Intro Log: Busy Little Bees

[hadrielmods]

Who: New arrivals and everyone else!
What: The intro log for July
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: July 10th-16th
Warnings: Fun for kids of all ages!

Another day, another mysterious transportation to a strange and alien city inside a cave surrounded by monsters. Or maybe that's not normal for you? Weird! You awaken on the ground of a large arena, a stone ceiling stretching high above you. Welcome to Hadriel! Oh, but you aren't alone. That 'surrounded by monsters' bit? Yeah...

Do you hear a buzzing? Better start running now. Along with all the newbies, the Door has brought in quite a few tracker jackers. Wasps are already horrible, and these things are even worse. Bigger and much more dangerous than the insects they were genetically modified from, tracker jackers will sting anyone they think is a threat. Their stings cause extreme pain and hallucinations, and if you're stung too many times - well, that's it for you. You can try to calm them down with smoke, fight them, or just run like hell. Maybe you'll get lucky.

It's hard to fight if you don't have a weapon, though. But hey - you're in luck! Rage, who usually supplies the city with weapons, is currently gone, but the Door has provided you with some instead! That's right, you might find a sword, a gun, a bow and arrow, or an exotic foreign weapon to defend yourself with! Of course, they're all made of plastic and completely incapable of hurting anything. Have fun!

Let's hope your legs are faster than those wasps, and you survive your first few minutes in Hadriel. After you've find your way out of the colosseum there's plenty of other distractions. 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 July 10th-16th.
► 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

lup | all are open

[restinglichface]

i. arrival;

[Lup could already tell that this day was going to test her patience.

The elven woman was on her feet almost immediately upon waking, sharp eyes sweeping across the others still struggling to shake off their sleepiness. And then, as if waking up in some rando place wasn't bad enough, suddenly there were wasps. Giant. Fucking. Wasps.

Great.

As one of the wasps buzzes close to a stranger still trying to get up onto their feet, Lup throws up a hand and casts fireball at it, leaving nothing but ash behind.]

Oh, buzz off. You picked the wrong gal to fuck with today.


ii. shops;

[To those acquainted with her brother, it would be all too easy to mistake the elven woman wandering through the city as Taako. The two elves were identical, with the same long hair, slim features, and a love of outfits that always left an impression. She's missing the wizard hat though, exchanged instead for a bright red jacket with a small emblem sewn onto the left breast pocket. The emblem spells out IPRE.

Lup's admiring her own reflection in the window of a local shop when her gaze catches sight of someone walking by, eyes following the figure crossing behind her.]

Hey. [Lup snaps her fingers sharply, commanding attention as she turns to face the stranger.] Yeah, I'm talking to you, homie. C'mere for a sec.


iii. moped lot;

Holy shit.

[Hadriel in itself doesn't seem like much of an exciting place to Lup, not after having experienced forty-eight other different worlds through her journey so far. She's seen a plane full of sentient automatons, human souls inhabiting their machine bodies, looking only for peace. She's walked through a world full of bioluminescent mushrooms and poisonous spores, where almost all of the inhabitants were humanoid-esque fungus beings, transformed as the mushrooms took over. And she's experienced a place where cuisine has been elevated above being just a meal, where their food tugs at your soul with rich flavor profiles that Lup hasn't been able to get off of her mind since.

So really, a giant fucking cave just isn't quite as impressive to her.

But this moped, bright yellow and shining in the artificial lighting of the cave, has caught the woman's eye in a way that nothing else in this place has managed to so far. The elf runs a slim finger along the handlebar admiringly.]

I don't know what it is, but I want it.


iv. wildcard;

[Feel free to hit me up with anything, but if you want to plot, I'm at meyggy]

ii.

[wendigoner]

[ Hannah doesn't know Taako and therefore doesn't confuse the two. She's still surprised, though, when a stranger calls out to her amid the shops... but she admits a hesitant smile and stops walking anyway. ]

... Everything okay? [ Stupid question. This is Hadriel, and things are rarely okay. She reflects briefly on the demanding snap of fingers, though, and the potentially-condescending 'homie,' and her smile fades. ] I mean... what is it?

