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

[enucleation]

[ Kaneki is wearing a very much steampunk inspired labcoat, accompanied by tiny circular orange glasses which he refuses to wear and instead leaves at the top of his white head. he is carrying the doll on his backpack, leaving it open so her head is out - he keeps her there to avoid her appearing and disappearing randomly when she is out of sight.

he glances at the attendant and nods gently, although gives Licyn a look which looks unamused, but ultimately it's a silent beg not to flirt with the staff oh my god please don't ]

Mister Licyn, welcome. [ he promptly gets up to greet the man, and takes the chance to wave at the assistant ] I can take it from here, and please don't worry, I will escort him to his droid once he is done. [ he even flashes a small friendly smile and finally the two men are left alone. ] Take it with you, it's alright.

[ please take it kaneki doesn't want droids around. He refused one when he arrived and would have probably destroyed it if he had been forced to have one ]

[bravelyrunsaway]

( licyn waves off the droid, which trundles out along with the one who'd brought him in, wearing more colour in their cheeks and a quicker step to leave them on their own. licyn simply smiles, not batting a lash to kaneki's look. it worked as he wished, and now they had other focusses in mind. )

How many of the dead are in here now?

( death in and of itself, and the bodies left behind after death, weren't frightening in particular. the scent, however. he wants a read on the scent, to see if he can trace any of it to the living outside the walls of this place. )

I'm ready to catch the scent of what you've been working with here. Or yours, though that's presently less useful.

[enucleation]

We have two bodies, one of them has the green rotting, and the other looks seemingly normal. [ none of them has that particular smell Kaneki mentioned, those bodies are much rarer to come by, although ken can always tell when they are there ]

My scent isn't human. [ just in case licyn is being literal ] It will be easy to detect-

but all the bodies that come through here are. I can tell right away, even if they have a strange... sensation to them.

[bravelyrunsaway]

Sensation?

( at this point, he does pay more attention to the dead who don't move, which is nice, compared to the nonsense from their sailing ship days not even a month behind them yet. it's half idle as a question, but ugh, that smell, it's rot—whatever else to be said about it, there's a kind of hot putrification this reminds him of. )

They smell like people who died from internal festering. Only that's not what the claim is right now, is it? There's not supposed to be another disease running around, just the one from five years ago no one talks about directly.

[enucleation]

It's hard to describe. [ smells are difficult to describe, specially because Kaneki no longer can identify normal and regular smells that do not belong to humans. ]

To me, it doesn't smell like rotting. It's sweet. [ all humans smell incredibly sweet to Kaneki ] But that sweetness has some sort of nuance to it. Usually it wouldn't be there.

[ he glances back at Licyn ] Disease from five years ago? [ nobody talks about directly, and that means kaneki still hasn't gotten a lot of information on it ] Do you know more about it?