let fury have the hour,

[agogemod]

WHO? Everybody!
WHAT? Agoge's third TDM! And the death of an important guy. And some very upset royalty.
WHEN? Late 1792, Paris.
ANYTHING ELSE? Violence, as always. Please warn in subject lines for anything beyond physical violence, and move to a personal journal if things go beyond PG-13.

IT'LL BE FINE;

Paris, 1792: revolutionary france.

read the France setting infopages

arrival for new recruits

(Note: If you were one of the people who used the previous TDM and want to use that as canon while still participating in this one, feel free! The following will still happen, though the guide will apologize for a malfunction in your BCE causing you to zap through the intervening month instead of joining your comrades like you should have. You'll be assured the glitch is fixed now, and it probably is. Probably.)

You wake up in a Parisian hotel room with a kind woman standing near the door, waiting for you to awaken. You have none of your clothing, just black military-issued underwear, and none of your previous possessions beyond the one you chose (if you remember choosing) to bring with you.

The woman by the door speaks French, and if you didn't understand the language before, you do now. If you have questions as to what's going on, she'll answer: you are a member of COST, a paramilitary organization of time travelers fighting against the Regency, a tyrannous kingdom of the future who are trying to stamp out freedom and individuality in the name of peace.

She will provide you with the clothing necessary to fit in at this time, and show you how to use your BCE implant to look up information on this time period and its social and political mores. She won't let you leave until you're properly dressed to fit in, but once you are, she'll wish you luck.

KILL THE KING

It doesn't matter if you're new, or if you've been here a while. You'll hear about the execution going on today. It's as though the barely restrained urban chaos of Paris has ground to a halt. Everything is about the king. Is it really going to happen? Are they really going to do it? Can they do it? Is it even possible?

Anyone out of the loop will be filled in, but with no small amount of ridicule: Today is the day of the king's execution. His trial has wrapped up, and the National Convention voted to execute him for treason and tyranny.

The crowd at the execution is enormous, a riotous mob of passion barely restrained. Everyone is jockeying for a better view, with children and adults climbing up on nearby statues, lampposts, the sides of houses, rooves, some even hang from windows. Everyone watches the scaffold.

The prison cart arrives with no fanfare save the yells of the crowd. Within it sits a small, fat little man, looking like he's doing his best to remain composed. He's brought to the scaffold, and his crimes are read out: colluding with foreign powers, and the crime of royalty, which is anathema to the republic of France.

When asked for his final words, Louis Capet, known to some as King Louis XVI, speaks in a quiet voice. "I forgive my enemies."

When the blade comes down, the crowd errupts into cheers. Many rush forward to touch the blood of a king, dipping bits of cloth in it in an attempt to save it.

I PREDICT A RIOT

It's as though all the built up tension in Paris exploded when the king was killed.

Who knows what started it. Rumors spread like wildfire, and it doesn't matter, does it? In the end, most of Paris is swarmed with chaos, especially in the areas nearest to where the king was executed. There's no doubt that the riot and the king's death are directly related; no peasant currently throwing stones and breaking windows will deny it.

Fights are happening with great frequency. It only takes a word, a half sentence, for someone to decide you're some kind of counter-revolutionary. There is a current of anxiety in Paris that hasn't gone away; after reaching a fever pitch, it has expressed itself with violence and chaos.

let's visit the tuileries

The Tuileries was the royal palace in Paris, the last residence of the king before his death. Of course the people of France end up clamoring at its gates, screaming profanities and attempting to scale them.

The majority of the guard let them do this, making only the most token of efforts to keep the peasantry back. But one guard, a man by the name of Antoine Colin, seems to become spooked and shoots repeatedly into the crowd before someone knocks him out.

By then, though, it's too late. The crowd was rambunctious, but not murderous. Now it's bloodthirsty, and the gates are stormed. It isn't long before the common people of France are trampling through the corridors of power. Inside, they'll mostly find servants running and hiding, and lots of valuables to steal.

Most are content with that, but not all. Some clamor for the deaths of the queen and the royal children-- per the laws of inheritance, Marie Capet's remaining son is now King of France. Should he not die as well?

The queen is hidden in a safe room, a hollow wall inside her apartments. Do you try to find her? Try to save her? Try to kill her yourself?

...And what about those kids hiding in there with her?

BRING IN THE TROOPS

The riot in the Tuileries lasts several hours, well past nightfall. It's beginning to peter off, people loosing their energy or vigor, when the sound of gunfire echoes from the front courtyard.

General Lafayette has arrived to save the queen, and brought with him a retinue of personal soldiers. All on horseback, brandishing firearms and sabers, they stream through the expansive halls of the Tuileries and attack anyone who looks out of place. They're here to clean up this mess with no concern for more filthy peasants getting in the way.

