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: (OOPS)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-21 06:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Sorry, Maine. If Miles had anything better to offer, he would. As for the question, well ... The truth is, he'd been on Barrayar. Not too far from here, he thinks - just also at least seventy years in the future. No need to explain that.

"In space," he says instead. "With my mercenary fleet. They pulled me right out of my ship somehow."
vorbratta: (stick my head up)

[personal profile] vorbratta 2017-01-22 12:58 am (UTC)(link)
Sonia's eyes widen just slightly as he prods gently at the subject she's been neatly skirting around, though her smile doesn't waver. Mercifully, he doesn't pursue it, changing tack, and her face positively glows. In Sonia's book, dance is code for anything but -- well, sometimes actual dancing, too. But she doubts even Byerly would be that forward in broad daylight, however entertaining the thought, so she keeps on playing the coquette, her smile widening.

"At every available opportunity," she says, but then adds, regretfully, "but I don't get many."
vorbratta: (how come you wanna make off)

[personal profile] vorbratta 2017-01-22 01:14 am (UTC)(link)
"I'd think you'd need muscles, too," Sonia says, amused, and Zarya is clearly not lacking in that department. "What kind of a woman's touch do you think we need here?"
vorrutyer: (i can't tell if that's a tit there)

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-22 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
"Ah," he says, sweeping his eyelashes down at her - "A pity. I'd like to see it happen."

Then he looks up again, his smile equal parts sly and fond.

"Perhaps we ought to make an opportunity. Eh?"
vorbratta: (it takes a little vanity)

[personal profile] vorbratta 2017-01-22 04:02 am (UTC)(link)
Sonia knows exactly what he's doing -- and she's delighted. This is what she should have, without this damned war. Pretty boys pulling out all their favorite tricks for her. Well, alright, men, he's at least several years her senior, but that's hardly a damper. Ah, but with all these guards... Sonia's smile mirrors Byerly's.

"If Count Vorkosigan ever lets you all out." She's pretty sure it isn't much of an if, but Sonia's not privy to what, exactly, his thoughts or intents on the matter are. She turns the maple sugar over between her fingers. "I'll hold you to that."
vorrutyer: (Backpfeifengesicht 3)

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-22 04:07 am (UTC)(link)
Ah. That is the issue, isn't it. For a moment, his smile twists; the expression is raw and unfeigned. He ducks his head to hide it, but it's still there, and he expects she can read it. Nevertheless, he keeps his voice light, asking her, "And if he doesn't? Will you continue to come visiting your poor prisoner? I might die without beauty in my life."
vorbratta: (stick my head up)

[personal profile] vorbratta 2017-01-22 04:14 am (UTC)(link)
She does see it, and she wasn't expecting it -- her lips part slightly, but she doesn't react beyond that. It'd only embarrass him, she's sure. So instead she gives him a sunny smile with just a bit of cheek and says, "Of course. Charity is a great virtue, you know. And," she says, allowing her smile to tilt into a smirk, "a beautiful flower needs a little sunlight every now and then."
vorrutyer: (handsome)

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-22 04:19 am (UTC)(link)
"Hah." He looks up at her, then, an honest grin splitting his face. He's charmed by the comment. "Then allow me to be your sunshine, milady. Or failing that - your rain. I cannot promise that I'll always be radiant, but I can promise that I'll have adoration to feed you with."

He holds out his hand to her, then. It's a clear and rather courtly request for her wrist.
vorbratta: (to know what it means)

[personal profile] vorbratta 2017-01-22 06:04 am (UTC)(link)
Sonia actually flushes slightly, her smile fond as she graciously extends her wrist. She almost can't help it. Damn it all, he's just delightful. There's a bubble of normalcy around this conversation that she's been craving for years.
vorrutyer: (Backpfeifengesicht 4)

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-22 01:17 pm (UTC)(link)
A truly skilled individual can lend the thrill of the erotic to kissing even innocuous parts of the body. The wrist, for example: not an erogenous zone. Well, not traditionally. He once did sleep with a Polian who he'd reduced to a quivering wreck with nothing more than a hand massage...Fine memory, that.

Regardless, for most people, the wrist is not so intensely erotic - but if you treat it right, you can make them shiver. It has to do with timing, the precise length of each pause as you touch, press, meet their eyes, dip your head. It has to do with the exact pressure on their wrist. It has to do with the intensity of your own gaze as you meet theirs, the way your fingertips find beneath their glove in the split second before you lower your eyelashes. It has to do with ensuring there's just enough gap between glove and sleeve that they can feel, faintly, the butterfly-soft touch of the skin of your lips. And it has to do with the withdrawal - with the way you look at them after, the blend of admiration and longing and appreciation with which you meet their eyes.

