hadriel_logs | Does anybody know a way that a body could get away?

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Does anybody know a way that a body could get away?

Who: Glacius and you! Open and closed starters for all your needs, so come on in!
What: June catch-all log for Glacius for the purpose of pursuing existing CR or establishing new relations.
Where: Various locations in the city, specified in the starters.
When: The beginning of June.
Warnings: N/A, will update as the need arises.

Shopping District - OPEN

Glacius is on a mission today, one that happens to be bringing him towards the center of the city--a more frequently populated area where he rarely travels due to his reclusive nature. He doesn't like drawing attention to himself--even for a non-human, he's particularly exotic-- but he knows he can't remain on the fringes of society forever, despite his fear that people might jump to assumptions around him. Still, if the sight of a massive ice alien walking down the streets isn't enough to turn the heads of Hadriel's more "normal" inhabitants, the fact that he's dragging the heavy carcass of some unfortunate cave-dwelling monster in the street behind him as he moves towards the shopping district probably isn't helping.

He doesn't yet understand how the shops work. No one had been around when he'd visited them to try and find supplies to care for the fireflies when they filled the cavern, so he had taken supplies from them since there had been no other option... but that felt odd to the alien. He didn't want to be a thief and he didn't want to steal, and he'd heard that people in the city often traded for the meat and pelts of monsters in the cave, so he planned to return later with something that he could use to trade for what he took. That explains the massive body he's dragging with him now; it's much larger than him, burly and powerfully built and covered in thick shaggy fur, and yet there doesn't appear to be a spot of damage on Glacius for his efforts.

He's aware that the sight of one massive creature dragging the dead body of another might draw attention at best or be cause for alarm or fearful self-defense at worst, so he's trying to get his done as quickly as possible. Hopefully if someone does come up to him, it will be either to trade, to point him in the right direction, or maybe just to explain why this attempt might be slightly misguided.

Park - CLOSED to Cecily

Sometimes when Glacius has time to himself he comes to the park. It's big enough that he can usually find space to himself, the sound of running water is peaceful--if not slightly strange to a being that hails from a world where most of the water is frozen--and the shade of the large trees is nice and cool. Usually it's the perfect place for him to go when he wants to get away from the city, but doesn't want to be quite as far out or at as much risk as he might be if he was sticking to the system of caves.

... Usually. Lately this place has come to host some dark, troubling memories: it's the place where his will was subverted by Rage and he was turned against an innocent woman. Even now, he still remembers the pain on her face as he attacked her clear as day, and the upwelling of guilt and remorse is still strong enough that the peaceful alien feels as though he might choke on it. He shouldn't be here... but he so desperately makes things right, and so there's a part of him that hopes he might find Cecily back here one day. So he visits the park regularly and simply sits on that bench, forcing himself to endure the memories as he waits.

He hasn't seen her since, but he doesn't know what else to do. In fact, he's not even sure what he will do if she comes across him. She hadn't seemed particularly angry at him right after the attack, but he'd be surprised if she hadn't grown to scorn him in the time that had passed. Makers knew he was certainly horrified and upset enough with himself, and the spikes that protrude from his hip are still showing signs of the damage that he enraged husband had dealt to him when it was his turn to be targeted. Whatever she deems necessary, the alien has already decided--even if it comes down to punishment, to recompense. That is the cost for inciting harm upon an innocent.

Spires- CLOSED to Nick

After receiving a message from Nick Valentine in his inbox--which was Glacius' first time learning of that function of the device, in fact--the two had conversed, and the synth had managed to do something that no one else in the city of Hadriel had: he'd gotten the location of the ice alien's current living space. For all this time, Glacius has still been keeping close to the caves due to his wariness of the human inhabitants of Hadriel, and his need for space and privacy. Rage's games in which the city's inhabitants had been reduced to assassins and targets had only exacerbated this, and the guilt he was suffering since has also made showing his face around the city feel less and less appealing.

Nick was at least understanding, and had managed to coax the alien into trying to find a more suitable living space. Glacius knew that his stay in the caves could last, it probably shouldn't; it was just a temporary location he'd picked out when he didn't realize just how long he'd be trapped in Hadriel. It was a patch job over something that needed more thorough work; it was uncivilized, unbecoming. It was also unsafe--even with his considerable combat prowess, the sheer amount of monsters in the winding tunnels was no small threat, and knowing he could get attacked at any time forced him to keep one eye open, making it hard to get decent rest.

