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

[desynched]

[ It's strange to have to explain Overwatch to someone. Reuniting with Jack and the others has rekindled some of her heartache.

They really had been a good team. Nobody deserved what happened. ]

Not quite. We were a paramilitary organization overseen by the UN. Overwatch didn't need approval for everything, but the UN could punish us if we crossed a line.

[ With a sad smile: ] My very first mission was an unsanctioned mission. Commander Morrison must've gotten into a lot of trouble for it, but...

[ She hopes he didn't regret it, despite the consequences. ]

[desynched]

"Not my strongest suit either. I suppose it's not all bad, though. I'm sure the myths got a lot wrong, yeah?"

At least she's less likely to make incorrect assumptions based on warped myths... probably.

[horsepowered]

Chiron is nothing if not a wise centaur, and that makes for good conversation in the end. He himself has been quite pleased for the more pleasant conversations to be had thanks in no small part to Hux, and to this entire mission. It is such a breath of fresh air after the trenches. Their exact opposite, in fact.

"Oh, I meant long term," he clarifies. "I can imagine that the technology is perfected. But I also would conclude that it may impact aging, heart health, and other relates issues. Unless your technology likewise renders those concerns irrelevant, which would not shock me in the least."

[horsepowered]

Chiron makes the so-so gesture with a wave of his hand, and there's a little smile that goes with it.

"Well they're myths, not history. Right or wrong isn't as important as the overall gist of it, and that much has been correct."

[deem]

That'd be like me minding having been given life at all, wouldn't it?

[9S has his core programming, and he's aware of it. He's cognizant of the fact that he loves mankind by design, yearning to live among them. To desire to be cared for and appreciated and have their approval are all ingrained into him. But he is aware of that reality. It's simply that he has no problem with it.

Mandkind had created androids after all. They're the closest it gets to God for beings like him, and he remembers too vividly his despair at the thought that they were gone.

Living among them now, how can he be anything but grateful?]

I'm also designed to get some satisfaction out of combat, but... I always figured after the fighting was done, I'd get to live among humans. Do the sorts of things they do, like go shopping in a commercial facility.

[That's right. Commercial facility.

Preferably with 2B, in an ideal world. He really did want to buy her a t-shirt]

[deem]

[For all that uncertainty is what awaits him whenever he returns, 9S has always been good at putting on a smile]

Thanks. I'll do my best, when I get back.

[He has no idea what the circumstances are anymore. The machines had their Ark, and he doesn't know whether that means a cessation of hostilities or not. He does know that he was invited to join them, the part of him that was a spark of consciousness and not metal and synthetic material.

But he had declined, for a world with nothing left for him to protect was too empty to live in. Would he go back to that? Or would 2B be, as he was, restored to functionality?

He doesn't know.

For now, he'll do his best to perform on her behalf as well. He's sure she'd fight for these humans given the chance to]

Meantime, seems like we're getting close to some kind of source.

[mylawn]

Well, sometimes those are the orders.

[Not really orders he explicitly gave in Overwatch, but sometimes that was the case—perhaps more often than he’d like to admit to her. Grothia’s command hasn’t bothered Jack so much because he’s been there, but he can imagine that her leadership style might be something of a surprise for someone like Lena.

It’s really no different from what he’d been through in the Crisis. He has to remind himself that she doesn’t have that experience.]

COST says they can bring us back. I don’t know how, and I’m not sure I like the sound of it, but I guess when you can time travel, anything’s possible.

[mylawn]

[Despite carrying on a conversation, it’s clear that 76’s mind is on something far away, especially as they start talking about the ethics of achieving real peace. Peace brought about forcefully isn’t peace at all, and Overwatch had started to fall apart when the world made it clear they were ready to handle their own problems, and Jack Morrison intervened anyway. He likes to think he understands a little more about what it takes to keep the world safe than the average civilian, but at what point is the line crossed?

