hadriel_logs | Intro Log: Faceplanted

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Intro Log: Faceplanted

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!

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[Hadriel, the name of this place comes to mind as the rest of her memories begin to settle. It's such a small blip of them, only a small handful of months, but Lup is taken back by how forcefully they hit in succession, how nauseated she'd feel if she could feel anything at all.

It's a damn miracle that the boys regaining over a hundred years of memories hadn't straight up killed them. Lucretia's already been forgiven, Lup's had too long in the Umbra Staff to hold that grudge against her favorite gal, but if any of her boys had gotten killed due to Lucretia's little Voidfish stunt... Well, Lup's just glad it worked out in Luc's favor or the lich couldn't possibly be held accountable for what happened next.

The red-robed figure floats upwards above the arena to a higher vantage point, to give herself a minute to just sort through these newly returned memories. But she's only just started ascending when the voice she knew better than her own cuts through the rest of the noise, Lup turning her empty, dark hood down towards her brother. Even without any real features, Taako would hear the smile in her voice.] Get off my ass, fuckface. I was like two seconds from that!

[And to prove her point, Lup throws up a palm from where she's floating, summoning flame with an ease her pre-lich self would have envied, before aiming at the nearest tree and immediately setting it aflame in a neatly contained explosion. Hey, she's not trying to set people on fire (yet)!

With the flaming tree offering a little mood lighting, Lup floats back down to the ground to join her brother.] Better?

[He grins, free and easy, as they fall back into step, a one-two rhythm like a wheel resetting to turn again with its partner. Already, he's putting his footsteps on her path, following her trail back towards something until they're one set of tracks again.

He's not sure he likes the recentering, but at least this one will be shorter. At least it continues to provide him with the reassurance that he'll always find his way back home.]

I mean, I guess. You're not even lighting up my good side.

[He wants to touch her, take that physical reassurance, but-- he can't. She's all skeleton, and not even in the fun way like Kravitz sometimes is. Man, what is his thing with people he cares about being undead? He really hopes the pull towards Kravitz wasn't some half forgotten memory of her (though he's sticking around for other reasons now.)]

Sure hope I don't have to fill you in again. Last time was pr-etty exhausting. So uh, your turn to pull the weight this time.

[Where have you been, he wants to say, Umbra Staff on his arm. Its been close this week, and despite Magnus confirming for him where she had been, he wants to hear that she's out from her.]

Excuse you? [She lets out a loud laugh, and even if he can't see it, Taako can probably imagine Lup's head thrown back at the strength of her own laughter, eyes squinting and delight etched into every line of her face.] We have the same face, dingus. Both sides are our good sides!

[Even if he doesn't, Lup reaches for Taako instinctively, pushing herself into his chest, floating there against him, her forehead pressing cooly against his. Her brother doesn't have to spell out his relief to see her, Lup already knows. She can't actually touch him, can't actually feel his familiar warmth beneath her hands, but after twelve years of loneliness, she'll take what she can get.

Though when she looks down and catches sight of the Umbra Staff hanging off of his arm, it's certainly not with the same elation she used to wear when she wielded it. She pulls away just enough, her hands coming up in front of her hidden face, skeletal fingertips pressing together.] Okay, so. I'll be the first to admit I may have made a slight error in calculation when I made that thing. [She points down at the Umbra Staff.] The error being that I never considered the fact I'd ever, y'know, lose.

[He can always see it. People might think those skeleton faces are somehow inexpressive, but between Lup, Barry, and Kravitz, Taako knows better. He can see the way her mouth would curve up, the rise of her cheekbones as he laughter grows higher, the way her chest would move with breath. Even if... none of that's happening.

For someone so, so afraid of death, he sure does seem to surround himself with people who've cheated it.

He leans into her, entirely pointlessly as she circles him, closing his eyes for just a moment in relief. She's here. He hasn't lost her, and-- not that Magnus would have ever lied to him about this, but there's a difference between knowing someone has told you something and seeing it in front of you. They'll work it out. He'll get her a new body, he'll fix it, he'll make whatever deals he has to. She's going to be fine. She's going to be fine, here, with him.

Thankfully, he comes out of his own thoughts with his own laughter at her comment.]

Oh yeah, doofus? I think the error was probably 'I'm a being made of pure energy and I totally knew that when I made it', so.

[He wants to stop himself from talking, but he can't with her, now, the words continuing as naturally as water.]

Magnus told me. That you were... in there.

[And then, quieter, so only she can hear...]

'Mm sorry.

