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

[hardwearing]

The helmet tends to do that.

[ ...couch, huh? Okay. He sets his helmet down on the coffee table beside the bottle and steps around to sit down beside Kyna, still armored, gun still on his back so he can't lean into the cushions. But he is sitting. ]

I can guarantee I've had worse than whatever it is, I was just curious.

[evocation]

The label's in some language I can't read, but it tastes okay.

[Which means she's pouring some into her glass and then handling the bottle over to him.]

So, uh... Tell me about yourself or whatever. Since we're roommates now and everything. Is "dashing sci fi soldier" a good guess?

[hardwearing]

[ Wash takes the bottle and follows suit, pouring himself a modest glass to start. It's been a long time since he drank. Since it was even an option.

He blinks at her, caught off guard, when she says roommates. And then color rises to his cheeks again at the descriptor. Geez, Kyna.

How the fuck does he talk about himself, though? ]

Uh.

What do you want to know? I was a marine, yeah. With the UNSC.

[evocation]

[She grins when he blushes, looking a little pleased with herself. She can't believe he's so easy to fluster, but it's cute.]

I don't know what the UNSC is. What planet are you from? Earth?

[hardwearing]

[ Well that's a straightforward question -- and it's nice to be asked what planet instead of just where on Earth. It seems like most people here are so far in the past that they don't understand the concept of colonies. ]

United Nations Space Command -- they're based on Earth but I've never been to the Sol system. I was born on an outer colony world called Minab, and got drafted out of high school during the Covenant War. Hopped around a lot but before I showed up here I was on a planet called Chorus.

[ He takes a sip of his drink, lowers the glass to rest on his knee. ]

You're from Earth?

[evocation]

[Kyna nods, taking a drink herself. It's not like colonies are a thing on her version of Earth, but she's met people from a lot of planets other than Earth here.]

From New York. Brooklyn.

[But honestly, that seems boring compared to what he just said.]

You were drafted? And what's the Covenant War?

[hardwearing]

...what's it like?

[ He's only known a couple people from Earth, and their opinions were pretty varied. ]

Yeah. And it's... the war, really. It started in 2525, with first contact. Without getting into religion or politics, a human ship came out of slipspace and the aliens decided they really didn't like us. Set off twenty-seven years of our ships being destroyed and our colonies getting glassed. Minab, too.

[evocation]

Oh. Shit, I'm sorry.

[It comes out a little awkwardly, because she's not great at stuff like this, and she's so thrown by his response that she completely glosses over his question.]

Did, uh... I mean, was your family okay?

[hardwearing]

[ That prompts Wash to take another drink. ]

No.

One of my sisters was stationed on Sidewinder at the time. Otherwise...

[evocation]

[That was a stupid question, and Kyna feels like an idiot for asking it. Impulsively, she reaches out to touch his arm, which of course means her hand just rests on his armor, but it's the only thing she can think to do.]

I'm sorry.

[Not only is that repetitive, it's utterly inadequate.]

I, um... That must have been really, really hard.

[hardwearing]

[ Wash manages to hold still, mostly because she's just touching the armor and he can't feel it. It's a nice gesture, he supposes. He looks down at her hand, and doesn't mention that his last sister only lived another two months before she was killed in action. ]

....yeah.

[evocation]

[Kyna hesitates, then pulls her hand back. It goes straight to her necklace, which she starts to toy with all over again.]

So...

[Give her a second as she desperately tries to think of a way to steer this conversation elsewhere.]

What's with the armor? I mean, we don't have anything like that where I'm from.

[hardwearing]

Heh. Literally everyone wears power armor where I'm from. This is the Mark VI... nothing special on its own but I've got some enhancements.

[evocation]

Oh. What kind of enhancements? What can it do?

[hardwearing]

Right now I've got an EMP, bioscan and a healing unit. And grav boots.

[ All things that can be run without an AI, not that Kyna knows the difference. Or why Wash wouldn't have one. ]

[evocation]

Cool.

[The healing unit sounds useful as hell, and Kyna's a little jealous.]

What's a bioscan?

[hardwearing]

It's... basically a medical evaluation tool. I can watch over the whole squad during combat, see who's hurt and how bad, and scan enemies for weaknesses we can exploit. Like I know your organ function is compromised by about 10% due to scarring from tissue necrosis. What caused that?

[evocation]

[She squints at him for a second.]

My organ— Oh!

[God, necromancy is the worst.]

I got hit with a necromancy spell. It sucked. Total zero out of ten on the fun scale. Don't like, punch me in the kidney or whatever, okay?

[hardwearing]

[ Necromancy. Right, magic. This is gonna take so much getting used to. ]

I'll try to control that urge. The kidney punching urge.

[evocation]

[She laughs, rolling her eyes.]

God, is that how you repay the girl who's letting you crash on her couch? By daydreaming about punching her in the kidneys?

[hardwearing]

[ ...okay, she's getting a smile for that one. ]

Maybe I want to punch everyone in the kidneys, all the time? Don't think you're special.

[evocation]

Wow.

[She presses a hand to her chest, mock offended.]

God, you don't have to be so mean. Now my feelings are hurt.

[hardwearing]

[ Wash tilts his head, like he's considering some aspect of that statement. It's not clear what until he speaks again. ]

I've been called a lot of things, but 'mean' isn't actually on the list.

[evocation]

[Kyna laughs, clinking the side of her glass against his softly.]

God, I'm teasing. Now you've gotta tell me what people do call you.

[hardwearing]

[ And with that question, his smile fades. He can hear Price in his head. ]

Aggressive, paranoid, melodramatic. Insane.