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.
dendarii: (frakkingcylon 236)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-02 08:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Miles just gestures at. Well. All of this. And then back down at himself. ]

No Vor lord from this time period would keep me. And even if they did, I would be incredibly distinctive. I'd be ridiculously suspicious from the start.
vorrutyer: (shaaaahhhhts)

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-02 08:47 pm (UTC)(link)
And?

[ He settles back against the crate behind his back. ]

You want to pretend to be from this time...why?
dendarii: (bg068)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-02 08:49 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Miles just stares back at his distant cousin. ]

Picture my grandfather interrogating us.
littlemissfutility: (06)

[personal profile] littlemissfutility 2017-01-02 08:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Nice to meet you, too. [And it is. Talking to him, at least so far, feels more normal than just about anything that's happened since she blinked and found herself dropped into wintertime.

When he glances down at her cast, she shrugs. Between it and the stitches across her cheek and forehead, she probably wouldn't win Homecoming Queen, but none of it stopped her from working. Or killing, for that matter. It's not so bad.]


Getting better. [Talking about her probably won't help either of them, though. He's the one who knows the planet and the kinds of people who live on it.] Where did you live before?
vorrutyer: (annoyed and/or stressed)

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-02 08:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He looks to the side and pitches his voice a little lower. This reference to his secret role should not, after all, be overheard. ]

Well. We live to serve.
dendarii: (solpadeine110)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-02 08:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Miles is still concerned, okay. But he's willing to drop the matter for now.

As for that question, well ... she's unlikely to know any details that would contradict him, but she might repeat them to others. Best to stay vague. ]


Not too far outside of Silvy Vale. It's a village up in the mountains. Hillfolk raised me.
Edited 2017-01-02 22:03 (UTC)
dendarii: (TW_S1_E2_0063)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-02 08:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Wait. What? Did he just hear that coming out of Byerly Vorrutyer's mouth? He stares back at the other man quite hard. ]

What the hell are you talking about?
vorrutyer: (explaining everything (badly))

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-02 08:59 pm (UTC)(link)
[ A quick, confused quirk of his eyebrows, and he meets Vorkosigan's eyes. It's not hard to figure out. If they have knowledge about the course of history - if they could help the course of the war - ]

Don't you think the Great General could use what we know?
dendarii: (Default)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-02 09:01 pm (UTC)(link)
[ That's not the part he's confused about. He gives Byerly a withering look. ]

The Great General didn't have what we know. God only knows how that will affect things. [ His voice drops to a whisper. ] Leave this to an actual member of ImpSec, Byerly.
vorrutyer: (smug aka default)

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-02 09:03 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He's been watching her watching the guards. Watching her is, of course, a singular pleasure, and would be no matter what she was doing; that's quite a face she has, and quite a form, elegant and spare. But with her lively eyes, her wary face, her industrious hands - the active intellect that hints at is quite alluring, he must say.

So when she speaks to him where he sits propped up and feigning a hangover, his sigh is only a little pained. ]


Of course. [ He presses his hand over his heart and assays a bow from his sitting position. ] Anything to be of service.
vorrutyer: (condescending aka default)

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-02 09:09 pm (UTC)(link)
[ His lips part. For a moment, he's genuinely taken aback. What - ?

Time travel. If Vorkosigan's guess is right - which it can't be - nothing says that they'd be from the same time. Right? Perhaps. And so his mouth closes again, and his eyes narrow just a bit. He replies with arch mockery, seeing what reaction he can provoke: ]


And you are an actual member of ImpSec?
dendarii: (aloof)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-02 09:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[ That stings rather hard. The wound is still fresh, and this Miles hasn't yet found his way yet. Not even the look of surprise on Byerly's face is enough to blunt it. ]

Until recently. Yes.
prorenataa: dnt (wet profile eh)

[personal profile] prorenataa 2017-01-02 09:41 pm (UTC)(link)
As a voice sounded behind him Adrien turned and made a quick study of the man behind him. Miles' height wasn't a concern, Adrien knew better than to judge by height, but the man did not look to be in the best of health through the face and limbs. One dark eyebrow lifted and his frown deepened.

