un: abwhorent / video ( a couple of days post coliseum )

[wifedup]

( There is a hand. The hand is palm up, fingers splayed, unmoving where it lays upon a desk. Someone has bandaged it from the wrist leaving the space where an arm should be a little less gruesome, though the hand is still unmistakeably without an owner and currently lifeless. Beyond the hand is Wen Kexing, slouched in a chair, a carefully cultivated air of boredom about him. He's exchanged his usual blue robes for new ones of vivid red and he sits in the flickering candlelight looking down at the hand with the faraway sounds of laughter and music surrounding him. Without a word he reaches inside of his sleeve to produce a gold ring, holding it up to his network device before he drops it on the desk, a little further from the hand. There is a moment, two, and then the hand wobbles like a turtle on it's back before it flips itself upright and begins to move, crawling towards the discarded jewellery. The ring is plucked up, clumsily fitted halfway on to one of the digits, the size too small for the broadness of its fingers. They clench in response, and Wen Kexing hums. )

I don't know about you, but where I'm from severed limbs aren't supposed to lend themselves to vanity.

( The hand, now alert, scuttles around Wen Kexing's desk plucking up anything it can. Another sigh and the man himself is lifting a half-empty wine bottle out of the way, his attention turning back to the camera. ) I found it in the middle of one of those rifts. It had an effect on the corpses around it so I thought it might be useful. They seemed aware of the thing, avoidant perhaps. The water stopped oozing quite as much when I took it too. I'm not versed in magic, so I don't know what any of that means. I will say that it seems ... angry, most of the time. ( He's used to murderous intent, it's part of his day to day life. The hand certainly has that in significant amounts. Though he thinks anyone who suffered such a loss might be. ) I also found it clutching this.

( His other hand slides open a drawer, lifting out a tattered scrap of cloth. A purple mantle, ragged at the edges, like it has been torn free. Wen Kexing smiles in a way that is not quite pleasant, teeth flashing in the light. )

Perhaps someone has some knowledge of any accidents that have taken place lately. I'd hate to think there's a person out there who might be suffering, I am a philanthropist after all. Which is why I'm sharing my findings.

( The hand suddenly makes a beeline for the edge of the desk, Wen Kexing moves just as fast, flipping a wooden bowl over the top of it, leaning forward to put his elbow on the base of it to trap his new friend. It throws him out of the shadows though, the dark smudges under his eyes part of a man who has very much not slept in a while. He realises this shortly after, shrugging a shoulder with ease before lifting the earlier wine bottle back up, flicking the cork away so he can take a deep drink. )

It's a little unruly.

Comments

un: of corpse not / video

[nothinglikefather]

[ Jacob is in a similarly noisy environment- although instead of music and laughter, there's jeering, cheering and the occasional shared intake of breath caused by watching someone else get hurt.]

That's disgusting.

[ But then, with some curiosity:]

The ring... wakes it up?

[wifedup]

Ah, no. It just likes them. I've had to compensate so many of the girls in the last day.

( A hum. )

Only rings, though I don't suppose it has much use for other jewels. What good is a necklace to a beast with no neck?

[nothinglikefather]

Only for rings I hope.

[ He's not sure he wants to think about the detached hand wandering freely around a brothel. ]

I suppose it had a body at some point. Give it a pen and a bit of paper, see if it can tell you who it was.

[wifedup]

Xiao Frye, do you truly think I hadn't thought of that myself?

( Said with very little heat. )

It may look clever but I think it's working on some more baser instincts. Shiny things, murderous intent, like a badly behaved housecat or crow.

un: absterge

[downswing]

Philanthropist Wen, lend a hand.

[wifedup]

( ... )

I thought you'd had your humerus surgically removed, Master Lan. You're telling me that *isn't* the case?

[downswing]

The hand. Lend it.

[wifedup]

To you?

audio; un: man's greatest treasure

[reparo]

Maybe if we find a log book of people born in Ephes and set it in front of the hand, you can ask it to point if it feels its name there.

