hadriel_logs | INTRO LOG: A TAXING JOURNEY

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INTRO LOG: A TAXING JOURNEY

Who: New arrivals and everyone else!
What: The intro log for December. Watch your step!
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: December 10th-17th
Warnings: Taxxon-related violence, teeth shoes, general unpleasantness, mass confusion.

You wake up in the dust of the colosseum with no shoes on, regardless of the state of your feet when you arrived. There's dust covering your clothing and in your hair, but other than that, there's no signs of injury or bruising. You're also not alone- nearby, there are others, either still passed out or just waking up like you are. Feel free to take solace in that fact. Or don't- some of you aren't human, and are clearly not great people either. No offense.

To your left, there is a door in the wall of the arena, supposedly leading to the halls which will then show you to your freedom. To your right, and scattered haphazardly on the ground, are a myriad of teeth shoes. These shoes might be better than going barefoot right now, but good luck finding a matching set, let alone one that fits you.

When you do eventually try to escape, be careful. The halls are crawling with Taxxons. Large and grotesque, these caterpillar-like creatures have circular mouths and multiple rows of sharp teeth. Their sense of smell is impeccable, and they will stop at nothing to feed when they scent blood. So, you know, try to avoid stepping on anything sharp on your way out.

All done with the horrible monsters and awkward greetings? Try your hand at exploring the rest of the city! Find a house, find a new monster, or simply scavenge for supplies until your little heart is content. Good luck, and enjoy your stay in Hadriel!

► This log covers December 10th-17th.
► Feel free to make your own logs, as well!
► Characters may find their own shoes scattered around with the teeth shoes if you like.
► All characters now arrive with phones that have network communication.
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!

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[He shoots Chris a look, mostly disbelief but some small amount of surprise. At some point, Josh has to start believing the things he hears, since people are saying them over and over. This whole thing might be some kind of psychotic break, but at some point you need to start believing it. Right?]

Gods? Seriously?

[The cave thing can't actually be denied. Josh can look up and see the ceiling above them, and that's proof enough. He feels unbalanced, adrift, like this whole thing is making everything more difficult. He had plans. This is - something else entirely.]

Like the monsters in that arena thing? Hey, man, I'm glad you survived, I guess. Your leg's ok?

That's what they say there are, anyway.

[He's not totally sure they're telling the truth, but after wendigos he's less inclined toward disbelief. Whatever Hope and Fear are--gods or not--it seems like they're powerful enough it doesn't matter at the moment.

The spiral street that the house is on is in view, though of course they picked a house in the very center of it.]

Yeah. Ended up in a dead-end in the arena so me and the guy I was with decided to go out the window.

[Not actually a terrible plan, and he probably would've been totally fine if he hadn't already injured his leg earlier, but whatever. He glances back toward Josh again, then forward towards the house once more.]

Thanks. You too.

[It's hard to say, and even harder to keep his voice at least sort of convincing even, but he does his best. Because Josh didn't survive at home, at least not as far as he knows, but thinking about that right now isn't going to help anything. Just let him think he means about the arena for now.]

It's uh... Not great, but a lot better than before, yeah. I think it'll be fine.

[Something's up. Josh isn't always the most observant person in the world, especially when he's occupied with his own problems and emotions, but he can pick that much up, at least. Only there's all kinds of explanations - just being stuck in this weird place is probably enough. He doesn't think that's it, though.]

Hey, I guess if there's no other way out, the window works. Look at you, action hero.

[Josh figures he just has to try to roll with everything, at least for now. There's a part of him that's frustrated - he had plans, and being here doesn't change any of that, Hannah and Beth are still dead, someone deserves to pay. But there's nothing he can do. Not right now.]

So this place you've got, there's no monsters there, right? Man, I feel like I should get a gun or something. Or an axe. Shit's dangerous.

[He looks at Chris, watching him for a minute while they walk.]

What's up, man?

[He gives a small sound that's somewhere between a scoff and a weak attempt at a laugh at the action hero comment, because normally he'd make a joke but there's nothing coming to mind. At least nothing he wants to bring up just yet, involving a wendigo and a shotgun.

Although Josh's next comment does hit pretty close.]

You can manage to find a gun here and we'll all be pretty happy. But yeah, no, no monsters in the house. Not yet, anyway.

[They're definitely worried about the possibility in the future, and they really do need some sort of defense. Relying on luck isn't exactly the smart way to go about things, but it's about all they've been able to do so far.

The silence while they walk is nice, but he doesn't miss that Josh is watching him even though he's trying to ignore it. Focus on the house, and on making sure there's nothing sneaking up on them, and on being careful as he walks.

