003 Shots Fired

[shest]

I realized something the other day. My birthday came and went without my noticing. Normally this wouldn't bother me, but the jump in time makes something like birthdays a bit odd to say the least. I should be seventy according to the calender. For those who are from further back in time than I, that dissonance only gets worse.

Incidentally, my birth coincides with something from my world known as the Normandy landings. A few years after the fall of France during the second World War, the Allies concocted a plan to free the nation from the hold of the Nazis. This incident has become known as D-Day, from the military term to indicate on what day an attack will happen. It is one of the most well known examples to the point where many Americans are probably not aware of other D-Days unless they are familiar with the way the military works.

D-Day was not a sweeping victory. The Allies lost more men than the Germans, but it was the boost that the Allies needed to start to reclaim land lost in the war. Everything about the mission had been carefully planned. The specific date was even chosen because it was a full moon and tides would be high. Had the order been given to delay the mission, the world might have become a very different place.


[After that history lesson, he fires off a message locked to Demyx and Schludig.]

I believe the three of us should work together on something. Call it leaving our mark on this region. Are you two interested?

Comments

[locked to idiot brigade]

[aufsassig]

That depends on your pitch. Try me.

[locked to idiot brigade]

[shest]

I propose we play a game with some of the more eager residents. If they fail, it ends with a place getting attacked.

If they succeed, they flock to the location hinted at in the puzzle only to find that no attack is imminent to take place. At that point, it becomes clear that we've lead our players to hunt for the wrong solution to the puzzle and the real attack is to happen somewhere else.

They won't have time to scramble to the real location if we do it correctly.

[locked to idiot brigade]

[aufsassig]

In other words, give 'em some rules to play by and then shrug when they're surprised we don't play by the rules.

It's a nice idea. What've you got in mind?

[islandshore]

Honestly? If it's the year you're worried about, I wouldn't stress over it. Get too caught up in numbers and dates, and you'll just wind up with a headache. I'd say just go off of how old you were back home, then add a year.

But dang, were you born on the exact day this D Day thing happened, right down to the year? Can't say I've ever dealt with war before, but if it's half as bad as I hear, it almost makes me glad I lived on such a small, boring world.

[shest]

I'm content going with the age I actually am versus what I should be.

The death toll for war is always bad, but in the case of this one, it was one of the worst the world has ever seen. I can't say I understand what a world without war is like because where I am from, where there are people conflict is soon to follow.

I suppose it's lucky for you that this world seems to operate on a similar policy to your own.

[islandshore]

Yeah, that's one thing I don't get about this place. I mean, there's plenty to start a conflict over. Resources, use of Pokémon, territory, the legendaries... Sure, we've got Team Rocket, but they've never sparked any large scale conflicts, even if they have the resources to do so.

I don't know if it operates on the same exact rules, though. According to my friends, the future's kind of bleak. Our home gets attacked by monsters, we get thrown into this conflict involving a ton of different worlds... It's complicated, and I've only got word of mouth to go off of. Guess that just proves what you said about conflict. For better or worse, you just can't avoid it.

[text]

[explosivecombat]

It's something you get used to over time, I believe; I was born over 130 years ago, according to the date here. It's actually not terribly dissonant for me, but I imagine that's because things were so different for me overall - why should I be concerned about the date, when I have to adjust to everything else being so different on top of it?

That said, however, this war of yours...it's interesting to me. Do you have speculation regarding how the world would have changed, exactly?

[text]

[shest]

Up until that point, the Nazis were winning. They had conquered most of western Europe at the time. My country in the East was one of the few that they couldn't successfully conquer. Russia is an enormous country, and the Soviet Union's territory is even larger than that.

Had the Allies not successfully started to push back, the Nazis would have probably successfully taken over the entire continent. France-- the country where Normandy is located, was under Nazi control at the time, being a neighboring country to Germany. In the years before and during the war, twenty six countries fell and more would have fallen had there not been a push back.

The Nazis being unable to conquer Russia helped on the Eastern front, but the West was not fairing so well until America decided to join into the war after sitting out for much of it.

Had the Allies not won, most of Europe would be speaking German within a generation, tens of millions more people would have been killed and the majority of a religion would have been wiped off the face of the Earth.

Currently, the world has many new problems that have cropped up, but I'd take the world I know any day over a world where a megalomaniac controls half the world.

It's worth noting that the war ended within a year after the Normandy landing.

[text]

[explosivecombat]

...The person you're talking about, the megalomaniac - he was called 'Fuhrer' by his country, was he not?

[SOMETHING JUST CLICKED he kind of got a really unfortunate history lesson a while ago hang on let him verify]

[idiot brigade]

[synchroswim]

whatcha got in mind?

[idiot brigade]

[shest]

We're going to see how good the people here are at solving puzzles. I will create a cipher-- a code to disguise a message, along with a hint at how to decrypt it pointing at a specific location that is in danger.

We will allow those who are able to read the code to think that the location pointed out is the correct one, but when the chosen time to strike comes and the heroes have gathered, we attack a different location.

[idiot brigade]

[synchroswim]

light thats kinda badass
like pulling the ol switcheroo!
they wont even know what hit em man

[text]

[ajustcaws]

woah, that's really cool!! i mean i don't recognize any of those but to share a birthday with such an important day is really something. it's like you're a living commemoration!!

[text]

[shest]

[Oh, bless you, Cynthia, you have no idea. But you've massively inflated his ego anyway.]

It's certainly an easy day to remember.

[text]

[ajustcaws]

i bet you know a lot about it!! can you tell me a story of derring-do or two? I LOVE tales of derring-do!

[Text]

[foolishwren]

i think that's kinda normal, i haven't really celebrated my birthday since i got here

i mean there was a time disparity and idk it just never really came up



thanks for the history lesson tho

what a depressing day to be born on

[Text]

[shest]

I've never celebrated it before anyway, not really. It's a day like any other. At least I'll know this time next year that I will probably not forget, though I doubt I'll say anything.

It makes for an interesting topic, at least. There are always far worse things to discuss, I imagine.

Far better, too.

[Text]

[foolishwren]

... what, never? seriously?

i mean i didn't exactly get a big fanfare on my birthdays either _{[That happened when the date happened to be associated with the day that her father had lost his 'first' daughter.]} but you didn't do anything even as a kid??

[otakon_geek]

Happy belated birthday anyway. [What? Otacon had only met the guy but he seemed an ok sort of person. As for D-day, he knew all about that.]

[shest]

Thanks.

Forgetting about it is better than some of the alternatives I can think of, I suppose.

[otakon_geek]

No problem. Are you going to do anything special for your belated birthday? [People still did, right?]

video;

[majorcrotchgrab]

A fitting day for your birth.

video;

[shest]

It's not an easy day to forget, that's for certain.

It's all over the radio. That might be how I didn't notice here. There's no concept.

[That and Ocelot genuinely hadn't been paying attention to the date.]

[ text ]

[imthe_shit]

Born on D-Day, huh? Pretty unlucky.

Or twisted foreshadowing.

[ text ]

[shest]

I don't know about foreshadowing.

[It was completely foreshadowing.]

It's an interesting factoid about my life. Overall, I'm not that interesting.