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KNOW YOUR RIGHTS.
WHO? Everybody! Including fourth wall visitors.
WHAT? Time to kiss the spiders goodbye and strike out for greener pastures.
WHEN? 10 XI, Year 6 of Sanaliel's reign (as of arrival in Lemuria).
ANYTHING ELSE? Please warn for anything besides physical violence and move to a personal journal if it's beyond PG-13.
WHAT? Time to kiss the spiders goodbye and strike out for greener pastures.
WHEN? 10 XI, Year 6 of Sanaliel's reign (as of arrival in Lemuria).
ANYTHING ELSE? Please warn for anything besides physical violence and move to a personal journal if it's beyond PG-13.
this is a public service announcement;
with guitar
ESCAPE TACTICS
READ THE JHASHCH INFOPAGE.
The departure from Jhashch has none of the ceremony of arrival. A few hours after the last of the mission teams report in, a bulletin goes out. It's the only forewarning for the time-step.
@SCOUT | @ALLIt's hurried and without embellishment, and for good reason. While the teams have deterred and distracted the Regency and burned House Shaiy's residence, it hasn't stemmed the chaos. If anything, it encourages it.
emergency time-step approved
expect it within the hour
you won't be returning to base; we'll port in supplies after arrival
if you have your standard cost clothing, change into it now
cover your face and hide the cost patch
Princess Chch still lives, but Queen Thsh is viewed as the Aranean ideal of a tyrant, confidence only bolstered by surviving the Regency's assassination attempts. COST has her blessing — and that of the Twin Generals and Prince Shch. Aranean soldiers throw themselves into brutal confrontation at their generals' behest, dragging Ythaway further into bloodshed; the male Araneans decline direct involvement, but they're skilled saboteurs. And the public watches; while the media teams couldn't completely convince them of the cause and House Oujh still maintains its influence, they spare the Regency no love.
This is the fate of the weak.
Young has already sent Serket ahead with the mines' valuable deposits of Ymir. And, with the queen's position assured amidst all the gore, COST wants to evacuate as quickly as possible.
» THE TIME-STEP
The transfer begins like a vibrating heat on the collar bone, just a hum of sensation.
But the vibration spreads. Veteran recruits 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.
WELCOME, GHOSTS
A siren blares in the distance, accompanied by unintelligible shouting and the low rumble of engines. The air is chill, no matter where you arrive; the ground beneath your feet is like ice if the soles of your shoes have worn too thin. Closer, there's the crackle of an air quality alert and the creak of swaying metal. A nearby terminal declares the date to be 10 XI, 6 SNL.
The time-step has scattered the cell throughout the districts of Lemuria.
@SCOUT | @ALLAlmost immediately, a second bulletin pops up.
now that i have more time
if you weren't briefed by your commander already, this is an emergency time-step, possible through the efforts on jhashch
for those of you with my cell, the sergeant and i won't be present, at least not physically; we can't be
you can contact us, but the regency carefully monitors this time stream so excessive communication through time and space could be dangerous
you can ask the scouts available for more information
@ASHOLE @STARBOY the two of you are the most accessible
@STARBOY | @ALLThe files are succinct, establishing COST's mission and role as opposed to that of the Regency. The beginner's guide even addresses the side effects of BCE glitches and wiped memories, for newbies who don't remember joining COST. These scouts want you up to speed as quickly as possible, because fucking up could have dire consequences. And they also really don't want to explain it to you; this shit is not in their purview.
are you shitting me
[And that's it, until five minutes later:]
lets get this out of the way
read the 1st attachment
its not done but dwi
if youre new read that and the 2nd attachment
and if youre looking for us for some bullshit reason
x marks the spot on the 3rd attachment
we got clothes and weapons since no one sent you in w shit
(lmao ofc)
[ATTACHMENT: lemuria.html, beginnersguidetodumbfuckery.html, map.png]
The map indicates a cellar in one of the low districts, identified as the Skhan District. If you're missing an outfit of your own, the scouts have several bins of secondhand clothing and more than their fair share of weaponry. It's a mismatched collection and far from the height of fashion (unless scavenger chic is in), but be careful: while most of the patches have been torn off, some clothes still bear the insignia of COST. You'll want to get rid of that.
