[ april i log: if home is where the heart is ]

[barrayarmods]

Who: Everyone
What: The sun finally comes out in proper spring, the labs are full of excitement, and Piotr prepares for real war. Your princess is in another castle.
When: April 1st - 18th
Where: the Barrayaran camp, the Cetagandan base, Riverfall Village
Warnings: TBD

Quick links:
Riverfall
Barrayar: Camp / Missions
Cetaganda: Base / Missions

TIMELINE
4/5 Eavesdropping Eta
4/6 Eavesdropping Sigma
4/8 Eavesdropping Mu
4/10 Mystery Plot
4/11 - 4/12 Resources: Weapons & Equipment

riverfall
The locals are celebrating the much-welcome coming of spring, and it is a warm one. Pleasant mountain breezes carry the far-off scent of the ocean, and bit by bit, the Barrayaran flora is beginning to bloom. Wildflowers spring up all over, adding a lively splash of color to the camp and village on the backdrop of Barrayar's rust-red native flora.

While the villagers aren't exactly hosting a festival, the entire village is pitching in to sow the spring crops, delayed by the cold freeze. But they lost a quarter of their population to the flu, and they're short on hands. So Barrayarans and outsiders alike come to the village to help, the villagers welcoming them into their homes for the night, as it's a half a day's hike between the camp and the village. While it isn't quite summer yet, the village children are already starting to splash around near the waterfall, inviting others by way of playfully splashing water on them as they pass by.

After the battle, however, the mood in the village turns to ash. With another dozen dead to bury, they've lost almost half their population in the last few months, only 48 of them left, and some of their homes were damaged or destroyed by plasma fire during the fight. Mercifully, their fields were untouched, but the village is littered with bodies, the site of a massacre. Barrayaran soldiers carry off their own dead as well as the Cetagandans, while the villagers burn death offerings beyond the fields.

barrayar
Morale is finally on the rise with the brightening weather, especially with their food stores replenished and the full recovery of the flu in the camp. Their numbers are down, but the Cetagandans' are even worse, and the tactical situation has changed. With half the Cetagandans' force either dead or out of commission, a window of opportunity presents itself. Piotr decides that need to recapture Vorkosigan Vashnoi -- if the city weren't occupied, then Micah's kidnapping by the Cetagandans could have been prevented. The base is an easy target right now with its defenses down -- until reinforcements arrive -- and the reconnaissance they'd done on the base's power generators a few months ago will finally be put to use. They may have a chance at using this to drive the occupying forces out of the city, too.

But they don't have a chance of successfully taking hold of the city without the rest of Piotr's army. About a month before the first outsiders arrived, the location of Piotr's previous camp was discovered by the Cetagandans, and the army split in two to return to fallback locations. The plan was always to rendezvous as soon as possible and reunite the army, and they need to rejoin forces now more than ever. Scouts are sent off into the mountains, looking to make contact with their comrades, and they're in luck -- the other half of Piotr's army, currently led by Major Rifkin, one of his missing general staff.

The last few months haven't been kind to the Barrayarans' supply of weapons and equipment. There's no way they could launch a successful assault on the base with their meager supplies, so Piotr sends several parties to make contact with the underground civilian resistance in Vorkosigan Vashnoi and stock up, then smuggle the weapons out of the city.

They're also low on weapons and equipment, which means Piotr is sending several parties back to Vorkosigan Vashnoi to stock up. Piotr and Ezar have contacts in the city, valuable allies who are part of the underground civilian resistance. They can provide the goods -- but one of the teams will be responsible for making sure the weapons are smuggled safely out of the city with the assistance of other members of the civilian resistance.

With Micah in Cetagandan hands, they are no doubt making progress on the Star Gate Project. Piotr, however, is convinced of Micah's sympathies, and their work could still be to their benefit -- or at least, to the outsiders'. And if nothing else, Micah would be the ideal candidate for sabotage should it come down to it. But for now, Piotr is interested in keeping Micah alive. Micah is a personal friend of Prince Xav's as well as a sympathizer, and their care was entrusted to Piotr, a matter of honor. So for now, his orders to his informants are merely to keep a close eye on Micah and their activities, even befriend them, but not to let slip their true sympathies to Barrayar. And now, with Sonia held captive, Piotr wants more than ever to make new informant contacts on the Cetagandans.

camp
Morale is on the rise, steady and surely. People are feeling good, enjoying the sun and warmth, a relief and a blessing after the weeks of cold and near-starvation. And so the soldiers do what Barrayarans always do when they're in good spirits: they drink. Evenings spent around bonfires playing cards or chest, drinking wine and mead, and they're a lot friendlier to the outsiders these days. Even the new ones have proven themselves with all the aid they gave during the epidemic, so if you're invited over for a drink and a game with the soldiers, don't be too surprised.

