headlining | FUTUROLOGY IC INBOX

[Aww. It's always refreshing to have Grumpzilla play along.]

During the night of the 8th, you made mention of investigating the illness of a small child in a small, far-off town. What we're curious to know is: Why was a journalist for an occult magazine looking into this? Isn't that a bit too mundane for your jurisdiction?

Now THAT is an interesting story. I wasn't actually investigating the death of a child, you see. That was only one detail of the whole matter.

I got called over to that small town because I had received a call from a woman asking for help. She seemed to be in distress, talking about the "faeries". The town itself had a reputation as a town supernaturally connected with death, so while it might have been a prank call, I decided to go investigate it.

Mmhmm.

Follow-up question: how does that child's death fit into the narrative? From what you said, its cause was more of a combination of bad genetics and a tragic lack of medical assistance. It seems entirely unrelated to "faeries."

Also: Was that woman Ellen?

Ellen? Have I told you about Ellen?

No, I can't say I ever did find out the identity of the woman on the phone. When I arrived to the town, I discovered a lady sitting on the edge of a cliff. I assumed it was her who had led me there. However, very shortly I discovered that she was, in fact, very much dead.

Her death led me to an investigation of a series of tragedies that occurred seventeen years ago, which seem to be connected to the death of that boy. The woman on the cliff was his mother, you see. His sudden death seventeen years ago had rather driven her mad. And here's the interesting part: that child might not have died of natural causes.

Edited 2017-04-14 03:41 (UTC)

You mentioned her. [In your sleep.]

"Might not?" What WAS the cause? "Faeries?"

I don't recall that. But whatever. She was a woman I met when I came to town. She had come to the town, Doolin, to find her mother, who had apparently sent her a letter despite supposedly being long dead. We both got involved with the investigation rather abruptly, considering we had both stumbled upon the crime scene.

There were still a few pieces of evidence missing when I came to join ALASTAIR, so I can't give you the answer. However, I can tell you that his death was very abrupt and happened almost right after a young girl named Ceclia almost died from a mysterious incident involving a possible blood sacrifice. Poor Cecelia was blamed for the death and was accused of having connections with the faeries/magical powers that took that boy's life before he had a chance to live his remaining days in peace.

If Ellen was only there to search for her mother, why would she care about a random dead woman? Was the woman related to her mother, somehow?

Also: If a girl used blood magic and a boy died immediately after, I'd have my suspicions OKAY WAIT. Hold up.

...Ghosts don't exists, but fairies do?! What stupid world do you COME FROM???

As it so happens, the letter she received? It was from the dead woman, Regine. Regine held a strange grudge against Ellen and aimed on luring her to town to possibly hurt/kill her before she ironically got offed herself. Rather shocking, really. I mean, there was quite a lot we did uncover, also regarding the truth of what happened to her mother, but that's really a very long story.

Faeries, unfortunately, do exist. I mean, not that I knew of them before I arrived to town. And not that anyone else knew about them...their existence is rather hush-hush. And before you ask, they're not the small twinkling little people with wings people think they are. Quite strange-looking creatures, faeries. Incredibly rude, to boot.

[The line is quiet.

It stays quiet for a very, very long time.]

[Finally:]

Ellen is Cecilia. If we're going by human levels of rudeness and inability to dress, I'm calling the twist and saying you're a faery.

She is.

And I'm not a faery, good lord. Faeries (except for the Faery Lord, who I am also not) are about 2/3 my size, have long noses, black eyes, and weird teeth. If I was a faery, do you really think they'd be as rude to me as they were? I mean, you weren't there, but they really did not like me at all.

[NAILED IT. Mettaton's the best. Somewhere, on the other side of the hotel, he's congratulating himself with a quick victory glitterfest.]

Were you as rude to them as you are to every other living creature in the known universe? Because I feel like there's an easy answer to their bias against you.

Edited 2017-04-14 04:11 (UTC)

I was rude to them after they were rude to me. So no, that wasn't what happened. But honestly, it was mostly because they were trying to play a very long intricate manipulation game with Ellen and I was interfering with all their plans.

Huh. Keats? Caring about a stranger? Now we HAVE to stop the presses.

So. 17 years ago, Ellen sacrificed her blood to do SOMETHING. Herve died. His mother blamed Ellen and tried to get revenge on her, but was found dead instead.

1) This seems very straight forward. When did we get to faery plots?

2) ...I still don't know why in the hell someone would call YOU if you weren't secretly involved. Regine wouldn't have called you because a journalist has nothing to do with her (I'm assuming) long-awaited murder fantasy. The faeries hated that you were there and wouldn't have wanted your involvement to begin with, so it wasn't an inside job. And isn't it just a bit too much of a coincidence that two strangers arrive in a quiet, remote town at the exact same time to witness the exact same event, and get dragged into the exact same mystery?

.Wait, how did you find out Regine is the one who wrote the letter if she was dead when you found her?

It wasn't "caring". I was forced into it. My abilities aren't ones I've had for a long time. I only got them when I arrived at that town.

You see, the strange supernatural turn of this case involves Ellen. Apparently she's one of a very long succession of people called Messengers, ladies who don a magical cloak and can walk between the Netherworld and the real living world without coming to harm. The Faeries live in the Netherworld, and they were desperate for her powers, because only she could access different realms of the Netherworld that even they couldn't reach. Basically, they got her to wear the magical clock, obtain magic, and sought on using her to get what they wanted. I didn't get anything like a magical cloak, if you're wondering. I was told about a possible scoop by a strange invisible man, asked if I wanted a chance to find out information regarding Regine's death I couldn't find anywhere else, and the next thing I know, I'm going through weird transformations and gaining abilities that seem like the stuff of fairy tales.

