video ⸻ un: copycat

[fromshadows]

[ Those who know Blake likely haven't heard from her in the last couple of weeks, and when she appears on video, it's with ashen skin and dark smudges under her eyes. Her shoulders are hunched, though she's still gentle with the silvergrey-scaled baby dragon she's cradling in her arms. ]

I know there's a lot of people out there doing research into the mechanisms of this place, and probably even more people making bloodstones and other protective gear. Neither of those are my specialty, unfortunately, but I have do something to offer.

I've gathered the crystals and the squid ink from the remains of my death, and I want to give them to those who can use them best.

[ The dragon in her arms yawns sleepily, smoke curling from its nostrils, and though Blake smiles down at him, the expression's wan. ]

Sooner would be better. I'd really like to get the remains of my body out of my room.

Comments

[onekindsoul]

[Okay... Ruby had missed more than a little it seemed.

And that felt pretty darn awful. Maybe she was getting a little too wrapped up in her own head.]

Uh, Blake?

If you need a hand with anything. You know you can just ask, right?

[fromshadows]

[ Despite how washed out and hazy she feels -- it turns out that dying and coming back to life is pretty rough, and has made her more than a little uncoordinated, not to mention slow -- Blake manages a little smile. ]

I didn't want to bother you. Besides, asking for help cleaning up the remains seemed... a little too grisly.

[ Besides, Ruby's still dealing with the emotional fallout from what her and Ange and Break went through. Blake hadn't wanted to add on to the pile. ]

How are you doing, by the way? I'm, um, sorry I wasn't around the past couple of weeks.

text - UN: IceCream

[threelayers]

Shit, you ok over there?
I can't help you with "What to do with them" at all.
But I can help with the cleanup.

That can't be easy to look at.

[Yeah, this was a not good situation, but it wasn't the sort of thing that didn't happen from time to time. So, Neo set herself more in the 'see if I can help out' sort of mindset.]

voice | un: hoody

[theflyingone]

My condolences.

[ Is that what one says when a Sleepers dies only to be resurrected again? ]

The ink is used by Blood Ministers and those who make bloodstones. I am not sure what uses the crystals have, as they can be any kind, but you could receive a substantial amount of goods for the ink. ...If it is some small comfort.

[fromshadows]

It's fine. I've removed the remains of my carcass but the squid ink went everywhere, and the biggest problem is the stain in the carpet. I feel terrible; Ozpin let me live here out of kindness, and I've repaid him by ruining the room he gave me.

[fromshadows]

[ Blake almost smiles at the somewhat awkward condolences. ]

Thank you. I suppose that could be a silver lining. I'm not sure what I'd spend it on, though, since I have everything I need. Better protective gear, maybe?

[threelayers]

Ozpin will deal with it just fine, don't worry.

[She'd probably threaten to kick his butt if she heard otherwise, but she doubted he'd be that fussy about a death being messy.]

Brothers, girl, you know death happens in this place.
There's no way it's ever not going to be awful and messy, so the carpet can just deal.
You're recovering though, so that's good.

The heck happened?

[fromshadows]

I touched a deer statue and got transported back to the sinking of a big ship called the Titanic. There was a giant monster. I think... it happened in the dream before this place. Break was there too. We tried to help, but things went wrong.

I got transported back to my bedroom in the end, but it was too late. I died about a minute later. Honestly, it would have been easier if I'd died in the ocean.

You wouldn't happen to have any miracle recipes for stain removals, would you? Ozpin's one thing, but I just don't love the idea of seeing this every day.

[theflyingone]

There is that, and it's sensible to save up a store of supplies for emergencies or difficult times.

[ Or in his case, one can never have too many knives. ]

[threelayers]

Oh yeah, touching weird-ass items in this place'll do that.
Sometimes you don't even have the chance to really resist the whole bullshit of it.
And yeah, that would be Godzilla.

He was an asshole. Also very very big.

Elbow grease and I might know a few solvents I use to clean up blood stains.
As long as we're not asking too deeply "Why" Neo knows about those solvents.

[Because of course she did.]

[fromshadows]

I could always use more bullets.

[ Blake's mind is going in a hilariously similar direction. ]

And preserved food, I guess. Bloodstones. I do wish I could find a use for the crystals, though. I've got a lot of them, and it seems wrong to just throw them out.

[fromshadows]

He was definitely very big.

[ Not that Blake had actually paid a lot of attention to him, really. She'd been more concerned about rescuing people. But... yes. He really had been alarmingly huge. ]

I'd appreciate anything that gets this stain out, illicitly-gained knowledge or not.

[threelayers]

Ok, I'm going to bring it all by.
Uh, you're going to want to make sure that there's plenty of good ventilation for this.
This stuff stinks like hell.

[Her methods involved ammonia. Yeah, best not to know why she knew how to clean up this kind of a mess, considering her line of work.]

Meet you at the front door?

[onekindsoul]

[Ruby gives a little bit of a nod. She doesn't exactly seem satisfied with the answer, but she definitely gets it.]

That's fair. I mean- I've done the whole dying thing before and well- It works differently than when I did it, but I get that it's not the greatest.

[She gives a little bit of a shrug.]

Better, I think? It's hard to be like totally good after something huge like that happens.

But I'm chugging along better than I was.

[theflyingone]

I doubt you want to use them for decoration, [ he says flatly. ]

I am sure the Blood Ministers will want to study them as well. The cost of making them is too high, after all, so they are rarer than just a sample of blood.

Is what caused your death a danger the rest of us need worry about?

[ Safety first... ]

[fromshadows]

[ Oh! She really probably should have thought to include that information in her video post on the network. Damn it. It's too late now. ]

There was a little deer statue following me around last month. At first I just ignored it, but... I finally gave into curiosity and picked it up, and it transported me to a boat called the Titanic. It got attacked by something called Godzilla.

[ She says them like they're foreign words -- she's not from Earth, they're not cultural touchstones for her. ]

I hear that other people are getting transported to different places, though, so... hopefully those places are less deadly than the one I got.

[fromshadows]

Thank you.

[ 'Thank you' kind of feels inadequate when the task is cleaning up the remains of a body, but Blake will have to think of a better way to thank Neo later. ]

The room that Ozpin gave me is practically all windows, so we've got airing covered.

I'll meet you there.

[fromshadows]

[ 'Not the greatest' is kind of an understatement, but... that seems to be what Trench does to people when you've been there for a while. You start to think of death and turning into beasts and other awful things as so routine.

Blake doesn't think she's developed that armor yet. This has rocked her to her core. She wishes she could be more cool about it. ]

Good. I'm glad to you're doing at least a little better.

And how is Ange? Is she... doing better?

[threelayers]

[Cleaning up corpses of yourself. Just another day in the Trench Trenches. She wouldn't say no to thanksgiving though.]

Ok, that's going to make this a whole lot easier. See you soon.

[She wasn't going to keep Blake waiting for long. A bottle of something that was a definitely clear but with an odd sort of 'swimmy' shimmer to it was in one hand, and a pair of masks. She winked as she handed one of those to Blake, gesturing for her to lead the way.

She was just too easy going about it all, but she'd done this way too many times.]

[theflyingone]

Ah... Yes, it is best not to touch strange objects. For my part, it was only the first time I'd seen one, and I thought it was a gift left by a... friend.

[ Ahem, nothing to see here, everything is normal. He's a normal guy with normal friends. ]

Unfortunately, my experience proved to be dangerous as well.

'Titanic' refers to Titans, the old Greek gods. Very powerful. I can imagine naming a vessel that.

[ That checks out to him! ]