Unnamed Ball Disc
Arjun flees the stone ball, and finds himself drawn to the glow-ball... letting himself process his feelings... or something
Jerzy cuts a small bit of fruit - causing some appealing juice to appear due to the severance - and tests a portion of it for any disgusting odor, or a hint for what may be cyanide.
Neither are present. It smells very fruity, in a unique way. It's somewhere between a pineapple and maybe a ripe pear in odor, though less tropical due to a relative lack of citrus.
Testing it on his skin, he finds that the liquid causes no harm immediately, so it's not a fast-acting acid... After giving it a few minutes, and even rubbing it in with a small bit of force (not enough to irritate his skin by itself though cause that would defeat the purpose of this experiment) Jerzy is relieved that there is no serious irritation... though the tactile sensory effect of it isn't super pleasing, as it is slightly sticky. Not sticky at all like honey, but more like apple juice. It's honestly possible to ignore it, but some individuals may have low tolerance for the discomfort, and prefer to rinse their hands afterwards - which is possible as you all have freshwater.
Touching the fruit to the lips is no different, either.
After taking a bite, his tonsils immediately soar with sudden pain. Not in a sinister way, though, but in the way one would experience when suddenly tasting something very sweet or very sour, or when tasting something moderately sweet/sour after not having done so for quite a while. This is the latter case. Regardless, the pain fades quickly, and the full taste reveals itself.
While the odor was somewhere between honey, a pineapple, an apple, and a ripe pear, the taste is actually more lightly sweet than the smell, and the sweetness is not as rich as honey, and pretty close to the natural sugars in fruit (fructose?)
There is a tiny overtone of sourness, though it fades quickly (so it should be called whatever the opposite of an aftertaste is). It's not quite citrus-y, so maybe it is another kind of acid (like malic acid?) though again maybe not that at all.
It chews in a very satisfying way... It is somewhere between a pineapple and apple in terms of texture/density. Actually, the texture is near identical to an apple or an unripe pear, while the level of juicyness is much like a pineapple (it is definitely less than a watermelon)
For this reason, after a couple minutes of chewing, he is left with little meat, and mostly juice pooling by his uvula. The ratio is probably like 40% juice, and 60% meat, though two minutes of chewing is way too much for this kind of food, so it ends up being nearly 85% juice or pulverized-meat (do you call that pulp?) by the end.
Anyway, the taste is closest to honey though (despite not being as rich, sweet or strong/intense), but it is also significantly more refreshing in a way, which is similar to pineapples. This feels like it could be attributed to that sour overtone, which prevents the main sweetness from being dehydrating.
All in all, this is very pleasing in most ways, however it is probably best to drink it with some water as despite being fruity and juicy, it is not a replacement.
On a scale of 'how refreshing is this?', where 0 is cola (or other carbonated drink) that leaves your mouth dry and sticky and 10 is crisp summertime lemonade, this is a solid 8.
Of course, completely ignoring anything but how much ACTUAL hydration you get, water would be like a 30 on that scale, but it's nice to have variety!
Finally, swallowing causes no ill effects except for some stomach rumbling as his appetite grows and he struggles to restrain it... So, after counting to two-hundred, Jerzy allows himself to begin cutting up pieces to eat until he sates himself!
Public OOC: I'm sure it does xD. We'll say it took you like ten minutes or something, which would have you caught up with Emily since she spent time performing too
Emily watches Jerzy to make sure he doesn't poison himself... she gets a bit of a weird sense from the fruit he's testing, but it's certainly not poisonous... but... there's something about it? She's not sure if it's anything that could cause harm, or what it even is... honestly, she guesses that most things in this world are a bit off, but she can voice her half-formed idea if she desires.
She also looks desperately around for the source of this noise and these cracks... but, she finds nothing. Given her good senses, this means it's either not visible in the first place or it's hidden from view because it's blocked.
Then, Emily listens closely to try and parse the various noises, and finds it difficult at first... however, after some effort she does manage to listen only for slurred speech!
And, interestingly, she finds a couple such tones amidst all the others! Drunk may not be right exactly, but it's at least similar in being a bit off-pace, and having a kind of drawl.
Next, as Emily begins to play a song with emotional beats, she finds that the voices do indeed calm down, before becoming almost fully silent during the middle of the song...
