hadriel_logs | Intro Log: Snip Snip

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Intro Log: Snip Snip

Who: New arrivals and everyone else!
What: The intro log for June
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: June 10th-13th
Warnings: New folks, crabby crabs, bumbershoots

Well, here you are. You've awoken on the ground of a large colosseum, with a cloudy sky above you - oh, and it might be sprinkling a little. It sure seems to drizzle a lot here, though it might take you a few days to figure that out. After the days it'll take you to get adjust to being in another world at all, of course. Welcome to Hadriel!

Feel free to walk around the colosseum a bit to try and get your bearings, but try not to trip over any rocks. They, uh, aren't rocks. This month, the Door has pulled in Lava Crabs and Rock Crabs. These confusing little things look just like rocks when they're in their shells, and they're content to stay that way... until you get close, and they come rushing out at you with their claws out, all ready to snip snip snip. Their hard shells make it difficult to hurt them, though you could always try to knock it off their back - or flip them over and attack their tender underbelly.

That's not the only thing you might trip over, either. Scattered across the ground of the colosseum can be found a variety of super cool and fashionable umbrellas. So if that drizzling rain is starting to annoy you, grab one of those and you'll be dry as dust in no time!

Once you think things are safe, feel free to leave whatever bit of safety you've found. 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 June 10th-13th.
► 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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Another month full of new faces. Much like at the Colosseum, Caedra regularly turns up at the Speakeasy to see who has come in that she may have missed in the chaos of battling whatever creatures came through the Door.

This time, she's continuing to scope out anyone who might want to join the fighting ring, and as the night wears on she becomes more and more likely to approach someone out of the blue and ask if they're interested. But she's also hoping she can flag down Rey at some point, to show her what she had shown Laura, now that she knows who is responsible for all of the brewing.

With some fancy cocktail in hand this time, Caedra also makes her way to the Game Room just to see who's playing the casino games - and especially who's winning. She doesn't know these games at all, but if you look like you do? She will absolutely sidle up and ask about it.

Between these activities she can either be found dancing, or may just join you if you have an open seat at your table. She's never here to lurk alone in a corner booth - but if you are, surprise! You might find yourself not so alone after all.

It's fairly late into the evening when Lup slides into the empty space next to Caedra, a drink in hand and a fairly reserved expression twisting at her lips.

Neither her nor her brother really believe in apologies - sounds way fake, what's even the point - but there's definitely a point where even Lup can't hide just hide from her own guilt over what the shitty liches in charge made her become. Sure, she may have paid for it with her life, but there's still a few folks she wants to make amends with.

- Even if there's the distinct possibility Caedra doesn't even know it was Lup who attacked her.

"Look. I'll be the first to admit I may have made a slight error of judgement while the liches in charge were fuckin' with my head, so sorry for nearly roastin' you or whatever. It was a total accident. If I'd been more on my game, I wouldn't have missed, so like, that's all the proof you need I wasn't myself." Nailed it.

Ah. The lich.

No, Caedra realized. It was an easy enough connection to make, given what she had seen on the video feed, and the creature flying above the city trying to torch everyone and everything. Everyone was out of sorts then, and Caedra remains more angry at the gods than anyone else for robbing her of her ties to her sureh during that week.

That doesn't mean she's particularly a fan of the woman who sits beside her, though. She's never trusted the undead, especially given Bael'zal's employment of them on a regular basis. And now that there's no screen in the way, that skeleton is so very, very visible.

But she listens, as she sips her drink.

"If I'd been more on my game, I would have taken you down," she replies matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, sure you would've, hun."

The way Lup says it, grin curling and her tone dipping down till it sounds like she's speaking to a child, like she's about to follow through with a patronizing pat on the cheek, speaks volumes for what the elf thinks of Caedra's abilities. Outside of her fleeing their last fight, Lup's never seen her in combat, has no clue of the various murders happening around the islands that she's responsible for.

One would think having lived for over two hundred years would mean the elf has a little better survival instinct than to talk down to the other woman like this. But there's a reason she went through the process of becoming a lich, alright, and though the power was a part of it, it also had to deal with the fact she just had a little trouble staying alive.

"Well bomb, glad we worked that shit out. No hard feelings, right?"

Caedra's eyebrows narrow at the condescension, her shoulders stiffen, but she doesn't retaliate. She doesn't have to prove herself, she knows what she's capable of, and if this creature is going to underestimate her then it simply means she'll retain the advantage of surprise, until the opportunity arises to smite the lich into oblivion with all the Abyssal power she contains within her.

Still, that doesn't mean she's able to keep the irritation out of her voice, or that she even really wants to. "Of course," she says testily, drawing it out just a little. "No hard feelings. I understand - this place has a tendency to bring out the worst in people sometimes."

