Intro Log: I'll Cry If I Want To

[hadrielmods]

Who: New arrivals and everyone else!
What: The intro log for December
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: December 10th-14th
Warnings: Angry crying ladies and a bunch of newbies

Good morning, new Hadrielites! What a joy it is to awaken on the hard ground of the colosseum, with absolutely no idea where you are or what's going on. As you wake up, confused and possibly a little terrified, you may be angry. You may be frightened. You may be hungry, if you didn't eat a good lunch. You may want to cry.

And it looks like you're not the only one who wants to cry. Along with the newcomers, a number of Witches have come to Hadriel. They stand in one place or wander, crying bitterly, as if their boyfriend has broken up with them or they've lost their puppy. Maybe you're a good person who wants to see if they're okay? Well, you might want to rethink that. Disturb a Witch - which is pretty easy to do - and they'll fly into a rage, attacking you with their sharp claws and tearing your guts out. Good luck trying to get out of the colosseum without running into one!

Don't worry, though. Scattered around is also some stuff that's a little more fun! The Door's theme this month seems to be 'stuff stressed-out executives would put on their desks', and since we've got so many of those, surely you can find a toy or two to play with!

If you've managed to avoid getting clawed to bits and maybe found a cool new distraction or two, congrats! That's the first step to becoming a productive member of Hadriel society! Now, feel free to go explore the rest of the city! Find a house, a new monster, a project to help with, or simply scavenge for supplies. Good luck, and enjoy your stay in Hadriel!

► This log covers December 10th-14th.
► 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!

Comments

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha can picture all too easily what that would look like in this situation.]

No, you would want to keep your distance.

[At least as much as possible in this situation.]

[zen_en_vert]

Exactly.

[She's always understood.]

So- what am I missing, from the orientation talk?

[outstandingbalance]

Between you, a couple other chatty customers and the guide they upload on your phone...

[She knows she's missing things. A lot, probably.]

No glaring gaps.

[Though that doesn't mean she doesn't have any questions.]

Where are you staying?

[zen_en_vert]

I keep an apartment, but now I'm back to spending most nights in the clinic cots. We try to keep someone on call, and staff has been depleted, lately.

People vanish from Hadriel. Some say they die, some say they're sent home- I don't honestly know. I assume it must be an ending of some kind, otherwise I'm sure Steve would have taken both of us aside for a private conversation at some point along the line.

There were other people from home here before him, you should know.

[outstandingbalance]

If someone killed Captain America before he was Captain America, though... that would have consequences.

[Isn't that how it would work? Natasha's clearly read less sci-fi than Bruce.]

Who else?

[She's already weighing the potential possibilities.]

[zen_en_vert]

It's more likely we're snipped out of our respective timelines, carbon copies of the original version, then sent home.

When I arrived here, it was me, our Steve, and Tony- three versions of us who remembered one another. Both vanished. Then Wanda Maximoff arrived, then a version of you did, then the older version of Steve and his Bucky, then you left, then the Vision, then Pietro Maximoff. Wanda and Vision are gone, I've lost track of Pietro, and you say we've lost Steve-

[Because he knows he should cover this properly;]

You were here before. Your hair was different. You were a lot angrier with me.

[outstandingbalance]

[If the gods are capable of it, copies makes a certain amount of sense. It would also mean they're entirely disposable.

Not a nice thought. She saves it for later.

As for the rest, she considers how and if she should respond to it. It seems worthwhile not glossing over that entirely.]

A little more time and perspective, I guess.

[Natasha isn't the kind of person to stay bitter when things don't work out. At least she likes to think she's not.]

So from the sound of it, there's a good chance I won't be the last one showing up here. That's a lot of turnover.

[zen_en_vert]

Or maybe I was still swallowed up in enough guilt that I read into it.

[Time and perspective certainly applies to both of them. But there, he can admit that; he felt incredibly guilty about what happened.]

You probably won't be. There may be others here already, for all I know- like I said, I've been down for the count the last little bit.

[But time to get back in the game.]

[outstandingbalance]

Well. You don't have to feel guilty. It happened.

[And he has enough guilt in his life without finding anther thing to eat himself up over. That's the last thing she wants to see.]

Guess I'll have to keep an eye out for that. Wouldn't mind having more allies I already know I can work with.

[zen_en_vert]

It didn't happen how I would have wanted it to.

[He explains- needing her to know that. But Hadriel isn't the kind of place he feels he can afford things like this, even less so than back on earth, so to her other point;]

The network is good for that. Most people keep up with it to some extent. Put up a call. Or join the guard efforts- people are trying to mobilize patrols and things.

[outstandingbalance]

Not how either of us wanted. But we both did what we had to.

[She gets it. And she agrees. The situation was different, but that didn't mean the underlying problems had changed. Not really.]

Guard efforts? You know, they leave that part out of the paperwork. Have heard that much about it.

[zen_en_vert]

Do they?

[This isn't a project he's had much to do with.]

Maybe they're crumbling. People come and go in waves- you can't keep a consistent staff together.

[outstandingbalance]

Or maybe whoever put it together figured it could wait until people found out on their own.

I'll look into it, either way.

[Not sure she'd be interested in working with them, but she'd like to know what they're about, what their presence is.]

Worth knowing who's putting what out there.

[zen_en_vert]

I'm doing a painted guide. I think the technology is both infiltrated and censored- so the writing on the colosseum walls is a working history. It hasn't gotten far, but-

[outstandingbalance]

You have evidence of that, or just a suspicion?

[The format makes it likely; Natasha doesn't actually doubt either. Especially not that it's thoroughly accessible to the gods. Censored, though... worth knowing if there's confirmation.]

I'll have a look at what you have there too.

[zen_en_vert]

Suspicion alone.

They don't get caught at it. The other main thing I suspect is that they've tried this before. Every once in a while they slip and talk about the last ones.

I don't know if they mean the people who built the city, or another set of borrowed inhabitants.

[outstandingbalance]

Someone was here before, one way or another.

[It does make a difference whether they've been trying this kidnapping racket before or not, though.

There are a lot of ugly suspicions on the table, and not without good reasons.]

So you think it was an experiment that failed and they're trying again. That about sum it up?

[zen_en_vert]

I absolutely believe that. I think in fifteen years, we'll be just another layer of ghostly architecture.

[Is his grim guess.]

I think we should try to know more about what it is they're attempting to do here.

[outstandingbalance]

It might be a little early to write us off as just an archeological anomaly for the next batch who roll through.

[Natasha doesn't think of herself as an optimist, but she is a survivor.]

[zen_en_vert]

I do admit, I intend to see what I can do about it.

[And he sounds so polite about it. Ready to go off when the time is right. They just have to survive in the mean time.]

[outstandingbalance]

I like the sound of that.

[Worse aces to have in the hole. But he'll have to hold that thought while she tries to find out what's really going on here.]

In the mean time...

[zen_en_vert]

We live. We survive whayever comes at us next. We settle you into an apartment with enough food stores to make a week.

[Ticking off the mental checklist.]

Let's go do that.

[outstandingbalance]

Reasonable goals. [Pretty much what she already had planned. At least, those were the next steps after she figured out where she stood.]

We get that, I think we can call it a productive day.

[zen_en_vert]

[He nods, and leads the way in the direction of his home. She may pick somewhere else in the long run, but good for them to at least know where the other one is to start.]

[outstandingbalance]

[It's definitely good enough for now. Natasha can figure out what she'll do in the long run later. She needs somewhere to rest, somewhere she can think over what she's learned and figure out what her next moves are going to be.]