hadriel_logs | INTRO LOG: BLACK CATS & WALKING UNDER LADDERS

Who: New arrivals and everyone else!
What: The intro log for February.
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: February 10th-13th
Warnings: Fresh meat, creepy moving shadows, terrible luck, the screams of your loved ones.

Welcome to Hadriel, new friends. While waking up on the ground of a broken colosseum may not be the most pleasant arrival, you can at least find comfort in the fact that there's no giant monster immediately attempting to eat you. Plenty of the people already here will tell you that they weren't quite so lucky. But - wait. Is that something moving in the shadows, or is it just your imagination?

Of course it's not just your imagination. That would be way too easy. No, arriving along with everyone this time are wraiths, vengeful spirits that enjoy darkness, shadows, and misery. On the plus side, they won't try to kill you. On the minus side, their touch chills you and saps your energy, as well as inflicting a temporary curse of awful luck. Anything that can go wrong, will, including (and especially) things that might kill you. Wraiths are subtle and sneaky, so be sure to watch your back. That shadow isn't just a shadow.

Compounding the confusion the wraiths can cause, you just might wake up to the sound of chattering voices - only to be quite alone. A small flock of jabberjays has come through the Door as well. These genetically engineered birds are capable of mimicking entire human voices and conversations - as well as screams of terror and pain. Initially only in the arena and bringing only conversations from their world, they'll soon settle throughout the city and begin to learn the voices of those living in Hadriel. Your best friend screaming bloody murder just a street over? It could be them, or it could just be one of these lovely birds. Don't let it stress you out.

Once you've escaped the colosseum, hopefully without accidentally impaling yourself on your own weapon, feel free to go explore the rest of the city! Find a house, find a new monster, or simply scavenge for supplies. Good luck, and enjoy your stay in Hadriel!

► This log covers February 10th-13th.
► Feel free to make your own logs, as well!
► 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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well, they’re more agile than a plane, anyway.

[ Gansey smiles at her. There’s something about genuine enthusiasm that really appeals to him, especially when he’s telling a story. This girl makes a good listener. ]

They make quicker turns, and they’re easier to land and take off. They have more of an ordered flight than a bee, it’s not so erratic. [ A pause. ] Unless I’m flying, and then it’s very erratic.

Do you know the best thing about a helicopter, though?

[ He leans a bit closer, conspiratorial. ]

They can pause, in mid-air. They don’t have to move forward to fly. They can stop and hover, and you can see all around you. The world’s tallest building couldn’t give you a better view.

[ Arya snorts. She can imagine Gansey trying to fly a big bee machine. She can more easily imagine Gansey crashing a big bee machine, probably into a tree or something. Arya vaguely wonders if it'd catch fire. Probably.

Arya leans in too, letting the story make her forget that she doesn't trust this man, doesn't know him or his smile or his silly shoes. He's Adam's friend, though, so he can't be that bad. He certainly can't be worse than Ronan, and he didn't even stab her back after she stabbed him. Arya wouldn't blame him if he did, though. She probably deserved it. ]

So airplanes can't pause? Do you have to push them into the sky, and then they keep flying in a line until they crash back to earth? I don't think that's flying at all.

No, no, they have an engine -

[ And here Gansey pauses, his expression turning thoughtful. If this girl doesn't know planes and helicopters, there's a good chance she doesn't know engines, either. What's an easy way to explain that? ]

- hmm. That is...a machine, which burns fuel, like a fire. But instead of heat or light, it makes a different sort of energy, and that's what pushes a plane. And lifts a helicopter.

With a plane, it pushes it so fast that it begins to lift, and then it glides through the air. More like the flight of a hawk than a bee. And it holds many people, and carries them across whole oceans before it lands again.

[ Arya repeats Gansey's information to herself, silently, her mouth moving just a bit. Fire powers the helicopter, but speed powers the airplane. But what about fast fire? Could that make an extra-powerful flying machine, like a dragon? ]

So if I ran fast enough, could I fly?

[ It's a stretch, but Arya isn't ruling anything else. ]

The machines sound as if you split apart a dragon.

[ Like a dragon. That's fanciful enough to make Gansey smile, though it's tempered by his memory of the last time he actually saw a dragon. On the whole he looks indulgent, though. ]

Not without help, you couldn't. Planes aren't just fast, they have wings, too.

But there are things called hang gliders, which you can strap yourself into. They're like a very large kite. With them, you can stay airborne for a while.

A dragon would be a different prospect altogether. Especially if you could ride it. That's something I'd like to see.

[ Arya starts counting on her fingers, listing all the flying machines Gansey's world has. ]

So there is bird-flying machines, bee-flying machines, and kite machines? That's a lot.

[ Especially for someone who hasn't seen any before. ]

Oh, all the dragons died out years ago. And even if they were not dead, dragons are very dangerous. It takes a special kind of person to ride them. Most of the riders in the old days were kings and queens, Targaryens.

[ Targaryens.

That's not a word Gansey knows, but it's one he won't forget. His eyes light with obvious interest, because this is the kind of story that appeals to him. Legendary animals, kings and queens. ]

There are stories of dragons in my world, too. Typically, they involve tales of knights slaying the dragon, to protect their lands.

How did your kings and queens manage to tame them, in the stories?

[ Arya chuckles a little at the idea of taming a dragon. ]

These are no stories. These are histories. The Targaryens did not tame dragons, they merely rode them. The dragons let them. I do not know why, exactly, or how, but it is said that it has something to do with their family. That they are blood of the dragon, and as such, a sort of bond exists between dragon and rider.

Knights did kill dragons. They killed them to extinction, in the end.

Oh.

[ Gansey leans back, expression curious, though intense. He has a tendency to think about the warmer, more romantic side of these stories. The grittier side has a way of escaping him - or, perhaps he just ignores it. ]

That's not exactly a feature in the stories I know. The dragons are usually villains, trying to trick the hero, and protect their treasure.

It was never quite so real as that. Who were these Targaryens? They must have been special people.

Treasure? [ Arya frowns. Gansey must have heard some pretty strange stories. ] Dragons are wild animals. They kept no treasure.

That's what they wanted you to think. [ Arya rolls her eyes. She's too young to remember Robert's Rebellion, much less actual Targaryen rule. She's the child of a usurper, and what she knows of the Targaryens has come from the point of view of the people who fought to overthrow them. ] They wanted to keep their bloodline pure, but aside from their white hair and violet eyes, I do not see what was so special. It was their dragons that were special, and they happened to get to the dragons before anyone else.

You’re not impressed by them.

[ That’s interesting. Perhaps a powerful ally had gained that family enemies among the rest of the people. It wouldn’t be all that surprising; Gansey can only imagine the envy that something like dragons would bring forth. ]

What happened to them? You’re speaking as though they’re all in your past.

My family fought a war against them.

[ That should be an answer to Gansey's question and his previous observation. Why should Arya love the Targaryens? The way her father told it, Mad King Aerys as good as killed her aunt and uncle, and her father's whole army. The only good thing to come out of all of it was Jon. ]

We drove them out, before I was old enough to know truly what was happening. My father fought, though. And now there are no Targaryens in Westeros.

INTRO LOG: BLACK CATS & WALKING UNDER LADDERS

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