Chapter 3.1: The party begins

[yhlee]

EDIT: The base is sited in the year 951, in a very odd timeline that has NO h*archate. Supplies have to be brought in via rift from other timelines. Thread here.

Ashari's new base features variable layout, which has been put to use in creating an extravagant ballroom. Tables to one side boast a variety of foods, drinks both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, and the occasional euphoric drugs. Candlevines glow blue and violet, and flower arrangements interspersed with fantastic sculptures of lace-woven wire adorn the tables. The arrangements mean various sarcastic things, if you're familiar with the Andan petal language.

Music plays softly enough not to overwhelm conversation, loudly enough to set a mood complementing the low-key lighting.

Remi is one of the first arrivals from the Cantata, shepherding the mothlings. Because he's a Nirai, he has a slate and is taking notes, although he is happy enough to talk to anyone who approaches him.

The kitchen is currently adjacent to the ballroom. Ashari's voice can be heard, raised in some kind of argument with...a caterer?

Comments

Re: Making the rounds (Paging Sasha)

[stormglass]

There’s a beat before Xiulan replies, her first reaction being rolled around internally against the considerations of known information and non-native language.

“If you mean in respect to planning small unit operations, I’ve done it plenty.

“Military supply chain management though? Not my thing. I’ve...worked with logistics officers before. It’s been a while.“

With a quick gesture, she indicates the door to the kitchen. “If you’re needing someone to coordinate supplies for the moth specifically, Dar’s someone to talk to. She did restaurant management in the past. Of the people I’ve met here, she’s the one that seems to have the best foundation.”

Because that’s where they are, isn’t it? Figuring out what and who they have to work with to achieve goals, without being able to draw from a pool of people specifically trained for the jobs at hand. That’s not how rebellions work. You have to make do. Still, it’s something to adjust to.

I hope you weren't planning to enjoy this party - Xiulan and Sasha

[zuhrovet]

Sasha nods. "I think this will involve both your skillsets. Here's the problem. Ashari chose to site a base in this universe because there was a low chance of interference from local humans. But it seems that things out there are just too quiet. They have been keeping a lid on the problem, because they wanted to consult with our science team. But I think they underestimated the risk of a nonhuman threat. I am going to recommend that we evacuate. I hope they will go for it. But in any event, we should have a set of evacuation plans, and we should be drilling."

Re: I hope you weren't planning to enjoy this party - Xiulan and Sasha

[stormglass]

“Ahh.” Sasha’s intent to push for evacuation sees the line of Xiulan’s shoulders settle out fractionally rather than tense. “Good. It is indeed far too quiet here.”

She taps a finger on her pants leg in a quick one-two-three beat as her gaze goes distant, calculations already occurring. Her shoulders relax a little further, at odds with the situation.

“There are fifty people or so on base currently. I don’t know if either of the other two moths are set to deploy soon.

“Does the Cantata have any weapons outfitted? And...” A quick flick through mental inventory. “Who else in your crew might have the experience to help coordinate? I’ve seen some profiles, but I don’t think everyone was covered.”

Re: I hope you weren't planning to enjoy this party - Xiulan and Sasha

[zuhrovet]

Green saint, it feels good to be solving a well-defined problem, even a huge one. "We have some weaponry, but it's limited. I'll forward you the specs. As far as the crew goes, Sulen is my second. They like keeping things organized. Aymad is good with operational planning, but we're losing him to Kaliyan's team--we should still be able to draw on him for analysis, though. Reshad is useful if you want someone to"--fuck, what's the idiom for 'smooth the rustling of the grasses'?--"pour oil on troubled waters. Jedao has extensive military experience, but none of the former Kel will be comfortable working with him directly, and in all honesty we're still debriefing him."

[yhlee, what sort of weapons do we have? I assume they're in the range of things one might equip to fend off casual piracy.]