He listened to Miles reel off what sounded like the same question in a variety of languages and for a brief moment he hoped that maybe that was the issue. No such luck, the guard remained unmoved.

"More like he has his orders and isn't going to act beyond them," Adrien remarked. He wasn't aggressive at the guard, after all orders were orders, but he also wasn't impressed.

"Most conscription services like to do a physical examination of their new recruits," he said with a shake of his head. He took some of the meat and water, then nodded his head towards Miles. "Give him the remain of my rations."
dendarii: (TW_S1_E3_0539)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-02 09:46 pm (UTC)(link)
He tried, anyway. English is pretty well universal on Barrayar, but there are pockets in the countryside ... He huffs a faint sigh. If this guard knew who he really was, then he'd be more helpful. And Miles would also be in a lot more trouble. Nothing he can help right this second.

"Most likely," agrees Miles. And he knows his grandfather is likely quite strict on this particular topic. "Still a bit irritating." As is the offer of food. He looks up at Adrien with a bit of a withering look. "Keep it for yourself. I'd much rather know why you were seeking medical treatment to begin with."
prorenataa: (prickly hedgie)

[personal profile] prorenataa 2017-01-02 09:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Turning towards Miles, the withering look seemed to sail right past him as Adrien took hold of the edge of his uniform and presented the badge.

"I'm not seeking treatment. I'm a doctor." A statement he'd historically made through tightly gritted teeth, recently however, he'd reached a point where he could state the fact with little more than flat matter of factness.

"Which is why, in my medical opinion, those calories will do you more good than they'll do me. Also, would you deny that until we have a grasp of just how much shit we're in, it's only sound logic to ration what supplies they seem to have, to the best advantage of everybody here?"
dendarii: (OOPS)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-02 09:58 pm (UTC)(link)
A doctor? Miles eyes the man in a new light. It's true that Miles needs medical help - just not the sort that extra ration will assist with.

"Rationing, yes," he says. In that this man has a point. "But I assure you that I've no need for any extra. Perhaps even a bit less." Another gesture down at ... well, all of him.
vorbratta: (a hundred and twelve)

[personal profile] vorbratta 2017-01-02 10:02 pm (UTC)(link)
That tugs a dry laugh from Sonia and she rocks back, shaking her head. "Do you? The general staff is just as mystified, and we're not exactly equipped with the means to investigate. If you'd arrived on a ship, maybe I'd say wormhole. But...I don't think anything like this has ever happened before."

Well, that's sort of...exciting. The same way that war is exciting, mostly.
vorbratta: (while i sweep up the mess)

[personal profile] vorbratta 2017-01-02 10:05 pm (UTC)(link)
"They obey orders," Sonia says with a shrug. Certainly Count Piotr doesn't want these total unknowns to come into any important information.

"Guards never are very talkative. Just as long as they aren't doing anything untoward..." She raises a hand and dangles it in there, then drops it after a moment with a little breath, and she gives Beth a tilted smile. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Beth."
dendarii: (cunning plan)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-02 10:05 pm (UTC)(link)
"Definitely no ship, my lady," says Miles with a faint snort. No ship brought him from Silvy Vale to this particular time - nor could it have. And there's Byerly complicating the equation as well. "I assure you, I was sleeping off a hangover prior to this."

Which still begs the question of what the hell happened here, but - it's one thing to be ruled out.
shri: (» the future runs through our bones)

[personal profile] shri 2017-01-02 10:08 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Is he native? It's hard to tell - none of these people are her people after - and she clearly doesn't belong here. If how well she's dealing with the cold is anything to go by.

It's no matter, of course, whether he is or is not.
]

Just a small matter. [ She draws up the gold in her fingers. The long looping chain that now that she has cleaned it some, is bright, except where she can't really clean it. It sways from her fingers, a heavy pendulum in tight circles. Turning around itself as it does and she keeps it pinched at the same height between where forefinger and thumb are bare under her heavy leather gloves.

