hadriel_logs | Intro Log: Puddle Jumpers

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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!

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[He cocks his head to the side. Why she asks the question like she does, he's not sure. He's never been great at reading people.]

You're gonna have to be more specific. I can, if that's what you're asking. Two of my degrees are in mechanical engineering.

[Is she asking about Name? Maybe that's why she said it all weird. She's trying to be coy. That whole operation is still supposed to be a secret, he thinks, so he's not going to bring it up unless she's more direct about it. And even then, maybe not. He doesn't know this woman.]

What's up with your eyes? Are they naturally like that?

[Gods below if these people were even worth spellpower to change her eye color she would, but it's just such a waste. Worth tolerating the repeated questioning.]

Yes, they are. So your involvement here is both with creatures and artifice? A generalist?

[Which usually means not particularly good at anything, really.]

A generalist?

[Newt straightens, mouth hanging open like she's just slapped him across the face. After taking a long moment to look utterly aghast at this insult, he scoffs, laughing in disbelief.]

Wow, uh, did you hear what I said? About the degrees? I'm a doctor six times over, lady. I'm primarily a biologist with specializations in bioengineering and xenobiology. After I finished those PhDs, I picked up a couple in mechanical engineering. Like, for fun.

[He's all but forgotten about the eye thing. Who can care about a weird eye thing at a time like this??]

Whatever you need done with a machine, I can do it. You'd be hardpressed to find anyone better than me in this dumpy town.

[To be honest she has no idea what the significance of doctorates and degrees even is. She hears 'doctor' and thinks 'healer' since that's the only association she's learned with the word, and she learned it here. It only serves to confuse her.

She does easily pick up on the bravado, though. The guy thinks he's cool shit, and she can work with that. She folds her arms, but relaxes a little otherwise, even smiles as he mentions he can do anything with a machine.]

Oh? Better than Alphys, then? I'm one of the ones involved in finding the Door fragments, and I want to make sure that they're looked after by the right people.

Of course I'm better than Alphys.

[It's a knee-jerk comeback, and later, he'll probably regret it. Is he better than Alphys? It depends. "Better" is too general a term. He doesn't know her educational background, but based on what he does know of her past, she's largely self-taught. It's not a detail he inherently looks down upon—he can attribute plenty of his own knowledge and skill to self-teaching. In the K-Science field, he's a pioneer. But he does have six PhDs and a decade of real lab experience under his belt. That gives him a leg up if they're measuring "better" by way of resume.

Truth be told, they each have their specialties. Alphys is out of his league when it comes to coding. Between the two of them, she's the better engineer. Caedra is not entirely wrong in calling out how thinly his expertise is spread; his years of focusing on biology have let his mechanical skills fall out of practice, save for his hobbies and the occasional need to build equipment for his Kaiju research.

All of this faintly registers as Newt huffs at Caedra. Is he better than Alphys? He likes her well enough, respects her greatly as a colleague, but he's already said he's the best here and he meant it. It's nothing personal.]

Alphys is heading up the project because she's been studying the Door since before I got here, that's all. She's got seniority.

[It is part of a demon's nature to sniff out strife where it exists, to sow discord where it doesn't, and to find ways to drive people apart - or have them tearing at each other's throats. Caedra is not particularly skilled at this, but she's encouraged by what she sees here - not because it will necessarily benefit her in any way, not because she can capitalize on this potential competitive streak, but because she just likes fucking with people.

She smiles up at him and then chuckles softly as he admits to Alphys' seniority, as if sharing a little joke with him.]

Ah, I see. Unfair, but so it is sometimes. It's frustrating, though, isn't it? To be better at something than someone else, but there's just too much resistance to change to let someone with superior knowledge take over.

I don't know about that.

[He's torn, really. The situation Caedra's describing is frustrating, but it's not the situation here. Not entirely. But is this situation frustrating in its own right? Lately, sure, a little bit. This Door project is slightly irritating, though he hasn't been able to put a finger on why. He's better at surface level emotions. He buries everything else.]

I may be more qualified, but don't get me wrong. Alphys knows her stuff. If I took charge of every project where I was the expert, I'd have too much crap going on. I'm the only one with a bio background, so I do the bestiary. Alphys has enough experience with the Door stuff to get by without me needing to hold her hand.

How benevolent to allow her the opportunity, then. I'm sure she appreciates it.

[And she'll surely tell her exactly what Newt thinks of her, should she find the opportunity.]

And should she prove unable to make much headway with them, when do you step in? And at which point do the gods come into the picture?

[GREAT. THANKS, CAEDRA. But this is what he gets for running his mouth to a woman he's never met before.]

Uh, thanks. I'm sure she'll ask for a second opinion if she hits a wall. I'm pretty busy this time of month, anyway.

[It's true, as is evident from the ogre bits splayed out on the table.]

The fragments are all going to the gods eventually. If we can't make any headway, they'll just get 'em a bit sooner.

Well, that's a disappointment, Newt.

[His name is fun to say. Easy to emphasize, with that terminal T. Rather like 'Nate' who she's had so much fun harassing so far as well.]

It isn't that I think they should never go to the gods, but don't you think it's possible to solve this without them? If you're as good as you say you are, if you can work with any machine at all, then consider this one a challenge worth undertaking. If we control the Door, all of us, then the gods can't use it against us any longer. Don't you think that's something we should at least try?

[It's somewhat unfortunate and yet fitting that Caedra is so far the only person in existence to like his name.]

Uh...