Re: I hope you weren't planning to enjoy this party - Xiulan and Sasha

[yhlee]

[Y'all are going to have some standard missiles and lasers, and probably some sort of basic point defense system.

Please keep in mind that the GM has zero logistical experience for anything larger than "hustling up supplies for a high school math classroom" so I'm faking it here. :p ]

Re: I hope you weren't planning to enjoy this party - Xiulan and Sasha

[zuhrovet]

[In the real world I deeply hate event planning! So many tiny decisions...]

Re: I hope you weren't planning to enjoy this party - Xiulan and Sasha

[yhlee]

[Oh yeah, me too. There's a reason our wedding was a picnic at the park. It cost a few hundred dollars because we were broke grad students. My mom yelled at me for getting married in a $40 rust paisley skirt I found in the discount bin at some department store, instead of a Proper Wedding Dress, but since she didn't attend too bad for her.]

Re: I hope you weren't planning to enjoy this party - Xiulan and Sasha

[stormglass]

Xiulan draws a tablet out of a pocket as Sasha goes over names and skills, tapping out some initial thoughts. Find out who's qualified to handle the moth's weaponry for one. She feels herself settling into the focus the discussion brings, distancing other concerns behind mental walls rearranging themselves like one of this universe's variable layouts. Like pushing herself too much in a workout, it's a distraction. Her world is made of them these days.

Her fingers still at mention of Jedao. She sorts through scant prior references and a less than stellar briefing from Ashari, arriving at a verdict of Little Sense Made. "That's him, standing by Alaric?" She hasn't made it over there yet, but she had certainly taken note of his entrance to the room.

"I'm not from somewhere that has the heptarchate or hexarchate or anything like it," she says, looking back at Sasha. "Add in all the timeline...weirdness, and I'm just going to ask it; it's too important a thing to make assumptions about. Why aren't they going to be comfortable with him? As in, the him standing over there, not someone else. And will anyone else have the same problem?"

She can practically see the eyebrow raise in her mind's eye, but swats it away before the face it's on can fully form. Things aren't simple here and she's in no mood to imagine hearing otherwise from someone deluded in thinking anything had ever been 'simple'.

(And even so, she can feel herself carefully not thinking about other implications of timeshifting. About implications that could be possibilities. Because that's another trap of thinking things simple: they're not.)

Re: I hope you weren't planning to enjoy this party - Xiulan and Sasha - note for GM and Reshad

[zuhrovet]

"That is Jedao, yes. The problem is what versions of him did, or will have done, in other timelines. Has anybody briefed you on Quill?"

It's a sequencing problem: Jedao is not the enemy, but to understand why not, Xiulan needs to know who the adversaries are.

[yhlee, did Reshad manage to learn Kujen's name from Jedao at some point during the return voyage? Or is he still the nameless Nirai collaborator?]

Re: I hope you weren't planning to enjoy this party - Xiulan and Sasha - note for GM and Reshad

[stormglass]

[I saw on the wiki that Quill is involved with briefing new recruits and assigning them. Is that still the case and if so, does Xiulan know anything beyond ‘person who had me sent here’?]

Re: I hope you weren't planning to enjoy this party - Xiulan and Sasha - note for GM and Reshad

[zuhrovet]

[Ashari has formed an anti-Quill splinter faction of the rebellion, so Xiulan probably has not met Quill!]

Re: I hope you weren't planning to enjoy this party - Xiulan and Sasha - note for GM and Reshad

[stormglass]

[Thanks! So probably easiest to assume she hasn’t even heard of Quill, to keep it simple, unless there’s a reason to do otherwise.]

[Nirai, Nirai]

[yhlee]

[Trust me, I have been watching for this very question and NO ONE has gotten Kujen's name out of Jedao. In fact, no one has taken the simple step of just flat-out asking Jedao for the name (or assumed name) of his Nirai collaborator.]

