2.9/ open/ we always meet the fear head on

[dedikated]

Who: Kate & Everyone who was interested & Anyone else who wants to come exploring ( Basically it's open )
What: Exploring the planet rather than risking being killed by inanimate objects.
Where: Outside the city
When: 21st → Beginning Feb
Warnings: Nothing at the minute, please warn in your headings as needed!

( Sometimes, all one needs is a single near-death experience to make the decision of fuck this, I'm out. The itch to leave has been a long-time coming, after months of remaining on Hadriel's islands and arriving here only to be too busy trying to replace to gods with the scant natural resources of the planet to even think about leaving the city for more than hunting.

But Rage and Fear are back, and one run in with the Colosseum's tunnels is more than enough motivation for Kate to try and cobble together enough items to escape for a while. )

Going exploring.
Anyone wanting to come can meet me at the eastern spire tomorrow.

( It's a last minute decision, made while she rolls spare clothing as small as she can get it, because she's probably not the only person done with this bullshit, and nor does the concept of being out in the wilderness by herself for however many days sound appealing. Who'll talk for all that time?

(She's never liked being alone. Too many opportunities to allow your thoughts to drift.)

But, as the post says, she is at the third spire the next day, waiting for anyone who wants to come along. )

( OOC: This is a mingle post, so feel free to make your own headings. If you want your character to be in the city for more of the event, feel free to presume they caught up with her & the group later! If you want to discuss anything, you can PM me or hit me up on discord at isanghae#8071. )

Comments

night;

[restinglichface]

Came to ask you the same thing, babe.

[Everything's a little different for Lup nowadays. The cold doesn't bother her in the slightest anymore, even if she so frequently complains about it. She doesn't need to sleep, doesn't need to eat, doesn't really feel fatigue in the same way she did before either. She's more undead than ever, but it's kind of working out in her favor, especially on a trip through the freezing tundra like this. She can set herself ablaze to keep her companions warm when they need it, and she can also keep watch while they rest.

Not that Kate's ever been the type of woman to let her guard down.

Lup comes to perch near the other woman, close but not touching, grinning even through the darkness.]

You're thinkin' kinda loud there.

muah

[dedikated]

You a telepath, too?

( Lup really has been through it in the time she's been here, hasn't she? In returning home and anything between that the two of them usually ignore in favour of alcohol or fighting something. This trip was to avoid Hadriel's latest version of hell, to finally get out of the city after months of being stuck on the islands, but it's given her more than a few quiet moments with other people as well. )

Wonderin' if we'll ever see this place alive.

( Hadriel, the planets they've visited... she could mean any of them. Or all of them. Everywhere they've been throughout their stays has been dead, or barely clinging to the final remnants of existence.

When it's all said and done, will things be different? )

my girl <3

[restinglichface]

[It's clearly a joke and, as usual, Kate hits her mark. The mood between them is soft and maybe just a touch too thoughtful, but it's more than enough to drag a quick bark of a laugh out of the elf. her half flying up to her mouth on instinct, but it's way too late to block that unexpected laugh.]

What a dweeb. Remind me why we're friends again?

[As if Lup ever needs the reminder.

She settles next to Kate, stretching her long legs in front of her, hands back to prop herself up, chin tipping up just enough to see the sky above them.]

If Hope's so quick to bring us back from the big death, why do you think they haven't brought any of the others back before us? Seems weird, right? To have that power an' to just let a whole civilization stay dead.

[dedikated]

( Intense, lingering insanity on Lup's part? But Kate smirks at the reaction, brief and hidden as her expression is in the dark. Maybe she's been spending too much time with her boyfriend to make jokes that lame.

Or maybe she always was that lame, it's really rather debatable.

Kate's thoughts wander from the what was it like to a question which has crossed her mind once or twice but always been dismissed under the more immediate, pressing concerns.

Like whatever the gods are doing to mess with them.

They're always keeping them just busy enough to not question too much. )

... Dunno. Guess it's different if it's just one or two people. ( But a street? A city? Even more than that? ) ...Couldn't even decide which of themselves to bring back. ( It was always asking the people of Hadriel. )

'Sides, those things started attackin' people when they saw 'em. Imagine that's a risk if they all turn up in the city with us there.

