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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
[Perhaps 76 sounds a bit disappointed to hear that. He ends up nodding along to the rest of it--76 knows better than most the kinds of sacrifices that must be made to secure peace. It's never real peace, either, because keeping it that way is a struggle. He's done things he's not proud of in the name of it, and it's easy to see where the slippery slope of the Regency begins.]
Your friend. She signed on too?
no subject
[Even if she did want to. But her predictions showed her back home, at least of what she could see. A good thing, too; her will to follow him at all times tended to err on the side of guilt-tripping. Even terrifying, at times. Not just because where he tends to go is no place for a kid - she has proven herself resilient enough to stand some of the violent dealings. But she kept predicting the several ways Mamoru would die, over and over, until finding a viable future where he survived.
He tries not to think too much about how he should've kept some distance from the kid.] I'm not sure if her precognition would be valid here, either. With different timelines and worlds. She has to be emotionally involved for it to work, too.
no subject
[It's a joke, but the sentiment behind it is clear. 76 would rather fight this war if it means other, younger people get to stay out of it, despite his general misgivings about the state of COST. He finds himself wondering, again, if Ana agreed to enlist with him and found herself in a different cell, and here he is, unable to remember any of it.
At least Mamoru has that luxury.]
You've got someone holding down the fort at home. That's what matters.
btw i played ow yesterday and i was crying at jack and ana's interactions
[The corner of his lip curls sharply. It's fleeting, but it's there, its remains in Mamoru's voice as he says it.] She will whip everyone into shape.
[He glances at him. It's unseeing, save for the gridwork in his retina, but he hears something in 76's voice that he can't really describe.] Do you not?
i am never not sad about ana and jack
[He highly doubts he would have signed up for this if Ana wasn’t with him, which means that the only logical conclusion is that she joined him and they ended up separated. 76 supposes he could always ask, but he’s not sure what he’s more afraid of—Grothia confirming this, or Grothia being s in the dark about it as he is.
What he does know is that it’s been reiterated that COST cells tend not to talk to each other for their own safety. The thought of her being unable to contact him in all this doesn’t sit well with him, either.]
I like to think my partner would’ve signed on with me.
[It doesn’t feel quite right, calling her his partner. He likes to think their relationship transcends that, but it’s hard to describe, something that’s evident on his face as he says it.]
no subject
He's been left in the dark many times, so Mamoru can't help but wince at the fact that he was lucky his BCE hadn't glitched. He would've hated to be in this guy's shoes.]
You don't seem to be someone who believes in something just because. [He rolls his shoulders. Stretches out the worn muscles and the 'what ifs' in the air.]
no subject
Peace is never really painless.
[You fight to secure it, and then you fight to maintain it. It never ends, and that's something 76 has learned intimately over the course of his career.]
What the Regency wants isn't peace. It's power. I know what happens when one regime thinks they know what's best for everyone.
no subject
He gets what he means, and it’s part of why Mamoru always felt a little detached from the Elements Network and its goal of vigilantism on behalf of victims’ families. Why he considered himself a criminal despite Igawa’s adamant claim of justice. Why he feels that his life for mastery won’t end in a final accomplishment.
It’s a snake that turns into its tail and cannibalizes itself.
There’s no end.]
What happens?
no subject
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.]
no subject
He grins, he can't help it, even if it's not aimed at 76 or at anyone or anything in particular. Mamoru can't help but be just a tiny bit delighted at the fact that even a seemingly all powerful group such as the Regency can't help but have a thorn in their neck. Even if COST felt like just an annoying splinter and not much else. ]
What d'ya think came first, the chicken or the egg?
no subject
[Maybe it’s circular, but in Jack’s experience, war and conflict seems like the default state of humans. Maybe peace is temporarily achievable, but it seems in human nature to eventually fall back into chaos. A utopia seems so far out of reach, especially for someone who’s spent his entire life fighting for one cause or another.]
Feels like humans are always going to be fighting about something.
no subject
That's what people like me are for, I guess. [And 76, he supposes, but he knows that he doesn't need to say it.] To fight until they think they figured it out, then when they realize they haven't.
no subject
Not really much of a way to live.
no subject
[He taps the shades perched on the bridge of his nose.] Even when shit hits the fan.
no subject
[He's not so different, really, but 76 doesn't need to say that. Mamoru has surely guessed by now, and it's not like he does anything to hide it.]
Nothing to do but keep fighting, right?