The Netherworld is basically the afterlife. Ghosts don't exist. However, creatures called Mnemosynes eat the memories of the dead and can allow these memories to act as shades of the person they belong to. You can technically talk to the dead, this way. In order to uncover the mysteries of the past, Ellen and I could talk to these shades and uncover information that the living did not know. That's how we were able to talk to Regine and discover the truth surrounding Cecelia and the numerous murders that happened after that 17-year old tragedy. Besides, when we were investigating, more murders occurred in that village in the present day. Regine was only the first body we discovered. The tragedy wasn't exactly over and done with.

Ah. Yup. THAT'S the Keats we all know and love.

I now have a list of several more questions, never you mind me.

1: If she's the one with the cloak, how do YOU have magic?

2: "Transformations?"

3: If these people are handing out new clothing, why in the world would they stop with Ellen and not have mercy on us by NOT giving you something else to wear?

4: If more bodies are turning up, why did you not just call the police? You're a JOURNALIST.

5: YOU WENT THROUGH ALL THIS AND STILL HAD THE GALL TO ROLL YOUR EYES WHEN I TOLD YOU I WAS MADE OF MAGIC???????????????????????????????????

1 - apparently when a new Messenger obtains her Cloak, a Guardian must be appointed to be her ward/bodyguard/what have you. This can mean whoever is lucky enough to stand in her vicinity of a couple of yards when the process happens. Guess who the lucky fellow was. She didn't know about it. But since I was there, the cloak went "NEW GUARDIAN" and I got these powers. Fair to say, I wasn't warned about it.

2 - I can change shape in a way. It's complicated.

3 - SOMEONE'S rude. And I do have a thing that I kind of sort of received to wear it's just...embarrassing.

4 - It's a small village far away from pretty much any major city. By the time anyone could've gotten someone to come to the town, probably five more people could've died. We had to take our chances.

5 - I thought it was a very good hallucination. I mean, it seemed far too crazy to be true.

[Again, the line goes quiet. This is a lot of information to process. It would take a while for anyone to wrap their head around all of this and... wait, what is that patter out in the hallway? What is that noise that, for all the world, sounds like a man in very heavy boots sprint--

CRASH.

Mettaton is in your room now. Don't worry about the lock. He'll pay for it.]

Show me.

[See Keats. See Keats almost jump a foot off the floor. Hear Keats let out a very, very undignified yelp.]

What? WHAT?! [GIVE HIM A SECOND AS HE PROCESSES THAT REQUEST and then proceeds to back up away from Mettaton.]

NO! It's weird!

You're weird. I haven't run away yet. Show me.

[He's just going to groan because he wants to run away now but Mettaton is standing in the doorway so his only escape route is gone. Great. Greaaaaaaaaat. Mettaton, always putting Keats on the spot. With anyone else, he wouldn't be this relenting (but only because Mettaton will hound him down until he shows him, curse his big mouth).]

I don't think you'll like it. I mean, when I change, it's...not very nice to look at.

[Ah, there it is again: that inherent shame of any sort of supernatural abilities. If he hadn't seen how bent out of shape it made him in Woodhurst, this sudden modesty would be taking him by surprise.

Instead, Mettaton just laughs and shakes his head, gently nudging the door closed behind himself with a heel.]

Sweetheart. Honeysuckle. Light of my life.

I spent years of my life living as a sentient box. My creator is a giant lizard in a lab-coat and glasses. My sound-mixer is a ghost and my back-up singer is a fish. My biggest fan and his brother are both skeletons. Our royal couple were large goats. So long as you don't look like this, [he projects a gray image to the side of his head. It's hideous. It's lumpy and misshapen and has the air of a creature that would demand constant free-rides and never pitch in for the gas.

It's Jerry.]

...We'll be fine.

Edited 2017-04-14 05:24 (UTC)

A sentient box...?

[He doesn't know why, but that statement makes him frown. He had seen Mettaton's other form, it's not like that's strange, but it seems to suggest that he didn't always have this wonderful humanoid dancing machine self around to be. Huh.]

[Keats sees the picture of Jerry and lets out a laugh, despite himself.]

No, goodness, it's not that. [A sigh. Okay, he doesn't need to be this self-conscious. It's only some other form, an extra thing, it's hardly something to be this worried about. He'll show it and be done with it. Get it out of the way quickly.]

[He takes off his glasses and hands them over to Mettaton.]

Hold these for me for the moment, alright?

[And with that, he's going to try to move a few of the things in the room just to make a little more space. He's never done this in a room like this.]

[Hm? Has he not shown him his more simple form? That makes sense; they've been in Woodhurst for months and Mettaton has rarely taken off his cloak since. He still has it on at this exact moment...

Maybe another time.

The thought doesn't linger long. Something is getting placed into his hands and

Oh.

Oh.

OH YES... This is the greatest day of his life.

With the sort of grin usually accompanied by a villainous cackle, the glasses go straight into Mettaton's storage the second Keats isn't looking. He is NEVER getting them back.

A wrong finally righted, Mettaton rocks himself back and forth on his heels, hands folded behind his back, and eyes fluttering innocently.]

[Keats, not realizing the ABSOLUTE TREACHERY happening behind him, finally thinks he's made enough room. The way he transforms is a bit...explosive, to say the least. Finally satisfied, Keats turns towards the vaguely blurry Mettaton standing near the door.]

Alright. You ready? I don't show it to people at all, so...well, I might do this for you only once, understand? No repeats unless we get into a dire situation.

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