Day 230 audio; @dreamsnhonor [cw: anomaly body horror]

[heroproceeding]

Hey, Zack here. So, Enoch mentioned this earlier about our anomaly buddies coming around again.

Thing is... there's something off about all of this. Not only is the one that's been following me different?
But Zell and Kuns have been telling me they see 'em like a mess of something or other. You know, your typical anomalies. But for me and Jim, it's different. The anomalies almost look like someone we know. Just faceless.

[ It would have sounded crazy maybe six months ago. But right then, if anything, Zack just sounds tired as he makes note of that. That's before the video comes on to capture one of the anomalies in question. To those who've had their lights stolen, the anomaly looks like a young lady in her mid-teens. Innocent looking enough, right? Well- expect her face is gone as he mentioned.

Those who haven't had their light stolen will see something more akin to the Norfinbury flavored expectation. An oversized flower curls and spins, the leaves that remain with it red and curled almost like a bow behind it. The creature crawls along on multiple lithe hands with eyes running down the sides of them. They look worse and worse for wear the further down you look, black and cold with frost bite though only iced over with a blue hue. Sometimes Occasionally, the flower opens wide enough to reveal its center to be a mouth lined with tiny, sharp barbs for teeth. Typically when it seems to get off balance which also reveals what at first looks like to be a long braid behind it to be a set of roots that uncoil from one another and help balance it out.

Zack flicks the video back off with a frown. ]

I feel like we should do a tally of who's seeing what and maybe then we can figure things out from there. So, shoot me a message and let me know what you see. And if you have any theories, I'd like to hear 'em right about now.

[ He's just about to cut it off there when one last thought- if not a slightly distracted sounding one -occurs to him. ]

I'm also attaching an updated list of those who've been discovered and identified in the morgues, too. You can thank Davesprite for the help.

[ An attachment can be found along with this message. ]

( ooc: Durp. Slight edit in the brackets due to a reading error. This is why you don't read the new plot in the middle of the night. )

Comments

@Spoiler ; audio

[spoileralert]

I'm seeing what you see, I think.

[ Steph is having a Bad Day, but she's a sucker for info-gathering. ]

audio; @dreamsnhonor

[heroproceeding]

Yeah...? What do they look like?

[ He says it softly, coaxing. She might not be having a great day, but she wouldn't have spoken and offered out the information if she didn't want to try in the first place. ]

audio;

[spoileralert]

A girl with long brown hair and a light blue sundress. She's probably pretty, when she has a face.

@featherydouche; text

[mrcreamsicles]

some kind of flower monster with too many hands and eyes
if i have a guess its that the people seeing monsters were monsters when that chaos was going down recently
and the people seeing faceless people were normal then

text; @dreamsnhonor

[heroproceeding]

a flower monster huh. kuns and zell said the same thing.

[ So, that makes three people who've been seeing it that way and three that see it as Aerith. Zack chews on his lip in thought from the other end. ]

that theory seems like it could be sound enough. I know I wasn't one myself but I'm not sure about the others. I'll see what they have to say.

[ Zell and the others in the group hadn't exactly been as strung out as he'd imagine they would be if they had become one of those... but then it's hard to read them sometimes these days. Especially after all that's already happened to them. ]

@tantalus; voice

[tidalflame]

Looks like a giant flower on my end.

audio; @dreamsnhonor

[heroproceeding]

Another giant flower, huh. Well, that makes for four people now.

[ There's a pause as he seems to debate on something before he decides to just get it over with. ]

So, were you an anomaly back there, too?

@carcinoGeneticist; text

[quadrangle]

SOME FACELESS HUMAN IN A DRESS. ALSO HI, I'M THE KARKAT DAVESPRITE MENTIONED.

text; @dreamsnhonor

[heroproceeding]

hey Karkat. yeah I remember Davesprite mentioned you but he said he wasn't sure if you got your light taken or not. would you mind filling me in?

[ In the meantime, he'll add one tally to 'People seeing faceless Aerith' to the sheet of paper he has. ]

@Iwillnot ; video

[absentconstellation]

A moonflower, I believe, with a mouth instead of pistil. It seems to be using hands as legs, though they do not look healthy. They have a large number of eyes along them as well.

The leaves are the wrong color, as well. Red, instead of green.

audio; @dreamsnhonor

[heroproceeding]

[ Thanks for the... creepy description of his former girlfriend gone postal flower anomaly. He.. probably didn't need to hear it in that much depth. But it sure does tell him exactly what he's seeing at least.

Still takes him a moment to answer though if only because of who it is, even if he knows it wasn't really...
And it's been a week. Of course, he'd be... ]

...Back to normal, I see.

[rubikscomplex]

look like regular anomalies to me
and i'm in the same boat as helmethead
wasn't a monster
no one got my light

maybe that has something to do with it
if you lost your light you're seeing the faceless creeps
has yours been saying anything to you, by the way?

mine keeps calling me an ungrateful brat
and telling me to give it something
it won't actually say what

[heroproceeding]

well that would make for three seeing monsters but weren't monsters themselves and didn't get their light taken because it's the same with Zidane and same with Karkat.

mine hasn't been saying anything to me though no. not a word. she hasn't even been going after me like the others have. if yours is saying stuff like that though and you didn't lose your light I'm really starting to think that's what they're after like some kind of last ditch effort.

