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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[ Ash never means to wander far from the familiar safety of the house, but often times curiosity finds a way to lure her. Today, a quick visit to the stores turned into aimless wandering.

At a street junction, a voice calls, and she turns to quickly to respond. ] I can... [ try. but then her green eyes fall on him, and the word seems to fail her. her expression twists between confusion, and fear. ]

Josh?

[He didn't exactly expect to see her here, but he's sort of still trying to figure out how much of all of this is real, so he's not quite surprised, either. Still, a familiar face is a very welcome thing, and he grins like he's seeing an old friend, which he sort of is.

The confusion makes sense. The fear he doesn't really get, but this place is pretty scary, so whatever.]

Hey, Ash! What're you doing here?

[ He grins as easily as he always has, but against the freshness of his torment, it just stings. The last she'd seen him, he'd been next to her, hung up against the hard board with the saw grinding towards them. And then he screamed.

Ashley feels sick. ]

I thought you were dead. [ She had meant to answer the question, but the words tumble out unbidden. ]

[He's not sure what to say to that. He's not sure what to think about that. He'd had his plans, but - as far as Josh knows, there's no reason to think he'd be dead. Unless something happened in this place, or maybe before?

It doesn't make any sense to him, but then not much does these days.]

Well, I'm... not? [Really, what is he supposed to say?] Alive and kicking. Good as new.

I know that now. [ Ashley snaps, her lips quivering to keep her frown from deepening. She feels like an idiot for thinking going back to Blackwood had been good idea; she knew it was going to bring things up, things none of them really wanted to fess up to or accept.

Her fingers curl to form tight fists at her sides. For all that she hates what Josh has done, a small part of her accepts it as her punishment for her involvement with Hannah and Beth. ] You put us through hell, Josh. You put Chris through hell, and he didn't deserve any of it!

Whoa, hey. What are you talking about?

[He raises his hands, as if to slow her down, as if to calm her down. He's lost, completely, because he certainly hasn't wrapped his mind around the idea of coming from different times, that she might know what happened, and even if he did - well.

It's unlikely that Josh would see it quite the same way that she does.]

I didn't do anything to Chris. What, you think I'm the reason you're here?

[ Ashley sucks in air, her thoughts a dizzying rush. She wants to shout at him, to scream irrationally, but she retains control. It helps he seems off-center, confused at her accusations. It's possible, from what she knows of her own future, that he's acting: all that screaming had been acting, so why not now?

Why couldn't it just have been a normal night? Why did it have to fall apart on them? The strain of the last month has already left her emotionally raw, and she blinks back tears. ] You don't...?

[ It's more as if he doesn't remember, but, then again, it's not about what's missing, it's about what hasn't happened. She breathes carefully, trying maintain control over herself. ] What is it you last remember, Josh?

[She's clearly upset, and Josh doesn't really want to make her cry, but, well... it's Ashley, so maybe it's inevitable? He does have some creeping suspicion about what's going on, all things considered, since he did have plans before all this happened. But it's hard to believe, it really is, and maybe it'll be easier if he hears it.]

Let's see. We had that stupid ouija board. You and Chris were fucking with me.

[He says it with a bit of bite in his voice. That's not true, of course. He was fucking with them. But details.]

[ For a moment, Ashley wants to protest: it wasn't them, Josh, it was the ghost. Those words never manage to find a way out of her mouth because Ashley knows better now.

Her heart somehow manages to hurt. ]

But we both know that's not true, don't we? [ She watches him with wide eyes, tears flowing, nose a bright pink, in a way that almost seems to plead with him. Please, just let Chris have been mistaken. Let everyone have been mistaken. Because mistakes happen, and she just wants everything to be OK.

Please, be OK, Josh. ]

[He looks at her for a moment, not saying anything. Yeah. Maybe they do both know it's not true. But she clearly isn't sure, she wants it to not be what it was, and Josh thinks he could probably lie to her and reassure her and push the issue aside for awhile.

But it'd just be awhile. It wouldn't last.]

What do you think, Ash? You think someone was playing a prank on you? You'd know a lot about that, huh.

[They all would. What a funny prank, messing with Hannah like that. Hilarious.]

[ There's a moment where he says nothing, and it's that silence that cements the answer. Her heart falls to the pit of her stomach, and she feels ill. Sam, Mike, Chris... They had all told her, and she didn't not believe it (all the clues had been right there), but it's somehow so much worse to hear it from him, to really know.

It hurts more than she'd like to admit. Is that how Hannah had felt?

Her expression turns stony, and tight. ]

Good job, Josh. You really got your revenge, right? I mean, Chris and Sam had so much to do with my fuck up!

Your fuckup? You were all in that together. Nobody did anything to stop it.

[Not even Josh. In the end, he's just as responsible as the rest of them, and he's believed that for some time. But it makes sense to punish them, to make them scared the way his sisters were. None of them had to deal with the aching, empty loss afterward. Not like he did.]

But hey. You believed it, right? Pretty fucking amazing.

[ This is so messed up, Ash thinks. It's like she's part of some movie that went from crappy slasher flick to real life Stephen King. A part of her hurts over it, but a chill overtakes it. She takes a step backward, shaking her head, not so much afraid as she is done. ]

You know, Josh, you make a real convincing psycho. [ She's done. ] I'm glad you could make it here with us.

[ There's something darkly vengeful in her, and she's had a lot of time to stew since her arrival. ] It's pretty much hell, so, I'm gonna leave you to it, all right?

[ She's moving to leave. Let him find his own way. Maybe Chris, or Sam, or Mike will find him, but that hurt part of her hopes it's a monster, and she hopes he suffers. ]

[He should probably stop her. On some level, Josh knows that. He has absolutely no idea where he is or what he's doing, where to go or what places might be safe - or dangerous. Ashley definitely knows more than him. He should stop her, he should - maybe apologize or something.

But he doesn't. He crosses his arms, letting her walk away, because it's clear she just doesn't understand. She doesn't appreciate what Josh did. She should. He worked real hard.]

Oh, come on. Don't be mad just 'cause you couldn't handle it!

[He shouts after her as she walks away, because he's not quite in the right state of mind to stop himself from making it all worse.]

You should be thanking me!

[ That emotional part of her wants to turn around, and scream at him—to berate him for those things he did that broke some part of her. She wants to let him know exactly what she's doing, and why, but she keeps walking. She continues onward.

She turns a corner.

And then she runs.

As fast, and as far as her legs can take her. As far away from him as she can. A small part of her regrets it immediately. This action will have consequences, between herself and Josh certainly, but maybe even with the others. But what's done is done.

And as far as she's concerned, Josh deserves it. ]

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INTRO LOG: A TAXING JOURNEY

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