[restinglichface]

[Lup shoots the younger woman a friendly smile, though the way her mouth curls to the side gives the elf a perpetual smirk no matter what she does.]

I'm just pretty new here and thought I'd strike up convo with some of the locals. Nothing bad about it, sis. [But then her eyes slowly drop down to the ground, purposely focused on Hannah's feet. Lup casually points a finger downwards at them.] I like your shoes. Where'd you get 'em?

[wendigoner]

You just got here? [ Her attitude changes a little to something like faint concern. ] Let me know if there's something I can do... I know it can be kinda overwhelming.

[ Not that there's much she can do, though. Hannah chews briefly on her lip before Lup asks after her shoes, to which she laughs lightly and glances down at them herself. ]

I'm not sure. [ She admits honestly. ] These are the shoes I showed up in, but before that, I've had them for years. Thanks, though.

[restinglichface]

[The concern in Hannah's expression doesn't escape Lup's notice, but the woman just shrugs in response, looking as if she doesn't have a care in the world. Even after the awful wasp attack and waking up to find you were trapped in this giant monster-ridden cave, Lup was taking the whole thing pretty well.

Some of the deviousness in her grin softens to something a little more sincere and kind.] It's cool. I'm not like, totally alone or anything. My brother is here and some of our other friends. And I've always managed before. [A hundred years on her own, thank you very much.] But thanks. The name's Lup, by the way.

[Lup will let Hannah keep her shoes. Her little mannerisms remind her of Lucretia too much to be awful to her.]

arrival; HI MEY HI

[knifecollecting]

[Jo doesn't usually come to the arena, but she's on time this time when the Door brings in the latest group of new people. She's trying to make it a habit now.

Help the new people, make sure everyone's okay.

The giant wasps are new, as usual, but she can run pretty fast and she hasn't been stung yet. She's helping someone up and directing them to the exit when she spots the fireball incinerate one of the giant insects. Now that could come in handy.]

Hey, can you keep doing that?

HI DEE HIII

[restinglichface]

[Lup, for all of this chaos, looks to be exactly in her element, shoulders thrown back and a hip cocked playfully out to the side, her hand still up from casting that fireball. But when Jo calls for her attention, the elf shoots the other woman a quick thumbs up, grinning wide.]

Sure thing, sis! I got spell slots for days! [which is absolutely false, but with the confidence she's oozing, it may as well be the truth.] Keep down, though. Can't say the blast would be any gentler than whatever these bugs are dishing out.

<3

[knifecollecting]

[Jo isn't sure what spell slots mean (sounds like something from a game) but she just nods.]

Try to take out as many as you can. That'll help a lot.

[restinglichface]

[Lup just laughs, baring her teeth and practically daring the swarm to come her way, one hip cocked to the side as she summons another fireball to decimate the newest buzzing swarm. She's going to run out of spells eventually, but she can at least hold off the bugs enough to let a majority of the people escape.

She's also in it to just burn up as many of the wasps as she possibly can.

She calls over her shoulder to Jo, eyes scanning the field for the next swarm to approach,] So, do these things ever stop coming or what?

iii.

[weedbgon]

[ Only remembered that someone you cared about a lot even existed a few hours ago? Missing, oh, half the memories you have between the last time you saw them and the last thing that was actually happening, and not sure exactly what happened in the end?

Take the Merle Highchurch route: don't dwell. Just go for the hangout.

Wooden arm and eyepatch aside, he doesn't look all that different. And the headache from remembering is mostly gone, as long as he's not thinking about it, and Lup is right here. And if he feels bad about not being able to remember her for... however long, he's sure not gonna act like it. It's good to see her. That has to be the important thing sometimes. ]

I'll tell ya, sis, if I had a gold coin for every time I heard you say somethin' like that. I mean, money's not worth a crap here, so we'd waste a lotta inventory. But we'd sure have it. Grease the wheels!