@whatisthis; video (cw gore, mouth horror)

[godsspeed]

A flower creature, with frostbitten limbs and red leaves.

[ Castiel looks and sounds somewhat dazed, likely because of the anomaly leaning against the wall a ways behind him. Those who lost their light, like Zack, will see a muscular man in his early 20's with short brown hair, wearing jeans and a white t shirt. His demeanor is remarkably casual - aside from the lack of a face, he could pass for any random person waiting around at a bus stop.

Everyone else gets that same man, but with his torso torn open by a wild animal - ribs visible and organs ripped to shreds when they aren't missing entirely. As if that weren't bad enough, huge, heavy chains pierce his flesh and hold the gruesome cavity wide open, wrapping around his body and trailing behind him. He doesn't seem too bothered by it though. He's smiling away, mouth crammed uncomfortably full of sharp teeth and eyes solid black and shining.

There's five bruises arranged like fingers and a thumb on Castiel's throat, and another forming on his temple. ]

I was... an anomaly, last time something strange happened. If that helps.

audio; @dreamsnhonor

[heroproceeding]

[ The voice- when he hears it -almost sounds familiar. But he can't quite place it. It makes responding a little bit unsettling... but it's not enough to stop him from responding. It helps if not in a sad way to see a faceless man rather than the creature he has a feeling Castiel's seeing. Just a small blessing as he hums in thought. ]

You were an anomaly, too... and you can see anomalies. [ There's a pause before he adds quietly: ] Do you remember taking anyone's light?

@beyonce | audio

[thewarningafter]

I see the flower.

[He should probably turn on his video, ask what people see when they look at Christine. He doesn't, though. He doesn't want people to see her this way even if he's doing his best to convince himself that it's not really her at all.]

I was...one of them. When it happened.

audio; @dreamsnhonor

[heroproceeding]

[ He'd expected sensitivity. Considering what happened, what could have happened, and what is happening, he... doesn't blame them in the least. Which is why he can at least take a hint at the reluctance. To slow down just a little bit and nod slowly, even if Stephen can't see it from his end. ]

..I see. And you see them- like that, huh.

[ There's a pause before he adds tentatively: ] You weren't here before... were you.

@totheark, text

[0thingsonmymind]

isee flow er monster anomaly

*He'd say what happened to him, but he assumes if one sad losers knows they all do.*

text; @dreamsnhonor

[heroproceeding]

[ That's usually how it seems to go. That doesn't make Zack any less crazy to hear from him, but he can't deny he's been helpful. One step at a time. ]

so another tally to add to "sees the creepy anomaly". thanks. I'll add that in.

@LELRIC; audio

[armoured]

Yeah, I... what I'm seeing is her-- but she's just faceless, there's nothing else wrong with her at all.

[It's better than what some others are seeing it seems.]

I don't know why they'd be different.

audio; @dreamsnhonor

[heroproceeding]

[ Just faceless, too. Zack's quick to make note of that first. ]

I don't know why either, but... that's why I'm asking around. If we can pick up the pattern, we might get a better idea of why or at least it might clue us in on something later.

Is it the same for yours?

[bookofnope]

[The last thing, the very last thing that Beckett wants to do is to share his anomaly - "his" anomaly - with Zack. But he is committed now to the endeavour of keeping records, as committed as he had ever been. And anyway what can Zack do or say that would make things worse?

So he lets him have the feed: the dark, somewhat distorted view of him moving through the pass, Angel and Rhys vaguely​ visible behind. No anomalies yet, but he is committed. Yes. If he must.]

I see the flower that others have referred to, and my light was not taken. As far as I know I still possess it. Do they all speak in the same way? Monstrous and faceless alike?

[heroproceeding]

[ Seeing the familiar username gets a flat stare from Zack admittedly. He doesn't want to bother with Beckett, honestly, but he knows that the more information he gets, the better in the long run. So, it's with pushing personal feelings aside that he answers at last. ]

You light wasn't taken either, huh.. [ Zack frowns as he focuses on that thought first. One quick jot down later and then his eyes are back on the video. ] Well, if it wasn't taken then, I'd imagine you still would. As for the whole talking thing, mine hasn't spoken at all, no. Neither has Jim's and they're both faceless.

What about yours?

@navialernovictoria, text

[whiteknightnecromancer]

Except for the facelessness, she looks alright to me.

Oh, look. An image of me. Remind me to die in such a way that I'll cremated. I'm in the hospital? Fitting.

text; @dreamsnhonor

[heroproceeding]

[ He would have been more than- well, maybe not happy to get down to business with gathering up information. But he would have at least had that to focus on rather than whatever implications might have come of all this.

Except then they go and say something like that. And that's.. ]

an image of you?

[ In the attachment, he chides himself. In it and he's- hoping whoever they are, they'll take it better than some people. ]