hadriel_logs | Event Log: The Beach Episode

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Event Log: The Beach Episode

Who: Everyone!
What: The event log for the transition to our new planet!
Where: The city, which has now been fragmented onto four separate islands.
When: May 27th-June 10th
Warnings: Surf's up! If by 'surf', you mean separation from your friends, weird sea creatures, and cold rainfall.

The sun and the sand and a drink in your hand- well, it all sounded pretty nice when you voted for the island planet, but ultimately what you're getting is a bit less glamorous.

The transition takes place instantaneously, with very little noteworthy shakeup, though those of you who are particularly in-tune with the supernatural may feel a bit dizzied or nauseated by the sudden movement. And that's exactly what it is: for those of you who are outside, the change is fairly noticeable, as in the span of a single blink, what used to be miles of desert is now rocky ocean. The city is simply in one place one moment, and then somewhere entirely new a second later.

And that somewhere new is exciting! The islands have plenty of landscape to explore and weather conditions to adjust to, fish to catch, and- wait, how do you get to the other islands? What if your friends or your home or the bar is on these other islands? Enjoy having to figure out who is where and how you're going to get by with only a small fraction of the city to work off of- hopefully those boats will come sooner rather than later...

► This log covers May 27th-June 10th.
► Feel free to make your own logs as well!
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► If you drown or get eaten by an alien shark, let us know here.

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"I work a different system of magic from you, where this isn't a task a novice would accomplish without killing themselves."

He says, shaking his head.

"Makes sense; different universes, different schemas."

"Well isn't that a shame, then. A lot of novices must meet untimely ends just trying to undo bad haircuts."

It sounds like a very punishing system, if he's being truly forthcoming. She doesn't trust that he is, but what a funny thought that what she considers something as simple to do as breathing might be a life's work in some other world.

"That seldom happens. It isn't accessible enough information that children can access it."

He says, and rests his hands on the small of his back, stretching the kinks out.

"I never know how people survive in worlds where adolescents access powers."

"I just meant people new to learning the arts, rather than children - but it's true, I've seen children with some powerful abilities. A few rare bloodlines create natural sorcerers."

Like, oh, hers. Or rather, that of her son's father. Her boy had struggled to realize how extensive his abilities were, though, and she had had to discourage his use of them. A cruel thing to do, perhaps, but the city already looked poorly on the boy with horns. Had he learned he could command others to do his bidding much earlier, he would have gotten himself into a lot more trouble.

"Nightmare."

Says Quentin, shaking his head, with deep and prickly disapproval. Everyone under the age of thirty strikes Quentin as a maniac who shouldn't be given the responsibility of even cat sitting.

"I'm Quentin, by the way."

Yes, she's starting to get the sense of who this fellow is. An academic would find the realities of the world messy and distasteful, she imagines. She can't wait until he meets Hayden. She just chuckles at his reaction.

"I'm Caedra. You must be one of the newer ones here, aren't you? I can't say I recall seeing you around before."

"I'm new as of this month."

He agrees, inclining his head.

"Just trying to get enough context to get my shit working properly."

"So that you can go around, undoing entropy," she states, still finding the concept amusing.

"Tell me, aside from fixing a cracked mug, what sort of things can you do? Once you have your bearings."

"That's just what I teach. It's not the whole scope of magic."

He admits, with a tiny, reluctant smile.

"I don't know what I could do. I think it depends on the problem I'm presented with. Beating back the monsters, to start with."

"Well, presumably you can't accomplish the whole scope of magic on your own anyway. So, beating back monsters - a good start. You have offensive abilities, then, do you?"

This one seems too quiet to want to participate in the arena fights, but it certainly would be fun to see him get utterly trounced by someone more confident with their powers. And even more fun if he took them all by surprise, perhaps, and showed greater skill than someone might expect. It's time to really start selling the idea to people, more than she has been, now that they have finally resettled.

"So let me ask you a question, then."

Something that's been on his mind.

"What do people do here? Are they trying to build a community? Are they trying to get out of here?"

He doesn't have a purpose yet, and he doesn't like it.