Of course, sometimes get taken a little too far, and some soldiers start up some drunken swordfight contests, which probably seemed like a great idea at the time. But you know what they say: it's all fun and games until somebody accidentally gets stabbed in the side. Piotr quickly shuts this down, and anyone involved, outsiders included, is likely to receive punishment, probably in the form of manual labor despite any hangover. The camp is down by over thirty men after last month, but on the (slightly morbid) bright side, at least this means that the outsiders finally get two tents to themselves, which is good considering the warming weather.

After the Princess's capture, however, the mood starts to shift back downhill. They're still not remotely ready to launch their attack on the Cetagandan base, let alone rescue Sonia. Both Piotr and Olivia are in vicious spirits; if you thought Piotr's previous demeanor was dour, he was a ray of frigging sunshine in comparison to now. Now he's furious, frustrated, and he has even less patience for time-wasting bullshit than usual.

missions
Overall, the outsiders' contributions to the spring planting on the village farm is helpful and greatly appreciated: they're able to fully sow their fields, and with the weather, they're hoping for a good summer harvest. However, no one should let Carolina around farming equipment ever again.

Hunting parties were sent out to stock up on food stores, with overall success. Some of the outsiders are proving themselves to be pretty competent hunters, much to the Barrayarans' appreciation.

Scouts were sent out to comb through the Dendarii Mountains for the other half of the army. With some help from the outsiders, William and Wash in particular, they're able to make contact with the other half of Piotr's army to coordinate and reunite their efforts.

Several parties were sent into Vorkosigan Vashnoi to make contact with the underground civilian resistance, which has a strong presence there, and smuggle weapons out of the city. There's a dangerous chase by Cetagandan patrols, but ultimately they're able to make it out of the city safetly and successfully return with the goods.

On the 10th, a Cetagandan patrol unexpectedly shows up in Riverfall when Sonia, Gavalas, and several others are there. A fight breaks out across the whole village, resulting in more than 30 casualties, including two Vorkosigan armsmen, and the Cetagandans successfully capture Sonia back to their base.

The unabridged mission results can be found here.

cetaganda
Zahal is furious at Piotr's successful biowarfare attack on his base, however accidental. It's devastated his ranks, and while they still outnumber the Barrayarans about forty to one, it's still a serious blow. The ghem-General decides that they need to force a forfeit, and they'll have to do it as quickly as possible, before Vorkosigan can strike them while they're down. The Cetagandan patrols double down and start swarming the mountains in search of the guerrilla camp.

The Star Gate Project is well underway with Micah on board, who is cooperating for the time being, though not happily. Most of their waking hours seem to be spent in the lab, though they're around the mess at mealtimes. They are certainly interested in the work -- it's totally unprecedented -- but their true sympathies lie with Barrayar, and they are entirely uncomfortable working for the Cetagandans. They're currently focusing their research efforts on possible power supplies and solving the problem of what, exactly, is getting people from the wormhole to the planet surface. To speed things along in the lab, the Cetagandans are asking for more help with their research -- anyone with any relevant knowledge is highly encouraged to step forward. And any informants for the Barrayarans are being instructed to keep an eye on Micah, too, as well as their progress on the project.

The Handmaiden of the Star Crèche is seen about the base, for certain definitions of seen -- she travels exclusive in an opaque luminescent force bubble, often escorted by one or two of her ba servitors. At the beginning of the month, Haut Sei announces the gene therapy trials they're conducting: if you're one of the exotics who lost genetically inherited powers, or were made human from some other type of being entirely, you are invited to participate in a new, experimental kind of gene therapy. Why participate? Well, they're aiming to restore any lost powers you might have had, although there's no guarantee of success, and such an experimental treatment does, of course, come with risks. But what's a little reward without risk?

base
The base feels unusually dreary in the wake of the epidemic, and with thousands of dead, it's impossible to have a service funeral for each of them individually. And so dozens of collective funerals are held, each of them solemn and steeped in ornate ceremony. The Cetagandans take their dead as seriously as anybody, and no nonsense will be permitted during the funerals. The base is only operating at half capacity, with only about 5,000 soldiers ready for active duty. Zahal has put in a request for reinforcements from Vorbarr Sultana, but that request has yet to be answered.

Haut Sei officially assumes her authority on base as Handmaiden of the Star Crèche, although Diya is, in name, still the head of the genetics project. Sei's ba entourage is most often seen in her company, but occasionally Ba Talim, one of her most faithful, may be seen on its own around the base, possibly on errand for its lady.

