agogelogs | all this energy calling me

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

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ He rouses. An impressive feat.

And it only took him until Midnighter speaks to do it, too, squinting blearily up at the man towering over him as he tries to work the soreness out of his ankle. Weird... He doesn't remember falling asleep all the way over-- ]

Hey, what the hell? [ Finally he pushes himself up, sense of unease still lingering as he extends his arm in a whip of motion... only for nothing of any interest to happen, clicking his tongue. Right. His weapons summoning hasn't been working as it should, which might be a good thing when it comes to threatening large men when you don't yet understand the situation. ]

What's the big idea?

Jesus, are you narcoleptic or something?

[Midnighter rolls his eyes. He turns back to the eels, grinning at them through the glass.]

There's gotta be a reason these things are in here. We're gonna figure it out. In payment for saving your bony ass.

No. [ As he finally begins to at least scramble to his feet, dusting himself off and trying not to make it too obvious that he's subtly fixing his hair. Hint: it's obvious. ]

Saved me from what, from a nap? [ But all the same he's leaning over to look around Midnighter at the object of his interest, blinking once before lifting his chin. ] Ah... fishing's boring if they're already in a tank...

That wasn't normal sleep. It's some weird shit, I'm checking it out. [He says it like that's his business to check out, like it's his job (it is).] Until then, let's have some fun.

[He genuinely considers the kid's point about fishing. He's never fished. Maybe that's a legitimate angle.] Yeah, so these probably aren't for that. But why are they here?

[ You know, he feels he has a right to be a lot more exasperated by this apparent abduction than he currently is. And most of that is probably because of how damn calm Midnighter is about all of it, like this is just how things work now should he have the audacity to fall asleep unguarded. ]

... I don't know, I can't ask them. They're eels. Why am I here? Look--

Why don't you just get in there and see what happens if you're so curious?

[Midnighter likes the way you think, kid. He grins, too many teeth entirely.]

That was the plan. Your job is to run and tell somebody if bad shit happens. Or try and pull me out, if you're feeling brave.

[He begins rolling up his sleeve, getting ready to dunk his fist in.]

... hah? You want me to rescue you in case the eels attack? [ Let him think this over for a moment, one that has to be rushed given how quickly Midnighter's already moving to take action. ]

Obviously I'll pull you out, geeze... I can handle it without asking anyone else. I'm not leaving now that we've come this far; I wanna' see what happens.

Good. That's the right attitude to have, kid. Life's too short to be a coward.

[Is what he says while he slides his hand into the water. The eels all immediately swim away from him, their bio-luminescence blinking orange and white, which obviously just means he has to catch one.] C'mere, fuckers... [He finally grabs one, and... nothing happens. Weird.]

[He pulls the wriggler out, staring at it while it continues to change colors.]

[Holding a hissing, orange, glowing eel, he looks to the kid.] What now?

[ It's an impressive light show that he gets to witness, peering in as he inches closer despite himself. So is Midnighter's display of dexterity when he manages to get a hand on one of the wriggling creatures too, brow furrowing as he leans back in expectation of it attaining its freedom and splashing them both.

But no. ]

... is that it? I guess... well, I guess now we eat it, right? [ ??? ]

You can eat eels?

[Genuinely surprised, here. He looks at the eel. Shrug, yeah, sure. You can probably eat anything if you try hard enough. He pulls out one of the knives he's had on him since France, and tries to get the edge near the thing...]

[It turns bright red and slips through his fingers, leaving them slick with some kind of natural lubricant. The eel zips across the floor, completely at home out of the water. Midnighter's expression shifts back into that vaguely creepy smile.]

Oh, I get it. We're supposed to catch them.

Of course you can eat eels. They're good grilled, or cooked over a fire... you could even--

[ Any further suggestions of his will have to wait as the object of his salivation has just now finally pulled the move he'd expected earlier. It zooms away impressively quickly, causing blue eyes to momentarily widen as they follow it. ] Ah. Makes sense. No way it's getting away now, though!

[ Which is why he's withdrawing his own pilfered dagger at last, raising it with one eye closing to line up a throw... and it's not the eel he aims for, but rather the area just above it when he hurtles that weapon and disappears after it in a shimmer of blue light. His body reappears in a similar glow with a snatch of that dagger, forearm driving down hard against a wriggling creature that he just barely manages to pin down against the floor. ]

Geeze... Stop fighting--!

"Holy shit."

Midnighter's still where he was, and he claps for maybe three seconds before reaching into the eel tank again.

"Impressive, kid. Let's see if you can do it again."

He's not here to eat eels. He's here to fight and test and train. He grabs another eel and throws it onto the floor, where it zooms away once again, streaking blue and yellow as it slides across the floor with apparent ease.

