INTRO LOG: A TAXING JOURNEY

[hadrielmods]

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!

Comments

Kamina | TTGL | OTA

[themightykamina]

i. Arrival, and who needs shoes anyway?!

[Kamina wakes up choking. Not really a surprise, only he didn't expect to be waking up at all. Not after an injury like that. Not much time to think about any of that though as he spasms with a cough, coming up to all fours and finally clearing the dust from his lungs. Dust? It'd been raining when he...]

[Red eyes open one at a time, a look of confusion on his face.]

What the hell...?

[He's on his feet (his bare feet?) in a heartbeat, drawn up to his full six feet and change, checking the cape over his shoulders, feeling at his waist for the sword thrust through his belt. The hallway catches his eye and he's moving for it with long strides, but stops when he gets to the pile of shoes. Weird shoes. Are those...teeth? He pokes among the pile with his sheathed sword, finally uncovering one sandal with a shout of triumph. One down, one to go!]

The hell kind of enemy takes a man's shoes?

ii. Wow, you're one ugly worm!

[Even with the door open, this hall is dark. Luckily, he's used to half-light, and doesn't trip--even when he hears the clicking, the rustling, an unnerving hiss coming from the darkness ahead of him. Instead, he stands firm in the middle of the hallway.]

Hey, don't just hide in the dark! Come on out!

[He maybe regrets those words just a little when he sees the first giant bug click into view, hissing and salivating. But the mighty Kamina doesn't run, and all he does is pull his sword from its sheath with a ringing sound, grinning.]

Man, look at that face! If you wanna fight, better come on, then! I've got places to be!

iii. Underground again?!
[He managed to make it through the hall, even with all those weird bugs, but now he's disappointed to find he's back....underground? Kamina stands in the middle of a wide thoroughfare, staring up at the cave roof far overhead, a thoroughly disgruntled look on his face.]

Geez, you gotta be kidding me! I just made it out of the last pit! This has to be a joke. [Louder:] Yoko! Simon! Kittan?? Come on, guys, this is a joke, right?!

iii

[isacrowd]

[What's that sound? Seems like someone who's just arrived. Huh. Z hadn't been sure this would keep happening, but hey, that's one less thing she needs to worry about trying to figure out.

She's got a basket of food in her hand from her "shopping" trip just now, and it's with that in hand that she approaches him, calm as anything, an eyebrow arched and an apologetic smile on her face.] Not a joke, sorry. It'd be a really bad one if it were.

[themightykamina]

[Kamina looks down from his staring contest with the ceiling, still looking clearly disgruntled.]

You're telling me, pits are the worst. How do I get outta here?

[isacrowd]

If I knew, I would've left weeks ago.

[Z shrugs. Sorry, guy.]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we probably won't be getting out of here anytime soon.

[themightykamina]

What?! Aw, man--I can't believe my bro would just leave me here right after we won and everything! You're sure there's no way out, no tunnels to the surface or anything?

[He's gotta have some hope! Maybe there's something, and this lady just hasn't found it yet!]

[isacrowd]

There are tunnels, but as far deep as I've been able to get, there are just monsters and more tunnels.

[She's still annoyed by that. She'd thought she'd be able to reach the outside by way of replica eventually, and yet here she still is.

Not that she's giving up. Just, a change of plans is in order.]

Anyway, I'm Z.

Sorry for the late! No pressure to reply!

[themightykamina]

The monsters gotta come from somewhere, right? Maybe there's an exit no one's found yet! [More monsters? Man, good thing he's armed. At her introduction, he straightens up, crossing tattooed arms over his bare chest.]

I'm Kamina! Leader of Team Dai-Gurren! Up on the surface, me and my team are kind of a big deal.

iii.

[bekommen]

Fucking hell.

[Nick makes an exaggerated show of covering her ears as she glares over at - whoever this idiot is.]

Didn't anyone ever teach you about fucking volume control? Christ.

[themightykamina]

[Whoops. Sorry about that. Didn't see you there. Actually, probably not sorry about that. He doesn't look sorry, anyway, just irritated.]

The hell are you talking about?

[bekommen]

[The hell indeed; it's not as if Nick is the meek, quiet type herself. She rolls her eyes.]

Volume control. That thing you learn when you're a kid that means you don't go around fucking shouting and making other people deaf. Duh.

[Except this guy obviously didn't.]

[themightykamina]

Yeah, sorry, I must have missed that one.

[Well, at least his voice is slightly approaching normal levels for that sentence. Not that he seems concerned about her ear drums or anything.]

Listen, you seen a blue-haired kid around anywhere? About this tall? Or what about a giant red gunman?

