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: (» now people talk to me)

[personal profile] shri 2017-01-03 02:56 am (UTC)(link)
[ Perhaps she will bring herself to enjoy it at the time. As for right now, she's not sure she can bring herself to ever like this blasted white stuff that infects all her clothes with such aching cold. ]

Heat I know, at least, I prefer. [ Curled up in her bedroll, staring at the fire, it's what she wishes for. ]
dendarii: (solpadeine106)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-03 02:57 am (UTC)(link)
Used to warmer climates, then? Not in London, I assume.

[ It had seemed rather gloomy the last time he was there, after all. ]
littlemissfutility: (46)

[personal profile] littlemissfutility 2017-01-03 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
[She presses her lips together, trying to figure out what she's supposed to say to any of it. So she got thrown into the future; that's easy enough to believe, if they have wormholes and spaceships to worry about around here. Maybe it was wormhole that did it, if that's how wormholes even work. But I don't think that ever happened...what's she even supposed to say? Well, it did. I was there.]

If it didn't, somebody should go home and tell everybody it was all a big mistake. [Her answer's deceptively calm, about as conversational as she can manage, but there's a slender thread of bitterness running through her voice.] Because the dead are trying to kill all of us.
dendarii: (for real?)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-03 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
[ He's just trying to figure out what other possibilities there are. Alternate timelines? Maybe? That seems a distinct possibility. ]

That's not ... I believe you, I do, but we may not be from the same timeline. Or the same Earth, perhaps.
shri: (» i move through town)

[personal profile] shri 2017-01-03 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
It is not my home, no. [ She looks up, brief, as she drags another section of hair up, and slowly but surely, it falls into place, the openness that might have been there is strapped back away. Hidden behind the gold her husband had given her on their wedding day -- all the other jewels she had given to be sold to ensure her men were paid fairly for their service to her. ]

I was born in Kashi - in India.
dendarii: (solpadeine129)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-03 03:07 am (UTC)(link)
[ Miles takes a step back to observe their shared handiwork. That is ... quite nice. And she looks quite nice in it. He can't help but let his gaze linger for a moment before refocusing on the conversation. ]

That's in Eurasia, right? I think I've heard of it.
littlemissfutility: (87)

[personal profile] littlemissfutility 2017-01-03 03:15 am (UTC)(link)
[The tension that was starting to tighten her shoulders eases slightly. Be nice to him. It's not his fault you don't know what's going on.]

Oh. [So maybe she traveled not only through time but...what, to some other dimension, too? The dimension where Shawn and Mama and Daddy would still be alive, if it was the right year and the right planet. If any of them ever existed at all.] This really is some kind of science fiction thing.
shri: (» oh I'll leave you for dead)

[personal profile] shri 2017-01-03 03:22 am (UTC)(link)
[ she unfolds herself, oblivious to his gaze, up onto her knees then onto her feet. The heavy boots she wore - and was glad that they hadn't been taken from her. Maybe if she was more aware of what might happen, she'd make plans for it.

Like telling would be wormholes "not now, she's busy". She dusts her hands off and she turns back to face him, flicking out the scarf and wrapping it around her neck again. Carefully, the fine material clearly isn't for warmth. The last part is the nath, that she hooks back into her nose piercing.

Herself, again.
] Eurasia- I, yes, I suppose that suffices as a term. [ clears her throat, carrying on, it's clearly not one she was familiar with for her home. ] We call it Hindustan. It is hot there, my husband's home is in a place called Bundelkund, it is on a great rocky plateau, hot and dry, save in the summer - and the monsoon rain is nothing polite. It pours down as if it means to wash all away.
dendarii: (bg036)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-03 03:28 am (UTC)(link)
[ Not as tall as some, but still a solid nine inches taller than he is. He comes up to somewhere slightly above her shoulders. Another glance at her as she wraps the scarf around her. Well, if he had any further doubts about her being nobility of some sort ... He clothing and bearing definitely suggests it. ]

Ah, I see. That's quite a contrast then. And no snow at all, I imagine.
shri: (» you were sharp as a knife to get me)

[personal profile] shri 2017-01-03 03:45 am (UTC)(link)
[ Whilst she has an art to looking down at people - it comes mostly through arrogance than her genuine height. Sir Galahad stood over her easily, and Tesla, for all he was a quiet, unassuming, brilliant man, was a good head and shoulders over her. ]

None, until you head towards the Himalayas in the north. It does get cold but as for this - wretched stuff? [ she sighs. ] We have none of it.

[ As soon as the scarf is secured, she brings it up, draping it around her hair and face - perhaps against the cold, perhaps for customs sake. ]
dendarii: (good point)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-03 03:49 am (UTC)(link)
[ Miles wishes he had a little something from home. Alas, his seal dagger was left behind - for the best, probably, given that it might cause an actual time paradox if it had somehow managed to come with him. Even so. It would have been nice to have something. ]

No snowball fights then? Or snowmen?
dendarii: (solpadeine111)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-03 03:53 am (UTC)(link)
[ And Miles, in turn, is trying not to find this completely ridiculous. Given that he is actively time traveling at the moment. ]

Oh yes. I mean, the Nexus is built off wormholes to begin with, which I understand was quite out there in your time.
prorenataa: (Sheepish)

[personal profile] prorenataa 2017-01-03 03:58 am (UTC)(link)
Though he wasn't feeling the chill possibly as much as others, he could still feel the cold on his exposed face and bare head. He nodded in agreement with her.

