Intro Log: Don't Wake Tonberry

[hadrielmods]

Who: New arrivals and everyone else!
What: The intro log for September
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: September 10th-13th
Warnings: Cute monsters, a way to pass the time, and plenty of newbies!

Waking up in Hadriel certainly has its down sides, but if this weird murdercave city is good at one thing, it's keeping people entertained. As you awaken on the hard ground of the colosseum, you might see a rectangular cardboard box lying near you. Ignore it for now, as you get your bearings, but if you get bored? Well, you'll find these exciting and unique board games will keep you entertained!

But how could you possibly get bored, when there are plenty of cute monsters around to keep you company? Sharing the colosseum with all the new arrivals are Tonberries. In addition to their natural cuteness defense, they also carry very large knives. They're slow-moving and look innocent and even friendly, but be careful - one strike from that knife and you'll be a bloody mess. They won't attack unless you get too close, but who doesn't want to hug a Tonberry? And of course, if you attack, they'll counter with extreme prejudice.

Managed to resist the urge to hug a Tonberry? Safely escaped from the clutches of the colosseum, new board game in tow? 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 September 10th-13th.
► 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

[sedula]

The silence between them in the kitchen feels heavy, much heavier than silence - an absence of words - should have a right to feel. Sam pulls out the chair nearest the glass of water, flinching at the sound of the chair scraping along the floor, and sits at the table, eyes focused on the liquid inside the glass.

"Safe?" One side of her mouth quirks up in a half-smile. "I don't think I'm ever gonna feel safe again." There's a dry note of levity in her tone, like she's making an attempt at passing off her words as a joke, because if she can joke about the horrors she's witnessed over the course of the past day, surely she'll be fine, right? But wendigos aside, Sam also suffered at Josh's hands - terrorized, drugged, bound and abandoned in that dark corner of the basement where Mike found her wearing nothing but a damn towel. Sam wraps her hand around the glass of water and brings it to her lips, gulping back a mouthful. She can't tell if she's actually thirsty - what's important is going through the motions of what she should be doing.

"I talked to you before, didn't I? It wasn't a dream?"

[unfollowing]

Well, that's not a lie. You don't feel safe in Hadriel. You just come to know when you're in a lull, when things are less fucked up than they can get. You learn to wish the next event comes from Delight or Hope (even though he sucks at making people feel hopeful, at least he's not torturing them the way Rage and Fear and Sorrow can).

There's really nothing Emily can say in response to that, so she nods and takes a drink of water. By the time Sam asks her question, Emily has set her mug back on the table.

"Yeah, you did." It does feel sort of like it was a dream, though. Everything before seeing Matt feels like one long nightmare that has finally come to an end. "And everything I said to you is true."

Especially the part about her not being crazy.

"Who else from back home have you run into, by the way?"

[sedula]

Sam huffs a quiet not-laugh. She feels crazy, ever since she slipped out of the bath and wandered into the theater room of the lodge and found horror waiting for her there. It's like the plot of some bad teen horror movie, only it was real - why not this, too?

"Just Mike, so far - and his pet wolf. Did you know he had a pet wolf? That seems like the kind of thing you'd mention, even with everything that was going on."

[unfollowing]

Oh Sam. It doesn't get better, sorry.

At the mention of Mike, Emily's gaze goes cold. "So he's back. I haven't seen him yet." If she had, she might've punched him for what he almost did to her. "How the fuck did he get a pet wolf?"

[sedula]

"Said he belonged to the flamethrower guy." Which is, you know - weird. But not as important as what Emily said.

"What do you mean, back? Has he already been here? 'Cause when I saw him, Mike said he'd just told us all to stay in the lodge, and that happened hours ago."

[unfollowing]

So he takes the time to befriend a wild animal but not to wonder if maybe shooting Emily is a bad thing to even consider? Fucking typical.

"Mike's been here twice before. I wasn't here for the first time. The second time, we got here together, but he didn't make it through the month before he got sent back to the mountain."

Looks like this time, the Door grabbed Mike from around the same point in the night that it pulled Emily. Jesus. This place is really out to fuck with her.

"I came here from a few minutes after he told us to stay in the basement." After her near death. "Thanks, by the way. For sticking up for me. If you hadn't been there, I might not've--"

Made it. Lived. Stood a chance.

[sedula]

This is just more and more fucked up the more Sam hears about it. Mike's been here multiple times and sent back to live the horrors on the mountain over again?

"Jesus. They can do that to us?" She shakes her head in disbelief, but it's less important than what Emily says next. Everything else in Sam's expression drops, taken over by complete concern. They all had too many close calls on the mountain - and in everyone else's case, they didn't survive those brushes with death - but Emily was the only one to suffer such a threat at the hands of one of their friends.

"Don't even think about that, Em. I'm just glad he didn't." Given what they know now - that wendigo bites aren't infectious - Sam can't imagine how they would have dealt with Mike killing Emily over nothing.

[unfollowing]

"They can do pretty much anything." As she will see when Chris and Emily tell them about past events. Sometimes, they talk about them, to remember, to learn from the past, to prepare for the future. It doesn't help much.

Maybe this is how myths and legends are formed.

"Yeah. Same." Dying here isn't as bad, because you get to come back. Dying on the mountain-- Well. Sure, Hannah and Beth are here, but they still died there. If they get sent back, it's to certain death. "Getting bitten was bad enough." Even Hope couldn't make the scar go away. At least he got her skin to finish doing its thing faster.