Re: I hope you weren't planning to enjoy this party - Xiulan and Sasha - note for GM and Reshad

[stormglass]

“Quill.” The repeat of the name is not a question, but said half to herself as she files through memories and finally shakes her head. “No, haven’t heard of them.”

Re: I hope you weren't planning to enjoy this party - Xiulan and Sasha - note for GM and Reshad

[zuhrovet]

Because Ashari hoards information the way the ancient xans held wealth.

"Quill is a 'facilitator' within the rebellion, charged with integrating new recruits. She has been using that position to build a private fiefdom. In doing so, she has coordinated with enemies of the rebellion. On our most recent mission, we learned that Quill had tasked agents to assassinate Jedao, before he could win his most famous victory, or commit the massacre that made him famous. We kidnapped him to find out why."

Re: I hope you weren't planning to enjoy this party - Xiulan and Sasha - note for GM and Reshad

[stormglass]

She laughs.

If she'd had a drink in hand, she might have downed that instead. But she doesn't, so instead, a laugh: chin dropping a little, eyes crinkling, shoulders shifting with it. It's not explosive or overly loud, she just chuckles like she's heard a joke where one wasn't. When Xiulan looks over at Sasha, it's with a grin that looks more jaunty than the party-polite ones shown earlier.

"Some days seem more like a game of Bullshit wrapped up in Academy hazing than others," she offers. A pause. "It's a card game."

Dashing back a lock of hair that had fallen closer to her eye when her head dropped, she continues without missing a beat. "So Quill sounds like quite the fucking poisoned intake problem.

"The briefing I got did mention Jedao - in a rather different capacity than explained him at a party eating cake mind you, but hey, you've covered that. But I'd looked up the name." She looks across the room at the man again, says quietly, "Extensive military experience indeed. That's good. That's really good. There's a lot that can be done with that."

Pieces on a pattern stones board - she makes herself call it that even in her own head - each bit of info. It shifts the field and you shift with it. Her smile is sharper now, but somehow cheerful as she thinks through options; it suits the fine, similarly sharp features of her face. "Anyone else know about the evacuation idea yet or should I remind myself this is supposed to be a party?"

[I lost 5 minutes to pondering if Bullshit could be effectively played with jeng-zai cards. Maybe just with the Minor Arcana. Or if the players were particularly drunk.]

Re: I hope you weren't planning to enjoy this party - Xiulan and Sasha - note for GM and Reshad

[zuhrovet]

Sasha laughs in response. It feels so very good to be dealing with someone who will attack a problem, instead of hiding from it, or plotting some elaborate ambush. If watching Xiulan's gesture hurts, that's just the fucking price of living in the heptarchate.

"Oh, this is the best party in any of several hells. We'll be toasting soon. I asked Sulen to prepare Ashari for the idea of evacuation, and I spoke to Remi and Alaric about the underlying threat. But I haven't had a chance to make a general briefing."

[I spent rather more time than that trying to hack jeng-zai solitaire for the conversation with Ione! I settled on a Royal Marriage variant, mostly because the role of chance is obvious.]

Re: I hope you weren't planning to enjoy this party - Xiulan and Sasha - note for GM and Reshad

[stormglass]

"Given those parameters, I'm sure of it." There are so many more hells than this.

The mention of toasting is interesting mainly for being unexpected. But it loses mindshare almost immediately to something else. "Are you thinking of a specific threat it could be then?"

Re: I hope you weren't planning to enjoy this party - Xiulan and Sasha - note for GM and Reshad

[zuhrovet]

"I have a theory, it involves the mothlings and the science team, I would like to get the fuck out of this universe before we find out if I'm right."

Re: I hope you weren't planning to enjoy this party - Xiulan and Sasha - note for GM and Reshad

[stormglass]

“Here’s hoping.”

That neither Sasha’s worry nor Xiulan’s own prove true.

“In the meantime, I’m going to go introduce myself to Sulen and think some more about an evac plan.”

So saying, she does just that, some further note taking on her tablet bridging the gap.