hadriel_logs | Intro Log: Puddle Jumpers

Who: New arrivals and everyone else!
What: The intro log for September
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: September 10th-13th
Warnings: Fresh meat, lots of rain and angry ogres

If the rain on your face isn't enough to wake you up in the colosseum, maybe the thundering footsteps and- well, thunder- is. The first thing that you may notice is that it's incredibly wet around here, with winds that could knock you over if you aren't careful and thunder that brings with it a torrent of constant rainfall.

That's all fine though, because the gods saw fit to help you out on your way in and now everyone will be waking up wearing a rain coat! These coats are a little odd, and some of them are downright silly, but we trust that you'll make do. Of course, a few of the raincoats have additional sleeves, neck holes, and entirely too many buttons as well- but hey, it's the best we could do.

Wait, what was that about thundering footsteps? Oh right, as you're navigating your new fashion choices, there are some monsters afoot who will want nothing more than to grind you into a pulp and eat you- well, if you're organic, that is. If you're not organic, then they still want to grind you to a pulp, but maybe not so much the eating part.

Ogres are from many fantasy stories, but these in particular are from the Dragon Age series. With incredible strength and stamina and massive horns, fangs, and a bloodlust for violence, these monsters won't stop until everyone around them is a blood smear on the ground. They're also not too happy about this rainfall either, so be careful not to slip in the puddles as you run away from them!

Once you've splashed around a bit, feel free to run off into the stormy abyss of our islands. 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 September 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

[Probably a bit of hypocritical logic to say that Sal was also surprised that someone else was here, in a bakery marked "closed", but with the storm someone else could have the same idea as him, right?]

Oh, that's good. And...thanks.

[He's going to act like this isn't really weird and awkward. Well, he doesn't find it so, at least.]

No thanks. They say you shouldn't eat and swim and with the way things are going swimming might be unavoidable.

[Harlan is aware that this is probably weird and awkward? But he doesn't mind. Awkward situations rarely faze him.]

Suit yourself.

[And he goes back to licking the frosting off of his own cupcake. He's usually one of those monsters that goes around eating the tops of cupcakes and not finishing the bottoms, but he couldn't do that to something Del baked. He'll force himself to eat the whole thing, even the cupcake butt.]

The city hasn't flooded yet, and it's like day four of this shit. We've got boats out the ass, anyway. Just make sure you claim an apartment in one of the spires if you're worried about getting swept away.

[Sal is one of those monsters completely incapable of finishing a cupcake at all. A true freak of nature. He needs his teenager license revoked. Still, he idly glances about at all of the treats in the display case anyway.]

Day four...damn. [He supposes it was too much to hope that he arrived on the one day things got really bad and that this was all completely new. Oh well.] How do I do that, anyway? Just...find an empty place and stick a flag in it or something?

[That part is a joke, but the idea of walking into an apartment and just 'claiming' it is really weird and more or less conjured up that image for him.]

Yep. This kind of shit happens around here. I don't know if the storm's a god thing or just a weather thing, but get used to it. If it's a god thing, we're looking at about a week, week and a half of this, but it's tough to say. God shit usually happens a couple weeks after the new arrivals show up.

[Sorry to crush your dreams immediately, kid, but HH abides by honesty. Better Sally know what he's up against now than getting blindsided down the road.]

Yeah, that's all you do. There's no phone book or anything. Everyone's just squatting wherever. My advice is to stick to this island, though. Most of the good shit's around here, and having to travel by boat will get annoying really fucking fast.

[It's fine. Sal has a greater preference for honesty anyway. He also has super had enough of being blindsided by anything.]

Huh.

[This was good to know. He definitely doesn't want to have to constantly travel by boat. Still, it was a lot of information to take in. This was all so weird even for him. Especially after talking to some people and reading over that guide that he found on his phone. It cleared things up, sure, but it also made his head spin.

