test drive meme

[barrayarmods]

Playlists by tsarcasm:
Barrayar ⚔ Cetaganda ⚔ The Invasion

Have you read the FAQ?

The Village ⚔ The Barrayaran Camp ⚔ The Cetagandan Base ⚔ The Fight

You've been on Barrayar for a while now, and you're finally starting to adjust. Or maybe you're not. Maybe this is all still too much for you – the attacks, the constant raids, living in the middle of a war zone by no choice of your own. But if you want to live long enough to make it back home one day, you might as well do what you can to help the war effort. Besides, where else are you going to go?

The fierce Barrayaran winter rages even to the southern end of the continent, and it's been none too kind to Vorkosigan's District. Temperatures at sea level are well below freezing, and up in the mountains, it's even colder. Several inches of snow already blanket most of the mountains all the way down to the Cetagandan base, and the storm that's just started up is only bringing more down. Visibility is low in the flurries, wind swirling snow everywhere, and God help you if you get lost on your own out in the storm. Nights are cold, these days.

A recent attack on the Cetagandan base has left half their facilities damaged and in disarray. Raid parties snuck in by night, planting bombs in previously scouted locations for maximum effect. Damage to the base's water treatment plant and organic grow labs have considerably impacted the Cetagandans' food and water supply, and in the chaos caused by the explosions, the Barrayaran guerrillas raided their medbay and made off with a considerable bounty of medical supplies. One man's bane is another man's boon, and while the Cetagandans have reserve supplies to sustain them for now, some of the damage is extensive and the repairs will take time. But in the meantime, the Barrayarans have scored a precious victory as well as equally precious resources.



the village
The Riverfall villagers are used to the harsh winters of the Dendarii mountains, and though they don't have much themselves, they are happy to offer what they can in terms of cold-weather clothing and extra blankets to those allied with the guerrillas. Despite the cold, the hill children are going wild in the snow, and they may try to lure you into their play by sneakily pelting you with snowballs.

Cetagandan allies, however, may not be met so warmly, and at the first sight of ghem soldiers, any children out playing in the snow will be immediately ushered into their homes. Unaccompanied outsiders from the Cetagandan base might have an easier time talking to the hillfolk, but any attempt at digging information about the guerrillas out of them will get you stonewalled fast. A sneaky hill child or two may steal away from their home to approach one of the "bad guy" outsiders to sate their curiosity.



the barrayaran camp
Morale is higher than it has been in a while after their recent victory, and the guerrillas are in high spirits. And do they ever love their spirits – as night falls, most of the Barrayarans gathered around the campfires are enjoying the deceptively named, dangerously alcoholic moonshine they call maple mead. It might start out sweet, but it burns all the way down, and a few glasses of that stuff will tank even the heaviest Barrayaran soldier.

But the storm rages on despite their celebration, and preparations must be made. Clearing as much snow off the tents as possible will help ensure that no tents collapse overnight, the horses need to be tended to, and the officers are always running training drills. Food is in real supply now, but the guerrillas need help foraging and hunting nonetheless. And when night falls, you'll have to find a way to keep yourself warm – it's a good thing there are a cozy ten of you to a tent.



the cetagandan base
The Cetagandans outnumber their guerrilla enemies almost seventy-to-one, so their base has not been completely devastated, but it hardly looks to be the work of a few raiding parties. Nothing is beyond repair, but the water treatment plant has been taken offline, which means that all water is now locally sourced and must be treated by hand with purification tablets. No one in the base will starve, but fresh food is mostly unavailable until they get the grow labs back online, which means that meals are mostly comprised of ration bars and MREs. Morale isn't exactly at an all-time low, but none of the ghem officers seem to be in a good mood.

They won't hesitate to put you to work, either. They need all the engineers and laborers they can get for the grow labs and the treatment plant, and the medbay's inventory needs to be thoroughly audited before they can send a request for more supplies. But if you need a break, it's not too hard to slip away for a little quiet downtime. Some of the lower-ranked ghem ladies might let you participate in some more artistic activities, or maybe some of the enlisted soldiers who are a little more used to you by now might invite you into one of their Cetagandan games of strategy. Or, since the treatment plant only affected potable water, you could appreciate your comfortable surroundings and take a nice hot soak in the bathroom while everyone else is working.


the fight
PVP
You're in the midst of a skirmish with the other side -- maybe you signed up for the battle, maybe you just got caught up in the fight -- but at least it's easy to tell who's on what side. Only one side is wielding swords, and the other guns.

But then you come across someone who doesn't look like they're either -- not one of the rugged Barrayarans or the face-painted Cetagandans, but an outsider, an exotic like you. They must be. So do you fight?

