hadriel_logs | Intro Log: Ugh, Talk to the Hand

Entry tags:

Intro Log: Ugh, Talk to the Hand

Who: New arrivals and everyone else!
What: The intro log for February
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: February 10th-14th
Warnings: None

Welcome to Hadriel. Your first glimpse of your new home is maybe not the most welcome - you awaken on the floor of the colosseum, surrounded by sand and walls and... trees? Yes, trees. Along with you and the other newcomers, a number of Territorial Oaks have arrived in Hadriel. They look just like normal trees, except for those welcoming smiles - oh, and they don't like you at all. They move fast, hit hard, and if you manage to bring one down it'll go out in a large, dangerous explosion. This may have you rethinking your stance on clear-cutting.

While you're trying to avoid the trees, you might come across a few of the other things the Door has deposited in the colosseum for your (its?) entertainment. Namely, a bunch of toys that no one has played with in years. But maybe one of them will tickle your fancy?

Once you've finished indulging your 90's nostalgia, feel free to look around. 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 February 10th-14th.
► 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

[she smiles back]

Home, huh? That must feel good. [she never really felt at home anywhere. strangely, this place seems more homelike than most other place she's been. but having a home which feels like a home away from the stupid gods and their bullshit sounds like heaven to her] That's what I've heard. I'm planning to move there after I leave this place. [she has a Goal in mind and that's pre-med at Columbia. it's going to be tough, but her time here has inspired a genuine interest in medicine and healing people. besides, she sees it as a great big middle finger to the whole Grim Reaper thing. and were she privy to his thoughts about home, she'd find that absolutely perfect.

and she winces a little] A year and . . . seven months? I think? Time kind of gets all wonky after you've been here for a while. [she's heard rumors that time stops in your homeworld after coming here, but she's never experienced it herself]

[ he can tell there's a story there, but it hardly seems like the time to press for it. a part of him is still expecting something to come alive and come after them; his eyes never stop darting around them as they walk, trying to spot where the next attack may come from. ]

That's the best choice you'll ever make. [ and he doesn't care that he's biased, when so many people, so many poets, agree - it's not even really a bias anymore.

he would stay on topic, if it weren't for her next answer. over a year and a half. god. for him, it could be a reprieve, the last bit of stolen time before hydra defeats his exhausted body. but it doesn't look like most people he's run into have ended up here from captivity.

some things should just be out of bounds, and taking young dames from their homes against their will should definitely make that list.

it also makes her comment of home all the more heartbreaking. a year and a half away from brooklyn, he doesn't think he could remember a single bad thing about the place. ]

How long's the longest?

[George has a lot of stories, each one weirder and more fantastical than the last. but that comes with being a Grim Reaper. she does notice that he seems to be looking around for a threat, but now that he's out of the Colosseum, he's fine. assuming the mammoths and the nautilus creatures behave themselves]

Thanks. I'm following a friend. I don't have much waiting for me back home. [she says with a faint air of apology in her voice. but it's true. her parents on the verge of divorce, her little sister getting weirder and weirder, and the other Reapers doing their jobs like she was never there to begin with. there's nothing she can do about any of that and she's finally accepted it.

no, most people have come from the middle of their lives, just sort of yanked here out of nowhere. she came after completing a Reap at Christmastime. she walked out of the mall and into the Colosseum. which was one hell of a shock.

unfortunately, the stupid gods don't seem to think that anything's out of bounds. they seem to know people even better than they know themselves and know exactly how to get the emotional response they want.

she can think of plenty of bad things about Seattle. or at least negative associations. for the most part, she's glad to be rid of it]

The longest? Jeez. I know someone who's been here off and on for three years. As long as people have been brought here in the first place.

Must be a good friend.

[ and that can be everything, all the difference in the damn world. the line he wouldn't cross for his own best friend has yet to be found. ]

Off and on? [ he frowns; that's unexpected, and it piques his interest. ] They leave and come back? [ why? how? ]

Yeah, he's great. The little brother I never had. [a pause] And he comes from a world where people have powers, so I wouldn't have to worry too much about fitting in.

[she's found a family here. she'd do just about anything for them. she screwed up her birth family, she's not about to repeat the mistakes of the past. which means letting them know she cares, even when (maybe especially when) she feels awkward about her feelings]

Yeah. She goes and comes back. Goes and comes back. It's messed with her memories of this place a little, but she says she always goes back to the moment she left]

[ boy, can he relate to that sentiment. god knows he'd follow steve through thick and thin, anywhere the little guy wanted to go. ]

Pardon me?

