hadriel_logs | Intro Log: HOLY F*^K THAT'S A F*&KI%G DRAGON

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Intro Log: HOLY F^K THAT'S A F&KI%G DRAGON

Who: New arrivals and everyone else!
What: The intro log for October
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: October 10th-13th
Warnings: New faces, new greeting posts, and dragons. What's more to want?

If your first thought upon waking up on the cold, hard ground of Hadriel's very own Colosseum is 'maybe I partied too hard last night', one, Delight would love you and two, you're wrong. Or- maybe you did, but that's not why you're here. Instead, you wake up with the same clothes you were wearing when you were last home, but surrounded by very different people. So, make some friends! Might as well voice your confusion and concern and show the technologically unsavvy of you how to operate these fancy new phones, right? Just be sure not to trip over these odd bags of chips on your way to greet your fellow man.

Don't spend too much time out in the open, though. There are monsters about, and not quite the usual ones. This month, Hadriel is bringing in four dragons, each with their own unique abilities and raidboss-esque stamina. They'll be terrorizing the city until someone puts them down- maybe that someone is you! Maybe you should, uh, actually hide. They're hungry and territorial and mean and they're definitely out for a good meal. Check out our OOC post for more information, as well as who will be eventually killing the beasts!

But hey, once you escape from the dragons, feel free to go explore the rest of the city! Find a house, find a new monster, or simply scavenge for supplies.

New, as of October's intro log is a Newcomer's guide that installs itself by default on every activated phone. Thanks, Mello!

Good luck, and enjoy your stay in Hadriel!

► This log covers October 10th-13th.
► Feel free to make your own logs as well!
► All characters arrive with phones that have network communication and the newbie guide installed.
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!

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[ Any remnant doubt dissolves as Kurosaki reacts. Well -- doubt remains, but not as to who this person is, as to whether the orange-haired guy with the dumb scowl was, in fact, the Kurosaki he knew. (Uryuu has experienced a little too much to take anything for granted, especially in such bizarre circumstances, especially when Kurosaki's reiraku had been that uncanny shade of pink, especially -- look, if Szayel Aporro had cloned with ease, who could say?)

A satisfying, thoroughly Kurosaki reaction. A knot of tension between his shoulder blades begins to loosen, but only just, and without any noticeable shift in his expression or stance.

As if on cue, flatly: ]

What a weird coincidence that we're both in this creepy cave.

[ A beat. ]

Only, I don't believe in those kinds of coincidences. Why would it be nice to see you?

[ Pointedly, Uryuu takes another chip, and eats it.

...but wrinkles his nose, folding the bag, replacing it in his satchel. Uyuu glances at the contents, bleak and brief, as if they might by his beseeching look become something useful to this insane situation. ]

How long have you been here?

[Fine. Do what you want. He doesn't care.

What he does care about is the sudden realization, a realization he has given up on thinking about because there didn't seem to be any helping it, that he's been missing from his home for ages now, and there's no way that's gone unnoticed. ]

What are you talking about? I've been gone for three months.

[That's a long time even for him, a veteran of disappearing for long stretches of time with only flimsy explanations. Since this time, he had given no explanation, he thought for sure his family would have at least started to suspect something was up. He'd probably been kicked out of school by now, and repeating the grade was an impending humiliation he would deal with when it happened. ]

Are you telling me you didn't notice when I disappeared? I know my spiritual pressure's basically gone, but sheesh, I'm in your class. Come on.

[As if Ishida could have missed it. Ishida's always been uncannily good at noticing where he is. Which makes the question odd. Why wouldn't Ishida have known already how long it has been?

Unless...]

Do you think this place is messing with time? Like the Dangai?

[ The sad thing: even once he realizes food is free and in decent supply here, he'll still finish those chips. Food mustn't be wasted.

Three months. Uryuu had a feeling, that natural way Kurosaki strode, his having that sword to begin with, but the stone in his gut sinks nonetheless, that emotional disconnect from the rationalizing of his mind. He's pretty good at ignoring or suppressing it, but not perfect. Never perfect.

This time, it shows on his face.

The expression only worsens as Kurosaki goes on, oblivious, as ever slow to reach the point, the problem -- but as ever, he gets there, on his own time. It also has a fair dose of irritation, as seriously -- ]

What kind of person do you think I am, that I wouldn't notice, Kurosaki? Obviously, as far as I've been aware, you've been there the entire time. Look --

[ Uryuu tugs out his phone. Not the new one, but the one Urahara-san had given him. He glances at the screen, thumbs over the options, opens his messages, and turns it to show the screen. A text exchange that read, last message, sixty minutes ago (by the time on the phone). Kurosaki's last message: Shut up.

