hadriel | 006 [Video]

So uh... Hey everyone. Again.

[He could probably get a better opening line, but whatever. Moving on.]

I know like, a bunch of people just arrived so... Welcome, I guess. We're still working on the newbie's guide to waking up in a cave-city run by gods, but until then like, if you have any questions I can try and help? Also uh, it's probably safe at this point and we're just being paranoid, but you may want to avoid eating any meat products you find here. For reasons.

[MOVING ON.]

Also uh, sort of related, but I was thinking that maybe before next month we should really... Plan some way to help out? I mean, people just sort of show up and half the time there's monsters too, and... Maybe some sort of organized thing for helping the new people not get like, eaten or whatever would be a good idea.

[This is not exactly his area of expertise, so if other people want to take charge on this he's more than happy to let them, but otherwise he'll try and figure something out. It really seems like something important to get established.]

In uh, a rare moment of good news though, the whole coffee thing worked out. So if you want coffee there's some at Delight's bar now, though you'll have to like... Be kind of patient with me and the others being possibly terrible baristas. Still kind of getting the hang of the whole thing.

[But surely coffee itself is well worth any less-than-practiced customer service; they're at least pretty good at making coffee, including somewhat elaborate drinks, and as far as Chris is aware they're all trying. That's what counts, right?

Right?]

I think that's about it, except for that like... If anyone's curious, the handheld games from the arena this month are just normal games. I thought maybe they'd be some sort of weird alien-versions of them, but I guess not; I took one apart and it was all the expected stuff inside it.

That said I'm totally betting I can beat anyone's high scores.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Chris usually tries to err on the side of not upsetting people in general, the only real exception being teasing his friends, though he doesn't like genuinely hurting their feelings then either. He's only even more cautious about it here, and after what happened at home, for several reasons.

He really does appreciate Shadow figuring out what he's trying to say and just going with it, also. Even if he... Doesn't totally understand the answer, just because that's... Huh.]

Oh.

[Not sure what to say to that, because he alternatively has so many questions and doesn't think he should ask them. But he's too curious not to at least comment.]

We uh... Creating life that isn't like, born or whatever is um... Still pretty beyond us, in my world. I mean, it's sort of possible, but not like... Not really.

[He's not well-versed in what advances there have been in biology and the subject, but he knows just creating a fully intelligent person is not a thing in his own world. Yet, anyway.]

(deleted comment)

Um, that's... A good question.

[It's kind of hard to think of how to describe his world, since the only word that comes to mind is 'normal' and he knows that's completely useless considering everyone's worlds are normal to them.]

Well, it's uh... There's tons and tons of different species on Earth, but humans are the only ones with like, cities and civilization and whatever. I live in a county called the United States, but there's like, tons of countries with their own governments and they're all different. There's some really scary animals but monsters aren't supposed to be a thing, but um... We found out wendigos exist the night before I got here.

[He's been asked about the wendigos enough times now--especially with the event that happened here--to be able to explain decently well, finally.]

They're um... They're these spirits, that possess people that engage in cannibalism. The spirit takes over the person and turns them into this monster that like, looks like a person but is all stretched out and grey and has huge teeth. They only see movement, but they're like, super hard to kill.

[And he should add--]

The uh, spirits are here. In Hadriel. They showed up a few months ago, and I dunno if they can possess anyone that isn't human, but um... You should know they're there, just in case.

[So don't eat any other hedgehogs, just as a rule.]

Fire, mostly.

[Which is not hugely convenient.]

Their skin is really hard and so like, stabbing them and whatever doesn't do anything if you don't burn through the armour first.

[Well that's confident, and Chris would argue but he doesn't think there's much point to it right now so he just lets it go. Hopefully the wendigos won't ever be an issue again anyway, though he knows that's really wishful thinking.]

No problem, I'm just uh... Glad I can help with something.

[Since most of his skills aren't that useful here, but at least he can answer questions.]

[That's okay; he genuinely doesn't mind, and he definitely empathizes on the curiosity front.]

Oh yeah, the coffee thing is about a deal we were working out with one of the gods here, Delight. She's awesome and we asked for coffee, so she made a deal with us about serving it in the bar; it took us a little bit to actually get started because of some of the stuff that happened here, though.

[The end of last month had a pretty harsh event.]

A bunch of reasons, but the big one is that it's like, a really widespread thing people like. I mean, it started off kind of selfish since everyone at my house is used to drinking a ton of coffee and just wanted some, but it kind of turned into more.

[And they had been sharing what terrible coffee they could find even before that with other friends, since it's such a simple thing that makes people so happy.]

[He laughs a little at that, because Shadow is so on the same wavelength as he is.]

That's why I put I ton of sugar in it. Makes it a lot better since you still get the flavor but not the grossness.

[He assumes Shadow has just had the relatively universal experience of trying coffee black the first time and then being utterly baffled why anyone would ever drink this stuff. Twelve-year-old Chris felt that very strongly, even if now Chris will drink coffee black if he has no other choice with only minimal cringing.]

You totally should. I promise I can make coffee awesome even if you hate bitterness.

Yeah. We should be set up in Delight's bar and all that by tomorrow, so whenever you want to try one of us should be there. Probably me a lot.

[Since he doesn't have a lot better to be doing, except for the scavenging thing.]

Well, yeah, but not here so much. Besides, part of the deal with Delight is to give coffee out to whoever wants it, so no problem there.

[It's on the house, bro.]

006 [Video]

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