[The lich's head tips in a faux eye roll as if Taako's words weren't exactly a hundred percent spot on.

Lup has had nothing but time to agonize over her past mistakes, both the big and the small, to relive and rewrite those memories over and over and over again. Honestly, the whole making an umbrella that eats magic was pretty far down on the list of wrongs she's committed over the last few decades, but it's still one she has accept the blame for. Becoming a lich was still, in her esteemed opinion, a completely logical step to take while combating the Hunger across different realities. But, maybe she'd gotten just a little too cocky with that power, strutted around a bit more confident in her immortality than she should have.

Either way, Lup's had a long time with fuck all to think about. She's already beat herself up over this, so the woman rolls her eyes and accepts Taako's jab without rising to taunt him back. After how she left him, he deserves that much.

Lup hovers there, against her brother, content to just close her eyes and pretend she can almost feel the heat rising off of his body, when Taako decides that now is the time to apologize. That's one way to throw this lich off.]

For what, babe? [It may not feel like much, but Lup raises a hand to cup his cheek, a barely there brush of her thumb against his skin.] You didn't do anything. You know that, Taako.

[He hasn't had nearly as long to think about it. He knows he's been on edge since she disappeared, gave it a few days to start asking around, a forced motion not to look so fucking desperate in her absence. He was-- it was pathetic. That he could miss her so much in a week, balancing that knife's edge of 'what if she never comes back' with ten years he did it just fine.

And that's... what hurts. That he was just too dumb to pick up on it. That she was right there and he did nothing.]

Should've known, right? You were right fuckin' next to me and I was too stupid to figure it out.

[It's not like him to be doing it, and he hates doing it somewhere someone could see him, but from a guy who never lets himself have any emotional release, maybe he just can't stop when it's her.]

How long did it take you to figure out what she did? That I wasn't just, uh, playing dumb out with the boner squad?

[Man, wasn't Barry supposed to go to that cave with them? Maybe it's better he didn't, even if that body did go up in flames in Phandalin. Knowing he would've been right there, and didn't even know... then again, if Barry had taken the staff, he'd have figured it out sooner. He'd have died and freed her and stopped Lucretia way earlier than this. Before the Hunger was already on their doorstep.]

[Lup's mind has been playing 'what ifs' on repeat for the last decade.

What if Barry had found her Umbra Staff in that cave that day with them, how much sooner would she have gotten out? How much future hurt could have been prevented if Lup had been there to stop it?

What if Lucretia had actually acknowledged her Umbra Staff for what it was instead of sending Taako off without any information? If Lup had been there, broken free of her prison that early, would Lucretia have given up on the secrecy of her plan and bring their family together to fix things again as a team? Or would she keep Lup at a distance like Barry, closed off until the last possible moment?

What if Lup hadn't gone off alone that night, slipping out while Barry was still asleep in their bed, her heart heavy but the strength of her resolve pushing her forward? What if she'd slipped into Taako's room instead, roused him from sleep and dragged him out onto the road with her? Her relic would still have been retrieved and hidden away, but even if she'd still been killed, he would have been there to break her free from the Umbra Staff immediately. Would they have gone home together, side-by-side, returning with the news that there were safe places in the world to hide their relics, where they could continue to be sought but always remaining just out of reach?

No, Lup's absolutely sick of what ifs. She's not going to sit here hashing out the past with her brother when it's all she's had to focus on for years. Lup's ready to live in the present, thank you very much.]

That's enough. We're not playing this game, Taako. [She refuses to indulge him. Refuses to let him wallow in misery over mistakes that he hadn't even made.] I was trapped in a fucking umbrella. You couldn't have ever known to look there, dork. You didn't even know I existed. So stop asking stupid questions and tell me what an idiot I was for running off in the first place.

[She'd much rather be scolded right now than have to answer that question. Taako doesn't need to know the details of her imprisonment. How long it had taken for her to realize her brother didn't remember her.]

[She shoots him down, but damn, if he doesn't still want to know. As if experiencing what she went through, feeling that pain, wasn't the only thing he could think of as penance to her for being tricked. Even he's angry that he's fucking acting like this, that Lucretia could so effortlessly shape him into this thing, rip his heart so effectively from his chest.

But it's cruel to her, to be demanding she live it. And she's the person he cares about hurting the most. So he quiets, chews a bit at the inside of his lip.]

Yeah, well, we already had that conversation too, so don't you go trying it, Nightrider. It was dumb, I was dumb, shit happens.

