of use to us for our survival and perseverance, but no more. We task you with this: explore the coelacanth, and see what of it can be understood. Bring us back samples, but do try to interrupt the natural habitat as little as possible. We are guests here."

He bows and the action shows a slight limp in one of his back legs.

"I would join you, but I am far too old for such activities. Still, do pepper me with any questions you should encounter. I am always available on the network, or in person, within this hulking mass we call home."

And then he leaves you to find your capsules and rest.

CAPSULE ASSIGNMENTS

Once you've found your room and settled in—perhaps taken a shower, collected clothes, and eaten—a droid will approach you with camping equipment and give you a brief explanation of how to access and use the database. It's time to get your gear and go.

Of course, you can decline. You can stay and tend to the fort, maybe try and clean up this patchwork jumble of metal and machinery. But seeing the sights on the back of a giant fish flying through non-space? Who can say no to that?


the undiscovered country.

BASE's airlocks open into a lush valley, vibrant with color and rustling with life that has thrived on the coelacanth's back for millennia. It's a striking shift from the rot and gunfire of Gallipoli, unmarked by shrapnel, bombshells, and never-fresh air.

No, the air here is clean in a way that can leave you breathless, untouched by pollutants and stirred into a gentle breeze. It's a marked departure for anyone used to a more modern Earth or rough equivalent; letting the air sit on your tongue leaves a crisp, unsullied taste behind. And the whole forest feels alive, in a way that reminds you of how small you really are.

A white crow perches in a tree near BASE's exit, too high up to properly engage but a stark contrast to the bright leaves around her. She merely watches recruits come and go with a shrewd eye, feathers fluffed against the light chill. There are other crows scattered throughout the wilderness, some easier to find than others as they flit through the trees, sit on camping equipment, or hitch rides on the hoverbikes.

Besides those brief flashes of black feathers, however, you're left unsupervised.

Try not to fuck up anything too badly.

EXPLORE:INFOPAGE|DATABASE
talk to a fish | destruction report

NAV. NETWORK LOGS OOC MEMES PLURK

Comments

[ryuji]

But what about dignity? What about butt dignity?

[He's sitting there, smiling, cheery at the sight of this, rather than waking up in a battlefield. Sometimes he catches himself being too proud, too dumbly proud, that he managed to actually do something right in Galipolli. If he hadn't contracted, then even scratches in the early morn wouldn't be possible. Little things are neat.

But then comes the mention of a dream, and he's not nearly as confident as he was pretending to be, in the end.]

Yeah... sorry about that. I have a lot of memories from my childhood that I keep visitin' when I dream, and they're not always great. [He licks his lips and gives off a soft hmm- (how should he put this?)]

I saw one of yours too.

[ryuji]

[He's not put off by the touch at all, on the contrary, it's just about the only thing that makes him feel even an iota of calm at the moment, even when he feels bad that he's splashed food all over the place and doesn't have the ability to clean it up, judging by where they're going.]

I... okay.

[And he does follow Eren, because honestly, he's a little lost right now, and he's almost gotten too used to following orders and following people around over the last month. Some discipline is always learned the hard way.]

[reillumination]

[ The scent of fire never really leaves a person.

It is a strange thing, to find comfort in what can burn. His lungs are embittered to the smoke, but his body craves the calm it brings him. If there is nothing in this world — on this fish left to provide him comfort, then it was the familiarity of something warm and almost alive in his hands that chanced at it. It brushed down harsh edges, kept his thoughts in tidier rows against the madness that had been imbued into every inch of living, its once improbability spilling into every corner of his life like blood seeping into lines of fortune fanned across his palms. But, Ryo was never fortunate. Down to his foundations, down to what lay beneath that huddled in the darkest corners of his memory, he had no concept at all what ill luck was. He had no insight into what would come, what would be done — what he even was at the end of all things, waiting patient and quiet against all his fissuring.

