hadriel_logs | Event Log: Old Friends And New

Entry tags:

Event Log: Old Friends And New

Who: Characters in Hadriel and all Fourth Wall attendees
What: Fourth Wall Event!
Where: All around the city
When: The Door malfunctions and brings folks from all different worlds into Hadriel. The more the merrier!
Warnings: None

The city is a little more... crowded than usual. Throughout the week, you may see a few more faces around, some familiar and some unfamiliar- you may even witness certain characters just popping in and out of existence as the Door flexes its uncertain power. Luckily, this seems to be the only effect of the Door's experimentation so far, but that's not to say that the worry ends here.

Some of you may find friends from home, others may find enemies, or just new allies or people you really don't get along with. Either way, it's time for a party as the gods scramble to put some sort of gathering together so that you can all take care of one another and the gods don't have to deal with another mass influx of people when they aren't ready for it. Aren't they nice?

So enjoy your music, your food, and the random assortments of items you may be able to find in the shops. The kindness won't last forever, but the gods are fairly certain that this explosion of new people is just temporary, so enjoy it while you can!

Due to the Door's meddling, some of the new people may enter the city already aware of their predicament. In order to cut down on some confusion, new visitors from the door may find that they're already aware of the conflict they're a part of, the city they're in, and have some vague idea of the gods they're surrounded by. They may even be aware that their stay here is temporary- still, there's no reason not to find shelter and food and a few allies to help you ease the way.

► This log covers October 22nd-30th.
► 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 a new person is actually pretty terrible and kills you, please let us know here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Taako hasn't really caught the memo of what's going on yet. Shit's been going wild all month- emotions are on the fritz, items are dropping in on their heads, monsters are popping in and out. He doesn't care, especially. He's well armed enough to handle anything that gets tossed at him on a ground level, and he's picked up some new weird shit for his collections of garbage forming in his and Lup's room. He's in there now, hanging up a new bit of crystal so it hits the light, when he hears Peanut doing some dumb shit a floor above him. Taako sighs, dropping shoulders and walking out, already talking as he's making his way up the stairs.]

Peanut, I know you don't understand fucking language, but if you're eating the oven again Magnus will not find out what happened to you so fucking help m--

[And he stops when he actually sees her at the top of the stairs. He just stares at her for a few seconds, before just moving to flip his wrists towards her.]

Oh you have got to be kidding me. Did Lup do this? Did Lup bring you here? I kinda figured I made my position pretty fuckin' clear on this one.

(Oh, it's Taako.

Lucretia doesn't look at him, because the dog– Peanut?– has her full attention right now. She is narrowly avoiding a thorough face-licking. What Taako is saying does not hurt or surprise her. Where she's just come from they had finally fallen into some facsimile of an understanding. Months of fighting it out constantly had left them tired; sometimes Taako just doesn't want her around, and Lucretia gets that, and she is fine to play keep away. Sometimes he'll come around to her place and they'll talk for hours and watch whatever looks the stupidest on television and pretend that nothing is wrong. It's fine, so long as neither of them bring attention to it.

The razzing, however, happens regardless of which mood Taako is currently in. So this is just another day ending in y for Lucretia.)

Lup had nothing to do with it, (she says, and pushes Peanut very firmly back as she stands up, brushing her slacks off,) I just got here. And I was informed at the gates that I'll only be here for a few days, just like you, so you can unclench.

[He squints, because this... isn't right. He's seen Lucretia twice in this place; one when his wounds were incredibly fresh, but she was young and confused and he had to be the bad guy in his pain and start the fire in her. Two when she was older, Madame Director, when she had known what she'd done and had crumbled under the weight of him. But this one ... isn't. Maybe it's better that way- after the rift he drew with him and Barry, him and Lup after that fight that he had to reseal, he doesn't know if he really wants her crying at his feet. But the boldness is a shock and something he feels the need to rebuff, and he snorts, cocking his hip and slotting his hand in the curve.

He's blocking the only exit. He's gonna leave it that way.]

So what let you get the visitor's pass? On some kinda sightseeing tour? Hopping between worlds again solo this time so you don't have to take anything?

[Oops he's still on this. A year mostly without her has helped, but it's gonna take way longer than that for his grudge to drop off.]

(Yeah, so the difference this time is that Lucretia isn't going to let it get to her. Too much has happened between them for her to get upset over a couple of catty comments. Yeah there's still a certain degree of tension between the two of them but Lucretia's been gaining back the distance inch by careful inch, and she's grateful for that. Grateful that they've figured out where the line is and how to respect that. So this really doesn't bother her at all.