Aftermath

The night is a long one. Several fires break out in various parts of Paris, shops are looted, and several die in the Tuileries. The queen has disappeared, along with Lafayette. Some say she and Lafayette died, and they'll show you the bodies for a couple sou. Others claim they saw them riding off into safety just before sunrise. There are already talks of hunting them down, trying to find the traitors.

Only one thing is known for sure: It may be advisable to stay inside for the foreseeable future.

read the France setting infopages

NAV NETWORK LOGS OOC PLURK DISCORD

Comments

[fessus]

[ The second Achilles steps forward he's ready for another possible fight, patience finally fizzling down into nothingness under the sum total of the past few days' events. His dagger's already raised when his own stipulations and comfort are both ignored, touched by this veritable stranger when that's a closeness he allows only a select few people. ]

Get the fuck off of me-- [ The words come out in a near growl as he plants a hand against Achilles's chest in a sudden shove, very nearly pushing past Ryuji's physical intervention. The swear on its own is uncommon but it was only a matter of time. ]

What the hell's wrong with you? You two are obviously at least friends and you can't even listen to him? You're demanding stuff like a kid! I offered to help you out and you wanted things in your own special way. You get what I offered or you get nothing; it was a damn accident and neither of us owe you anything.

Why don't you grow up? [ A lot of his anger is misdirected and he knows that, but he just showed up here out of nowhere, separated from his country and his retinue, and now he's being used for some kind of stupid spat when he just wanted to take a minute to breathe? ]

And don't ever touch me like that, either. [ FOR GOOD MEASURE... This, this right here is what happens when you bottle things up and don't know how to express your emotions. ]

1/2

[chariotry]

[ He was just trolling...

And now he's got two teenagers yelling at him. ]

[chariotry]

[ And coming at him.

He's effectively crowded by both of them combined, but unfortunately he's a bit too agile to let Noctis shove him. He steps out of his reach, letting go of his chin just as Ryuji comes barreling through trying to create some kind of wall that really wasn't all that necessary.

While he'd be eager to fight Noctis any other day, he'd rather have it under... different circumstances. This is just embarrassing now, when it'd just been amusing. But he's surprised and a little insulted to find Ryuji so quick to assume the worst of him.

Anyway, the fuck boy thing to do would be to say something along the lines of, "can't you take a joke", but he refrains. ]

Do you really think I was being serious? I don't want your blood, and a chaste kiss won't do anything for me anyway.

I'm a man of honour. I wouldn't do something so disgraceful as forcing myself on someone else.

[ A short, embittered laugh.

He believes in consent ... despite... what lore says. ]

I'll be leaving you two to sort out your own mess. [ The ... broken roof.

He disappears in a dispersing cloud of mana particles. ]

[ryuji]

[Ryuji stands there for a moment after he's gone. He did think Achilles was being serious- the all too real threat of him trying to kiss Noctis didn't feel like a prank, and he looks over to him, trying to judge, or at least pick out the emotions he's going through.

He knows it's his fault; he's officially made the night pretty fucked up from what it started out to be. And a host of new problems popping up, too.]

Sorry... about that... I totally get it if you're like. Done with me entirely.

[fessus]

[ At first Noctis says nothing, fists clenched at his sides after a failed attempt to do any further damage to Achilles. He just... breathes in and out, calming himself with a stare down at the damaged rooftop. ]

... we should move. All of that was really conspicuous and this roof's probably not safe anymore.

[ryuji]

[It's not like Ryuji's grown sentimental to this place or anything- it's just the shell of a place he's lived for the last few weeks, but seeing it go to shit like this wasn't what he planned in the long run. Does it really matter anyway? Chances are, it wouldn't be around in the 21st century to tell the tale of a bunch of idiots on the roof doing Dumb Things.

His eyes fixate upwards at Noctis, and he slowly nods.]

Can't be that much longer until we get pulled outta here. I uh... yeah, whatcha got in mind? Should we just make a break for it until we find a place that looks okay?

[fessus]

Probably smart. [ He's curt but it's obvious he's stewing, ashamed of his yelling but still too angry to convince himself he didn't have the right to, which just makes him feel more frustrated by the shame. An endless cycle. His dagger's withdrawn, turned over in his hands a time or two before he's looking away to suddenly whip it down at the alleyway where Achilles had previously fallen.

And he disappears after it in another of those disconcerting bursts of light, silence prevailing and making it seem as though he might've left before a voice rings out again: ] Need help getting down or are you okay?

the art of protag'ing

[ryuji]

[He's seen this sort of play- mostly with Akira, though. It's easier to move forward than to take a step and actually admit to being startled and bothered by something. Usually the focus would be dragged away from him, and then pushed onto another: a heist, a mission, a meetup, a friend's problems. It's been a year of studying that sort of style, and now the blond has become pretty fluent in it.