By the last verse, she hears a strange sound beginning to rise but continues to finish the piece anyway for everyone's satisfaction
Lastly, as the first song comes to an end, the strange sound explodes into a loud noise! At first, it's scary, but quickly Emily's brain figures it out and she realizes it's not a scream/yell/roar or a hiss/spit but in fact a sort of cry! It's a bit weird, but it's something like a very deep, bellowing weeping coming mostly from the chest not the throat!
It's a bit spooky, kind of reminescent of the groan of a zombie or howl of a banshee... though, she can clearly get the idea that the sentiment behind it is... well, not anything evil or dark like those creatures.
After a moment of thought, she has the idea that this seems very much like an almost cartoonish variant of how individuals may cry after hearing a beautiful piece of music...
indeed, despite the cry being a sorrowful sound... the emotions behind it don't really seem sad, as much as... joyful? appreciative? even a little jubilant, actually...
So, she hesitantly plays a second song, which is also given the same response of respectful (at least, Emily thinks maybe it's that) silence followed by an explosive response that is positive, but a little unfamiliar (though that's to be expected, given this weird world)
Then, as she finishes playing, a HUGE crack forms in the gray ball, splitting it basically down the middle vertically, before it spreads open slightly like an egg, and various hands begin to emerge...!!
You all watch as a number of gray-skinned creatures emerge from the gray ball!
They are extremely small, about up to your ankles (4 inches) or below your knees (16 inches) depending on their individual heights. They have vaguely humanoid figures, with two arms, two legs, a head and torso.
They also have strange-shaped heads.
The details beyond t hat are hard for anyone but Emily to notice though.
Emily in particular notices that their heads are like humans from neck to forehead, except that they have much more variance in the placement of their two eyes, from being very close and lowdown, or spread apart and high up. Also, they have flatter noses, to the point that even you with your great eyesight cannot see any nostrils on some of them!
Their ears have varying shapes, inside, but so do all humans (much like fingerprints). The outside shape is similar to humans, but with a bit more variance. Some have lobes and some do not, while some have their ears tilted slightly forward, backwards, upwards or downwards.
The cartilege is also pointed or very rounded for some of them, giving overall different perimeters more than most huamns have.
the most notable part of their heads though, is that above their foreheads, instead of a scalp, they have various semi-unique formations...
many have some kind of cone or elongated dome, while others have large quantities of horns all stuck together, and some even have a third giant ear!
One seems to have some half dozen tentacles which stand up erect but with floppy tips
As for the rest of them...
Their bodies are different from humans, but not in extreme ways. Their legs and arms are most similar, but interestingly there seems to be no certain number of fingers/toes. Though, it is always symmetrical for each of them (for example, one of these guys may have six fingers on each hand and three toes on each foot, while another has two fingers each hand and four on each foot- but nobody will ever have more than 6 or less than 2 appendages, and their fingers and toes will also always be the same on each half their body)
Their arms and legs also have the regular number of joints... but about 30% of them seem to have an extra joint right by their wrists along with extended arms with fingertips that are below their knees as they stand upright!
The torsos are anywhere from bone-thin (with exposed ribs, numbering six to twelve) to bloated to the point they likely cannot see their own toes! However, all of them seem equally healthy regardless...
None of them are wearing clothes, though you cannot see any genitalia are other sexual characteristics (thus you also cannot distinguish any biological sex)
The texture of their bodies varies quite a bit from very smooth stone (anything less than polished) to so rough and bumpy that it appears to be liverwort or spikemoss!
All of them seem to have skin, though some are so rough it could pass as scales!
Lastly, the colors of their bodies are all gray, with some of them having ebony or pearl extensions coming from SOME or ALL of the fingertips - but even you cannot get a good enough look to tell if those are nails, claws, talons or something else!
The insides of their mouths and ears (which you don't get many glimpses of) are darker in shade, but you cannot tell the hue right now.
Finally, the eyes vary A LOT. None of them have irises, and all of them have either pupils and sclera, or just sclera! Pupil and sclera can be same color or separate, and the palette is shared between them of: Ashen gray, dark chocolate brown, pitch black, deep blood red, or a speckled pattern of dark golden and dark hazel!
As these creatures emerge, they scramble up on four limbs, or by climbing with their arms, before standing upright and glancing in yours all direction. Many of the tiniest ones seem to look at Emily in particular, while they are either laying nearly face down or beind helg in the arms or on the shoulders of other larger ones...
It seems that those are the children?
This whole thing ends after a minute and a half, and you are left with nearly three dozen individuals standing and staring at you all.
What will you do?