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forbarrayar2017-03-18 02:15 pm
barrayarmods) wrote in forbarrayar2017-03-18 02:15 pm
[ march ii log: ageless beauty ]
Who: Everyone!
What: The skies finally lighten, and so do spirits, but there are still quiet machinations in the dark. The good doctor's fate is finally decided.
When: March 18th - 31st
Where: Barrayaran camp, Cetagandan base & Riverfall Village
Warnings: TBD
Quick links:
Riverfall
Barrayar: Plague / Camp / Missions
Cetaganda: Plague / Base / Missions
First: Special thanks and credit to Vee (veelynn) for lending us her beautiful photography for this event!
TIMELINE
3/19 Art Fair
3/20 York & Ratchet's arrival to the Barrayaran camp
3/22 Raid: Medical Supplies
3/26 Haut Sei's arrival, Eavesdropping Eta
3/27 Eavesdropping Sigma
3/27 - 3/28 Rat Race
3/29 Official reception for Haut Sei
3/30 Mystery Plot
One thing can be said for the month of March: at least the weather's gotten better. By mid-month, while the piled-up snow is slow to melt, the temperatures have now risen to just freezing rather than well below freezing. It's still a pretty cold March, but by this point, anything close to freezing feels like a balmy spring, and they have a nice string of sunny days for the rest of the month.
riverfall
Although their numbers have been thinned by the flu epidemic, Cetagandan patrols still pass regularly through the village, allowing those spying for the Cetagandans to pass along information via dead drop.
Riverfall was hit just as hard by the epidemic as the camp, and by the end of the month, the village houses no more than sixty people. The aid from the outsiders and soldiers in caring for and treating the sick goes a long way, but by the end, there are still a lot of bodies to bury and souls to burn death offerings for. There's an overall somber cast to the village despite the brightening weather.
barrayar
The Barrayarans haven't been hit as dramatically as the Cetagandans, but their numbers are much fewer, and patrols are still thin. Anyone healthy enough is being asked to pull double shifts, stretching their resources where they can, but at least the food situation is improving considerably thanks to both Xav's relief supplies and the lightening weather.
Once seeing both his daughters recover from the flu, Prince Xav leaves camp on the 19th to rendezvous with his transport back to Vorbarr Sultana so he can make another risky attempt at getting off-planet and back through the wormhole blockade. Ezar, as Piotr's aide-de-camp, sticks around -- and so does Negri, of course.
Knowing that it would be safer (if less comfortable) and possibly more useful for the Barrayarans to rendezvous with Micah rather than try to get them back off-planet, Xav leaves Doctor Niadem's fate in Barrayaran hands…and not to great result. Now that the Cetagandans have Micah, Piotr and his general staff -- and anyone in-the-know enough about the situation to provide any advisement -- are still debating what to do about Micah and the wormhole device. They could either try to rescue Micah to their side…or leave them in Cetagandan hands and hope to make contact via one of their informants.
This makes cultivating informants on the Cetagandan side an even higher priority, and if anyone has any ties to outsiders on the other side, personal or otherwise, Piotr wants to hear about it. Any intelligence about the Star Gate Project is vital.
plague
The ill in the camp and Riverfall are recovering, slowly, but the flu is still spreading, reaching its apex, and people are still getting sick. Even as the weather clears up, it's still damp, and many of the sick are falling to pneumonia, a near-certain death without antibiotics. They've already exhausted the medical supplies Xav and Ezar brought with them, and the medical raids went poorly -- only resulting in enough antibiotics for about 20% of the village and camp's combined population.
By the end of the month, though, the Barrayarans are finally beginning to pull through. The camp and village start to recover, with the mortalities over the month total to 58 influenza-related deaths. It's time to bury the death, burn a death offering, and keep on moving on.
camp
Both Olivia and Sonia have recovered from their bouts with the flu, more or less intact despite Olivia's very touch-and-go health for a while. Now Sonia's repaying everyone's visits to her by tending to the sick and helping out where she can. And as the weather warms up and people start to recover, the line for the bath tent starts getting longer…it's still pretty cold, but after lying around in the sickbay tent for a while, few people are going to complain for the chance to wash.
Morale is still buckling, so amidst all the doom and gloom, Sonia decides to try and bring a little levity to the camp by hosting a makeshift little art show on the 19th. The Princess can often be seen with her old antique camera, taking candids or scenic pictures in the mountains, although she rarely shows her work to anyone else. Tonight, though, she has hung up a variety of her black-and-white photos around the camp for the art fair -- some of the candids are even of outsiders, and Sonia's aim seems to be catching everyone in their warmest, happiest moment. There's no sense of tragedy or despair in her work.