RECON
Maybe you're not on the front lines, but there's plenty more to winning the war than just fighting. You're partnered with another outsider on recon; the ground is cold, and you try not to let your shoes crunch too loudly on snow as you scout, scanning for patrols or supply lines.

Or maybe you're with the Cetagandans, hiking it thorugh the mountains with one of your fellow exotics in an attempt to locate the enemy camp. Except it's damned cold, and there's hidden ice everywhere, and everything is starting to really look the same.

--

Feel free to write prompts for your character on either side -- you don't have to choose just one for the TDM! Just label it clearly so folks know. GO WILD, MY FRIENDS

Comments

beth greene | the walking dead | ota

[littlemissfutility]

[village]

Beth, unlike some people, has left the state of Georgia before, but she's a born and bred Southerner at heart. And that makes the Dendarii mountains a serious shock to her system. Too much snow, too much ice, too much of a cold wind. Even after she's disappeared into the native clothing of the area, she shivers a little, her cheeks an almost perpetual pink.

But there are benefits to this awful weather, too. When she ends up hit by a snowball, she laughs, bending down to scoop up a handful of snow in her thick gloves. "We're not going to let them get away with this, right?"

[bonfires]

Weather like this also means she can always be found curled up near campfires. Sitting in the firelight, wrapped up in the wool and fur the hillfolk wear, she's warm. Warm enough to count, anyway, and willing to chat with just about anyone she meets--about whatever they like, or about the night in general.

For instance, "Do you know any ghost stories?" Or, "It's too bad we don't have a guitar." Or maybe, "The stars are different here. I wonder if they have constellations."

(Or try offering her some maple mead, if you want.)

[camp work]

But snow and ice aside, work goes on. Beth's tracking skills aren't so developed that she's much use out in the woods, but she can handle other chores. She sweeps snow off tents, keeps fires stoked, and fetches whatever she's told to.

And eventually she gets bored of all of it and asks what kinds of plants can be foraged here. The first time she goes out, it's with a little list with carefully written notes about the different options and another member of the camp.

[pvp]

Swords are new to Beth, but she decides they can't be that different from knives--and at this point, she's learned how to be deadly with those. She's pretty sure killing people is never going to be easy for her, but at times like this, it doesn't matter much. When people try to hurt you or others, you have to do something about it. Refusing to act only helps them.

And anyway, if she doesn't fight to kill, she'll be dead all over again.

It doesn't mean, however, that she won't hesitate at the sight of a face that doesn't look like the enemy. She has her sword at the ready, both hands wrapped around the hilt like she remembers Michonne doing.

"Who are you?" Name, side, anything. Give the right answer, and she won't try to swing.

[&cet.]

[If you want to do something else, let's do something else. PM me if you have any questions!]

[pigsfeet]

Daryl is out hunting, because that's what he does to break up the monotony between waiting and planning and senseless violence. This war is stupid, based on something he has no concern for. It's on a living world, though, and that isn't something to waste. In the woods, he's basically safe as houses.

Not everyone is, though.

Daryl sees Beth in the woods, looking for plants and berries to pick in the dead of winter. She's like some kind of Snow White, soon she'll start singing and animals will pop up to help her scavenge. Actually, she's walking so slowly, they just might.

Daryl settles in to watch Beth's movements, seeing if, one, she can notice when she's being watched. (And, two, if he can score a few squirrels out of this arrangement.) On purpose, he walks with more heavy footfalls than usual, letting the snow crumble under his feet, twigs snap, mud splash.

[littlemissfutility]

There are plants that can be eaten and plants that are poisonous, and she'll be damned if she ends up making the camp sick. By this point, she's been going along long enough that she doesn't need her little cheat sheet, but she still doesn't feel as confident as she'd like. It was easier to do this at home, where all the plants were familiar.

Comparing berries and roots and whatever else takes most of her active mind, but when she hears a snap behind her, she freezes. Her first reaction is still walker and her hand goes to a knife that's somewhere way back on Earth.

Luckily, she still has a blade. Her hand rests on the hilt of her sword as she turns slowly around. When she sees who's there--not a dead-eyed, grey-faced monster rotting way, and not a Cetagandan--she laughs. "Daryl! You scared me."

[pigsfeet]

Daryl doesn't snicker, not exactly, but there's a pleased glint in his eye. He stands up straight, no longer creeping along the line of trees.

"Thought I was tracking a deserter." He gestures to the muddy footprints she's left in the snow, the dirty red leaves strewn along the mud.