So the synth had agreed to help him find a new place to reside, somewhere that struck a good balance for the alien--somewhere a little more comfortable and easily accessible without being too close to the more populated areas of the city, allowing his sense of privacy to stay intact. If Glacius could get more explanation on how things worked in the city in the process, that would be a bonus. He's waiting by the bridge over the southeast region of the river that leads to one of the beaten roads, green eyes scanning his surroundings for Nick.

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The clinic needs bandages. It always needs bandages, or at least it feels that way. And, if nothing else, Hadriel's shops have a good selection of the things. So Kate spends her morning picking up bits and bobs before going to work - because she's always at work, always trying to find another way to distract herself from the mind numbing boredom of the cave - and sipping her to go coffee. If the sights above her weren't a cave roof, and the buildings here didn't appear completely foreign, this would be a completely mundane day indistinguishable from any other she would have back home.

Well, apart from the alien dude dragging a carcass around with him. She hasn't seen him in the waking world since those fireflies were buzzing around her head and she tried to explain that it's completely okay to just take what you need here. And... Oh, he isn't actually trying to give that corpse to the abandoned shops, is he? It's enough to make a girl chuckle to herself. But she's direly in need of reasons to laugh lately, so maybe that's a good thing.

She doubles the pace to close the distance between them, slowing to a normal walk as she reaches his side. "Hey."

Edited 2016-06-01 15:22 (UTC)

At this point it's masochistic, how Emily goes to the shops in search of clothes. There's just not much else to do when the gods aren't dicking with the poor saps who've been dragged here, and Emily doesn't really want to hang around the house and talk about all those dreams everybody just shared. Besides, there's always the slim chance she'll find something worthwhile in one of the shops. She misses good fabric so much, to say nothing of nicer styles.

It's as she walks out of one of the shops that she sees her rescuer dragging a monster carcass into the city. Okay, weird, but not the weirdest thing. (If she ever gets back home, she's going to be so unimpressed with everything. She's not sure how she feels about that, actually.)

Whatever that thing is, it's dead, so she feels safe walking up to him on the street. She has thanked him since he saved her, but that's it, and (as much as she hates to admit it) she feels a little bad about that. If nothing else, she should talk to him now and then so he remembers her or whatever -- or better still, she should spend time with him every so often because she feels safe around him.

A literal alien with an ice body, and he makes her feel safe. What a world she lives in.

"Uh," she begins as she approaches him, "what are you doing with that."

Now that a patrol roster has been put into place, Maketh has found the time to clean up the building they've taken for a base of operations, and come to the annoying conclusion that while they might have a well stocked armory, what they do not have are office supplies. In terms of survival priorities, Maketh knows very well where those sit - firmly towards the bottom - but she intends to run an efficient guard. And if that means she has to dig through the abandoned shops looking for files and extra paper - so primitive - then that's exactly what she will do.

She'd been expecting dust. What she doesn't expect is to step out of one shop and come face to face with a large alien dragging a dead monster.

To Maketh's credit, she doesn't immediately reach for her gun. "Oh. What....what are you doing with that?"

Glacius stops moving and turns when he hears Kate's voice; at least this is someone he knows, so he feels he doesn't have to worry as much about her giving him a hard time. As he turns and actually lays eyes on the woman and her signature colored hair, however, he feels something he had not been expecting. He feels... indebted to her, or maybe more specifically that he's thrown his lot in with her, beyond simply suffering what goes on in this cave together. A flicker of his dream comes back, but he has not yet reflected on it in full... the ice alien pauses, shifting from foot to foot briefly.

"Hello, Kate. Can I do something for you?"

For a moment, Glacius does not seem to recognize Emily. Rage's little game of assassins had been long ago and the alien is suffering from much more harrowing memories of that time; they also simply did not converse much before she had gone on to take her friend to safety, which was understandable to him. After looking her up and down, however, her face seems to slot into place. He blinks, then looks down to the corpse.

"I am taking this creature to the shops in hopes that I may use it as compensation for supplies that I took one day," he explains, quite matter-of-factly. The confusion in her voice seems to give him pause, though. "...Why. Is this not... common practice?"

With Glacius, not reaching for a weapon counts for quite a lot-- as sad is that knowledge is in its own way. That doesn't stop him from going very still when he sees the open surprise on her face, though. He doesn't even look back to the corpse in his hands, he just keeps his glowing green eyes on her, trying not to make any movements that might startle the woman.