She's encouraged as many of the soldiers and outsiders to contribute anything in the way of art -- stories, songs, performance, or craft, she invites it all. A few soldiers make a surprisingly harmonic little chorus, and some visiting villagers give engaging tellings of Barrayaran legends. Lakshmi shows off some of her embroidery, and Beth and Tucker both bring a little singing to the table, although the majority of Barrayarans probably aren't going to appreciate a cappella Queen. Daryl shoots a mouse and either fails to understand art entirely or transcends to a brand new plane of artistic enlightenment. Also, please don't let Tucker pose nude for you.
It winds up doing some good for morale -- giving the soldiers some other context to focus on besides the war, something of an escape, or a reminder of what they're fighting for and what they long to live to see again. And for the first time, Sonia doesn't feel quite so useless.
missions
The medical assistance provided by the outsiders doesn't go unappreciated, nor without effect. Not every day is a success, but at least they manage to keep the mortality rate from climbing too high.
The medical raids are a near-unmitigated disaster, with every single raiding party running afoul of Cetagandan guards and losing some of their bounty on the way out. They only manage to make away with supplies/topicals/OTC analgesics for 40% of the population, vaccine for 20% of the population, and antibiotics for 35% of the population.
The race to Micah's location in Vorkosigan Vashnoi is a frantic one, but despite the outsiders' efforts as well as Natasha, Byerly and Kaidan's efforts to slow down the Cetagandans, the Cetagandans get to Doctor Micah Niadem first.
Here are the unabridged mission results.
cetaganda
Piotr's attempt at psychological warfare was a total success: Zahal is furious over the severed body parts of his own soldiers discovered around the camp, and even more so over the wholly unintentional but devastating biowarfare that comes with it. That part has Piotr rather tickled.
With full intel on Micah's location in hand, Zahal sends as many able-bodied squads to Vorkosigan Vashnoi as he can, including several exotics. Natasha, Kaidan and Byerly work covertly to try and slow the operation down, but ultimately, the Cetagandans still reach Micah first and bring them back to base -- taking proper precaution to vaccinate them before bringing them in, of course. It wouldn't do for their newest and very valuable asset to suddenly die of some backwater plague.
The Cetagandan base is still pretty thin on the personnel front, but they're managing to continue operations as normal. The announcement of the visit from the Handmaiden of the Star Crèche has every able-bodied person on base in a frenzy as they try to prepare and make the base suitable for receiving her. This is clearly an occasion of great honor as well as face -- if she were improperly received, ghem-General Zahal and Lady Diya would surely suffer for it.
plague
The plague reaches its apex in the Cetagandan base, but with Ratchet and Natasha's help, they were able to synthesize a vaccine for the flu. The quarantine isn't airtight, so there's still risk of infection, and they have to make sure those distributing the vaccine aren't at risk of spreading the infection. Overall, they're able to inoculate about 80% of the uninfected population.
Amai makes a full recovery, despite being dramatically (albeit not entirely unrealistically) convinced she was on death's door every second.
By the end of the month, the Barrayaran flu has about a 30% mortality rate on the Cetagandan base, resulting in about 3000 influenza-related deaths.
base
The quarantine remains in effect until nearly the end of the month, but finally, once the epidemic has died down and the Handmaiden has been vaccinated, Haut Sei Navarr arrives. The base hurriedly puts together a formal reception for her on the 30th, and rather than another party, it is just that -- a clearly ritualized receiving of her presence, so rarely seen beyond Eta Ceta, let alone the rest of the Empire.
The reception for Haut Sei is exceedingly formal, and unlike the relatively lighter air of the party last month, inappropriate behavior is going to be much less generously tolerated here. The exotics are not required to attend, but if they do, it'll be about a four-hour reception with a clear ritual protocol that will nonetheless seem very obtuse to outside viewers. Diya is prominent in the reception, being the only other haut on base, and is in fact the only one truly suited to receive her -- although, unlike Diya, Haut Sei does not appear in public unmasked. As is the custom of haut ladies still in their constellations, Haut Sei travels in a float chair encased in an opaque force bubble -- she can see out, but no one can see in. She brings with her a small entourage of servitors known as the ba, who serve not only as testing grounds for new genetic combinations, but are also genetically engineered for loyalty and service. Ba are not clones -- each ba is a work of art unto itself, each carefully created, and while they are not quite so fey in their beauty, the aesthetic effort is undeniable. All of the ba with Haut Sei are curiously hairless, which seems to be a popular trend in their design among the haut these days.