Diya is somewhat more present around the base now that the plague is over, but she still most frequently found in the labs or the gardens, and often in the company of Haut Sei, always in her force bubble, making Diya look strangely naked in comparison. The ghem around the base who have recovered are marking earnest attempts at brightening the morbid atmosphere that's settled over the base by decorating the barracks areas with fresh art -- literally freshly engineerd botanical creations, or sometimes hybrid biological-zoological creations…ah, Cetagandan art.

Princess Sonia is taken into custody on the 10th and housed in a cell. The Cetagandans offer her relative freedom to move about the base if she'll only give them her parole; she stubbornly and furiously refuses for the first several days, but the misery of being stuck in a cell by herself gets to her and she reluctantly agrees. Micah, the Cetagandans' other captive, though less strictly guarded, can most often be found in the labs and the mess. Although they're getting to know some of the exotics extrauniversals, they're still ill at ease here and not thrilled to be here. It isn't entirely clear, though, whether Micah's long hours in the labs are by their choice or at the Cetagandans' behest.

missions
The mess is shorthanded, and the exotics' help is much appreciated. A few of them even manage to impress the Cetagandan mess officer a little, who clearly takes the craft very seriously. (They all do.) A few of you, though…you can stick to dishwashing duty, thanks.

As is now established tradition among the exotics (because anything done twice on Barrayar is tradition, and they have done this way more than twice), several people go eavesdropping. On the 5th, Kurt and Pearl overhear Zahal receiving an Imperial writ to turn the entire Star Gate Project over to the Star Crèche. On the 6th, Jasper and Symmetra are caught listening in on a very personal conversation between Diya and Sei, and Diya's overambitious hopes for herself. On the 8th, Byerly and Lapis eavesdrop on a curious conversation between Ba Talim and Diya, hinting that the decision to cull Diya may have been somewhat personal after all.

In the labs, things go more or less alright, although things keep breaking or exploding. A plasma power pack explodes in the lab with Jasper and Whirl (which may or may not be Whirl's fault), though Jasper saves Micah from serious injury. In another stroke of spectacularly bad luck, one of the Necklin rods they've been using for testing falls and crashes down into one of the lab areas, and it's thanks to Natasha that Micah sustains anything more than minor injury.

On the 10th, a Cetagandan patrol unexpectedly shows up in Riverfall when Sonia, Gavalas, and several others are there. A fight breaks out across the whole village, resulting in more than 30 casualties, including two Vorkosigan armsmen, and the Cetagandans successfully capture Sonia back to their base.

The unabridged mission results can be found here.

Note: Negri, Diya and Gail are available for threading by request. Please hit up Madi (Negri & Diya) or Ammay (Gail) if you'd like some CR with the ghem-Lieutenant!

Comments

NPCS: CETAGANDA

[barrayarmods]

Sonia Vorbarra (4/10 - 4/18)

[vorbratta]

The last thing Sonia wants anyone to know right now is how terrified she is.

She isn't very good at hiding it, not when it's this powerful. She's never had to be, always had her sister or her brother-in-law or her bodyguard shielding her. Not now. Not this time. This time she's alone, a hostage, a prisoner, however nicely the Cetagandans try to frame it. People had died in that fight in the village. Died trying to protect her. It was a waste -- it was all a waste. She hates this.

a. holding cell (4/10 - 4/14)
The cell is surprisingly generous. It isn't that large, but it's a little less sterile and cold than their usual cells, and with a vividly decorated folding privacy screen. That’s something other prisoners don't get. Another thing other prisoners don't get is a two-man guard just outside her cell around the clock, denying her any chance at real privacy. The privacy to allow herself to be scared and cry.

So instead she tries to do what her sister does, compose herself of stone and iron, make herself impenetrable. But she doesn't know how, has never known how Olivia does it. It's something she learned in the war, and something she made very certain Sonia never did. She tries not to cry, tries to make herself as closed-off as possible and tells every Cetagandan who comes by her cell to piss off, regardless of whether they're bringing her food or come merely to talk. The dirty and blood-spattered clothes she'd been taken in have been since disposed of, and since Sonia refused every civil offer of Cetagandan-style robes -- fitting for her station, they said -- she sits instead in a set of insignia-less Cetagandan fatigues. They fit her just fine, but they still don't look quite right on her. She doesn't want them. She thinks she'd have sat there naked instead, given the choice.

They've offered her relative freedom around the base if she'll give her parole, but she won't give it to them. It drives her mad that they haven't fast-penta'd her yet -- surely they will -- but she refuses to budge at all, as if that will somehow preserve her dignity. But she's miserable alone in this cell, pacing restlessly when she can't maintain the statue treatment, trying not to think about what the Cetagandans might do if Piotr doesn't give them what they obviously want.

b. on parole (4/14 - 4/18)
After four days, she can't take it anymore. The miserable solitude is too much for her to bear, and they still haven't fast-penta'd her, so on her birthday she caves. She gives her parole.