"We probably shouldn't stand out here much longer. Any indication of shelter?"

They seemed to be at the base of mountainous terrain. He didn't see any smoke or a ready stream to suggest civilization near by; perhaps caves?
shri: (» we are higher than the sparrow)

[personal profile] shri 2017-01-03 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
[ Wary, she shakes her head at him. ]

The children often play such games in England. [ You know, when they're not dealing with how awful it is to be a child in 1800s England. ] I found myself... too busy often for it.

[ Don't you dare do it, Miles. They touched hands, that is a sacred no throwing snow at grumpy queens bond. ]
vorbratta: (milk and molasses)

[personal profile] vorbratta 2017-01-03 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
Sonia is no stranger to manipulation -- she's made it her craft as well, if in entirely different ways and for quite different purposes. So she's aware of the overwrought flattery, the way he just barely touches her hand, and she's amused. But -- truth be told -- it's a novelty, especially these days, when every soldier knows her by face and everyone with any sense is far too terrified to risk tainting the Princess's honor. Sonia doesn't blush, but she does allow herself to be taken in by the flattery just a little, smiling brightly in response and meeting his gaze head-on. Ah, someone will tell him soon enough, and all the fun will be gone. Sonia chooses to seize the moment.

"You flatter me, sir," she says with a wry grin, but she lets her hand linger on the bowl for just a moment longer than strictly necessary. And then, archly, she adds, "Has it really been so long since you last saw a woman?"
dendarii: (Torchwood_106_0058)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-03 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
[ Too bad. Miles doesn't give a shit about any of that. Instead, that grin of his just gets wider. ]

You're not busy here.
prorenataa: (B&W Serious)

[personal profile] prorenataa 2017-01-03 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
For a long minute, Adrien just stood there and stared at Miles. Perhaps he was trying to gauge just how much of this he could believe. He was inclined to go with his instinct and believe the man was telling the truth, but that just made the situation all the more surreal.

Looking around at the tent, down at his food and then back towards Miles, the doctor did arch an eyebrow.

"I don't see anything near or around me that suggests they have the technology level required to pull people across inter dimensional travel. At least, not deliberately. Would that fit with your understanding of this place?"
shri: (» is all yours)

[personal profile] shri 2017-01-03 04:02 am (UTC)(link)
Not for lacking of wanting to be, I assure you.

[ Public property doesn't just destroy itself you know, and she has a empire to be toppling, gosh darn it.

But her wariness for whatever that grin promises only grows.
]
Edited 2017-01-03 04:03 (UTC)
dendarii: (for real?)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-03 04:04 am (UTC)(link)
The answer to that is a hearty hell no. And yet here Miles is, seventy plus years too early. So he's willing to believe pretty much anything at this point.

"Not in the slightest," he says. "We barely had space travel when I left. I had to smuggle myself off the planet." A pause. "If anyone has the tech, it's Cetaganda."
dendarii: (half pint of trouble)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-03 04:04 am (UTC)(link)
[ Look, Miles needs to vent some energy too. This is a perfect idea that can't possibly go wrong. ]

Come on, then. Let's take a walk around the tent.
prorenataa: (neck grab)

[personal profile] prorenataa 2017-01-03 04:07 am (UTC)(link)
Another minute passed as the doctor absorbed this information and then formulated the next, logical question. At least to his mind.

"Misfire?"

Meaning the Cetagandas were responsible for their trip through space and time, only they ended up planet side instead of ... where they were supposed to be?
dendarii: (solpadeine107)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-03 04:09 am (UTC)(link)
He's not sure if this is more terrifying or not. The thought that Cetaganda summoned them here ... or that they didn't. It could be a side effect of something more insidious. An attempt to change the past? It would explain why Miles is here...

All horrifying possibilities. "It's entirely possible," he says out loud. "Tech this new would surely have bugs."
shri: (» everyone knows I'm going to hell)

[personal profile] shri 2017-01-03 04:12 am (UTC)(link)
[ She straightens herself out and true to her complaint, she isn't really used to this cold. Her over jacket is tucked in tilt and she curses being in the silk shirt she preferred to fight in, but it's what she has. Making do.

Granted, thanks to the blackwater, she's not running a risk of sickness like others of their company. ( Oblivious that its effects are no longer working, give her another week, and she's going to have a miserable cold ).
] Alright, if you wish.

[ wat u doing, miles, wat u doing. ]
prorenataa: (suit sleeve)

[personal profile] prorenataa 2017-01-03 04:15 am (UTC)(link)
"Delightful." The dry tone the single word was delivered in suggested it was anything but, delightful.

Still it was a working theory, though it seemed to have little bearing on their immediate situation.

"Alright, let's go on the assumption that I believe this is your dimension and you're not some sort of plant," sorry Miles, he's just a naturally suspicious man. "What is this war about? I know you said the Cetagandas were attempting to take over this planet and if they did, they would destroy the way of life for these people. What does that mean?"
dendarii: (honest help)

[personal profile] dendarii 2017-01-03 04:15 am (UTC)(link)
[ Taking her on a very nice tour around the tent. He does look genuinely pleased to see the camp covered in snow as it is, his breath fogging in the cool air. God, he missed this. ]

Ah ... it really is beautiful.