Overwatch had tried and ended that at violating a nation’s sovereignty. The Regency never stopped themselves.]

Eventually you’ll have a revolution on your hands.

[COST’s existence is proof enough of that.]

[lonelywar]

[They had each held in their hands parts and pieces of this mystery, and now they were slightly closer to understanding the truth of it - or, at least, the truth in the eyes of the Regency (or the Empire, as Xici had been fervent in insisting it should be called).

But even with an idea of this rule that the Regency had made for itself, it doesn't do much good for them. It's possible that the Regency circumvents their own rule when they find that the need is great enough - or when it simply best suits them or makes things easiest. He isn't sure. Ashitaka is not to a point of questioning Xici's death past what he has already considered, but it certainly makes him wonder if things are more complicated than they had been told.

Because controlling the information given to a people is one of the easiest ways to control them.

If is, of course, best for them if this course of reasoning is correct.]

To doubt COST too much at this point would most likely be more dangerous than anything else. [A brief pause.] And is, most likely, what the Regency wishes.

[lonelywar]

[So many things, but...]

The kitchen...
I know several things there make fire, which one can use to cook, but...

[He doesn't want to catch his capsule on fire, is what he's saying.]

[raisedbybirds]

Earth's moon was a poor place for a long-term colony. No atmosphere, paltry resources... unless you're mining.

[She trails off, mostly for lack of memory. He'll have to forgive her for that when the moon she'd more closely associate with her home planet was distinctly not Earth's.]

You guys weren't trying to mine there, were you?

[Why not just send robots...?]

[raisedbybirds]

[It is very hard to tell if he's being deliberately obtuse or genuinely doesn't understand! Samus is content to stall even more, giving this delicious wonderful food the priority of her attention.]

Three years old.

[She eventually clarifies with a half-full mouth.]

I was taken in and raised by an ancient race known as the Chozo.

[raisedbybirds]

I hope I don't disappoint when the time comes.

[It'd normally be said with an air of self-depreciation, a strange mix of humility and confidence Samus would skirt before deflecting the rest of the subject away entirely. Her and her suit and her abilities have always been ogled by the federation, and their acute interest in it all hardly for the sake of it. Here however, she thinks she'd like to genuinely know what Chiron thinks of her armor.]

[desynched]

[ Lena looks unimpressed. She knows why-- the good of many versus the good of a few-- but it doesn't change the fact that she ordered them to die as if it were nothing. ]

I dunno, it doesn't sit right with me.

[horsepowered]

Oh, I doubt that would be possible.

[Chiron smiles, easy and reassuring. There's nothing but truth in his words.]

It also helps that your technology is far more advanced than anything I've seen. In many ways, you could show me something all too simple and I'd stare slack jawed and amazed.

[mylawn]

You think I haven't had to make that call?

[Maybe that's a testament to who he is as a commander, that perhaps Lena never realized how life-or-death things were, sometimes. Or maybe it's just because Jack would rather throw himself into the line of fire than make his own people do it.]

This isn't peacekeeping--it's war.

[And he'll maintain that there is a difference.]

[handsomefoil]

[ In his experience, anyone who insists they're great in some way usually tends to fall flat for him. Maybe he sets his expectations ludicrously high, or maybe he lived in a town of idiots, but whatever the case may it tended to fall that way.

He has no doubts that Thor is very impressive. His meager knowledge of Norse mythology at least gave him that much. That being said, despite this incredibly godly image that stories portray, he felt Thor was just a man like any man. This particular moment only cements his feelings about it further. ]

Whoa— [ Swatting the bug out of the sky, it plops noisily into some bush and skitters away in terror. ] But what about that one time, you know...like right now, with the thing?

[neutronium]

Leaning his head back against the tree, looking up into the branches, Hux gives a slight shrug. "As far as I am aware, there are no long terms effect on the body, as long as the durasteel on the ship is well enforced and not compromised. Of course, if the ship is old and has trouble, there could be effects where aging could happen in a strange way." It is a hypothesis, only. Usually if there is a weakness in the ship it would fail and kill someone before any sort of long term effect could be felt.

