#030066

[passio]

The creatures from the well.

I don’t think they’re merely dolls or monsters. I think something is wrong with the well. When I used my purification on them, I was able to extract a feeling. They were once human. It’s as if everything that made up who “they” were was ripped out of them, but this town has shown me what mindless dolls feel like before.

This is different.

I know they’re dangerous, but I’m afraid to kill any more of them. Please be careful.

[ so panicked is this message that dextera forgets to include his name, but really, by this point in time, most people should know his hex code anyway. ]

Comments

#EA0000

[theshowsover]

Is it like what happens to people after they die here?

[That's what he thought of, when he first saw them.]

[passio]

In a way, maybe.

I wondered if people died several times, if they would end up like that. I don’t know if that’s what happened to the creatures.

[theshowsover]

Maybe. Or maybe their color was just stolen.

[passio]

It’s possible, isn’t it? It feels like our “selves” disappear with our color, sometimes.

#27DEA9

[mythratastic]

How are you sure that they were once human? How does your purification process work?

[passio]

I don’t know how to explain it.

When I purify someone, I’m sublimating their “selves” to the purest form it can exist in. All their experiences and memories are etched into a crystal that can be read, but this crystal feels like it’s been hollowed out.

[mythratastic]

Like, it was once someone and then everything was extracted from it?

Never would have guessed. These creatures seemed more like incomplete shells to me, like they're waiting for the rest of their personality to be imprinted onto them.

[ But since Dextera's purification proves it's not that... hm. ]

[passio]

I would rather them be that way, than this.

I can’t read the crystal as well as I want to, but I’m sure of what I can read. I don’t think they’re “incomplete,” but “reduced.”

[mythratastic]

If that's the case, then it sounds like there were others from our own world brought here, since some of them are wearing the style of clothes from my own homeworld. [ And, she assumes, other shells are wearing clothes from someone else's world. ] I don't recognize any of them in particular, though.

#B91600

[heartsteals]

[ haha this sucks man.jpg ]

I suspected as much, but this makes it more than a passing suspicion. Surely there must be some way to restore their sanity and color to them?

- Lupin

[ he also doesn't really like that so many people apparently started killing them, but what can you do? it's hard to blame them when the things that appear here are so frequently dangerous. ]

[passio]

[ dextera purifies odd creatures as a matter of course, but he sort of wishes he hadn’t done this one. ]

I don’t know. If there is, I’ve already done all I can do for them.

Maybe someone has something from the town itself to help.

[heartsteals]

Then we pray that someone sees your message. There are few men alive who deserve such a fate.

[ having your soul torn from your body, and that body left to wander in the thrall of whatever curse controls this place... ]

[passio]

I’m afraid of what the town is becoming. I never wanted to leave before, but it feels like it’s becoming malicious.

Not just to us, but even to itself.

#FFD700

[wooden_one]

How does your purification work?

[passio]

It’s a little complicated. The end result is a crystal that carries within it the purest essence of the person or creature it was extracted from. Things that were never sentient can’t make a crystal.

[wooden_one]

Is it like their soul?

[passio]

Yes. Like a tangible form of the soul, but it’s usually impossible to return it to the person.

#1AC6FF

[alwaysfacepalming]

That's terrible. I was wondering what created them, but to know that...

How were you able to extract a feeling?

[passio]

Everyone has some part of themselves indelibly marked. Feelings, desires, memories, all of that makes up a living being.

[alwaysfacepalming]

So you were able to still pull something? Even from those. May I ask how?

[passio]

It’s not a technique that can be learned, if that’s what you’re asking.

I killed them to extract the crystal.

#DAA521;

[uuuh]

[Even if Dextera has a much easier time understanding her than most of the others do, Mordred will be transcribing (with permission).]

hey so she says:

"do you think they can be brought back to their senses at all? some changes are irreversible, and they may be suffering.

we can try and corral them, at least."

[passio]

[ mordred! thank you. ]

I’ve never been able to fix someone when it gets this bad. I can purify the animals in the forest, but “people” are complicated.

[uuuh]

[She's making it easier for everyone even if it's a little embarrassing.]

"i was worried about that.

if they're a threat i just can't allow them to run all over the place. i'll protect everyone else no matter what.

what if there was some way to amplify your powers?"

[passio]

[ amplify… he truly, deeply doesn’t want to do that, but he understands what she’s getting at to ask him. damian had something of the same thought, and dextera is a stronger person now than he was even then. ]

It’s not impossible. I just don’t know if anything good would come of it.