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

jUMPS ON THIS would've been earlier but had a busy weekend, hello tucker pvp prompt if this is ok

[protocol]

And there's Wash, standing next to him, completely unamused. A lover, not a fighter, that's how Tucker's described himself to him more than once, and maybe it's true to an extent but that doesn't mean Tucker's not just used it as a damned excuse time and time again. The weaponry that they've been given is still strange to him, alien, and he keeps turning it in his hand, keeps checking it, making sure it's right and it's functional even when he knows it is.

It's anxiety. They're just out here, standing guard, but there could be a fight at any moment, and it's another fight they really have no fucking stake in, and yet.

"Your badass natural skills still need a bit of work, Tucker," Wash starts, turning to face him, "And --"

A pause. A breath. And then he just shakes his head, turning his gaze out towards the battlefield. Another battle that isn't theirs, another world that they had no real stake in. The Reds and Blues are apparently in some way forever destined to be toyed around with by greater powers, and well, since he's one of them now, in some fashion, then.

"-- Look," he says finally, exhaling heavily. "I get it."

Would you look at that, Tucker. No lecture from Mr Washington.

Nooo worries! /hugs these tags tightly

[lovernotafighter]

Hey, Tucker still described himself as that, but let’s be real: since Chorus, it’s been more “fighter” and less “lover”. And scarier yet was how well he begrudgingly fit into the role, one he didn’t want, one he still didn’t want because the responsibility sucked. People lives in his hands sucked. All of it sucked. But, surprisingly, he did the whole “leader” moderately okay, especially when he was making lieutenants stay back while Captains did the stupid risky shit..

This…wasn’t much better. A new place. A new war they didn’t belong to with new people that they didn’t have any connection to. Tucker didn’t really buy into the whole “history repeats itself/karmic wheel bullshit” but damn if it wasn’t feeling like that right about now. Once was enough, but the Reds and Blues were way too familiar with this damn ride.

At least he and Wash weren’t busy trying to save each other from the opposite sides this time. And at least Caboose and the Reds weren’t having to wade through this bullshit, too.

“Oh my God, they’re better than most of the people here.” Which wasn’t helping his case, really, because he had a feeling anything that wasn’t better than everyone would result in more drills, more practice, more laps, regardless of the authority of old ranks. Tucker braced himself for the inevitable.

Shit.

But it didn’t come, and the Sim Trooper looked over at him hesitantly, waiting. But nothing, still. He blinked once, raising an eyebrow, as he breathed a puff of cold air.

“Get what?” So, maybe he was going to feel this out because that wasn’t vague and melodramatic at all, Wash. Nope. Not one bit.

aaa been busy and lost track of tags some, sorry for how late this is

[protocol]

Tucker's been through a lot.

Some at Wash's own hands, of course -- he hadn't gone easy on him, had been harsher on him than he was towards the others, but only because Tucker was the one he knew he could count on to really make it through, to actually be more of the soldier that they needed him to be. He did come through the other side, grew so much over such a short period of time, and then there's everything on Chorus, too, what he went through to try and rescue him, the mercs. Wash hasn't had an easy life, but he doesn't envy the Reds and Blues, either, with all the constant bullshit they've had to put up with that seems to have very little to do with them.

This is just another step in the same pattern.

"This isn't our war," he says finally. "This isn't our fight. It's another random planet we've somehow been dumped on, except instead of a crashed ship it's some kind of -- wormhole, or something, no one even knows. Just another fight you've been thrown into that has nothing to do with you."

No worries at all! I'm just working on my app. :x

[lovernotafighter]

Yeah, pretty much what he thought it would be.

Sure, this shit was getting to be old, old paths that seemed way too familiar to the point that they could be navigated in his sleep. But, hey, at least this didn’t have anything to do with Project Freelancer and the orbit of people associated with it this time; that was both a bonus and a total surprise for once. But without those customary footholds it made it so much more delicate to navigate through this: Tucker felt like he was climbing a smooth mountain made of glass.

It sucked. He didn’t want to climb or navigate or deal with anything. He just wanted to go to home and just do what they did in Blood Gulch. Was that too much to ask for?

Yes. Of course it was.

“Look, it’s bullshit, just like it’s bullshit that at least one of these wars can’t be on a beach somewhere where clothing has been banned and the entire other army is just hot chicks.” His shoulders rolled a little in a shrug, over this damn war, over all of it. “All I care about is getting back to the others before Caboose can set the entire planet of Chorus on fire.”

And…and seeing his kid. Hearing from him. Something. And the Reds. Having a beer with Grif.

“If we have to fight in another stupid war, then I guess we don’t have choice. But you better believe that I’m going to kick whatever asshole pulled us into this right in the dick.”

[protocol]

As much as Wash would like to tell them that there's an end point, that they just need to get this over with and soon they can just go back to their bases in the middle of nowhere and back to their lives, Wash doesn't think they'll ever really be able to go back. They've been dragged outside of that boxed canyon, now, and sure they've been in a few different places like it but there's no going back in that bubble. There's too much going on around them, too much that they've been swept up in.

Wash is used to it. He's sorry that the Reds and Blues have gotten caught in all this, too, but the least he can do is guide them as much as he can.

"We don't have to really fight and put our lives on the line. We just have to play along until we figure out what happened, and until we figure out how to get back." He looks over from him back out at the horizon, his expression grim. "And until then, we lie low -- which sometimes means playing along and doing guard duty."

A small sigh. Look, he's not particularly enthused about this either, okay, Tucker.

"But have a little faith," he says after a while, looking back at him at something that might be a smile. "Caboose isn't the only guy back on Chorus."

And okay, maybe Tucker doesn't trust the others all that much either, but -- Wash has seen all of them come along way, and he's confident that they aren't going to set everything on fire. Or maybe they will, but it'll somehow turn out to be helpful, or something. They'll manage to hold their own. Tucker's grown plenty, too, after all.