hadriel_logs | Intro Log: Arm Yourself

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Intro Log: Arm Yourself

Who: New arrivals and everyone else!
What: The intro log for August
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: August 10th-15th
Warnings: Stalkers, newbies, and cute loot!

Sleeping on the cold dirt ground of the colosseum is enough to make anyone uncomfortable. It might be a little worse this month than others, as some of you may be waking up on top of or around various self defense devices (btw: that last one is a taser).

Come to think of it, you'll probably need those. Also in the colosseum and already stalking you are... uh, well, stalkers from the Borderlands game series. Stalkers come armed with claws, teeth, and sharp tails- and what's more, they can turn invisible to sneak up on you. Zap them with your newfound taser or stab them with your jewelry comb knife or just run away screaming- we won't judge, but you have to do something or else they'll kill you and eat your corpse and all sorts of unfortunate things.

Good luck finding a way out. Maybe you can make some friends along the way.

All done and escaped from the clutches of the colosseum? Awesome! 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 August 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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The problem is, the authorities on that question are utterly untrustworthy.

[Says Bruce, seriously.]

Our oldest gods are Hope and Fear, and they're- Hope brought us here, and Fear is evil, routinely tortures us to make us frightened to feed himself.

So I would hesitate to call either of them certain.

[All authority is utterly untrustworthy, L's eyes say before he takes another bitter sip of tea. He doesn't like it any more than he did, but at least he's getting used to it; he thinks he'll have a lot of comparable experiences.]

Do they oppose one another? Are they doing battle or playing a game? Or do they share the same ultimate goals, more or less?

They seem to oppose one another- but I'm not sure if that's reality, or just convenient messaging to make us like Hope a little better.

As you might imagine, we all loathe Fear, almost universally.

[While he sips his own tea.]

I can easily imagine as much. That being said...

[He sets his tea aside. He needs a break from the sugarless, overwhelmingly herbal taste that is nothing like what he's been required to put up with in the past.]

It takes a very foolish person not to recognize the value of fear, doesn't it?

I'm sure that in the abstract it's done great things in contributing to the survival of our species. The anthropomorphic personification in question, though, is a piece of work.

[Who makes Bruce need to breathe in and out through his nose to a four count.]

I haven't forgiven him for the 'buried alive' debacle.

[The reaction is more subtle than many possible ones, but still a strong one. L observes it with interest.]

"Buried alive" debacle? Did that happen to you, and were you ever given a purpose for the ordeal?

He put half the population of Hadriel in coffins, under the ground, with a GPS in each one so we had a map of where to dig.

He gave everyone else shovels and a countdown clock, and open video feeds to the victims. I was above ground- I stayed at the clinic and burned through our supplies, treating injured hands, mostly, and then dehydration.

The purpose was to make us afraid, in order to feed himself.

Edited 2016-09-04 20:18 (UTC)

[Admittedly, all of that sounds horrifying. Though L's trained in not reacting outwardly, the outlandishness of it is in stark contrast to the way Bruce relates it astonishingly like someone who is telling the truth. The result is L furrowing a brow that's a little too smooth for someone in their mid-twenties, a hallmark of a person who simply doesn't emote much.]

He feeds on fear, then. We're here as emotional cattle?

To be fair, we're Hope's too. We just don't blame him as much, because the emotions he tries to provoke in us are more soothing. He does things like gifts us each a book, gives us safety from monsters in his temple if we can make it there.

[But, he suspects L is rational enough to see that neither position is entirely ethical, just because one happens to be slightly more pleasant.]

[While L is rational, certainly more than he comes across to people who encounter his eccentricities casually, his understanding of ethics is admittedly only an academic one. Like many humans, he is not above abusing his power when he is in a position to, and while he has nothing but contempt for tyrants, he is inherently hypocritical. A lot of what he has no patience for in the rest of humanity he indulges in shamelessly, because in truth, he's never considered himself a part of humanity.]

How common are they? Monsters? I encountered some when I arrived, but day to day, is it reliable to consider them a constant threat?

A constant threat is a good characterization, and also one of our main sources of food. Some of them are approximately mammalian, and we eat the meat.

[While he settles himself down from thinking about the gods, rolling his shoulders back, finding something approaching serenity and sipping his tea.]

The streets are very dangerous at night, and quite unsafe during the day.

[Something in L's chest cavity sinks to hear that. If it was something that could be planned around or avoided, obviously it would be better, but at least Bruce makes it sound like the people brought here aren't in a position to be exclusively prey.

L personally doesn't eat meat, but now isn't the time to dwell on that. There are other questions with a broader scope that he must address before he worries about how he, personally, is going to function.]

I've noticed since arriving that some people have particular abilities that help them survive, outside of what's considered the normal realm of strength or wits in my world. How are newcomers advised to protect themselves if they have only arrived with the "basics", so to speak?