Meanwhile on the scientific end, the Cetagandans are delving deeper into what is officially referred to as the Star Gate Project. They're working with Satya to build a hard-light mapping device, but in the meantime, they have laid out the most crucial parts needed to build it: high-precision electromagnetic bearings to hold up the Necklin rods and spin them by a magnetic field for reduced friction; high-quality seals and pumps to create the necessary vacuum required for precise jump-plotting; something generating EM shielding to prevent interference, a problem unique to creating a Necklin field of this size and in this environment; and high-precision controls and controls software based on those used in existing jump ships, modifications for which are underway. And, of course, the Necklin rods themselves, which they have yet to figure out a way to fabricate.
And now that Micah is on base, the Cetagandans can finally put them to work in the wormhole lab on some of those elusive five-space math problems.
They're still developing their theory of neural netting and how a Necklin field might directly interact with the human brain without a jump implant. Based on their research so far, this may not actually be much of a problem, but there's another factor they have yet to work out: how to key the Star Gate to an exotics' own home universe. The Cetagandan neurologists have a few theories that they're working with Deanna and Natasha on.
missions
With help from the exotics, they're able to vaccinate 80% of the base's uninfected population. Satya and Pearl, despite their hard efforts, have yet to finish the hard-light mapping device by the end of the month.
A few exotics learn a bit more about Sei and Diya's history, as well as Diya and Amai's plans for covering up their less than authorized experiments. It also comes to light that the haut are planning to open gene therapy trials for any exotics who experienced power loss.
The race to Micah's location in Vorkosigan Vashnoi is a frantic one, but despite the outsiders' efforts as well as Natasha, Byerly and Kaidan's efforts to slow down the Cetagandans, the Cetagandans get to Doctor Micah Niadem first.
Here are the unabridged mission results.
Note: Negri, Amai, Zahal, and Olivia are available for threads by request only. Please hit up Madi (Negri & Amai) or Ammay (Zahal & Olivia) respectively for you want threads with either of those NPCs. You can also request a thread with Village Speaker Yakiv Gura if you want, in which case hit up Madi.
What: The skies finally lighten, and so do spirits, but there are still quiet machinations in the dark. The good doctor's fate is finally decided.
When: March 18th - 31st
Where: Barrayaran camp, Cetagandan base & Riverfall Village
Warnings: TBD
Riverfall
Barrayar: Plague / Camp / Missions
Cetaganda: Plague / Base / Missions
First: Special thanks and credit to Vee (
veelynn) for lending us her beautiful photography for this event!TIMELINE
3/19 Art Fair
3/20 York & Ratchet's arrival to the Barrayaran camp
3/22 Raid: Medical Supplies
3/26 Haut Sei's arrival, Eavesdropping Eta
3/27 Eavesdropping Sigma
3/27 - 3/28 Rat Race
3/29 Official reception for Haut Sei
3/30 Mystery Plot
One thing can be said for the month of March: at least the weather's gotten better. By mid-month, while the piled-up snow is slow to melt, the temperatures have now risen to just freezing rather than well below freezing. It's still a pretty cold March, but by this point, anything close to freezing feels like a balmy spring, and they have a nice string of sunny days for the rest of the month.
riverfall
Although their numbers have been thinned by the flu epidemic, Cetagandan patrols still pass regularly through the village, allowing those spying for the Cetagandans to pass along information via dead drop.
Riverfall was hit just as hard by the epidemic as the camp, and by the end of the month, the village houses no more than sixty people. The aid from the outsiders and soldiers in caring for and treating the sick goes a long way, but by the end, there are still a lot of bodies to bury and souls to burn death offerings for. There's an overall somber cast to the village despite the brightening weather.
barrayar
The Barrayarans haven't been hit as dramatically as the Cetagandans, but their numbers are much fewer, and patrols are still thin. Anyone healthy enough is being asked to pull double shifts, stretching their resources where they can, but at least the food situation is improving considerably thanks to both Xav's relief supplies and the lightening weather.
Once seeing both his daughters recover from the flu, Prince Xav leaves camp on the 19th to rendezvous with his transport back to Vorbarr Sultana so he can make another risky attempt at getting off-planet and back through the wormhole blockade. Ezar, as Piotr's aide-de-camp, sticks around -- and so does Negri, of course.