"I took supplies from one of those shops at one point," the alien explains slowly. "No one was overseeing them at the time, but stealing does not sit right with me. So, given that I have heard that people often trade for meat and pelts in this city, I am hoping that this creature has... parts that they might find valuable, that might compensate for what I took."

Maketh blinks. "If you wish, you could clean the carcass and preserve the meat. But no one stands guard at the shops. You may take what you need."

It's not the best system, but it's worked so far.

That gets Glacius to do a double take. He blinks, lifting his head up slightly, then squints. "What do you mean no one guards the shops? No, I know what you mean, it's just--that doesn't make any sense. How are supplies regulated and refilled, then?"

"The gods keep us fed." Maketh tips her head to the side. "No doubt it seems strange, but we've had no trouble yet."

Oh, honey.

"Paying for things is how you get things back where I'm from, but shithole cavetown doesn't work like that. Here, you just take what you need."

Emily crosses her arms and leans to the side a little to get a better look at the monster. Not that she needs to -- it's fucking enormous -- but still. "Did you go out and kill that thing just to pay for whatever you took?" Or did he do it because someone was in danger? Either way, damn, he's strong.

She can remember the dream - she can remember all of them, even if some fall into fuzzy detail after a point - but doesn't mention it, too drained from the conversations she's already had as a result of that week and a bit. Besides, it's Glacius' thing to share, if he wants to explain it. She does, however, finally understand his reaction to her rodeo quip way back when they first met.

Instead, she gestures to the carcass. "Didn't think you'd actually come back for this, really." God, the fireflies feel like so long ago, and she kind of misses them. Not feeling anything but sheer relaxation and warmth, feeling happiness, was something she didn't get enough of.

They could all use more happiness in this place--right now Glacius is stuck with the knowledge that he's going to have to decide what to do about his dream. A secretive being by nature, Glacius doesn't like other people having a window into that part of his past, even if it explains a lot about him. It was a dark and ugly time but he doesn't want people to feel like his suffering defines him... he'd made a lot of strides in leaving it behind--even if his wariness of humanity remained intact--so to have it shoved right back into the present like this feels raw, unfortunate.

The knowledge that she would have changed his situation if she could have is not, however, even if it is strange. He does appreciate Kate's help, though; he knows that as she approaches and he feels another little pang of gratefulness. The alien's gills' flutter again, and he nudges the thing with his big icy toes. "So you know what it is for. Good--I was afraid I might have to explain myself. I do not enjoy the killing," she should know that now more than ever after witnessing his reluctance to harm even his torturers, "But I don't know how else to compensate for what I took. And I am not a thief."

"That's how it works where I am from, too," Glacius starts, seeming at least a little reassured that human society is not so backwards that they just take without concern or regulation. Emily's question stops him and makes him blink, and then he immediately drops the limb he'd been dragging the creature by and raises his hands. Does she think he's a senseless killer, hungry for violence? He doesn't want to make a bad second impression!

"I--I only killed it to provide for myself. I would never harm a creature without reason--" Wait, does that make is sound like he's looking for a reason? The alien looks a little trapped, stumbling over his words slightly as he continues. "--I mean, I do not enjoy inciting conflict or causing pain for any reason. I didn't know that paying was... unnecessary, apparently, and didn't know how else to compensate for what I took. And it seemed better to hunt one of the cave-dwelling creatures that poses a risk to this city's inhabitants than... anything else."

"And let me guess, I am expected to be grateful for that," the ice alien snorts out of his nose, glossy nasal cap pushing out from the front of his face ever-so-slightly with the exhale. "Despite the fact that they are only keeping us alive to sap power from us. So if I am understanding this correctly, there is no regulation--supplies just appear magically in these stores from time to time?"

"Correct on all counts." He's sharp. That's good. Maketh eyes him up and down curiously. They haven't spoken in person before. "Apologies, I'm Maketh Tua. You are...?"

Sharp enough that he now feels a little bit foolish for what he had set out to accomplish. The alien frowns, casting a quick look back at the body he's dragging with him, then returns his glowing green eyes to the proper-looking woman before him. "My name is Glacius. I have not been here for all that long," he explains--and he'd gone out of his way to make himself hard to find, at times. "...I don't suppose you know anyone else who might need meat or fur."

"Oh. I believe we spoke on, over the network."

She remembers now, though it had been some time ago. He'd been cagey about himself, unwilling to share many details. Maketh still isn't sure why. Perhaps his world is not kind to...whatever type of being he happens to be?

"The meat can be salted," she says. "It will keep for longer that way. As for the fur...not at the moment, though I can ask if anyone has any tanning skills. That was kind of you to think of the community."

