barrayarmods: (Default)
For Barrayar mods ([personal profile] barrayarmods) wrote in [community profile] forbarrayar2016-12-19 09:43 pm

[ january i log: barrayar ]

Who: Everyone
What: Arrival on Barrayar and what follows
When: January 2nd - January 17th
Where: Barrayaran guerrilla camp
Warnings: None (at the moment)


welcome to barrayar.
It's the dark of night when you come to in the foothills. Snow on the ground, chill winter wind whistling. A steep mountain range towers just ahead, its peaks illuminated by the light of two moons. Whatever you last remember, it isn't how you got here, and you feel oddly jetlagged, slightly queasy.

And you're not alone. There are nine other people close by, all looking equally lost and confused. But before any of you have a chance to figure out what's going on, the soldiers arrive.

They're dressed in weather-worn green uniforms, bearing swords and bows, and they surround you immediately, poised to attack. But they quickly realize you're not their enemy, the ones they call Cetagandans. They're just as confused as you are, but rather than hanging around to puzzle it out, they start shepherding you toward their camp in the mountains while it's still dark. There's a war on, they say, and you unlucky bastards have just been dropped right smack in the middle of it.

the guerrilla camp
It's a few hours' hike through the mountains to get to their hidden camp, set up in a clearing framed by dense, hard forestry and backed against a rock face. Daylight is finally dawning when you make it there. You and your fellow sudden arrivals are ushered to an empty tent on the far end of the camp, just big enough to fit all ten of you. You can't help but notice they've posted guards all around it. You aren't under arrest – they just don't know what else to do with you.

You are able to glean, from hearsay and what the soldiers are willing to share with you, that you are on a planet called Barrayar, and this is their home, and ten years ago they were attacked without warning by the Cetagandan Empire. They've been holed up in the mountains fighting against their invaders ever since, outgunned and outmanned, but scoring little victories where they can. They don't tell you much more than that. Some dialect of Russian seems to be one of the predominant languages of the camp, but for the most part they all speak English too, if with an accent. They're gruff and wary, and if you look a little less – or more – than human, they'll eye you with suspicion, maybe even make obscure hex signs at you that seem intended to ward off evil or disease. But they aren't hostile to you, not unless you start something with them.

the outsiders' tent
It's not in the greatest shape, but if you look around the camp, the rest aren't much better off. It's cramped, but you've at least been provided with bedrolls and heavy wool blankets to ward off the frozen chill, and if you're in need of clothing, they'll provide it, although it probably hasn't been washed in…a while. The soldiers bring you food at mealtimes -- not very good food, mostly tough meat and groats, and they keep you your own campfire, just to keep you warm. They've also hastily dug you your own latrine area at the edge of the perimeter, just behind the treeline. No private bathroom stalls in this outfit, unfortunately. The entire camp seems tense and wary, and the soldiers are alert, but they don't talk much. You could try sneaking past them, but you probably won't get far.

Well, at least you've got each other for company: the outsiders on Barrayar.
shri: (» red orange yellow flicker beat)

[personal profile] shri 2017-01-04 03:28 am (UTC)(link)
[ She chuckles, low. It's nothing she'd hold against him, she has done the same. ]

A silver tongue makes the best use of a golden opportunity, I commend you.
dendarii: (aloof)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-04 03:33 am (UTC)(link)
I like the sound of that. Remind me to use it next time.

Anyway, I went on a number of adventures after that. Thirteen years of that life, and now I'm back home again.
shri: (» we said our dreams will carry us)

[personal profile] shri 2017-01-04 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
[ Tap, tap, tap goes her finger. Watching him again, though this time - it's more contemplative, assessing frankly. ] I do have to wonder, if this is your home, why are you in here with us?
vorrutyer: (punchable eyebrow)

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-04 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
What about under your skirts? he wants to ask. Under most circumstances, he would - that sort of comment gets a laugh more often than a slap, and honestly, both reactions are equally enjoyable. But, well...He's not going to push his luck too much. This is also the most enjoyable conversation he's had so far, and he doesn't want it to end in a flood of sudden propriety.

