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

OTA, INCLUDING WILDCARDS ;)

[dipolar]

ONE. ＴＨＥＲＥ＇Ｓ ＳＯＭＥＴＨＩＮＧ ＯＮ ＴＨＥ ＷＩＮＧ—

(aether. it’s what his bce is calling it, but it’s undefinable when — still gasping from the buzz and its resulting nausea — hei drops the billhook he’s held tightly in his fingers since the king’s beheading and presses himself against the porthole holding stunning sights beyond impenetrable glass.

his breath echoes loudly in his ears, muted to everyone else. this is it. this is it, this is space or somewhere beneath the fabric of it, where stars populate endless black and physics’ hold on the phenomena it governs is as tenuous as his life. this is where everything starts and ends, this is what it means to escape from a world keeping him gravitationally pinned and suffocating. it holds the ambitions he had as a child, the hatred and blame he had for it as a teenager, and his envy now—

god, he wishes she could see it. that he could show her.

xing.

eventually, after what seems like hours but only happens to be one, left alone in the corridor by all who’ve been scavenging for clothes, hei rouses from the daydream that leaves him feeling weak and vulnerable. whether startled out of things by a fellow cost member, or by the very powerful urge to vomit, dry eyes drop from the window, shut, and tighten.)

Something is watching us.

TWO. Ａ ＨＥＬＬ ＯＦ Ａ ＤＲＵＧ—

@ALL, FROM @BURGERKING
Do you see the crows?

THREE. ＱＵＡＬＩＴＹ ＡＳＳＵＲＡＮＣＥ ＰＵＲＰＯＳＥＳ—

(well, that was fucking weird. the paranoia it’s caused him has lit a proverbial fire under his ass, though, which means he’s extra productive in between clutching and quaking over the nearest sink or washroom to throw up the contents of his stomach — and watery bile when there’s nothing left to lose.

hei is searching for something. many things, actually, which he’ll be more than happy to tell you about if you approach him or try to help in any way. unfortunately, he’ll sound a bit like a madman if you do, with a clipped:) If we’re being monitored, we ought to know about it.

(get this freak a book to read or something, he’s wigging out in the enclosed space.)

It’s possible there are some in the capsules.

a.

[thingpuncher]

[Midnighter is minding his own goddamn business trying to get a bird to leave him the fuck alone when a random passerby decides to lose his goddamn mind.]

[So, Tuesday.]

Yeah, it's me. I'm watching you have a schizophrenic attack.

[dipolar]

(a hard blink and he makes an abrupt turn towards the voice.

thankfully, hei's changed his tune a little: sour-faced and trying to breathe carefully through this in the calmest way possible.)

No— it's outside, out there. If you'd take a look—

[thingpuncher]

[Okay, this dude is definitely not alright. Is there something bad in the windows? Some kind of trap, like the warm spots? He squints out the window to see... some really trippy shit, honestly, but that's just day-to-day when you're a Garden creation that worked with Spyral.]

[He looks back to his companion.]

You wanna, uh, describe what you saw?

[He's trying to be, like, patient and caring and shit.]

C.

[fessus]

[ He's passing through one of the corridors on the way to the mess hall when he runs into him, discomfited by his general demeanor and current appearance. It'd be obvious to anyone, Noctis included, that something's wrong, but when he asks he gets that even more worrying answer. ]

Some... what, some cameras? Ah, maybe... Is that much worse than them checking on us through our BCEs, though?

[dipolar]

(what happened to your pants? are those capris?

that aside, hei nods at the confirmation. or what he hears as a confirmation. there are cameras watching him, surely it wasn't from the aether, it couldn't have been. nothing can live in space unless they're enclosed in something like they are — right?)

Noctis. (a hand raising, stopping him after his question.) The BCEs can only cover so much ground. I'd rather know if there's video footage of me, as well.