[restinglichface]

[It's a definite concern, isn't it? One that Lup's only thought of maybe one or twice while she's been trapped here in Hadriel, but that's just as likely what was intended, that something new sweeps violently through the city to occupy her thoughts and brush the worry away. There's just always too much going on, too much drama wrapping around their every interaction, too many times their emotions are getting pulled this way and that.

Now that they aren't in a walled cage anymore, sometimes Lup forgets just how well Hadriel continues to keep them all trapped. Funny how just being able to feel the sun on their skin can make her forget she's a constant prisoner in this place. But boy, does she want out, more than ever.]

Guess you're right on that one, huh? They sure like to ask our opinions a lot, like it really matters to them. Weirdest captors ever.

[But some of the gods have grown fond of them, haven't they? It's a lot of weirdness going on there. Questions they'll never get the answers to.]

So you think they did it to keep all of us safe?

[dedikated]

S'pose there's some logic.

( It's easier to not have to fight your sentient food as well as run from the things trying to kill you? Maybe?

Kate doesn't know what to think, most of the time. The Null are a threat, but the gods are capable of terrible things when they put their minds to it, and its only that the people here have complained so much about the things they pull that they seem to have toned it down for the most part. She's bound by a promise, regardless of how shaky the trust she has in the gods is — it never fully recovered after Delight's betrayal.

She liked Delight. They were the most pleasant of the gods.

And then there's Delight's reasoning for what they did. Because it wasn't fair to them, the people brought here, to be used to keep the gods alive. But by then, so many of them had begun to care about the plight which brought them here.

... Fuck, she wishes she could speak to Faith again. Or even Delight. But neither of those are going to happen any time soon, are they? )

Keep their old hosts safe. ( More than them, really. Kate's seen enough of how the people of Hadriel react to threats (herself included) that she's reasonably certain it would end in a million fights and people killing the hosts in self-defence. Debatably fair, but probably not what you want while a colony of robots are trying to wipe you all out. )

Lot of fights ahead of us.

( These supposed old hosts, the Null, and then...? Will it turn out that they were wrong to simply believe the gods, will they find themselves fighting their way back home?

Or not? )

[restinglichface]

[Lup's never let herself become involved with the gods of this place, never let herself become indebted to them more than necessary, never opened up, never dared to hold a kind conversation with them. So she doesn't really understand why Delight turned on her cohorts, all she knows is that there was a betrayal and Delight is entirely out of the picture now.

Really setting her own opinions aside for a few minutes and hearing the whole tale might change the elf's mind, open her perspective into the dynamic there between the Hadriel gods, but as far as Lup's concerned, they can all just disappear into the same nothingness. Let their captives just leave and be done with the whole thing.

Lup's focus is a little too intently on her own family and her dearest friends, in seeing them return home.]

Whatever happens, we know that much is true. Lost a lot of folks last time the Null hit hard.

[More than Lup really wants to think about. She'd come so close to losing Taako too, her brother left alive only by holding on by the skin of his teeth. It was too close of a call. She can't let it happen again.]

Think folks are gonna be prepared? It's been awhile, lots of newbies won't know how bad it's gonna get.

[dedikated]

( Maybe that's a wise decision. When Kate first got here, the gods were still trying to figure out how to least piss off their feisty new meals, still explaining the things they did to them (and getting yelled at for it). So much of the city was a pressure cooker, too hot and too cramped. Nobody yet understood what was going on or why the gods needed them so badly.

Now all of that is known, or at least there's a story to it, and the anger doesn't seem to be there among the people any more. Why should it be? They have amenities. The gods have learned how to balance their attempts to create energy in a way that doesn't piss people off so badly. There are more positive gods, meaning the months are no longer a stream of anger and terror interspersed with hope.

And, Kate supposes, there are enough people who have been here so long, who have settled in and shrug everything off, that even the angriest of newbies would see it and wonder if there's a point in their fighting. Or whose anger could easily be turned towards the Null with a few correct words.

But Lup's correct. It's been over a year since the Null attacked. Since Delight's betrayal was made known, and Hadriel has been... quiet. Quiet in that way which makes Kate uneasy, because quiet used to mean demons or monsters or people wanting to kill each other. It meant nightmares and dragging up worst memories and shoving them at strangers to make the people here react.

Quiet could very well mean a much worse attack, next time.

Because there has to be a next time. )

Doubt it. ( Hm. ) ... We could explain.

( Why not, they've both been here long enough. )