Intro Log: Eight Legs No Heart

[hadrielmods]

Who: New arrivals and everyone else!
What: The intro log for June.
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: June 10th-15th
Warnings: Spiders. Soooo many spiders. New people. Probably swearing.

For once, the new arrivals to Hadriel will not be waking up on the cold hard ground of the colosseum. Oh, sure, you'll still awaken in the arena - but this time the Door has been kind enough to ensure that you wake up comfortably arranged in a very nice chair. Or maybe not so comfortably. Some of those look pretty awkward - hopefully you didn't wake up with a crick in your neck! And hey, feel free to try to drag some of these super cool chairs to your new homes. They're probably not cursed or anything.

As you make your way out of the arena, be careful getting to close to the walls - well, except that's the only way out, so good luck! Chilling up on there waiting to get the drop on you are Skulltulas. These funky-looking spiders have squishy underbellies, but their upper exoskeletons are hard and very difficult to break through. They really just want to nibble you a few times, and maybe suck out all of your blood. No big deal, right? Have fun!

Have you conquered your arachnophobia and managed to escape? Great! Feel free to go explore the rest of the city! Find a house, find a new monster, or simply scavenge for supplies. Good luck, and enjoy your stay in Hadriel!

► This log covers June 10th-15th.
► Feel free to make your own logs as well!
► All characters arrive with phones that have network communication.
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!

Comments

[ushahin]

Ushahin seemed to regain some sense of where he was as the raven came diving out of the sky, coming to perch neatly on his left shoulder. He didn't so much as turn his head to look at the bird. Only his hand moved, coming up to stroke Fetch's glossy black feathers, a few in the back sticking up and giving his head a little fluffy look. Now there were two sets of bright eyes staring at EDI."Somewhere dark and warm is what will suit us best."

As long as he was directly in the light, Ushahin would be in pain. Not that he wasn't used to it. Pain was the catalyst for how his strange powers worked. His head tilted to one side and the pupil of his right eye seemed to expand as he stared deeply at the AI, finally properly looking at her. It was a disconcerting look and he stared without moving a muscle or saying a word.

[mobilityassistance]

The bird was suitably impressive--perhaps that was the other person in the "both?"--though her expression didn't change by so much as on twitch when it put in its appearance. Clearly, however, this man was unlike any other organic she had encountered--here or elsewhere. Whether or not that was dangerous remained to be seen.

"I am certain that most of the housing options will meet that standard." If nothing else, they were a place off the streets. "There are several apartments and I believe there are options for houses as well, depending upon your personal preference."

[ushahin]

Indeed, Ushahin was a strange one. His moods could shift like the changing of the winds. Right now though, he was mostly harmless, more interested in finding shelter then cracking open someone's mind to see how their insides worked.

"Apartments? You mean those spires?" He grimaces at the thought of stairs. Darkhaven had many stairs, but it was also warm, soothing the aches and pains of his broken body. Without that around, he would be lucky to make it more than two flights. "No, a house will have to do."

[mobilityassistance]

"Very well. Would you prefer directions or an escort?" It's polite to offer, after all, and it wasn't as if she was too distracted by anything else at the moment. Or ever, really. One of the advantages of quantum computing was her ability to multitask.

[ushahin]

"An escort would be most helpful. I am still discovering the lay of the land." There was also the fact that Fetch kept showing him the city from a bird's eye view. While it was a useful ability to have and did provide him with an advantage over some, it also was a bit disconcerting, making it hard to reconcile what he was seeing with his own eyes versus what he was seeing through the raven's.

[mobilityassistance]

With a single nod, she turned and began walking toward the houses. "The general layout of the city is rather simplistic; given enough time I do not doubt that you will learn to effectively navigate." It hadn't taken her too long, but then she had something of an advantage.

"When I arrived myself there were insects that set fires around the city. This arrival seems much more peaceful."

[ushahin]

"If giant spiders thinking of nothing but meat is a peaceful entrance, I would very much like to see a more chaotic state." He's not even joking. Chaos is a perfect situation in which to manipulate dreams. Ushahin smiles, a crooked grin that lights up his broken, ill-knit features.

"Do people arrive here often?" He didn't ask if there was a way to go back. Considering there was nothing for him to go back to, he wasn't particularly eager to return to Uru-Alat.

[mobilityassistance]

Had she been an organic, that statement might have warranted a raised eyebrow. As it was, she silently made a note to watch the man. Synthetic as she was, her job was still to protect the more fragile beings and that, at least, was one aspect of her programming that she didn't want to be rid of.

"I am given to understand that the arrivals occur regularly. However, I only arrived a month ago."

[ushahin]

Watching Ushahin is for the best. At his best, he's harmless. A bit off-kilter and prone to talking in phrases that sound more like poetry than anything else, but nothing that warrants more than a question raised in someone's mind. At his worst...well, there was a reason he had a turned into a legend among the different people of Uru-Alat, the boogeyman that would haunt their dreams and drive them into a slow descent until they reached insanity.

"And do you know why we were brought here?" Ushahin believes in a purpose for everything. In his mind, the world is made up of interconnecting threads. Everything was woven together, a careful tapestry that could come apart if one only knew how to pull on the threads.

[mobilityassistance]

"I was told that we were brought here by various gods in an attempt to utilize our emotions to provide them power." That definitely was not a concept she liked, but she'd been used for so long that she was accustomed to the idea.

