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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Riku understands why Sora couldn't tell him immediately. Exploding trees and other peoples' lives took clear and reasonable precedence. The two of them needed to wait until after the battle and after the two of them had recuperated outside of the Colosseum. Then Riku would be ready to hear that the Keyblade Master Aqua, the one he and King Mickey had been sent to search for in the Realm of Darkness, was here, and Sora had already met her.

Riku's mind raced in several different directions. If Aqua was here, where exactly was "here"? Could the Door that the guide spoke of really be the sort of door he's thinking of? Where is Aqua now? He needed to ask her questions. Whatever the situation seemed to be, it was entirely abnormal. Riku's been to the Realm of Darkness before; it's not supposed to be like this.

Riku can barely remember meeting Aqua as a child with Sora. Sora offers him a helpful little description and tells him the general area of where he had met her that he can remember. Riku devises a plan to meet with him after the two have gone off to explore, and then they part ways. Riku is quick to go out and begin his search for Aqua.

Someday, he'll learn to use the contacts features on his phone properly. For now, he's searching for her again—a tall woman with blue hair, spiky shoes, and a Keyblade from her Master. It's just his luck that he would run into more company along the way, even if he had just come out of a battle not too long ago.

A Hell Hound greets him as he searches near the Clinic and other stores. With glowing eyes and a dripping maw, the Hell Hound is menacing enough to bring Riku into a battle-ready stance, Way to the Dawn flashing in his hand. As Riku battles with the Hell Hound, two of its brethren join an already difficult battle; Riku is able to extinguish the first one, but fighting two of them could still be difficult.

As Riku focuses his attacks on one of them, he catches a glimpse of the other a few feet away. Its head is thrown back and its throat seems to glow hot. Riku almost doesn't make his next move fast enough. ]

Dark Shield!

[ His shield shimmers to life in front of him quickly, holographic panels backed by a halo of light as the Hell Hound breathes a torrent of fire in his direction. The fire sprays as it bounces off of the shield—a hard sight to miss. ]

[After speaking with Sora again, Aqua finds herself nearly overwhelmed by the prospect of not being alone anymore. She's already adjusted to being around people again, of course, but Sora and Riku aren't just people. They're Keybearers, people from her World, people she's met, if only for a little while so long ago.

It doesn't matter that in Hadriel, they're no closer to fixing what Xehanort has done than she was while trapped alone in the dark realm. There's a connection now, and that matters more than she could ever say.

Except she doesn't know where Riku is, and Aqua, too, has not really gotten the hang of cellular communication. She's about to go back and try to find Sora again, see if he can bring them together, when the sound of an attack down the street catches her again. Those monsters again—!>

The beast is between her and its target, focused on its prey, and while she's speedy enough, Aqua is no Ven—but the shimmer of magic in the distance tells her that all is not lost. Whoever's there can defend themselv, at least for a while, and that gives her a chance. Calling her Keyblade to hand, Aqua aims it and focuses hard, releasing a devastating array of colorful missiles as the shotlock streak towards the creature.]

[ Riku can see the spray of colored missiles above his head and over his shield, watching in awe as they strike and stun the Hell Hound. Riku's shield fails just before the last burst of fire from the creature reaches him; Riku tightens his grip on Way to the Dawn and draws it behind him, staying ready for battle but still sparing a glance behind him to the source of the missiles.

Blue hair. Spiky shoes. Tall and pretty, with a red-and-white Keyblade squarish Keyblade. Riku is stunned himself where he stands. He found who he was looking for. ]

Aqua-!

[ There's a snarl behind him, cutting him off at the last syllable. Riku whirls around and swings his Keyblade in front of him in a block, catching one of the two Hell Hounds before it can snap its jaws in his face. The other is quickly recuperating from the Shotlock attack some feet away, dazed and obviously weakened, but still growling and rabid and trembling with rage. He would talk to her once they took care of these. ]

[She expected to hear surprise, gratitude, anger at the creatures, some combination of the above—she didn't expect to hear her name. When the stunned hound staggers out of the way, she makes several observations in rapid succession.

A Keyblade. Silver hair. Someone who knows her—leaving very few options as to who this could be.]

Riku?

[He's gotten tall, she doesn't say, because that would be a useless comment in or out of combat, and they're not out. Charging forward, she takes her place behind him, turning to look at him over her shoulder. Two monsters, and two of them; back to back, they can handle it.]

Let's end this!

[ Riku falls into formation easily, back-to-back with Aqua. He glances over his shoulder just as she calls for the end, nodding before bringing himself into readied stance, pointing Way to the dawn at one of the rabid creatures. ]

Right!

