agogemod: (Default)
⌞THE AGOGE⌝ MODS ([personal profile] agogemod) wrote in [community profile] agogelogs2017-12-09 03:16 pm

all this energy calling me

WHO? Everybody!
WHAT? Welcome home, nerds.
WHEN? Outside time and space, in the aether between dimensions.
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.




TOUCH BASE;
backfill armed services echelon
COST re-appropriated vehicle 854A-5.2




DEPARTING FRANCE

The order comes out the second day after the Tuileries is sacked:
PACK UP, GET READY TO MOVE OUT. WE'VE DONE ALL WE CAN HERE.

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 Time-Step

The transfer begins, and it starts like a vibrating heat on the collar bone, not painful, not to start with. Just a hum of sensation. But the vibration spreads. Veteran COST soldiers often refer to this phenomena as 'the buzz'. The sensation builds, feeling not unlike standing near a great engine, or the wind rattling the branches of a great tree. There is long a moment of motion sickness, and one cannot always be sure if it is you that is shaking from the inside out, or the world that is shaking you from the outside in. It may just 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. Some swear they feel a touch of the divine; the eyes of the eternal look down upon you. Ancient bones rattle just out of earshot, cold and brittle. Or maybe it's an illusion brought on by powerful technology grafted into your skin.

One thing is for sure: One moment you are here, and the next, you are not.

Nausea is commonly accompanied by this shift. One moment, you're in the cold of France. The next, you're in a temperature regulated hallway, looking not unlike 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. Crows sit on high ledges, looking down, watching.

(For those of you who just apped in and didn't participate in the TDM, you'll appear alongside your comrades now, standing in this long hallway filled with droids and crows and men and women in clothing from 18th century France. Of course, you'll be wearing the minimal COST athletic issued underwear, and holding whatever one item you were allowed to bring. Surprise!)

At the end of the hall is a long table with heaps of used clothing on it. The sizes and styles vary, along with color and detail (AKA none look exactly like the linked pics, they're just a baseline, use your ~imagination~). One thing's for certain, all the clothing has been used before, with holes darned and worn edges. They're all clean, though, and each bears a single patch with the words 'KNOW YOUR RIGHTS, THE FUTURE IS UNWRITTEN' and 'COST sewn into the side.

They're not exactly high fashion, but they might be more comfortable than the late 18th century digs you're still wearing, if you showed up in France. Or, you know, the underwear.

Meet the Drill Sergeant

There is the echoing sound of hooves, and a strange creature emerges from a nearby room: a centaur. He smiles kindly, happy to see you've arrived. He has a significant limp in his back left leg, causing his hoof-beats to pitch an irregular rhythm as he walks slowly through the hall.

"Hello, all!" His voice is kind, but it's pitched to carry. "You may know me as Sergeant-- I am in technicality a drill sergeant. You may call me Chiron, if you wish, though I'm to understand some may know others with the same name." He laughs, amused. "In any case, welcome home. It is not much, but we have tried to make it hospitable for you in your time here. Your room assignments have been uploaded onto your BCEs, along with some technological upgrades we've been testing out. There are a few prototypes and experiments you may find in your rooms as well. Our agents are..." He looks up at the crows. "We are a curious people."

He looks over to the table stacked with clothing. "Please pick out what suits you, and make adjustments as needed. If you have any complaints, and wish to change your rooming situation, your username, anything of that nature, please send me a request. I am also known in some capacity as a trainer-"

One of the crows caws, and it sounds almost sarcastic.

Sergeant Chiron ignores it. "Hm. If you wish for me to make a training regiment for you, to better your skill in this organization, please let me know. But for now: I am to understand your last mission was... tumultuous. Please, rest and acclimate yourself to BASE."

He turns to leave, before stopping-- "And please be kind to the crows. They remember slights."

The crows' cawing sounds like laughter.

HOTSPOTS

There's been some technical difficulty since the prognosticators had their little meltdown. Coolant is in short supply, and some of the corridors of BASE are a little warmer than others. Pleasantly warm. Comfortably so, like walking through a sunbeam. In these hotspots, it feels comfortable and snug.

Characters walking through them will feel the urge to lie down and rest, maybe take a quick little nap.

Sleeping in these spots will cause unsettling or confusing dreams, but not nightmares. Dreams in these hotspots-- and sleeping in these hotspots will never be dreamless-- will be hard to remember upon waking, but they seemed very... strange. Almost as though you were intruding on something important but private.

Yet you can't quite remember it when you wake.

If you're clever and watchful, you'll notice the crows avoid these areas, so you can avoid them as well before you're seized by the urge to lie down and nap.

Particularly watchful characters may notice the hotspots are growing in size and number as the days wear on.

(More information about these and the forthcoming December plot will be coming in an infopost on the 12th, but if you have any questions now, feel free to ask here!)



byhand: (fHEcurC)

[personal profile] byhand 2017-12-11 08:58 pm (UTC)(link)
"Do not let it drink anyone's blood, and it should be fine." He sounds dryly aware of what a blithely gnomic statement that is.

"Of course they do," and then his expression is fonder, warmer, "we are not both beasts, yes?"
dorzalta: (Default)

[personal profile] dorzalta 2017-12-11 10:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Enigmatic and seemingly dramatic, all at once. "I'll endeavor to prevent that from happening. If it requires further sustenance upon its hatching, I wonder what I might I offer it instead. Not my blood. I've seen no livestock." There's a pang as she thinks of the sheep Drogon favored. A brief grimace as she clears her throat.

Thankfully, he asks something to draw focus elsewhere.