"Yeah, for real!" Strike this too cocky elf down. That ego of hers is just begging to get bruised.

If Lup notices the irritation creeping up into the other woman's voice, she doesn't make any show of it, the elf's grin not dimming in the slightest.

"Most of the events those liches throw down on us are pretty chill. Letting folks see into your dreams? Whatevs. Turn us into babies? Total yawn. The ones that get to me are when they rob us of our free will. Just fuck off with that shit."

"You mean the emotional changes, like when everyone felt they had to confess things to each other?"

Caedra had, at the time, seen that one for what it was. She has no regrets and no guilt, and therefore escaped the suffering that others went through, but it was funny to observe and to take advantage. Other such episodes have been fairly mild. The concept of it is awful, but in practice, little has come to pass in those moments that struck her as truly terrible.

"Nah, that never really hits home so bad. Mostly because I don't have shit to hide from anyone."

Which is, naturally, a lie, but one the elf at least deludes herself into thinking is true. That particular event hadn't exactly been easy on her either, having to apologize to her twin for leaving a dozen years earlier and never coming home, but she'd survived and moved to immediately put it behind her. Some of the other events in this place though? Those hadn't been quite so easy to just drop.

"We had one last year, right after I first popped into this place, back when we lived in cave town. The liches in charge warped everyone's memories of Hadriel, made them believe we'd lived there our whole lives. Even went so far as to illusion the place up, give it perfectly manicured lawns an' white picket fences. Making me say how I feel? Whatever, no skin off my back. But fuck with my memories? Yeah, that's the shit that messes with a gal."

A year later and some of those fake memories still linger. "Took awhile after we shook free to really get my head on straight. I had two entire different sets of memories, like a whole fake life planted in my head."

"I can see how that would be troubling," Caedra says evenly. "And I will never be one to defend these creatures and their actions. But you did realize which reality was the truth eventually, didn't you? The false memories don't matter, at that point."

It's simple to blow off Lup's complaint. False memories? Who cares. Caedra has two sets of memories herself, from the life she lived as a human before her death, and the life that matters now. She has dealt with it for decades by now and while occasionally some of it can be troubling, it really doesn't matter. Living in the moment is what matters, and the rest can be ignored.

"If they were to control our actions directly, that would be irritating, of course, but as long as their games eventually come to an end, suffering through them doesn't seem like a serious problem. After all, not even death is permanent here."

As much as the answer rubs her the wrong way, there's truth in Caedra's words, in the pointlessness of everything they are made to go through in this place. What does any of it matter, if within the week it all disappears and everything goes back to normal? Just the same as dying, right? Why even put in the effort to care?

Lup's too emotional to not care, to not lean right into her anger when she feels slighted by the gods in charge, but it's not the most awful way of thinking. Maybe she could soothe some of the hurt against her heart by keeping those words close to her. It could probably do her some good.

"Guess you're not wrong. It's hard to be grateful for anything in this place, but I guess it's somethin' that we aren't under their control twenty-four sev, right?"

"You're asking for far too little, if that's all it takes to make you happy. But yes, that would certainly be worse," Caedra replies, her deadpan tone suggesting this must be the most obvious thing in the world. "Set your sights higher, if you're capable of everything you think you are."

She's probably not making herself out to be great company, but she doesn't feel any need to pretend she's enjoying this conversation, either. Something about the lich just grates against her own personality a little too hard. Is it the optimism? The attempts at goodwill? Whatever it is, she's bored and looking like she might just get up and leave at any moment once she finishes her drink.

Can Lup feel the irritation she causes in the other woman? Probably, but it doesn't show, not when she's still grinning, that response just dragging a too casual shrug out of her skinny shoulders.

"Trust me, babe, I make myself happy just fine. Just prefer the liches keep their paws off'a me, but whatever. We'll figure out a way around 'em sooner or later."

"Good." Not that Caedra cares, really. In fact, simply asserting that it will happen eventually and not seeming to mind if it's later rather than sooner evokes a similar frustration to her interactions with so many of these people. It's not surprising when it's one of the mortals saying it. They're simple people who can't think about much beyond how to feed themselves and sleep comfortably at night. But a lich, who seems as content as the rest of them?

It's disappointing. One of the few creatures here who might have some understanding of her viewpoint, and instead she seems to just want to have a good time.

So Caedra drains her glass, thunks it down on the table, then stands up. "Next time you decide to go on some wild rampage, I hope you kill far more. Give Hope something to think about," she says as a means of excusing herself.

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Intro Log: Snip Snip

Caedra | OTA

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