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

[prizeneck]

nobody said anything about pride

[gerechtigkeit]

So you'll attack those you simply want to fight?

[prizeneck]

warmer but not quite there yet

[gerechtigkeit]

[The reply takes a little while, because partially he doesn't want to respond because Mamoru is annoying him- but a part of him also wants to know why.]

You enjoy testing people, mostly to see how well they react to you and what you're capable of. If they do well, you want to fight. If they don't, you don't bother.

Closer?

[prizeneck]

please that would be amateurish
i only test people i know are good

[gerechtigkeit]

...Should I be insulted or take that as a compliment?

[prizeneck]

that ain't my concern

[gerechtigkeit]

Both, then.

Should I expect you?

[prizeneck]

i'm here

[gerechtigkeit]

[What Mamoru will find is an entire section has been cleared and set aside specifically for this purpose. Call him aware, or perhaps just using common sense, but he knows that if anything, their little bout in Gallipoli meant that Mamoru wasn't above using everything around him to his advantage.

He stands to the side, leaning against the wall, no weapon in sight. Arms crossed, his head tilts in curiosity rather than in annoyance. If this man wants to fight, he'll give him one- but he's not going to go overboard.]

You found me easy enough, it seems.

[prizeneck]

All cut. [Mamoru says, but not at Sieg. Shutting down the comms is only something he’s used to do, and even if the BCE command isn’t exactly that one it’s programmed to follow to shut down the voice-to-text feature, it’s responsive enough to adapt and follow it anyway. It annoys him that he needs to do it. People have a tendency to use text and not communicate with their voice, for some reason. Maybe they were too suspicious and knew their voice gave away things that they didn’t want shared.

A question for some other time, anyway. He adjusts the sunglasses a little higher as he takes in the space in the room. Mamoru is holding his sword, yes, but the same way a millennial holds their cellphone. Naked without it, fingers restless even when there’s no use for them.]

I’m familiar with this part of the ship. [More than familiar, he’s been spending more time in this room than in his own, although his skewed sleep schedule makes him either omnipresent and elusive.

Without the mask and with the context of warfare left behind, there’s an ease to Mamoru’s voice that could be easily misidentified as insolence. Still, he let’s it slip. He gives him a disbelieving snort.] You made quick work of preparing the classroom or is this just for me?

[gerechtigkeit]

Soldiers know how to avoid obstacles. [That's the first thing out of his mouth after Mamoru asks his question. But you're not a soldier is easily implied. Siegfried studies him- now finally getting to see his face, his body language, how his hands idly keep to his sword, the sunglasses he wears...

Wait, sunglasses?

He says nothing about them, but if he needed any more clarification that Mamoru is unusual and not a typical fighter, then that settles it. Siegfried's interest is piqued, a brow raising.]

Do you always carry it with you? [His sword. Bluntly stated, but it's more as a question than a scoffing. He does the same, more often than not.]

[prizeneck]

But a good fighter uses them to their advantage. [He states, and it sounds so matter-of-fact that it’s evident Mamoru not only believes it, he uses it often. Just as casual as the way he holds the sword like it’s part of him.

He raises it just a little, holding it sideways. This guy - what was his name, Saber? Sounds like code, much like Blade - looks unarmed, even if in the echoing quiet of the room Mamoru could even tell just how odd his strength seems to be. Unlike the foe the Regency snatched from his path, there’s something just simply unstudied about him.

He had felt the same thing with the teacher in the Marie Antoinette.

So he stretches it out for him to see.] Not this one. This was in my room when I arrived. I usually have my cane with me. And the other sword the cane encases. But that’s a razor compared to this.

[gerechtigkeit]

A decent fighter always uses them. [A correction, slight, but there.] But a good fighter knows well enough to study his opponent before diving in headfirst.

[Is he jabbing at the fact that Mamoru tried to crack his skull open out of nowhere? Yes, he is. Sure, they fought alongside each other, but even Siegfried would choose to stay his hand rather than simply outright attack an ally as a way of testing their ability.

He listens to Mamoru's description of the weapon in his hand, and headtilts just slightly. "A razor?" Hmm. Since Mamoru wishes to fight only good fighters, it would make sense for him to bring along the best he has. Siegfried has no desire to hold up the inevitable, but he doesn't want to show off, either.

So, he reaches to his side, bringing out Balmung, placing the sheathe and cloak on his back, letting the blade itself rest against the ground.]

How often have you fought someone who uses a greatsword?

[prizeneck]

[Shoulders shaking just slightly as he chuckles, breathy and almost without much sound, he's smiling.] See, the fact that your feet almost always rest at a 30-degree angle even as you're resting means that you're used to heavy charges, heavy weaponry. Same as the width of your stance, used to holding a weapon with two hands.

[He pauses, but it's not something he just thought up just now.] That's why you broke the bayonet, right? Shitty material and using too much momentum from sheer habit - perhaps a little more stress than usual, that helps, too.

[He tilts his head.] I don't charge without thinking, but there's no other way to know if you can defend a true killing blow out of the blue unless someone's willing to strike it.

[When he brings out Balmung, that smile, discreet even despite its insolence, widens. He takes in the weapon, long, sharp, and weighty. Even though it's only displayed as gridwork, he can tell that this is by no means mass made. It's absolutely one of a kind.

He's almost giddy when he declares:] Not nearly enough.

[gerechtigkeit]

[There is a long moment of silence as he lets him speak, quietly lets the words filter through his mind and settle. Mamoru speaks with pinpoint accuracy, a tale that tells of Siegfried's footwork from having only seen him with a bayonet, and it catches him by surprise. Things just got more interesting, it seems.

Someone's done his studying long before coming here.]

I stand corrected, then. [No use in denying what should be given, as far as where credit is due. Siegfried actually smiles at that, mouth twisting just slightly to show his appreciation. Mamoru may be unpredictable when he determines to test someone, but there is something Siegfried finds he enjoys in that- a moment where he may be caught unaware and have to react accordingly.

Besides Karna, no one has done something close to this since the time he was alive. He looks forward to it.

Enough dawdling, then. Blade raised just so, Siegfried only says two words, but they speak louder than something vocally ever could.]

Then come.

[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.