thisavrou_log | ( may event log )

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( may event log )

Who: Everyone
When: May 1st and on
Where: The Moira + Amissis-Re
What: The crew finds themselves visiting the very barren planet of Amissis-Re.
Warnings:None, but please label your content!

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far from nowhere
"the trees rustle in the evening when we stand uneasy before our own thoughts."

With the events of Del Pascia behind the Moira, things are only now beginning to settle—and not very well. Through the combined efforts of some of the crew, D-E-L and her permanent residents were incinerated into the dust of space. While it’s not the most peaceful end, it is one, and not many are going to be thinking back on how nice Del Pascia’s facilities were for quite some time. Repairing what they could of the ship’s interior and putting as much distance between the Moira and the prison as possible, those aboard are informed by Navigation that they are approaching another planet. This means, of course, the potential for better supplies, as some things are beginning to dwindle, and the Captains elect to dock so long as the crew follows protocol.

WELCOME TO AMISSIS-RE

Amissis-Re is an unregistered planet with no documented histories or signs of life. The Moira’s Navigation crew have scanned the planet for any usable resources and have discovered a faint signal emitting from beneath the surface of Amissi-Re. Using the transporters and any other crafts located in the Cargo Bay, the crew are able to travel to the source of the signal. Upon arriving in its exact location, they’ll find a small series of lakes that lead to a tower-like structure that appears to be in use. Crew must cross a poorly assembled bridge system that sways and dips when weight is applied to it in order to gain access to the entrance. Once there, a woman comes out to greet them and explains, excitedly, that she is so very happy that they have come to Amissis-Re.

Everyone can go home.

Their host insists that she has done the impossible and has somewhat fixed the Ingress that’s been built on Amissis-Re a long time ago, and what’s more, she can send crew home for short bursts of time. Upon following this woman inside, crew will find that the planet is not, in fact, barren at all. Diving deep into the underbelly of Amissis-Re, it’s like an eternal factory of machines, and while vast, for whatever reason, it also seems incredibly welcoming...

☄ LEAP OF FAITH ( 05.01 and on )

The barren planet of Amissis-Re is devoid of vegetation and organic life except for a lone woman, and the planet itself is an intricate honeycomb of machines that go for miles below the surface. Yet, that seems insignificant and unimportant in comparison to the news that the crew has just received. After Thán has looked at the Ingress, he tells the crew that he cannot say for certain that it is properly functioning, but Emiri native, Ben Link, will volunteer to test it out.

An elevator takes crew down to a glass platform that overlooks an inverted Ingress portal. In order to return home, the Moirans will have to take a leap of faith and jump in. Ben, in order to show his commitment to the crew and willingness to help get them home, takes that jump with Captain Thán seconds behind him. Jumping feels like dropping through wind; lights swirl, it’s warm, and a soft buzzing encompasses you as you fall. You don’t feel the landing. One moment you’re falling, and the next, you’re in a new world.

A few hours pass before a similar elevator rises from below and to the left of the Ingress, stopping beside the platform. Ben and Thán step out unharmed.

It works, and everyone can temporarily go home. Will you jump?

☄ COMBINE THE EXTREMES ( 05.01 and on )

The woman that greeted the crew and led them to the platform will allow anyone that wants to go home the opportunity to go. There’s only one catch: it’s not permanent. She’s worked for years to fix the Ingress so that she can return to her own home but hasn’t been able to make the trip an everlasting one. Everyone always comes back. Always. They go for a few hours, at first, but that amount of time increases with each visit.

The one guideline, she says, is that you can’t go alone. Each trip requires a partner, or it becomes too much for the mind to bear. These rules are simple: the world takes shape depending on who jumps first, but if crew go hand-in-hand and leap at the same time, the worlds combine. This new world will be populated with people that existed in both and may appear to be a jarring combination of both worlds. It may seem unusual, but if the woman is asked, she’ll explain that the combined world does exist as there are more universes than can be imagined. The Ingress tries to take the person to their own home, their original home, but when jumping together, it finds the closest possible match and deposits them there instead.