Sonia is still confined to a cell even after she's given her parole, at least at night. She isn't as free to move about as their promise had suggested. She has to ask to be let out, and they'll only let her go as far as the common areas on the base -- the gardens, the mess, the common areas of the barracks, and if she's anywhere outside, she's being escorted by guards. They mostly leave her be inside the common areas, though there are always guards at the entrance.

So the Princess meanders around sometimes, mostly the gardens and the mess, with a dour silence about her that's as ill-fitting as the fatigues. She has a face made for smiling, but here, on this base, she's lonely and quiet and scared. She's always been curious about the outsiders on the Cetagandan side -- the exotics, as the ghem call them -- but after her experience with Tarn in the village, she's a little hesitant. She has no idea what the rest of them are like.

10th/11th

[natalia_vdova]

Natasha wants to reach out to her, almost needs to, but she isn't sure how. Because everything in her heart tells her this is her fault, for not stopping it, for not killing everyone that tried to touch her. And so for the very first day, fresh from the battle, she mostly gives Sonia her space. She asks the guards when they come off shift about the status of the prisoner with as much appropriate curiosity as she can manage. In the dark she even leaves her some of the Barrayaran candies she'd picked up in Riverfall and a flower (purple hyacinth, for apology), not sure what else to do.

The next day is when she finally approaches her. The Cetagandan robes and facepaint she so often wears instead traded for the black bodysuit she hadn't worn since her arrival, no delicate hairstyle, just pulled back in a ponytail. But right now she's just-- fuck fitting in. When she visits Sonia it's as an Exotic, since that's the only ground she has to stand on. Only ground she wants to stand on right now.

"Lady Sonia--" Her voice catches because the question are you okay is so obviously fucking absurd, she shakes her head and abandons the attempt. "I wanted to see how you were," she offers instead, her smile a little sad. Her words are Barrayaran, her accent cleaned up, and right now she's very careful with how she speaks. It's not just an attempt at something a little more familiar, but the only illusion of privacy Natasha knows how to offer. She's sure the Cetagandans can translate it if it came down to it, but at least she can pretend.

[vorbratta]

The little gifts make Sonia wary, even a little angry. She assumes Byerly must have left them -- who else? -- and that only makes her grit her teeth in frustration. She hates this.

Natasha wasn't the one who had pulled her in, but Sonia still recognizes her from the fight. She tries to go as cold as she can -- she tries to do it like her sister does, but she's starting to feel more like glass than ice -- and gives Natasha look that's just hurt, angry, afraid, miserable.

She flinches at Natasha's voice in surprise. Russian was the last thing she was expecting to hear from this woman. She doesn't know if that makes her feel at ease or not.

"It's Princess," Sonia says flatly, in her own Barrayaran-accented Russian. She never cares enough to correct people on mode of address, she hardly wants to be Princess much these days. But that's all she is here, and it's the only armor she has, however brittle. "If you're going to address me like that, it's Princess. Not Lady."

on parole

[mirrortide]

At the first hint of her powers coming back, Lapis Lazuli has been nothing short of an absolute menace. She's giddy even when she's suffering through the worst headache of her life, and when she's not in the middle of one, she's showing off.

By splashing water right into peoples faces. It's not much, it's about all she's capable of, but Lapis figures the more she uses her power the better she's going to get anyway. That's just how it works.

So Sonia, who is likely minding her own business, is suddenly sprayed with a small jet of water.

And Lapis is howling in laughter in response, nearly keeled over.

"I'm back!"

THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF A BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP

[vorbratta]

Sonia is uncharacteristically turned inward as she walks toward the mess, still trying to find the place her sister draws all that ironclad will from. So when she suddenly gets a face full of water, it throws her completely off guard, and she stumbles back a step in surprise, one hand immediately going to wipe her face.

She's so startled she can't even be angry, and she ought to be at someone laughing at her, with how miserable she's been, but -- this isn't a ghem lady, this is one of the outsiders, and she's...just laughing like she's having a good time. Her words don't make any sense to Sonia, so she just stares at Lapis as she wipes the water off her face and says, articulately, "What?"

[vorrutyer]

He slips in past the guard. I might be able to do something, is his excuse. We knew each other back at the Barrayaran camp. When he comes inside, he's dressed identically to her - plain Cetagandan fatigues, nothing more elaborate than that - and his expression is nothing more, nothing less, nothing worse than a weary little half-smile.

He needs to get her to cooperate. Just a little. To abandon that Vorish pride enough to be able to move freely, to talk with people. His reasons are brutally unsentimental: Sonia is charming, genuine, authentic, a propaganda coup in human form. If she moves amongst the exotics, they will be swayed. They...are also personal: Sonia in captivity, confined to a room, will die. She needs more than that. She needs better than that.