Well, safety was the immediate threat, after all. Everything that followed though was pretty much was left up in the air. Noctis, out of sight, Ryuji tries to eye the rooftop and follow to where he managed to warp to. If he wanted to leave, there wasn't anything he could do about it- but then a voice rings out and he follows to its source.

Right. Well, without warping powers, he's going to have to do the next best thing. Sick ass ninja warrior moves. Or something like that, as he starts his downward trajectory from the rooftop- eyeballing where his foot could take hold onto the side, and then jumping onto the cover of a veranda to the house opposing the bar, and eventually back across a ledge, outstretched arms, and it's just about the non-smoothest thing anyone could watch. He looks down.

Lets go, and feels his feet slam into the ground as he feels a sharp pain go up one leg accidentally. Oh well.]

You... you make it look so easy. [He shakes his head for a moment, not quite out of breath, but- fuck, a little exasperated anyway.]

these mad skills

[fessus]

[ Noctis trains his eyes skyward and watches this slow descent.

Slowly... slowly... ah, damn, that looks like it'll sting... and that too, blue eyes narrowing as they track every step in this slightly awkward trip ground-side. His hand finds his hip as he watches, dagger still pinched between the fingers of the other. ]

... yeah. Because I can warp. It's pretty sweet and it makes my life easier, but you're better off asking somebody to catch you next time. [ Well, at least he's direct and honest in some things. ]

Are you okay?

[ryuji]

Yeah, yeah 'm fine.

[He'll just... straighten himself back upright and offer a thumbs up, because that's what idiots do when they're trying to show off that they've got shit under control.]

Oh. You're gonna catch me, huh? [Ryuji looks up from the ledge way up above and then at the ground. Points to a trajectory, outlines it with his index finger through the sky, follows it with his head and then...

SPLAT. His hands together.]

Dude, I'm puttin' my life in your hands. Don't do anything I'd do with it.

[But also..

Worth, in the eyes of someone like Ryuji is... how well you can learn to stand on your own. It's important to him that he doesn't need someone to be there to catch him when he falls. Most of the time there isn't. Gotta learn to survive one way or another, right?]

[fessus]

[ He's definitely following Ryuji's point. Yeah. Sure. It might hurt, but... ]

I put my life in other people's hands all the time. So yeah, me catching you would've been faster and easier, 'cause I can handle it. Or did you miss that I punched your buddy off the roof?

[ Still a bit of a sore point but it illustrates his point, at least, already waving Ryuji after him as he heads deeper into the alleyways. Seems safer right now to draw less attention. ] With that "Charge" thing helping, anyway...

[ryuji]

Okay, okay. Next time I've gotta make a leap of faith, I'm countin' on ya to have my back.

[Ryuji knows these alleyways like the back of his hand by now, which only took... oh, 3-4 weeks to get the hang of, of course. Catching up with Noctis, he keeps his eyes and ears open.

A few moments into their escape-] I'm... so freakin' sorry. I had no idea he'd go 'n pull that shit. If I would've known, there's no way in hell I woulda called him over.

[He points out the end of the narrow path ahead, which dumps out into a proper side street.]

Also... fuck, that was a pretty sweet punch. Never doubtin' you again.

[fessus]

[ The trust helps even if he's tempted to stay agitated over it, to say he'd trusted Ryuji too and gotten attacked over it, but... even he can realize that that's petty when he's being apologized to. He'd expected silence but the words have him turning, suddenly slapping a hand out against the opposite building in that alleyway to block Ryuji's path. ]

Which part?

Which part didn't you know about, him trying to cave my head in or the weird grab for my face at the end? [ He doesn't want to give it more context because it was humiliating for him. ]

[ryuji]

[Noct, kabedon't do this to Ryuji.

Well, of course he'd want to talk about it... he doesn't really have much of an "off" switch when it comes to heart to brain to mouth filter. He raises his hand up to his neck to rub it sorely, looking down at the floor instead of Noctis.

And it's really weird, and complicated, and there's no real explanation that would fit the moment, but he knows how incredibly embarrassing that was. He'd experienced it himself, once, and his reaction was more or less the same as the other's, but... god, he couldn't have expected Achilles to go and do that- at least.]

All of it, dude. [He bites down on his bottom lip, sucking in air through his teeth.] I, uh. I'm sorry, man. I don't make... the best decisions... like... at all. I usually rely on my friends to keep me straight.

[For a second, he looks up to see if Noctis is still furious, and then looks away again.]

I, uh... I just don't know what to say. He's been kinda cool the last month, we were gettin' pretty close, yeah? [Oh god, the embarrassment that's creeping up on his face.] Guess he's not as good a person I thought he was.

[Because how do you explain to someone that it... sucked... being interested in someone only to have them be weirdly, grossly sexual and forward with someone else in the most creepy of ways. Like you've made bad choices? Like you didn't think you knew the person to begin with? Like you've been played? Like you don't mean as much to someone as you think you did? Like an asshole. All of the above. Mostly just. Unworthy, in a lot of ways.]

