hadriel_logs | Intro Log: Ugh, Talk to the Hand

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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!

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As am I. But these creatures seem resistant to anything short of a chainsaw.

[she knows that tone well and she knows the feeling behind it. she's expressed it on more than one occasion, many of them here where people still seem to see her as a fragile flower (a golden rose?) in need of protection. she's hardly that, not anymore. but she is wise enough to know when she's outmatched.

it is indeed. what to be done?

she arches an eyebrow slightly, but does as she's told.

and that's a weapon unlike any she's seen before. it seems very effective against the branches, but will it be as effective against the tree itself? the newcomer seems confident enough, but that ridiculously grinning tree is still largely intact and seems to be aiming right for them]

Perhaps it's best to beat a hasty retreat?

[Allura is stubborn, but not stupid, and it only takes another near-miss with one of the tree's large branches (and she has a vision of herself being splatted against another wall) that Allura finally gives a quick nod, backing up to where the other woman is standing,]

I think you may be correct.

[Her gaze flickers back to where the woman had gestured earlier, and the path looks clear (for now) so Allura starts off at a run, making sure to check that they're still together. The trees are fast, and the one after them gives another swipe that is close enough to feel the breeze from the swing of it's branch, but doesn't seem invested in chasing them, instead turning it's dull gaze back to the center of the ring.]

They seem rather dim-witted, at least.

[she still has her sword at the ready in case any of the branches go for them again, but she nods with her head towards the closest exit.

lightly, friendly] I often am.

[she sheathes her sword and follows after the other young woman, running as quickly as she can. she likely looks ridiculous in her fancy gown and shoes with a sword tied to her belt, but she's learned how to fight like this and has found neither any hindrance to her skills. and she feels the breeze from the branch's swing in her hair, but it doesn't come close to connecting, thank goodness]

They do. Fortunately. The--what were they called?--ogres? They were at least as tall and far more muscular and intelligent.

[It doesn’t take long for them to get to the outskirts of the arena, through the archway and beyond the walls, where it seems like the trees are normal. It’s here that Allura stops, looking back, then at her companion, then out beyond the Arena.]

Does all of the fauna of this planet want to kill us?

[Then again, she gets the feeling that those trees don’t exactly fall within normal standards of plant (animal?) life on this planet. If it could pull people from other realities, surely it could pull creatures as well.

That aside, she turns to the woman,] Thank you for the help. My name is Princess Allura, I’m sorry we didn’t get a chance for introductions earlier.

[at Allura's question, Margaery shrugs lightly]

The mammoths do. They're large, covered with fur, and have two rows of teeth in their mouths. They can draw their limbs up inside their bodies to appear at rest, then strike.

[no, those trees are unique, brought here by the door from another world along with the other new arrivals.

she smiles welcomingly] It was my pleasure, Princess. My name is Margaery Tyrell, Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. And it's difficult to squeeze in a proper introduction during the heat of battle.

Oh.

[At her title, Allura's eyes widen slightly. Not the she isn't used to being around dignitaries and fellow members of royalty but for some reason she wasn't expecting to find one here. In a gown and wielding a sword no less. Then again, she has little room to talk, nor would she want to, for courtly behavior.

Allura dips her head just a little more deeply than before in greeting (though, despite Allura's initial introduction, the question remains: if there are no other monarchs left, does Princess now mean Queen?)]

Is... your kingdom part of this world? Or are you a visitor from through the door as well?

[She's still catching up to how all of this works.]

[she's used to having her title taken far more lightly than that. most people treat it like a quaint novelty, especially coming from a world so . . . technologically impaired. but she's worn a gown and wielded a sword for nearly a year and a half, the oddness of the juxtaposition means little to her.

Margaery curtseys in response. it's the only fair response to a fellow royal. they are few and far between in Hadriel and must stick together. no one else knows their struggles, no one else knows their pain. and if there are no other royals left, princess could mean queen if she wills it]

My kingdom is far away from here. I'm not the only one from it, but I'm from further in its past. Everyone else is from after I died.

After you… [She starts asking before the answer clicks into place. She’s heard whispers enough of the nature of the door’s ability to pull from both time and space, and her expression turns sympathetic.]

I’m sorry. [She’s not sure how to navigate the topic of one’s own death, but she knows well enough the pain of being separated from your kingdom and your people, even if their situations are vastly different,]

I was... displaced from my people for a great many years. [That's one way to describe a ten-thousand year long nap,] As far as my people are concerned, I am likely just a story from their past.

[If any of them even remembered their old royal family in the first place. She did not miss Lotor's taunts that she and her family would be lost to history. She shakes her head out of the memory, offering Margaery a sad smile,]

I hope that you will be able to return someday.

I used to be sorry, but in a lot of ways? I'm not. [Margaery muses. she'd been the queen, yes, but a queen fettered by a weak-willed husband and the necessity to appear as a pious penitent, humbled and meek. there was nothing meek about Margaery and she's given up on piety as well.

and she gives Allura a sympathetic look] That must be terribly difficult. To be a part of society and outside of it at the same time. Is there any way to bridge the gap?

[being gone for so long would make it difficult. she knows that human memories are short and tales like that of the Long Night were dismissed as that, tales, until they became all too real. but if the power of a negative tale could be so strong, perhaps the memory of a more positive tale would be as well?]

I . . . plan to go elsewhere. Here, I met and fell in love with a man from Earth. When it is my time to go, I would join him.

I hope there is. I was only recently made aware that my people are still out there, I had hoped to reconnect with them once we could be reunited,

[Her experience with Romelle has been promising enough— of her people's willingness to accept her, even if her place is no longer as their leader. But it will be much longer before she has a chance to make any real efforts to bridge the gap, especially if the Door has any say in the matter.