[littlemissfutility]

"Oh." When he points out her footprints, she recognizes how obvious they are, and she smiles a little sheepishly. Oops. As explanation, she tells him, "No deserting today. I was picking plants for food."

[pigsfeet]

Daryl pokes around, looking in the bag of flowers and berries Beth's already collected. "Got any of them little berries? The green ones."

[littlemissfutility]

"Uh-huh." She finds the pouch she's stashed them in and brings a few out for him to look at. "Do you need some?"

[pigsfeet]

"Yeah," He takes some of the berries, and loops them in a knot of twine. Bending down to find a few twigs, he begins to tangle them together into some kind of well-practiced alignment. "Squirrels round here love 'em."

bonfires

[shri]

She's amicable enough to conversation. Her wounded leg is propped up in front of her from the skirmishers, her own drink of maple mead is slowly sipped, warmth that's welcome in her belly, her heart against this bitter cold. Watching the people move around the campfire, distracted until she turns to the voice that has spoken to her.

Far be it from her ever looking jovial, though she was not always this way. "Ghost stories, no, I am afraid not. Perhaps that is a touch grim for a night like this, though. Or do you have a fascination?"

[littlemissfutility]

Beth shakes her head, her knees pulled up nearly to her chest. "It just seems like we should be doing something like that, since we have a campfire."

Fires lost their novelty at home, even if there were still times they really felt like the stuff of bonfire nights and camping. Ghost stories did, too, with real monsters lurking in the woods. But here, she only knows one person, and the orange glow of the flames is almost gentle against the snow. It feels safe to Beth, despite the knowledge that it isn't. Not really.

"I'm Beth," she offers after a moment, since it sounds like they're probably not going to get too far on the subject of ghost stories alone.

beth r u thinking about cookies n ladybugs n biscuits again

[shri]

"For Elizabeth?" Brief, she knew how the English liked to name their children often.

After a moment though, she continues, just watching her in consideration if nothing else. Still strange, sometimes, to introduce herself. Didn't have to, once upon a time, and then her name had been banned and treason to speak of. "Lakshmibai - but Lakshmi if that is easier for you." Her expectation about English speakers managing her name at this point is... limited. To say the least.

She watches the flames, again, the dart and jump and life of them. What was needed against this bitter cold that settled so deep into bones.

"I can tell you other stories, if you wish."

no im thinking about the dark elevator shaft that is mortality

[littlemissfutility]

"Only when I'm in a lot of trouble." And even then, it's easier just to yell BETH! under those circumstances: fewer syllables to bite out before the walkers come. She smiles. "Your name's pretty, Lakshmibai."

She says the syllables a little on the slow side, determined to get them out in the right order and something like the right pronunciation. It's Americanized, a little Southernized, but the effort is there. It's only going to get easier from here, if you keep saying it.

"What kinds of stories do you tell?" Ghost stories might not be ideal as long as the wind howls through the fir trees--she's right about that much. But other stories would be fine with her.

well, I mean, there could be cookies at the end

[shri]

"It's beautiful too." That she would try, and no, it's not how it should be said, but it doesn't matter so much that she tried, nothing that endears her quicker to the girl.

"All sorts. I did nothing but nag the -- priests for them as a child." Laughs briskly with it, how she'd sit at their feet, studious as she must be to be Queen, but eager too. To hear the tales that they could speak at length. "My husband would employ poets and playwrites from every corner and let us see them. So it really matters what story you would like, and how well I remember them." It's teasing then, at least a little, though it comes only in the crinkle of her eyes and the upturned corner of her mouth. "Love, perhaps, or war, they are the favourites together?" Didn't matter which country she went to, so much was the same.

when you get there, lmk if there are

[littlemissfutility]

Beth giggles along with Lakshmibai. She remembers the children at the prison, clamoring after Carol to hear stories. Of course, there was more to Carol's story hours than Tom Sawyer alone, but it's easy to remember her own childhood, too, asking everyone else in the house to read to her.

"Love," she answers immediately. That's an easy choice. The whole world is war--no matter what world you're on, it turns out. She smiles at Lakshmibai, a little tentative. "Or--anything you know with a happy ending."

what is heaven but the cookies at the end of life

[shri]

She nods, taking a drink as she composes it in her mind, picking through the pieces of memories scattered about after so long.

"Is there a way that you prefer them to start?" Sips her drink again slowly, forming the words in her mind. Well, there's one that is easy.

village

[vorbratta]

Sonia was already preparing for battle (read: packing her own snowball) when one of the sneaky little hill children managed to pelt this poor unsuspecting outsider. But she's feeling at least as playful as Sonia is right now -- good, they could all use a hearty dose of that -- and the Princess gives her a mischievous grin as she dusts some extra snow off her newly crafted weapon.