Ryo listens as Ashitaka conceals the mark, reminiscent of the bruising Ryo’s never gained for more than scant moments — a handful of days against the span of weeks for most his age. Despite the danger it seems to radiate, there’s something nervous and hungry in him that wants to know more of it. There’s something in him that itches and writhes, something that he ignores as he knows better than to look into the face of it. He’s lived like this for months — knowing what could kill him would also bring him fascination, strange and inadvertent. He wrenches himself from the edge of it, shuddering once as Ashitaka turns back to the fire.

It was fear that made humans survive. It was fear that kept them struggling to clamber to the top, that would always and inevitably make them turn their weapons to the throats of their neighbors. It was fear that was alive in Ryo’s heart, in the hearts of mankind when faced with what could tear and rend — could deconstruct all that there was or ever is, just with knowledge of its existence.

It is funny how it follows him even here, even now. It is funny how the idea only changed in meaning, in shape. The loss of control was still a loss. The loss of ability to live in some capacity was still the loss of the ability to live. ]

What is best? [ Ryo asks, eventually and at length. As the fire too distracts Ashitaka, Ryo also watches it. What Ryo remembers is still is the gasoline, the murmur of needing more. Those last and fleeting words, carved out against accelerant. Smoke spools out from between his fingertips, thin and dark. Against the glow beneath them, the cherry of the cigarette is a bright and burning point — strange and artificial in its peculiar confinement. ] If my curse was handed to another, who could say what they'd do? To them, it could look like another possibility entirely. [ Who is to say what anyone would do? Would they turn to the public? Would they tell the world? Would chaos have swept over already? He doesn't wish to wonder. To Ryo, this was what was best and he would fight for it until the death. Even if he knew it, it didn't mean that others wouldn't see it differently. But, they did not know what Ryo knew. ] You're right to say almost everything carries it somehow.

[ Almost everything. The exclusion is clear to him as he says it. Humanity was cursed by the presence of something that they knew nothing about, the world and its creatures too would suffer in face of it. But, the world too had suffered humanity. Even still — to protect one's own is what was always inevitable. It was always what would be inevitable.

For a long time, Ryo thinks of home. He thinks of thick ichor, the bright flash of teeth against fur and flesh. He thinks of the rumble of inhuman roars, the sound of laughter instead. He thinks of the scent of ash, of brimstone. He thinks of the smell of convenience food grabbed in the earliest hours of the morning, the purr of music felt through his steering wheel of his father's old car. He thinks of how much he had asked of him.

Absence sets down roots in his heart, digs past muscle to bone and marrow. He breathes around its tangled edges, eyelashes fluttering against the ache it brings. ]

What if that curse, [ Ryo says, sudden and deceptively soft: ] the responsibility of what the world could become, was handed to one person?

[ Millions of miles from home, millions of miles away from his inheritance — this burden is still his. Still Akira's. ]

[neutronium]

Hux stays completely silent, letting Chiron sort it out; perhaps being part...horse? he has better ears than a human. It wouldn't surprise him, frankly--Hux has never considered his ears particularly special, anyways.

Giving a nod, Hux adjusts his direction, keeping his voice more toned down, walking slower, every twenty steps to stop and check for the sound again.

"I wonder if it is a wise idea to go towards such a thing." And yet, he certainly isn't stopping.

[trample]

[ They say guys tend to walk faster around other guys. Some sort of method of gauging who's most macho. Eren doesn't really give a shit about that, so he's taking his sweet time letting Ryuji decide the pace of their walk for the most part - but he does make sure to get them out of earshot of the cafeteria fast enough.

As they turn a corner, Eren keeps his eye on Ryuji and stops walking for a second. ]

Have you gone outside since we returned?

[ A question. An unusual choice to make, for Kruger. ]

[neutronium]

[My dearest--] ...are you mocking me?

[Hux genuinely did struggle to determine when people were making fun of him in that way. Though it had to be that Constantine clearly was--just like the Dameron 'Hugs' comment'.

Still, instead of getting angry, he continued to listen--and what he said made sense.

Even if he thought the methods were silly.]

I often find that 'fun' is an excuse to not use abilities to full potential, but I know my methods also aren't for everyone. [He, after all, doesn't work with wizards.]

Sadl I don't have any real way to work on excercising my own muscles, besides mental games.