[bekommen]

No shit.

[Obvious statement is obvious. Nick digs into her pockets and produces a battered pack of cigarettes and a lighter, then taps a cigarette out of the pack, places it between her lips, and lights the end. She's been trying hard to ration them out, make what she has last, but Jesus, this guy is irritating.]

Do I look like a fucking information booth?

[Smoke curls out of her mouth as she sharpens her gaze on him.]

[themightykamina]

[Her irritation only gets her a roll of his eyes and a groan.]

You look like a real pain in my ass, lady. Would it kill ya just to say no? Whatever, I'll find him myself.

ii

[amos_moses]

Amos is of the opinion shouting at the hungry insect-creatures is a damn poor idea, but this guy looks like he can handle himself, what with the sword and the muscles and the cape. Either he knows what he's doing, or he's about to get eaten alive, one or the other.

Amos would have been perfectly fine with using the other guy as a distraction to sneak past, but unfortunately he doesn't have the chance to try. There's another set of the ugly insects sneaking up from the hallway Amos had been trying to get down, and he backs slowly away. He only has a few short knives, and the one gun he does have is in the bottom of his backpack.

"...shit."

[themightykamina]

Hey, this guy's not far off. That's one of the reasons he wears the cape. So people know that he's a real badass, and not to screw around with him. At least he's holding the sword like he knows how to use it, right?

The centipede thing keeps approaching, clicking towards Kamina, and he's entirely focused on it--until he hears that voice right behind him. Looking back over his shoulder, he grins. "Hey, don't worry. We can totally take these guys, no problem!"

Though he might have spoken too soon, judging by the sounds in the darkness...

[amos_moses]

Amos refrains from retorting maybe YOU can and instead informs his newfound ally: "There's a lot of them, an' they're hungry. At least five coming our way, maybe more."

It's hard to count when each thought is the same overwhelming chorus of hungryhungryhungry, and Amos has never been all that great with insects to start with. He's pretty sure the only reason he can read the minds of these is because they're so big...and so focused on eating.

[themightykamina]

"Five? They should have brought their buddies!" Kamina sounds cocky, confident, totally not worried at all as he takes up a stance, readying his weapon and charging at the centipede waving its pincers wildly at him. He ducks the first swipe of claws and spins, slicing the thing's belly open and bouncing back, waiting for it to fall and the others to run.

He maybe isn't expecting the hissing in the hallway to double in volume, or for the centipedes right behind the injured one to...

"...Are they....eating him?!"

[amos_moses]

Amos scrambles back at two giant centipedes lunge past him, hands rising to press over his ears. It doesn't help dim the mental volume, the sheer overwhelming rush of the bloodlust and feeding frenzy, but some reactions are just automatic.

Gasping to catch his breath, feeling rattled between the ears, Amos puts up as much of a mental shield as he can, and reaches out to grab Kamina by the elbow. "They are. Move before they eat us!" He pulls, but he's a little dazed and definitely nowhere as big as Kamina: it probably doesn't have much effect.

[themightykamina]

Kamina gets another couple blows in as the newcomers rush towards him, taking off a couple legs, leaving a wound across another's upper body, but it's like they don't even really notice as they join the feeding frenzy. He stares at the tangled knot of hissing and screeching creatures for a minute before he realizes the little guy is talking to him.

"Huh?...oh! Yeah, come on!" Sword in one hand, he grabs the new guy's hand with his left, wheeling and taking them down a new hallway. "You know where these things are coming from?" The hissing isn't really getting quieter, after all...

iii

[imobouzu]

[ A boy blinks in confusion at the man. He's a little stained in blood, but none of it is his own. He knows how to fight bugs.

Either way, he's confused at the man's words, and most names that he calls out. ]

Do they joke a lot like this?

[ He is also a little loud. ]

[themightykamina]

[Kamina looks down from his yelling at the ceiling to find the source of this new voice, dropping his hands to his sides again.]

Well--not usually. I mean, Yoko might try and get them to dump me somewhere for a while, but Simon would never leave me. He's my bro!

[imobouzu]

I see! Then perhaps you have been separated from them and they must be searching for you, just as my comrades must be!

[themightykamina]

You got split up from your buddies, too? It sucks, right?

How about you stick with me? We gotta be able to find them, with two of us looking!

((sorry for the lateness, feel free to handwave/drop this!))

[imobouzu]

Indeed! I have all confidence in their abilities, however, they will be able to protect themselves until I am able to find them!

If you want my company, I do not mind searching together!

[themightykamina]

Alright! Let's do this! You can be an honorary member of Team Dai-Gurren until we find your friends! What's your name, kid?