[ The kids are saying that, right. ]

[restinglichface]

[That's our Merle. Always so hip to the jive of what those youngins were saying.

There's not much that could distract Lup from her newest, shiniest fixation, but the familiar voice of a very old friend easily makes the cut. Her hand drops from the handlebar of the moped as Lup turns to confirm the identity of the dwarf standing nearby, her expression going from slightly quizzical to outright beaming in an instant. She is unchanged from the Lup of his memories, even still dressed in the same bright red jacket they were all given back on their home plane, the IPRE emblem untouched by age.

Taako already told her Merle was here so she isn't surprised to see him, just happy.]

What can I say? I know what I like and I won't stop till it's mine. [Is it a flaw? Probably. But when the only thing you could take with you off of all of the destroyed planets they'd visited was material possessions, you kind of had to push your feelings for people down and put that focus elsewhere. Like on shoes or useless shiny trinkets.

Lup has just began moving to close some of the distance between the two of them when her gaze falls on Merle's arm. She pauses, momentarily frozen on the spot, her eyebrows furrowing together.]

Wait a minute-- [Thin lips press into a line as she stares down her nose at Merle, eying his wooden arm, then that new eyepatch suspiciously. She finally huffs,] Okay, this is so not fair. Taako didn't tell me we were doing pirates. I'm not dressed for this.

[weedbgon]

[ Merle laughs. He hadn't even thought about turning to piracy. Holy shit. That would've been cool.

She really... hasn't changed. And Merle doesn't even remember exactly how long it's been since the last time he saw her. It's like they went so many cycles and then got blackout drunk. Maybe that's okay? You can't "remember too fast" and "risk dying" if you try to remember and stop cold after a certain point.

Well, excepting a sizable handful of parley sessions. ]

If you wanna be a pirate, the important thing is committing to- to freedom. Maybe some crime, too. The freedom to commit crimes. You got your whole life to build a wardrobe! Take it easy!

[restinglichface]

[He may have gotten the wooden leg thing hella wrong, but Lup just assumed that was move was pure Merle. He always did prefer to do things his own way, even if it went far against the grain.

That intense look of concentration disappears from her face as the woman bursts into laughter instead, a hand flying down to rest affectionately on Merle's shoulder.] You always do tell it like it is, Merle. But really, if we do pirates again, tell me so I can prep first.

Taako told me you were here. And Magnus too. [A beat.] No one else though, huh? That blows.

ii!

[sciencelizard]

[While Alphys won't go near the Coliseum when the new arrivals show up- she's useless in a fight and she's long since given up on anyone she knows arriving- she does make it a point to get out of the house. The Gods always restock when new people show up, and resources being scarce enough the rest of the month, she takes the time to slip around and restock. On top of that, despite having been here under a year, she's found herself enjoying explaining the situation to residents and getting them up to speed.

Usually, though, she's not the one being address, and she stops in her tracks when Lup talks, looking side-to-side quickly before pointing to herself as if to clarify she's sure she's the one she wants to talk to.]

Uhh... o-okay?

[She slides a little closer through the doorframe, clad in her typical labcoat and carrying a canvas shopping bag full of packages over each shoulder.]

[restinglichface]

[Finally! Someone other than a freakin' human! This place is just awash in bland, boring human faces, not nearly enough elves or dragonkin or anything for variety! So naturally, spotting what has to be a dragonkin strolling by with her arms full of shopping bags, Lup spins to greet the woman with a grin, hands already falling to rest on her hips.]

Sup, homie? Cute glasses. I need a pair of sweet-looking shades, know where I can find some?

[sciencelizard]

[Almost immediately, Alphys blushes at the compliment, reaching up to touch the sides of her glasses a little bit. God knows how they're actually being held up, because it's not like she has ears, and yet she still adjusts them for absolutely no reason other than something to do with her hands and maybe distract from the redness in her face.]