[fessus]

[ How about you worry about yourself. ]

Maa. [ He's silent for a moment or two as he digests the suggestion, imagining similar images taken of himself, and quickly comes to a rather singular conclusion. ]

... does it matter that much? If you're being filmed. We're all stuck in a pretty tight spot and these people know a lot about us. I don't know, you probably know more than I do, since you remember signing up.

a

[masque]

[... it's hei, from before. pauses to see what he's doing, but he only looks anxious as hell. what's going on?]

Hei, you alright? What're you looking at?

[dipolar]

(hears the voice and takes a moment to collect himself. there's nothing that can be done about this now, persevere, persevere.)

Haven't you seen? You didn't think to look?

(a step away from the porthole, inviting him in.)

[masque]

[places his hands against the cool metal as he peers to the outside... everything's spinning, the stars are spinning, space is spinning, lightning fast, he feels like he's losing a year off his life—

...

presses his forehead into the porthole instead, I'M SO SICK THIS IS ONLY MAKING IT WORSE]

Were you trying to pull a prank...

username @WEHFRIED

[gerechtigkeit]

[..................Burger....king? What??????????????? What does a freeman of a borough have anything to do with a king??]

Yes. They're everywhere.

There's a kingdom of Burger?

[Hei, this is being asked completely seriously. 100% straight face and everything. "Burger" is a completely different word in German.]

1/2

[dipolar]

(well thank god he's not going any crazier than he already is...........

but now he has another problem. one that starts with a "b" and ends in a "why the fuck did my sister's messier code have to be 'bk-201'?")

2/2

[dipolar]

No, it's the name of a fast food restaurant.

They make adequate meals, but are known for the burger they call the Whopper.

[fernbeleafer]

[ a splish greets hei as he reaches the bottom of the stairs.

then, the sound of running water and someone panicking heavily. in the bathroom stands a tall redhead with antlers that seem to sprout her from temples. her arms are held aloft, moving practiced but primitive arcs in the air. there's a steady stream of water flowing up from the floor into a large amorphous ball in front of her waving arms.

her voice ratches up a few notes every few words as she strains to control the water the way she learned as a child. she doesn't notice hei right away-- doesn't realize she needs to look for anyone at all. ]

OK, this is fine. It's fine! You can do this, Keyleth. Just breathe, and flow, and-- gyah!

[ she notices hei, her concentration breaks, and there's a mini-tidal wave pushing out of the shower area and flooding the lower floor... ]

[dipolar]

(he just wanted to take the bottle of whatever swill he found in the mess hall back to the capsule and drink himself into a dreamless oblivion, but something's preventing him from doing that. his boot hits residuals, a puddle of water at the doorway to the washroom, and it narrows his eyes in sharp hostility. whatever trouble there is in there is making him cautiously flatten himself to the short hall's wall and creep towards—

a woman. wrestling with an rippling sphere of water.

keyleth, named lifted from her pep talk, who's standing in the washroom in a manipulated tide from the shower faucet. now this isn't the strangest thing he's ever seen, contractor powers ranging from things that assist in one's everyday living to ludicrously mind-bending abilities that make physics a laughingstock. but the fact that it's happening in his capsule with his water in a place that's supposed to be his private escape from all of this bullshit...?

he's not happy.

he's even less happy when it all drops onto the floor and rushes out. can't even muster the energy to jump onto something and dodge, letting the wave hit his shins as he stands there clutching his bottle tightly in one hand. shoulders curved, expression flat with a tired anger simmering below the surface, hei tries not to activate his ability in the shallow pool she's made their capsule into and administer a shock concentrated enough to burn lichtenberg figures into her skin.)

...

Why?

1

[rippedoff]

[Even if Shinobu isn't completely happy with the choice of clothing, by then she's settled with an unmodified outfit from the scraps that were available. At the very least, it beat only underwear. However, before she could try to make it more into her style, Shinobu's priorities lied in trying to memorize the area of the base, for her own reference.

However, as she loops around the corridor she'd been in before, Shinobu pauses as she listens to an unfamiliar man mutter something about being watched. She's silent for a couple of seconds, placing a hand at her hip as she tilts her head toward him.]