From that point on, you can travel the world together or split up, but remember, this world is a living, functioning world. It doesn’t matter if it’s the home of one crew member or a combination. You meet other people. You can get hurt. You influence and are influenced by others.

Be cautious, and enjoy your visit “home”.

☄ LINGER ON ( 05.05 and on )

The more times the Amissis-Re Ingress is visited, the more it seems that your trips last longer and the experience becomes even more vivid. More real and harder to distinguish from the current reality that you know. It’s difficult to explain why, but you get the feeling that maybe if you went without the aid of the host, that perhaps you’d be able to stay. Forever. It takes some subterfuge, but in time, you see your chance: she’s nowhere in sight, and you take it.

The world you are in now is completely your own, whether another crew member accompanied you or not. The people you know are there, everything around you is exactly as you remember. A few hours pass, and you don’t feel that familiar tug, that invisible hook at the base of your spine that signals that your visit is over. Even more time goes by, and you’re still in that world, your home. When the first day has passed, you begin to question if you’ll ever go back, or if life on the Moira was all a dream. The person with you won’t be able to convince you otherwise, and they’ll start to feel less real, a stranger that you used to know.

There’s only one way to go back to the Moira. Someone from the other side has to come in and retrieve you both. Once in, contact with a third will jump-start a link through the Ingress, and it will pull all crew back to the platform.

( ooc; For questions, go here. Please comment to activity check to receive new ranks (if applicable)! )

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Gregor debates for longer than he likely should, standing and trying not to rock on his heels at the edge of the platform, but eventually he steps into the air and down through the portal, his belly lurching. It's not quite like a wormhole jump--it's not quite like anything--but between one blink and the next he's standing flat on his feet again.

He looks around, not at his private rooms, or in the chamber of the Council of Counts at Vorhartung Castle, or even at Vorkosigan Surleau where he used to play with Miles and Ivan and Elena as a child, but... at his office. He huffs out a soft breath, not quite a laugh, his mouth twisting wryly until he catches sight of the huge pile of paperwork stacked on his desk. He tries to resist, but everything seems normal at first glance, so he wanders over and leafs through a few flimsies. Then a few more.

Eventually he sits and keys his commconsole on. He doesn't seem to have lost too much time on the Moira, but there's still a great deal to do.

It's not every day one has an opportunity to kidnap an Emperor.

In this case, aiding and abetting is probably more accurate. A foreign mercenary bypassing security to whisk Gregor out of his own office -- he'll be there, of course, just like the last few times, with his endless work and sense of duty -- is hardly a figure to inspire trust. So Bel hovers at the edge, staring down into the flaring portal, an arm's length from the equipment panel that will pull the rescue team home when the time comes.

The whirlpool doesn't look nearly as inviting as it had before Bel wound up in cryo. Weeks ago, now. An uneasy murmur: "How many times has he gone?"

At least he can't have forgotten Bel's existence along with the ship. I've been your getaway driver before, Greg. Let's hope this time goes as smoothly.

It takes Gregor a slightly embarrassing amount of time to realize that there is someone else in his office, too focused on the report he's reading to realize that he didn't hear the door open and shut. "One moment," he says absently, flicking through the last few pages, signing it, and sealing it again before he looks up.

And freezes.

He can feel his eyes widening, control of his expression slipping in the brief instant of shock before he wrests it back to relative calm, his mind racing. He knows Bel's face, of course, but what would Captain Bel Thorne be doing here, of all places? Unannounced? Gregor's mind ratchets through several possibilities before stopping dead on one, his breath hitching thin in his throat as he feels the bottom drop out of his stomach, endlessly.

"Miles," he says numbly, his eyes still locked on Bel's face as he puts down the flow pen he was holding and doesn't move to stand up. He looks sick for a moment before he forces even that from his face, his expression calcifying in an instant of uncertain dread. Why else would a member of the Dendarii risk being here in person? God, had something happened to Miles and Quinn? And Elena, what about--

He stops himself, pushing his chair back from his desk and flowing to his feet in one smooth motion, coming to a species of attention as his dark eyes search Bel's face.

"Captain," he says, his voice thin but clearly audible. "What brings you here?"

