[Video] [Locked to New Hires only] [TW for Punishment in the linked log.]

[bringinghopewithme]

Stacia, Armstrong, I need to see both of you in person. On the double. Five minutes ago. Anyone else with a real good sense of smell, you come see me too.

[On the camera, underneath his oak tree in the garden, Bunny has a little bit of that dead-eyed stare that comes from being reminded how thoroughly shackled they all are to the most banal form of evil. Mostly, this is just businesslike, direct. Calmly urgent, after his furious meltdown in the Executive wing got him nowhere good.]

Everyone else: Sam and Dan and I tracked what attacked Tenten and Setsuna into the Executive wing. I smelled it there recently before the suits caught us and kicked us out.

[There's no real reason to bring up their Punishment. It happened, it hurt, he hates that he dragged Dan and Sam into it, but they all knew it was likely to happen. And if anything they learned can help prevent any further damage to the kids, it'll have absolutely been worth it.]

I couldn't identify the species, but it's supernatural, and old. Older than me. Some variety of predator. Given we tracked it into areas we're not allowed to go, and it spent a lot of time wandering around there all leisurely, it either looks enough like a suit that they gave it a pass, or it can walk through walls. If I had money, I'd put it on walking through walls. I'm not ruling out both, though.

But don't worry. Jorgmund's bringing in - [he scoffs, and rolls his eyes hugely] dogs to finish tracking it.

I'm still racking my brains to see if any memory of what it could be falls out, but if any of that rings any bells for all you, I'm all ears.

Comments

[garmr]

Don’t take this the wrong way, but it sounds like it’d be a death sentence for both of you.

[hallelujahjunction]

None taken. But that’s why we need more information. If, for example, this is something you can fight with super strength, or magic, or fire or what have you, it may be more dangerous for some of us than others.

[Dan hates that, because his being a mundane human means he almost certainly doesn’t have anything to recommend him for the job, and he hates being useless. He’s getting the hang of his Stuff-given power, practicing it on the cafeteria workers, but he can tell that they’re not going to fight this thing off with the noospheric power of turning frowns upside down.]

We do have quite the stable of special talents here.

[parannoyed]

Just trying to go about our business in pairs could be one, too.

At least if we controlled conditions we might be able to lure whoever's doing this into a trap and stop them. If a volunteer - which I'm willing to be - gets gutted but the attacker's neutralized it's someone dying for a good reason, rather than people dying for no reason at all.

[garmr]

Appreciate the enthusiasm, but it's no good if you die before you can react to her.

Like he said, we have to gleam more before we can kill this thing, and we've got to pick the right person for the job.