Knowing that it would be safer (if less comfortable) and possibly more useful for the Barrayarans to rendezvous with Micah rather than try to get them back off-planet, Xav leaves Doctor Niadem's fate in Barrayaran hands…and not to great result. Now that the Cetagandans have Micah, Piotr and his general staff -- and anyone in-the-know enough about the situation to provide any advisement -- are still debating what to do about Micah and the wormhole device. They could either try to rescue Micah to their side…or leave them in Cetagandan hands and hope to make contact via one of their informants.
This makes cultivating informants on the Cetagandan side an even higher priority, and if anyone has any ties to outsiders on the other side, personal or otherwise, Piotr wants to hear about it. Any intelligence about the Star Gate Project is vital.
plague
The ill in the camp and Riverfall are recovering, slowly, but the flu is still spreading, reaching its apex, and people are still getting sick. Even as the weather clears up, it's still damp, and many of the sick are falling to pneumonia, a near-certain death without antibiotics. They've already exhausted the medical supplies Xav and Ezar brought with them, and the medical raids went poorly -- only resulting in enough antibiotics for about 20% of the village and camp's combined population.
By the end of the month, though, the Barrayarans are finally beginning to pull through. The camp and village start to recover, with the mortalities over the month total to 58 influenza-related deaths. It's time to bury the death, burn a death offering, and keep on moving on.
camp
Both Olivia and Sonia have recovered from their bouts with the flu, more or less intact despite Olivia's very touch-and-go health for a while. Now Sonia's repaying everyone's visits to her by tending to the sick and helping out where she can. And as the weather warms up and people start to recover, the line for the bath tent starts getting longer…it's still pretty cold, but after lying around in the sickbay tent for a while, few people are going to complain for the chance to wash.
Morale is still buckling, so amidst all the doom and gloom, Sonia decides to try and bring a little levity to the camp by hosting a makeshift little art show on the 19th. The Princess can often be seen with her old antique camera, taking candids or scenic pictures in the mountains, although she rarely shows her work to anyone else. Tonight, though, she has hung up a variety of her black-and-white photos around the camp for the art fair -- some of the candids are even of outsiders, and Sonia's aim seems to be catching everyone in their warmest, happiest moment. There's no sense of tragedy or despair in her work.
She's encouraged as many of the soldiers and outsiders to contribute anything in the way of art -- stories, songs, performance, or craft, she invites it all. A few soldiers make a surprisingly harmonic little chorus, and some visiting villagers give engaging tellings of Barrayaran legends. Lakshmi shows off some of her embroidery, and Beth and Tucker both bring a little singing to the table, although the majority of Barrayarans probably aren't going to appreciate a cappella Queen. Daryl shoots a mouse and either fails to understand art entirely or transcends to a brand new plane of artistic enlightenment. Also, please don't let Tucker pose nude for you.
It winds up doing some good for morale -- giving the soldiers some other context to focus on besides the war, something of an escape, or a reminder of what they're fighting for and what they long to live to see again. And for the first time, Sonia doesn't feel quite so useless.
missions
The medical assistance provided by the outsiders doesn't go unappreciated, nor without effect. Not every day is a success, but at least they manage to keep the mortality rate from climbing too high.
The medical raids are a near-unmitigated disaster, with every single raiding party running afoul of Cetagandan guards and losing some of their bounty on the way out. They only manage to make away with supplies/topicals/OTC analgesics for 40% of the population, vaccine for 20% of the population, and antibiotics for 35% of the population.
The race to Micah's location in Vorkosigan Vashnoi is a frantic one, but despite the outsiders' efforts as well as Natasha, Byerly and Kaidan's efforts to slow down the Cetagandans, the Cetagandans get to Doctor Micah Niadem first.
Here are the unabridged mission results.
cetaganda
Piotr's attempt at psychological warfare was a total success: Zahal is furious over the severed body parts of his own soldiers discovered around the camp, and even more so over the wholly unintentional but devastating biowarfare that comes with it. That part has Piotr rather tickled.
With full intel on Micah's location in hand, Zahal sends as many able-bodied squads to Vorkosigan Vashnoi as he can, including several exotics. Natasha, Kaidan and Byerly work covertly to try and slow the operation down, but ultimately, the Cetagandans still reach Micah first and bring them back to base -- taking proper precaution to vaccinate them before bringing them in, of course. It wouldn't do for their newest and very valuable asset to suddenly die of some backwater plague.
