Video;

[ibalsamina]

[The Grumpearl projects an image: a long-furred Yungoos seated primly on a wooden Canopy platform. Her grin is restrained, showing only a sliver of her sharp fangs, and her surroundings are awash with color: the greens of lush foliage and the vibrant blossoms of various flowers, both growing naturally in the trees and collected for display around the edges of the platform.]

Hello, everyone. I hope you are all faring well, in spite of the extraordinary circumstances. I am still familiarizing myself with this "Grumpearl" device, so I also hope you can forgive me for any technical difficulties that may arise.

[Observing her in this moment, it's hard to imagine that there even could be any such technical difficulties. She is perfectly framed and her thoughts are silent—almost eerily so. Try as she might to make it all seem effortless, it seems she is trying very hard, in fact, to keep them focused and to herself. Not a single stray thought allowed.]

My name is Lusamine Mendel, and I was very recently recruited into the Cheri Guild. Although I am still new to this world, I intend to do everything I can to be of assistance to you all. If there is ever anything I might be able to help you with, please do not hesitate to ask.

[The dark green gem fastened around her neck gleams as she tilts her head.]

Now, I have a simple question for recent arrivals and longtime residents of Bottlecap Bay alike, if you wouldn't mind indulging me. What is the last thing you recall happening before you were transported into this world?

Comments

[technusrulez]

[Technus is confused at this. Why not? Why should he have a deeper reason? He just wants to.]

...Because I can?

[ibalsamina]

[Hmm. Not very imaginative, is he?]

So you had no plan for what to do next, once the world was under your control?

[technusrulez]

I had a couple of ideas, actually.

• Have many statues of myself built.
  
• Acquire a location to rule from in the human realm. Some sort of gigantic castle filled with the most recent technology. It would be interesting to demolish my gravesite and build it on top of that, but then every other ghost buried in that cemetery would make my afterlife hell, so I will not do that.
  
• Do some benevolent dictator things so that the mortals do not rise up against me. Free cellular phones for everyone, legalize gay marriage worldwide, etcetera.
  
• Make the ghost child suffer.
  

[ibalsamina]

Ah, I see! Well, I suppose there are worse things you could have been doing with that amount of power.

Although... Planning to make a child suffer isn't a very benevolent thing to do, is it?