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

[synthedick]

"They aren't... but to her, neither is being called a mother."

He sighs, trying to figure out how to put what he's trying to say without being too harsh. "Even if it's true where you come from"— a fact of which he's not fully convinced just yet— "she doesn't know it. And putting that kind of responsibility on her all of a sudden is asking for a lot."

[muscovy]

"She put it onto herself. She just doesn't remember it."

And, to him, that makes no difference. Because family is forever, and that logically needs to apply backwards just as much as it does for present and future.

"But I can wait until she stops being silly and lets me help her with the memory." Sometimes people just need time with learning how to not be silly, and he does his best to be patient then even when it hurts. He's never needed to wait for someone to not deny that they are his family anymore, but he is sure that he will be able to manage that, too.

[synthedick]

For Nick, this Rey and some Rey from another world might as well be two entirely different people, each with different experiences that have led them down different paths. It's an odd concept to wrap his head around, but it's not so different from the varied experiences between himself and the original Nick Valentine. One was a man of flesh and blood who lived in the past, in a world before the bombs; the other faced the world after the apocalypse and was far from human, his synthetic nature meaning people treated him very differently than they would have if he'd been the real deal.

And yet, one had inherited the sins of the other: his hopes, his dreams, his regrets. There wasn't anything he could do about it, either -- and Nick loathed that. It's a feeling he's hoping to spare Rey from. She has enough troubles from the memories crammed into her head; she doesn't need some from this other Rey, too. And that's if this kid's story is true.

Thankfully, said kid is starting to get it. "I thinks that's going to be what's best," he concedes. He doesn't know if Rey will ever want his "help" with her memory, but he gets the feeling this is as good as he's going to get when it comes to explaining different worlds to a child.

"The question is what to do now," he continues. He pauses there to see what conclusion Muscovy will come to, to see if he'll figure it out on his own.

[muscovy]

Muscovy waits.

He doesn't hear Nick's words as a question; he hears them as a starter, as couching an order or a threat that in the end will pertain only to Muscoy as something that is a mutual task or universally done. That is how he has usually heard them used. And when that happened, there never was a use in saying something, it might only make things worse by those words being remembered later at a bad time.

[synthedick]

The pause hangs, and seeing Muscovy is waiting on him, Nick decides to fill in the gap.

"She needs time to work things out, but the streets aren't safe. We need to find you someplace to stay."

[muscovy]

So he can't stay here - 'someplace to stay' is 'someplace away from here', clearly.

And this man wants a hand in where he stays, or thinks that he isn't capable of finding a place himself. Or both. Either way, Muscovy won't have it - he has lived alone before and organized himself far away from home, and doubts that this place will be more hostile than the Drabwurld in the early hours of an all-encompassing war or a jungle camp.

"I will find a place."

And then he will check in on Rey, not at this house but when she is 'someplace' else. Anyplace else.

[synthedick]

Nick's face is colored by concern -- it knits into his brow, the thread pulled tight with muted worry. Though he wants to protect Rey from both this kid -- who might not be a kid at all, given what kinds of beings and creatures have come through the Door before -- and herself, he still wants to help, just in case Muscovy's intent really is earnest. The kid can prove himself, prove he really does care and that it's not another scheme of the gods.

However, it's also because of that potentially genuine intent that he can't let Muscovy stay. Rey is powerful, and dangerous by her own admission. He can't put a child, lost in a strange world and looking for his mother, at risk. Rey worried enough that she'd hurt Nick when they first moved in together, and he's more mechanical than man.

"I can help you find a place, if you want. See if someone from the guard can give you a place to stay."

[muscovy]

Muscovy shakes his head. He under normal circumstances would be fine with that kind of help, even like it, but he doesn't want to be indebted to Nick. Not without knowing more about him. And as much as he doesn't mind being perceived as a child, Nick has managed to push all the buttons to identify him with the people and situations where Muscovy doesn't want to be perceived as a child because it will hamper his ability to be a useful and thus involved and worthy of keeping around part of society - someone who even if let in on duties and work groups won't be left to do something useful, or only a very small amount of it. He understands being paid significantly less than an adult doing a thing, or people being distrustful of his abilities, but it's the attitude that he connects with "even if I were to prove myself it makes no difference" - the wrong kind of protecting him, not the kind that is real protection like what the members of his family provided (backing him up against dangers and providing him with safe places), but the kind that Wash and Bill Adama provided, the one keeping him away from participation.

"I will find something."

He steps away a few steps before waving at Nick and turning around, walking down the streets towards the spire where Rey tried to set him up, to poke around that place.

[synthedick]

Nick sighs, returning Muscovy's wave before watching him wander away. He's torn on what to do, as he has been for most of the conversation: his responsibilities to his family, to Rey, butt against his desire to help someone in need, especially when that someone is a child.

Possibly a child. He wants to believe it, but something was off. And if there's one thing he knows from both his home and Hadriel, it's to not trust anything at absolute face value. That's one reason the Gen 3 synths continue to plague the Commonwealth, after all.

He lets out another sigh and turns to head inside to check on Rey, choosing the person he cares for over his sense of duty. It's not just a selfish motivation that guides him: he wants what's best for everyone, and as unsure as he is about a kid wandering off on his own, Nick knows he can't force the kid to go to the station or stay where he's told -- not without making himself the bad guy, which is how he's sure Muscovy views him already.

Well, being viewed as untrustworthy is nothing new for him; it comes with the territory of being a synth and looking like he does. Nick knows that for the time being, this is for the best, both for Muscovy's and Rey's safety, even if neither of them know it just yet.