[network] @determination; Important [open] [cw: event discussion] Morning 131

[despiteeverything]

Um. Hi everybody, it's me.

I was wondering... has anybody seen anything like that thing that was down there before? [a beat] Anybody else?

'cause I have.

[They pause briefly, take a deep breath, and dive in. For those who have been here long enough might recognize Frisk's Ambassador voice.]

Back home, there were monsters that were sorta like that. Um. We called them Amalgamates. They were there because something bad had happened, and they needed help. They weren't actually bad, even if they looked and acted scary. [...] Even if they tried to hurt you.

[Because they can hear those objections already, especially in the wake of Haurchefant's death at its hands. They also don't bring up Alphys' involvement at all, because Frisk doesn't want to give a really bad impression of her to all these people. She hadn't meant for what had happened to happen, and she'd been scared.]

So I think we should figure out how to help out the big anomaly that's down there. It sounded like it was angry. Um... the kind of angry you are when something bad happens and you're hurting. So we need to learn more about it however we can.

[Because boy are they familiar with that particular brand of anger.]

I know it's scary but I think we should. It's important. We can help it then, and stop anybody else from getting hurt.

[That... just about wraps it up. They think.]

Mom and I are gonna put it in the anomaly guide. And... maybe we should think of something else to call it, besides just an anomaly? [Their face suddenly pulls into a disapproving scowl.] If you're gonna call it something mean though, don't.

And please keep telling me or Mom if you learn anything about that anomalies, or the ones we find.

Comments

@ASolomons; text

[devoutish]

["Amalgamate". Welp. He definitely doesn't like the sound of that name.

He's going to hide behind voice-to-text for this.]

Well all did see different things inside of it. That points to an illusion.

@determination, video

[despiteeverything]

I know that... But there was something under them too, right? Something under the people we saw.

[Yes, that's what Frisk had been originally referring to.]

[devoutish]

[He... admittedly hadn't paid much attention to that.]

I did notice it shifting around some. Yes. Brian's video gives a clearer picture, but no need to watch to the end.

How much does it look like what you know? Vaguely, or exactly so?

[despiteeverything]

[Thankfully Frisk already didn't see the need once they confirmed what the video was.]

Um... not exactly the same but... really close. It's sorta hard to explain. They were sorta made when a bunch of monsters um... they got fused together. It was an accident.

@totheark; video

[0thingsonmymind]

*Instead of offering any insight, he just includes a copy of the video of the thing. From when it first forms to when everyone gets away from it (so including Haurchefant's death. With no warning. Oops).
Its just the anomaly all of the way through, there's no 'see someone you know' effect in the playback.*

@determination, video

[despiteeverything]

[Thankfully Frisk doesn't watch the whole thing, once they confirm what the recording is.]

Yeah, that's what I mean. That one.

@hotstud_xxx; text

[rubikscomplex]

[House is actually fairly horrified and traumatized by everything they saw down there, the radiation sickness, the... thing. But hey! Here's a chance to be an asshole. Chance taken. He already knows Frisk is physically fine from reading through the network.]

you should call it bob

@determination, video

[despiteeverything]

[Your attempt to troll is stalled by Frisk taking your suggestion actually seriously, House.]

Huh... you think they'd like that?

[rubikscomplex]

[Oh, no. This is perfect. He can get them to agree and then tell them what it stands for later.]

why not?
they're a big amorphous blob
and bob's one letter off from that

[despiteeverything]

[That actually makes them giggle a little.]

So's slob but I don't think that'd make a very good name.

@kingdomkey ; audio

[seekthelight]

The amalgamates remind me of the Heartless, the way you talk about them.

[Because despite how much darkness was in them, Sora knew it wasn't their choice. He knew they were just a product of terrible things happening in the long run.]

I'll help, in whatever way I can!

@determination, video

[despiteeverything]

[They are very appreciative for the help, and they'll get to that in a moment, but first-]

Heartless? What's that?

