problem-solving on the Plane

[realitymods]

[Meredith appears. She makes her announcement without stalling.]

Your friends have changed. There is one certain way to save them. Those who die will return to what they were.

[Does that make you angry? Too bad. The hooded figure has already vanished.]

Comments

[onperfectlips.livejournal.com]

No! There must be another way!

[anoblesavage.livejournal.com]

I would rather kill the one who has changed our friends in the first place.

[promisedsomeone.livejournal.com]

[Guess who else is here. As usual, there's that splash of crimson on his arm.]

Even an uncertain way is still a chance. I'm going to the shop. [He turns away sharply.] Don't do anything stupid.

[grip_on_reality]

[Menzies scowls] That would be the answer, wouldn't it? But dead isn't exactly "what they were," is it? Like death is some sort of temporary inconvenience. [she scoffs]

[holmes-fanatic.livejournal.com]

Gwen-san ...

Someone you know?

[holmes-fanatic.livejournal.com]

You've heard about the machine oil blood?

[Look who is back in the Plane.]

[grip_on_reality]

[she raises an eyebrow] I've heard the machine "runs on blood," whatever that means. What's this oil blood, then?

[holmes-fanatic.livejournal.com]

I got told that people who've died here end up with blood that smells and looks like machine oil by two different people.

[grip_on_reality]

...people who've died? Come back? [well, that explains Meredith's offer, at least]

[holmes-fanatic.livejournal.com]

Death's not supposed to work like that, is it?

[grip_on_reality]

Not in my experience, no. This is starting to sound like something right out of a zombie film! So if one of us dies, we come back with oil blood, but nobody wants to destroy everything around them anymore. [she sneers] Doesn't sound like much of an offer to me. [it sounds manipulative, more than anything]

[holmes-fanatic.livejournal.com]

[Conan was hoping he was making the right decision telling Menzies that.]

I don't think it's an offer at all.

[grip_on_reality]

[she nods. the pieces are starting to fall together now] They get something out of us dying. Otherwise, why set this up?

[holmes-fanatic.livejournal.com]

That seems like a theme. That's how it happened to one of the people I talked to. The people in charge made everyone fight.

And then there's the deaths in our worlds too.

[grip_on_reality]

So, "the machine runs on blood"--literally. [her expression darkens] The question is, what do we do about it?

[onperfectlips.livejournal.com]

Morgana. Morgana has been ... [She shook her head, sickened by the thought.] We have to save her!

[onperfectlips.livejournal.com]

They're telling us to murder our friends.

I'm coming with you. [He needed a voice of reason.]

[holmes-fanatic.livejournal.com]

First step -- making sure that no one dies.

[holmes-fanatic.livejournal.com]

Morgana --

[The girl in the woods -- her clothes were something like Gwen's?]

Tall, black haired, using magic to destroy the forest?

[grip_on_reality]

Yeah. [she sighs] Which unfortunately for me means staying well away from you lot. [as frustrating as that is. she really hopes no one's stupid enough to kill any of the others--or to get themselves killed trying]

Do you know if anyone's been able to incapacitate any of the raging maniacs yet?

[holmes-fanatic.livejournal.com]

I've been avoiding coming to the Plane as much as possible, so I'm lucky that I caught Sault-san's announcement at all.

[grip_on_reality]

[actually, that's a relief to hear, even if she does wish she had more information about what's going on--or that she could investigate it herself]

Good idea. I'll spread the word to anyone I see, but there's no point in you looking for trouble. The psychopaths aren't going to listen to us anyway.

[she's not sure if he'll heed that advice, but she certainly isn't willing to encourage a kid to run around trying to stop people from killing each other]

[holmes-fanatic.livejournal.com]

While I'm here -- I've been thinking. You'll have realised the celphones don't work when we're not both in our worlds, but you can contact me by the post. Do you need anything? Supplies, that sort of thing?

[grip_on_reality]

Yeah, worked that one out for meself.

[she's surprised by the offer, though] Ah, no. But thanks. Seems like this place has got everything, if you know where to look. I'm not exactly in danger of starving.

But you've been in your world--has anybody else gone missing?

[holmes-fanatic.livejournal.com]

No new disappearances but forensics reported back. Everyone who died was found within an hour of their death, hands severed by something that acted like a giant tooth; large amounts of dopamine in their systems.

No one can explain it.