"Hello," he offers her. His voice is quiet. He freezes all emotions within himself. They will be, he knows, a disadvantage. Emotions will imperil him. Them.

[vorbratta]

Sonia doesn't look up right away when someone enters the room. Guards come in and out often enough that that alone doesn't startle her. It's the voice that does.

Her head jerks up, stomach suddenly clenching. She knew he was here, knew she'd see him eventually -- but somehow, she didn't think it would be so soon. She thought he'd be too coward to face her. He certainly was coward enough to leave her. And here he is, in her space with nothing but hello.

She has hardly sorted out the sick tangle of feelings about Byerly and his betrayal by now. She still doesn't know how angry or hurt or upset she is, just that she is all of them, in some proportion or another. She feels her throat go hot and seize, frozen where she sits on her cot and just stares back at him with all that hurt and fear and wary anger in her eyes. She doesn't even realize she's holding her breath.

Holding cell 4/12 or 4/13

[sparkwhisperer]

I few days pass before the adrenaline from the fight eventually dies. The excitement and chaos and bloodshed of the battle are familiar enough, but the edge never dulls. It's an almost addictive sensation.

Curiosity gets the better of him as he finds himself wandering into the holding cells. What had they done with the princess that he'd caught them? It's easy to find her. She's the only cell with posted guards.

"You're still here. I wasn't sure what the Cetagandans planned for you, but rotting in a cell didn't seem to be their plan." He completely ignores the guards, stare piercing. His hands tuck quietly behind his back as he relaxes into a calm posture.

"I suppose you must be rather relieved that you're still alive."

HERE WE GO

[vorbratta]

Sonia's been miserable since she got here. No, she's been miserable since before that, since Miles had fallen and Tarn had taken her captive and she could see all that had happened, all the death and destruction brought down on her behalf. It's stupid. No one -- nothing that awful should have been for her sake alone.

The guards posted at her cell are there just as much to protect her as to cage her, she knows that, but when she sees Tarn all she remembers is his hands around her throat, and she goes deer-in-the-headlights on her cot, frozen. Her breath stills in her chest. For one very long, very painful moment, she is afraid.

But then the paralysis fades and she breathes out, slowly, her expression shuttering. She clasps her hands in her lap, shoulders back, staring right back at Tarn. He'd done the Cetagandans' dirty work already, and he'd enjoyed it, too -- Sonia knows a sadist when she sees one -- but he can't hurt her anymore, not in here. The Cetagandans need her in one piece if she's to be of any use to them at all. So she swallows and lifts her chin, giving Tarn the coldest gaze she can manage. She wishes she knew just how her sister does it.

"And I suppose you don't know a thing about why I'm here." She doesn't speak very loudly, concealing the parts of her voice that are still raw from crying, but pointedly.

on parole

[symmetricks]

When she envisions the natives of this land, she had not expected people like Byerly. And she certainly hadn't expected this 'princess' that has been brought back from their latest mission. A bold move, but one that places a great deal of negotiating power in their hands.

Always preferable to out-and-out violence. Ignoring how many must have died to secure her, it still might spare thousands more if used correctly.

Satya's eyes follow her through the garden for a time before she sees fit to approach, composed as ever, in the modest robes the Cetagandans have afforded her with her interest in their stylings. "Have you been inside one of their facilities before?"

Questions before niceties, apparently. But she's trying to figure things out along the way.

[vorbratta]

Sonia finds it near-impossible to relax here. She's been tense for days. Living in the war camp had never been easy, but it had been...home. Safe, in its own way. But here she hardly feels safe at all.

The gardens are at least a change of scenery, but still so utterly Cetagandan that Sonia can't possibly forget where she is. She'd never been to any of the Cetagandan worlds before, no, but as a child she'd been to the Cetagandan Embassy on Beta Colony. Their style is...distinct.

Sonia jerks just slightly at being approached, looking quickly at the other woman. Cetagandan clothes, but no face paint. She must be another one of the outsiders. Or exotics, as the Cetagandans like to call them. Of course.

"No," Sonia says, shortly, wary. This woman hasn't done anything just yet, but Tarn had left a...bad first impression. She rubs a hand over the healing cut on her forehead where he'd struck her with the stunner. It's still a little bruised.

B

[moneytwin]

Anyone would be hesitant after meeting Tarn, to be fair.

Vex has done her best to step lightly, to be Just Off enough to keep the Ghem curious while cheerfully doing her best to mix with her fellow 'exotics'. Outsider really is a better term, though, and she's heard that the scientist who was recently escorted in has another.