"Oh, absolutely not. Those children are vicious, you know." She smirks, hefting her snowball. "On the count of three?"

[littlemissfutility]

Beth's not quite so practiced in the art of snowball-making, but she's got a lump of snow that feels like it'll hold together long enough to pelt somebody. They've been brought together by little more than proximity, but a glance between them is enough to make them compatriots. It might not be fair play to gang up on a couple children, but when the weapons are only balls of snow, she doesn't feel too bad.

"One...two..." She glances over at the other girl, grinning had enough to crack her face. "Three!"

[vorbratta]

The two of them launch their attack with remarkable synchronicity, Sonia's going wide but Beth's pegging one of the children right on the shoulder. He loses balance and topples backward before he and a couple of his companions hurriedly duck behind a low fence to plan their counterattack.

Sonia lets out a delighted laugh and falls back a step, covering her mouth. "Oh, good shot!"

[littlemissfutility]

She feels a twinge of guilt at knocking a little boy right to the ground, but he seems to take it well enough. When he's up and running off to regroup, she smiles over at Sonia and her laughter. "They're going to come back twice as hard now."

Which is why she scoops up another mittenful of snow and starts packing it together. She'll try not to send of of them tumbling over this time. "I'm Beth."

[vorbratta]

"That's what makes it fun," Sonia chirps, forming a smaller snowball in her hands this time. Maybe she can get a faster pitch. She grins. "You can call me Sonia. Did you just come to the village?"

[littlemissfutility]

Beth nods, picking at the icy little clumps of snow starting to stick to her mittens. Crafting a perfect snowball is low on her list of priorities when it's going to be aimed at a child half her age. "They found me a few days ago. Are you from around here?"

camp work

[vindictive]

Charlie initially isn't happy to be told to accompany the girl out to forage for plants. She's got things around camp she needs to tend to, and is pissy at the men who feel like Beth needs someone to watch after her just because she's a woman. She's got half a mind to turn back and go yell at the assholes who think that the other blonde isn't capable of fending for herself. But the longer she walks with Beth in a companionable silence, the more she reminds her of Danny. It's just in appearance alone at first, though as they get to talking idly the girl's mannerisms and general way of speaking reminds her too much of her dead little brother.

"What's left on the list?" She wonders as she gathers up a bundle of the plant they've just tracked down.

They've been out for hours and probably should head back, but Charlie's pride won't let her go back until they've collected everything. She wants Beth to be able to hold her head high as she walks back into camp, and to let everyone see what she's accomplished with a day of hard work.

[littlemissfutility]

"Um..." Beth peers down the sheet of paper, going over the names and descriptions. They've covered most of the items on the list, and their clothing has been thick enough to keep them from coming to harm from thorns and burrs. "We need to look for a plant with red leaves in clusters of three. They're round at the tips. Once we dig up the roots of a couple of those, we're done."

And they'll be able to come back with food and medicine for the whole camp. It's easy work, if time-consuming, after years of needing to survive on whatever's around. Beth's hoping that it translates into a little more respect for her skills back with the Barrayarans. They might not see a dead girl when they look at her, but they definitely see a liability.

It's going to take time to change their minds, and she knows it. But she's going to do what it takes to make them take her seriously. And at least she has someone to help her. Beth glances over at Charlie and gives her a little smile. "Thanks for coming out with me."

[vindictive]

Charlie doesn't say anything at first. She's still annoyed that she was made to come along, but is fond enough of Beth's ability to remind her of her brother that she doesn't show that annoyance. It's not Beth's fault for it being there, anyway. "You can thank me by letting me show you how to use a sword."

She pauses, securing the plants she's just bundled up into her bag. Knowing what to look for now, she starts walking and making sure to turn a careful eye all around her to check for signs of red leaves.

"And by letting me in on what these will be made into. I know how to make remedies for things with plants from back home, but I'm not sure if things here work the same."

[littlemissfutility]

"That's another favour to me," Beth says, laughing. So far, her sword has been more of a nuisance than anything, its scabbard banging around her legs. It makes her long for her knife, or maybe for Michonne to show her how she figured out how to fight with blades this long. "I need the practice."

She kneels down in the snow, pushing back a different bush of red-leaved plants to find a smaller one beneath it, with just the right number of leaves. Learning to spot things out here is going to take time, with everything so different from home, but it'll be worth it in the end.

Digging them up without a trowel is going to take some time, too. It's too bad it's so damn cold out, or she'd take off her mittens so they wouldn't end up muddy. "We'll have to ask back at camp. Somebody must know what to do with all these plants."