Intro Log: No calls, please

[hadrielmods]

Who: New arrivals and everyone else!
What: The intro log for March.
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: March 10th-13th
Warnings: Fresh meat, floating plasma eyeball monsters in HD, disappointing infomercial products.

Good morning, and welcome to your first day in Hadriel. Feel free to acquaint yourself with the other travelers who are starting to wake up around you- or explore your surroundings for maximum survival odds!

You may notice that there are a few metal boxes lying on the dirt ground around you. At first these boxes seem innocuous, with no locks or mechanisms to keep them closed. However, any attempt at opening these them reveals that, not only is there absolutely nothing inside of them, but they just so happen to be a handy-dandy Scream-in-a-box from that stupid old Nickelodeon commercial. One peek and it echoes with a loud, bursting scream... though, anyone who tries to use this box to keep themselves awake will only succeed in pissing their neighbors off, because infomercials only exist to lie to you.

If you're concerned about something a little more sinister... well, you're right to be. Lurking in the shadowy corridors of the arena are Cacodemons, from the Doom game series. These nightmarish monsters travel around the area by floating a few feet off the ground. They are capable of firing plasma at you from their mouths, and their sharp teeth speak for themselves. While they're easy to shove back when they're not firing at you, they have a tendency to converge on a single target. You think you can handle one? How about five? Good luck... and try not to melt on your way out.

Once you've managed your daring escape from the colosseum, 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 March 10th-13th.
► Feel free to make your own logs, as well!
► All characters now arrive with phones that have network communication.
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!

Comments

[greywaren]

"Damn."

Again, unhelpful- though it seems more like Ronan is in awe than he is exactly disappointed. The negativity is there, of course- he wouldn't wish this place on many people, and Blue is a friend, so of course he's frustrated that she's here. But beneath all of that is a steadily-blossoming elation to have her, after going so long with absolutely nothing from her at all.

Belatedly, he leans over where he's sitting to grab at the strange pencil atrocity, before moving to stand, answering her question with a shrug.

"Plastic, I guess."

Which is not really all that relevant, if you're asking him. Blue is here and he's happy about it, even if it means that they have a lot of catching up to do. He hasn't seen her in- god, eight months. Adam and Noah haven't seen her in eight months. Gansey-

"Does Gansey know you're here?" he asks, suddenly, as if only then remembering Gansey's attachment to Blue and his recent arrival. Of all of them, Gansey is probably the one who's best suited to help her out, having been a recent arrival himself. There are a hundred other questions he could ask her too, but it's best to start with the basics.

[ampliat]

Plastic.

All too suddenly that smell pulls itself out of her memories to fall perfectly in line with what she recalls the smell of burnt plastic being. It's strange, because she's never associated a scent like this with Ronan. But if she had to assign him a scent, it'd be this. Strong, assaulting, and too unique to ever really understand. And just like that, she feels like she's recentered with him.

She drops her back on the table, making sure nothing spills out. Everything in that bag came from De Chima. Little reminders that all of that was as real as this moment now. And all of it making her question how real anything was in all actuality.

It's too early in life for an existential crises on that scale. Back to the burning plastic.

As she steps over to try to peak at why plastic is burning, her nose crinkles a little more until she gives up on trying to spot the sculpture. Her hands lock behind her back in mirror of his own stance as she straightens up and looks at him, nodding her head. "Gansey, Noah, and Adam.

And before you ask," She relaxes her stance a little into a more relaxed, almost bored stance of someone who's repeated this so often and will repeat it more no doubt. "I was in another world. With all you there. And before I ask, I'm going to assume you don't remember either. Adam told me you were with him here the whole time."

[greywaren]

So he's the last on the list, then.

Ronan doesn't really feel any which way about it- it makes sense that they'd find her first, especially if they all had their phones on them and could communicate and coordinate when to meet up with her. Ronan's phone is... in his room, maybe? somewhere in the house anyway.

Besides, it makes sense that Gansey would see her first, or Adam, or even Noah. Adam brought her into the fold, Noah clings to her for energy, Gansey... well, he's not sure what's going on with Blue and Gansey, but it's appropriate that he'd find her before Ronan would.

His gaze shifts to the bag that she drops before he actually processes what she's saying, brows furrowing in confusion because it makes no sense.

"Parrish and Noah and I were in a place before this- with Gansey," he tells her, leaning an elbow against the table. "Gansey doesn't remember but the three of us do. And now you're saying there's more?"