"Milady," he murmurs, waiting to see if he's timed everything perfectly enough that she'll shiver bodily, or whether being unbathed and ungroomed has reduced his power.
vorrutyer: (shaaaahhhhts)

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-22 02:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Appeal to Count Vorkosigan himself...Right. Through some miracle, By suppresses a flinch. If-this-is-all-true-and-not-a-prank (that caveat is beginning to run together as one fluid phrase, now, appended onto the beginning of each and every thought) then Count Vorkosigan will not mean Aral Vorkosigan. Not, mind, that By isn't afraid of Aral Vorkosigan - on the contrary, the thought of the Great Admiral fills By with gibbering terror. But that's nothing compared to the hoary old Dendarii mountain wolf that is the Great General. Piotr Pierre Vorkosigan is the breed of beast you can only be comfortable viewing in a zoo. In the wild, it's best simply to run away.

Help me.

"When we have a bit more freedom of movement, I shall," he agrees, his voice just a little faint. He clears his throat and continues, stronger, "Do you have any idea when that might be, milady?" Perhaps so I can turn tail and flee? No...He knows, grimly, that he won't be able to do that. He has to stay and fight. He took oaths - not to this Emperor, not to this ImpSec, not to these people. But he took oaths.
truevor: (pic#10925361)

[personal profile] truevor 2017-01-22 05:05 pm (UTC)(link)
It isn't about being paid to drink it, Sonia, but about being in a position where gumleaf is the best option on hand. The difference between winning and dying, as far as one can see. Still, Olivia smiles at the tea cakes and snatches one before taking a sip of the tea. It's more refreshing than she expected, and her smile widens slightly. "If only there was a way to thank them for it."

But she should have expected the conversation to turn quickly to this. "I think that 'friends' should be a term loosely applied to them, Sonia. We know very little about them, however forthcoming they might be." It's said with a short, small gesture. "But," and that's said before Sonia has time to interrupt, which Olivia knows she will, "I have met no small few that wish to do something for us, rather than stand around."
truevor: (pic#10925383)

[personal profile] truevor 2017-01-22 05:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Olivia truly smiles then, and gives Rani a small nod of her head. "It is a shame they never stop to consider who is left behind when they go marching off to war, or they would not be so surprised or insulted. It is their great hope they have something to come back to once it is all over, and yet no thought to who's responsibility that is."

As for the matter of Piotr, well.

"He is not so unmoving in the face of facts and reason. Showing him that your skills are to his benefit, and to the benefit of Barrayar, will mean he cannot argue against you. The difficulty lies in proving to him your value as a soldier when he will not give you the chance at all." Accident is not a way Olivia wants this to come about, for memory provides her with the images of dead armsmen, traitors, and the frightened face of her sister. "On that point, I am open to suggestions."
prorenataa: (I may be drunk yes)

[personal profile] prorenataa 2017-01-22 06:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Inwardly Adrien cocked an eyebrow at her non-response. Part of him could appreciate that, especially since he was often just as guarded.

"I'll put it on my to-do list," he said and while his tone was level and his expression neutral, there was -perhaps- something in his body language to suggest he'd follow through.

However, in the mean time he nodded towards the cast on her arm.

"Medical tent or no medical tent, I could do something about that. If you don't mind a slightly unorthodox approach."

[ooc: Just FYI, while he *thinks* he can help, his ability with bone has been nulled out. If she agrees to let him try, it's going to come as a surprise when he tries and can't help. :c ]
vorbratta: (i know it cause you wrote it down)

[personal profile] vorbratta 2017-01-22 09:31 pm (UTC)(link)
vorrutyer: (smug and punchable)

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-22 09:40 pm (UTC)(link)
vorbratta: (i asked a question)

[personal profile] vorbratta 2017-01-22 10:02 pm (UTC)(link)
No. No, it has not.

He hits every note just right -- and it really is at least partly because he is that good, but part of it, too, is how very ready Sonia is to accept it. Even this brief bubble of romance, however played, is something she'll take, almost greedy for it, and all the better for that she actually enjoys Byerly's company. Her eyes widen slightly, cheeks turning pink, and her lips part, an expression of soft, pure delight.

Her lips quirk into a smile, and she lets out a warm hm, turning over the sugar in her other hand. She peels back the rough paper with her thumb to reveal the soft wad of sugar inside and breaks off just the smallest bite before holding it out to Byerly. She hasn't quite withdrawn her other hand.

"You earned it," she pronounces, looking deeply pleased.
vorrutyer: (looking off to the side)

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-22 10:12 pm (UTC)(link)
He doesn't quite have the nerve to nip it directly from her hand. Oh, make no mistake, he would if there were less of an audience, but with people watching - guards watching - it's not worth it for either of them. Pity. Still, even as he takes the sugar from her fingers, he takes the opportunity to press her wrist with his other hand. A gentle caress, a sort of remember this.

