Intro Log: Arm Yourself

[hadrielmods]

Who: New arrivals and everyone else!
What: The intro log for August
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: August 10th-15th
Warnings: Stalkers, newbies, and cute loot!

Sleeping on the cold dirt ground of the colosseum is enough to make anyone uncomfortable. It might be a little worse this month than others, as some of you may be waking up on top of or around various self defense devices (btw: that last one is a taser).

Come to think of it, you'll probably need those. Also in the colosseum and already stalking you are... uh, well, stalkers from the Borderlands game series. Stalkers come armed with claws, teeth, and sharp tails- and what's more, they can turn invisible to sneak up on you. Zap them with your newfound taser or stab them with your jewelry comb knife or just run away screaming- we won't judge, but you have to do something or else they'll kill you and eat your corpse and all sorts of unfortunate things.

Good luck finding a way out. Maybe you can make some friends along the way.

All done and escaped from the clutches of the colosseum? Awesome! Feel free to go explore the rest of the city! Find a house, find a new monster, or simply scavenge for supplies. Good luck, and enjoy your stay in Hadriel!

► This log covers August 10th-15th.
► Feel free to make your own logs as well!
► All characters arrive with phones that have network communication.
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!

Comments

streets

[quaerit]

Gansey looks up with a smile, an automatic thing when he's meeting anyone new. He's not so much on the street as at the side of it, tending to one of the flower beds he'd made when Hope had encouraged them to beautify the city. Simon's is a face he doesn't know, which means that an extra level of politeness is due. Gansey stands up, brushing dry soil off his hands.

"Yes, actually," he says, with some warmth. "It's a big glass building, difficult to miss. It's that way."

He gestures, although honestly, once Simon walks a little while in the right direction he'll see it coming.

"You'll be hard pressed to read what's in it, though. None of the books are in a language anyone has recognized, yet."

[hippocratical]

He's a little surprised by the appearance of flowers. To be fair, he hadn't exactly been thinking about the flora of the cave so much as the very angry and aggressive fauna--or whatever the equivalent latin term would be for monsters, bestia maybe?--but still, don't flowers usually require sunlight to bloom? Then again, maybe he shouldn't expect anything to work the way it normally would in a place like this. Even in his time, teleportation is basically a pipe dream.

"Thank you," he says, finally remembering his manners. "So I've been hearing, but I keep hoping maybe it'll be a language I recognize. Every new face is another chance at translation, right?" Hope's about all they have, after all, isn't it? He gestures down at the flower bed, indicating Gansey's work.

"I'm amazed anything grows down here. You've done good work."

[quaerit]

The flowers are very much a new addition, planted only within the last few weeks. But before that there had been an orchard, and other trees even before that. This cave has never really operated under what might be terms 'normal rules'. All of that goes out of the window here.

"These are Hope's plants," he says, or at least he assumes they're Hope's plants. "The gods can make whatever they like. And from what I understand, the light is provided by Hope. Presumably whatever he's doing is enough to let them grow. There's no insects, either, but that hasn't stopped them."

And Gansey, whose relationship with pollinating insects is complicated, is actually quite glad of that fact.

"Anyway. If you understood the books, you'd be my new best friend. I've been trying to read them for months. If be happy to show you what I've found so far. They're full of symbols, none of which mean much to me, but I've been cataloging then to see if a pattern emerges. I'm Gansey."

[hippocratical]

"Ah, that would explain it." Flowers engineered to grow in this environment. Maybe they have sunlamps installed in the roof of the cave, it would explain the slightly diffuse look to the light. Also why people aren't suffering more strongly from a vitamin D deficiency. He hasn't resigned himself to things like magic and gods just yet.

At the introduction and the friendly response, Simon offers a hand and even a small smile. "Simon Tam. Doctor Tam, if you prefer. It's a pleasure to meet you, Gansey. I'd love to see what you have on the books, if you have the time. I'd hate to interrupt your work."

[quaerit]

"Doctor Tam?"