The Cetagandan base is still pretty thin on the personnel front, but they're managing to continue operations as normal. The announcement of the visit from the Handmaiden of the Star Crèche has every able-bodied person on base in a frenzy as they try to prepare and make the base suitable for receiving her. This is clearly an occasion of great honor as well as face -- if she were improperly received, ghem-General Zahal and Lady Diya would surely suffer for it.
plague
The plague reaches its apex in the Cetagandan base, but with Ratchet and Natasha's help, they were able to synthesize a vaccine for the flu. The quarantine isn't airtight, so there's still risk of infection, and they have to make sure those distributing the vaccine aren't at risk of spreading the infection. Overall, they're able to inoculate about 80% of the uninfected population.
Amai makes a full recovery, despite being dramatically (albeit not entirely unrealistically) convinced she was on death's door every second.
By the end of the month, the Barrayaran flu has about a 30% mortality rate on the Cetagandan base, resulting in about 3000 influenza-related deaths.
base
The quarantine remains in effect until nearly the end of the month, but finally, once the epidemic has died down and the Handmaiden has been vaccinated, Haut Sei Navarr arrives. The base hurriedly puts together a formal reception for her on the 30th, and rather than another party, it is just that -- a clearly ritualized receiving of her presence, so rarely seen beyond Eta Ceta, let alone the rest of the Empire.
The reception for Haut Sei is exceedingly formal, and unlike the relatively lighter air of the party last month, inappropriate behavior is going to be much less generously tolerated here. The exotics are not required to attend, but if they do, it'll be about a four-hour reception with a clear ritual protocol that will nonetheless seem very obtuse to outside viewers. Diya is prominent in the reception, being the only other haut on base, and is in fact the only one truly suited to receive her -- although, unlike Diya, Haut Sei does not appear in public unmasked. As is the custom of haut ladies still in their constellations, Haut Sei travels in a float chair encased in an opaque force bubble -- she can see out, but no one can see in. She brings with her a small entourage of servitors known as the ba, who serve not only as testing grounds for new genetic combinations, but are also genetically engineered for loyalty and service. Ba are not clones -- each ba is a work of art unto itself, each carefully created, and while they are not quite so fey in their beauty, the aesthetic effort is undeniable. All of the ba with Haut Sei are curiously hairless, which seems to be a popular trend in their design among the haut these days.
Meanwhile on the scientific end, the Cetagandans are delving deeper into what is officially referred to as the Star Gate Project. They're working with Satya to build a hard-light mapping device, but in the meantime, they have laid out the most crucial parts needed to build it: high-precision electromagnetic bearings to hold up the Necklin rods and spin them by a magnetic field for reduced friction; high-quality seals and pumps to create the necessary vacuum required for precise jump-plotting; something generating EM shielding to prevent interference, a problem unique to creating a Necklin field of this size and in this environment; and high-precision controls and controls software based on those used in existing jump ships, modifications for which are underway. And, of course, the Necklin rods themselves, which they have yet to figure out a way to fabricate.
And now that Micah is on base, the Cetagandans can finally put them to work in the wormhole lab on some of those elusive five-space math problems.
They're still developing their theory of neural netting and how a Necklin field might directly interact with the human brain without a jump implant. Based on their research so far, this may not actually be much of a problem, but there's another factor they have yet to work out: how to key the Star Gate to an exotics' own home universe. The Cetagandan neurologists have a few theories that they're working with Deanna and Natasha on.
missions
With help from the exotics, they're able to vaccinate 80% of the base's uninfected population. Satya and Pearl, despite their hard efforts, have yet to finish the hard-light mapping device by the end of the month.
A few exotics learn a bit more about Sei and Diya's history, as well as Diya and Amai's plans for covering up their less than authorized experiments. It also comes to light that the haut are planning to open gene therapy trials for any exotics who experienced power loss.
The race to Micah's location in Vorkosigan Vashnoi is a frantic one, but despite the outsiders' efforts as well as Natasha, Byerly and Kaidan's efforts to slow down the Cetagandans, the Cetagandans get to Doctor Micah Niadem first.
Here are the unabridged mission results.
Note: Negri, Amai, Zahal, and Olivia are available for threads by request only. Please hit up Madi (Negri & Amai) or Ammay (Zahal & Olivia) respectively for you want threads with either of those NPCs. You can also request a thread with Village Speaker Yakiv Gura if you want, in which case hit up Madi.
D
She needs to remember why she is doing this.
As a result, she bundles up in non-descript clothes and takes a trip to the village of Riverfall, though there's more than one reason for her break to this particular location. She did say she would return, and she means to prove to Tucker that she is absolutely a woman of her word.
