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

[agogenpc]

Marie-Therese screams, loud as only the littlest of children can. High pitched against the gunfire. A moment at least before her mother snatches her and Louis-Charles close to her. Smothering the sound of their hysterical sobbing.

Marie herself, she doesn't waste time - she knows the layout of the Queen's chambers now, like the back of her hand. A plan she had half formed a dozen times. She takes Marie-Therese by hand, scoops up Louis-Charles, and with her children in hand - the Queen of France bolts for the next door to put space between her, this man who had come - and those who he fights. She runs as fast as corsets and skirts and her children's legs will let her from this room into the next.

[trample]

What comes next is a blur of haziness that would mean death for any normal man. But Eren was not a normal man.

Before the queen's would-be killer opens the door fully, behind his already menacing silhouette rises an even more fearsome shadow, shown first gripping the man's shoulder, then returning the knife to its rightful owner, leaving it in the nape of his neck.

A body crumbles within the doorway leading to the remnants of the family. This time, it's not Eren. Though he's ragged and bloody, and feverish to boot, he's still able to remember what he came here to do. He steps over the body and comes forward with one hand raised in a gesture of peace. And, whether it's from exhaustion or respect, quickly kneels before the crown, though their crowns only existed now in the annals of history.

"Quite a mess you're all in," he says, blood leaking down the side of his face. His gaze, as kind as someone so haggard can manage, is directed at the children, who he so dearly wants to see spared from this conflict, against all odds. "Don't be afraid. I'm here for you. And I've got a plan to get you out of this alive."

[agogenpc]

They only stop running when they reach a corner of a room, desperately she pulls her children behind her. Hiding them behind the excessive skirts that meant no matter how far she ran, it would be obvious who she was.

She wasn't getting very far like this.

"Why? Why would you risk yourself for us, monsieur? Do you not hate us too?"

He looks like no royalist she has ever seen.

[trample]

"Who would want to see a woman and her kids die before their eyes?" His voice is as grim as can be. But at the same time, not lacking in kindness. "I no longer have any hate. And you are not undeserving of mercy."

It really was as simple as that. Did any more really need to be said? He might not be a part of this conflict, and maybe that itself was why he had enough sense to disavow such senseless violence. Maybe some would disagree. Maybe they wanted to continue the attack no matter what it meant. And that was fine. Whether they came to blows or not, Eren would see this through, at least.

"Come now. Back to where you were. I've an inkling of what to do now." He begins to move, body slumping forward, clearly weak but still full of fire. "Where do you store your dresses? Your wigs?"

[agogenpc]

"My chests - " even in such a state, she cannot think why he would want to see them. Her hand letting go briefly of Marie-Therese's hold to indicate the chests at the foot of the old bed. Ornate and heavy, out of sorts with the room, it was of Versaille, not Tuirelles.

" - what do you intend to do, Monsieur?"

[trample]

"I intend on saving your life." Way to beat around the bush. He speaks as he kneels besides a fallen member of the outside horde, the very same one he had fired his first shot at. "And if I am not incorrect, then..." His head peeks back at the royal family after he rips open the doublet. "It seems they had a woman in their ranks." His eye carefully looks over the stomach. "And a mother, at that."

It's a solemn silence that he doesn't want very much to break, but he does it anyway. His enemies were other people. He had come to accept this a long while ago.

"Not as shapely as you, but it'll work."

With a heave, he picked the body up and over his shoulder, lugging it to the indicated chest with ease before setting it down surprisingly gently. His next words are determined and firm.

"I'm going to take this woman and make her into you. And I'm going to parade her around like it's the greatest thing I've ever witnessed. Should be enough of a distraction, don't you agree?" His eye stares at the queen dead on. "Marie Antoinette is dead. Gone without a whisper." His gaze lowers. "Her kids with her."

The chest opens with a noise that shook the air.

"Now go. Within your guard, there is an out of place Oriental man. I'm certain he'll serve you well. You've made plans for an escape long before this, correct?" And with a tone that came with resounding finality: "From here on out, your life is your own. Make it last."