Evening of November 1st, About A Day After The New Travelers Showed Up

[thornsofmalkav]

Uh, hey. I've got a few things I need to talk to people about, that I've mostly been waiting on until we got a new shift of liminal space so I could share them with all the newbies and returning Travelers too. Uh, I'm Thorne, by the way, if you haven't met me before. Sorry if this gets to be long

Anyway, some of the shit I want to talk about is kinda heavy, so we'll start this out with a rage comic I made with an app on my phone to balance that.

[The voice switches to the viewpoint of someone looking down at a phone screen, in which the follow rage comic has been constructed on:]



[About ten seconds later, the sensory livestreaming switches off and everyone's back to voice.]

Okay. Now the heavy stuff. A lot of you guys know already that the woman I was Infiltrating as during the last Jaunt, Chouko, was killed the fourth week by an inexplicably insectile cyborg known as the Mantis. I came back as an Investigator and ended up 'haunting' my murderer.

What most of you don't know is that Chouko left a corpse behind, which Herr Doktor Blitzkopf found. He replaced her heart with a clockwork one, then used the lightning of the storms to reanimate her body, ala Frankenstein and his monster.

I didn't go back to being Chouko at this time, although she certainly did come back to life. I know, I met her when she came home to the embassy, where I was taking care of her brother, Min.

The people we Infiltrate as, our overlays... they have lives outside of us. Unless there's a Blitzkopf around, when we die as them, they stay dead.

[There's a short silence as Thorne lets that sink in for everyone.]

Uh, next thing! So, there's a secret I've been keeping from everyone, but my spirit animal, Selene, has been going around all doppelgangered and telling people anyway and I figured that if I made this announcement I could control how people found out.

So. Uh. I'm a vampire.

What this basically means is that I'm a talking, thinking, animate dead person. Well, undead person. Technically double-dead person. I got killed again after I got turned into a vampire.

I have to drink blood to survive, but you guys don't have to worry about that because I've already made arrangements with some people already to be regular blood donors and there's enough of them that nobody's should have to do it so often that it make them anemic or anything.

There's a lot of details about my condition, which I don't want to bore people with, but basically it's annoying but manageable. And so far as I know, I'm the only one of my kind here. [If you consider her kind to be Malkavians and now wodpires in general.] I guess you could say I'm a monster, but I'm honestly trying not to act like one.

And, uh, I just wanted to say to any other dead people here, if you need someone to talk to privately about it, I'm here.

Which brings me to the last thing I wanted to tell you guys about! As far as I can tell by the calendars people can agree on, it's gonna be November 2nd tomorrow. I'm gonna hold a Day of the Dead thing at Leo's and, like, build an altar in his yard and stuff and have food. People are welcome to come, living as well as dead.

Uh. That's all, I guess.

Comments

[protect_and_serve]

Tell me about the Day of the Dead.

[thornsofmalkav]

Oh! Uh, it's a holiday from back in Mexico, where my grandparents come from, that we celebrated out in California where I grew up too. It's about honoring the dead? Like, you build little altars where you put their pictures on and a little bit of the food you made and then you have a sort of little party where people eat and drink and share nice memories of the departed. You're really supposed to do it in the cemetery by their graves, but since we don't have one, I figured anywhere's good.

[willyousee]

That is kind of you, my lady. I should think that the dead would appreciate that. Do you need assistance in preparing?

[He sees what you did there with the whole inviting both the dead and the living.]

[thornsofmalkav]

Oh please, would you? How are you at parties? I could use a co-host.

[SHE DID THAT ON PURPOSE YOU KNOW. Also you're part of why the party, Alcuin, and oddly enough also Laura. Even though she probably won't come.]

[willyousee]

I cannot say that I have ever had the pleasure of hosting anything in my life before, but I will of course do my best. I see you have arranged for a master crafter of delicacies and decorations... Is there aught else we need? Have you spoken with someone about the alter?

[HE DOES, ACTUALLY. He suspects that he's part of the reason for the party and it's touching. Also bizarre. The last party that was held partly for him involved auctioning him off to the highest bidder.]

[thornsofmalkav]

Oh, I was going build that myself by stacking boxes and putting a cloth on and stuff. You can help with that if you want!

[She might know partly about that, depending how much of the story of Kushiel's Dart Joscelin actually told her... and if she does it probably has a little to do with this.]

[willyousee]

...There are any number of Travelers who can mold the stuff of liminal space to create one exactly to your specifications. Where would you like this?

[Going over your head? Maybe a little, Thorne. If you're going to do a party, do it right. Also might be a thing we want to figure out: just how much detail Joscelin went into. Especially for the bits where he wasn't there.]

[thornsofmalkav]

[THIS IS WHY SHE PICKED YOU AS CO-HOST, ALCUIN. SHE WANTS TO PUT YOUR SHARP BRAIN TO WORK FOR HER. Also you are her first dead bro. Like, she met other people who were also dead after you and she met undead people before you, but you're the first person who was also killed she met. The bond of dead bros is strong.

Also we really do need to figure that out.]

Uh, in the courtyard at Leo's. Somewhere against a wall.

[willyousee]

How large? Would you care for candles? Beeswax or tallow? Scented? Are there colors generally associated with the holiday?

[thornsofmalkav]

Candles would be good. Especially saint candles, but I dunno if you've seen them. Beeswax is fine. The colors are white, orange, red, yellow, pink and purple. I dunno if I'll light them since, uh.

[Vampires don't do great with fire... although little candles are less bad than campfires.]

It should be at least three tiers high and... I dunno. As big as it needs to be. We'll see how many people want to put stuff.

[protect_and_serve]

Who will you be bringing pictures of?

[willyousee]

[Short pause.]

[willyousee]

I will be speaking to Leonardo about them. Why?

private

[protect_and_serve]

Thorne noticed that Delaunay isn't in your Song.

private

[willyousee]

...She has a good ear and memory.

private

[protect_and_serve]

Why?

private

[willyousee]

[Sharply.] I have my reasons, Joscelin.


[More softly.] No. I apologize. That was uncalled for. ...Do we have any idea how the Trumps choose those who are brought here? Who comes, who goes?

Re: private

[protect_and_serve]

Some might. I don't.

[protect_and_serve]

I can make pictures. I can't cook so well.

[thornsofmalkav]

It's okay. I know how to cook the things. I did it with my mom when I was a kid.

[protect_and_serve]

How many pictures are traditional?

[thornsofmalkav]

It varies. It's nice to have at least one of each person who you're memorializing, but they don't have to be separate pictures? Like, it's all about making sure they're remembered. It makes them happy.

But, like, do the important ones first?

[protect_and_serve]

What if they're people we weren't close to?

[thornsofmalkav]

You don't have to do them? They presumably have the people who will memorialize them somewhere else. You can't memorialize all the dead of the world, so, like, just prioritize the ones that mean stuff to you.

private

[protect_and_serve]

He means something.

There's a man I murdered in cold blood. Most of his sword-brothers likely died in the battles that came after.