How else is he expected to believe her when she lays the truth of the matter out before him? ]
no subject
Slipping off to the place where he stumbled upon Symmetra the first time, a conflicted smile found the edge of his lips. Sure, he was happy to see her (he'd be a fool not to be; she was hot as hell and eye candy like that didn't come around just every day), but with her came the conflicts, the questions, the hesitation.
And, worst of all, she had been right. The body parts-- Fuck, he didn't even want to admit it, not to her, not to himself because it tarnished the things he thought he was doing. Sure, the talk with Wash helped, but...he wasn't sure if it was enough. He wasn't sure anything was.
He slid his hands into his pockets and he made his way over over.] Miss me, baby? Knew you couldn't stay away for long. [Regardless of the fact that they already agreed to see each other again, but details just got in the way of things.]
Surprised I showed up?
no subject
You asked me to return, and I agreed that I would. It was not a matter of missing you at all.
[ Of course, Tucker was just behaving in the way that made him feel most comfortable and at ease, without real intent, but...she'd always taken things a little too seriously, hadn't she? ]
No, I am not. And I trust I won't be surprised by what you learned, either.
no subject
But that’s not really why they were here, not with the hint of what she was saying dripping from her lips. Fuck, right to the good news, right? His eyes flickered away, glancing at anything, anyone other than her because admitting it just sucked something awful. The words themselves tasted bitter, but the underneath….]
You were right. [There, quick like the rip of a bandaid from the skin. ] They chucked those body parts at your place, and they’re the reason you’re sick. [But it’s war, right?
That doesn’t make it okay, though.]
The shit to get us home… [And fuck it, why dance around the subject any longer than he had to? They all had their own questions now.] …they’re going to use that shit to hit all our different worlds, aren’t they? They’re going to come in and just claim them all.
no subject
[ No. That can't be right. But the moment he says it, she wonders. The Cetagandans mean to expand their influence everywhere, that much was clear. Barrayar was a backwater in need of their advancements and civilization, but...
This is obviously something she hadn't considered, and she goes very still. But she composes herself readily enough, after a moment's thought. ]
...the effort required to maintain an empire so far flung from their own would not be feasible. Not so many, so far away. And there's still the matter of incompatible technologies, magics, life forms that shifted when passing through the worm hole. To send their own people through without the means of withstanding those worlds? It would be too great a risk. If anything, this sickness proves that much.
no subject
He turned to face her a little more, arms crossing over his chest.] Okay, yeah, let’s say that’s true and not, like, something we’re hoping for. I mean, wouldn’t this place be considered too much effort? This is pretty far away and it’s pretty freaking ancient considering what you guys have. Why is this worth the effort?
[His eyes narrowed a little. Chorus. He wouldn’t let anyone touch Chorus, not after everything he and all those kids, his friends, Kimball had been through. Fuck that.]
But hey, let’s say it’s not too much effort and it’s something that they can toootally accomplish. You’d probably be pretty happy if they went to your world and took it over, right? Considering it’d mean the end of war and arts and glitter ad whatever else they got over there, that’s got to be right up with what you want. That is why you’re helping them, right? Because you believe in what they’re doing and you’d want it for your home, too?
[Oh, no, he’s not smiling at all.]
no subject
But now, the short-comings are becoming clearer. ]
My world is full of chaos and conflict as it is. Were we ready to receive such generosity I would not be concerned, but as they are now...
[ It could be something beautiful. She does appreciate the art the Cetagandans make of everything, even the cultivation of life. But not all would see it that way. They would fight, as they did in Rio de Janeiro. They would die.
And I would be responsible for opening that path. It's a chilling thought. ]
no subject
But it was his now, as much as it was Kimball’s or Bitters or Jensen or, ugh, even Palomo. It was home, and he wasn’t sure if the guys agreed, but he would defend it always, mostly so those teenagers didn’t have to.]
But we’re fighting so it doesn’t have to happen again after this. So people don’t have to die. You know that none of those places just give up their home willingly; shit, if someone came into my house and just took it over, I wouldn’t go without a fight. Why would the Cetagandans need to come over with that many resources unless they came for war?
[He sighed, shaking his head.] I love my kid more than anything, more than I love myself. I want my son to have the safest and best life he can, you know? And…that means keeping him away from any more bullshit war that doesn’t need to happen, even if it’s just one goddamn battle.
no subject
[ She stops herself before she can let anything else out. Any more, and something feels it might fracture inside, and the carefully collected contents might spill out. Instead she spins away from Tucker, her fingers flexing at her sides into familiar, soothing patterns.
