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!)



horsepowered: (x10. Disapproving faces)

[personal profile] horsepowered 2018-01-02 03:51 pm (UTC)(link)
On purpose, and because they had the foresight to begin it before anyone else caught on, I suspect.

[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.
lonelywar: (20)

[personal profile] lonelywar 2018-01-04 08:53 am (UTC)(link)
They hold power over time itself. [Ashitaka shakes his head.] They will always seem one step ahead of us in this regard, I believe.

[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.
horsepowered: (x5. Pontification)

[personal profile] horsepowered 2018-01-04 03:10 pm (UTC)(link)
It does feel like constantly picking pieces up after they've been broken, I agree. I would not go so far as to compare the situation to Sisyphus, but it seems like it is a close cousin.

[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.]
lonelywar: (14)

[personal profile] lonelywar 2018-01-08 10:32 am (UTC)(link)
[Ashitaka gives a grave nod. They certainly seem to be putting out fires as they arise, it's true.

(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...]
horsepowered: (x13. Hold your hoses)

[personal profile] horsepowered 2018-01-08 01:17 pm (UTC)(link)
[He's gotten so used to it that it's rote.]

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.]
lonelywar: (23)

[personal profile] lonelywar 2018-01-10 06:05 am (UTC)(link)
[You have to admit, it is sort of weird...

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.
horsepowered: (x1. Default)

[personal profile] horsepowered 2018-01-10 01:11 pm (UTC)(link)
[Well okay, it's weird, but it could be weirder. Probably.

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.
lonelywar: (25)

[personal profile] lonelywar 2018-01-13 01:22 am (UTC)(link)
[HAHA, I GET IT, LIKE... FATE... LIKE THE NAME OF THE SERIES

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.]
horsepowered: (x2. Centaur mode)

[personal profile] horsepowered 2018-01-13 09:39 pm (UTC)(link)
[IT'S WORSE WHEN HE DOES IT IN CANON.....

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.]