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

[heroproceeding]

pretty one with the mustache huh. don't think I see any picture like that.

[ There might be a shit-eating grin to those words. Or at least a faint smile. It's hard to joke about the dead around here, but well. Dorian did start it. He'll add that information all the same. ]

anyway that's in the hospital. here.

[ With that, Zack will be shooting a screenshot from his map app of the ice tunnels. The hospital's circled there. ] are you familiar with that area?

[whiteknightnecromancer]

It may not be the most flattering pose I've ever been left in. I'm sure that version of me would be mortified.

[Dorian learned to joke about the dead a long time ago. It was almost required in his profession.]

Not yet but I will be.

Other facts: My light was stolen and I am being followed by a faceless but otherwise ordinary looking dwarf I knew in my life back home. Much like the girl you showed us in this video.

[heroproceeding]

I don't think it flatters many people to be honest.

but got it. so another case of it being familiar to someone. guess I shouldn't be surprised at this point. I'm gonna take it that the guy you're calling a demon is the one that went after you.

[ Not to eavesdrop or something, but... it's a kinda hard to miss conversation, honestly. ]

[whiteknightnecromancer]

What an amazingly correct guess! Yes, he is.

Are they not normally familiar to the person being stalked? I assumed it was some creature modeling its appearance on my memories.

[heroproceeding]

[ Zack will just be over here casually rolling his eyes. ] well that's one less mystery then.

and it's not the first time but better off asking you know? they talking at all?

[whiteknightnecromancer]

No. She just follows me. She has no face but why should that stop her from staring at me? It's not ominous at all.

[heroproceeding]

at least she's not spouting bad poetry at you. I'll take silence over that any day.

[whiteknightnecromancer]

I might regret this, but how bad?

...I would give you comparisons but I don't think we have enough references in common.

[heroproceeding]

my friend the fates are cruel.
there are no dreams. no honor remains.
the arrow has left the bow of the goddess.

and knowing how this place works? it wouldn't surprise me. it seems like Earth's the place to be if you wanna know your references around here and I can't say I'm from there.

[whiteknightnecromancer]

That is incredible.

That does seem to be the case. The worst I can think of went something like:

We laugh, we sing
We laugh hah hah
We sing tra la

[heroproceeding]

yeah okay. that's pretty painful.

but I think if you knew the guy and you knew he used to say it to you a million times you'd be sick of this one too. just trust me on this one.

[whiteknightnecromancer]

I shudder at the thought. I trust he had good points worth tolerating that.

[heroproceeding]

he was a good soldier at one time at least. one of the best. things just got out of hand and he lost it. never thought I'd see the day someone would actually try to live and breathe the play they liked so much that they'd betray their friends and comrades.

but I guess denial is what lets things go so out of control.

[whiteknightnecromancer]

And that is painfully close to something Dorian is struggling with at the moment.

People want to believe that if people change, then it will be for the better. They want to believe friendships matter. They want to see the best in people we care about.

It's on the people who use that against others, not the ones who want to believe their friends are good people.

[heroproceeding]

I can't really deny any of that cause I was in the same boat. no matter what I heard from others telling me different I wanted to believe it wasn't true. but sometimes it IS true and they really do change for the worse. and you GOTTA do something cause if you stand there and do nothing to stop them then you're just as fault for letting things happen as they are for causing them.

[whiteknightnecromancer]

Yes. Precisely. Failure to act is one of the worst failings. Remaining blind is a human failing but once you see where things are going, there's a moral obligation to try to stop them. No matter how dear the perpetrator.

[heroproceeding]

exactly. cause otherwise things are gonna keep happening and keep getting worse. and then it's on you.

[whiteknightnecromancer]

A comforting thought.

[He's sincere on that.]