Yeah, no shit.

[She's one of the newest people here, but due to spending a whole lot of years as an assassin and, well, the nature of being brought here, Shinobu just automatically assumes everything they do is being watched. However, unlike him, she's not quite as bothered by this fact.

However, even if it did seem like an obvious fact to her, he must have seen something to elicit a reaction like that, right? While she wasn't the most friendly person around, Shinobu wasn't the type of person to just wave off a person's concerns either. With a light sigh, she relaxes her expression a bit before continuing.]

Still, what makes you say that?

[dipolar]

(a dip of his head, taking a moment to level out the uneven breathing he's caught himself with, before:)

It's the sense I've got. What's out there— I don't know.

(he tries to keep his tone a monotonous quiet, typically this soft but willing to raise to a conversational volume. now it's near straining to catch as he finally draws his attention away from the porthole long enough to get a good look at shinobu.)

You'll look eventually.

(CURIOSITY IS A HELL OF A DRUG.)

two | un: @brokebackstab

[handsomefoil]

@BURGERKING Sure do
@BURGERKING Something wrong with them?

your un, i'm dying laughing

[dipolar]

No. I just needed to know.

(he's got some health problems............)

Have you discussed anything with them?

three

[pointedlook]

[ He'd only meant to duck into the washroom to splash some water on his face after skirting a hotspot. Get in, get out. Unfortunately, it seems there's someone else in here as well– it's fine, there's two sinks, whatever.

Except he recognizes the person. That asshole who wiped stuff on his jacket.

Why does he keep encountering him in situations that include body fluids? ]

What the hell are you talking about?

DON'T DROP THE SOAP

[dipolar]

(too busy to check the stalls to care much about the skepticism in arthur's voice, hands smoothing down one of the shower-heads.)

I'm talking about video surveillance. Cameras. (a pause, before continuing, overdramatic but not self-aware enough to realize he is.) I'd rather know... than not.

@ENTERTHEDRAGON

[ryuji]

Yo... it's gettin' kinda murderous in here.

[His first and probably.....





last attempt at a pun, ever.]

[dipolar]

The amount of brain power you spent on thinking that up could've been used for something useful.

Like considering the many reasons why you shouldn't have texted me it.

a

[lonelywar]

[The sharp, jagged delineation between their reality in revolutionary Paris to this vessel adrift in the vast undulating sea of twisted spacetime was something Ashitaka could only respond to with an order of operations. To think on it was something he knew he would do, but it seemed too much at first; he swallows the nausea, focusing it until it faded to a manageable level, and then finds more clothing than the tattered remains of the guard uniform that he had worn for over a month on their previous mission.

Time passes, and he returns to the place they had first arrived after having visited his room and changed into the clothing he had picked out. It's only then that he notices the man pressed up close to one of the portholes in the adjacent corridor. Had he been there before? Ashitaka realizes he doesn't know; he had been so focused on the task at hand he hadn't paid attention.

He seems transfixed by something, or at least he thinks so as he approaches. It's then that the spell seems broken, causing the man to break his gaze from beyond - something Ashitaka sees for the first time. A swirl of stars and space, as if they had been placed on a plane and spun at a high speed. It is unsettling for him to see, remembering so clearly the span of stars from home; he blinks, shaking his head and focusing on the man.

After the strange scene from outside, the statement is chilling.]

From outside?

[dipolar]

(and startled he is, even by ashitaka's very open presence. his curiosity seems to make it an innocent approach, however, and despite being on edge from what he's just felt it's easy to rely on someone else to keep calm. the simple question helps him ground himself and gives him a reply to think about instead of the acute paranoia that has its claws in his spine.)

Yeah. (a bit breathless, but hei's quick to steady it with a deeper inhale.) Yeah, I don't know... how long I've been standing here, but something from outside.

(an empty motion at the porthole, the swirl of stars and space and time and everything and nothing. it makes him sicker to stare at it — even still, he has a responsibility to look.)

I felt a stare.