She just nods when he talks, because it's impossible not to understand that after being there, after watching the way he avoided killing anyone in the dream. Kate hadn't even considered it once they were surrounded, just surrendered to the instinct to survive and ensure their freedom at any cost. She woke up after that dream with a hollow feeling in her gut, an emptiness not unlike the sensation that came after her rage-fueled dream: the stark realisation of the parts of herself she ignores. The killer, the torturer inside that takes no prisoners and was willing to obey all orders against her higher conscience.

"Really, I think it's reet." There's no one who seems to run the shops, no economy to speak of here. "Guess you could always take that to Rage for ammunition though." That's sort of an exchange system. She would gladly take the bullets, as well.

"Whoa, chill. I'm not like, accusing you of anything."

(She doesn't even think about how ironic it is to tell a literal ice alien to chill.)

"I was just curious." Emily shrugs. No big deal, no harm no foul. "And I mean, your logic is good. I'm sure no one's mad you killed one of those monsters."

The fewer things that can kill her out there, the better.

"What'd you take, that you brought back such a gigantic monster in payment?"

"Give this to one of our tormentors?" Glacius blinks, giving a small snort. "I'd rather let it go to waste. I'm not here to appease any of them with tribute, and I certainly don't need any ammunition." He'd never had a taste for guns or weapons, and his unique abilities allowed him to engage opponents at range without need of them anyways. The thought that Kate might be asking for herself in a roundabout way has not yet even occurred to him.

(And the pun goes right over the serious and usually very literal ice alien's head!)

"Oh, ah. Alright," the alien responds, seeming to settle back somewhat at her reassurances. Maybe he shouldn't care so much about what one lone human thinks about him, but he does. "I took some thing that I could use to care for some of those... little glowing insects. A jar, some insulating material..." Yep, that's all. When it comes to monster hunting, you don't exactly have time to window shop and pick out one that seems to be of appropriate size. He's just now realizing the disparity there, and now he doesn't know quite what to do with the (unnecessary) body he has on his hands.

He raises his eyebrows and looks to Emily. "...Why, do you want some of it?"

Fair point. She would join him in that if she had an option in the matter, but Rage's armory and the bullets have been all too useful in her times down in the caves. So she can't, she elects to provide for the woman. "Mean, I'll always take 'em." She has way more bullets saved in her flat than she probably needs, but better safe than sorry.

"You want the bullets," the alien realizes. Normally he would not even consider adding more weapons to a place where death and mayhem already seem to happen so frequently, but he is feeling rather indebted to the woman. That doesn't mean he's going to potentially contribute to conflict so easily. He narrows his eyes as if trying to discern her intentions. "What would you use them for?"

Today, Glacius isn't the only one on a mission. And as it turns out, hunting for a specific monster in a monster-filled cave is a lot harder than Rey had initially given herself credit for.

Rather than heading straight home to the new house that she now shares with Nick, however, she makes a detour to the shipping district. Why?

Because she's covered in fucking blood, that's why.

The last thing she wants to do is to return home to find her roommate there to ask her questions. The next to the last thing she wants is to have to tell him why she's been out in the tunnels on her own, hunting the last of the giant bats. That would result in having to explain that she had made an arrangement with one of their captors (or 'gods', if you want to call them that), which would lead into why she made such an agreement to start with.

So when she sees Glacius hauling a carcass down the streets of the shopping district, she barely bats an eyelash at the scene and keeps walking, blood dripping off her clothes and strands of hair. It's normal. This is fine. Everything is fine.

One bat down. Two more to go.

Good fucking god.

Glacius has no idea of the arrangement that has been made with Hope--so when he sees Rey walking up to him, drenched in blood as she is, the ice alien's first though is that she has been grievously injured again. His head snaps around and his eyes widen, and then with a squawk he's dropping his corpse and bounding over to her.

"What happened to you?!" he exclaims, flicking his eyes up and down her body. Wait, she doesn't look the least bit perturbed by her situation, and he can't see any rebars jutting out of her... "Are.. are you alright? I do hope this isn't all yours..." Meaning the blood, of course, though he's not sure if he'd prefer it to have come from anyone else, either.

Edited 2016-06-03 02:18 (UTC)

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Does anybody know a way that a body could get away?

SHOPS LET'S DO THIS MAX AWKWARD IS GO

shops

Shops

MAX AWKWARD ENGAGED LET'S DO THIS AAAA

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let's go shoppiiing

yiss my frand