So instead, he holds out his hand for the little bit of sweetness she'd taken from her pocket. And he makes a piteous face, begging for that as well.
dendarii: (frakkingcylon 134)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-04 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
[ A question he's gotten many times before already. By now the answer rolls smoothly off that silver tongue. ]

Because I was pulled in just the same. I was several wormhole jumps away when it took me.
shri: (» now people talk to me)

[personal profile] shri 2017-01-04 03:48 am (UTC)(link)
[ A hum. ] Then why not tell them you are on their side, I am sure they would appreciate an Admiral of such note to their cause, for surely you must have a stake in this war?
dendarii: (TW_S1_E3_0539)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-04 03:52 am (UTC)(link)
[ Ha. Damn good questions, all of those. He's going to have to keep an eye on her. ]

Because Barrayarans are notoriously xenophobic, even to their own. Especially to someone like me. And I guarantee you none of them have heard of my mercenary fleet.
shri: (» we are higher than the sparrow)

[personal profile] shri 2017-01-04 04:22 am (UTC)(link)
[ She's nothing but a keen edge, when she wants to be. ]

Their mistake. [ she shrugs. a leader that let their own bigotry get in their way was foolish to her. ]
dendarii: (Default)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-04 04:23 am (UTC)(link)
Mm, well. That's a tide I don't care to fight until I have a boat, so to speak.

[ He knows he has to prove his worth to Piotr first. That's his only chance to actually help his planet come through this. ]

What about yourself?
changeth: (♛ I'll give you a love that cannot last;)

[personal profile] changeth 2017-01-04 04:27 am (UTC)(link)
Curious that should be the case.

[ he sounds wondering, but not disbelieving -- there's no reason to be. ]

Does that mean you know of this war? These Cetagandans?
dendarii: (Default)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-04 04:28 am (UTC)(link)
[ Miles nods at that. ]

Indeed I have. And I've seen what they've done to other world up close and personal. They are wildly dangerous enemies.
changeth: (Default)

[personal profile] changeth 2017-01-04 04:31 am (UTC)(link)
[ his head cants, expression sobering somewhat. he makes a gesture with one hand to indicate he'd like to hear more, saying, ]

Go on.

[ all too better suited for a throne room, really, rather than speaking to another as equals; but he doesn't even know he does it. ]
dendarii: (bg059)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-04 04:35 am (UTC)(link)
[ Ha. This one's used to power; he's heard this tone out of his father or Gregor, the former Regent and current Emperor respectively. Nobility at the absolute least, he figures. ]

They'll nuke the major population centers. [ Vorkosigan Vashnoi first, if he remembers his history correctly. His district's ruined capital. ] Likely craft plagues tailored to kill a decent portion of us, depending on their goals. Subjugate the rest.
shri: (» but if we go)

[personal profile] shri 2017-01-04 05:04 am (UTC)(link)
Much the same as any woman, I suspect. I had a father and a mother - when I was thirteen, I was married.

[ She says it like it was someone else's life, and truthfully, it did feel like it now. A time before the blackwater, when things had been easier, as simple as what she describes now. ]

When war came, I fought.
dendarii: (solpadeine129)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-04 05:06 am (UTC)(link)
[ Miles blinks at that. Barrayar is many things, but marrying that young? Unusual outside of arranged marriages. ]

And that's all? Surely there's more to it.
changeth: (Default)

[personal profile] changeth 2017-01-04 05:09 am (UTC)(link)
[ the signs of nobility are small, but unmistakable, wound up in his demeanor and clothes, finely made though simple, and pure silver rings on his fingers. he's blind to it all, naturally.

"nuke" isn't a word he's familiar with, but plague and subjugate are unmistakable. reprehensible, too, and his opinion of such methods is clear on his face. his father was an aggressor, a conqueror, but his methods were (surely) honorable. his goals were (surely) just. he brought unity and glory to camelot, and he'd never stoop to such lows. what arthur is, he isn't quite sure yet; a different creature altogether, desirous of peace for his people -- for, in fact, all peoples.

even these, inhabiting a strange place of twin moons and with enemies who've descended from the very sky. no wonder they'd been so surprised and wary of a sudden arrival of strangers. ]


So they must be stopped. [ then -- ] Of course.