That was a question dodge if ever she had seen one, and she fixes her eyes on him curiously. Sure, she had phrased it somewhat rhetorically, but many would boast, or alternatively downplay the assumption. Irritating, but maybe that's just the sort of person he is. An irritating one. He's in good company with most of this city, then.

"I don't know. I don't pay attention to what they do. A few of us do actively want to find a way out. Perhaps others take sides in the fight between the Null and their 'parasites'. Most seem content to simply waste time."

"Whose parasites?"

He asks, not up yet on the most imaginative local jargon.

But that aside;

"Are there other magic users specifically committed to the break-out effort? I'd like to help, and that's probably where I could accomplish the most."

"First, then: what the Null call 'parasites', most everyone else here will call 'gods'," Caedra explains, with a heavy dash of sarcasm on the latter title. "They're a race of magically-inclined people who feed of emotion, but gods they are certainly not."

Thieves, kidnappers, self-centered assholes - she has many names for them. They might even be celestials of some sort for all she knows, but that doesn't make them deities and she refuses to give them the satisfaction they seek with what seems to be a self-appointed name.

"And as for a break-out effort, yes, I'm sure there are several." Such as her, for instance, but she isn't going to take someone on that she doesn't even know. "What do you think you could do to help?"

"I've killed gods before." He says, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He's extremely matter of fact about this. But it's not a literal deus ex machina, because;
"It might take a couple of years, but it's one potential avenue."

Nothing that big is ever easy.

"Good. Then it should take less time to kill these idiots." Since, as she will continue to maintain, they are far less than gods.

"Not that I'm sure that's the best plan of action just yet - but it would be very useful leverage to have."

"I'm going to continue the groundwork for it. Even if I also hope to- haha, god- that it isn't necessary."

A small shrug.

"So what are these Null like? They sound awful too."

"I don't know, I've never met one. In the several months I have been here, the Null have been an empty threat. Supposedly a damaged one was recovered recently, but I haven't heard what happened to it. Some wanted to save it, others wanted it destroyed."

Hopefully it's still around, if only because the discord between the two factions is an enjoyable thing to watch.

"It doesn't sound like they're an empty threat. It sounds like they've been trying to orchestrate children being murdered."

He points out, tucking his hands in his pockets.

"Or is that not correct?"

"What?" The genuine surprise at that allegation is plainly evident in Caedra's expression as well as her voice. "If they have, it was some time ago. I haven't seen or heard from any of them the entire time I've been here."

Of course, from what little she knows about them, it sounds quite like something those constructs would do - but are there even any children left, aside from the small handful here in the city?

"Where did you hear about this?"

"On the network. I'm sure you can read back an find it."

Though he doesn't have his communicator on him, has no interest in the thing, beyond keeping a finger on the pulse of the city now and again.

"I hear they post occasionally."

"That's quite some time ago, then. And I don't mean to say we shouldn't expect they might eventually find their way here, but they're the enemy of our kidnappers, not of us."

An uninteresting topic to her, in other words. She'll pay attention when they show their faces again, if they ever manage to. Caedra certainly doesn't care for one side over the other, and has no interest in the war between the two groups except in its ability to generate further conflict for conflict's sake. Getting out of here is far more important.

"Do they make that differentiation? I don't really care about allegiances when someone is shooting at me."

He admits, with a shake of his head.

"Doesn't matter. Guess we're going to see, one way or another."

"That we will," she agrees, rather than arguing the point. She knows that no, the Null do attack the people brought here through the Door, because they are the food source of their enemies.

She also simply doesn't care. There is nothing she personally has at stake. The conflict itself is exciting but this one has mostly run its course. Whatever gets her home fastest is the only thing she really wants. Anything beyond that - any pain and suffering she can inflict, from this slowly dying tree to the people she already has killed here, is just icing on the cake.

"Well, I've got to get back to civilization."

He says, albeit reluctantly.

"I need some food and a bed. But it was actually nice running into you out here."

Even if he still doesn't exactly understand who she is or how she's involved in the politics here.

(no subject)

abyssalarcana - 2018-06-07 22:31 (UTC) - Expand

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