The question isn't super surprising, but it still causes a moment of tension--mostly from a bunch of clashing emotions that are totally not useful right now--and it's another few seconds before he replies.]

Let's just get to the house, bro.

[Because if they start talking here it's a great way to get ambushed by a monster or something. He's not so sure he wants to go into any of this at all, but it's not like just ignoring it's going to be possible. It wouldn't be possible even if it was just him and Josh, let alone with all the others there as well, and it's probably best if Chris is the one to bring it up first.]

I'll explain inside.

[They're almost there, and he gestures vaguely toward the building.]

All right.

[But is it all right, though? Probably not. Obviously something is up, and probably something pretty big if Chris doesn't really want to talk about it right now. Then again, it's just safer inside, and apparently there are monsters, so - he's just being smart about it.

Still. Something's up. Josh doesn't like it, it's making him itchy and kinda paranoid, and he can't exactly think what it could be, except - well. It could be a lot of things. Josh has been keeping more than a few secrets, after all, and for all he knows it's something totally different. Something unexpected and crazy, like this whole place.

Like that house, because what the fuck?]

Dude, are you messing with me? That's not a house. It's like... an alien nursery, or something.

[Though he has to admit it does look like most of the other buildings here, so he shouldn't be so surprised. Still, he pretty much had to comment on it, it was required.]

You've seriously been living here?

[At least Josh is willing to drop it for the next few minutes; in addition to getting inside and safe, that means Chris has a little more time to try to figure out what to lead with.

The comments about the house are so normal and to be expected that they're somehow the opposite; Chris casts a somewhat incredulous expression toward Josh, though his response isn't particularly biting.]

Surprisingly enough, a weird looking house is better than nowhere when you're in a cave full of monsters. And yeah, for like a month; don't touch the buttons on anything until one of explains what they do, by the way.

[Chris leads the way in, shutting the door behind Josh and then continuing toward the living room. Okay, they're inside and semi-safe and no one else seems to be around at the moment, so...

He stops and turns back toward Josh, and what little plans he had for how to broach the topic go right out the window.]

Dude, what the fuck.

[On some level he probably meant to put anger behind the words, but it just comes out tired and vaguely irritated.]

It was morning on February 3rd for me before I woke up in this place. All of us know about the prank, okay.

[Well, that's... not exactly what Josh expected to hear. But really, what did he expect? He doesn't know. But not that, even though once he hears it, it sort of makes sense. Something about timelines, Chris' attitude. Whatever.

There are a lot of things that he should say, but somehow the first thing that comes out of his mouth is:]

So, how'd it go?

[Because he invested time in that. Time, money, effort. A certain amount of emotion, as much as he can invest emotion in anything these days, which is difficult and confusing and usually painful. Things have always been difficult for Josh, but everything was worse after he lost Beth and Hannah. That - the prank - was inevitable, really. Surely they must see that. They deserved to understand what it was like, what they'd done.

They still do. It's less satisfying since Josh wasn't there to see it.

Fucked up, though. He does know that. Somewhere, he feels guilty, but there are so many other things that it's easy to not pay attention to it.]

Pretty fucking amazing, right?

[Likewise, that isn't the response Chris is expecting. Sure, Josh hadn't really been anything approaching apologetic when everything had happened at home, but he'd also been acting completely erratically at that point. But with Josh like he is here, and had been earlier in the night at home, the utter lack of any sense of understanding or remorse is a cold shock.

Anger flashes through him, almost overwhelming, but it lasts only a moment before being replaced with some nauseating combination of hurt and guilt and realization. How had he missed that something was this wrong for this long? It's suddenly like he's not even talking to Josh, but like someone he doesn't know and can't predict, and he would be second-guessing his decision to bring Josh to the house if it weren't for that he absolutely won't abandon him again.

He can't muster up enough anger once again to respond the way he wants to Josh's actual questions, so he ignores them entirely in favor of asking one of his own.]

How long have you been off your meds?

[Because that's a lot more important an issue right now, for many reasons.]

[The question throws Josh off his conversational stride, makes him pause. He could dissemble, pull the whole 'what do you mean, off my meds' thing, but Chris' tone of voice doesn't seem particularly open to that sort of persuasion. Anyway, what's wrong with it? Josh can make his own decisions about the drugs he's taking.]

They weren't doing shit anyway.

[That's not entirely true. They did help some, but the side effects weren't worth it, and after everything - after Beth and Hannah, after all his decisions - they just weren't worth it in general.]

I see things a lot more clearly without them.

[It was the right decision. Josh is certain of this.]

You really believe that?