Gansey has a warm and strong handshake. He looks pleased, and then adjusts his messenger back on his shoulder.

"I'm pleased to meet you. Would that make you a medical doctor, out of interest? Our clinic is in sore need of one, I don't mind telling you."

Bruce would be very pleased if that were the case. Actually, Gansey thinks everyone would.

"And you're not interrupting anything, honestly. It's ongoing research which hasn't really been able to get anywhere. I'd be glad for your help. I'm in the library most days, if you feel like joining me. The huge glass building - you can't miss it."

[hippocratical]

"Yes, actually, it would," he answers, and the general responses he's gotten to that fact go a long ways toward making him okay with where they've ended up. At least here, so far, the monsters all look like monsters, and the people need a doctor. "I've spoken with Dr. Banner at the clinic, I'll be helping out there once my sister and I get settled." He rests a hand on his own bag, the med kit having been stowed safely at the clinic minus the rarest of his medications. He wants to be trusting, not stupid.

"I could see it from back that way," he says, gesturing behind him, then waving vaguely in the direction he'd been headed, "but once I got down here, I lost it. I suppose my sense of direction isn't all that great."

[quaerit]

Gansey looks pleased. The clinic hasn't had a real medical doctor in all the time he's been here, which actually is some time. He's lost track of exactly how long, it being not he easiest thing to keep track of time here. But it's been many months, and while Dr Banner has done his best, Gansey knows that it's not precisely his field.

"I volunteer there sometimes," he says, with a little shrug. "I'm very much a learner, basic first aid. So are most of us. I'm sure we'd all be grateful for your help."

And as for direction...

"And don't feel bad. It's easy to get lost here, we've all done it. It's not like we have GPS anymore. If you're ever lost, try to make for the centre of the city. Hope gave us paints once, and I made a map on one of the walls like a mural. It's not as good as having one in your hand, but it'd be better than nothing if you were stuck."

[hippocratical]

He can already see where time might start to get a little fuzzy. Maybe you count it in cycles of new arrivals, after a while, but who knows exactly how far apart those are by any other standard? It's the same way in space. He used to mark time by Osiris' calendar, but after a year on Serenity, well...time seems to matter less. "Volunteers are a help, I'm sure," he offers. "I spoke with Dr. Banner some about starting up lessons once we're settled. Basic first aid, triage, maybe more advanced techniques once folk are ready for them. And I've got some equipment with me that your clinic doesn't have, limited, of course, but hopefully it'll be of help."

The idea of a map as a mural is actually quite a good one, and he looks visibly impressed. "That's considerate of you, to make something for everyone's benefit. I'll look for it if I get lost again. Though it doesn't look like there's too much to get lost in out here." He hasn't explored the caves, and that's probably not something that's going to happen, honestly. Not for him.

[quaerit]

Gansey looks pleased. Dr Banner's lessons have been helpful, but it can only make things better to have another teacher. He wants to be as helpful as he can, especially when he's next to useless every time they're attacked. This is better.

"No, the city isn't so bad. I mean, once you've been round it a couple of times. Things do change every time a new god comes to life, but the basic structure stays the same."

The caves are another matter. Gansey's map doesn't even cover them, in part because he thinks there's little point, and in part because he's only ventured so far into them anyway. The aforementioned uselessness when it comes to fighting is the reason for that.

"You'd get lost easily enough in the caves, I'll warn you. Their structure is less reliable, and they're filled with monsters besides. Not a wonderful way to spend an afternoon."

[hippocratical]

More lessons are better lessons, Simon figures; after all, if what he's heard is any indication, they might not be there tomorrow. However, as easy as it is to accept that, given his recent brushes with mortality (Gansey is not the only one relatively useless in a fight), there are still some things he's finding difficult to process.

"Yes, the gods. I'm...learning about them, as well. They're the ones who've brought us here, theoretically--you say they've been coming to life?" If they are an alien race (as strange as that would be, humanity's never encountered one before in his 'verse), then perhaps they've been in some sort of stasis? He can't help curiousity.