hadriel | video;

[ It's Hannah's network debut! The teen looks cheerful enough, for a person trapped in a monster-infested cave nightmare, standing in front of one of her city-decoration projects. ]

Does it work? I know everyone hates when people hit "reply to all" on e-mail, but I haven't really used this thing yet, and I thought I should introduce myself to everyone. We're all stuck here, so... better to have names to go with the faces, right?

[ Hannah, no, this isn't an online college course. ]

My name's Hannah - Hannah Washington. My brother Josh is here, too, and... I'm from the same place as Chris, Ashley, and Emily, if you've met them.

[ She isn't exactly sure how long her friends have been in Hadriel, but it's been longer than her own one-month period for sure. ]

Um - So, I got some cookies for painting, I guess. From Hope, maybe? Are they safe to eat? I know that the "gods" aren't all the same in how bad they are, but if there's any chance of them being risky, maybe it'd be better to throw them away.

[ Hannah pauses, tucking some hair behind her ear. Behind her, occasionally visible, are paintings of butterflies on the walls. ]

Any tips for a cave-city newbie?

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[Sup, Hannah. Have a skeleton.]

Related to Josh, huh? He didn't mention any siblings.

[Then again, the guy was kind of intoxicated the last time they talked face-to-face, which also happened to be the first time they talked at all. And then after that they just kind of chatted about memes. You know, as you do.]

Advice? Uhhh...don't take anything this place says or does personally.

I heard. [ She chews on her lip, looking decidedly Unhappy about that fact. ] But... um, yeah. He's my older brother. He has two sisters.

[ She isn't about to let her twin go forgotten. ]

Don't take it personally? [ Hannah repeats, with a surprised laugh. ] Isn't it, like... trying to kill us?

[He never mentioned two sisters. Sans files that one away to ask Josh later.]

More or less. But at least you'll always know it's never personal.

[He winks, a shift of bone that shouldn't really be plausible but happens nonetheless. Don't worry about it, it's probably magic.]

Sometimes the network glitches up and whatnot, or people act a little weird. Usually that's just the gods havin' a laugh.

That doesn't really make it better. [ Hannah says, frowning. Monsters aside, there's a skeleton winking at it, and it's unsettling. ]

They try to kill us and they laugh at us. [ She mutters. ] If we don't clap our hands and believe in them, do they die?

Doubt it's that simple. They seemed pretty physical to me. There's this whole thing where the gods're duking it out for some reason or another, and I guess we're just caught in the crossfire.

Wait, they're not all on the same team? I thought it'd be like a Greek pantheon setup.

[ beat ]

Though, they didn't all get along, either, so... not a great example.

[His grasp of Greek myths is a little shaky due to not living on the surface and not having complete access to humanity's full library of varied academia on the subject, but his skull tips to one side for a minute before he shrugs and nods.]

Sure, yeah. Don't seem all that fond of each other, but resurrecting 'em seems to be part of the grand cosmic plan. Apparently we even get to vote on Hadriel's Next Top Emotion.

That's what I heard. [ Seems easy to Hannah. Why not always vote in the best and most pleasant emotions? Which brings a question to mind: ]

Who thought "Rage" would be a good idea? And Sorrow?

Apparently they come with incentives. Voting Sorrow got us an orchard full of fruit and stuff.

[Not that he can eat from it, thanks to the fact that none of the fruit is made of magic, but, y'know. The thought that counts, right?]

... Right. [ She says thoughtfully, tilting her head. ] I think I remember hearing about that.

[ Still, though. Is it worth it? ]

What did the others get?

I've been asking around. Never voted for any gods before.

Seems like Delight got us a bar. That, or some of the housing.

Neither have I. [ Yet. ]

Oh! Well... that's nice, right? And she doesn't seem as bad in general.

[ Not like FEAR ]

Yeah, she's kind of a laugh. 'S refreshing.

So, y'know. Ups and downs to this sorta thing.

At least there are some ups. [ Hannah concedes. ] So this place isn't all bad.

Nah, not all bad. Just kinda has a learning curve to this sorta thing.

[Like adjusting to the gods deciding to alter the entire cave environment whenever it suits them. And that's only taking into account when the gods are doing it, and not the other people who live here.]

Well, thanks for letting me know. I'm still new, so... this is all a lot to take in, sometimes.

[ Most of the time. ]

How long have you been here?

[ It occurs belatedly to Hannah that she doesn't know his name. ]

Couple months now. Kinda hard to keep track when the sun doesn't really come up and time passes all weird.

[But then, he's used to that too.]

Oh, yeah, I'm sure. [ Do clocks and watches work, she wonders? Even so, he'd said that time passes 'all weird.' Maybe they'd just be useless. ]

Some of my friends have been here for that long. It's weird to think about, you know? When they haven't been gone that long back home.

Eh. Time is an illusion anyway.

[He waves a bony hand dismissively. He's long since come to accept that time don't behave the way most people think it does.]

[ There's a little, almost unsure laugh. ]

Alright then. [ Whatever you see, skeleton guy. ] ... Um, I should... probably head off, but thanks again for helping me out with this stuff.

Hey, no problem. Take care of yourself.

[He ends the call with another casual wave in her direction.]