[In other words, aside from L's sharp, brilliant mind, what one sees with the scrawny detective is pretty much what one gets.]

Ah.

[This makes him think, for a moment.]

Well, I believe Mello is working on a comprehensive guide for what a newcomer should do, but I don't know if it has anything to do with powers or not. There are a lot of warriors around, and the god Rage supplies an armory, if you can see yourself getting handy with a hunting axe or a shortsword. Guns and ammunition are only brought by new arrivals, and so are hoarded much more closely.

[L is careful not to let the recognition of that name flash across his face. It's an old, practiced habit, ensuring that certain connections aren't picked up on even if a person doesn't seem malicious. So far, he feels that Bruce is a useful person, maybe even a potential ally, but that doesn't mean for a second that he feels he can let his guard down and trust. It's a flaw of his personality, his career, and perhaps his world as a whole.

Warfare is very different in that world, however. L doesn't particularly look like he could lift a hunting axe, much less wield it effectively. Considering his size, spindliness, and hunched, twisted posture, it's probably more complicated than just getting in better shape.]

What are you "handy" with? You strike me as a man of science, not so much a fighter.

[L seeks to find some common ground, here. Often, he's very right about people; he has no idea how very wrong he is about Bruce.]

I'm a nuclear physicist, and I used to do military contract work studying the effect of gamma rays on the human body. I was caught in a lab accident and developed, as you say, powers.

My body responds to stress by- well, it's like old fashioned legends of berserkers, but with an added physical invulnerability. So I kill monsters with my hands.

I took a lunge at Fear once, too. For the record, he's incorporeal.

[For the first bit, anyway, it's as L expected... but the lab accident addendum leads him to believe further that he is not only in a minority here, but a significantly disadvantaged one. Gamma ray accidents are something he's never suffered, but that includes positive side effects like... well, responding to stress with anything other than folding over onto himself in eventual exhaustion.]

What's the threshold for stress? And how often would you say we have opportunities to interact directly with these beings, whether or not they're... incorporeal?

It seems to vary depending on the stimulus. Excitement is easier to manage than anger, which is more complicated than fear or pain, but not necessarily at a different level.

It's mostly under control, I will say. However, I don't have many answers for you about the gods, because I tend to handle them by compartmentalizing them away. Other people will know more, but they make me far too mad to make a research project of them.

["Mostly" under control only sounds mostly comforting, but to Bruce's credit, he doesn't seem like he's in any immediate danger of making L regret his decision to share close quarters with him. Maybe the fact that L is able to assume that it's probably true is a testament to the reality that, slowly but surely, he is getting used to this place and its absurdities.]

Can you tell me who might know more, so that I can start to better understand, myself? I'd like to leave. Soon, if possible. I'm willing to dedicate a lot of work toward that end.

Hmm-

Mello, again, is a very good bet. He's quiet, but he's a systematic thinker- a mind like a steel trap, you get the sense. Same is true for Doctor Tam, and a few of the men on the watch.

Wanda Maximoff has a better understanding of universes and reality than most. I'd speak to her- though she's new as well, so this might mark just the beginning of a collaboration for her.

[Bruce isn't lying about Mello's mental ability. L knows better than anyone the truth behind the claim. He takes note of the other names, but feels a twinge of accomplishment to know that Mello's brand of maverick intelligence is modeled closely after his own.]

How new? Even a month longer than I've been here is a considerable amount of time to learn the ropes. I suspect that swift adaptation is a large part of the key to survival in this place.

Older than that. She's powered as well- but honestly, one form of adaptation might be to get to know people who are. Not me, I'm too dangerous to be around when I go off, but it would be a good thing to know someone who can fight as well as Wanda can.

[In his estimation. It's how he'd play it, anyways.]

[L nods; it's a commonsense approach, ensuring that one surrounds himself with knowledge and allies rather than trusting everything to luck and chance. Even if one is very educated and skilled, it's unavoidable that he will be unable to be skilled in all subjects and matters, after all. Though L balks at teamwork very frequently, when he is operating at a deficit, he's more than happy to allocate certain tasks.]

You would discourage me from getting to know you?

[It's not what Bruce probably means, but there's a lilt of humor lifting L's flat monotone for the first time.]

I'm delightful in an academic capacity.

I would encourage you, during a fight, to run.

[He says, as bluntly as possible.]

Any green discoloration of my skin is particularly dangerous.

In general, green discoloration of skin isn't indicative of anything good.

[But he's bringing it up for a reason. It's clear that it's something that's happened before. It's clear that it's not an exaggeration.]

Fortunately, I'm not the type to pick fights. Least of all with other academics.

Historically, this is true.

[Bruce agrees, sipping his tea.]

But I mean if we're being attacked, as well. Once I transform, I don't distinguish enemies from friends well. You should still leave.

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