A beat, then, "Do we know if the travel COST uses has any long term effects?" Though he supposes, they most likely wouldn't tell them.

[horsepowered]

"Mm. Fascinating that ship integrity is the only issue at hand," Chiron murmurs, before considering Hux's question. It...it's actually a pretty good one. He rubs his chin, considering. "I might ask myself. I expect that if we suffer damage from it, then the Regency must as well."

Or the Regency is equipped to deal with ill effects. Regardless. "I wouldn't discount the possibility, I'll put it that way."

[mylawn]

Fighting ain’t much of a life.

[He might, unfortunately, be speaking from experience, and his tone of voice indicates as much. Despite ending the robot revolution, he bears no ill will towards the omnics trying to integrate into society—76 might not know much about how AI works, but he understands what it means to be programming. He’s starting to understand what it means to grow beyond it.

When 9s mentions what he hopes for when the fighting is done, 76 can’t help but sigh a little. The fighting’s never done, not really.]

For your sake, I hope that’s the case.

[mylawn]

[76 can’t help but doubt COST—after having spent so long devoted to a cause that ultimately ate him alive, he finds it serves him well to be paranoid. He also, in many ways, doesn’t know how else to be. Cynicism has kept him alive now that Overwatch is gone, and though it might not be healthy, it’s certainly worked in his favor.

The idealistic part of him wants to trust COST. The man that’s been through everything he has finds it a little difficult.]

Oh, I’m sure that’s what the Regency wants.

[There’s no doubt that they want to capitalize on the ragtag nature of COST to blow it all up from the inside.]

It’s a legitimate strategy.

[mylawn]

Had to do a test run somewhere.

[And the Moon, despite its obvious shortcomings (most of which Samus is listing right now), was the closest and easiest place for them to do it. Why not the Moon, if the idea is to see how people might fare on another planet.]

It was for research. To see if we could.

[doublejumps]

[ Making sure that history proceeds as intended often seems to be COST's goal. It makes sense, if the Regency has been traveling back to alter things. ]

And after that you went to France, I heard.

[ There's no reason Henry would have lied about something like that, but Genji still wants to confirm that he has all his facts straight. ]

Was the goal the same there?

[doublejumps]

[ There is something nice about losing themselves in the wilderness like this. Genji had done something similar in the past, and he knows how calming it can be to simply remove yourself from everything. All the same, he's glad that neither he nor Ashitaka are doing this alone. There's no telling what might be waiting for them out here.

The answer that he receives is an interesting one. A curse? Such a thing isn't supposed to exist by Genji's knowledge, but in his brief time with COST, he's already seen so many impossible things. Then again, Ashitaka comes from far in the past, before many medical breakthroughs were made. Maybe there's a better explanation for this "curse."

Not that Genji wants to come across as condescending when he asks about it, and so he's quiet for a few moments as they walk, gathering his thoughts. ]

What kind of curse? I'm not very familiar with them...

[ If COST pulled Ashitaka away from this task, he must be eager to get back. Though maybe he'd decided that stopping the Regency took precedence over lifting this curse. ]

[trample]

Then now's a good time as any.

[ Eren strikes a button on a nearby wall with the fleshy side of his hand, opening the door next to them and letting in an earthy gust of wind and warm beams of light. Breathing in the outdoor air was an experience which could relieve anyone of the pressure that they were facing. ]

There's more to life than being cooped up in your room. There's a whole world out there to explore.

[ He turns around, apparently exempting himself from all this. ]

So go and get to it. If you want to go and scream your lungs out in private, feel free. No one's gonna be around to stop you. [ And then he starts walking, doing a backwards wave at the same time. ] Ryuji - I'll be seeing you.