"I'm grateful," he murmurs, and then reaches up to just touch the sugar to his lips. A clear indication that he's going to savor it over the long run. Then he meets her eyes and says, "And I think you've earned your secret. You have to swear that you'll keep it for me. From everyone."
vorbratta: (you're running fast)

[personal profile] vorbratta 2017-01-23 12:16 am (UTC)(link)
Sonia's face glows with a grin, another prickle of a shiver over her skin, and her attention is wholly on him, eyes wide and curious. She leans forward clasping her hands together once he's withdrawn his.

"Oh?" Her eyes are alight. A lock of hair comes loose from behind her hair, but she doesn't bother to tuck it back. "It sounds like it must be an awfully big secret, then."
truevor: (pic#10925388)

[personal profile] truevor 2017-01-23 12:27 am (UTC)(link)
A small, faint smile hits the edge of her lips before it fades into a perceptive blankness broken only by one raised brow. "I do not. The Count has other things on his mind, at present." And the outsiders are not worth taking him away from that when they do not present a threat. Or at least one not mitigated currently by their guards -- if she truly thought they were more than that, she wouldn't consent to meeting with any of them.

"Of course," she continues, with an air of nonchalance, "you would be allowed to meet with him if you had an escort. Someone who could vouch for your sincerity and eagerness to join the cause." Olivia would never think of interrupting Piotr for something so small as making sure this Vorrutyer cousin of his could join the fight, but she's not above letting the threat of it hang over him to see his response. His behavior previously does not endear him to her, or make her inclined to trust him further than she can throw him. "It wouldn't do to let that enthusiasm go to waste -- it is sorely needed here."
shri: (» and their voices just burn holes)

[personal profile] shri 2017-01-23 12:58 am (UTC)(link)
She takes a moment to consider, a shift of her weight on the balls of her feet. There's a half dozen things she's been worrying about in regards to this anyway. There were more women here than just herself, and more than a few that were willing to fight, - and needed to. What they were trained for. Zarya, Carolina, that little wisp of a girl that was terrified of accepting even a breath of kindness. The older woman who she'd seen.

They were women, alone, with no one to speak for them, no one to protect them. If she were still in a place to have her rank mean anything, it might be different, it would be easy, she would take them all into her durgadal, arm them, and keep them in close where they could never be -

Ah.

"My lady, I can only think how difficult it must be to be a woman alone of your position in this camp, and both need to be guarded and to preserve your modesty when your husband is not present."
vorrutyer: (sweaty)

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-23 02:33 am (UTC)(link)
"A secret that goes beyond simply you and I, and into the fabric of the universe." Here he goes. If anyone is an ideal test run for this, it's this sympathetic, open-minded, educated girl. Right. He leans in and lowers his voice.

Time travel, he'd decided, was a bit...too much. So he starts with a smaller truth. "I'm from Barrayar, yes - but not this version of Barrayar." He looks at her, his face serious enough - no hint of irony or mockery or pranking on it. "The world I know is another version of this one. From another dimension. That zapping from there to here - it wasn't just a change in location. It was a change of realities."

Fifty-fifty odds, he thinks, on her just laughing in his face. No...seventy five-twenty five.
vorbratta: (i better keep my two legs running)

[personal profile] vorbratta 2017-01-23 02:44 am (UTC)(link)
Sonia leans in a little more, drawn in by the theatrics, her very favorite kind of theatrics. Her eyes are wide, anticipating...and then his secret comes out, and her brows draw down, her lips pursed. She narrows her eyes at Byerly, suspicion on the verge of disappointment.

"Are you funning me?"

Byerly, she gave you her sugar for this.
vorrutyer: (watchful)

[personal profile] vorrutyer 2017-01-23 02:49 am (UTC)(link)
Well...At least she doesn't laugh outright. He presses his hand to his heart, trying to radiate honesty.

"We had a bargain, Sonia. Sugar for a secret, and truth along the way. I wouldn't cap off all of that truth with a lie. My word on it." He lowers his head. "I promise you. I'm not completely sure that this is truly what's happened, but it's the only explanation that seems sane." He lifts his head to look at her once more. "It should be sane to you, as well. You cannot doubt that I am a man of Vorbarr Sultana - but when was the last time a Vorrutyer was allowed in that fair city? With the ferocity of Le Sanguinaire's fight against them? Cetaganda has no hold on my version of that place."
vorbratta: (you attract all the bees)

[personal profile] vorbratta 2017-01-23 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
Sonia wants to believe him, is the thing. She really wants every ounce of this small bubble between her and Byerly to be true. But all this talk of other worlds... It's true that his claim to be from Vorbarr Sultana, at least any time recently -- although he is rather older than her -- is a little iffy, but....

She bites her lip at this fantasy he's painting for her -- Cetagandan has no hold on my version of that place. The thought is almost too painful to entertain, for how much she wants it. She blinks rapidly for a moment, her face wary, gunshy, but she hovers on the edge. "It sounds like you're trying to sell me a fairy tale," she says accusingly, but her voice is smaller.

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