[ It's a nigh exasperated look that he pins Midnighter with once he starts clapping, torn between accepting the praise as deserved and wondering if he's mocking him. Maybe both. ]

Wait-- [ A word that comes way too late as another eel joins the fray, with the one beneath him already currently gooing up his sleeve and earning itself a look of muted disgust. Gross... ]

Okay, fine, I can do it as many times as I have to! [ And he most certainly can but the fact that he feels the need to strike the first eel in order to daze it so it doesn't immediately squirm off is definitely not humane. Well. He's trying.

His next warp is just as perfectly aimed but his target banks a sharp right, forcing him to chase after it with another throw and another blink forward before his feet have even touched the ground. This one's pinned with the flat of his blade, having to immediately grab for its body afterward so he doesn't accidentally cut it. ] You better go grab the other one...

[Midnighter doesn't have this kid's fancyass magic. He does, however, have excellent reflexes, and fantastic speed. He's already got the eel stabbed through on his French knife, and the thing flaps and flops in protest as bio-luminescent blood (now glowing orange again) leaks down Midnighter's arm.]

You're gonna have to tell me where you learned that shit.

[ He glances over his shoulder to see... well, that's one way to subdue the creature. ]

Runs in the family. [ And extends to anyone he decides to give the power to too, to be fair. As good an explanation as any while he attempts to wrangle the squirming eel beneath him, finally opting to take Midnighter's same strategy. Good night, pure eel, you didn't deserve this dagger to the face. It allows Noctis to again climb to his feet, however, eyeing the slowly dying animal with distrust. ]

So what, this is a sport? What happens if-- [ Oh, wait. ] ... You think we're gonna' get in trouble for killing 'em?

[Midnighter shrugs.] If we do, say I forced you into it. I can take whatever they dish out.

[The eel dying on Midnighter's blade continues to struggle, and that's just sad. Midnighter reaches over with his free, non-glowing hand to twist its head clean off without much apparent effort. He's a strong guy.]

You gonna show me how to eat these things or what?

[ Noctis's reply dies in his throat as he bears witness to that strength, genuinely impressed for a moment or two. ] Awesome... [ A single word muttered quietly, under his breath. ]

Yeah, thanks, though. Hopefully they won't-- Ahh, wait, you did force me into it. You dragged me here unconscious and then flung an extra eel at me. [ GOD ]

[Midnighter laughs, and it's not exactly a gentle sound. His voice, in general, is more on the rough side, and people tend to find it less than comforting. But it's genuine, that much is obvious.]

So you won't even have to lie. [He holds his hand out for the other eel, offering to carry the slimy fuckers.] But you still gotta hold up your end of the bargain.

[ That eel is passed over all too willingly, carefully dragging it off of his dagger just to stare at the now soiled weapon.

Then at Midnighter's clothes. No, Noctis, don't wipe off the knife on his clothes just because you don't want to get yours dirty. ]

Hah... I never even made that deal but fine, I guess I'll ask around about how to cook them here. [ That laugh is a little disconcerting, honestly, but he doesn't mind a little roughness. He actually comes off as surprisingly not-a-creep, given the circumstances. ]

--I'm Noctis.

[So Midnighter takes the eel and twists its head off before throwing both of them, bleeding and slimy, over his shoulder.] Midnighter.

[...Wait.] After that fucking lecture, you don't even know how to cook 'em?

... your name is Midnighter? [ More important. As if his own name isn't just basically "Night". What a pair. ]

And your name sounds like what happens when you fall down a flight of stairs, but do you see me bitching?

[Like he knows Latin, c'mon.]

...

Yes? You just did!

Only because you- [Oh dear fucking god. He's not arguing about this.] You can call me M if it really bothers you that much, fuck. Do you want the eels or not? Because I can just take 'em.

Obviously. Look what I went through. [ He's got goo arms and missed the second half of his nap. ]

I said I was gonna' figure out how to cook 'em, didn't I? I've only ever done it over a fire and I figured we weren't supposed to start those in here.

I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS

tfb fucker.

https://78.media.tumblr.com/0e976b80bd4f623a278808b6fc985c0f/tumblr_oc2bc9KZ741qd79gyo1_400.gif

http://78.media.tumblr.com/2a59a23f4b071b6750506cf8304b6d37/tumblr_nq55cxNgEP1tob7k5o2_500.jpg

https://49.media.tumblr.com/c8e86ee977fee854095efa97428cddfe/tumblr_o4wx4r6I701v6aj9do1_500.gif

that looks like a music video.....

to Tragedy by the Bee Gees at this rate, this thread's amazing

theyre idiots and its gr8

I feel like I'm glimpsing my future

ur an eel.

Noctis's dreams have all come true

truly midnighter is a superhero.

this is animal abuse

YOU'RE GOING TO EAT THEM.

EATING THEM IS NORMAL, I PUNCHED AN EEL, M

and hes so proud.....

what have I become, my sweetest friend

youve become awesome, shh.

teach me to rip heads off of eels

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject