World Log: Jungle Arrival

[hadrielmods]

Who: Everyone in the city
What: The event log for the Planet Transfer
Where: All over the city
When: March 28th
Warnings: None

One minute you're freezing your ass off in the middle of a light snowstorm, and the next you're suddenly boiling in the wet heat. Sunlight streams down through green- so much green, more green than you could possibly have imagined since coming to Hadriel- and it's beautiful in its own way, if you're into that sort of thing.

The more sensitive of citizens may feel some slight nausea from the move but otherwise everything is as it should be. Alien birds squawk in the trees, you can hear the local fauna rustling through the brilliantly-colored leaves. Everything is alien here, but a forest is universal. Luckily, a section of forest has been cleared away for the city, so you can still see the sky above and you can still move around without getting lost in the thick foliage that surrounds this place, but be careful when exploring! There's no telling what could be out there, and you want to be prepared for anything.

So what is your new home like? It's hot, for one- you might want to shed and burn all those winter coats and Christmas sweaters immediately! You'll be sweating buckets before the day is over, but at least we still have cold showers to help wash off the grime as you adjust to your new life in an alien jungle. Have fun, enjoy your stay, but don't forget: we may need to fight here soon. Be ready.

► This log covers March 28th-March 30th.
► 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 you get bitten by one of the locals, please let us know here.

Comments

[nonscriptum]

[ Nate would have kept better record of the monsters if he hadn't been preoccupied drawing literally everything else in Hadriel. At least that shit stayed still. Slippery naked guys? Not so much. ]

Mutant sharks.

[ He says almost immediately, decisively, nodding his head at the memory of seeing a dorsal fin emerge from the halocline in the lake. It was followed by other dorsal fins, and teeth, and tentacles, and- ]

I mean, I'm a salvage diver, and I've seen a lot of weird crap underwater, but the two-headed sharks and shark-octopus monsters were pretty terrifying.

[ It can be inferred that he either confuses or equates "interesting" with "gut-wrenching." ]

[originallutece]

[It sounds more interesting than frightening, honestly, because that's a biological marvel and she'd be fascinated to know how it worked.]

Were you in the water at the time, or was this all from a distance?

[nonscriptum]

...oh, no, I was definitely in the water. One of them bit me.

[ Nate would show her the scar, but since he went home for that brief stint and came back to Hadriel, it's disappeared. Weird, but he has other scars anyway. No big loss. ]

I was just trying to do an exploratory dive in the lake, didn't know there was anything in there.

[originallutece]

Live and learn, I suppose. Although you're lucky you got the former.

[She shrugs lightly.]

In any case. Are you heading back to town? I'd appreciate a guide.

[nonscriptum]

[ Live and learn. A philosophy to which Nate has never particular subscribed, if not through indirect defiance than because things change so rapidly it's hard to apply precedent. ]

...uh, I can? Head back to town, I mean. If you need a guide.

[ He doesn't mind the exercise. A quick glance up and down tells him that he might need to be a little more gentlemanly for this escort, so he offers her an elbow. ]

[originallutece]

I do, yes.

[Her mouth twitches as he offers her an arm, torn between baffled amusement and slow-growing, semi-incredulous gratitude. It's Sweet, and she's learned not to expect any sweetness from men.]

No. But thank you.

[She's careful to walk next to him, though.]

When are you from?

[nonscriptum]

[ She doesn't accept the gesture, but he made it, which is apparently what counts. Nate gives a little half-shrug and sets to sort-of leading the way, moving dense foliage where necessary. The rainforest is not a place built for delicacy. ]

2015.

[ Comes the simple reply. A year ago he would have still found questions like this weird, but everyone is from everywhere around these parts. The novelty hasn't rubbed off so much as it has dulled, somewhat. ]

Was on an island somewhere northwest of Madagascar before I got here. You?

[originallutece]

It's a bit difficult to say. Originally, 1910, in a country you've never heard of. More recently: 2019, on an island called Duplicity.

[nonscriptum]

Well, that's a little presumptuous. [ More conversational than accusatory, verging on teasing. ] I've been to a lot of countries.

[ Enough that he had to renew his passport way too many times. Enough to fill an attic with stuff he's accumulated just by merit of being in the right ancient city at the right time. ]

You look good for somebody over a hundred.

[originallutece]

You wouldn't know the country because it only exists in a handful of universes. Do you know a country that floats in midair?

[But it's amused, not quite insulted.]

And thank you. Though it's more accurate to simply say I'm immortal.

[nonscriptum]

Ancient city in the middle of the world's largest contiguous desert? Yes. Floating city? No.

[ From this very limited description, however, it sounds like a place he might like to visit. It is difficult to quell the adrenaline junkie craving. For a guy who's fallen out of airplanes multiple times, Nate hasn't really learned from the experience.

He holds a long branch back for her. ]

Is immortality normal where you come from?

[originallutece]

Oh, no.

[She steps gently around the held-back branch, pleased despite herself.]

No, that was only due to a rather large amount of cleverness on my part. Certainly not common, and most certainly unexpected. I was the only case in that world.

[nonscriptum]

[ Nate isn't a monster, and despite his older brother's best philandering efforts the influence didn't rub off on him. Helping people through potentially dangerous circumstances is second nature to him.

Living forever is all well and good, and Hell, ten years ago Nate might have bought into the idea more. At this point in his life, he's seen the catastrophic returns on way too many efforts to achieve that end. He scales an overgrown rock, trying to get a bead on the edge of the city in the distance. ]

Isn't immortality kind of lonely?