[He wants to hug her. He's mad he can't. That barely there ghost isn't enough, the spectre of his sister just out of reach.]

Anyway, guess we can't magic duel anymore seeing as I've got the trump card. Was kinda wondering why it wasn't doin' shit for me anymore when I showed up here anyway.

[If it's a conversation that needs to happen, it can happen later, much later. In the safety of the space they've carved out for themselves. But not now, not when Taako wants to use the details of Lup's imprisonment as a way to punish himself for what she went through. She refuses to let him hurt himself over something he had absolutely no part in. He was just as much a victim in this as she was, maybe even more. Lup never would have ended up forgotten in that damn umbrella if she hadn't run off on her own in the first place...

Even if she can't physically connect with him, Lup's spectral hands don't move from Taako. They slip up his back, ghosting over his shoulders, keeping him close to her floating form. And there's so much she could say in this moment, so many reassurances to offer or mentions of how just being near him gave her so much strength. But the lich's head tips to the side, grinning on the inside, and aims a ghostly punch at his shoulder.]

I think that's assuming a little much, bro. For one, we both know you'd never win in a one-on-one against me, even with my Umbra Staff's aid. [She'd only get sucked up again if she lost. And well, Lup's not about to lose twice.] So, I'd say all magic duels are still so on.

[He rolls his eyes, trying to keep it light- or, well, lighter than it has been. It's only been four days of him wallowing in this and he's exhausted. Truthfully, he doesn't know what he'd do if she hadn't. If she had just-- hah-- ghosted him again, with not so much as a note this time, no way to find his way back to her. It would've been torture. It would've...

Ugh, he's got to stop doing this.]

Bullshit. You're outta practice, babe. Besides, I don't wanna break this if I don't have to? Sorta become part of my whole thing.

[He leans into her anyway, even if he isn't met with the resistance he wants.]

Come on, let's get the fuck out of here. It's only been like, a week here, so everything's still around.

[Taako would feel her grin on him, Lup finally shifting to float at his side, a spectral hand slipping down to rest at his elbow.

Lead her home, Taako.]

And don't think I'm gonna let you live down shitting all of my umbrella when all you wanted to do was steal it for yourself. I was fuckin' on to you day one, bro. Just lazy insults to mask how jelly you really were. I called it.

[Even having the Umbra Staff in her presence makes the woman a little uneasy. Sure, Taako would break her out in an instant, but the fear of being sucked back into that prison even momentarily is a little too much for Lup. She'll just stick to his other side for now, opposite of it.]

You didn't fuck with my stuff, did you? Cause I'll know.

Listen, it still makes you look like a party clown. Me, on the other hand, super rad.

[He hooks it back onto his hip, away from her. Every movement he makes with it that mirrors something of theirs feels ironic now. He messed around with how to hold it after they got back to the Bureau after it became his primary wand. Wrist felt weird, too much pressure. Hocking it under his arm just felt informal. Eventually, tying it at his waist like a foil ended up working out best.

It just feels silly again when she slots near his other hip, so perfectly, that he didn't figure it out sooner.]

Anyway, I commandeered all your stuff and wrote Taako on all your shirts. You don't need 'em now though, so I'd say they're still super mine.

[He did not do this. But he's gonna make her sweat it.]

Lies! We both know the truth.

[Hovering at his side, the lich makes an affronted noise, even if she's pretty damn sure he's just joshin' her. (Not that it even matters in the first place. What's his is hers and vice versa. There's no divide in their possessions. If they ever felt the need to write their names on their shit, it would all say Taako and Lup.)

But if nothing else, his teasing makes Lup float forward a little faster, eager to get back to the small apartment they've been turning into something special, a place full of her family. Lup's ready to go home.] Race you back?

[Says the lich who can't get exhausted and will just float through all obstacles.]

[He looks towards her, pretending to be offended. He even puts a hand on his chest, like he's really selling it.]

Sis, I may be an idiot, but I am not, in fact, an idiot. You're just gonna go right through shit!

[He looks at her for one beat more, and then bolts in a dead sprint towards the wall.]

So I will too!

[And he blinks into the Ethereal Plane. COME GET HIM, FUCKER.]

[Lup gives her twin that brief head start, left hovering in place while Taako blinks away. For a woman without a heart, hers feels fuller than she's known in well over a decade. This is right where she belongs, forever at his side.

The lich lets out a laugh that she knows he'll be able to hear before zipping forward at full speed, fully prepared to do whatever she has to to keep up with her twin. Nothing will ever keep her from him again.]

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Intro Log: Faceplanted

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