But she's not here to talk science. Or magic. Not today, anyway.

She'd heard that the captured princess was being allowed to walk outside confinement, which seemed a pretty stupid idea to her mind, but did allow Vex a potential opportunity. One she wasn't about to waste. Armed with a plate of cookies - some spiced with how the Cetas liked it, and others with what she'd been told was a Barrayaran-preferred flavour - she bears down on the girl when she appears in the mess hall, on one of the less busy days.

"I know it's tempting not to eat, but every little helps to keep your strength up," she informs Sonia, before sliding into the seat across. It wasn't taken, after all.

[vorbratta]

Sonia just raises her eyebrows at first. A lot of strangers just sort of dropping in on her lately. Not just the outsiders, either -- there've been plenty of nosy ghem coming to chat, to pry, who she has largely ignored -- but one or two of the outsiders have been...pleasant. Sonia is still guarded about them on the whole, and she regards Vex with a sort of default wariness. She's wary of everyone here, keenly aware of how alone she is. Also...yeah, Tarn.

"I haven't been starving myself," Sonia points out to the stranger, perhaps a little bit petulantly, although it's true she doesn't have much of an appetite today. "Just not very hungry right now. Can I help you with something?"

It sounds so ridiculous coming out of a prisoner's mouth, in this place, but it was the politest way she could think to phrase what do you want.

Byerly - post-parole

[vorbratta]

Sonia can't really call the camera a gift. It's more...a concession. A favor, maybe. Something to keep their pet hostage happy, or at least less miserable. Sonia didn't know the ghem lady who'd delivered it from a hole in the ground, and her knee jerk reaction had been one of general dislike. Beyond being Cetagandan, the woman was...a little cloying, prying, and she looked at Sonia like she was examining her under a magnifying glass, looking for defects. Sonia wonders if ghem-Soren had only come to bring it herself as an excuse to gawk at her. She'd been half-inclined to refuse the camera out of spite, on principle, whatever, but ultimately she doesn't, for the same reason she caved and gave her parole.

It had to be Byerly. It might not have come from him directly, no -- a favor from that woman, maybe, who had seemed so curious about her artistic ability in that uniquely Cetagandan brand of condescension -- but it had to have started with him. No one else on this base knows that much about her. And it's for that alone that she almost doesn't pick up the camera at all out of spite. She's still feeling so...so mixed up about everything.

But she does anyway. It's a digital model, nearly state of the art even if it is relatively simple, and it had been a little bit of a blow to her pride that she'd needed instruction in its use, but she grew up largely galactic and it doesn't take her long to figure the rest on her own. It's not nearly as simple as her own, but it has one thing on her camera: it does color.

She doesn't know what will happen to the pictures she takes. She hasn't been given access to any kind of development studio. Glanced at and then discarded, probably. She'll take it anyway.

She's asked to be let out so she can have some time in the gardens to herself. The guards, mercifully, generally leave her to her own devices when indoors, not hovering any closer than the entrance. Sonia finds herself perched on the low-slung branches of a massive, sprawling magnolia tree in bloom near the center of the gardens, her feet braced against the trunk to keep her steady while she twists and leans to try different angles, playing with the camera's focus settings. Close-ups of flowers, she's decided, are the cheeriest thing she could do for herself. No flowers in her hair for her birthday this year; she wonders if the Cetagandans would notice if she picked any for herself.

[vorrutyer]

If he'd been wise, he wouldn't have spoken to her. If he'd been wary, he wouldn't have spoken to her. But he is neither. Honestly, what kind of spy doesn't pay attention to his surroundings? Especially to the point where he simply blunders into the radius of someone he'd like to actively avoid? Because he knows he cannot trust himself around her, knows that to be around her is nothing but pain...

But he sees a pair of feet, and he doesn't think anything of it, and so he wanders too close. And by the time he realizes, he's at a distance where it would be painfully awkward to wander away again. So instead, he stands, trying to pause for long enough that it appears he was simply admiring the magnolia before going to move on again.

I threatened you with cute things!

[natalia_vdova]

[Natasha shows up with something a bit more direct than gifts of candy. She's mostly there to check on Sonia, but also... well. Wash has told her about her birthday, so it had really just settled her mind on an idea she'd been toying with.

The fatigues Sonia wears didn't fit her, and she seemed uncomfortable in them. There are Cetagandan robes, of course, but Natasha has something at least a little bit better than that. She knows there's a sort of agency that comes in being able to say that something is yours, even if it's a shawl or a pair of shoes you can only wear when no one is looking. Natasha doesn't have much of it here herself, but she has enough to share - Sonia seems like she can probably wear one of Nat's dresses.

So there's a small package in brightly hued paper, adorned with a flower from the garden.]

I brought you something.