Regardless, all of it underscores his initial uneasiness, his roundabout if fruitless approach. This Kurosaki with his pink reiraku, his regular sword -- was he, is he Kurosaki? ]

Maybe. If this Door can bring people from one world to another, then I guess there's no reason it can't take from different times, too.

[ He just got here, how should he know? But unless they disappeared at exactly the same time -- and Kurosaki couldn't have, not with his reiatsu like that -- they should have noticed the other person missing. It doesn't make any sense. ]

[He sees the message, the time, and the date, and he understands absolutely nothing.

Ichigo points to the phone.]

I didn't send that.

I haven't been in Karakura since April.

Are you saying there's a fake me running around Karakura Town...?

[That is a really creepy thought.]

[ It would be indelicate to outright say that if Uryuu's suspecting anyone of being a fake, it isn't the Kurosaki back in Karakura. If there are two, really. Uryuu may be indelicate and too blunt with Kurosaki generally, but not with this sort of thing.

Uryuu looks at him, his face carefully neutral. ]

No, that isn't what I'm saying.

[ ... ]

I'm not saying anything.

[ Why pink, if not a bad copy? But what would that make Uryuu? What a pain.

But he cannot think the Kurosaki of the last month was a fake. Uryuu had seen all of it. Laid against the rough roof, his shoulder crying blood, the sky crying rain, Kurosaki crying out, until Kuchiki-san -- and then Kurosaki of the last month. His reiaku, reiatsu scarlet again, his smiles real, broad, easy, alive.

No, none of that had been fake. Yet, this idiot with his Normal people start with "hello," or "it's nice to see you," or "what a weird coincidence that we're both in this creepy cave!" and And I don't want any of your chips. If they suck that much, quit eating them. wasn't he real?

And more than all of that, here he stands outside the ruins of a coliseum, in a cave, in another world, dragged in by a Door and unwitting gods (he hadn't bought it of the Shinigami, he isn't buying it now), debating with himself the legitimacy of Kurosaki Ichigo.

Of course his life would be completely upended, and still, somehow, there would be Kurosaki Ichigo.

That, too, should be proof enough. ]

It doesn't matter right now, does it? Something with physics and time anomalies, or even parallel universes.

[It's starting to become routine, by now: The door opens, new people show up, and new monsters along with them. So to the coliseum, to help, to protect, to make sure no one's getting eaten. She and Ichigo had split up earlier, but there was something she couldn't quite place, a feeling on the edge of her perception, like something in the corner of your eye.

It all quickly makes sense as soon as she catches sight of the familiar figure--seems they have another friend from home. From the top of the wall she leaps down gracefully to land near the two of them (and if she maybe lands a little behind Ichigo and out of his direct line-of-sight, well), looking much as she did the last time Ishida would have seen her--not that she knows that--lieutenant's badge and all.]

Ishida!

[And she actually seems not-unhappy about his presence, but that's only because it's nice to see a familiar face.]

What's this about parallel universes?

[Oh, hey. Rukia's here. Cool. Saves him a network call.]

He's right. It's not important right now. I'll worry about it when I get back.

[He looks at Ishida, suddenly serious.]

So...everything's okay at home?

[Ichigo wants to know. It's a weird feeling, knowing there's a you at home, living your life, and it's a little bit lonely to realize no one at home even knows you're gone. But outweighing that is the comfort that comes from knowing everything's all right on the home front, that he's not letting anyone down by not having found a way home yet. He'll deal with whatever temporal-disturbance parallel-universe nerd mumbo jumbo is happening when it's the problem in front of him. For now, knowing everyone's all right is good enough.]

[ Kuchiki-san had not been suppressing her reiatsu. Uryuu's preoccupation with the topic almost left him oblivious to her approach, but only almost, the peripheral awareness sharpening into clarity as she dropped into view, a neat landing.

Uryuu looks at her, his face softening, brightening, into something like a smile. His eyes flick deliberately to Kurosaki before, back to her, he greets, ]

Kuchiki-san. It's nice to see you.

[ Even if she is a Shinigami, even if this is an alien cavern that they are supposedly trapped in, she is both a familiar face and familiar reiatsu. She looks precisely as she had the last time Uryuu saw her, and given the confusion with Kurosaki, it is a relief.

So it is nice, even if he was mostly just saying that to parrot Kurosaki's words.