[It's a challenge more than a question, because he can already guess the answer. And sure, Josh may seem more or less okay at the moment, but he's already seen just how quickly Josh can slide from this fake normalcy right into the sort of erratic behavior he showed in the shed.

Not to mention that the fact that Josh had gone through with the prank he'd planned at all kind of indicates his judgement probably isn't as good as he thinks it is.

But it's not like they have access here to any of the type of medication Josh needs, so ultimately it's a moot point on that front, but Chris knows enough to be pretty sure you're not just supposed to stop psychiatric drugs.]

A-and you didn't actually answer me.

I know it.

[Josh has been on and off so many medications, in and out of hospitals, he's tried so many things - or his parents have - that honestly he's not entirely sure what feeling normal would look like for him. Maybe not this, but he doesn't feel sluggish and half-dead either, he feels things more vividly, both good and bad.

It sure seems like seeing things more clearly. It helped him figure everything out, helped him go through with things. Only he didn't, now, he hasn't. It's frustrating.]

I don't know, man. Not that long.

[He shrugs, like it doesn't even matter at all.]

Don't worry, bro. I got it covered. I know - I knew - exactly what I was gonna do.

Yeah, well, I don't think everything went exactly like you planned.

[The prank itself probably did, but beyond that... Everything had just gone so incredibly wrong that this conversation shouldn't even be possible. He'd never expected to even talk to Josh again.

And really thinking about that makes this conversation even more difficult, because he doesn't know how much to say but at the same time doesn't want to just let Josh go on thinking what he did was both justified and all under control.

And, on some level, he doesn't want to be angry or upset or whatever it is he's feeling at all. It would be so much better if they could just ignore everything and go back to just being friends--but had they been? Josh had said that everything he'd done had been about the twins, but is it possible to take that level of revenge against people and still consider them your friends?

He doesn't know, and he's too afraid of the answer to ask.

Josh's answer about his medication isn't all that helpful but he's pretty sure it's the best he's going to get, so he just resolves to watch him carefully for any signs of withdrawal or whatever, not that he knows what to look for. And not that he wouldn't have been watching him closely anyway, and doubtlessly so will the others, so he should probably mention...]

The others like... They know about the whole thing. Not just what you did, but like, the rest.

[So that secret's out and all. He'd feel guilty about telling them if it hadn't been kind of important in why Josh was acting how he was.]

The rest? What do you mean, the rest?

[They were going to find out anyway. Wasn't that the whole point? Scare the shit out of them, get some revenge for Hannah and Beth, film it all and stick it on Youtube. They've all pranked each other before, but this - this would be the pinnacle, like nothing any of them had done before or since, something really worth a million views.

And in the process maybe they'd learn what it feels like to be terrified and alone and betrayed. Maybe they'd feel some of what his sisters had felt.

But in the end, Josh wanted them to know about it, wanted them to know why, to really understand. If they could. He barely understood, sometimes, but he'd make it as easy as he could for them. Maybe they could see things from his perspective.

He doesn't really know what Chris means by 'the rest', though. There's only what Josh did. That's all that matters.]

Hey, you saw it, though, right? Pretty fucking amazing. You should all be impressed.

The rest like... That you're supposed to be on meds in the first place. Seemed kind of important to mention since Mike was pretty ready to beat your face in.

[Sure that had been because of Jess more than anything else, but still. He doesn't know if it's best to explain about the wendigo thing at all, but it's not like it would stay secret.]

A-and stop saying that. It wasn't amazing, okay, we thought you were dead.

[And that had only been the start, of course, but he really doesn't want to talk about it, especially not when Josh seems so pleased with the whole thing.]

Not really your story to tell, bro.

[He can't get that upset about it, though. It's not like it was a huge secret, Josh having some trouble every now and then, though he was pretty good at keeping the extent of it covered up. So maybe it's a violation of privacy, maybe it's really not Chris' right to tell other people about Josh's illness, but whatever. It pales in comparison to everything else.]

Ah, come on. It was genius, and you believed it.

[And that's sort of - well, gratifying, really. Maybe Josh hadn't been there, maybe he didn't experience it himself, but knowing that Chris believed it is a victory.

Some part of him knows that's fucked up, that's it's pretty awful to do that kind of thing to his friends, but it's hard to really grasp that, it's hard to understand it when his thoughts are so easily occupied with other things.]

Anyway, I'm not dead, so it's cool.

[If it weren't that he does feel guilty about telling everyone, even though he's still pretty sure it was the right thing to do in the situation, he might've offered a snippy response; Josh's comment just irritates him on a low level, because while Chris knows it wasn't really his place to tell the idea of Josh commenting on who has rights to do what sparks at the mix of confused emotions he's trying to keep under control.