[Building technological systems aren't going to be that easy or useful here.]

[trample]

Figures. [ Just like a cat to ruin someone's day on a whim. Thankfully, that wasn't the case today. As for the woman - he didn't quite need help. Though, he wouldn't mind it. ] Not carrying, but...

[ He breaks eye contact and expects her to look the same way he does. A door. ]

If you could open that up, it'd make this a lot easier.

[ And he wasn't planning on letting her get near his stuff anytime soon. ]

[trample]

[ Eren shrugs. ]

Nothing at all. [ Cue resigned sigh. ] It can't be helped. Foraging it is.

[ Unfortunate as it was, he wouldn't want to rely on another for food in the first place - if things were different, he'd likely still search for something of his own. Self-reliance - independence - was his priority here. ]

You just do your thing. I'll keep an eye out for something worth eating while we set up camp.

[trample]

Indeed we do. Let's keep them separate. [ His mind was finally starting to clear up. ] I'm Kruger. Don't worry about it.

[ He clears his throat. ]

I'd say the old, 'nice to meet you,' but that wouldn't be in line with what just happened...so I'll just say that I hope for better in the future.

[ That was a sorry attempt at a joke, if she couldn't tell. ]

[bloodings]

... Yeah. I knew you would sooner or later. It's part of the contract.

[ Something else she didn't have time to explain. Minor, all things considered, but definitely an invasion of privacy for someone unprepared. Her history is scattered across poems and stories, laid bare for anyone to see. Ryuji's is his own. Even if she grumbles and complains about having to see it, it's tinged with... bashfulness, almost. ]

I didn't mean to pry, [ she says with sincerity. Mordred wouldn't know a normal upbringing if it slapped her in the face, but it's not that. It can't be that. ] But it'll probably keep happening. In a way, that's good. It means our bond is strong.

[bloodings]

A bikini? So that's what it's called... [ Completely oblivious to his meaning, she just sounds curious. She thinks back to the red outfit in her room, and her brows furrow in brief confusion. ] ... But no way something that small would be hot. Actually, it looks kind of refreshing to wear. Heh, guess I'm all set to hit the beach.

[ Maybe she'll get the chance, but not yet. The bike roars to life beneath them, thrumming as it hovers above the surface. Mordred has to raise her voice to be heard; even if she could easily switch to telepathy, it wouldn't have the same impact. ]

Let's go check out your weird rock. You ready?

wtf i didn't get notifs for a bunch of tags on this log i can't

[prizeneck]

unless you have any ideas

[horsepowered]

"If not now, when will the opportunity arise again?"

It isn't quite a fuck it, let's go but the ballpark is close enough. Chiron tries to ensure his hooves are as soft as possible as to not disturb any tracking-by-sound.

Deeper into the route, color begins to play on the wall. There is sunlight filtering in, but something else too, something with the greenish-blue hue of a peacock. It means they're getting close to the source of the matter (a lux arbor, quite large and quiet old).

[doublejumps]

[ Genji's senses are not quite what they used to be when he was fully human, so he doesn't feel the dampness or smell the chemical undertone in the air in quite the same way. What he sees isn't any more encouraging, however.

There's really nothing lavish about this place. ]

I'm not so sure. This doesn't look like any 'spa' I've ever seen.

[ Western spas were bound to be different from what he was more familiar with, but all the same, something isn't right here.

He glances back toward Mamoru. ] I'm guessing you don't want to make use of the facilities?

[inconstantly]

[John would have no idea why Hux was confused if the other man hadn't said anything about it. The accusation catches him off guard, and even then he has to mentally play back what he had said in an attempt to pinpoint the offense.]

Mocking? I usually make it a point to let my targets of ridicule know what is happening within the moment. If you're referring to "dearest," then you'll simply have to get used to it.

[He kicks at the ground idly. John's speech is peppered in terms of endearment that don't necessarily have any weight behind them. It's more of a verbal pattern than anything, and not one on which he often stops to reflect.] Not going to change the way I talk.

[mcscouty]

Voluntarily? No. But when you're in the middle of a war zone, sometimes you don't get a say. Hell, COST yanked me out of the middle of a firefight and stuck me in the middle of another with just enough time to change clothes.