There is a flaw in the system. She can't ignore that fact now. It's like noticing a crack in the mirror for the first time, your eye ever drawn to it afterwords. And with pressure, it might grow.
That cannot happen. There is too much at stake. ]
I don't wish for anyone to lose anything. But we cannot remain here. And they remain our best hope of returning. Even if what you say is true, what choice do we have?
no subject
[Shit, he hit something here, a well bigger and deeper than he thought; she hadn’t acted like this before. If he was honest, when he normally treaded into making a woman feel something they weren’t ready for, he was far more accustomed to them punching him and putting a gun against his head, not…not this. He watched her fingers and chewed his lip, before looking around.
Shit. Shit.
Walking up to her, he slid a careful, hesitant hand onto her shoulder, purely an attempt to comfort and nothing more.]
Look, I’m with you on that; I want to go home more than anything. [A lot of people need me to--] But…maybe it’s a numbers game. Maybe—
[In the end, they just have to have faith.
Ain’t that a bitch.]
--look, for now until we figure this shit out? We…don’t.
[Fuck, he didn’t mean for his voice to shake on that. ] You know, just for right now.
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Because she's not used to the idea of it. Because she's been raised by people like the Ceta, and to think that they might be looking to dominate all, rather than restoring a former province of theirs? Makes her look at Vishkar's activities in a way she's been trying not to.
They're making lives better. Building a better future. It isn't conquest, it's in the best interests of all.
Would she say that still if such developments came to their doorstep?
But you've been there, Satya. You've lived through it. Vishkar took away your old life and gave you a new one, better than anything that might have waited for you in the slums. Why doubt them now? Why question?
Her eyes lower to her hands. To the gleaming metal that replaced flesh along her left. ]
...if they're making their lives better, then. Perhaps it is for the best.
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She didn’t trust him. He didn’t trust her. Shit, they barely knew each other, so of course she wouldn’t want that. He wouldn’t open up to her, either.
A frown pulled his lips thin at her words. ]
Nothing good comes from a fucking war you don’t have to have! [Yelling. He didn’t mean to yell. Deep breath and calm down and—Nope. Fuck that. War was something to yell about.]
You want to send a war somewhere, to people you’re friends with, people you care about and just, what? Hope they don’t get caught in the crosshairs? You want to say that when their homes are being bombed out?
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[ When she turns, her eyes are narrowed, her expression held tight. She's not yelling, but every word is enunciated, sharp along the edges with barely restrained fury. ]
Do not speak to me as though I don't. You soldiers think you understand what it is to be left in the wake of such destruction, but you are not the only ones who see death and ruin.
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You were in a war, weren’t you? [His brow furrowed as he shifted his weight from one foot to the next, moving. It was like when he figured out shit out with Church being the Alpha.] But hey, if you weren’t a soldier, what were you?
[Because war was made up of three types: soldiers, leaders, and victims. There were few gray areas, sure, like contractors and freelancers and shit, but mostly it just fell into those three, and he could see her as any of them. It was just a matter of figuring out which one.]
You know I’m not here to pick a fight with you, right?
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[ She's certain, she's so certain, because if she isn't? It all falls apart. Not just the Cetagandans' motives, but Vishkar's. Everything she's been raised to believe, and she refuses to let it crumble that easily.
Her lips tighten into a thin line. ]
It's how it has to be. I've seen what it is like without law and order. When I was a child, my family lived in the rubble of what was left of our city after the Omnic Crisis. I would never want anyone to live that way.
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[One hand waved around, quick, frustrated, worried.] This place wasn’t perfect; I will be the first to scream that shit. They need to change, but why not work with them instead dominating them? No one said that they can’t fucking help in a partnership; this shit didn’t have to be all or nothing.
[Black or white. This or nothing. This wasn’t that different than just coming through established countries and just taking them over, starting a war that had no reason to start. She couldn’t’ want that, right?
Especially since he knew what category she fell into now.]
What’s an Omnic Crisis? [Did it matter? It was a war, it sounded like, and all war was the same, in its own fucked up way.]
Look, it sucks what you had to go through, but this shit? This shit is going to leave more rubble, more death. You want more people to go through that? Do you want it to happen to your home a second time?
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[ That should be obvious. That is precisely what she wished to avoid at all costs. But what he said, it made sense. She hadn't been prepared for that, from Tucker of all people.
Because things had been black and white for the longest time. Now there are shadows falling over the white, little shades of gray that she doesn't know what to do with. She wants to do what's right, obviously, and getting them all home was part of that.