She speaks polite, but her hands are not, a mess of scars of weapons on her knuckles like starbursts.
] I'm afraid I must ask you to be my maid, for but a short while. Unfortunately, I cannot see to judge it by myself. If the task does not oppose you?

[ Some men would find it offensive that she might ask - they weren't men she wanted anything to do with. ]
prorenataa: dnt (almost laughing)

[personal profile] prorenataa 2017-01-02 10:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Adrien cocked his head slightly but he wasn't going to continue to push the issue. He tended to make a diagnosis, offer a course of treatment and if the patient refused that was their call. Not exactly the best bedside manner on this one.

He turned back to the guard.

"Cycle it back into the coffers," he said. Whether the food went to Miles or back to the store room, it didn't matter to him. He wasn't taking what he didn't need; not until he had a better understanding of what was going on.

Making to move away from the guard, and probably plot his next course of action, Adrien glanced at Miles, as directed and shook his head.

"Size isn't a reliable indicator of nutritional need. Especially when the weather is cold like this. Most people underestimate how many calories they need to burn and the need to remain well hydrated." He followed up that last statement with a healthy sip from his water, before asking.

"Have you had any luck on any of the other guards, with one of those various languages you threw out there?"
dendarii: (for real?)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-02 10:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Miles' gaze flicks between the gold and her hands insightfully, adjusting his opinion of her. Stolen? Possibly. Or is she nobility? Belied somewhat by the scars on her hands, but she wouldn't be the first ruler to fight madly for her people. It's more common than not on Barrayar.

Ultimately he sides more on the latter than the former, if only because of how well-spoken she is. It makes him like her a bit better anyway. ]


Of course. What do you need me to do, my lady?

[ A slight flare of amusement in his tones, but no offense, no. Miles is well past pride at this point - and wouldn't think it offensive under normal circumstances anyway. ]
vorbratta: (milk and molasses)

[personal profile] vorbratta 2017-01-02 10:13 pm (UTC)(link)
"I suppose you might take this as a wake-up call, then," Sonia suggests lightly, one eyebrow arched. She hasn't seen the guards treat this man poorly at all, and though no one here is fond of mutants, she doesn't think her sister would stand for it, even if Count Piotr would. Beyond the sparse perimeter of guards, several meters away, a tall, thickset man in black and silver Vorbarra livery watches Sonia with a terse anxiety that seems to border on mother hennish.

"Well, I'm Sonia," she announces by way of transition, and inclines her head politely toward Miles. "What should I call you, aside from now sober? Hopefully, anyway."
dendarii: (solpadeine26)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-02 10:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Sonia. Sonia? Miles frowns a bit, trying to connect the name with that half-remembered face. And then he looks past her to the man in Vorbarra livery ...

Ah. The realization hits him like a ton of bricks. Princess Sonia Vorbarra, surely, alive and well in a way that Miles has never seen before. Dear god. He's face to face with - what, his great aunt? That's the fact that makes him stare more than her actual rank, though that's certainly what it looks like. "My lady," he breathes. "I did not realize who you were."
shri: (» are too vicious to tell)

[personal profile] shri 2017-01-02 10:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Their on hand weapons when she finds herself bare does so many her itch. Having one for herself might all of this - food as plain as anything she'd find in England, poor weather, and the loss of her home -- so much better. But she has nothing to do but watch them over her work like a hungry tiger at a flock's edge. Like she's waiting, just waiting, for a reason to pounce and take one for herself. Though she's been in war enough to not be bothered why she hasn't been given one, she's not bitter too much. She wouldn't give herself one, either.

But it gives food for thought, her grand escape attempt in the near future.

Enough that what she can say for him is moderately little. A new comer like herself, like his drink from the way he was nursing his head - not so different to any of her brothel patrons come a morning where they needed to be tossed home to their wives and families.

Perhaps that gives her a measure of familiarity, but she keeps it close.
]

How kind of you. [ It's amused, faintly. ] Come here, I need of your hands, I'm afraid. [ Her hand lifts, beckoning him closer to her. The hardened worn in leather of her gloves no longer stiff from how she's stretched them to her. ]