001 • community building

Feb. 24th, 2026 04:12 pm
zauns: (pic#18170584)
[personal profile] zauns posting in [community profile] cultmirror
[Silco's voice is smooth, slippery. The Murmur sneaks in like a whisper in your mind, full of promises. If it's just a tiny bit sinister, well, maybe you're reading too much into it?]

How heartening it has been to see everyone sharing information so readily. [So helpful, so useful.] In the difficult situations that seem common here, we certainly will all find it easier if we can work together. While we all seem to be surviving, I think we can do better than that.

With that in mind, I would propose a cooperative organization made up of those in this city who would like to support one another. We could work together to secure safe housing, protect one another in times of danger, and assist in scavenging necessary supplies. Those who have been brought here have a wide array of skills. Consider the possibilities that a bit of organization might bring.

For example, if you have something you wish repaired but lack the skills to do so, your current options seem to be shouting aimlessly into the void in hopes that someone will help or asking anyone you meet and hoping someone knows someone with the right skills. Then you must negotiate a trade, or pray that they'll help you out of the goodness of their heart.

If we operate in this spirit of mutual aid, you would be helped by someone trustworthy within our little organization. No trade would be necessary, because you would already be providing aid in your own way - food to a central storage area, perhaps, or protection for those who need it. I'm sure you can see how this might make life a little easier for everyone involved.

My own expertise lies in this sort of administrative support - connecting people with each other, organizing what needs to be done, and ensuring things are kept fair. I would be more than happy to use my skills for a purpose like this.

Let me know if any of you are interested. The first step in creating a community is getting to know one another, after all.
faa: (i'm a defect surgical project)
[personal profile] faa posting in [community profile] cultmirror
[ Freddie's voice comes across the Murmur as he dons his mask, its long black beak and brilliant feathers an isolated face of a Cedar Waxwing eclipsing his own, even if he doesn't recognize it as such. That voice, recognizable to the right audience as from New York but not the city they currently inhabit, naturally falls into the cadence of an in-flight announcement without his awareness of the way he defaults to the familiar. ]

Hey. For those who don't know me, I'm Freddie, I live on the Upper West Side. Before I was a pilot, I was actually in physics. ...I'm sure everyone's noticed the voids popping up around here. If any of you have fallen into them or seen inside of them, let me know what you found. Or any other observations, if anyone's gotten close to them. How they behave, how big they are, whether they carry sound, whether their size and placement are consistent. I'm not Einstein or anything but I want to try to gather what information I can. Thanks.

001 | Welcome to the Surgery Altar

Feb. 19th, 2026 02:50 pm
whomthebelltolls: (What you are doing is screwing things up)
[personal profile] whomthebelltolls posting in [community profile] cultmirror
[CW: Dissection, parasitism, just generally really goopy medical grossness.]

[Unfortunately, Maria doesn't really know about nor believe in content warnings, so those who are browsing the Murmur near the end of Week 3 or beginning of Week 4 of February are going to run smack-dab, face-first into Maria dissecting a Lesser Guardian.

The image is mostly from her perspective, but she has dressed down into just her undershirt, with the sleeves rolled up. She's wearing her leather gloves over her hands, and her hunter's trousers, all of which are splattered in thick, black sludge. She stands in what appears to be the lobby of some kind of old office building, with the Guardian laying dead on a table. Nearby, a few reappropriated bottles and mason jars contain the same thick, black sludge, as well as some strange slug-like creatures.

The Lesser Guardian's torso is cut wide open, with its void-black musculature under its weird, smooth skin exposed. A knife - not a scalpel, but a flip-blade knife from some collector's case or another - lays nearby. The whole thing has the vibe of a very ad-hoc surgery theater. Or mortuary.

Without much warning, she reaches into the torso cavity as movement catches her eye, and comes out with a thick, black slug that wiggles weakly in her fingers a few times, then falls limp. Disappointment prickles through the Murmur.
]

... The creatures haunting about this month are more interesting than I had hoped.

I would like assistance with a few things: Firstly, more of them to study. I've hunted a few, but it's been difficult to obtain a pristine specimen. I am willing to go with a hunting party. Secondly, a place to store and perhaps better investigate them, if anyone knows of a safe place. [And that's all she really needs from the Murmur, but she does step back to the Guardian's side to continue, for those that didn't immediately try to turn it off or change the channel:]

For those interested: Their blood is some sort of thick sludge, and they are full of these... phantasms, as I have never seen them before. [She motions at the slug. She does not explain what a "phantasm" is, nor why she called the slug that, before she continues] But the phantasms die quickly after being removed from their hosts; I'd like to find out how to preserve them.

Their flesh and bones seem to be structured like some sort of sapient... wasp's nest, as well. [Guess who's going back in to peel the open skin flaps of the Guardian, and showing off the honeycomb structure of its flesh and muscles on that small sample.] I damaged this one's head when I slayed it, so I would especially like one with an intact head that I can study. I want to see what its brain looks like.

Those squeamish need not apply.

002 ⚙️ omens in your skies

Feb. 17th, 2026 01:23 pm
ar_cane: (you feel it in your chest)
[personal profile] ar_cane posting in [community profile] cultmirror
[ Viktor is, uncharacteristically, putting effort into presenting himself to the full range of audience possible through the Murmur. He's sat in front of a mirror and watching himself through one glowing golden eye that shines through the veil that obscures much of his face. The rest of his body is also easily seen, purposefully so, spindly limbs too long for the chair he sits in so his knees bend near his chest and visible skin darkened at the extremities. He hopefully looks a little more approachable in the oversized sweater and baggy slacks he's wearing, at least. When he speaks, there's no obvious movement of a mouth, but in his mind he makes his accented voice more human, less metallic. He's putting a lot of effort into being approachable without masking what he is. ]

Hello, fellow dreamers. For those of you I haven't met yet, my name is Viktor. In my past life, I was a researcher, among other things. It is a career path that has been surprisingly useful since arriving here.

Previously, a census went out courtesy of Miss Lortel about the nature of everyone's magical abilities and transformations. It sparked my interest in where these powers come from, and where any innate ones have gone.

I'd appreciate hearing any personal experiences regarding the following:

First, if you were born with any superhuman abilities.
Second, if you might have gained any superhuman abilities through other means, but still in your native world.
Third, if you have retained any of those abilities since arriving here.
Fourth, if your new-found abilities bear any similarity to those you previously had or still have.

If you didn't have any superhuman abilities before being brought here, I'd still be interested in learning about your world, whether or not such abilities exist at all. I would like to get an estimate of how many of us did or didn't have any powers before any were bestowed upon us.

[ Bowing his head, the connection begins to dim, but not before he thinks to himself: ] How many times can one man say the word "abilities" in a minute?