[ diplomacy is clearly no option, never is with the likes of these. and if their abilities seem to smack of sorcery, then so much the easier to cast them as villains. ]

Small wonder these people have fought for a decade against such a foe.
shri: (» I'll never be more)

[personal profile] shri 2017-01-04 05:31 am (UTC)(link)
[ It's not so common, anymore, to be so young, but for a royal marriage, a girl must be made of her future household as early as possible. To learn out how it worked and what her duties would be.

Some husbands would take advantage of that, luckily for her, Gangadhar did not.
]

None of those details are pleasant, I am afraid. [ She smiles, but it's strained, deflecting perhaps, let him assume, but it wasn't a lie, either. ] I bore him a son, but he died after a few months, my husband died shortly after that. His responsibilities fell to me.
Edited 2017-01-04 05:55 (UTC)
littlemissfutility: (38)

[personal profile] littlemissfutility 2017-01-04 12:38 pm (UTC)(link)
"You'd have to be crazy to want to be at war." Hiding out in tents among huge drifts of snow and eating nothing but oats and mutton--it's been okay so far, but ten years of it?--while other people try to shoot at you sounds like a terrible way to spend a decade. Maybe the Cetagandans are enjoying themselves more, but they're also trying to steal an entire planet out from the people it belongs to. It's not even a warm planet. Not here or now, anyway. "Who's winning?"
dendarii: (solpadeine17)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-04 01:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[ And they'll fight a decade more if we can't speed this up, thinks Miles wearily. He'll be forty by the end of the Occupation if it follows previous history. God, he probably won't even live to see his own time, all things considered ...

No point in thinking about that right now. If they were pulled here, then surely they can be put back. ]


Just so. The Cetagandans are quite dangerous in this context. [ A beat. ] Less so when you are a planet on equal footing with them, but ... this is not the case, I assure you. Barrayar is considered to be a remote backwater.

[ Even in his own time, much less now. ]
dendarii: (TW_S1_E3_0539)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-04 01:21 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Responsibilities. Her fine if worn clothes. The youthful arranged marriage ... And she'd mentioned her people earlier. Nobility, surely enough; the only question is how much. ]

What responsibilities were those? [ He says, dropping his voice a little lower. ] How large of a country did you rule over?

[ He doesn't quite think she's that high up, but - might as well start big. ]
shri: (» you were sharp as a knife to get me)

[personal profile] shri 2017-01-04 02:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, [ she begins flippantly, distractedly, like she's playing up to the notion when he's assumed too much. ] nothing less than a kingdom, naturally. What makes you think so?
dendarii: (TW_S1_E2_0447)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-04 02:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Miles pushes on, driven by his own curiosity. Nevermind he's likely betraying some intimate knowledge of his own. ]

You talked about your people earlier. And you have the bearing of nobility. I'd say nothing less than a queen of some kind.
traitorous: (BLAH BLAH BLAH.)

[personal profile] traitorous 2017-01-04 03:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Maine vaguely remembers Zarya from the foothills, her strong voice cutting through the darkness despite the ringing pain in his head and ears. He'd only gotten a second's glimpse of her before the soldiers appeared, and after that, he'd been a little too busy launching himself into a frenzied, uncoordinated attack to notice anything else.

Still, it's hard to forget a woman who's nearly as large as him.

At her question, he rolls his shoulders back in a shrug. Food is food, even if its shitty food; he'll take whatever they give him. He instead leans forward to write a series of symbols in the ground — clumsy Cyrillic, the word for Russian, followed by a question mark.
vorrutyer: (or ugly)

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-04 03:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, don't call me sir. Which is a repeated command. Illyan fired you for incompetence, didn't he?
dendarii: (Torchwood_106_0058)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-04 03:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Miles just gives a wide shrug. He's enjoying Byerly's annoyance too much. ]

I'm told I'm very hard on my COs.

Page 19 of 54