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let fury have the hour,
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.
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 KINGIt 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 RIOTIt'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 tuileriesThe 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 TROOPSThe 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.
AftermathThe 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
2, hi
a crowd eventually throws him into an alley, lined with grime and ruffled shaking animals running away from all of the noise. he needs to find shelter, and fast.
he's not scared of the alleyways, at this point. his only goal for whichever turns and twists he takes in the dark streets don't lead into another riot, and thankfully with how loud they are, it makes navigating much easier.
he finally rests against a wall to catch his breath, head pounding and brow prickling with sweat. from the looks of it, their "mission" is at its end. but that just raises more questions...
takes a moment to breathe and look up at the sky, wondering how everyone else is doing, and that's when he sees him. he can't mistake him, he can't mistake that bleached hair--]
—Ryuji? [quietly at first, stepping towards the bar but not going inside just yet]
Ryuji!
clutches chest. thank you satan, lucifer, and metatron for this
Wait a fucking second.
One of those definitely doesn't fit the theme he was going for mentally. Was he that freaking desperate that he was starting to hear shit in his head already? It was too good to be true- he had been wandering around in COST like a chicken with its head cut off, trying to make the best judgment calls he could make, when he was absolutely the worst person in the entire universe to have to make them.
But, hark- what light upon yonder thief breaks? That's. Okay, that's weird. The voice rips through him like a pair of chopsticks to Ryuji's favorite beef bowl.]
Akira?
[He peers over the ledge of the roof- his current pillow for the half tipsy stupor he had built himself into. Pfft legal drinking ages in revolutionary Paris (literal 13 year olds had more tolerance than him). But he rubs his eyes. And rubs them again.
...
...
Okay then.]
Monsieur. [There's never not an opportunity for sass that he's going to turn down when it comes to Akira.] Care to like. Join me up here for some little French pastries or some shit?
ᕕ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ᕗ
his french is really bad.
but hearing his voice is exactly what akira needed, a touch of familiarity in a chaotic paris so torn away from home. he knows why he's here, he knows what he has to do, but the ability to focus and accept isn't something that comes easy to a young mind.
he doesn't put much thought into it, hoisting himself up onto a nearby crate, needing only one heel to hop onto the building's steel pipe to find leverage onto the roof. parkour comes to him just as easily as it does in the metaverse back home, a little realization he's happy with. thank god for that, at least.
it's not the most concerning roof, he's been on some pretty shabby ones the entire day but he can see why ryuji doesn't mind it. studies him up close for a few seconds, noting tired eyes and some minor injuries but overall he looks unhamed.
... settles a hand onto ryuji's shoulder, in denial that it's to check he's real before tugging him forward and letting ryuji do the rest, just to pat his back.]
Hey.
1/2
2/2
And if it looks like Ryuji was going in for a hug, well, he was- he could actually use one right now despite how unmanly it was to do that sorta shit, and soon enough he's squeezing the life out of him. But then, as if realizing this was all sorts of homo in just a few burst seconds of reality, he feels his face burn with embarrassment before quickly changing this into a my-arm-is-going-to-be-around-your-shoulder type of embrace where, thanks to Ryuji's perfect posture, it drags the other down an inch or two in height.
Even when he's tired, busted down, and probably near the brink of all his faculties, Ryuji is going to go ahead and just. You know. Rib at him a little, aggressively.]
Tch. Hey? Hey is all I get. Where the hell've you been, dude? You know how long I had to wait?
A whole month.
[Depending on where Akira had jumped into things though- it might've been seconds for him. They'll have to... figure that out at some point.]
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holds him firmly until ryuji lets go, allowing him to move back to whatever's more comfortable. anything's fine, at this point.
they're still in close contact so he studies ryuji as he speaks, eyes drifting from his face to his arms for anything out of the ordinary. smiles when he's jostled, quiet, but it's wiped off his face almost immediately.
a month?]
... What, how? Ryuji, I just saw you. We were about to head into Mementos. [for the last time]
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[Which brings up all sorts of weird, metaphysical questions that Ryuji doesn't even know how to ask, but have been whirling around like lost alphabet soup in his head lately. If he got pulled out of time in a snapshot, then was it just... a copy of him being made while the real one was still out there? How do you even justify that? Time was still moving forward from the point where they were, even if he's not moving with it.]
Wonder... what happens if we die here, y'know? Does that mean we never get born?
[This isn't his forte.
If Akira dies... then Akechi...
Nah, fuck that line of thought.]
Eh, whatever. I'll let you handle the thinkin' from here on out. [He doesn't let go of his grip around him though, completely, and utterly satisfied that Akira is here. Like maybe if he stopped holding on, he'd go forward in time again and they'd be separated or something like that.
It's a real fear, okay? He doesn't want to be abandoned.]
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... better late than never.
settles under ryuji's arm, he doesn't have to think twice on it, but he does break out a loud sigh]
You sound like a ninety year old man. When did that happen?
[reaches to pat him square between his shoulder blades, offering a smile] Well, worry less. I'll save you.
