Video ; @samsa

[enucleation]

[ it's a video! And Kaneki is at what looks exactly like a morgue because he is at a morgue. To the left there is a dead person, and he will talk about it in a moment. To the right, his cursed doll is sitting at a table, immobile this time; she had a bit of a makeover ever since arriving to Serthica. Currently he is wearing a white coat, just like a doctor would (spoiler alert: he is not a doctor)]

Good evening, I hope everyone has settled in, in this... steam-punk city. [ a pause ] I feel like we might go through every literary genre at this point.

Anyway - [ Kaneki rises some papers he will be reading from as he approaches the dead body ] I was given a job as a mortician. [ how fitting ] and I can tell you a little bit about what I have seen here.

There is some sort of affliction, even in healthy looking bodies. A rot - [ and that's when he shows the dead body up close. There is a rotting look to it, green and festering, inside the abdomen ] It shows in abdomen and muscles. Also, the bodies decompose at a strange rate. None of them seem to follow a normal human pattern for decomposition, some too slow or some too fast. Honestly, I'm not a doctor so I only know what I read in medical books, but I haven't found information on this. [ he puts the papers away and walks away from the body ]

Lastly, during that eventful summit, some of the delegates started acting weird when Minaras rose. I can't put my finger on it, but there was a strange smell. They smelled human, they are human. But- [ he pauses, frowning a little. How is he supposed to describe a scent? ] It was just not normal. There are others in this city that smell like that, some of the bodies that arrive here, too. It's not everywhere but it's--

I can't recognize it. And no, the rotting bodies are unrelated to that smell, I have checked.

So, this is the information I currently have. If anyone has anything to add, I'd love to hear it.

Comments

un: song | voice;

[spoilers]

[ Well, the doll is creepy, and it doesn't escape her notice; but perhaps a testament to her life (and death) she doesn't question it. Why wouldn't they keep strange children's toys among their dead? Who is she to judge?

There are more important questions at hand here. ]

What is your rot.

[ It's phrased more as statement than question. ]

Maybe they meant it literally.

[enucleation]

[ don't judge Kaneki's child too harshly, she is lovely she is haunted

Ken nods ]

There is a chance of that. I don't know if the bodies after "cleansing" will still contain this same rot, but it's something I can try investigating. [ if he ever receives a body of someone who died soon after leaving the civic integration centre ]

[spoilers]

I'd certainly be interested to find out.

[ Especially if it's something that might affect them later. She doesn't care for the thought this city might plant a literal rot in her, one that may fester and spread. There's something very strange going on in this place. ]

I wonder if it's affecting both halves of the city. Do the people of Eidris fear illness as much as those in Minaras?

[enucleation]

I will check the records of the morgue anyway, id's probably be faster than to wait for a body to come in, since the rot is not that common.

[ but the question leaves kaneki to hum a little ]

I'm not sure, I don't spend enough time in Eidris. But there are no cleansing centres there, however.

[spoilers]

I think you should probably check the records anyway, see if they even mention this...rot.

[ Something hidden is often more telling than something out in the open. People like to bury nasty secrets, put their best face forward. It applies to towns and cities as well as individuals. ]

Yes, they seem rather more...carefree, don't they?

[enucleation]

Perhaps there is a library of sorts that can tell us if this disease has been going around for a while.

[ he smiles just a little ] A bit too much, wouldn't you agree?

[spoilers]

[ Her smile is equally scarce. ] I would.

It seems the people in this city have very different outlooks on life, both tipping the scales a little too far at either end.

[enucleation]

Indeed.

I wonder if it's something people truly agree with, or if it's something they are pushed to follow. They all seem a bit too complacent to my linking. [ brainwashed, perhaps? ]

[spoilers]

Some people are easily swayed. [ But she knows what he means, and having been conditioned herself as a child, she tends to take these things personally. ] The people who have fallen between the two halves don't seem to fall into the same extremes. But they have extremes of their own. Perhaps nothing that can't be blamed on the way they've been forced to live.

[enucleation]

[ there is a small pause ]

I suppose, yes. But I don't think we are here to fix the way these people live. I think it would take a bit too long...

[spoilers]

Oh, I don't want to fix anything, sweetie. I leave that sort of thing to my husband.

[ Perhaps not strictly true; she's done her share of improving lives and cleaning up messes. ]

[enucleation]

That's good. I know sometimes people end up getting... involved with everyone around them. [ kaneki doesn't blame them for it but he also doesn't think they have time for that ]

[spoilers]

Yes. I know someone rather like that. Annoying, isn't it?

[ But there's something just a touch affectionate in her voice. Said someone is indeed the aforementioned husband. ]

[enucleation]

Indeed.

But it's out of kindness, I believe.

[spoilers]

Almost always. Unless it's out of ego.