Bel had frozen too, after twisting catlike into the reality of the room and somehow, mercifully after that fall, managing to land upright. And that's why the plan had been for someone else to go. A thousand curses rush to mind, mostly directed at whoever had jostled them off the platform. Maybe the real cavalry will jump in right after. Someone who has a right to be here.

It's too late, though. There's no cover at all in here, except for the man behind the desk.

His subtle, controlled expressions are well-known after so many weeks in close quarters, but this one hasn't been directed at Bel since their first few weeks on the Moira. So much for arriving in time. He'll remember their first meeting, as he did on the ship, but the rest.....

His first involuntary word, though, makes that the least of Bel's worries.

"No--" an earnest, open-handed gesture of denial; to make him think that -- Bel barely stops short of calling him by the abbreviated name, something else wildly out of place here. "Nothing like that. He's safe and well. I'll swear to it."

At least Bel fervently hopes so. It'd depend on when the Ingress has landed them, wouldn't it? ImpSec surely would have sent a report if they'd all been missed.

Or maybe it has; is that why Gregor's voice--

No. Bel draws a breath, mind racing to catch up with the necessary change in priorities. Gregor's question is double-edged, of course; no one should have been able to bypass his security. Would you believe, a wormhole? "I've just come from him. There's a situation, a peculiar one, but, I hope, not difficult to resolve."

The words are carefully chosen, but every one is true. Really, it's supposed to be easy.

All I have to do is get the Emperor of Barrayar to take my hand.

Easy, so goes the phrase on both planets, as falling off a cliff.

Gregor feels the breath he didn't realize he was holding hiss from his lungs at Bel's exclamation, the set of his shoulders shifting into as close as he gets to a slump for a brief instant. He goes from being painfully relieved that Miles is all right to contemplating strangling him with alarming rapidity--is this how Simon feels all the time? God, no wonder the man's so stressed.

"I see," Gregor says after a moment, his voice edged with irony instead of panic now. "Not that it isn't a pleasure to see you again, Captain, but if indeed the Triumph has not spontaneously combusted and taken all the rest of the Dendarii top brass with it, would you please explain to me how you even knew to come to this office, in this city, on this planet in the first place?"

And that's two reports to devoutly hope this room will never witness. It's a relief to see the fright they'd brought drain away -- how many times has he waited here for news filtering back from the field, hoping and dreading what it might carry?

The irony is nearly restful in comparison. Gregor does irony so very well.

"With equal pleasure," Bel murmurs. And with a hint of rueful, reciprocatory irony, standing in, a little awkwardly, for the ceremonial forms of address they'd never needed to learn on the Moira. "--Sire.... I'm afraid this office was actually the easy part. I caught a special on the Hegen Hub Treaty, a few months after. There was a fuzzy vid clip -- I had to learn the rest after that, if only to keep from putting my foot in something."

Like this, for example. More important, though, and less forgiving, had been the need to steer others' feet away. Knowing what to steer them away from had been vital.

"The other part was a matter of adding two plus two, if the twos were dozens of ones cleverly hidden all over the Nexus." A glint of quiet personal pride at that, even if some of the clues had been more of right-place, right-time. "I was dead sure his secret was safe, so I held my peace until all this; that's why you wouldn't have been informed yet."

Except for the time when he'd been first to know.

The office is so... so calm. Beautifully appointed, absurdly opulent (to Bel's Betan eye) in its trove of well-used wooden furnishings. And empty, but for the two of them. Gregor himself can't have been reported missing on this Barrayar, or the room would be full of ImpSec. There's still time for that.... The picture it makes is strangely peaceful, the tall, quiet man sitting there day after day to manage the moving parts of his empire. On the Moira, Bel could have stepped up and taken his hand with hardly a second thought.

"It's been quite the unexpected field trip--" Again, no name to call him by. It's unexpectedly difficult, not to. "I should love to fill you in, but -- let me apologise first, if I've broken in on anything urgent."

Because Bel's come to take him away from it.

Gregor listens patiently, but his lips take on a wry twist that deepens steadily as Bel speaks.