Well, uhm, the shops around here stock, uh, a-all sorts of things, but they're filled kind of randomly so... you sort of, uhm, have to look. They usually end up with a bunch of new things on, uh, the day everyone comes in, once a m-month? I don't, uhm, I don't look for clothes much though.

[Seeing as most of them are made for humanoids who are less short and pudgy and don't have tails.]

[restinglichface]

[That dark blush against Alphys' yellow scales is pretty damn adorable.

Lup quickly closes the distance between them, moving to circle around Alphys as she eyes the scientist up and down in an almost predatory-like move. Then, once she's situated behind the woman, Lup gets in real close to rudely peer into Alyphys' bags.

Hey, at least she's looking with her eyes and not her hands this time, right?] Sooo, what kind of stuff did you pick up? Anything good? I wouldn't mind getting a tour of the best places to loot. [hint hint] And why not? I mean, the labcoat thing is real nerd chic, but I'd bet you'd rock a like, hella cute romper or a real flirty sundress.

~iii~

[nonscriptum]

[Motorized scooters aren't quite fast enough for Nate's thrill-seeking tastes but on occasion he likes to go somewhere that would require a good 45 minutes of walking time, so it's easier to grab a Vespa-lookalike and speed to the destination in question. After an admittedly interesting morning spent sprinting away from a swarm of poisonous insects and faced with the prospect of sinking back into the somnolent quiet that hems him in every second he's alone, he decides that zipping out to the edges of the city just might take his mind off some of this...everything.

When he sees another figure in the lot - staring intently at a vehicle, pale-haired with delicate features - he double-takes. Didn't he save this guy's ass earlier? Quick fucking recovery.

Nate catches the tail end of a statement when he approaches, realizing that both the clothes and the voice are different. Maybe they're related.]

It's a moped, [he says, and identifies the elfin doppelgänger as a woman. They've got to be related.] Do you not have these in- uh, wherever you're from?

[restinglichface]

[It takes Lup a moment to finally peer up from the moped, turning just enough to look over her shoulder at the newcomer. She's seen a few familiar faces in Hadriel so far, but Nate certainly isn't one of them.]

Nope. [She draws the word out, popping the 'p', before finally turning fully to face him, one hand on her hip and the other gesturing towards the moped.] Nothing at all like this. How's it work?

[Nate would have to know his assumption was correct after getting the full look of her. The resemblance to Taako was just too much.]

[nonscriptum]

[Jesus, they even talk similarly.]

Uh. Well.

[Better to give a practical demonstration, even though he wasn't exactly intending to hand out free scooter lessons this afternoon. Nate sidles around to the opposite side of the moped, resting one hand on the double-seat and another on one of the handles.]

So...you sit back here, with your feet on the platform, and use these to steer. To start it, you've gotta use the throttle over here. [He taps the little metal bar.] And the brakes are built into the handles.

I'd give you an engine run-down but that's not really my area of expertise.

[Street-legal (and not-so-legal) builds were always more Sam's wheelhouse than his own.]

[restinglichface]

[Welcome to twin hell, Nate. Please keep all limbs inside the ride while it's in motion. No flash photography permitted.

As the man slides to the opposite side of the moped, Lup turns to watch him from her side, stepping in close enough that she can follow along with her eyes and with her hands as he demonstrates. What? She's a hands-on learning kind of girl, alright? Gotta touch everything she can get her hands on.

Listening patiently is not one of Lup's finer tuned skills, but she manages to keep from interrupting during Nate's brief explanation of how the moped works, her hands trailing along with his to touch each part of the bike that he mentions. Maybe she's just a little strung out from all of the fucking drama of the day, she swears she feels shivers down her spine when her fingertips drag along throttle.]

Hella, [she murmurs softly.] This is one hundred times cooler than anything else I've ever seen in my whole fucking life. [Fuck the Starblaster. Let's ride these to other worlds!]