Micah Niadem

[withanh]

Micah has mostly been trying to keep their head down. They're being civil, pleasant even, as much as they can despite the tensions -- they need to be able to work with the ghem scientists, after all, and the research won't go any quicker if they put up resistance. It doesn't change how uneasy they are to be here, or how aware they are that they're being forced to tread on thin ice here. At least they're making friends among some of the exotics extrauniversals, even if some of them are…sort of off-putting.

Most of their waking hours are spent in the labs, and some days they're looking a little tired. But they do take breaks from time to time to take walks outside in the nicer weather, or sit in the gardens. They tend to go to the mess when there are fewer soldiers, when it's less crowded, when they might endure fewer remarks of any variety in their direction.

But as much as Micah doesn't like being here, they'd rather make the best of a bad situation, so if anyone offers friendly conversation, they'll gladly take it.

[spartan051]

Micah will have been in the base almost two weeks before they would spot the tall soldier who’d been a part of the squad who had ‘escorted’ them to the base. Kurt didn’t know the full details of the op he’d participated in but he’d gleamed enough to know Micah hadn’t been happy to come with them even if they did not put up a fight when they showed up.

He’d had little interaction with the doctor during the return to the base but instead had been working with their ghem escorts to make sure they managed to clean extraction. From the sounds of things, there had been some hang-ups but at the end of the day, they had succeeded in their mission. After that, his part to play had been over but there was a niggling part of him that couldn’t just put it to rest. He wanted to return home, needed to return home to make certain his people were okay and while Kurt’s own moral compass had never pointed true north, he couldn’t help the whisper of guilt that said he might have played a part in imprisoning the good doctor.

That they were now being press-ganged so to speak into working on the project that might help lead him home. The moral quandary there was undeniable but it didn’t make his actions any less unsavory. He’d done unspeakable things before and would no doubt continue to make the hard choices if it was called upon but he couldn’t just bury his head in the sand and pretend that things here were okay. That there wasn’t something seedy going on underneath the surface so one day, when he noticed Micah wandering through the gardens, the Spartan approached them carefully with his expression and body language suitably neutral and non-threatening.

“Doctor,” A question hung on the tip of his tongue but he couldn’t quite force it out. He wanted to ask if they were being treated well but instead, he forced himself to stick with that neutral greeting first so as to better gauge their reaction to his presence. In truth, he had no idea if doctor was even the correct title to use. The Cetagandan system was still unwieldy for him and he was still trying to figure out how the rankings and caste systems worked. "May I speak with you for a moment?"

[symmetricks]

It's when they're walking in the gardens when Symmetra runs into them. Well, 'run' isn't precisely the word. She approaches with all her usual poise and grace, but with purpose in her expression.

"It is good to see that they are allowing you some respite," she notes as she approaches. It's not the most awkward attempt at feigned idle banter, but it's clearly not what she's here to discuss, either.

Haut Sei/Ba Talim

[genaesthetics]

Now that the quarantine is over and the base is in recovery, the Handmaiden of the Star Crèche, the Haut Sei, is more or less in public view, seen about the base, but especially the science/medical complex. She is always cloaked in her iridescent force bubble, hovering low on the ground, and usually accompanied by at least one or two of her ba servitors. It is generally understood etiquette that one does not address a haut lady directly, but through one of her servitors, or, if present, a haut lord, unless invited to do so. She is, however, not so aloof as to refuse conversation with the outsiders, which to the ghem appears pretty damned talkative for a haut lady.

Much like many of the ghem, the haut lady spends a considerable part of her leisure time in the gardens. She can sometimes be found in some of the ghem art rooms, but presumably as an observer only.

a. gene therapy
Those who have submitted to the gene therapy trials are to be examined every few days, sometimes to do additional treatments, always to monitor. Tests upon tests -- it depends on the nature of your treatment, but one thing is for sure: they have no shortage of data to collect.

Both the Haut Sei and Lady Diya are present at all sessions, although they seem to largely work independently. If you want an excuse to chat with the haut, this is probably a good time.

b. ba talim
Ba Talim is usually seen in the company of its haut lady, but the ba have a degree of their own autonomy. This particular ba can be found just about anywhere, seemingly on errands of one kind or another for Haut Sei, but it seems to have leisure time to itself on occasion.

When Ba Talim is with Diya and Sei, it's not hard to tell that it has just as deep a history with them as they do with each other. The ba are literally engineered to be loyal to the haut, but that doesn't mean they can't yield interesting information if asked the right questions.

the thing, the bad thing, the terrible awful thing

[natalia_vdova]

Natasha reports for her gene therapy sessions with crisp punctuality, but those are not the only sessions she has with the Haut ladies. An extension on the sessions she'd started with Diya, which aren't threatening on the surface. Not enough to keep Natasha from showing up, at least.

