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Entry tags:
- * dreamy,
- * npc: agent young,
- * npc: commander grothia,
- * npc: sergeant chiron,
- * setting: base,
- achilles [fate],
- akira kurusu [persona],
- arthur [inception],
- ashitaka [princess mononoke],
- daenerys targaryen [asoiaf],
- hei [darker than black],
- henry cooldown [no more heroes],
- keyleth [dungeons & dragons],
- kylar stern [the night angel trilogy],
- mordred [fate],
- noctis lucis caelum [final fantasy],
- ryuji sakamoto [persona],
- siegfried [fate],
- soldier 76 [overwatch],
- travis touchdown [no more heroes],
- yoshitsugu otani [samurai warriors]
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.
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
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
no subject
[He isn't sure if it's a problem Chiron has experienced, but the arrogance of man in their affairs with the gods was something still fresh in Ashitaka's mind. Perhaps what he does here with COST could provide him with the wisdom required to figure out how to field the problems he faced back in his own home and time. But for now, it was merely a mental puzzle which plagued him in idle hours.]
I see. [The gods they were familiar with were quite different. Those Chiron dealt with were meddling with humans, so that made war that much more closer and present of a threat.
Though, as he elaborates, things get a little more interesting.]
So the Regency did recruitment of their own. [It didn't seem very different from what COST did, though COST didn't offer much in return. Just the satisfaction of fighting against something which could ruin all.]
Your decision makes sense, particularly if these gods were aware of what the Regency's intentions are. To be willing to sell the freedom of people across all of time for power is not something I would be able to agree with or support either.
no subject
[It isn't something that seems to have played out in other times and places. He knows it wasn't the case in Trifas, when he was summoned and introduced to a very different world. Hell, even in France it wasn't the case, and that speaks volumes as well.]
It seems that they did. And moreover, they went for where the greatest powers rest. [Chiron didn't like it. But he didn't like that there were deities willing to transform themselves that completely either.] Kings are still mortal, after all.
[But they are not speaking of men. Warily, Chiron asks his next question:] Do you think it possible that the great powers you know might give in to this temptation?
no subject
They do seem to have the power in this war.
[COST was merely a collection of rogue factions, fighting against a future that already seemed set.
Chiron's questions is a difficult one, not because it is difficult to answer but because the answer was readily available to him, and not particularly good.] There are both humans and gods I can think of that might, due to their ambition or desperation, agree to such a thing, yes.
[He looks troubled by this.]
no subject
[It's a conjecture. Something that perhaps the other Chiron could speak to in greater detail, but for now, it was an acceptable thing to leave behind in conversation.]
Then you know who to be cautious of.
[But it isn't good news. Chiron's own face is worn and unhappy with the new information, although he can't say he is surprised. All gods everywhere are like this, it seems.]
And who to expect, I suppose.
no subject
[He considers the inner workings of both the Regency's and COST's recruitment to be just as esoteric as the intentions of gods, so he doesn't put too much thought to it besides the occasional wonder as to why COST decided to bring on certain individuals rather than others...
He nods, solemn.]
We shall prepare ourselves for what we can imagine to be the worst, then.
[He's used to doing such things.
Something occurs to him.]
May I ask you for your name? [He hasn't, up until this point.] I am Ashitaka.
no subject
[Chiron's pretty sure that other Chiron would not appreciate that comparison. However, it's been made, and that's that.]
I am Chiron.
[He waits. Just in case there's a need for clarification.]
no subject
(He has no clue who Sisyphus is, though... and he decides to let sleeping dogs lie, worrying that the meaning might not transfer as well as either of them would wish.)
And, yes, considering the blank stare before the jolt of recognition, he absolutely does need the clarification.]
Chiron... like the sergeant...?
[Sorry for being maybe the eleventh person who's asked this, Chiron...]
no subject
Mmm. We're versions of each other, if you will, whose paths diverged.
[Chiron's own expression is neutral, as if this is just a normal rehash of basic facts rather than something shocking and unprecedented.]
no subject
Ashitaka has very gradually been broadening his horizons enough to encompass the theory of time travel, that the universe was not so straight-forward or linear as he once believed, but... alternate universes and things of that nature were still a little much for him.]
I... see. [Said in a way that didn't really espouse much confidence. He continues, trying again with middling success at a more confident tone.] That is quite a coincidence.
[Regardless, he gives a short bow of head and shoulders to this particular Chiron.] It has been a pleasure speaking with you, Chiron.
no subject
Chiron is happy to give Ashitaka the time he needs to process this weird little fact. He was only fortunate to give credence to alternate universes because of the nature of what he was, and that was also something he wasn't about to get into right away.]
Fate is a very, very funny thing.
[In response to the bow, Chiron offers a hand.]
And it has been incredibly enlightening on my end. Thank you for that, Ashitaka.
no subject
It would most likely have to sit with the young man a little longer for him to truly wrap his head around the idea of it, but for now he accepts it readily. That this Chiron and the commander were two aspects of the same individual, merely separated by... what he would have trouble defining.]
So it is.
[Chiron's fortunate that Ashitaka had gotten used to shaking hands in other situations. It'd been quite a strange thing to pick up at first.
He takes it, giving it a few confident shakes.]
I will be happy to see you around, then. [Before another nod, a small smile, and taking his leave.]
no subject
Chiron gives a polite nod of his head as well, before heading in the opposite direction. He has half a mind to ask after all manner of gods now, but...well. He can digest repeating patterns first.]