He might then have explained what he knew about parallel universes, though in this he's hardly an expert, but Kurosaki shifts gears. He must be Kurosaki. Kuchiki-san, too, would know, and though it's early, she gives no indication of otherwise.

Uryuu nods. ]

Of course.

[ However he tries to make sense of it, it seems to hold that wherever they were taken from and wherever they are, one or both of them will still be there. If not, they simply have to trust the others. With Hollows, that's fine, isn't it? ]

[It's easy to fall into a natural rhythm with the two of them, her body language relaxed and comfortable. Clearly, she hasn't got any doubts about Ichigo being who he says he is. It's a real question if she's even noticed the pink bleeding into his spirit ribbon just yet, but she hasn't had much reason to check yet.]

[Even though he says everything's fine at home, that only means in the living world, since that's as far as Ishida would know. So while it eases one worry, it doesn't really help with all the others.]

And you, even given circumstances. It's relieving to hear things are fine in Karakura.

[He rolls his eyes behind Ishida's back. Or, if Ishida is facing him, he rolls them in front of Ishida. Ichigo really doesn't give a shit if Ishida sees it or not.

But there's something more important.]

I've got one more question.

Did anyone else from home arrive here today?

[It's a question he'd have been able to answer on his own if he had his powers. That's one aspect of it he misses most tangibly: he's never quite gotten used to not being able to sense spiritual energy. Numb to its loss, maybe, but never accustomed to it.]

[ Yeah, he can see that. It only makes it more worth it, Kurosaki. His lips twitch, but he suppresses most of the smirk, a task made easier when Kuchiki-san speaks.

The specification grounds him, and reminds him of where he was remiss, a careless assumption: he cannot speak for Soul Society. He cannot speak for any world but the human world, but Karakura Town. A relief to Kurosaki, perhaps, but a narrow one. Uryuu won't feel badly about it -- it's hardly his responsibility, Soul Society, even Hueco Mundo. Let the Shinigami mind their business, as poorly as they do it.

Yet, that's what Kuchiki-san would probably like to do, and he can say nothing. He would say, looking at her, that at the end of April Kurosaki had been there, a renewed Shinigami, a visit for a corpse, and Uryuu understood that it had been just the same.

Two weeks since then. How much to say? Uryuu meets her eyes, the words hesitant on his tongue, the problem of Kurosaki -- and Kurosaki diverts.

So the pink, whatever it meant, hadn't helped there. Uryuu shakes his head, his eyes returning to Kurosaki. ]

Not unless they were suppressing their reiatsu, and even then... there's no chance I missed anyone.

[ Uryuu's sensitivity has been extremely good for years, and he's only honed it, improved it. It isn't boasting if it's a fact. He'd searched. They couldn't block out their reiraku. He's sure of it. ]

[Absolutely she would, the lieutenant's badge tied to her arm a silent testament to that. Her squad and the people entrusted to her, if nothing else. Ishida can't give her any reassurances there, as far as she knows. But that's ok, even if she's still the only shinigami here. She's used to being alone.

Besides, everything Ishida has to say, that he isn't saying now, it will all come tumbling out at some point, she's sure of it. For now, she's ignorant of what is to come, back home, save for the most basic and bare-bones outline of Urahara's future plan. It isn't as if there's anything they can do about it here, after all.]

I haven't sensed anyone else either.

[A moment's thought, then:]

Though I suppose if someone like Kojima-san or Arasawa-san came through it would be somewhat difficult to tell immediately...

[He glances at Ishida. No, Ichigo thinks, I don't think he would have missed that. If Ishida says no one from home's here, that's good enough for me.

He gives a shrug.]

That's all I wanted to know.

Guess it's our turn to answer questions.

[ Less likely he would have missed Arisawa-san or Kojima-kun, given his familiarity with their reiatsu. However, there could be strangers, people he's never met. It isn't as if their entire world is Karakura Town, however much it sometimes feels that way. ]

If you can. That guide made it sound as if there's not much more out there.

[ Uryuu pulls the phone from his pocket. It's a nicer model than Urahara-san gave him. Newer, newer than anything in their world, but it doesn't seem by much. A few years? ]

Kurosaki said three months. How long have you been here, Kuchiki-san?

I've been here two months, so I don't know how much I'll be able to answer. Besides, it's been... busy.

[Zombies, candy, monsters, power failures (of the literal sort), things haven't seemed to slow down much for this place since she arrived.]

Though, it seems this place turns spirit bodies corporeal, or something similar.