He scratches at the back of his head. While his expression was hidden that action alone plus the shifting of his feet were enough to convey the fact that he was starting to get a little overwhelmed.]

Uhhh, okay. This island for convenience, god induced thunder storms...maybe, god stuff usually a little after new arrivals - which is apparently a scheduled thing. God it.

...

This feels like a fever dream.

[Harlan notices the head scratching, the shifting feet. He's been there. Not quite in this way—his reaction to winding up here was angrier, more violent, all caustic sarcasm and I-couldn't-give-a-fuck, and it made the transition that much harder. A quieter approach will be better in the long run, most likely.

He hops up to sit on the counter.]

This kind of shit is normal where I'm from. I jump between planes all the time, and I've met nastier, stronger shit than these gods. I can't relate to adjusting to this without already knowing it was possible, but I'm here to tell you it's not that weird.

[If it's not that weird, maybe it won't be as scary. This is a normal day for other people out there. When Harlan first came to Hadriel, he was pretty sure he'd just been kidnapped by faeries again.]

Where are you from? I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume magic isn't an everyday thing for you.

[It hasn't been for most of the people he's met here, which is way weirder than the overarching Hadriel situation if you ask him.]

[Sal nods as he listens - or rather nods to let him know he was listening, and not just staring blankly while not actually hearing any of this. It was a force of habit after hearing so many "are you even listening" when he in fact had been at rapt attention. This time being no different. It's indeed a comfort to him. If it's not that weird to this man, and he's done it before, it means he's gotten out of it before. It's something that, combined with his own knowledge, helps to stave off any impending panic and anxiety. And he's sure it was there, always waiting to creep up on him.]

I'm from Nockfell. Uh, I've only been there for a few months since I had kinda just moved from living in this other place - New Jersey - for like, all of my life. But umm...

[He pauses, tilting his head as he works out how to voice any of this.]

It's been...kind of every day for me for a while, but not to this extent. I mean, ghosts, cults, demons - I get that stuff, sorta. There's still a lot I don't understand but it's familiar. But different worlds? [That was the most recent discovery, and one he's still trying to wrap his head around the most.] That part is what's really blowing my mind. The other side - where the dead are, I mean, I thought I might have ended up there. But this is somehow even harder to grasp.

[Harlan perks up at the mention of New Jersey.]

I've never heard of Nockfell, but I'm from New York. I grew up around Philly, though.

[He has a strong feeling it's a different New York and Philly than what Sally is familiar with, but it's something. This isn't that weird.

Ghosts, cults, and demons, though? A bit weirder from where Harlan's sitting. Those things exist where he's from, but not in the same way most people mean around here. Ghosts are leftover souls of people who died, demons are evil spirits from hell or... something. Cults are roughly the same, he thinks, though most nonmagical folks probably mean shit like Jim Jones, not headed by dragons, not warlocks worshipping demon lords.

Though, maybe? Who fucking knows anymore.]

Yeah, it's wild. You'll get used to it eventually. Honestly, the multiverse shit is the best part about this city. Conversations are never dull.

[He laughs.]

And you'll get to see shit you've never seen before. You know we had dinosaurs come through the Door with the newbies one month? I got to see a raptor up close. That was cool.

[You have dinosaurs in your world, right, Sal??? Please be familiar with dinosaurs, holy shit.]

[Familiarity! Honestly, having someone familiar with even one bit of something he's said makes him feel a little less...lost? That's two people already, at least. It makes him feel less far from home, even if he's probably extraordinarily far.

Though can most certainly see this 'multiverse' stuff as being a huge positive. Sal really likes people...and now he'll be meeting all kinds of them.]

Wait - dinosaurs? [He is, in fact, familiar with dinosaurs...if the widening of his eyes and his posture coming to attention wasn't any indication already.] What are they like? Raptors, I mean. Are they really as smart and insanely cool as they show in the movies?

[Because really, movies and documentaries are all he has to go on.]

Intro Log: Puddle Jumpers

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