"I should have known you'd figure it out, honestly, even if it'll give Simon colonic spasms. I think it shaves a few weeks off his life every time another Dendarii finds out what's going on, but while our medical care is certainly not up to the standards you're used to, we're catching up. He'll be fine."

He tilts his head in slight invitation, not sitting again yet. "If you're waiting for me to have some free time, I'm afraid you'd be standing around outside that office until roughly a year and a half from now, but there's no crisis that can't wait an hour." Something like the shadow of a real smile curls his mouth.

"What can I do for you, Captain Thorne?"

Damn the man, making it harder and harder to remember where one is in ways that have nothing to do with malfunctioning portal tech. "Well." Eyes dancing, Bel takes the look as invitation enough to step closer, so they aren't conversing all the way across the room. "If I can have an hour...."

The remark about Illyan is near word-for-word from their other first meeting. Given the contexts of both, Bel can sympathize acutely, though with a tickle of appreciation at the parallel.

"Unfortunately for Captain Illyan's cortisol level, the technology that brought me here may impact security. Moreover, it's not fully understood and we're not sure who else has it. It wasn't developed by anyone we know of." The wry smile ebbs, and Bel's head tilts thoughtfully. "Truly, though.... it's something you should see for yourself. Sir--" better than sire, if not quite Greg -- "if you had lost a memory of something that no one else would ever know to ask about, something that would make no difference here--" a gesture at the work-piled desk -- "and never come up again, would you want it back?"

Gregor stares hard at Bel's face, all the humor draining from his own expression to leave it smooth and cold, his eyes sharpening. He's quiet for a long moment, and his voice is firm when he speaks again, not amused at all.

"Yes," he says simply, his lips pressing into a flat line. "What is this about, Captain Thorne? Please note that my patience for cryptic answers is thinning with stunning rapidity."

The chill look is more what Bel had expected for the conundrum of their appearing in the palace, or wherever this was, at all. Gregor has every reason to hate being kept in the dark. Bel meets the sharp gaze squarely, accepting the rebuke with a brief acknowledging nod. All they have for him is the truth.

It's a unique challenge to condense the Moira into a brief report. The broken Ingress; the deep-space ship of unknown origin, peopled with abductees from across space, time, and the multiverse; the offer to send everyone home at the end of the line if they would work as crew -- the uniform Bel wears now, one of no known fleet -- to get the ship to its destination. The months that had passed, back there. Details ruthlessly excluded: death, love, disaster, the rapport they'd found, your hands around mine. Better to stay with dry facts and away from the tightness in their own chest.

Much better.

It almost slips through, a bare hint behind the eyes, as Bel describes the memory-loss reported by people sent back and later returned. But they're careful to differentiate the ship's Ingress from the one on Amissis-Re. For most of the trip, going home, even temporarily, hasn't been an option.

"So what you're attempting to tell me," Gregor says, very slowly. "Is that I've been kidnapped from my duties here by a ship of unknown origin in unknown space onto a ship full of aliens, that nobody at home has noticed because this is all completely fake due to another event of similarly unknown origin, and that I don't remember because I conveniently have amnesia about all of these events due to being here at home for too long."

He pauses for a long moment, appearing to carefully consider and reject several responses before air sighs almost inaudibly from his lungs and he meets Bel's eyes again, one eyebrow arching.

"Do you have any proof of this, Captain Thorne? Besides the unfamiliar uniform you're currently sporting, I mean. This is all a little..." He stops again, choosing his words delicately. "Difficult to swallow."

"Oh, entirely real," breathes Bel. "And I wouldn't call it convenient." Another word entirely, or several. A sardonic twitch of a smile; Bel knows exactly how unbelievable it all sounds. One element at a time might be plausible, but all together, it's madness, or a bad holovid. Proof or no, perhaps only Miles and Gregor -- maybe Quinn too, out there with the fleet -- would have listened all the way to the end. "The amnesia would conveniently vanish after returning to Amissis-Re, but there is something else."

Sliding up one cuff, Bel displays the inert MID bracelet circling it, nothing at all like any wristcom Gregor might have owned here.

"A ship's intercom device, issued on arrival. You have one too."

