agogelogs | 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

[ flap-flap-flap. keyleth the raven drops into the seat next to ashitaka, ready to try out humanoid speech with a not so humanoid mouth. ]

Hello!

[Ashitaka jumps maybe an inch at the sudden appearance of the raven. He wouldn't be able to tell it from the murders of crows within the ship, but he thinks that it is certainly more outgoing than the majority of them; they seemed content to sit on their perches and make commentary whenever they deemed proper.

Still, he has to mentally adjust to the fact that he's speaking to an animal. Sure, he speaks to Yakul all the time, but it's not like had expected the red elk to talk back...]

Hello. [He glances to another small squadron of crows perched in a slightly drooping rafter a short distance nearby before looking back to the raven.] Are you planning something? [He seems lightly suspicious.]

Nn--no.

[ her feathers fluff a little. puffy little birb. her little raven voicebox hums a little before she manages to get it out: ]

Defending!

[Well, he seems to believe her. His suspicion eases, replaced with curiosity.]

Defending what?

Food!

[ and diplomatic relations begin almost immediately as the rest of the murder begins to file down. keyleth hops up onto the table, at ashitaka's side. she gives her wings an experimental flap. ]

[Oh.

Before this point he had eaten in a group, so it had been easier to dissuade the murders of crows from interfering. It wasn't the case today, and he hadn't noticed the groups of birds getting closer — now to a point where their intentions seemed plain.

Strange. One of the birds separating from the group to stand up against them? It didn't happen often.

Regardless.] Thank you. [For his own part he slides the plate of food a little closer to himself, keeping a wary eye on the rest of the birds that had begun their approach.

There are quite a lot of them, though...]

[ keyleth waddles a little farther, to plant herself between her new human friend and her new avian ones. ]

You are welcome! [ all of her words come out chipper-- she probably seems like an unusually happy raven. she flaps at them to shoo everyone back a bit. ] They are friendly. But pushy.

[Ashitaka takes a bite from one of the (quite unappetizing, but passable) protein blocks on his plate, thinking it might be best to remove the temptation from the birds before things reached a dangerous pitch.]

It is strange. [He tilts his head a bit, observing the murmuring crowd of crows that the raven was keeping at bay.] I am not used to birds being able to speak.

[She's right: they could definitely be less friendly, though they could certainly afford to be less pushy too.]

Me neither!

[ happily said, which is maybe a little odd given the situation. but strange seems to be the theme of the day. keyleth reflects ashitaka's curiosity, though a little more directly: ]

Who are you?

[He smiles at the bird. He... is actually thinking it's making a joke, because he isn't sure if he should be distinguishing it from the rest of the flock at this point.]

I see.

[He finishes the last of the food that he had, pushing the empty plate towards the ring of watchful scavengers. Several gave unsatisfied caws and annoyed murmurs.]

My name is Ashitaka. [He sets the more talkative bird in a thoughtful gaze.] What should I call you?

I don't know.

[ keyleth pauses to think-- her head tilting with it. they call her tiger form minxy. it's a nickname she didn't pick, though. ]

What do I look like?

A bird. [I'm so sorry, Keyleth, he's not necessarily the most creative young man in the world, though he doesn't want for earnestness.] A crow... or a raven?

[He's not sure what the difference is...]

What would you wish to be called, then, if you could pick for yourself?

[ for such a big question, keyleth's birdy hum is small. she answers earnestly, impulsively, and awkward as ever: ]

Vex!

[ she knows plenty of wonderful people but her friend vex is a woman she holds in highest regard. why wouldn't she pick that? ]

Vex...

[He smiles, and as small and understated of a gesture as it was, it was fairly warm.]

It is a nice name. [Pause.] Though I do not find you vexing in the least. Certainly less so than the other birds.

[That's what stands to be a "joke" of his ... I'm so sorry ...]

[ she does chitter gleefully at the almost-joke, and puffs up in pride. ]

Well, some of us need clear boundaries.

[He laughs, turning his attention to the birds that were slowly beginning to filter away, dissuaded by Ashitaka's lack of food and now searching for better prospects.]

Do you think they would accept such a thing, though? [He thinks on it a moment further.] It almost seems as though they run the place.

[Oh, how little he knew at the time...]

all this energy calling me

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