[ And just like that, Riku is leaping forward towards a Hell Hound as it lunges towards them, jaw open. Riku strikes it in a succession of combos before launching it across the dirt floor—right near Aqua's hitting range, if she wanted to do the honors. ]

[Aqua can easily tell that the boy is skilled without even keeping both eyes on him—it's obvious from the way he falls into step before, keeping their blind spots covered. The hound she struck before recovers enough to lunge again, but she aims a triple thundaga shot right down its nose, singing her own hair and hopefully taking it out for good.

Pivoting around, she spots the other one just as it slides toward her, nearly dead—and it's only the work of a few seconds more to finish the job.

And then, everything is (relatively) silent.]

I guess that's that.

[ Riku doesn't need too much time himself to discern Aqua's level of skill. She's a master too, Mickey and Yen Sid had said, but she's on a whole other level than him. It might come with fighting monsters for longer than he has—and without being mostly self-taught.

The battle finally comes to a close. Riku takes note of how the monsters themselves don't seem to dissipate upon defeat. It makes it hard to tell whether they're actually dead or not; Riku's last enemies just exploded. He walks over to the fried body of a Hell Hound, wincing. He turns it over with his Keyblade. It's immobile, like a doll, but this is somehow worse. ]

They didn't just disappear. ...I almost feel sorry for them.

[ He takes a few steps back from it before looking back to Aqua. His expression softens a little, but he mostly just studies her for a silent moment, like he's expecting her to disappear. ]

You really are here. But this place isn't really the Realm of Darkness in disguise, is it?

Edited 2019-02-21 14:47 (UTC)

[Don't, Aqua almost tells him. They'd harm innocent people if they could, ruins lives—and end them. But the worlds need compassion; maybe not for these beasts, but she can't bring herself to discourage him from keeping it in his heart.]

No. It isn't.

[She swallows a shudder. More than once, she's had a nightmare that being pulled into this world was just another trick, and she never left that realm.]

You are Riku, aren't you? Sora told me you'd arrived too.

[ He knew the answer already. For some reason, hearing that it wasn't the Realm of Darkness felt more final coming from her, even if they'd both been there before. ]

Yeah. We both showed up in the Colosseum at the same time.

[ Now that he's seeing her again, Sora's description matches her perfectly, but he also recognizes her in some small way. He squints his eyes a bit, but his guard is let down. He lets his Keyblade flash away from his grip, gesturing with his hand as he speaks. ]

I was about to leave on a mission. With Mickey. [ He's testing, to see if she remembers the name. ] We were told to look for you in the Realm of Darkness. But somehow... you and I ended up here.

[Aqua looks at him and still sees that little she saw so recently and long ago, but the image is fading. How can she think of him as a small child when he's just proved his strength?

(Had Terra seen that in him? Is that why he'd passed on the power?)]

I saw him...well, it doesn't feel like that long ago. But there's no way to truly know how much time has passed down there. [She bows her head for a moment, remembering.] Thank you.

Even if this world called us here, it helps to know that someone was coming for me in that one.

[ Her initial answer seems to resonate with him, and he gives her a nod. But upon mentioning knowing that someone was coming for her, Riku feels the guilt emerge again, coiling like ice under his ribs. He looks down towards the dirt, brows furrowed. ]

Aqua... I'm sorry. [ Time might flow different here, but a century is a century. He looks back to Aqua, placing a hand over his heart, looking as crestfallen as he is frustrated. ] You were trapped in the Realm of Darkness for that long because you helped me. You were separated from Mickey and I when you attacked the Heartless and saved me.

[ His hand balls into a fist. ] Master Yen Sid was right. If I knew what you did for me, I would've gone to find you before I was ready. Now, when Mickey and I finally thought we could go, here you are.

[ Which is good, in its own way, but now they're both trapped here. For now, anyway. ]

Edited 2019-02-27 07:42 (UTC)

[It's not surprising that he feels guilty. If he's strong enough to come this far, if he's Mickey's friend, of course he cares. But Aqua shakes her head.]

You have nothing to feel sorry about, Riku. You needed help. I'd already made it that far on my own; at least Mickey knows where to look now.

[Although she's here now, so finding her will be harder...but that's another problem for another day.]

I'm the one who should be sorry. If we hadn't left the worlds with so few protectors, you might never have fallen into the darkness in the first place.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Intro Log: Ugh, Talk to the Hand

closed to aqua

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retconning so that this takes place outside of the city, not near the clinic!!

what are you talking about, it was always there >.>

bless

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