She adopts a thoughtful expression even as Taako faces her down from the doorway into the living room.)

Nope, (she says eventually, and shrugs a shoulder,) Honestly, I'm getting a little too old for that shit. Are the others here too? Did you know there was going to be a stop off between the Quarantine and home? You think they would have, uh, included that on the... 'terms and conditions', so to speak.

[Okay, this is-- this went from him being only slightly out of his depth to having fuck all idea what's going on. He squints at her as she speaks, bringing his hands out like he is beyond lost.]

Okay, now you're just fucking with me. What are you talking about? Like, okay first off, you don't just nope me, that's not how this works. Second, I'm not answering shit, and three, where the hell were you that you're getting out of quarantine? Did you get arrested?

[Normally he'd play this a little cooler, but he's just so off base he wants answers right now.]

(Woah, don't look at her like she knows what's going on! Lucretia is very quickly realising that neither of them are on the same page for some reason. If Taako weren't so obviously frustrated and confused, she'd laugh outright at the look on his face.)

The Quarantine, (she repeats, staring at him as he spreads his hands in obvious bewilderment,) Riverview? The planet were were both just on for nearly two years?

(you know?????????)

Did... did you forget? (They're supposed to have forgotten. The portal guards had assured them they'd be returned to their original time none the wiser. Lucretia hadn't been happy about that price of admission but had resolved, of course, to pay it. She had to go back home no matter what, and fix all she had broke. So if she's able to hold onto those memories here, why hasn't Taako?)

[This is the problem with knowing her so well, even and especially when he doesn't want to. Her face goes from confusion to concern, and he can tell from the progression that she isn't lying. He swallows as he tries to find his bearings again against this genuine assault and he crosses his arms, cocking out his hip like he doesn't care.]

I've been right here for a year and a half, my dude. You're the one who's been seeing things on some weird planet somewhere. I mean, I know it must be lonely without cha boy, but that's kinda much don't you think?

[Don't make him remember she cares, ugh. At least he's back to having the upper hand again. She's thrown off and he knows exactly where he is, which is where he wants it. Plus, he has backups- the Door must have just been fucking with her.

Unless, of course, those other worlds some others have talked about exist. At which point he's really starting to hate what he doesn't remember.]

A... year and a half?

(Wait wait wait. Lucretia's immediate leap to conclusions is that time is messing with her, that Taako has both forgotten the Quarantine, and really been here for such a long time without her. Then, she pauses for a moment, giving herself a second to really think. It's not as if she hadn't seen other versions of the people she knew and loved while stuck in the Quarantine... there had been Magnus, for starters, popping up with no recollection of who any of them where.

Maybe this is another Taako. Not the one she walked through the portal with, hand in hand.

It's a disorientating thought.)

No, I... (she sighs, and pinches the bridge of her nose. Why can't any of this ever be simple?) I was there, with you and Lup and Magnus and Barry. I was told that I was going back to Faerûn, and that I wouldn't remember being away, but... now I'm here, and I still remember everything.

(Beverly. The thought strikes her like a lightning bolt and she glances over her shoulder distractedly, as if she might see her standing behind her. Beverly was going to come back with her.) Am I the only person who has shown up in your house like this?

[Taako screws up his face, the blossom of care for her blooming in his chest in direct competition with the disgust he still feels to see her here pretending to be his friend. She doesn't just get that. She doesn't just get to have that, no matter what she says, no matter what fucking place she thinks she was in. He's been getting on just fine without her. Everyone has. They don't need her.]

Okay, well, good job, but literally none of that happened. I showed up here a while back and didn't remember who Lup was for two more fuckin' months, so.

[He got lucky to get pulled out when he did, even if that one event came before, where he stared down the ghost of her as she begged for her life.

It's been a nightmare, at least once. One he continues to blame on her and her actions.]

I dunno, people show up all the time, you just-- popped in here on the couch? No Coliseum, no monsters, no anything? Like, today?

It happened to me, (she says patiently, but realises that this is a truly pointless road to head on down. If this dissolves into petty arguments she isn't going to get another sliver of information about this place out of him so she sighs, and bites the inside of her cheek.) But never mind. I'm... I suppose I'm here, now, even if only for a few days.

... Where are we exactly?

(Feels weird that Taako knows more about a planet than she does. Feels bad, feels inorganic.)

Yes, I only got here a few moments before you came in. No Coliseum, but I think I've seen a monster or two. (She glances at Peanut, who starts to wiggle enthusiastically at the eye contact, nudging up against her legs insistently for pats.