And truthfully, there were equal parts relief and anxiety about having somewhere to direct her energy other than worrying if her people would accept her or not. To be rejected after wishing so badly to find them again would be heartbreaking.

But her attention turns to Margaery's story,]

He must be very special, if you would give up home and country for him.

[Said with more admiration than judgment. As someone who questions her place in the world she left behind, she admired someone who knew so clearly what they wanted.]

I hope that you can. It must be terribly lonely, being without your people.

[the Door has a knack for pulling people out of important situations. or, in Margaery's case, from the moment of her own death.

this place will certainly give her other things to direct her energy towards! possibly more than she can handle. and why would they reject her? she seems a lovely, intelligent young lady. every society has a need of those.

and it is quite a story]

He is, he's very special. Do you know, I've been wedded three times, but didn't find love until I came here?

[Margaery absolutely knows what and who she wants. she'll be at Matt's side by day as his lover? his wife, perhaps? and by his side at night as a partner in bringing the guilty to justice]

It is. I miss them greatly.

[It didn't help that the Alteans (at least of her time) were a close bunch, with great loyalty to each other and their leaders. Being separated from them for so long felt like a hole that had been left in her heart.

But her woes about her people are quickly forgotten when Margaery goes on, and Allura's eyes widen,]

Three times! [Allura doesn't mean to sound surprised by that number and she immediately presses a hand over her mouth.] Apologies, I didn't...

[Of course, she knows that royalty doesn't always have the luxury of marrying for love, rather than for the best of the kingdom (as a ruler, she was a servant to the well-being of the people and if it was required of her, she too would do the same) but she still had the luxury of ~~not being from Game of Thrones~~ being spared that sort of decision, by virtue of her situation.

She shakes her head, clearing her thoughts,] I'm glad that you were finally able to find love. Perhaps the Door isn't so bad after all.

I understand completely.

[and she does. she'd always wanted to win over the smallfolk and she'd succeeded in doing so. she would like to think that they're rising up in riot after her murder, but it would seem to not be so, according to Jon]

Yes, three times. All to secure the crown for I was merely Lady Margaery Tyrell at birth. [and a conspiratorial smile] And no apologies are necessary, I'm well aware that my circumstances are . . . unique.

[she married for power, all three times. of all of them, Tommen was the only one she had even the slightest of tender feelings for, but he dashed them on the ground when he failed to free her brother from the Faith of the Seven. she would like to hope that this young princess would fare far better, but she doubts its possibility. when you have a kingdom to attend to, matters of the heart fall by the wayside]

Oh, no. The Door is a terrible thing. You see, it snatched the one I love away from me after a mere six months. I intend to go to his world when I leave, but after that it will all be up to me to find my way back into his life and his heart.

Was it so important to become the queen?

[Asked out of curiosity rather than judgement. While she was born into her title, she wasn’t ignorant of the cutthroat nature of the crown. (Sometimes literally, in the case of the Galra). A king or queen or emperor wasn’t just a figurehead, but could spell the prosperity or demise of an entire people. It was an evil leader that lead the Galra to ten-thousand years of war, and even his demise only introduced a power vacuum that tore the universe apart further.

(And it could be argued that, as loved as her father was, it was his leadership that lead to the fall of Altea, though Allura would never acknowledge that.)]

That’s terrible, [And she truly sounds sorry, dipping her head. To be separated so soon after finally finding your heart in someone,] I hope you will find success, after you have been through so much.

Becoming the queen of Westeros is something I was raised to since birth. It's what I've always wanted. But then I got it and found out that it wasn't what I'd always envisioned.

[she was trained to be something of a chameleon since birth, being able to judge what the man wanted and becoming that woman. sometimes, it was merely annoying, like having to pretend to be in the throes of ecstasy when Tommen only lasted two minutes in the bedchamber. other times, it was downright dangerous, like keeping Joffrey sweet when she knew he was brutal and sadistic to just about everyone who crossed his path.

and then it became deadly when Cersei's hatred grew too dark and dangerous to be endured.

she takes the sympathy with a graceful incline of her own head and a small, somewhat sad smile] As do I. I can't help wanting a happy ending to my story.

[Allura nods, even if she doesn't fully understand she understands what it's like to achieve something, only for it to be much different from what you truly wanted. For much of her young life, she looked up to her father and the other paladins, saw them as great heroes, and wished to emulate them. But the truth of being a hero often was a lot more heartbreaking and difficult than the brave face she always saw her father put on.

Still, she didn't regret her decisions,]

I think everyone could hope for as much. A happy ending, in whatever form it may take.

[There's a faraway, somber tone to her voice, because she's not really sure what that means for her anymore. It used to be she simply longed for the end to the war, but now there was a part of her that feared it. That feared that when they got on the other side, there would be no place for her left in the universe. Lance and the others had their families, their planet. She only had them.

She shakes her head, waving a hand as if to chase away the thoughts,] Apologies, I got lost in my thoughts.

[nothing worth doing doesn't have its moments of heartbreak and difficulty. though, that's a truth she learned here and not in Westeros. in Westeros, she was too busy occupied with the goal to care what it cost.

and it cost her her life. she'd tried to warn them, but none would listen. all of that time, all of that training to charm and cajole, all for nothing]

Indeed. One would think that it's not too much to ask for, but it often seems as though it is.

[and there's a tone of regret in hers. she had six months with Matt in which she loved and was loved in return. and a year with Maglor, loving him but never saying a word because she knew it could not be returned.

in the end, she's choosing Matt. every step on the road she's taken here has been towards him. she will find him again and they will be happy. she will accept no other outcome.

a sympathetic smile] Such a thing is easy here. In fact, it almost seems to invite it.

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Intro Log: Ugh, Talk to the Hand

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(cw: mention of sex)

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