She arrives at the lab as punctually as she does to any other appointment, in one of the robes that had been so generously given to her when she'd started expressing an interest in ghem customs. "Lady Diya," she addresses with a slight bow of her head. She doesn't address Sei directly, fitting to convention, though there's the same polite nod of acknowledgement.

She doesn't realize what the sessions actually are, of course. She still thinks they're tied to the work with the gene therapy.

Amai ghem-Soren

[ghemsweetscent]

It's clear that Lady Diya has mixed feelings about the Handmaiden's presence on base, but Amai can't quite figure out why. Certainly there's...something between the two of them she doesn't understand – the haut can be so very obscure about themselves – and Diya is doubtless as anxious as Amai is to keep their illicit activities under wraps, but still. The Handmaiden, here on the Ninth Satrapy. It's a dream for precocious young Amai, who, despite her caste, aims to serve the Star Crèche as much as she can.

a. killer curiosity
Amai keeps managing to appear wherever the Haut Sei is, or at least as much as she can, an excuse to put herself in the Handmaiden's presence as much as possible. Or failing that, if she meanders across any stray ba, she tries to chat them up, gain a little more insight. She's curious about whatever it is between Diya and Sei, and she wants to know how she can best get herself in the Handmaiden's good graces. She has always idolized Diya, but if the haut wife is a sinking ship...well.

But with their two new guests on base – both the Betan scientist and the Barrayaran princess – Amai's curiosity spreads. The scientist shies away from conversation with her, and the princess is largely confined to a cell, and seems ill-fittingly dour. Perhaps Amai will strike up a conversation with the girl, but she hardly seems receptive to it. Amai is curious, at the very least, as to the extent of her genetic engineering.

So she's prying and needling around for information wherever she can get it, striking up innocuous-enough conversations with that charming little smile. Have some dirt to share with Amai? By all means, please dump it on her. Or feed her complete lies. She might not even know the difference.

b. rays of the rising sun
Amai spends many of her off-duty hours in the gardens working on a personal project. It's quite large, actually, climbing most of the way up the back wall, beyond the fountain. It's clearly a work in progress, the vinelike branches still spreading up the trellis, and so its overall shape is somewhat difficult to discern. But its individual parts are somewhat more coherent. The vines curl and spread in elaborate patterns, and flowers blooms along their lengths in groups, each a different color. On a closer look, they can be identified as asters -- but in colors no one's ever seen an aster before. The vines themselves are ridged with what looks like some kind of delicate fin that sways softly with the slightest breeze, a shimmering dark blue. They look more like koi fins than anything botanical, and with the groups of flowers set over them, it looks something like a night sky.

In the center is an elaborately crafted flower sculpture of the Star Crèche's screaming bird insignia in minute detail. And though it is rooted to the rest of the sculpture, it seems to move at times -- the slightest flutter of its wings.

Amai admires her own work for a long moment with a pleased smile, and then she opens the box she'd brought with her, a pristine tool set. She's dressed in robes meant for this exact purpose -- plainer, the fabric a little hardier, and her hair is pulled back in a relatively simple fan bun, but still a very Cetagandan look.

c. wildcard

a+b

[vorrutyer]

Byerly steps in beside Amai. He's not in his fatigues today - he's wearing Cetagandan-style clothes appropriate to his station, the season, and the weather, with a harmonious scent overlaid on it. It's clumsy by Amai's standards, no doubt, but it's not a bad application of the fashion-arts Amai has taught him.

He's buttering her up. Oh, yes.

And, indeed, laying it on even thicker, when he sees that sculpture, he murmurs, "Good heavens." And he studies it silently a moment, appreciating it without the distraction of speech. Honestly...It really is remarkable. A lot of the time, he just doesn't get Cetagandan art, but this really is exquisite.

Zahal ghem-Zefyst

[artsofwar]

While anyone would be hard pressed to pick out an emotion on Zahal’s face beneath the facepaint, there is an air of simmering annoyance and anger underneath the genteel face. But he is, as always, polite with those who come to him. He can be found, oddly enough, in the library on some days, picking out book discs of famous Cetagandan art. Ask him about it, although his tastes tend towards poetry and scents rather than visual art.

Late at night, if one is careful, one can find him in the training area. Whatever the face paint and robes hide, this time he is dressed in a military uniform like the other Cetagandans; and this time he is practicing with the available arson that they have on the targets

Well, if by practicing one could consider taking them out at various ranges with an astonishing precision and accuracy with all. The plasma arc leaves the best results, having completely melted off the head of a target as something near terrifying crosses his face under the paint before that too, fades.

It seems a good time to bother him, doesn't it?