Nah, it's cool, don't need it. As long as it works, I'm one happy gal. So you just-- [Lup shifts to slide onto the seat, heeled boots resting on the ground on opposite sides of the moped's body.] Sit here and put your hands--[Her hands move to the handlebars, squeezing lightly.]--here. And the throttle? [She peers up at him to make sure she said that correctly.] That's how you make it go.

mix of ii and iv??!?!??

[armcollector]

[Reuniting with Taako and Merle after a hard fight and some long days apart, Magnus almost feels back to his regular old ruffboi self. He's certainly done moping for a while. He cried it out, pushed the thought of Julia's ashes to the back of his mind, actually got Taako and Merle to be kind of genuine for once in their lives, plus was promised a cake out of the deal. He's already a far cry from the Magnus of two plus weeks prior.

Hey, he takes the big hits. That includes emotional hits. He'll always bounce back. Sometimes it'll leave a few scars, but hey. You look for the good where you can, and avoid the shit out of thinking about the fresh wounds left behind by losing his wife all over again.

No one said he had to healthily deal with it. He can just deal with it any old way that works.

He sees Taako near the shops, probably looking for that sugar he was talking about. Magnus is comfortable enough with the elf again to approach him, but as he gets closer... There's just enough difference in the face in the reflection of the shop window that the smile on his face fades, and his light jogging approach slows nearly to a halt.

When she turns to face him, avoidance has suddenly stopped being the miracle cure. Because this is her. The girl that looked just enough like Taako for it to be uncanny, maybe a little younger -- though it's hard to tell with elves -- features pronounced and, well, beautiful in the exact way his are, when he remembers his spell. (Magnus has caught him, a few times, without it. Always hard to keep from staring when your friend suddenly looks off.)

But it's not just a shock that she looks like one of his closest friends. He knows her. From that... nightmare he had, and it had to have been a nightmare, it had to have been what happened haunting him, fucking with him, telling him, You'd have done the same to them. To them, he still thinks, not for them, and he knows the hurt is still there, the awful feeling that they knew how it would hurt him beyond repair to do something like that no matter their reasons, and his breath catches in his throat. He disguises the feeling by clearing it, but he can't disguise his staring at her.

He remembers killing Barry for her. He remembers waking up and getting a knife from the armory the next day, still shaken by the thought that he couldn't just be merciful to someone he... actually kind of trusts, despite himself. He's not sure why. There always was something about Barry.

He doesn't know what to say, so he says the first thing that comes to mind after a half-discreet cough.]

Uh, hey. So... this is awkward. I'm totally staring at you.

[He tries to force a laugh, but it sounds a little strangled, so he quickly gives up on that.]

I swear, it's nothing weird. I just, I had this dream about you, I guess? Nope, wait, that sounds totally weird. I've gone and stepped in it already. Lemme just wipe off my shoes real quick, and...

[He actually does wipe his shoe, like making the joke will make this less weird for her. But then he reaches out a hand for a handshake.]

Magnus Burnsides. Also known as the Hammer. I'm thinking about maybe switching to Magnus "The Hammer" Burnsides? Really like a Dwayne Johnson kinda vibe? Still workshopping that. Open to feedback.

[restinglichface]

[Lup catches sight of a tall, muscular figure striding up to her from behind, but recognition doesn't strike until she was already turning, quickly coming face-to-face with a man she'd known for half a century.

Well shit. This isn't at all how she expected this reunion to go.

Magnus is, different from what she remembers, but still so much of the same. Now that he isn't grieving his wife, his almost boyish charm makes the woman chuckle, his awkwardness pretty much more familiar than anything.]

Yeah, you kind of are. [But now so was she, Lup's eyes dragging over Magnus' face, taking in every detail that she wasn't already familiar with. Taako and Merle's physical changes had been fairly limited in the supposed ten years they'd been apart (minus Merle's new wooden upgrade and eyepatch), but humans just age differently when they are actually allowed to age. She wasn't sure if she could pinpoint each new scar or laugh line on his face, but he just seemed a little older. Ten years was a lot of time for a human, wasn't it? After not seeing any of them age for decades, it was a little startling.