So he just gets off the topic, focusing on the rest of Josh's words, and that... Doesn't help. Once again there's a flash of anger and the desire to attempt knocking the smugness out of Josh with a fist, but instead his temper comes out in his response rather than violence.]

Yeah. Sure.

Your mountain's full of fucking monsters by the way, bro.

Edited 2016-01-10 22:18 (UTC)

[Chris is clearly kind of pissed, and if Josh were thinking more clearly he'd understand why. But if Josh were thinking more clearly, a lot of things would never have happened. As it is, he just finds himself getting kind of irritated too. He did something incredible, he's pretty sure, even if he wasn't there and he doesn't remember it. He figured Chris would appreciate that, at least.

But his brow furrows for a moment, because he has no idea what the hell that is supposed to mean.]

Monsters? Nah, man, that ghost stuff was all a trick too. You figured that out, right?

Dude, I said monsters for a reason. It would've been great if you and your stupid ghosts were the only problem we had.

[But instead they'd just been split up and distracted and so focused on dealing with Josh that they'd overlooked the real threat and...

It was Josh, ultimately, that paid the biggest price for it all, and the anger that was beginning to coalesce again suddenly dissipates entirely. He sighs, shaking his head, and he sounds more tired than anything else now.]

Look, it just... I know it's hard to believe, but Mike and Sam'll tell you the same thing.

[And speaking of which, he needs to talk to them before they talk to Josh, for several reasons. And they need to figure out how to tell Josh what happened to his sisters.]

[His eyes narrow a little. Chris could be fucking with him, but it's not really like Chris to do that in a situation like this. But the alternative is just weird.]

What are you talking about? There are monsters here, yeah, but there's no such thing back home.

[And he's not even completely convinced the monsters here are real. They could still all be some kind of trick, wires and disguised animals and, he doesn't know, drugs in the air or something. You can't trust a place you've been kidnapped to.

But hey. Maybe Chris is going crazy or something. (The irony of this thought escapes Josh entirely.)]

Yeah, that's what we thought too.

[He wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen them himself; when Emily had first told them he'd certainly been skeptical, at least until the stranger had shown up. And even then it was still kind of surreal, and only really hit him after he'd gotten back to the lodge.

It's not something he wants to think too much about right now, so he continues talking instead.]

So uh... If you hear us talk about wendigos, that's why. We've got a head start on the whole dealing with monsters thing.

Yeah. Okay.

[He has to decide how much to believe. As far as he knows, Chris doesn't actually have a reason to lie to him about that, but - really? Monsters? It's unbelievable. Josh might not be totally stable, he knows that, he's known that for years, but believing in something like monsters - that's a whole different level.

It could be true. It could be. Or maybe someone tricked Chris, or maybe they've all communally decided to lie to Josh, to fuck with him like he fucked with them. Any of those things could be the case. It's impossible to know.]

So what monsters are those, then? Wendigos?

[The word seems sort of familiar, but there are all kinds of monster legends. Any one of them could seem familiar.]

[He can tell that Josh isn't totally sure about believing him, but ultimately it doesn't matter too much for the moment. As long as they're dealing with new monsters in this place then it isn't all that important for Josh to believe them on the wendigos.

Chris shifts on his feet a moment, glancing back to see if anyone else had shown up at the house--or come downstairs, whichever--but it's still just them.]

They're uh... Like big, stretched out humans, with lots of teeth and claws. They're really fast but can't see you if you don't move, and fire's the way to kill them.

[He's already pretty much given this description before, to Bob, so it's easy enough to recite it again even if there's a distant quality to his voice when he does.]

I think we... I think we torched most of them, but...

[He shrugs. They don't know how many there were--or are--after all, and it's not like that fact's all that useful to Josh either here or at home.]

[Something about the way Chris says it, the way it obviously affects him to think about it, makes it seem more real. Josh could assume it isn't, could assume that Chris doesn't know what he's talking about or maybe that they all ended up dropping acid on the mountain and seeing really weird shit, but he thinks maybe - well. Whatever else is going on, Chris seems to believe it.

And Josh doesn't really know what to think about that. He wanted to scare them (still does), wanted to make them feel a little of the pain Beth and Hannah felt (and that, too, he still feels), but he never wanted anyone to actually get hurt.

But if there were monsters on the mountain, wouldn't someone know it?]

What, they attacked you? Sounds like a shitty horror movie plot, man.

[But Josh at least believes that Chris believes it, and he's not sure what to do with that knowledge.]

Well, hey. At least you made it out okay.

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INTRO LOG: A TAXING JOURNEY

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