[wifedup]

( That sounds like so much work, Hermoine. He'd have to turn the pages for it. )

It doesn't exactly have the most strict of concentrations. ( The hand possibly takes offense to this, knocking against the bowl in the background. ) But you might be right, do we know if such a consensus would be public knowledge?

[reparo]

What self-respecting city doesn't keep a record of births and deaths?

[wifedup]

Well, one who didn't care that women were being torn apart I imagine. Besides, it could be a visitor's hand.

[Video, un: howl in one]

[mustact]

[ What in the actual hell. ]

If it can move without a body, does that mean it is undead?

[ He doesn't know the rules, but it feels like that would make sense. ]

[wifedup]

It might be, it has an effect on the other corpses. Maybe they recognise it?

[mustact]

[ He shakes his head a little, bewildered. ]

I would not know.

[ A thoughtful pause. ]

Its fondness for jewelry may be related to the person missing a hand, then. Although it is strange that it can see ...

[ Hold on. ]

Does that mean it can also hear?

[wifedup]

If it had been wearing any of it's own I might have been able to use that. But it doesn't have a preference, it picks up any kind, woman's, man's, bronze, gold, shiny, dull. If there is a clue to be found there I haven't discovered it.

( He pauses, shifting where he is leaning to lift the edge of the bowl up. The hand waits. )

Can you?

( Nothing, whether that is because it cannot or because it is being wilfully ignorant, Wen Kexing doesn't know. It's all a little silly, if he thinks about it too much. The hand creeps towards the gap and he slams it shut again, barely missing it's fingertips. )

I was hoping someone might have noticed a lopsided person in our midst.

un : dappled peals of the parted seas (voice)

[beitangmoran]

Hmmm, another one. I wonder if this one belongs to our White Wanderer friend. He seems intent on dropping bits and pieces of ... maybe himself, all around this world. We already have a heart and a tongue, and they also do not behave.

[wifedup]

A tongue I could understand, but a heart. What does it do beyond laying like a useless lump?

[beitangmoran]

I assume you're familiar with hauntings and curses and things like those? This one was buried in a city and very, very strange things were happening there.

video; un: hopscotch

[clavesregni]

[Caitlyn is visibly disturbed by the severed hand, but is frowning very hard in an effort to look like she's not at all disturbed.]

Purple seems to be an unusual colour here. I haven't seen many people wearing it.

[wifedup]

( She's very sweet! She almost reminds him a little bit of Gu Xiang in the moment. )

Me either. I was hoping some of our more informed members might have been able to list who the uniform belonged to, so we might ask more questions. Though whether they'd be the hand's friend or foe I don't currently know.

[clavesregni]

We can figure that out once we've determined who the fabric belongs to. Either way, they're probably someone who'll be able to shed light on the hand's identity. And how it ended up... [She can barely force herself to look at it.] ...in that state.

I've barely interacted with anyone outside of the Hand, and Narula is the only one I've seen wearing the colour. I have to imagine it's more common amongst the senators, but we'd have to inquire with those who have spent more time in their ranks.

un: glow is me

[massrez]

It has an effect on the corpses and the water...

[ He's taking all of this in with a surprising amount of calm. Then again, he's Seen Some Shit even before now.

Just bottle up the horror of it and deal with it later. ]

You don't suppose it's trying to find its way back to its point of origin, do you? Perhaps someone with influence over everything that's been happening.

[wifedup]

I did consider that, but putting it down doesn't lead me anywhere. More of that oozing blackness appears but that's about it. As much as I'm willing to risk the décor for investigation sake, it's a little unsettling and the clean-up isn't worth it.

( A heavy, overworked sigh. )

And whomever it does belong to hasn't been in too much of a hurry to find it again, it's not exactly hidden away.

[massrez]

The water itself is trouble enough, with what I've seen come out of it. Though perhaps that's another matter entirely.

Would it be possible to examine the hand? Carefully, of course. I can try to contain it if it becomes too...boisterous.