Knight in shining armor, or whatever. Too much? Too little? [an effort to keep it light]
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All it takes is a few words. All it ever took was a few words, really, and he knows that the tracks are under his feet again. He's tried to hold himself together over the last month, but it's obvious how much he depended on the other just to... get by.
Everything just seems easier- and he meant it when he told Akira that he thinks his place is always by his side. He chokes back a lump in his throat that had been there for way too damn long, and just squeezes that arm around his neck to the point of near suffocation. A cracked bit of laughter escapes his mouth and.
Calm.]
Not enough protein in my diet. I'm shrivelin' up here, man. Like... gonna waste away in a few day's time. Remember me for how goddamn cool I was.
[Not cool. At all. But whatever. He doesn't dignify the savior theme he has going on, either- because it's kind of true, and he kind of doesn't want to admit that outright. Ryuji can say a lot of things, in fact... way, WAY too many things for anyone to be comfortable with, but there's also a lot he says in omission of other things, too.]
...Uh. Too much. Way too effin' much.
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finally pulls away from ryuji, still bumping into his shoulder as he crosses his legs. it's only now the city's growing quiet, at least, not sure if they'll even reach tomorrow. the lady wasn't exactly much help. he'll have a lot to think about later, including the time gap. great.]
So... what's all this? [gestures around them] A bar, some food... you have a hideout here?
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I worked here for a while before it got messed up by the rioters. Yeah, I know. Worked. Weird, right?
[Don't ask about the employee benefits, Akira- they were shit. No paid time off, surprisingly lack of meat, constantly on the clock, pay was shit. Just like being a Phantom Thief.]
So, uh... did I do okay?
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Did okay? [a pause] Well, if you have a place to stay, you're eating, and you've been helping your team this entire time, I'd say you did fine. If that's what you mean, anyway.
... Heard the mission failed.
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I mean... dude... me and the guy I teamed up with did great. [A bit of a pause, then, some explanation is probably needed.]
We made some French dude piss his pants.
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...
sNORTS, despite himself, reaching forward to pick up one of those pastries. ... is old fashioned bread even good? decides that no, it's probably not, when he has to put strength into pulling it apart.]
Seriously? What did you even do? [we couldn't even make shadows do that...
...
can shadows do that.......]
Details.
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But Akira hanging onto his story fills him with a sense of accomplishment, and that? That's all that counts. He starts to fill in the gaps, because it's actually something cool he did. Or something.]
I teamed up with this guy named Ach-----Rider. I was supposed to stop this artsy dude from voting to kill the king, right? So we infiltrated his house, some stuff happened, and then he held him over the roof's edge.
[This was far more chaotic good than Ryuji was used to, but, whatever.]
I mean, he wasn't gonna drop him over the ledge, we just needed to scare him a bit, y'know? We played good cop, bad cop. I was the good cop.
You shoulda been there. I was awesome at it.
[ ...
He really wasn't.]
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Hardcore. [dryly, but he honestly would have loved to see it.
it sounds like ryuji has at least made acquaintances, and it's enough to know ryuji didn't go through everything completely alone. he's met people who have been willing to help him today, so it's good to know ryuji has the same.
but he doesn't know how long ryuji's been stuck in this environment... it's worrying.]
That sounds like a scene from a buddy cop movie. [tbh] If I told Ann, she'd tell you to turn off the TV. Luckily I can't do that.
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Was like... wapow, wapow, pretty cool shit. Seriously, if I don't get an oscar for that performance, I'm gonna mess Hollywood up. [Tch, those artsy filmmaker types don't know gold when they see it.
And neither does Ann.]
Ah... man. Y'know, having Ann around would be pretty cool. I uh.
I missed you... [There's way too long of a pause there for it to be noticed, and then as if Ryuji realizes he had dropped a word, adds:] guys. It's been rough. Thought I'd be okay, but... [He tilts his head, trailing off for a few moments.]
Anyway. You doin' okay?
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looks back down at the stale food, reaching for a pastry... he's already thinking about ann, futaba, makoto— everybody, including sojiro. and ryuji had to deal with this for much longer.]
Doing better, now that I found you. I've been running into people all day, from all walks of life.
... I'm sorry you dealt with it alone.
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[Looks out over the horizon of Paris' landscape.]
And judging by it... I'm gonna say that we got a lot more palaces to mess up. Guess the Metaverse wasn't the last job ever, huh?
[With a short nod and a smile, he looks over to Akira.]
And this means we get to stay together longer too, yeah?
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We won't be able to celebrate like we did for Metaverse missions, but hey. Stale pastries are kind of on the same level.
... We're going back to base whenever they feel like taking us, too. You can show me around and we'll go from there.
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[HA... ha................]
I wonder if the commander's hot.
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[...]
Do you think she'd look like a celebrity...
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But yeah I was kinda thinking more along the lines of that dude that goes super quick. Like around the world in the blink of an eye. He's so cool.
[...]
I hope so. But I bet she's an older woman. Isn't that more your area of expertise?