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

[thechoiceisyours]

Chris gives her a small smile in return, moving to take a seat on the far arm of the weird couch. "How're you um... How're you doing? Adjusting can be kind of... Weird."

It would've been bad enough not coming from all the horrors that happened on the mountain, but that just makes everything even more surreal. Or at least it had for him.

[sedula]

Something small that shifts behind her eyes betrays the smile she holds on her face when she answers him. "I'm fine." It's a lie, but it's one she has to keep telling, because not only does she need everyone else to believe it, but she needs to believe it, too. There's no way she'll survive this place if she can't hold herself together. Fake it 'til you make it, right?

"Definitely gonna be passing on horror movies for a while, though." She forces a small laugh - it's funny, right? Or if it's not exactly funny, the fact that she can make a shitty joke about it means at least it's not as earth-shattering of an ordeal.

"What about you? Emily said you've been here a while, right?"

[thechoiceisyours]

It's easy to see through the lie, especially since it's a lie they all tell; no matter who is here or for how long or through what, they always say they're fine.

But he doesn't call her on it, because that won't help right now. So instead he shrugs a little at her question, ignoring the first part of it himself. "Yeah. It's been um, ten months." It's still weird to think about the fact that it's nearly been a year, and yet that night on the mountain still often feels like yesterday. He manages a grin, though, continuing. "Still uh, not big on the horror movie idea myself either."

Although he's pretty sure no amount of time is going to help that.

But back to more important things. "So you've talked to Emily; has she uh... Filled you in on everything, or...?"

[sedula]

"Jesus." Ten months. Almost a whole year stuck in this place. How has he managed to get through this without losing his mind? The same way you get through anything, Sam guesses - you make it from one point to the next, one day into another. You get through the days the same the way you move through a room, one foot in front of the other until you've reached the next door.

Maybe they're all stronger than any of them ever imagined.

"Yeah," she says, nodding. "It's weird, though - I talked to her before I got here. I was in a park, and I'd climbed up a tree. It felt like a dream, but Em said it wasn't, because she remembered it too. She told me about how everything here is pretty fucked up, with these gods messing around with everyone, people getting dropped in here from all different points in time ... " She shrugs. "Hannah and Beth are here."

So is Chris. So is Matt. So is Mike. From what Sam remembers, all of them are dead.

[thechoiceisyours]

"Huh." That's... Strange, but considering how weird things are here--and home, for that matter--he'll just accept it and move on. The issue of the twins is a lot more important, after all.

"Um, yeah. Hannah and Beth are here, and um... Em and I told Hannah about everything." Just... Putting that out there right away, so Sam knows. Except for--

"Everything um, except what Josh did, anyway. We didn't think she'd want to know." Not that she'd want to know any of it, but Josh's part in things was irrelevant overall no matter how much it might've impacted Chris, Ashley, and Sam.

[sedula]

Josh. Sam still hasn't fully processed what happened to her - what he did to her - but she feels an angry flicker of betrayal lick at her heart when Chris mentions him. Sam isn't sure whether she agrees with this idea that keeping that piece of information from the twins is the best course of action, but she isn't inclined to rock the boat. She holds her tongue on the topic, for now.

Besides, there's something else more immediate that needs to be addressed. "You told them that they died down in the mines? That - that we never found them until it was too late?" Sam shakes her head in pained disbelief. "Why would you tell them that?" For that matter, should Sam tell Chris he is dead?

[thechoiceisyours]

Chris just stares at Sam for several seconds, caught between confusion and the awful sense that he said the wrong thing; what is she talking about? Does Sam not know? But it had been her and Mike that told him...

Maybe she hasn't gotten that far yet.

So now he has the sickening feeling that he's going to have to tell her himself, and he has to take a moment to try to mentally prepare himself. He hadn't expected to have to go over this.

"W-We told her because um... Because things happen here, when the gods are screwing with us, and they... P-People have a way of finding stuff out, a-and we wanted her to know from us and not an event." But Sam doesn't know the truth either, and he takes a deep breath and glances around to make sure they're alone before speaking again. "B-But they didn't die in the mines, Sam. O-Or Hannah didn't, at least, she... She um..."

It's so hard to say, and he has to try not to think about the words in order to get them out. But now he's suddenly afraid Sam doesn't even know about the wendigos either, but he has to assume she does for now. If not, well, he'll go back and explain that too. "H-Hannah um... She became a wendigo."

[sedula]

Sam knows about the wendigos, but she and Mike were too concerned with finding Josh and the key so they could make an escape; they didn't stop to investigate much on the way. Her eyes widen and her jaw drops open in utter shock over Chris' revelation.

"What?" she gasps. "Hannah was - she survived? And she was one of those things that were trying to kill us?" It makes sense, in a way - if there was even a shred of Hannah left in the creature she became, how angry would she be over the prank? Over being abandoned by her friends? Over being alone in the mines for an entire year? Sam claps her hands over her mouth, picturing what Hannah must have gone through, blinking back horrified tears.

[thechoiceisyours]

Seeing that look Sam's face hurts, but it's best she knows the truth too. Things have a way of coming out here, and it's probably easier for her to deal with all the shock at one time instead of them trying to hide it and her finding out later.

"Y-Yeah. Yeah, I know, it's super fucked up." But he doesn't know what else to say; there's absolutely no way to make any of this less horrible.

[sedula]

"Oh my god, Chris - she must have been starving to death down there! All alone, for months and months - she must have been so scared!" There are tears beginning to fill her eyes, a heavy weight settling in her chest, a sob building in the back of her throat. Thinking of what Hannah must have gone through, what she must have been thinking to turn to cannibalism (don't imagine it, Sam, don't think about Hannah eating Beth) in order to simply survive the mines feels like it's going to rip Sam apart from the inside. She turns away from Chris and buries her face in her hands, inhaling a hard breath to keep from screaming.