POST-APOCALYPTIC WEAR IS IN THIS SEASON
Blasters load six to fifteen rounds, depending on model; none are larger than a shotgun. And, because of the dangers of porting in and out of Lemuria, the bolthole has its own revivicator installed. Which means if you die in Lemuria, you revive in Lemuria. It isn't as refined as BASE's rundown tech; chances are, when you wake up, you'll feel echoes of whatever killed you.
READ THE LEMURIA INFOPAGE.
» NEW RECRUITS.
New arrivals, here by virtue of the fourth wall, can arrive in one of two ways.
The first is as a fresh recruit, in COST-issued athletic underwear and holding whatever item you chose to bring. Hopefully your clothes and circumstances don't embarrass you too much, because you're stuck with them until you can rendezvous with a scout or steal your own.
The second way for fourth wall characters to arrive is as a seasoned member of another COST cell. Their assumed missions can be to your tastes, as fantastical or historical as you like. Need ideas? Feel free to read back through the game's logs and infopages for inspiration.
HIDE YOUR SHIT
Welcome to COST's little bolthole in Lemuria. It's a cramped space, a basement's basement in an abandoned factory overrun by squatters. The community doesn't make much notice of anyone moving through as a rule, so it's easy to weave by the masses huddled together in rags and find the long, dingy staircase, leading down, down, down to a padlocked door.
The padlock will twist and open as soon as you tap the corresponding app on your BCE. It automatically loaded when you got to Lemuria and reads FUCKINGPADLOCK.IO.
And then there's the bolthole. Dug into the ground, it's not unlike being in a submarine; it's certainly cramped enough. It could hold maybe four people, very uncomfortably.
It has a selection of security cameras and terminals on one end and the rest of the walls are decked with cabinets and drawers, all locked by various means. Some are traditional and some ask for eye scans or fingerprints or "identity samples", whatever that means.
There is a not insignificant number of empty takeout containers in one corner.
And, thanks to the staircase, you can at least hear whenever someone's coming.
GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER
You can't hide in the bolthole forever — the scouts, for one, will kick you out — and Lemuria is a restless city. Many of the low districts are overflowing, too many people packed in too small spaces. And everywhere is an air of discontent, evident from disgruntled muttering.
It's often hard to tell what's news and what's rumor, even surrounded by terminals with easy access to the Lemurian network. Fafnir is causing a ruckus at the city limits; maybe someone will ask Jörmungandr to "deal" with him. Terrapin Labs is dumping genetic waste in the sewers. The Crosslands are already drained dry and the war is a coverup. A red dragon ate someone near the upper districts. Sanaliel's advisor is a shape-shifter. The list goes on.
For now, your orders are to keep an ear to the ground and maintain a low profile. In general, the scouts would really like you not to make their lives any harder.
» THE ANTS GO MARCHING.
If you manage to find your way into the Pyramid District, the Lemurian upper class is having a military parade and even the lower rungs of society have dragged themselves to see it. The crowd is mixed, though it naturally segregates itself, with the richer moving away from the poorer. Myths fit themselves in where they can; faeries flit through the crowd and a few kappa saunter through, promising eternal blessings for a few spare cucumbers.
The parade itself is a magnificent thing to behold, if you like gaudy splendor and overzealous displays of wealth. Each regiment walks in unified steps, their battalion announced. At various points, the parade stops and the soldiers perform demonstrations of will and might, shooting rockets into the polluted fog of the sky, shredding dummies with advanced weaponry, and sparring with one another.
Occasionally, radicals break through the crowd, throwing smoke bombs that bleed colored mist and sting the eye. They shout slogans like "Freedom for the Crosslands!" and "Justice for Lemuria!" and "Food for the poor!" Sometimes they cause a riot. Sometimes they escape back into the crowd. Sometimes they get shot in the head.