[ampliat]

It feels like a headache when he lays it out for her.

She tries to match it, though. All of them deserve to know. Especially if Ronan was in the other world with the rest of them.

"At least one other." That's the easy part. "You were there. Adam, Gansey, Noah. All of us were there."

She shakes her head in a frown. "I get why I don't know about the other world, I was never there with you. But Adam had never heard about the one I'd been in. And I'm guessing that means because none of you guys do." They'd have all talked about it, she's sure they would have.

"Gansey doesn't remember any other world..." It just gets harder and more confusing the more they talk about it.

Finally she raises her eyes back to his face. His intensity helps focus her own. It helps her to keep from dwelling on shit that doesn't actually matter. There's a silent gratitude in that ( and a more painful feeling it fights off in knowing she's lost something with him too ). "I was in that other world for five months. It was nothing like this place. It was like our Earth never left the 50s, but got kind of better technology? It's bizarre. But there were native people and a whole government... It was nothing like this." And we were all a part of it. Together.

[greywaren]

Ronan watches Blue take it all in and he doesn't let himself falter. It's a lot to process- for both of them, he thinks, though Blue has likely had a bit more time to get used to her predicament than Ronan has his.

Another world. Another place, some place that they don't remember. He'd asked Adam if he'd ever thought about something like this- about forgetting everything, about whether or not it was a possibility. Adam's answer hadn't been exactly heartening, and now Ronan feels that flicker of doubt clutch at his chest again. What has he forgotten? What did they even do together?

He's not sure what would be worse at this point: trying to collect every scrap of evidence about the place they were in and what happened to them, or trying to move on and forget about it, like it wasn't real.

Was it?

"Sounds kind of like our first place," he finally comments, folding his arms across his chest. It takes a moment for him to speak again, after he's gathered a few more thoughts on the situation.

"But you were never there with us. Not there, not here- until now."

He chews on his lower lip as he takes her in. Ronan has never had the sort of connection to Blue that the other three boys did, but he's grown to respect and appreciate her in the time that they've known one another all the same. His affection is hard-won and never really seems like affection, but that never seemed to deter her either. She was stubborn, headstrong, blunt, never hesitated to snarl back at him whenever he'd taken things too far- and he'd missed her, terribly.

"...Jesus, Sargent, I haven't seen you in almost a year."

[ampliat]

A part of her is jealous she wasn't in the other world. A part of her she'll never admit to. The same part of her that always wished she could move into Monmouth with the others. Such a ridiculous wish that had been, and such a petty jealousy she held now. She wasn't jealous they'd been in that other world. She was jealous they'd been there without her. Even in her world, they'd been there. Even if they didn't remember it.

She felt surrounded and alone all at once.

Then he continued and...

Damn.

It wasn't the best homecoming in the world. But it was better than she had hoped to expect out of Ronan. She looks up at him and meets his eyes. "I've seen too much of you.

Seriously," she added, relaxing her gaze and dropping her eyes again. Trying to make things a little less awkward. Share something of theirs that he might not remember. "We lived together. All in one apartment. It had five bedrooms but it wasn't that big. It was government housing, after all. Couldn't really get away from you." She offered a nonchalant sort of shrug.

"Then... you dreamed us a home," she confessed. They may not have had her before, but she'd had all of them. Memories or not, it was them. "It was pretty awesome."

[greywaren]

He's not quite sure what she means by that- if she's sick of seeing him already, or if she's just trying to counterpoint his statement of not seeing her. Living in an apartment together isn't quite so different from what they're doing now, except their house only has four rooms. Before, that wasn't much of an issue, but with Blue here it means that someone is going to have to sleep on the couch. All Ronan knows is that he's not volunteering.

The idea of dreaming them up a home is something equally daunting. Ronan isn't sure how he'd be able to pull off something that big in a place like this or their previous location without killing Adam. Maybe there was another way for it. Maybe it worked differently.

All he knows is that it unsettles him to hear of what he'd done in a different time, something he doesn't even remember. Ronan presses his lips together tightly and then just shrugs, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

"Sure." There's not much he can say in response to that, really- he doesn't remember it, it doesn't feel like him. So he continues, shifting the subject a little awkwardly.

"Well, whatever happened, we're all here now. It took- shit, nine months? We've got to figure out a way to keep together from here on out."