[He understands what she's saying, of course, but it takes him a moment to really consider the implications. What she's talking about would be highly awesome, yeah. There's no doubt about that. It also sounds impossible.]

The Door isn't a machine so much as, like... I don't know. Some kind of magical artifact, or something. Didn't you hear Name talking about how it's the ninth god? But, that's besides the point. Could I singlehandedly figure out how to work the Door to get us all out of here? Sure. Given enough time, sure.

[He tosses the scalpel onto the table, giving up on trying to work while continuing this conversation.]

That's the problem, though. The gods have a head start in every way imagineable. Time, availability, knowledge to build on... I'd be starting from virtually zero. You really want to place your bets on that significant of a disadvantage?

[He shrugs. He doesn't really care about the gods on a personal level. The logic of it is all that matters to him.]

[Her eyes track the scalpel as it clatters against the table's surface, before glancing up again to meet his - rather a difficult thing for him to notice, probably. The movement may register but the direction may not. She just likes to keep track of where the sharp bits in the room are.]

I have lots of time, and I'm not convinced those creatures mean to ever do as we wish. They act to satisfy their needs, not ours.

[Which is a fact so many of these people seem to conveniently ignore, or forget. The 'gods' aren't gods, they don't want to help anyone here, and given full control of the Door she's rather convinced they would use it to keep them all here as their little unwilling soldiers. Placing her bets on humans doesn't sit well either, but their individuality and occasional altruism means they're more likely to give her the results she wants even if it takes quite a while.]

Anyway, your point about it being magical only helps. There are a lot of people here who are familiar with such artifacts. It's not a barrier to your work.

[He notes the flick of her eyes, but doesn't think much of it. The lab is a sight to behold for anyone who doesn't frequent it.]

All of us have lots of time. That's not the point. The kind of expertise you're talking about, that would take years. I was studying something... sort of Door-adjacent back home, right? Even with modern technology at my disposal, plus buckets of funding and a whole team of lab assistants in PPDC's heyday, we'd barely scratched the surface with K-Science research in more than a decade. The interdimensional portal we were dealing with? Yeah, we only ever learned enough to break it. Figuring out how to accurately tune it to make it useful for us is, like, a whole separate thing.

[It's frustrating when laymen refuse to understand how scientific research actually works. Maybe it's different in the magical world, but science? Science takes time, takes brilliance.]

Look, I'm more than happy to scrabble around in the dark with this Door stuff, alright? I'm just saying, don't expect miracles. This thing doesn't work like anything any of us are familiar with, magic or no magic.

[Ugh. He reminds her of one of the archive scholars, an old, bent little foxlike yugoloth who somehow manages to try and tower over everyone with his supposed knowledge since he doesn't have the physical stature to do any intimidating. It rarely works on any of them of course and if he wasn't so quick with his spells she would rip his head from his body herself, but it isn't worth the effort.

Newt isn't worth that effort either, though in this case it's because she actually needs him and Alphys and the others to do all of the bullshit they talk about being able to do. Needs them to stay alive and healthy and able to work.

How distasteful.]

No miracles. Just get it done. The moment the gods get involved to do this themselves is the moment you've failed.

[Newt's less-than-intimidating physical stature doesn't stop him from straightening at her attempt at a command. His eyebrows shoot up. Who does she think she is? No one's talked to him like this since Pentecost sent him to find Hannibal Chau, and at least Pentecost could pull rank. Not only was he the Marshal, but Newt actually respected the guy.]

Oh, good, so I have a couple of weeks to solve all our problems or I've failed? Where do you get off charging in here and slinging orders around? Sure, let me just magically pull a solution out of my ass! I've been sitting on critical info that will get us all home in a couple of days, but I thought I'd just keep it to myself until you bullied it out of me!

[A few weeks from now, when Newt sees that anonymous post with a picture of Caedra's frozen body, he will sorely regret mouthing off to her. But, for now, well. He picks up the scalpel and settles back in to his mess of ogre parts, waving her away with his free hand.]

"Just get it done." Are you kidding me? I don't owe you anything.

Who says you only have a couple of weeks?

[Is that really all he's willing to invest? Great. He's truly an atrocious individual and this is a waste of her time. It's only the hope he might achieve anything at all that keeps her from pulling her blade on him and spilling his insides across the lab floor right here and now. Well, that and she's aware that if she aggravates a member of the lab, they might all decide to use whatever they do find against her, or to withhold their findings from her somehow.

Irritating creatures, all of them, and she has no restraint left to give so she just shakes her head and turns to leave. But first:]

You owe me for sparing your life. Get to work.

[It's rare that Newt will let anyone have the last word in an argument, but he decides to make an exception here for two reasons.

One, this is his lab, and he was already trying to shoo her out of it anyway. It's not like she's listening to him, and clearly she's got a skewed idea of how Hadriel works if she thinks the gods are going to give them more than a couple weeks with the fragments. Even if the gods don't reclaim them, they're not just going to sit around and wait for Hadriel's finest to do the work for them. Hell, it's a miracle they're even allowed to study the fragments before forking them over.

And two, something about that last comment unsettles him. Like, yeah, logic would dictate that it should, given that it was essentially a death threat, but he's gotten those before. No one ever means it.

He can't shake the feeling that Caedra does, though.]

Yeah, whatever.

[It's muttered half-heartedly as she walks out. After a moment or two, he shakes it off, and turns his attention back to his specimens.]

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Intro Log: Puddle Jumpers

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