The bodies are dragged away without much comment, like it's a common occurrence.
The parade continues.
» I PREDICT A RIOT.
If you wander into the low districts, you'll find something else entire. Some would argue it's a coincidence that there are bread riots the same day as a military parade. Some wouldn't.
Basic sustenance — rice, bread, beans, and lentils — have skyrocketed in price. Fueled by tax increases and missing supply vans, what it means is the poor are poorer. People slink back to their hovels to beg or barter. And the rest, well...
The rioters come prepared, stomping boots and guns fired into the sky. The majority are teenagers and young adults, commandeering food shops and carts, scaring away (or killing) the owners and giving out food for free (or at a lowered price). Other people try to stop them and the scuffle quickly becomes untenable, escalating into bloodier violence.
What do you do?
» THIS IS SO ILLEGAL.
Maybe you got involved in a riot. Maybe your fingers were a little sticky. Or maybe you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time; the police force is largely apathetic to crime in the low districts and reacts all too readily with violence in the upper districts.
Whatever the case, you've gotten yourself on the wrong side of the Lemurian law and you're handcuffed to (or sharing a cell with) a comrade-in-arms. Maybe it's fortunate that Lemuria has only just begun to distribute power nullification tech to deal with the influx of myths; most officers don't carry it and even fewer would think to use it on someone who looks human.
The guards make no comment, if asked how long they'll hold you. Other prisoners, filthy and dressed in rags, remark they've gone months without knowing.
Escape is really the only feasible option.
» SPECIAL DELIVERY.
If you left items behind at BASE, you can handwave filing a request and COST will deliver them to the bolthole. The scouts will send an alert if necessary and you can pick it up at any time. Just preferably sooner than later, because there isn't exactly a lot of space in that cellar.
Alternatively, if you're a veteran recruit, maybe you just received an unexpected delivery.
no subject
For Chiron, he's not quite at the end of the Grail War yet. He shakes his head, shrugging the curiosity off in exchange for focusing on the raw present. Whatever happens in Trifas, he is yet to go through it. As it was with fighting Achilles on that battlefield, so it will be in his own future.
There is a small park ahead, more like a parklet with a tiny little fountain in it. Due to the parade, it seems abandoned, and there is where he heads.
"I'll experience it soon enough. Did you appear here right from Trifas?"
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"More or less" He tugs at the COST-issued uniform he wears, "Everything seemed to happen at once."
He sounds characteristically unbothered by it, though.
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For him, it was pointless to keep up appearances when there was another Chiron going around. Mordred was well...Mordred, and the less said of Achilles the better. Without hesitating, he sits himself down on the edge of the fountain.
"The sartorial choices could also be worse," he adds. "Some of the other things I've been wearing over the past several months have been hm. Interesting, let's say."
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"Interesting?" He says, with a curious grin creeping across his face, "how so?"
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Chiron's aware that secrecy isn't something Astolfo enjoys, never mind is good at, but that's not good for well, right here and now. "I do miss my actual clothes as a Heroic Spirit, although the times spent away from the Grail War have been enlightening. What do you make of everything, as you've seen it thus far?"
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“Well,” He begins, unsure where he’s going to arrive with this train of thought until he gets there, “The time travel is pretty novel.” Even if he had actually experienced more of it, his opinion would be unlikely to change, though not being able to come and go as he pleases would surely sour his opinion of the situation, “I’ve seen things I like in this place, and things that I hate.” Even the existence of the conflict and struggle, the more unsavoury aspects, only serves to remind him of his own values in his outrage against it, and the determination for better in those who rise in rebellion. “There’s so many different kinds of people here! So much that’s new, and so much that's familiar, too. I can't deny some fondness for it. ”
The fondness leaves his voice as he lets out a sigh. “I want to do more, though. I can’t just stand by like I did then.”
