that's not what we usually mean by 'dance with death'

[cherryblooded]

[That certainly did happen. Cherryblod's not the type of person who will judge one person's value as being more than another's, so he can't say whether it was better or worse than the first week. It came as less of a shock, maybe, but even so...

It's not the kind of thing people usually want to go through alone.

So, after he spends some time in the kitchen preparing (with assistance from Bruce), he'll slip some personalized notes under everyone's doors.]

[Name],
If you'd prefer to spend this time alone, that's fine.
If you'd prefer not to, I've made some food and set it out in the dining hall.
Even if you're just hungry and would rather not talk, feel free to come take some.
But if you'd like the company, we're here for you.
-Cherryblod

[Those arriving in the dining hall will find an assortment of food - a fair number of sandwiches and other, actual meal-like options since most people missed a meal or two, but also a goodly number of desserts. There's tea, as well as coffee for those who favor it.]

Comments

[bloodisthicker]

[Well, there was no point in waiting around and feeling sad about, say... the fact that he kept having inconvenient reminders of Feelings or the fact that he liked talking to Caren and now she was dead or stuff like that. No, Tarrlok was a man of action, and he definitely wanted to get a discussion going about what the hell was that, now that he wasn't busy cooking.

...of course, he wasn't quite enough of a walnut to try and approach people who might legitimately be grieving about the whole thing, as much as he really wanted to... so he essentially took a corner of a table in the dining hall, set out a notebook in front of him... and sort of tapped his pen on the table, in the hopes that people would recognize that he wanted to talk business. If anyone sits down next to him, he'll start out, then...]

...all right, so, it's clear that whatever that was in the pit couldn't have been Pearl's reanimated corpse or anything, given that we had what was effectively her actual body with us the whole time.

So, any ideas on what that thing wearing her face even was?

[goodforsomething]

Shapeshiftin' monster?

[Stan has a glass of what is clearly alcohol this may not be the most productive conversation.]

[pokexplorer]

[Possibly unexpectedly, Colress seems to agree somewhat.]

It's not entirely out of the realm of possibility. I've certainly heard of some Pokemon masquerading as humans. Or...humanoids, in Pearl's case.

However, I haven't a clue if there are even any Pokemon present in this place.

[bloodisthicker]

Could you tell us a bit about the Pokemon that can do this, then? I don't know if it's what we're actually dealing with here, but I think it's worth knowing about just in case.

[pokexplorer]

Certainly.

[You bet he's happy to discuss Pokemon whenever possible! ...Okay, maybe not so much this time since it's mildly disturbing to think about. But still.]

The ones I am speaking about specifically are called Zorua and Zoroark, Zoroark being the evolved form of Zorua. Both can disguise themselves as humans, though Zoroark is much more skilled at it. It is said that Zoroark is so skilled with its illusions that it can fool just about anyone.

They are extremely rare, however. Not many people have seen them in the wild.

[goodforsomething]

Is there any way to make 'em change back?

[Just because it's rare doesn't mean there isn't one of these things hanging out around here. Why the fuck not a Zoroark]

[bloodisthicker]

I see... well, I guess it would be a little bit hard to tell how many of them there were if they can disguise themselves as humans, so maybe they're not as rare as you'd think.

Would they be able to materialize spears out of practically nothing, though? Or at the very least, disguise some sort of attack to look like that.

[bloodisthicker]

...That's probably the best I can think of right at this moment, quite honestly.

[even if you are a little drunk.]

I would think it was some sort of disguise that's made more convincing by the fact that we're viewing what happens from a distance, but... whatever it was used some sort of ability that wouldn't be possible for a normal human.

[goodforsomething]

It can look like dead people. Why wouldn't it make things come outta its head?

[Stan takes another sip, thinking for a moment.] Wasn't doin' that creepy smile this time though.

[bloodisthicker]

I... can't actually argue with that. I'm sure that would only be a problem if that was just a disguise, but if it's some kind of shapeshifting monster, it can probably do whatever it wants.

...do you think they were trying to be a caricature of the victims in some way? It's hard to say, not knowing either of them that well so far... but all evidence points to that being some sort of expression Zagi could conceivably make.

[that boy wasn't right.]

[goodforsomething]

That kid wasn't right.

[in vino veritas and all that

Though Stan probably would have said it anyway.]

They could've been. I didn't know 'em too well, but Pearl didn't seem...she seemed like she might do what it did. Not the grinnin'.

[psychoh]

Ghost.

B-But, the kind that can touch things and, and interact with people, of course.

[also, same.]

[bloodisthicker]

...

Hm. You know, given everything I've seen here to date, it's not entirely impossible, so I guess we'll have to keep that under consideration.

[psychoh]

Could be robots, too, o-or aliens. If we're gonna, uh, take a more science fiction direction. Even though everything's been a lot more, um, fantasy. [/helpful]

[bloodisthicker]

...well, we do have a robot, and we had an alien... so I'd say it's a little bit of both, maybe? I haven't really listened to much of either, but that's what this is seeming like.

I suppose we should just... expect anything at this point.

[notjustawriter]

Hell if I know now.

Maybe there's some kind of magic involved with it-- someone who can create somethin' that...

[He trails off.]

...I really can't think of anything useful.

[bloodisthicker]

...well, we are pretty far away from what's happening, so maybe there's something that we're missing. If we could get a picture of it, we could probably see if there are any details that don't look right, but that would be a bit... needlessly grim, I suppose.

[notjustawriter]

A picture....

I wonder if there are any cameras in the vending machine. It'd be grisly, true, but...

It's as good an idea as any, at this point.

[bloodisthicker]

Well, let me know if you end up getting one out of it... or if you find someone who has gotten one. I don't know if we'll even be able to get anything out of it, but it's worth a try.

[neverafters]

If this is going to be regular... The King doesn't want to watch. [ Not that he ever wanted to to begin with, but. ]

[amygdalae]

[Bruce is... sticking by the King now after knowing how freaked out the poor bird had been with everything, so hello Tarrlok you get two for two.]

The best I can think of is something that can apparently mimic us in some fashion. But I suppose that's probably obvious enough.

[bloodisthicker]

My thoughts exactly. But... is it the same entity every time, or are there different ones mimicking different people?

...I guess there's only one way to find out, but...

[...ehhhhhhhhhn nah don't feel like dying.]

[amygdalae]

[Bruce has no qualms about dying himself, but he has a... responsibility, of sorts, to the people here now. So for them, he'll keep himself going.]

Honestly, I'd rather hope that we won't see it - them - again. [Since the only time they'll see it/them is when... well.

Yeah.]

[bloodisthicker]

...you don't have to watch it, I'm sure. Just... turn away when it happens.

[...should he suggest the King toughen up, actually... man, he doesn't know.]

[neverafters]

The King thought to do that but...

The King also felt sorry for how they must say goodbye to the world. It feels... both right and not right to turn away.