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

[reillumination]

[ After seeing what he has, the odd jump isn't quite so odd. He's seen flesh and bone break and rend into shapes preternatural and peculiar, limbs so long that resembled more the shapes of an arachnid. He's seen more than most should, most would suppose. Staring into the maw of Hell simultaneously desensitized and warped something fundamental in him, his lack of trust more pronounced than ever had been. Could have been, once.

So, it is only because he cannot get the sense about him that he is anything but what he says he is, that he reaches up to take 9S's hand after a moment of silent deliberation, his eyes flicking once from the hand offered to where 9S's eyes would be without the material that covers them. In itself, that he cannot read the way 9S looks at him had been a factor in that pause, but – at least the deer hasn't seem to have taken notice. Yet. ]

[deem]

[It's a simple matter to help the guy up, and it isn't a labor on 9S' part. He'd be hard-pressed to lift the weight of a heavier unit like 2B, who was built with greater durability in mind than he was, and consequently, he'd been knocked off balance once when trying to tug her along more than once.

If she decided she wasn't going to move, she certainly wouldn't.

Once the guy is safely on the tree branch with him, 9S points out the trees off to the west. Their branches nearly form an uneven path of sorts, some close enough to step over to and others requiring a jump. Still, it's a convenient route for their purposes, and will ideally prevent the deer from noticing them and pursuing]

[reillumination]

[ Ryo is light, all long limbs and lean muscle. He isn't built as though a machine or built much like others he'd known back home. Nowadays, even the one closest to him could easily outpace him, pick him up as if he weighed nothing at all. He's accustomed to being tossed around, at least, so there's that to 9S's advantage as well.

Ryo follows 9S's gesticulation without pause once he's settled, his balance oddly sure and firm despite the new height. He gives a glance back to 9S, a small "thanks" caught and silent at the corners of his lips. The distance he builds between himself and others seems to momentarily shorten, but within the next moment it returns. He knows he's letting him go first, likely for safety's sake (primary function, he'd said) – but, Ryo hesitates.

To show one's back was to be blind to others behind him. It requires a trust that no one will bring harm to him and Ryo – Ryo lacks that. He's lacked that for a long time now, knowing no one else to be worth relying on besides Akira Fudo. Besides him.

And so, Ryo gestures more with the jerk of his chin that if he goes, Ryo will surely follow. ]

[deem]

[9S' expression falters, scarcely more than a twitch of his lips. He's good at pretending that nothing is the matter, or concealing whatever might be on his mind. Taking point would be the natural course of action if the danger were ahead of them, but it concerns him that the creature would be behind them, and he can only hope it's incapable of climbing.

With its lack of coordination this seems a safe assumption to make, and yet where the safety of any human is concerned, it becomes insufficient in his eyes. Nevertheless, any action he might take to the contrary would not make this human any safer, and might attract the deer-like being's attention.

So with another stiff nod, 9S turns to lead the way. He may not like it, but nothing is stopping him from pausing to glance back at the guy and ensure that he is indeed following, and that nothing is coming after them.

If that is all he can do, that is naturally what he will do]

[reillumination]

[ Ryo, despite his natural inclination these days to distrust all human (or human-like) life he stumbles across, is not without means to notice the subtle cues one gives off. He's aware in ways one typically would not be, his senses heightened as a result of his perpetual paranoia — his perpetual drive to keep himself and all that he loved alive, whole. The world he knew now would only tear him apart if he let his guard down. And so he doesn't. And so he won't, even in places it would have once benefited him most without great convincing.

So, if he had noticed — if he had seen what his rejection of the implicit offer had done, he does not acknowledge it with more than the flit of his eyes toward the path and the barest brush back over him.

Yet, his steps after 9S are sure and quiet, no matter what his manner would suggest. The deer below still sways upon its thin legs, breathing labored and slow, but does not budge as he mimics each placement of 9S's feet as though he'd grown accustomed to doing this (and he has, he certainly has).

If they're completely silent, there is no worry to be had. Ryo knows that, having watched more than one wander past him in his time here. He has not yet gauged how and to what extent the deer could follow, but he had due reason to suspect that it would idle patiently at the base of any tree until its selected target came down again.

All the more reason to be cautious. ]

[deem]

[9S takes care in setting a course, calculating the weight each branch can bear. Each time that Ryo moves forward, so does he, quite aware that if anything can support his weight, it will do for the human following him. At the same time, he doesn't want to strain branches with their collective weight more than he must, and so he maintains forward momentum.

At the same time, he monitors for signs that the deer is following. The sounds it produces fade over time, and he wants to take that as an indication that they're putting distance between themselves and the creature. Even so, he remains as silent as he can be, strides carrying him from one branch to another.

Once and then again be pauses, assessing course, before choosing what he deems to be the best option. It's different, navigating for someone else, and not just himself. But not in a way he dislikes.

Eventually he halts to confirm with his eyes what his other senses tell him, and indeed, they don't appear to have a pursuer]

At least now we've got a method of avoiding those things...

[reillumination]

[ Ryo is quiet, as much as 9S is, as he keeps pace. With his back not exposed to someone he barely knows, it makes the trip easier — less tense. He keeps his eyes up, though the heights do not frighten him as much as the fall, and as soon as 9S admits that they've approached a safe range from the Furfur, Ryo instinctively takes the opportunity to scope the area out himself to verify.

After neither hears nor sees anything relative to what has grabbed at his heels all this time, Ryo lets out a slow breath and takes the time to settle down on one of the branches, dangling his feet over the Earth. This, at least, is more familiar than treading branch-to-branch. He's staked out demons like this before, seated from a higher vantage point. His chest aches, the feeling vague and passing. ]

We were fortunate not to bump into anything else, [ Ryo says, pulling the collar of his trench coat up a little closer to his face. One foot swings, idle. ] That's already happened twice.

[deem]

I picked this route for that reason. Avoiding other wildlife, that is.

[For his part, 9S doesn't sit. But that makes it easier to point to the forest extending to the left of them. It looks no different than the rest, and yet he had avoided it with good reason. When the objective is to assure that the human following him was safe and unthreatened, he had to be selective in their course]

There's a predatory species that way. Pack animals...I heard them pursuing something.

[He couldn't say with certainty at this range just what they are, but he does know that it's better to avoid anything that comes in numbers. Although he's confident he'd have no difficulty killing an attacking animal, or even a half dozen, this human had a demonstrated distaste for the idea. And it's better not to go about killing things without necessity.

If they required materials, sure, but when it's entirely avoidable it's something of a waste]