She's being very casual but on the inside she's starting to panic. Beverly is either here and appeared somewhere else, or she's gone straight back to Faerûn with no detour at all. Lucretia had been just outside Wonderland's exit when she had been taken to the Quarantine, and the thought of Beverly not understanding her new surroundings and accidentally wandering into Lydia and Edward's awaiting arms is an extremely terrible one. Fuck, fuck!)

How do I get to this Coliseum?

[There are probably words he could say about him knowing more than her being good for once, but they're not going there. He's keeping his face part neutral part disgust, which tends to land solidly in the :/ zone, like he could take or leave the conversation they're having. Feels kind of nice to have the one-up on her for once, though, after all those years.]

Huh. Weird. Well bad luck for you, but it's on another island. You'll either need to find a boat or magic yourself there. But it won't take you back.

[He gestures his hand vaguely to the house.]

If you're lookin' for someone, everybody that's supposed to be here lives here. Magnus, Lup, Barry, 'n Ango. Merle was around for a while. You can like, find them. Sure someone would be excited to see you.

[Why is he even doing this. Why is he jabbing her like this, these rude little pushes? Even he doesn't know. Maybe this is him being 'nice', him not outright being cruel to her but just these little bits, tiny movements of making sure she remembers that they aren't done. He doesn't know. Right now, it just feels like running from something.]

(Lucretia just had an interesting thought: actually, fuck this?

She knows that Taako is a snippy person by nature and that that aspect of him only ever increases tenfold whenever she's around and she doesn't begrudge him that. It's not like he doesn't have a good reason to want to be rude to her, whatever, she gets it. Doesn't mean she has to take it though. Doesn't mean she has to stand here and listen to him working nasty little comments into every aspect of the conversation, and especially not when all she's thinking about is finding Beverly, and making sure she's okay.

If she's here at all. Lucretia sighs. She's trying really hard not to entertain the other possibility but it's difficult with Taako trying to, as the kids say, get all up in her grill at the same time. He's only stoking her anxieties.)

I don't have time for this, (she says, and ignores that she has no idea who exactly 'Ango' is supposed to be (maybe another 'dog'???).) How do I magic myself over there? Finding out quickly would be good but if you can't resist another round of petty remarks I'm more than happy to go and find Lup instead. She's always been very happy to see me. Very forgiving.

[There it is again, that pushback he hasn't felt in so long. He knows he needs to stop doing this, that the last time he created an argument around her Lup ran off in tears, Barry actually scolded him like he was a kid. He should have more control than this, but he can't just let her get away with being here without the reminder. So where does he lie in this?]

Oh, sorry, some of us don't have ten years to get over our issues alone.

[But she's just going to keep fighting with him if he doesn't give something, and that sort of screaming match isn't really something even he wants. That's not power, it's just a loss of control.]

And I mean, how do you magic yourself anywhere? It's islands. Either know the lay of the land or don't, I don't know how to like, open a dimension door or whatever, I fly there when I have to. What, looking to pawn a polymorph, Luce? Ask ya boi for a favor?

(Funny that Taako seems to be operating on the assumption that he has to remind Lucretia of all she's done, as if she doesn't dedicate a bit of each and every day to feeling shit about it all. Not that he knows this. Not that she'll tell him, either. She's not sure exactly how he'd react to such knowledge, but it would probably fall into one of two camps: some kind of pleased albeit mean remark, or an accusation of airing her remorse out for pity points. Something like that. She shouldn't think so unkindly of him perhaps, but unfortunately, she knows him well.)

I know, Taako. I'm not here to talk about that.

(At least they aren't in dangerous, argumentative waters? Lucretia wishes she didn't know those warning signs so intimately... and yet. She gives him a Look. Because this is going nowhere, she's just going to be straight with him and see what happens.)

Look. I left the last planet I was on with my partner, and if I'm here, she might be here too. She doesn't know magic, and if she doesn't have any weapons on her, she could be in danger. So I'd like you to show me the way to the Coliseum, please.

Edited 2018-11-21 14:21 (UTC)

[Once again, she knows him incredibly well, because both those reactions are super likely depending on his mood. Even if they're cutting with an undercurrent of sadness he can't comprehend. Something something loss of the way it was, something something hates change he doesn't control. That's not the point here. What is the point is Lucretia's sudden admission, that tilts his ears back out of surprise as he tries to absorb this.]

Oh. Uh.

[Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait-]

Partner? What the fuck. Who?

[Yeah. These are his vetting questions. They may be on rocky terms right now and he may still be very mad at her, but also, whomst the fuck.]