[ Felix, on the other hand, seems content to say just as much about him as he pleases. It's nothing that couldn't readily be found out some way or another, at least. ]

So yeah. I am full up on my quota of sleeping on dirt, thanks.

[prizeneck]

[Mamoru is a well-practiced reader of people, even if he can no longer read expressions as well, he reads what the voice says beyond the words it utters, the shift of weight and the tension of certain muscles. He could notice the way Siegfried's shoulders seem to lower, the release of his neck as he hears what he has to say, the twitch of his cheek as he smiles - so the guy can do it - shifting the gridded outline of his face, the hold of that huge sword.

He focuses instead on the way the air seems suddenly thinner, far from satisfying to his lungs in just one gulp. An inexperienced fighter, or one with their heart in their sleeve, would get a hitch in their breath, a faster heartbeat.

He uses that same pump of blood to the rest of his body to cross the distance fastfaster in a lunge, a full out iai - the drawing of one's sword out of its sheath as a full attack. He doesn't announce his attack, doesn't need to. And it's only when their blades clash that the grin on Mamoru's face is fully visible. Sharp like the edge of their blades.] I thought so.

[prizeneck]

He has seen many things, high-end technology, top of the line, even military grade prototypes only used by perhaps two people in the world. Quantum physics, precognitive children, men with skulls made of ceramic, hard enough to bend a state of the art sword.

He's sure he's not seeing this right, he knows his projection is made out of sound waves, and the sound he's hearing, along with what he's seeing--

--it's just something he cannot explain, even as he's standing on a cosmic fish.

The gridwork has trouble setting the shape of it, sometimes setting on the length of the sword, other times sparking out and others in waves irradiating like the vapor out of the asphalt back in Arizona.

"How does it work?" and he's not even bothering to hide the amazement in his voice. He knows it won't do him any good.

[mylawn]

You're welcome.

[Of course, he hopes it doesn't really come to that, partially because he'd rather avoid any life-threatening situations, but mostly because he doesn't want to have to use his limited ammo.

After that, he's content to ride in silence until Henry speaks up again.]

I've been out. Haven't gone far.

[Wanted to make sure he was fully prepared, first.]

[prizeneck]

[A tilt of his head] What d'ya mean, "better"?

[prizeneck]

[He takes a look at the crows scattered around, some hopping aimlessly, others flying out, some others just watching everything with the occasional 'caw'.

He shrugs.] Heard they're one of our employers, but can't be too sure.

[prizeneck]

[He takes another bit of rice - and it's a good thing that he can't see that it's black rice or he'd find it even staler than it already tastes - listening intently at her explanation.

It sounds familiar, kind of. Like the network he worked for.]

What 'appened to it?

[prizeneck]

[He snorts, shakes his head.] Ya seemed like you knew what you were supposed to be doing, contrary to most. ANZACs and not.

[decisions]

I will respect this request. It's not an easy choice to be so firm-footed upon but --

[ percy things - to his letter, to glintshore. the moment is brief where there's some moment of half-regret in his eyes. brought back. never take your eyes off me. never trust me. he realizes in this moment it would be purely hypocritical to deny her this, her and her general's orders one and the same. ]

But I understand what it is you're saying. And if the time does come, then I will do what it is that you ask.

[ to have a line of defense on one's self is something percy has not gone without thinking about. his fingers skim the opening of his pocket before sliding in, resting there before it started fidgeting with anything else nervously. ]

[decisions]

[ percy watches the maneuver, draping his arms over his knees instead to watch as the bunnyhawks slowly make their investigation of the both of them sitting here, idly talking. his own voice mirrors the softness, catching on. ]

I've no choice but to accept that they live together side by side. I've good friends who wield power over nature, transformation, healing and use these to great advantage and to help others. But I myself feel like I have no room in my life for something as unpredictable as magic.

[ though he wields it in dire moments himself, percy is not a fan of how... wild it can be at times. ]

It is not a terrible thing, magic. But it's something I would rather leave to... [ he tilts his head a little bit ] the experts.