Intro Log: Rock This City

[hadrielmods]

Who: New arrivals and everyone else!
What: The intro log for January
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: January 10th-14th
Warnings: New folks, rockin' dudes made of rock, and collectible friends!

This time, it's different.

There's no cave, no stone walls looming up around you and overhead, no stifling air or artificial light- not that you'd appreciate it, seeing as to how you've probably never been here before. And still, when you land facefirst on the dirt ground of the colosseum, you may not quite appreciate all the improvements and steps we've had to take to get here- after all, you're still surrounded by strangers in a crumbling city on an alien planet in the middle of nowhere.

Oh, and you're being attacked by Earth Elementals. These creatures are tall, between seven to ten feet, and made of solid rock, capable of punching through all the squishy bits of you- and for whatever reason, they definitely want to start punching. They're incredibly strong and, seeing as to how they're enchanted alive and have no internal organs, they're very difficult to kill.

But don't let that scare you off. For all the collectors in you, you can also find a very special array of beanie babies all scattered at the ground at your feet. Do you know that some of these things will be worth a lot of money someday? Better find the rarest one and stockpile it while you can! You might run into the rainbow crab, the platypus, or the sought-after bald eagle, or many more! Be sure to never take the tag off and never ever let anyone play with them so they don't lose value.

Once you've got your kids' college fund squared away, it's time to start exploring! You can 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 January 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

[sciencelizard]

[She gives him a little smile and a wave in greeting, her own drink resting on the bar. She's just been sipping wine, mostly.]

Uh... I t-think it was Rey, first. They were running before I came in to help. And I mean, I mostly just set up, so, really it's... all her.

[puzzlingly]

You both did a great job, then. It looks very nice.

「Pretty, he means pretty.」

[sciencelizard]

[She blushes a bit, suddenly looking intently at her glass as she tries to compose herself.]

Well, I mean, I s-still-- you know, want to do some stuff. I could probably do more colors for the lights, or, maybe some work on the sound system... I just, uh, fix stuff! Nothing big.

[puzzlingly]

「Alphys, stop. He's gonna kidnap her and put bows on her.」

That sounds like a great plan, too bad I'm not good with electrical stuff. It would be nice to help you. But last time I tried my hair got stuck like this.

「He's kidding... Blame the drinks.」

[sciencelizard]

[She likes bows!! But not kidappping. Just give her the bows. Regardless, she seems to find the joke funny, and she giggles, one hand moving to cover her mouth while she does.]

I guess that's some, uh, p-pretty good hair product, then! But I get that.

[She reaches up and pokes at one of her head spines along with the joke. Sure, it's not hair, but... y'know, pointy bros.]

Is this your first time at, uhm, the newbie party?

[puzzlingly]

「Okay, skip the kidnapping, it's not like he can lift her or anything anyway. He laughs at that, running a hand through his hair a little awkwardly.」

Yeah, I missed the first two... No, wait, four... 「Shit, is he been here so long?」 Though, I guess there was none last month. I guess it was about time.

[sciencelizard]

It's okay! You don't have to be new to c-come, uh, obviously.

[Seeing as she's been here over a year, even if she is partial organizer.]

It's good some established, uhm, p-people are here. Let the new ones make friends, and everything. Feel like they're n-not, uhm, alone.

[puzzlingly]

「They seem to need that a lot in here... To which Atem candidly smiles at her. The irony, however, hurts a little, given Rey's little meltdown and everything. But they are not here to talk about that, he personally is there to let go of that same burden he had been carrying. Not to call Rey a burden or anything, but it had been too much for him to handle alone for a while. He's lucky she's got such good friends who worry about her.」

Has it worked for you?

[sciencelizard]

Well, uh, it's sort of how Rey and I became friends? She used to know someone who was a friend of mine, uhm, from b-back home. But he left, so, it's... just us, now! I mean, not that it's bad, but uh, yeah. So maybe not in the traditional sense...?

[She's also kind of a party wallflower, so.]

[puzzlingly]

「He nods at that.」

I get it. I'm glad you're not alone.