"Beasts?" An emphatic shake of the head. No. She is the Mother of Dragons. Her fallen husband was a horse lord. Her people revere their mounts, as does she. He is a curiosity, with his clever crows, and even if he were wild and untamable... "I would not think either of you to be. Appearances only offer one story to be told."
Edited 2017-12-11 22:37 (UTC)
byhand: (XKHPkCt)

[personal profile] byhand 2017-12-12 12:53 am (UTC)(link)
"Protein. Of which we have an abundance. I'll have some sent to your room. Unprocessed slabs, they won't look very appetizing to you, but the hatchling will love them, and it will teach the creature not to hunger after living flesh."

Chiron looks down at himself, his hooves, his hands. "I am quite content to be considered a beast, myself. The Greeks were fond of drawing me with human feet, to display my humanity--" his front two hooves twitch to make the point, "but that is not what I am."
dorzalta: (Default)

[personal profile] dorzalta 2017-12-21 12:00 am (UTC)(link)
"Thank you." A good thing for it to learn, and likely something which would aid her in the prevention of future mistakes. Still, the death of a child by Drogon's doing was not merely a mistake, and even the memory of those moments and what she'd done to her other children is enough to leave her aching.

That, however, is something long in the past, and their current discussion of Chiron's state of beastliness proves to be far more preferable.

"And you believe having feet would dictate the level of one's humanity?" An arch of the brow. There is but the lightest hint of amusement in her gaze. A slight warming to a normally cool mien. "You've not see many from my world. More feet than you can imagine, and far too many owners who embrace cruelty. Those are the true beasts."
byhand: (s22tij8)

[personal profile] byhand 2017-12-23 08:54 pm (UTC)(link)
"My dear, I am the only amongst my kind to have any interest in civility. I do not boast insecurity about what I am, but it is an ample opportunity to consider how, precisely, one decides what and who is worthy of respect and patience."

He walks as he talks, falling seamlessly into the habits of a teacher; in this case, a lecturer.

"You are familiar with the Socratic method? A precept nearly as old as I."
dorzalta: (Default)

[personal profile] dorzalta 2017-12-23 09:50 pm (UTC)(link)
"The people require only one." One less cruel person. One more individual whose aspirations would counter the norm. She assumes a less formal stance, arms falling to her sides as she falls into step beside him. The clack-clack of his hooves is a strange thing, indeed. Also familiar and comforting. "One need not boast of insecurity to carry it like a cloak. It only takes a moment of unkindness when a person is young and impressionable for cruel words to haunt him or her."

Though that is not what she believes this discussion to be about, and he further proves her suspicions when he inquires about a method.

"Not something I've heard in passing. I imagine this is an opportunity to enlighten me."
byhand: (ajnOeBx)

[personal profile] byhand 2017-12-24 12:02 am (UTC)(link)
A smile tugs at his lips. This is an interesting one, to be sure. "You speak as though you know something of the sort."

But enough of that; he's never been interested in poking at insecurities.

"It is a theory of pedagogy. Students learn best from call and response, asking questions and interrogating answers. I have always found it so. A dialog, of sorts."
dorzalta: (pic#11952847)

[personal profile] dorzalta 2017-12-24 02:30 am (UTC)(link)
"I've seen it." She's lived it. Once. A long, long time ago. "More often than I care to recall."

And that is all she'll say of the matter. Instead, she's looking up at him.

"Do you view yourself as the mentor, and we your unruly students?"
byhand: (BYO8SMk)

[personal profile] byhand 2017-12-24 08:46 pm (UTC)(link)
"I would not say 'unruly'," he says, but it's with a fond smile. "If you-- or any-- wish to learn from me, I would take you on as a student. But I would not assume."
dorzalta: (Default)

[personal profile] dorzalta 2017-12-24 09:31 pm (UTC)(link)
She hums in response, gaze turning thoughtful. If he is, in fact, as old as he says, there would be much to glean from his experiences.

"And if I requested you to be an advisor, of sorts?" Tyrion was not here. She would do well with someone who maintained a critical eye, picking up details she missed. Even better to have the experience of a wizened individual. (In some ways, he reminds her of ser Barristan.) "If all you speak of is true, you've seen the rise and fall of many a kingdom. That knowledge would be useful for my people, upon my return home."
byhand: (XKHPkCt)

[personal profile] byhand 2017-12-25 06:44 pm (UTC)(link)
"I will do my best," he says, humbly. "Though I fear you may often find my advice wanting. I care more for the morality of a situation than the victory over it. Success at all costs is a mindset that lost me those dearest to me."
dorzalta: (Default)

[personal profile] dorzalta 2017-12-25 07:11 pm (UTC)(link)
"It would not be the first time I've thought as much of the words from one of my advisors," she slowly says, linking her fingers together and gazing ahead. This is the way to forge alliances. Grothia had scolded her for not being as proactive with those around her; she was right. "But it's still an opinion I likely have not considered. Is that not the point of an advisor?"
byhand: (RcQzWOh)

[personal profile] byhand 2017-12-25 07:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Chiron cocks his head toward her, expression canny. "You seem to require no advisement in flattery."

So that's a yes.
dorzalta: (pic#11766622)

[personal profile] dorzalta 2017-12-25 07:19 pm (UTC)(link)
That earns him a warm chuckle. Even the start of a smile.

"Success at all costs is not what I seek, Sergeant. Aspirations for victory, yes, it seems a waste not to. But I would not needlessly throw away the lives of my people. I'm not Cersei Lannister... nor am I my father."
byhand: (eKnftgF)

[personal profile] byhand 2017-12-27 07:00 pm (UTC)(link)
"I shall assume such comparisons are in your favor," he says with a wink. "And I shall do my best to advise you, then. You may always come to me with a question; though I may not be physically present, I have the BCE implant, same as you."