[ what in the hell does she mean by world, or powers? he looks her over again, this time with a more critical eye. is he being way too trusting? he wants to ask more questions about the person constantly leaving and returning, and what she means about her memories, but the 'world' and 'powers' comment really take precedent at this exact moment. ]

[and she'd follow Peter's scrawny ass into whatever danger he found himself in. she knows some magic, she can handle herself]

--oh. Um. [sheepishly] I'm kind of a Grim Reaper? Retired, though. But I got to keep all of the nifty perks.

[she means an alternate world to hers. hers is the only one which seems to have Grim Reapers, so she's really, really hoping that she can move to a different world and keep her powers. she's gotten used to the whole immortality thing, not to mention the fast healing, the not having to eat unless she wants to, the not having to breathe thing, there are more? she could go on?]

[ if that doesn't sound familiar.

this time, he halts in his tracks. he must not have heard right. a grim reaper? as in the guy in black robes and a scythe? he wouldn't have been so surprised to see a walking skeleton in this place. but a nice young woman claiming to be death, now that was unexpected.

the way she talks about it seems to be the weirdest part of all. retired? perks? like being death is a...job? how do you even apply for it? what the hell kind of sick minds would even want to? ]

What do you mean. [ he's not going anywhere with death, so she better explain herself. ]

[none of the Reapers George knew went in for the black robes and the scythes. maybe that was cool amongst the Plague Reapers, but for External Circumstances? not cool. at all.

and she really is retired. Hope brings people back to life and she did her damndest to spare people from death back where she was from. only for it all to blow up in her face. but that's another subject.

and after two years, being a Reaper is just. her new normal? she doesn't have to eat or sleep or breathe, she doesn't age, so that she'll be eighteen forever, even though she's twenty. she's just. her? no one else seems to be like her and no one's worlds seem to have anything like her.

she's kind of glad they don't.

she sighs] It's---kind of a long story. But don't worry, you're alive and you're gonna stay that way. And if anyone tries to do anything about that, I'll fucking kick their asses.

So it's cool. I'd say "don't worry," but. New place and all. It's kind of impossible to not worry. But I'm harmless. Really.

[ he knows he's alive; of that, at least, he has no doubt. he doubts your stomach rambles and contracts with hunger in the afterlife. although...he did have to do some horrific things in the war, so far. but he did them in service of his country and his ideals, that's gotta count for something, right? and shouldn't hell be hot, not freezing?

no, hell is freezing. he already knows that from the war. it's snow, it's not being able to light a fire for fear of being spotted, it's where he was. this place? may as well be paradise, but it ain't. he's alive.

whether or not he'll stay that way, no one can assure him. he'll do his damndest, that's the best he can do. so he worries. and he doesn't know what to think of her candor; surely, if she wanted to do him harm it'd be easier to just keep quiet, he was already following her home after all (and when he thinks about it, making death a lovely young woman makes all the sense in the world). maybe she's mad, maybe that's what spending a year and a half in magic-land does to people. or maybe this is a decisive moment - a test, like steve always says.

trust, run, or fight. those are his options. ]

Not instilling a lot of confidence in those kicking skills. [ not that he would hide behind her. if she's not evil, or death - then she's a young woman and it's his job to protect her, that's what he signed up to do. to fight, so that civilians could live in peace. ]

What are those nifty perks? [ he's not moving quite yet - either with her, or away from her. ]

[she wouldn't know about heaven or hell or anything like that. Reapers escort souls to the brink of the afterlife, after which they go in on their own. it's all personalized, too. a little girl had an amusement park, an elderly man saw the White Cliffs of Dover.

Reapers can't move on to what's next unless they collect a quota of souls. no one knows how many there are, but her fellow Reapers were from the 1920s and she's from 2003. she didn't have a lot of hope that she'd be able to move on anytime soon.

