Intro Log: Faceplanted

[hadrielmods]

Who: New arrivals and everyone else!
What: The intro log for October
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: October 10th-14th
Warnings: Newbies, spookies, and evil trees!

If it's your first time here, congratulations! You get the lovely, unique sensation of eating dirt as the Door knocks you facefirst into the ground. You'll probably be a little woozy at first, so take your time getting up- meet some folks, introduce yourself, don't be weird about it. Welcome to Hadriel! You're not the only person who just got to taste alien dirt firsthand, though- there are several people in the same predicament as you, so feel free to say hi! Probably shouldn't spend too much time talking though, because the lovely trees that you thought were just scenery are starting to creep ever closer the more you let your guard down.

All around you is a forest of spooky evil trees- it seems to be just a normal sort of forest at first, but the more you take your eyes off of them, the more they shift around you and close in. Or is that just your imagination? If you move too close to one, look out! They're rather determined to pick you up and stick you into the ground so you might take root- and if you resist, well, a severed bud can still serve as a seed, right?

If the trees tear your clothes though, don't worry, there's plenty of extras to be found lying around the arena if you don't mind them being a bit dirty. Lying on the ground and sometimes hanging off of these tree branches are some free shirts, yours for the taking! You know, if you'd be caught dead with one...

But hey, after you've met new friends and found a new aesthetic, feel free to go explore the rest of the city! Find a house, a new monster, a project to help with, or simply scavenge for supplies. Good luck, and enjoy your stay in Hadriel!

► This log covers October 10th-14th.
► Feel free to make your own logs as well!
► All characters arrive with phones that have network communication and the newbie guide installed.
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!

Comments

[requiemshark]

"I'm just gonna take that as a compliment," Ephemera drawls, leaning back against the couch. His smile fades a little as the page turns. The next drawing is Chica, all dressed up for the bar in one of her dresses, the kind that showed off her tits. She's got her untouchable grin on, one hand balanced on her hip, ready to wreck the poor sod who tried hitting on her. Ephemera misses her the most. Her and CT. "She was really something. Only person in the universe who could spar wearing heels."

[braveoff]

Drake recognizes Chica from the other sketches, from Ephemera's previous descriptions. Her figure out of armor is impressive.

"What, you didn't break out the stilettos to train?"

[requiemshark]

Ephemera snorts. "I like not breaking my ankles. That was her thing. Fucking untouchable on the field. Or anywhere."

Hell of a fighter. Hell of a woman.

"Always had her lipstick on," Ephemera adds, fondly. "Even when we jumped."

[braveoff]

Untouchable, Ephemera says, and Drake frowns a little. She hadn't been. Nobody's untouchable. He recovers quickly, though, eyeing the sketch again, the cut of her dress.

"Did you guys get much shore leave for her to dress like that?"

[requiemshark]

"Nah. But she always had a dress, whenever we did." Found them, bought them, bribed the civilians into making something work. Ephemera shakes his head, remembering. He doesn't see Drake's frown. "She never brought anyone back, though. Just liked to prove she could, you know?

He grins. Fucking Chica.

"Think she had a girl, somewhere. Never knew for sure. That was just for her."

[braveoff]

"Sounds like a pistol," Drake comments with a little grin.

"How did that work for you guys? Traveling all over the galaxy but being with someone outside your squad?"

[requiemshark]

"Always," Ephemera agrees. Beautiful and dangerous. But always at his side. Of all the people he's lost, he misses her and CT the most. "I mean, it was hard. We were deployed a lot. And--shit happened."

Bad shit. He's quiet for a moment, then shakes his head.

"After that, it felt like it was just us against the whole damn universe. I had a--friend? I guess she was a friend. I'd see her whenever we were on the same planet. But it didn't mean much. Barrows was married for a while and Chica was always writing letters, but after a while it was just us."

[braveoff]

Right. Because they hadn't had other families, either. They'd been everything to each other. Drake tries to imagine that bond, what it must have been like fighting beside the same people for so long, coming to rely on them and then suddenly being alone. He comes up short.

Quietly, he slips his arm around Ephemera's shoulders and pulls the other man in against him. He can lean if he wants.

[requiemshark]

Oh.

Ephemera shifts so he can press against Drake, and closes his eyes. It hurts, remembering his family, but he wants Drake to know how important they were. What they meant to him. Why they were worth protecting.

"Wish you could've met them."

[braveoff]

"Yeah. So do I." And you never know. It is Hadriel, after all, dead people show up. They're here. But he isn't going to hold his breath. He just holds Ephemera to him and closes the book -- enough reminiscing for now, he thinks.