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.
vorrutyer: (hmmmmm not bad)

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-05 11:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, yes. Quite an impressive one. Nearly a disaster.
shri: (» I'll leave with your head)

[personal profile] shri 2017-01-05 11:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Her laughter is hollow, flat, and if she is a good leader, it has only ever been for her people to decide. "So often I would exchange worry for sleep."

She shakes her head briefly for it, those days were gone now. Spent in hours with the vedas on her lips, as close as she could get to rest for what was to come and what it was going to cost them all.

"I have to give it to our captors at present, they must be worrying about us just as much. Though I doubt our safety is their chief concern. We will need to work out something soon. This... as is, cannot continue for long to anyone's benefit."

Her tone is ambivalent, she doesn't fault them on it certainly, in their position, she'd worry about so many mouths to feed, the guards wasted in their containment.
dendarii: (Torchwood_106_0258)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-05 11:43 pm (UTC)(link)
So who fixed it? Haroche?
vorrutyer: (wry)

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-05 11:44 pm (UTC)(link)
I feel as though I'm giving away a very large amount of information, considering what I got from you.
dendarii: (bg046)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-05 11:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Bullshit. You got everything from me. So tell me who fixed that mess. And who the hell caused it to begin with.
vorrutyer: (world-weary (and smug))

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-05 11:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Haroche.
dendarii: (cunning plan)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-05 11:47 pm (UTC)(link)
... I need two names, Byerly.
vorrutyer: (whimsical (but smug))

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-05 11:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah, quite right. Lucas Haroche.
dendarii: (160)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-05 11:49 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Another rude gesture. ]

He can't cause and fix the problem.
vorrutyer: (smug aka default)

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-05 11:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[ A small sigh. ]

Quite right. They brought in an Imperial Auditor to solve the problem.
dendarii: (solpadeine111)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-05 11:51 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Miles brightens with interest at that. ]

An Auditor? Well - I'd expect nothing less for that. Who was it?
vorrutyer: (Backpfeifengesicht)

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-05 11:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, some temporary appointee. The name escapes me at the moment.
shri: (» so we pull our feet through)

[personal profile] shri 2017-01-05 11:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Lakshmi raises herself up again once she has received the acknowledgement and not a moment before. Forming the words she will need even as she does so. She nods to out of the tent, polite gesturing to her - and her guards. If they are good men, they will know their place and be no more than what they are there for, and as such, don't bother her much.

If they are not? Well then these people have already lost this war, and it doesn't matter anyway. ( a bitter turn to her thought, she would know, wouldn't she? ) "Privacy, if I may."

Done because she doesn't trust easy, and she knows that rulers - however fair they might be, have to save face in public, after all. Nothing shut down a conversation faster than having to preserve outward stances on matters.
dendarii: (frakkingcylon 192)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-05 11:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Really? Ridiculous. They should have someone competent to handle something that important.
vorrutyer: (satisfied (but smug))

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-05 11:55 pm (UTC)(link)
What, a temporary Auditor can't be competent?
dendarii: (TW_S1_E3_0539)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-05 11:57 pm (UTC)(link)
I suppose. But they're not established. Something like that requires skill and experience.
vorrutyer: (what a shitty grin)

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-05 11:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, pish. [ He waves his hand. ] They could bring a...fresh perspective. Or something. Perhaps. Youthful energy, maybe.
dendarii: (point taken)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-05 11:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Youthful? An auditor? Unlikely.
vorrutyer: (punchable eyebrow)

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-06 12:01 am (UTC)(link)
No, this one was...You must understand, it was quite an emergency. Quite a scramble. The Emperor simply must have used whatever was close at hand. It all came out in the end, anyway, so it couldn't have been too great a blunder.
dendarii: (solpadeine111)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-06 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
... Well, if Gregor assigned them. I suppose I won't question his judgement.
vorrutyer: (world-weary (and smug))

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-06 12:04 am (UTC)(link)
Though you clearly have opinions.
shri: (» i'm speeding up and this is the)

[personal profile] shri 2017-01-06 12:09 am (UTC)(link)
[ oh if only he knew. Granted, in this case, truth is stranger than fiction if she ever gets to telling him all of it. ]

How would you define such then, Admiral?

[ dig, and she'll dig back is the promise hanging in that word. ]
dendarii: (034)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-06 12:10 am (UTC)(link)
Of course I do. It's quite a rare occurrence. And it's Simon.
vorrutyer: (smug aka default)

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-06 12:12 am (UTC)(link)
Ah, yes. True enough. And a temporary Auditor, no matter their good intentions...
dendarii: (frakkingcylon 234)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-06 12:13 am (UTC)(link)
[ Touché. But he's too damn stubborn for his own good, even if he betrays himself in the process. ]

Duty and privilege both. You can't deny you've had more than most, but you've had to shoulder more too.

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