Also wait, you said no magic- is she from Faerun? How did you get her here with you?

(Funny how spending a century together allows you to really understand a guy, you know? Of course, this means that Taako's abrupt distraction from her request does not take Lucretia by surprise. She sighs, and waves her hand as if this is unimportant, trying to hide that she feels... flustered, of all things, about having to explain herself.

For god's sake. She's like a schoolgirl with a crush.)

We arrived in the Quarantine from different places at more or less the same time, so we... well, after we met and became friends, we eventually started seeing each other. We were living together before we left. (It feels so odd to boil down this extremely significant relationship into a couple key points, but it's the most that she's willing to get into right now. At least with Taako, that is.)

She's from another universe. The planet Arvada, but she... uh. (Here Lucretia pauses. She's trying to toe the line between being fond and clinical, some kind of safe, neutral territory, but this isn't just some story, it's... it's Beverly. Her face feels hot.)

She... chose to come back to Faerun with me.

[He actually listens to this with more gravity than he means to give it, not necessarily because he's that invested in her girlfriend, but because he's fairly invested in the process. She chose to come back? There's someone out there with the technology for that choice?]

She followed your ass back to the apocalypse? Jeez, did you prep her for that one?

[But he smooths that bit over quickly, because it's really not what he's interested in at the advent of this discovery. There are people here he's... well, he'd leave them if he had to, for the life he has at home with the people he loves. He certainly wouldn't stay here if the option was going back to his entire family and the world they saved. But if he didn't have to make that choice, if he could take them with him... that's the best option of them all.]

Besides, how'd she... choose to go back with you? Wherever you where, they knew where to pinpoint that?

As much as I could.

(She'd tried to impress upon Beverly that she'd be walking into one hell of a situation but Beverly had remained stubborn and, quite frankly, Lucretia had been so happy she hadn't bothered to really try and talk her out of it. Perhaps she should have, but after all this time, Lucretia thinks she can be permitted a single moment of selfishness.)

We were brought to the Quarantine through a portal, but the technology was... shaky, at best. It had trouble gathering exact co-ordinates. I was there for a long time before they managed to get it centered back upon Faerun; once they notified me that I could go home, she had decided that she wanted to come back with me.

(And the officials had let her, too. Lucretia still can't believe that bit, she had been expecting some kind of resistance, but nope. They were more than happy to let Beverly walk back through the portal with her.)

[It's not especially the thing he cares about, so he's letting that one go. The implications are what matters, that it didn't break a universe to just take someone from someplace else. Not that he'd give a huge amount of a shit if it caved in someone else's world, but that sort of thing has universe-destroying capabilities, and he is one of the people who lives in that so that's a no-go. But here she is just saying it worked, and that's a lot to take in.

Lucretia tends to shake stuff up, nowadays. It feels like a logical conclusion, now that he has the requisite knowledge to draw those. But it's still weird, to superimpose where she was versus where she is. Maybe because she grew so much, and he feels like he didn't at all.

He could blame her for that. He won't.]

Huh. Well, sucks to say, but the shit here is waaaay worse. Blips out on the reg. Don't tend to take people in twos.

[He's still gonna help, for how obstinate he's being.]

But I mean, you can look. Could be anything.

Oh good, just my luck.

(But he seems like he's going to help her out. Lucretia holds her breath for a moment just in case he takes it back in the instant he issues it, but he doesn't. She relaxes minutely, relieved; if Beverly has bypassed this world and gone back to Faerun, she will figure it out. If she's here somewhere, Lucretia will find her. It has to be one of those two outcomes. Narrowing it down always helps quantify the situation in her mind, eases off her nerves.)

Where should I start? I suppose you aren't up for giving me a grand tour.

(She knows she's pushing it, but she can't help it, she has literally nothing else to go on.)

[He doesn't really know how to feel. He can turn her loose and just get her out of here, slice this interaction clean and write it off as him feeling generous. It's a weird situation she's in, for sure, and he honestly doesn't know how to deal with the fact that she's doing okay. Hell, she's doing better than him. Taako's still hung up on this and she's just not. But she's not the one who was hurt, right? She's not the one who had to forget. It figures. Of course it figures.

She can just forget about him, and that pain. She has that luxury. Must be nice.]

I mean, the grand tour isn't gonna help because it's like. Shitty. And also people are dropping in all over the place.

[He shrugs.]

I'm not gonna row a boat or whatever, but I guess I could fly your ass to the coli. If you ask really nicely. I don't just do this shit for free, y'know.