[Color them curious.]

Perma-audio for now

[seekthelight]

They're creatures formed when someone loses their heart. The darkness corrupts their heart and turns it into a being known as a Heartless. They swarm worlds and try to overrun them with darkness.

[Sora's voice is soft as he explains it, a little on the sad side as well.]

They're what I've been fighting back home for several years now.

[despiteeverything]

[That... Okay wow. Um.]

That sounds really bad...

[They do not know how to feel about all this.]

@hsiaoke; voice

[heavensreader]

The thing that was down there...

[Kesara sounds hesitant, uncharacteristically so. She'd been unconscious at the time, spared the sight, but even since she woke up she'd been listening. Unlike digging and discovering, this is not her forte at all. Not monsters.

It is Frisk's, though. For once she feels no resentment or hesitation in admitting that they know better than her. This is a chance to learn.]

But how can it be an Amalgamate if it's made of people? It wasn't made of monsters, not all of it.

@determination, video

[despiteeverything]

Well...

[They bit their lip, unsure.]

I dunno if it is an Amalgamate... maybe it isn't. Not exactly. Or...

[They're thinking aloud at this point. If they'd seen Haurchefant melting, they'd have a lot more ammo for this theory. Thankfully or not though, they haven't.]

They said that anomalies have something to do with our memories, right? Maybe that's how. Maybe it's everyone's memories, somehow. Or their souls...

[They're less sure on that one, because while that's how it worked for monsters, things worked really strangely here.]

-> video

[heavensreader]

It can't be made of souls.

[The assertion is quick and hard enough to make it clear that the idea frightens Kesara. She catches herself at it a moment later and shakes her head, switching her feed to video so Frisk doesn't think she's hiding from anything. Not afraid. Or angry at them, for the matter. She looks drawn and grayish from days of illness - her hair is a spectacular bird's nest mess - but alert.]

But maybe it is pulling things to look like from our memories. Like before, right? Perhaps it pulled the idea of being an Amalgamate from your memory?

[despiteeverything]

[It's okay Kesara, the Amalgamates scared Frisk at first too. They still think it might be souls, though they don't press the point right now.]

Maybe but... if it's my memory, we all saw the same thing underneath, right? Not the people, but um... the thing you see if you go look at it now, in the video.

@Ecks | text

[ecks]

It talked. I thought it was like a golem that wasn't made right but then it talked. Sometimes things that are not people talk but it did not look like any thing I had seen before.

There are devils like that. I have been told that lemures look like that.

@determination, video

[despiteeverything]

Um.... What do you mean? How was it like either of those?

[Frisk's... slightly confused.]

[ecks]

Sometimes golems look almost like that but I think it was not a golem.

I have been told that lemures look like that. I have been told that lemures look like masses of fleshparts. Lemures are devils.

[despiteeverything]

But um...

[This is complicated.]

Why are they called that? Back home... um... devil is something adults use to say something's not very nice.

[... kind of like monster, actually. Hm. They'll think on that.]

@haurchefant; voice; Evening 134

[silverfuller]

Pray forgive my tardiness.

I've thought on your words, little one, and there may be wisdom to them.

I thought I heard the beast crying out in lamentation as it pursued me.

It as if it were yelling "Not fair!" and mayhap something else as well, though over the all the din and confusion it is hard to be certain.

[despiteeverything]

Yeah... I thought I heard something like that too, when it first came out.

[They hum thoughtfully.]

Which means it's upset about something. And if it's upset about something... there's gotta be something we can do, right?

[They just have to figure out what it is.]

[silverfuller]

Aye.

It seems as though something here is in pain.

Alas, I know not how we might reach out to it. Thus far our attempts to contact aught have been met with even worse-

["Tortures" is what he wants to say, but he allows himself to trail off, not wanting to further upset the child.]

There must be another way. Some avenue we've yet to discover...