Doesn't really make up for anything, though.

[fessus]

[ I'm kabedoin' it.

He listens to every word, expression stern but otherwise impossible to read. He's thinking back on the moment, how long that stupid discussion had gone on, and where his anger had really come from. Achilles? Ryuji? Neither of them?

Blue eyes search Ryuji's features, then, sussing out his embarrassment before his gaze flicks away just as quickly. ]

... this is stupid. [ It's muttered harshly, fingers scraping against siding as they curl into a fist against the building. ] I don't even know anything about him except for that... and that he helped me out earlier. So what am I supposed to think? This is between you two and I don't wanna' get dragged into something like this when I don't even know where I am. If you're... [ Close to him? Interested in him? Noctis clicks his tongue. ]

I wanna' just forget this happened. If you've got problems with him then you guys should talk it out, but otherwise for me this was all a big misunderstanding. Guess I'm just lucky I dodged in time.

[ryuji]

It's really fuckin' stupid.

[THERE'S NO DOUBT ABOUT THAT, at all. This entire thing was just one bad idea after another, but he's attentive and nods when Noctis talks. If he wants to forget it happened, then he's cool with it. As long as Noctis was okay, after he had pulled him into it, then Ryuji could deal with Achilles on his own.]

... I vote to like, change topic, then. Per...manently

[fessus]

[ All the tension balled up in his chest just fuels his uncertainty in the situation as a whole, trying to sigh some of it out but too much still remains. ]

... yeah. It's not like it's my first time getting attacked like that. [ Which, amazingly, is the thought currently lingering even other that aborted kiss. Achilles was damn fast. ] Even if he went flying he took the hit pretty well. [ Finally his hand drops away from the wall as he turns on his heel, motioning for Ryuji to stick with him. ]

[ryuji]

[Yeah, he's not about to wander out into the streets alone now that this palace security level just breathes 99%. He follows Noctis steadfastly, trying to keep an eye out for potential threats. It felt like shadows were all around them, but knowing that they were actually people was somehow worse in context.]

How are you... so strong anyway? I mean, you don't gotta answer, it's just. Kinda weird. And I'm interested.

[fessus]

[ His own current inability to summon his weapons is bothering him and it makes him sideeye more individuals than he certainly would normally, clicking his tongue and avoiding eye contact with the few that glance back. They stand out. It's hard not to in this situation. ]

Maa... You're the one that powered me up, right? [ Yeah, no, he knows that isn't what he means, but still. ]

[ryuji]

[Ryuji raises an eyebrow at that. He knows how strong his charge is supposed to be, hell he's used it enough to know what type of attacks it powers up. He's not dumb about his own abilities nearly as dumb as he is about everything else.]

Yeah, I'm definitely your battery pack.

[It's said with a slight amount of sarcasm in his voice, like okay dude, we don't have to get too personal here, and that's... that. He's not very interested in prying into places. Aside from, y'know. Being a Phantom Thief.

48 hours since he's told someone- must be a new record.

And it's probably Ryuji's fault since his hair is so bright blond that it attracts the ire of anyone that they pass. He's used to this by now.]

[fessus]

[ He can hear and diagnose that tone pretty easily, really, and it makes him want to sigh. Yeah, yeah, he's not slick at all, he gets it... His deflection is way too obvious.

And yet Ryuji's not pursuing it further, which ironically makes him feel more open to sharing. ]

It's just what I said before anyway... Something that runs in the family. Plus I've been training my whole life, so i like to think that that wasn't for nothing.

[ryuji]

[He gives Noctis a side glance at that statement. Yeah, he might be absolutely the worst at deflecting, but when Noctis says "training my whole life," Ryuji's first, instinctive response is to call him out on that---]

You train? Dude, me too. What protein powder do you use?

[fessus]

[ What kind of callout is thIS. ]

Hah? Like supplements and vegetables? [ Vegetables, an optional food item only to Noctis Lucis Caelum. ] Sounds gross.

[ryuji]

[Incoming BCE craiglist ad: One workout nerd LFG to train and get swol with. Must bring their own change of clothes. Must be willing to never skip a leg day. Must be around the same build and looking to G E T JACKED]

Uh. Nah, like the stuff you put in milkshakes and drink. I'm a meat guy myself. [He feels you on the veggies thing.] And carbs. Shit. I love carbs... [Wistfully rubs his stomach, like this is clearly more important than self survival at the moment.]

[fessus]

[ No one is that skinny. Sorry, dude. You're alone. ]

Ahh... meat. [ Yeah, he's a simple man. Just give him meat sandwiches, fish, sugar, and rice bowls. ] I'd take the milkshake but I don't need to put anything in it. Obviously I'm strong enough.