It'll be dead as Bel's is, no transmission capabilities, but Gregor wouldn't have been able to remove it, even if the transport-disorientation had hidden it from his mind.

Gregor starts, his belly lurching unpleasantly as he pushes his sleeve back and stares down at the unfamiliar comm on his wrist. He just breathes for several moments, his already pale face draining further, then looks slowly back up at Bel.

"I see," he says, his voice paper-thin but carefully controlled. "And what do you suggest I should do about this, Captain Thorne?"

The MID circlet glitters, hypnotic. Bel's own breath holds, caught on the edge of that tone. He's asking them? Captain of nothing, back there -- a sharp stab of longing for familiar quarters, the thrum of the fleet's fastest ship, a crew trained and trustworthy, the tug of a different invisible line than the one that always catches up with Ingress travelers and takes them away. Somewhere in this universe, right now.....

But in the other one, Gregor would have called them Bel.

"Come back with me." Dry-mouthed -- they hadn't planned this far; the others had supposedly known what to say. "Remember it all for yourself. And then...."

They hadn't discussed that, up on the platform, and Bel doesn't think it likely. Someone needs him there, too. But in the end, the decision will be his. And it needs to be wholly his, no transport amnesia blocking his sight.

"...If you still need to do this, we'll help you find your way."

(no subject)

lets_see_what_happens - 2016-06-10 18:23 (UTC) - Expand

Eggsy goes looking for Gregor because he can't quite hide the way he worries. It eats at him, knowing that when they go in the Ingress all communication stops and he has to stay on the ship and just hope that he's okay. He does that, for a while, until he can't take it anymore and then jumping in is pretty easy.

Then he's inside a building that he doesn't know, but he's landed right inside an office where Gregor happens to be. He assumes it's luck, or the Host is really good at what they do, but he won't complain either way because he'd gotten what he wanted.

He doesn't say anything, at first, cause Gregor looks fine. Doing paperwork or something but he's not hurt.

"Everythin' okay?"

Gregor is bent over his desk tapping away at his comm console, and he doesn't notice Eggsy until he actually says something. His head shoots up as he startles in his char, and he's on his feet in an instant, his dark eyes wide.

"Wh--" Who are you? he almost asks, but the words catch in his throat, an odd pang of recognition quashing the question before it can spill from his lips. He straightens a little, his jaw tilting up and his eyes hard as he looks down at Eggsy's face, trying to place it.

"How did you get in here?" he demands instead, his voice sharp.

Eggsy startles, taking a step back when Gregor moves so quickly, on his feet and looking at Eggsy like, well, like he doesn't know him. He's no chicken, not afraid of someone just cause they're bigger, but Eggsy trusts Gregor and he put himself out there where he's concerned and he's kind of scary when he raises himself up the way he is, acting like Eggsy doesn't belong.

"Uh, quit playin' Greg. Ain't been back to the ship in a while, so I came lookin' for ya."

He swallows, shrugging his shoulders nervously, and then tries for nonchalance. Eggsy takes a few steps forward, sticking his hand out for Gregor to take.

"I missed ya and wanted to see if you wanted to eat lunch with me."

"You--"

Gregor finds himself half reaching out before he stops, stock still, curling his fingers into his palm and staring hard at Eggsy's face, something like panic starting to bleed into his eyes. He quashes it as effectively as he can, both his hands tightening into fists.

"Do I know you?" he says, not quite steadily, wracking his brain for anything other than the gut-deep glimmer of recognition that he can't quite place. He sucks in a sharp breath. "I do, don't I. I--what ship?" The slightest bit of desperation sharpens his voice.

"What are you talking about?"

Eggsy drops his hand to his side, fingers flexing, emotion flashing across his face. Hurt, rejection, loss. A lot of things he doesn't understand and doesn't want to think about, but he's just started and he has to get Gregor to remember.

"It's Eggsy. Um. Gary Unwin. We.. We're together and we live on the Moira together. Well I mean we both live there but not like in the same room. You stay with Ivan and Miles."