George has always been fairly honest. and a little blunt. maybe a lot blunt. but this place has helped her be better at people, at relating to others and understanding their feelings. weird that it all happened in a place where one's emotions are fucked with on a regular basis, but it's true. she's probably a better person here than she was back home.

she'd recommend trust. he'll eventually have to swing back around to it, anyway, so it's better to just go with it]

Ehh, I just look little and helpless. [and she does. she's only 5'3" and skinny as a rail. but she's fiercely protective of the people she likes and so far, he seems to be moving into that category]

Well, for one thing, I don't technically have to eat. Or sleep. I do it 'cause I want to, not because I have to. And another is that I'm never going to get any older. I'm technically twenty, but I'm always going to look eighteen. So that's kind of nice. [and it's okay. she knows that this place is a lot to cope with]

[ assuring him she's harmless on the one hand, and claiming her appearance are deceiving on the other seem to put a notch in the crazy column and honestly, being crazy in a place like this seems like the sanest reaction possible. he has no idea what to make of this girl; his senses are all jumbled, confused from the shocks that keep hitting his system.

but there's something endearing in her candor, and he hasn't grown up disbelieving people. some honest work is horrible, it doesn't make it any less honest. and he's dished out his share of death of late. ]

That's convenient. [ his stomach growls again and he grimaces, embarrassed. ] Excuse me. [ he sure would love to not have to eat, that would have made the war much more bearable. ]

[only dangerous against enemies. which she doesn't really have here. but for the most part, what you see is what you get. a shorter than average girl who's on the skinny side. kinda average in appearance, but that ticks up to "pretty" when she smiles.

and she's very honest. and very blunt. she tries to soften her words, but more often than not she goes for the direct approach. it saves time?]

Not gonna lie, it's pretty sweet. [and that was one helluva tummy rumble] Sure, yeah. [a pause] Wanna come to my place? We have soup. And sandwiches.

[ the offer for food is repeated, and bucky hesitates - but what does he really have to lose? if she's really death and she wants to kill him, she can just kill him. if he's going to his grave, he may as well fill his stomach first. and if she's just crazy, well, he's pretty certain that tired and hungry or not, he can take her. so he nods, accepting it again. ]

Thank you. [ his mind now made up, he resumes his walking ] So how does one go about becoming - a grim reaper? [ if it's a job - how do you apply? how do you qualify? why do you do it? ]

[no, no, no, she's not going to kill him. she's not going to kill anything. she's on permanent vacation here as Hope brings all the dead back to life and she is loving it. and this guy really looks like having a meal might help him out a little. some bit of normalcy in the midst of all the bullshit this place likes to throw at people]

Sure, no problem. It's this way. [and she begins leading the way to her place. and she grimaces slightly at the question] All Reapers have a quota of souls to take. No one knows what it is, but once you've filled it, the unlucky sap you Reaped last gets the job. And by "gets the job," I mean "drafted with no choice in the matter." Kinda sucks, to be honest.

[ he might be a little slow from captivity, shock, exhaustion, hunger...but it sure did sound like this dame just told him that she's in fact deceased.

he looks at her again, but she looks perfectly normal to his eyes. crazy or trickery? it's not polite to interrogate a lady, especially when she's clearly uncomfortable with the topic - and who wouldn't be - but nothing about these circumstances is polite. ]

'Reaped'? You mean - ? [ there's no need to spell it out to get the point across. he has so many questions - what happened to the reaper when they reap their last soul? why is he considering this so seriously? ]

[that is indeed what she just said. she's dead. technically, she's undead, but not in a creepy zommbie way. she's just . . . not entirely human anymore.

and she does look normal. she's relaxed in his presence, arms swinging idly at her sides, face relaxed on the more friendly side than her usual neutral. for all intents and purposes, she looks like a normal, everyday eighteen year old girl. ehhh, and she's used to people asking questions about what she is. if she got offended at that, she'd spend the majority of new people day offended.

usually, she explains things first]

Yeah. [she idly kicks at a stone on the road] I'm dead. Sort of. A Reaper is like a human, but . . . not. Remember those perks I mentioned? [after the Reaper gets the last soul, then and only then do they get to move on to the afterlife. she doesn't know how many souls are needed, but Rube and Betty were from the 1920s and George is from 2003, so. she's guessing it's a lot]

[ he can't imagine having a problem hitting your quota in the war, though that seems like a worse job than fighting in it.

still, there's something downright eerie in a perfectly healthy looking girl straight up telling him that she's dead; chills run down his spine, and a weight of anxiety builds in his chest that he can't quite explain. ]

Yeah. [ he nods, it's a wild conversation in a crazy day, and his head is spinning, but he doubts he'll forget it anytime soon. ] What happened, if you don't mind me asking?