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"Some things truly don't change," he says. Astolfo's sense of justice has always been there, and to see it again is just as joyful a thing as seeing Astolfo himself.
"At present, the mission brief is to try and keep one's ear to the ground. But I would be curious as to where you'd even begin to try and make a change."
Drastic action isn't the best when all things are at a crux, but getting an idea of where to go next is hardly inadvisable.
no subject
Unlike Chiron, he never puts much thought into his actions. Which is exactly why he needs this kind of person around to balance him out.
"I can't guarantee it'd comply with the mission, of course. You might have a better idea of that kind of approach than me."
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A compliment, to be sure, given Chiron's warm tone. But it doesn't address the other matter, which is where he pauses, and then sighs.
"At the moment, I can't say that I do. I've spoken with my Master here about it - Fiore isn't present, nor are any of our Masters, so I had to temporarily switch contracts - and we've only had a few inklings."
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"Oh?" His eyes glint with curiosity at this information, "Who's your new Master here? What're they like? Can I meet them?" With each question, Astolfo eagerly shuffles a space closer to Chiron, completely disregarding personal space.
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"I think you'd like Daenerys. In her own home, she's a queen striving to regain her throne. Her sense of justice is outspoken, not unlike your own."
It'd be a different sort of knight for his Master to meet, but Chiron doesn't doubt that Daenerys would be endeared to Astolfo's....Astolfo-ness.
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"Of course, I had no doubt about that." He had good enough faith in Chiron's judgement of character to be sure that he wouldn't make a bad choice in who he contracted with.
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Chiron takes the compliment for what it is, and he has a smile on his face at Astolfo's words. Astolfo's genuineness is perhaps one of the spirit's greatest strengths. "The whole thing came about organically. I imagine that you and she would actually be an even mightier combination. Her own home has a great number of knights."
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"Now that's an idea," He laughs, not cruelly, but with joy at the concept. The only other he could claim to have made a strong combination with had been Sieg, and the concept of there being someone else like that was simply delightful. "If you two chose each other, though, I doubt there'd be any other pair more suited."
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"Saber of Red and her Master are likewise extremely well suited," he says, and there is true joy at getting to make such an important decision. True enough, the matter had happened under duress in both cases (and Siegfried's as well), but the end result? Far better than what was expected.
"But that's hardly speaking to this time and place and what this threat eventually becomes."
no subject
"And what would that be?" He asks, a little more serious with how ominous Chiron just sounded.
no subject
But as things grow serious, the Chiron that Astolfo probably knew from the Grail War returns. "It's...complicated, but the thing that comes out of this is called the Regency. It's a conquering empire of sorts with time traveling capabilities, and it messes around in history among lighter issues at hand. That technology is powered by deceased gods that are mined for power which," Chiron gestures at himself. "I find disturbing on a personal level."
He continues. "But more than that, it's a ruthless way of ruling. If they find some relative in the future commits a crime, they'll destroy the family earlier on, so said relative is never born."
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As Chiron continues to explain, Astolfo finds himself becoming increasingly more outraged. "And no one's stopped them? They can't do that- it's not fair, it's not right."
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"Having the ability to travel through time and thwart threats to the order that arises is a part of the problem. There are coalitions, and the particular unit that you've found here is well led. I...have found out that another, still living version of myself is the second in command of it."
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Chiron's not exactly blushing, but he looks borderline embarrassed to admit the fact. He's not exactly a centaur made of ego, and so for him to be excited about hanging out with himself smacks of just that without any further elaboration.
"We're just different enough from each other to have different perspectives, and his family is still living. Knowing that alone has wiped away most weirdness."
aaah im so sorry for taking so long to reply, i got busy D:
"So you guys are friends? No fights over your identity or anything?"
Don't worry about it, you came back! That's the important part.
Chiron raises an eyebrow, smile still on his face. The question's mostly one meant in jest, and to prove a point: if he wouldn't, why would another version of himself?
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"But as to you. What have I missed in Trifas?"
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