He takes a breath, trying to get himself under control. Eggsy straightens up and walks forward, placing both hands on Gregor's shoulders. He doesn't know if he's going to be pushed away but he has to try.

"You said I was amazin' and you're sweet and you let me kiss you when I want."

"You know Ivan and Miles?" Gregor asks, then almost asks if Eggsy is Dendarii before he bites his tongue--if he's not, he'll want a lot of questions answered, and Gregor has no idea what his clearance is. Gregor has no idea how he even got in here.

He draws in a sharp breath as Eggsy steps closer, curling his hands on Gregor's shoulders, but he doesn't push Eggsy away, not quite, his whole body tensing and his hands closing on Eggsy's forearms. He feels a bolt of something strike through him to ground itself low in his belly--it's not hunger, or need even, but a disorienting familiar-unfamiliar feeling of rightness that comes with Eggsy's hands against him even through layers of clothing. His grip is tight for a moment before it relaxes, helplessly, his eyes widening and the first stirrings of something like panic clearly visible in them.

"I don't--" he starts, then falters, his throat tightening, squeezing his voice small when he speaks again. "I believe you and I don't know why, but I don't remember. Why don't I remember?" His voice shakes.

"Am I losing my mind?"

"Course I do, they're your roommates, and we all live on the ship together, yeah?"

He runs his hands up and down gently, so slowly and carefully like he's afraid if he moves too fast Gregor will startle and push him away. He breathes in, it's shaky, uncertain, and he's trying to figure out what he should say and do.

"No, you're not. Bet it's just all this Ingress stuff. Or somethin' like that. Cause you know me, I can tell. Just gotta get you back to the ship, then you'll remember me properly."

Eggsy drops down to press his forehead to Gregor's neck, cheek against his chest, breathing in and out to steady himself. As much as he might feel right now, it's nothing compared to what Gregor does. He smooths his hands down Gregor's arms, settling his hands at Eggsy's lower back, and looping his own around Gregor's shoulders, he leans up and presses a kiss to Gregor's cheek.

Gregor inhales sharply when Eggsy leans in against him but his arms curl around Eggsy's back without hesitation, the solid warmth of him drawing the breath from his lungs in a shaky sigh. His spine goes taut again when Eggsy's lips find his cheek, feeling it flush under that contact, his lips parting.

"Oh," he says, as though Eggsy had just answered a question he'd asked, his eyes still a little wide. This was crazy--this whole situation was crazy, let alone him doing something like tightening his grip on a strange boy in his office in the middle of the Residence and turning to kiss him, just a soft, careful press of lips, but he does it anyway, some of the tension melting out of him as he just holds on for a moment. His breath is a little fast when he draws back again, looking only slightly dazed.

"All right," he says, not quite steadily. "...all right. How do we get back, then?"

Eggsy presses another kiss, one after the other, soft and chaster, along Gregor's jaw. He doesn't quite go to his mouth, doesn't think it's right to kiss him when Gregor still doesn't remember him all the way, but he's unable to do nothing. When Gregor kisses him full on, he grins against the other's mouth, instantly a thousand times calmer.

"We have to wait, yeah? I've been here a while, so it should happen soon, but maybe now that we both wanna go back it'll be quicker."

He doesn't really know, but he doesn't want to let go of Gregor, even if he pulls back just enough to look up at him.

"Ain't leavin' without ya. And if you're stayin', so am I."

The words are out before he's had a chance to think them over, but he doesn't regret it.

"All right. ...all right."

Gregor doesn't quite let go of Eggsy, either, but his spine stiffens a little.

"In that case, I believe we should return to... wherever you said it was as quickly as possible."

Eggsy nods, glancing behind him at the door.

"Kinda slipped in here. Weren't easy, or nothin'."

He turns towards Gregor, shrugging sheepishly.

"Figure they'll notice if you just go. How do we get outta here without 'em noticing that?"

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( may event log )

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5/24-ish

OH BOY OH BOY

WHOOPS APPARENTLY SOMEONE SHOULD HAVE WATCHED THEIR STEP :D

Re: WHOOPS APPARENTLY SOMEONE SHOULD HAVE WATCHED THEIR STEP :D

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