[Thus explaining why Ichigo has almost no power, but this is still a conversation between the three of them.]

[While Rukia answers, Ichigo pulls out his phone and starts flipping through the newbie guide.]

Yeah, something like that. I haven't asked how it works, but Hope could probably tell you.

[Ew. He's glad he wasn't here for the wendigo thing. That sounds real gross. One near-zombie experience is enough for him, kthx.]

Man, Mello's an asshole, but I've got to admit, he's pretty thorough. The only thing he left out that I can think of is the city guard.

Busy? What's happened?

[ In fact, Uryuu had not realized there was anything strange in it, because Kurosaki's reiatsu had already been different. That faint pink. So accustomed himself to interacting with Kuchiki-san, and so focused on Kurosaki and his puzzle, he startles now to realize, yes, she's in a body, or has been made corporeal.

It's frankly embarrassing it took having it pointed out, but his curiosity overpowers it. If it had been Kurosaki, like when Kon took over his body, he'd probably have started poking her. For obvious reasons he doesn't do that, but he does reach for his glasses, leaning, peering. ]

Oh.

[ Cool, Uryuu, very cool. It's a wondering, thoughtful Oh, anyway. ]

Maybe it's self-explanatory.

[She raises her eyebrows just a little at him when he leans in, but she'll allow it, for now. As long as he doesn't poke her. Then he might get smacked, but she's pretty sure he knows that.]

Wandering monsters, candy coming from everywhere all of a sudden, there was a week where no one's powers would work right at all, gods, zombies...

[There's the slightest hesitation before that last one, and her eyes flick to Ichigo, then away. Clearly the zombies were a bigger deal, for some reason, than all of those other things.]

[She shrugs regarding the City Guard. That's more Ichigo's speed, though it does seem to be missing. Though maybe it is something she should look into herself, if she's going to be here long...]

[He does the same -- a glance in her direction, not even long enough to make eye contact, then away.

But she left explaining the guard to him, so he'll pick up where she left off.]

He could at least have mentioned it. The headquarters is even marked on the map, but Mello's acting like it doesn't exist!

[r u d e]

....Why all of that? What kind of place is this?

[ Candy, abilities going haywire, zombies? Something else Mello-san's guide left out, not that he's realized it: what the gods regularly do. He read they influence emotion, read that they'd once contaminated the meat, but he hasn't seen the murals yet. The guide doesn't say, a god monthly does something to draw out an emotion.

It all sounds like nonsense.

But, abruptly, more importantly -- he notices those looks, that exchange that is just short of an exchange.

Uryuu Ishida does not pry, so he doesn't point out how obvious they're being, but he takes note. ]

I guess you joined the guard.

[ Deadpan. Kurosaki wouldn't be complaining otherwise. ]

[Since all three of them are ignoring the thing they're not telling him lurking beneath those abortive glances it gets swept under the rug of the continuing conversation as Rukia tries to explain this whole god thing even though she only barely gets it herself.]

The gods, they... use us? Like a power source. And they do things, cause things to happen, to elicit emotions. Or sometimes they just mess things up, I think.

[Looking at you here, Confusion, looking at you Hope and Delight.]

[But, ah, it's nice to have someone to tag-team the Ichigo-teasing with again, it really is.]

Why, however did you guess, Ishida-san?

[...

fuck you both]

So what if I did?

They use us? And we're supposed to believe something they call a Door brought us here, without their input?

[ Even if he does choose to believe that, that makes their refusal to say where it is make sense. It makes sense, sure, but it isn't acceptable.

He might have begun down a path of building indignation, but for the distraction of Kurosaki.

Kurosaki, who is so, so easy. ]

[ Naturally, he lifts his hand, pushing at his glasses. ]

I wonder, Kuchiki-san.

[ There's humor in his voice. ]

Nothing. It's just like you.

[ And it is. Good thing his hand's in front of his face. It gives him time to suppress a smile that'd be much too soft for his pride. ]

[Ahh, it is so wonderfully easy to rile Ichigo up. Brings a little light to these crappy cave days.]

[Since, well, yes, some things kind of suck.]

Yes, that is what I gather. By producing emotional responses they... [Here she shrugs a little, not understanding precisely how this works.] It's not as if they drain us of these emotions, we still feel them, but...

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liketeenspirit - 2016-11-03 18:06 (UTC) - Expand

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Intro Log: HOLY F^K THAT'S A F&KI%G DRAGON

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apologies for the short tag, hit me up if you want me to elaborate

please elaborate. 1/2

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