all this energy calling me

[agogemod]

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

read the base setting infopage

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!)

read the base setting infopage

NAV. NETWORK LOGS OOC PLURK DISCORD

Comments

[fessus]

[ Why am I not surprised that mochi is working on everyone. ]

... that's it? It's that simple? [ That hardly sounds like an evil incantation or a complex magical spell. It sounds... innocuous. And made up. And he can get mochi for this. ]

Sounds like no big deal.

[hakanai]

So the book says.

[Yoshitsugu huffs a laugh and relaxes, opening his eyes again and fixing Noctis with a Look. Let's get this agreed.]

Very well, then. Mochi delivered on the receipt of a poem?

[No chancing a complete lack of entertainment out of this...]

[fessus]

Hah? I really have to write one? [ Yeah he is absolutely point blank admitting to the fact that he was going to try to get the reward with none of the work.

Shameless. ]

Fine, fine... I guess if it works it won't really be a chore anyway. Sounds like it'll just come out of my fingers no problem.

[hakanai]

Hah. [He echoes. This one is interesting; Yoshitsugu had anticipated an attempt to avoid work but not outright admitting it.] Yes, you do. If the spell doesn't work you do nothing at all and have earned no payment... but if that happens I'm sure I can find another task to earn the mochi.

[There's amusement in what's visible of his features.]

If it does work, I have a few useful spells for future missions and you get your reward. Isn't that nice?

[fessus]

[ This guy... is giving off a Vibe. Noctis isn't sure if that's a good or a bad thing yet, or even how to term said vibe (mischievous? weird?) but it does make him wonder if agreeing to a regular arrangement is a bad idea.

That said, mochi. ]

Ahh, yeah yeah, I get it. Really generous. I'm all ears if it keeps turning out well for me... So where's this spell?

[hakanai]

[Mischievous and weird both work, and Yoshitsugu would probably be delighted to know someone's having those thoughts about him. As it is he seems pretty satisfied with proceedings when he pulls out a piece of parchment out of seemingly nowhere...]

[His clothes, actually, but he's extremely good at sleight of hand tricks.]

Here. [A narrowing of the eyes.] Good luck.

[fessus]

Wow.

[ Yeah, wow. He just had it on him. Maybe Noctis should've expected that, but nonetheless he's reaching out to claim that paper. ]

Well, I'll get back to you when I get some results. [ Which may or may not be during their next return to BASE, given his own forgetful streak. Wait for him, mochi. ]

[hakanai]

[Yoshitsugu is most definitely smirking to himself beneath his facecloth. Getting reactions out of others is practically a hobby (one which numerous friends have suggested he should indulge in less, but really, that's no fun).]

I'll be waiting.

[And he'll just wander off after, with nothing more than a nod (and an air of satisfaction). Mochi will be waiting even if it's after the next mission; Yoshitsugu won't back out of a deal... well. Not this kind anyway. It's a promise.]