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Entry tags:
- * setting: base,
- 9s [nier],
- akira kurusu [persona],
- angela zieglar [overwatch],
- armitage hux [star wars],
- arthur [inception],
- ashitaka [princess mononoke],
- chiron [fate],
- commander shepard [mass effect],
- daenerys targaryen [asoiaf],
- dolores abernathy [westworld],
- dorian pavus [dragon age],
- felix [halo],
- genji shimada [overwatch],
- hei [darker than black],
- jeyne westerling [asoiaf],
- john constantine [dc],
- jon snow [asoiaf],
- kel cheris [machineries of empire],
- lena oxton [overwatch],
- mamoru hijikata [until death do us part],
- mordred [fate],
- noctis lucis caelum [final fantasy],
- percival de rolo [dungeons & dragons],
- prompto argentum [final fantasy],
- rey [star wars],
- ryo asuka [devilman],
- ryuji sakamoto [persona],
- samus aran [metroid],
- sebastian michaelis [black butler],
- shouta aizawa [my hero academia],
- siegfried [fate],
- the courier [fallout],
- travis touchdown [no more heroes],
- vax'ildan [dungeons & dragons],
- vex'ahlia [dungeons & dragons]
THE AMAZING BASE.
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.
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.The Time-Step
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 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.
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.
no subject
Cool ones. But not like yours at all. [She juts her head again.] Blades are considered pretty archaic even before my time.
no subject
He's also used to the jab.] They are pretty obsolete, aren't they?
no subject
[It was clear he wasn't expecting it to be here. Perhaps he lost it?]
no subject
[He turns his head slightly to the stairs, as if he could follow the path to where the sword is, resting carefully on his bed.] Not sure why that one is here. I usually work with a lighter one.
no subject
How many do you have? ...Or had?
no subject
A blind man, a sniper. Think about that.] I worked with just the one most of the time, some throwing knives. Though we had a couple of others in case the composition of the main sword didn't... [for someone with excellent control over his body, Mamoru's lip keeps insistently tugging at the corner ] quite cut it.
[He shrugs, bad joke behind him. ] It's not like that one could cut an entire master wall, after all.
no subject
She's watching him carefully as he talks, zeros in on his face as he slows and gives way to a pause, the kind that would precede something important or be delivered with a heavy gravity. She leans her head forward slightly in anticipation and--]
...
[Maybe he can hear her eyes rolling back up into her head.]
Master wall?
[Who uses a sword to cut through a wall... that's what drills and explosives are for.]
no subject
The silence speaks volumes. He grins, unabashedly, at her reaction. It's not like he wasn't planning on making that pun, but when he did realize what he was about to do, he didn't stop it.
He shrugs. ]
Of a warehouse. Hostage situation, kinda. Had to be done to even up the score.
no subject
[That sounds ridiculous...
Tell her more...]
no subject
Frowning at an empty space along the edge of the table Samus is sat at, he tries to wrap the whole situation - complicated as it was - in a nice little bundle.]
There was this guy, big guy in the underworld where I come from. He was targetted by this group who got hold of my partner and another person as a lure for him. So I did what any reasonable person would do and surrendered to the group, they took me with them as well.
Turns out they wanted me and the other asset's partner to fight against this guy for the sake of the kids' lives. The leaders of the group were all holed up in a bulletproof room with the hostages. [He shrugs.] I took the building wall down and destroyed the room.
no subject
There were kids involved? Did you save them?
[Don't get her wrong, cutting through a building wall with a sword of all things sounds impressive--he might not see the way her eyebrows go up as her imagination is kindled--but it isn't going to mean much to her if it was all in vain.]
no subject
[Mamoru is well aware of the peculiarity of their situation. Haruka and Anna Riddle were both considered one in a million, Haruka with her precognitive skills, Anna with her genius and wisdom that goes even beyond his own age.
They're kids who barely had a chance at having a decent childhood. As someone who also lost his own to a drunk driver, he wishes he could settle everything as fast as he could to at least grant Haruka some sort of normalcy.] My partner is twelve years old, but she's strong enough to deal with something like that.