But then he mentions the dream that she'd had and Lup's surprise shows so plainly on her face.] No way, I had a dream about you. [a beat] Well, not about you, but you were in it. Playing a part. [Mercy killing Barry when she couldn't.] Did we really have the same weird dream? I heard this place did some awful shit to everyone, but damn.

[She really didn't know the half of it. Thankfully, Magnus creates the perfect distraction by actually wiping his feet, which Lup can't help but smile at. God, what a complete goober.]

Magnus, [Lup repeats, reaching out to accept his handshake, her grip firm.] I'm Lup. You know my brother, right? [And her, she wanted to say, but clearly he didn't.] The Hammer, huh? [Pursing her lips in thought, she tilts her head to the side and regards Magnus intently.] I dunno. It works, but I feel like you could definitely go bigger.

[armcollector]

[His smile starts to fade when it turns out that she shared the dream. Well, maybe not the exact dream, he can't assume that, but could it have been? It didn't... really happen, did it?]

That's... Gotta say, that's some wack shit. It was, uh, not a good dream, I'm guessing.

[He takes a deep breath. In and out. Simple as that. He smiles again.]

Yeah, every time I think I got this place down, it throws another slice of ham into the most fucked up sandwich I've ever eaten. You're like, yeah, ham, great, and then you notice it's also got, I dunno, needles. Needles and dirt. It's not good to eat. It's not, not appetizing at all.

[He runs a hand through his hair.]

Hey, don't knock "The Hammer"! It's the perfect name! I whack stuff and I fix stuff! I'm versatile! Besides, it's just, you know... It's an old name. There was a time everyone knew me as The Hammer first and Magnus second.

--Wait, you said... You're Taako's sister?? I mean, okay, that makes sense in hindsight, but he never... What the fuck! I'm gonna yell at him for not mentioning you, like, once! ...I mean, come to think of it, I don't really know that much about his family at all. He mentions an aunt sometimes. I always figured they were all kinda...

[You know. Dead. Like Magnus'. It seemed like a sore spot, and Magnus knows not to pry into Taako's shit.

Still. A whole entire sister Magnus didn't know about??? They could practically be twins! Are they twins???]

[restinglichface]

[Lup keeps reminding herself that this is all good. Magnus not knowing her isn't that big of a deal. It's fucking weird, but it isn't bad in the same way that the whole world getting devoured by The Hunger is. Besides, after the earlier trauma of reuniting with Taako, who was hysterical in a way she hadn't seen in forever, Lup is grateful to get a slightly more cool reception to her arrival in Hadriel. She could barely handle Taako like that, how much could she help comfort a weeping, emotional Magnus too?

So she shrugs, cool and collected, like the shared dream thing isn't freaking her out like it may be.]

Yeeah, deffo not the best kind of dream. [Dream or not, she'd keep seeing the image of Barry bleeding out on the ground in front of her for a long time. It didn't help that the man wasn't here, so Lup could confirm he was at least still alive.] Does the shared dream thing happen often here? Cause a girl deserves at least a little privacy, y'know?

[As Magnus starts rambling in a way that can be described as nothing but perfectly Magnus, the corner of Lup's mouth twitches, and before long, she's smiling so much easier than before. She both loves and hates how easy it is for Magnus' energetic personality to rub off on her. He's just so damn likable. Stupid rustic hospitality.

Lup laughs before taking a small step closer to close some of the distance between them, her head tipping to the side to grin up at Magnus. That wasn't a nickname she'd ever heard from him. Maybe it happened after their split in the timeline?] Alright, alright. You have me convinced. I'm gonna exclusively call you The Hammer from now on. How's that do it for you, big guy?

[The hurt of knowing Taako had forgotten her existence completely is still a little too new to not sting at that comment, but Lup just shrugs, still grinning.] I know it's hard to tell cause I'm so much hotter, but yeah, we're twins. All elves are born as twins, didn't you know? That's pretty common info, The Hammer.