「But he's not sure about that, even among others, one could still feel certain solitude, or maybe it was just him. He doesn't know.」

[sciencelizard]

I have a lot of friends here. Probably, uhm, m-more than some people, which is weird to think about.

[Like... why do so many people want to be friends with her?? It is a mystery.]

But I guess it's hard not to know people when you've been here a while? Or for p-people to know you.

[puzzlingly]

「Because she's cute as a button! But the way she says it... it reminds him of certain person from his world, a child that wasn't sure why he was friends with anyone either, just as kind as her too. It makes him smile a little bit.」

How long have you been here?

[sciencelizard]

[She has to think about that for a second or two, counting for a moment on her fingers.]

A year and... t-three months? A year last October. Uh, longer than most people, I think.

[puzzlingly]

「He waits patiently.」

It's been a while...

[sciencelizard]

Yeah. I don't mind it so m-much, though. I mean, it hasn't been the best, but... the people here are good. And I get to see the sky.

[puzzlingly]

You couldn't before?

「How could he not ask... Hopefully it's not too painful to talk about it.」

[sciencelizard]

[It's bittersweet. She never disliked the Underground- it was her home. But she never thought being above ground would be so incredible.]

No, I n-never did. Monsters weren't allowed out of the Underground. I never saw the Surface until we came.

[puzzlingly]

「That has Atem's eyebrows raising. It's one of those things that one usually took for granted, him, of all people, maybe a little more than others. The Sun, the sky... it was worshipped by his people, he, being the earthly representation of the Sun God... It's a little insane for him to think of a place in which people weren't allowed to do something so... so simple. He had still a lot to learn, not to assume things would be as he knew them.」

Why not?

[sciencelizard]

Well... humans put us there. After the war.

[She wasn't alive for it, of course. This was thousands of years ago. The only people who were still alive were the King and Queen.]

Humans were afraid of us, s-so they declared war and locked us underground. And we lived there, for uhm... c-centuries. Way before I was born.

[puzzlingly]

「They what?! He looks taken aback by that, of course.」

Why were they afraid?

「MONSTERS ARE SO CUTE, WHY EVEN!? Didn't they have eyes in their face or something!?」

[sciencelizard]

It's kind of, uhm... complicated.

[Sometimes she forgets other places don't have souls and like, the politics that entails.]

It's, uh... d-do you know what a soul is? Like, not just a regular soul, like a SOUL. If that makes any sense.

[puzzlingly]

「Surely she doesn't mean the typical soul he's used to? It doesn't make much sense without the context.」

I don't think I do. What is it?

[sciencelizard]

[She screws up her face a moment, trying to think of how to explain this.]

Well… in my world, e-everybody has a SOUL. Humans have stronger souls than monsters, and they last after death. Monster souls just disappear. But see, uhm… SOULs without a body can be absorbed. Taken for p-power. And since monster souls disappear, but humans don’t… monsters could take human souls. But no one wants that, and monsters would never— no one ever has. But humans were scared. They declared war, and we, uhm, got locked underground.

[puzzlingly]

「Her explanation has his eyes widening and he feels a little chill down his spine. No, it's the the fact of what the humans from her world are afraid of, it's the simple fact that the souls (SOULs?) of the monsters disappear. It's the worst fate there is accordingly to his beliefs, worse than death itself. After all, he's all soul after all, stuck in a body that's not his.

He tries not to let that show, focusing on the history itself rather than the facts. It takes him a moment, surely it's not pity what she wants.」

If no one has, how do you know it's possible?

[sciencelizard]

Well, during the war, it was j-just theory. I mean, I wasn’t alive then, I don’t know, but it did… happen, once.

[Everyone knows the legend. Her, a little more intimately so.]

The king’s children. We, we took in a human, once, a kid who got trapped in the Underground, but when they died because the got sick, the… the p-prince took their SOUL. To take their body back home. But they were killed.

[It’s… not the happiest party topic.]

We’ve been working on getting out of the Underground since the war. It’s been… c-centuries.