"The currently active gods are Hope, Fear, Rage, and Delight. There has recently been talk of reviving another god. The choices we were given were Confusion, Love, and Sorrow."

[ushahin]

"Gods?" That makes Ushahin stops dead in his tracks, his soft voice finally getting a touch louder. Fetch nearly loses his perch and squawks in annoyance.

"Of course there would be gods." Ushahin can't help himself. He starts to laugh, a sound that starts off as amused and soon takes a turn for the hysterical. It isn't long before he's wiping tears born of both laughter and sadness away from his eyes. To go from one conflict straight into another...fate has a strange destiny in store for him.

[mobilityassistance]

That laugh was worrying, but, she had to conclude, the reaction could have been far worse. The fact that he didn't deny the existence or the power of the creatures here that called themselves "gods" was also interesting. An insight into the man's homeworld, perhaps? And what did it say about him that he was so unconcerned by the revelation?

"I cannot verify whether they actually are, only that they claim to be." Beings that were more advanced scientifically or mechanically often seemed or presented themselves as gods without actually being such, after all.

[ushahin]

Eventually, the insane laughter tapers off, and Ushahin wipes away one last tear from his watery eye. He feels better for having gotten the emotional burst out of his system right away instead of waiting for some more convenient time.

"Sounds real enough to me." He's had some up close and personal experience with at least one god. Even in his most diminished form, Satoris had never been one to be trifled with. "Charlatans and pretenders wouldn't nearly have the power to reach into other realms and worlds."

[mobilityassistance]

"Perhaps. However, races of sufficient technological advancement may present themselves as gods to lesser species." The Protheans, they found out recently, had done that so efficiently and for so long that "Prothean" encompassed several races.

"A creature need not be a 'god' to possess power that lesser creatures deem to be 'godlike.'"

[ushahin]

"Perhaps you are right." Though Ushahin doubts it. His destiny is too closely linked to gods to end up in a place beyond their grasp.

"These gods, do they walk amongst the people or rule from a separate area?" If he can touch one of their minds, he'll know for certain if they are real deal.

[mobilityassistance]

"As I have only inhabited this place for a single month, I cannot be certain. However, it is my understanding that they may be reached through the devices. The one calling herself 'Delight' solicited our opinions on which of the 'gods' to raise next through them." A wrench in her theory of the place that she didn't quite understand, too. Why would any captor care to hear the opinions of their victims?

[ushahin]

"Devices? Oh, you mean these?" Ushahin pulls his own out from the bundle of items he'd been carrying around. Truth be told, he'd completely forgotten about it during the chaos of escaping the spiders and then roaming around the city. He turned it over in his left hand. He was unable to make heads or tails of what it was supposed to do. "Do you know how to work it? I have never seen anything like it before."

[mobilityassistance]

"Yes. It appears to be similar to a somewhat rudimentary communication device once common on 20th and 21st century Earth. I believe it is capable of text, audio, and video posts to an internal network. Other forms of communication appear to be...deactivated." Or deliberately tampered with. "Further, the devices do not seem to reach beyond the network currently active within the city."

[ushahin]

Ushahin listens carefully. Despite having been ripped away from his own world and into a new place that he is has no knowledge of, he's not a fool. He understands the basics of what's being explained to him. This device will allow him to communicate with the others in this city. Beyond that, he's still a little bit confused. "Three questions. Where is Earth? What is video? And what is a network?"

[mobilityassistance]

"Earth is the third planet orbiting in the Sol system and is the only planet in that system capable of supporting life. It is the homeworld of the human species. Video is a transmission of moving images rather than sound only. A network is a wireless connection between similar devices." She doesn't even sound patronizing when she explains--it's her job to be useful, after all.

[ushahin]

"Here I was thinking only Urulat had an infestation of Men." Strangely enough, the rest of her her explanation makes sense to him. What his world lacks in technology, they have made up for in magic. A video sounds very similar to a Ravensmirror, a device where using the eyes of the ravens would allow him to view images of anything else that was going on in the world. A network still seemed like an abstract concept to Ushahin, but he was sure he would figure things out eventually.

[mobilityassistance]

"Infestation" was an interesting choice of words. Depending upon who one asked, however, she supposed it could have been an accurate description. Some of the Turians and certainly the Reapers might have called them that.

Being created by humans, however, might give her a little bit of a bias.

"Humanity has reached as far into space as any of the other council races in far less time. For such a young species, they are quite far advanced."

[ushahin]

"Space, hmm? Traveling into the stars?" He murmurs and stares up at the ceiling of the underground far above them, gazing as if he could see right through it to the sky above. He had no love for humanity, not after being rejected by them in such a brutal fashion, but he did have to admit that they had their moments. They were a creative lot, a gift given to them by their creator. "What will they do next?"

[mobilityassistance]

"The current hope is that they will somehow manage to defeat the Reapers. Beyond that, the future is uncertain." Whether or not they would survive was uncertain, and there really wasn't any room for error. Defeat meant that all of them--every species advanced beyond primitives--would be exterminated.

Certainly, there's a specific way she--and most people--wishes that the fight would go.

[ushahin]

"What are Reapers?" That is a most unpleasant sounding name to Ushahin. He is growing curious about what a completely different place this woman seems to come from than his own. It just serves to highlight how he's now in a completely new world. It is a touch overwhelming, even for someone who has experienced as much as the immortal has.