(There are a whole lot of assumptions flying around right now, but, of course, Lucretia is none-the-wiser. She's too focused on getting to the Coliseum. She's even starting to stoke a little curiousity for it, she wants to explore this place that... alternate (???) versions of her friends have been living in together for so long. Lucretia, as always, wants to know so much more.)

I would really appreciate it if you would, Taako.

(She knows this is hard for him. She doesn't want to say that because she's worried that he'll take it to mean that she's pandering or something, but she does feel sympathy for him. This can't be an easy situation to deal with; it isn't, for her. Lucretia feels like she's treading on eggshells. If only Lup were here.)

You don't have to stay, you can uh, park down the block and drop me off, real fantasy John Hughes style, I just– I want to check. I need to know if she's here. Please.

[At least Taako has the benefit of having Lup around to talk about this later, even though he knows by now she won't want anything to do with hearing him bitch about Lucretia. He can keep it to the facts anyway. But none of that is important when now he has a job.]

Yeah, yeah, I know. Come on. I'm not dumb enough to blow the roof off this place for something like this.

[He turns and goes down the stairs, out the front door without much more preamble. He's trying to think of what kind of big flying thing he's gonna be that'll make him happier about flying and less about helping. Maybe a dragon? A dragon would be rad. He's pretty sure he can do that now, too, and it's been a while since he's flexed those sorts of muscles. So he waits until she's followed him, turning around and giving her a too toothy grin.]

You should really thank me now for getting you there in such style. Check this shit.

[He presses his hands to his chest, and it's only a matter of seconds before he changes completely into a large dragon, now grinning with certainly too many teeth right down at her. He's at least 15 feet tall now, large head coming to level with hers and snorting out a burst of air. It sounds almost funny when Taako's voice comes out of it, even if they are accompanied by a rumble.]

See, now if you see your girl you look cool.

(Oh, my god, that was a fairly serious plea that he is writing off as if it were nothing but then again, she probably should have seen that one coming. Lucretia sighs, shoulders slumping, hides her eye roll behind Taako's back as he descends the stairs. Well, at least it worked.

She's seen Taako use polymorph so many times that this flex is not especially unusual, and neither is the form that he's chosen. He is a show off, and Lucretia knows this about him, and she loves him. She throws her arm up to shield her face from the warm rush of dragon breath that washes over her, squinting into his wide, light blue sclera.)

Well, (she says after a beat, trying to ignore an instinctive surge of fear that spikes in her when the Taako dragon smiles, and shows her all of his fearsome teeth,) Yes, I- thank you, Taako, I will undoubtedly be the coolest kid on the block, now. I feel like I'm on an episode of Fantasy Pimp My Ride.

(How... does she get up there. Lucretia comes around the side of him, finds a handhold at his neck, and pulls herself up with surprising strength for one so fuckin' old, finding a place to sit at the dragon's nape.)

[Sorry not sorry Lucretia, that's the Taako Way. Good luck figuring out if he's serious or not any goddamn time, nobody knows. Anyway, be a little afraid Lucretia, he holds your life in his hands blah blah blah.

He may have said some things in a moment of passion, but he wouldn't kill her. This isn't about that. So he waits as she clambers her way onto his neck- he has to turn his head to even see her on there, she's so light now- before he beats his two massive wings against the ground, lifting up into the sky and over the ocean. Lucretia can see the entire city scattered out here, four little islands in a stormy sea. Taako stays up maybe a bit longer than necessary- he likes the view too- before starting to circle towards a great stone structure on the biggest island, an inviting and large place in the center to land. He lets out a roar as he gets closer, the only warning anyone on the ground will have to get the fuck out of the way, landing in the center with a bang that sends some loose rubble flying and displaces the dirt.]

Legally, you have to tell me that was the raddest thing ever. Go on. Say it.

Event Log: Old Friends And New

2 ofc :v

come fight me in the pit wizard boy

hes GONNA

SQUARE TF UP

(ง'̀-'́)ง

ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)

( ๑‾̀◡‾́)σ»

(‘﹏๑)

god im out of faces this is too much

ha that means i win

FUCK U

oh how the turn tables!!!!!

HOW THE TURNED HAVE TABLED

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Event Log: Old Friends And New

2 ofc :v

come fight me in the pit wizard boy

hes GONNA

SQUARE TF UP

(ง'̀-'́)ง

ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)

( ๑‾̀◡‾́)σ»

*(‘﹏*๑)

god im out of faces this is too much

ha that means i win

FUCK U

oh how the turn tables!!!!!

HOW THE TURNED HAVE TABLED

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(‘﹏๑)