To consider the Cetagandans a threat means reexamining her like with Vishkar as a whole. And that is a tall order. She wants the truth, she needs the truth, but what will it cost in the end?
She didn't know what to think. Perhaps speaking to Diya, or one of the others, might put the matter to rest. ]
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Of course she didn't want war, though. Who would? And if the sacrifices needed to be made--
Fuck, was this what Epsilon felt like? Screw this.]
Look, you've got some shit to think through, or at least talk out with someone. That's what I did, and it sure as hell helped. It made me see things that I hadn't noticed before, but Wash is good at that sort of stuff. [He let his weight shift a little, before rolling his shoulders. ]
Whatever you choose to do, just be careful, okay?
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So he gets a long, studying look before she nods, very faintly. Someone to talk to. She should go to Diya, and find out from the source just what they intend on doing. She'd had no reason to question before now, but this...this is a very big, very direct question.
Of course, Byerly would be happy to discuss the matter, she's certain. He knows what the Cetagandans have actually done, during the course of the war. He might be biased, but so far he's seemed trustworthy enough.
Her confliction plays across her face before she frowns faintly. ]
Even if what you say is true, and they could afford to even attempt such a thing...what would you propose we do instead? Remain here indefinitely? Put our trust in the rebellion?
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I know it seems like it, but I don’t know everything. [Because those were questions he had that didn’t have answers yet, situations that he still wasn’t sure how he would tackle. Did they go home anyway? Did they stay until they could find a safer way? Was this a fucking sacrifice for all those people he cared about after all?
Shit. His brow wrinkled as he looked down at his feet, then hers, then back to his.] I put my trust in myself. In Wash. In Carolina. Like, that’s it. I’m with the—dude, is it even a rebellion? Really? It’s their place first.
[Semantics. Whatever.] Look, I trust the people that I know, and I’m okay with that. We’ll figure shit out, one way or another, but…I think it’s okay to not know right now. Like, it’s annoying as fuck, but…it’s okay, too.
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Who does she know? Who does she trust? Sanjay isn't here. She has no one who can tell her definitively who is doing the right thing. What side is the right one to stand on. And it can't just be a matter of whichever is most convenient at the time. She can't stand with the Cetagandans only to falter later. It is all or nothing.
So which is correct?
She misses the mention of Wash, at first -- a name she knows, if only in passing -- in favor of turning back on Tucker with an incredulous look. ]
No, it isn't.
[ How could he say that? ]
Ignorance will only lead to more chaos, and these people will suffer for it. If we do not know what purpose we are meant to serve, then what good are we?
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Fuck purpose! [Purpose. Fuck destiny and molds and all that shit (except for the Chosen One; that one could stick around).] My purpose for this moment? It’s figuring out what is going on and what’s the right thing to do.
[His eyes narrowed, slipping up to her and he didn’t have those answers yet. He’d get them, though. He’d try. And if he could bring them to her, he’d do it as soon as he could, even without the expectation that she would do the same. It didn’t matter.]
Look, I’m the first asshole to just run and do shit and swing around until something hits. I don’t plan things out farther than five seconds from now, because what’s the point? Things could – and usually do - change between now and then.
[He missed having a problem he could just run at and fight. God, it seemed so easy…]
But this is different. This…is a whole other fucking universe. This is my kid, my friends, my family, my home. I think that’s worth really making sure of shit before I make a game plan, don’t you?
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Why her fear was lessened. What it was that she lacked. She stood rigid, steadfast, until he was done, and her tone was miraculously even when she did speak gain. ]
I have no family. No friends. No children. I have my mission to make the world a better place. My purpose is all that matters.
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She's all alone.
and then
She sounds like a Freelancer.]
Okay, sure, I get that. I mean, I'm sure there's someone somewhere that cares about you or you care about, but that's on you, not me. [Because he wasn't there. He didn't know. He thought that had to be the issue, but maybe not, which was tragic if that was the case.] I mean, shit, I know it sounds like an after-school special, but I'd be your friend, even with being on opposite sides here.
[His heart sure was heavy on his sleeve.]
But let's say you're right; your purpose? You think bringing a possible war to a planet is going to make it a better place? That's going to fix things?
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[ Right. Because it's easier to be angry at him than look at this too closely, but right now she's not sure. She's just not so sure of anything. War is never the answer, violence is never a solution, save as a last resort.
But if it brought peace? If it gave humanity the tools to end conflict forever? Would it be worth that? Does she get to decide that? Or will it already be decided for her when the machine is complete? ]
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