[there were specialized Reapers for that kind of thing. and from what she heard, the turnover rate was far higher. George was assigned to accidents, murders, and suicides.

and she'd feel pretty guilty about that. this guy seems like he's had enough trauma, she's not enough of a jerk to want to add more to it. not anymore, at least. she's left that bullshit behind.

there are worse things to be than unforgettable. but at the question about how she died, she winces] I. . . dunno how to explain it exactly. But in my year, 2003, there was this thing called a space station where people who traveled in space could say. The space station got old and they were gonna build a new one, so they let the old one burn up in the atmosphere. It. Mostly worked. [and this part is mumbled] Except for a toiletseat which kind of fell out of space and landed on me.

[ whatever he was expecting - that wasn't it, and it's starting to seem to bucky that that should be his expectation; expect the unexpected, because apparently expectations and reason are all meaningless now.

2003. that hits him hard, first thing. just a casual mention of a future so distant - he would be - 88 years old. right now, getting to 29 seems impossible.

then she keeps talking and despite his best manners, surprise, exhaustion and his expectations being thwarted yet again have a chuckle escaping him before he can stop it. ]

Sorry - wasn't expecting that. [ the story had started thrilling - space travel? that's fascinating. and ended in the absurd mundane - death by toilet seat. there's something extra tragic in a death devoid of dignity. ]

[that's a good way of approaching this place. every time you start getting a sense of normalcy, something comes along to knock you on your ass.

and she's actually from what's considered the past for most people here. the technology that a lot of people here took for granted, like the smartphones, were unheard of in her time. she hadn't even had a cell phone back home.

that's cool, she's used to that being the reaction to her death. she didn't exactly go out in a blaze of glory, but she sure went out in a blaze. they could've buried what was left of her in a shoe box. no wonder why her family opted for cremation, then burying the urn]

Nah, don't worry about it. It's a stupid way to go, but I've had a couple of years to get used to it. [in her opinion, the worst part was she died on her lunch break from a crappy temp job she hated. that's adding insult to terminal injury]

Sounds fast.

[ which is honestly something he'd prefer to his own circumstances. he does hope that it was just that - fast, too fast for pain to register. surprise might have forced the reflexive reaction out of him, but it doesn't mean he's forgotten for one second that the end result was this girl's death - and apparently her imprisonment in an endless nightmare. there's nothing funny about that. ]

The only stupid part of that story is the decision making. [ and god does he hope her family took whoever was in charge of that to the cleaner's because that is horrendous neglect. ]

Does your family know? [ that she's - well not alive, but not strictly dead, either. he can't imagine how his family would have reacted. he would have probably gone to steve, first, so they could work out a strategy together. steve would have believed him. ]

It was. And since they popped my soul out before it happened, it didn't hurt. So. Yay?

[no, there's not much funny about that at all. she has no idea how her parents explained her death to her grandmothers or her little sister, but she's figuring it didn't go over well. especially with her little sister]

Yeah, the whole thing was supposed to land in the Pacific Ocean, but those smart guys at NASA couldn't figure out everything. [she's not sure if her parents could sue? it was a Russian space station, after all]

That I'm still around. Nope. [she pops the p at the end of the word. According to Rube, my boss, letting them know was strictly forbidden. 'Course that didn't keep me from trying to clue them in or visit them anyway. Which, uh. Didn't go over very well.

God.

[ that sounds worse than hell, to bucky. he doesn't know if his family has been notified of his capture and he presumes - presumed death - yet, but he knows they shortly will if they haven't already. this girl reminds him of his own sisters, who he hasn't seen in so long, and he has to battle the desire to wrap a protective arm around her.

it's crazy, only moments ago he was still considering whether she's dangerous or just insane, and now he just wants to give her comfort and protection. maybe he's the crazy one. he's pretty okay with that. ]

I'm sorry. Can't imagine that.

[ to be so close and yet so far? he would lose it. his voice is full of sincerity, as are his eyes. with how much he misses his own family, he relates to that pain extremely well. ]

[she'd blush and stammer and turn into the completely inexperienced eighteen year old girl she is if he did. she's not used to people comforting her, especially not physically. she's used to having to make her own way in the world. granted, coming here has helped with that a little, but she's still awkward in the face of kindness.

everyone's a little bit crazy here, but it's not always in a bad way]

It--well, it sucked. Especially since from what I did see? My family was falling apart. Especially my kid sister.

[and hers are full of regret. regret that she wasn't closer to her family when she was alive, regret that her death seemed to be causing them to crack into a million pieces, but also a smidgen of hope. hope that with her out of the picture entirely, they'll be able to either heal or fall apart in peace]

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(cw: suicide mention)

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