Status

By Al Wilder:

Written: May 20th, XX73

Updated: May 25th, XX73

Mourning Beasts

*picture not found*

So you want to know about Mourning Beasts! Recognized in XX65, but reports dating back from as far as XX61, these creatues are shapeshifters of unknown origin. How they shapeshift is also unknown. Whatever way, the amount of energy that would take might explain their commonly known diet.

These creatures are known for their taste for human flesh, and the lengths they'll go for a meal.While centred around New Rersrie, they have been spotted well outside the area.

Their ability to shift their faces to match people that would lure their intended meals into a false sense of security is currently their best known tool, although they have been proven to be intelligent enough to steal codes to doors, long range stalk prey, and simply strike without warning with no attempt to mimic loved ones. How they shift is currently unknown, or at least publicly. While some have been captured and killed, no official reports have ever been released.

The recommended course of action to stay safe as these creatures spread more throughout the country, especially if you live in New Rersrie is:

• Stay aware, while this creatures have been known to attack regardless of it being day or night, and attacks on the street are far less common then home invasions, you can never really predict how each indivdual Mourning Beast will react

• Keep your ID up to date, when unsure its always best to ask for ID. This one is the one the government recommended. I don't know if I necessarily agree with the idea we must always present ID when asked. Still potentially effective if you're not good with faces, but don't rely on the other person to always want to give an ID even if they are human.

• Look out for any 'wrongness', Mourning Beasts aren't always that good at mimicking faces exactly especially if they only got a glance. Some cases have been reported to have even more severely mismatched qualities, like multiple eyes, or holes in the face, ect. As well, eye contact with them has been reported to be uncomfortable, but I can't confirm or deny since that's totally just an average day for me.

• However, DON'T immediately assume anyone with non-typical human features is an imposter. Use this visual judgment on only those you know and always use it as a reason to be cautious rather then as a final judgment. It is very easy to mistake a real human injury, disability, or birth condition for 'wrongness', or be more paranoid due to lack of sleep and other factors, and the legal consequences for attacking or killing another human being remain the same no matter if you thought they were they were a Mourning Beast. Carrm v. Vergoossen is a case often cited in this context, where a neighbour was targetted due to a particularly nasty rash they developed on a camping trip.

• Use a safe word! Come up with a word or code and only tell it to the person you want to be able to identify. (A. Wilder: Suggested by my son Levi.)

I once went to a town, Cade Vale. Small place, peaked at a few thousand residents. It's close to New Rersrie, thirty minutes drive tops. The town is basically gone now, not just for the reasons that I had initially interviewed about. They were dealing with the loss of their main water tower. It was a little puff peice to fill time.

I noticed things. Some residents were...strange. And nobody liked when I interviewed them. The people in town seemed scared of me, and protective of them. I brushed it off as typical small town nonsense. I grew up in farmland. Isolated pockets of land create strange people. Typical. But...

When I later heard of the slaughter, the 'cleansing' of a pocket of Mourning Beasts harassing the town's folk, I thought back to those strange people and those protective glances. Was it really a liberation? A lot of the human residents of that town left soon after, so maybe it wasn't. Maybe someone made a horrible mistake.

While I don't want to downplay the lives changed and ended by the introduction of this species to the ecosystem, I do have to wonder if they're really all 'evil.' They have shown a capacity for thinking, and some can even speak. Maybe they all can.

It just doesn't add up. I need to speak with one of them.

Just...how?

I don't think Martin would just let me waltz into the office and rifle through their important files either.

(C. Hall: Planning a fun weekend I see)

(A. Wilder: I don't know.)

(C. Hall: I could try working my magic on Martin, I think he likes me.)

(A. Wilder: It's worth a shot.)

• Talk to Martin

• Look further into Cade Vale case

• Check old notes and photos from Cade Vale???

• Call Sam