[Video] - November 3 or so (before the bonfires)

[scarsolderthanyou]

[The network window that opens up for people when they connect, today, shows a mirror in a hallway, with a familiar face in it-- mostly familiar, anyway. Sam Stone's skin has gone gray, literally-- not sickly gray, not pale or ill-looking... just gray. As if it faded from color along with his hair. The only color left to him are his eyes, still light blue.]

Anybody listening today? I thought maybe we should catalog all the weird changes we're all going through. I'll start.

[He holds up his hand-- also gray.]

I got that bloodhound-league sense of smell thing a while ago, and on Halloween a spider turned my skin gray. Crazy, right? Also, I can growl when I'm grumpy about something. Demonstrations available if you want 'em.

Who else has had some weird shit change for them?

Comments

[Video]

[vernal_miss]

[Although she has nothing to add as far as physical changes may be concerned, there is something she absolutely cannot resist asking. So, sitting on her bed accompanied by a couple plush toys with her younger sibling currently out, she fusses with her connection until she can be seen in return with the most curious expression of quiet wonder.]

You can growl? Can I hear?

[scarsolderthanyou]

[Sam gives her a mildly amused look, then a deep rumbling noise comes across the network. The mirror vibrates a little with it, making his image jitter on whatever screen she's using.

It sounds a little like a lion, but deeper, louder, and definitely more vibrate-y.]

[vernal_miss]

[The hopeful curl at her lips slackens as her eyes go wide at the way the sound comes through with the image quivering as though the connection itself is shook by the intimidating growl. He won’t even finish before Nel squeals in delight and throws herself back on the bed with the camera brought along as she dissolves into a bout of mirthful laughter, her own image shaking far less consistently in the transition before she manages to lean it against the wall.

He sounds like he could scare any animal at the zoo! As his granddaughter however, she is entirely immune to any potential for actual fright.]

That! That’s AMAZING!!! W-when did you start growling like that??

[scarsolderthanyou]

Around the time that bomb was discovered. It happened because of some short, bald man who either was important enough to cause one of those pulse things, somehow, or could cause them on purpose.

[runs]

I have cat eyes now! Like Sadie!

[Which is uncomfortable because she needs to wear contacts to hide it, but also if she's being frank pretty cool. Not that it changed her ability to see, it's a purely cosmetic thing, but still.]

[scarsolderthanyou]

That's two people with cat eyes, then. Do you have any memories of other cat parts, like she does?

[runs]

No.

...I got a coat? [That's the only other physical thing that she's really gotten as far as she can tell.]

[scarsolderthanyou]

And I got a bracelet.

[He even holds up his wrist to show it off, looking mildly amused.]

So you don't get visions with yours? Or just not visions that come with images of having cat parts?

[Video]

[blueskying]

So you've gone monochromatic.

[Sky pauses for a long moment, frowning into the middle distance.]

That would make a very good title for a story. Might be seen as riding on Duane's coattails, but in all fairness her title is derivative itself.

[He's talking to himself. Someone tell him this is rude.]

[scarsolderthanyou]

Who's coattails?

[Sam will at least call him on it.]

[blueskying]

- oh, sorry. Drifting.

[Sometimes it's hard for Sky to tell what's him enjoying being absurd and what's a real tendency to get distracted by random thoughts, and may have been happening more in the past several years. But this isn't about him.]

Is it just skin deep? Is there color in your mouth and the corners of your eyes?

[Much nicer to check those than to go right into the topic of blood color.]

[scarsolderthanyou]

Didn't actually look inside my own mouth, but my eyes look normal in the corners. Look for yourself.

[He leans closer to the mirror and tilts his head for Sky to have a look. Sure enough, there's the usual pink there.]

So it's just pigmented skin, not the flesh underneath.

Audio

[dragoonrouge]

I got my eyes, recently retractable claws became a thing and I can vocalise like a cat too.

[To demonstrate Sadie makes herself purr, the vibrations causing an effect not too dissimilar to a phone on vibrate before she shifts to a hiss followed by a growl, although it lacks the depth of Sam's]

[scarsolderthanyou]

Retractable claws? Can I see?

[Because that sounds like it would be pretty hard to hide, unless it's in addition to nails. She's going to need gloves all the time.]

[dragoonrouge]

Sure.

[Sadie switches to her camera. With the focus purely on her hands it's easy to see that the nails seem thicker, the tops curving and the tips more pointed than most would have their nails.

With a flex of her fingers, the nails extend and curve out, covering the tips of her fingers.]

[scarsolderthanyou]

Okay, that's not creepy-looking at all.

[He doesn't sound like he's that creeped out, really. He leans forward over the mirror as if that will get him a closer look at how the claws retract into her finger.]

How does it feel when you do that?

video

[fairfeste]

You're just... gray. I thought 'going gray' was just an expression. Or about hair.

[tbh they're not even teasing, they are just very confused.]

Uh... I have a memory thing about the spider webs. Other than that I have no idea.

[the fact that the lighting is perfect on them in every damn shot of this video is a little too subtle for them to pick up on.]

[scarsolderthanyou]

[Sam's vision isn't the best, given he only has one really working eye, so he doesn't entirely notice. He just figures Feste is good with cameras, or whatever he's using for this video. Too bad.]

You'll get more. You're still new to this.

[He doesn't sound all that encouraging; more like grim.]

[fairfeste]

You don't make that sound like a good thing...

[Though really, that's about what they expect. This whole thing just sounds... concerning.]

[text]

[brofistsforall]

I'd make a joke about turning in to a wolf, but it's really no laughing matter.

I had some physical changes, but they're nowhere like yours. Just...I've needed to buy a new wardrobe.

[text]

[catted]

May I ask what exactly the changes are?

[text]

[brofistsforall]

I've got a lot more bulk than I used to have. To the point where I'm having people ask if I joined some sort of weightlifting program.

(I didn't.)

[Video]

[spaghettimonster]

I haven't had anything obvious happen, like some of you. But if muscle mass is a thing... I can't seem to gain any weight, or muscle tone, and I've been trying.

[Working out, bingeing fattening foods... But nothing. Russell looks mostly like his icons, if slightly thinner.]

So, are you grey all over...?

[Video]

[scarsolderthanyou]

Yeah, even my feet. It's like something took all the color in my skin and just leeched it out.

[He pauses to look down at his hands and frown, turning them over as if the other side might look different. He's done that a lot the past couple of days.]

Could you gain muscle mass before you learned your number, or have you just always been a skinny kid?

[Video]

[spaghettimonster]

[Russell leans in too close to the wall he's using for the network, studying the visible parts of Stone's greyness for signs of any saturation. But it really does just look... colorless. With no signs of makeup.]

I... Uh, not like this. I was bigger in school, sometimes. But it's nothing as dramatic as what you're going through, I never thought it might be connected.