hadriel_logs | Event Log: Dead Men Walking

Entry tags:

Event Log: Dead Men Walking

Who: Everyone participating in the event!
What: The event log for the Dead Men Walking event!
Where: All around the city
When: September 14th-September 20th
Warnings: Zombies. Walkers. The Infected. Zeds. The undead. Risen.

Everything seems more or less normal in Hadriel on the 14th - at least at first. But wait, who's that over there? Why are they walking so weird? Are they feeling okay? Wow, did they just try to bite you? Oh shit, you might've seen a movie like this before. That was definitely a zombie.

But hey, it's no big deal. A few zombies here and there are pretty easy to avoid, especially when you can outrun them without too much trouble. They're only really dangerous if they're fast or if there are a lot of them, and they sure aren't fast! Only - well, before long, there are a lot of them. You can hardly go outside without running into one, and mobs form quickly. Went out for supplies? Let's hope they didn't follow you - you might get stuck in that shop, mobile corpses pounding on the door. Oh, and don't stand too close to the windows of your house. They'll be more than happy to smash the glass trying to get you.

Don't worry, though! A hard blow to the head will take these zombies out, and you'll be sitting pretty, as long as none of them bite you. None of them bit you... right? Wow, what a relief. We're all glad you're not concealing a life-threatening zombie bite from your friends! Who would do that, anyway? Now if you can manage that until the 20th, you'll be safe and sound as the zombies shamble out of the city. Hopefully you won't be shambling with them.

► This log covers September 14th-September 20th.
► Feel free to make your own logs, as well
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► If you join the zombie party, please let us know here!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Firo looks up when the door opens, both to make sure it's not a very smart zombie and to see if it's anyone he knows. It's the latter! But she doesn't get the beaming smile she normally would, because he's too busy staring blankly.

Firo, at least, had the courtesy to fight minimal zombies on his way here. He even washed his hands before getting his drink, so the only grime from his struggle is some around his sleeves and pants. And a little on his cheek that he hasn't noticed, too.

The point is that when he came in, he, like a normal person, didn't slosh in a few gallons of blood with him. He wonders if Rey even notices. He narrows his eyes at her over his glass.

Sarcastically, "Did you at least wipe your feet at the door?"

Yep, he's judging you, Rey.

Too bad Rey doesn't give two flying tosses about what Firo thinks of her, or her lack of concern towards the bloody mess traced all the way to the bar area.

The adrenaline is barely winding down when she lifts her bourbon-filled glass and drinks. Half of that is quickly consumed by the time she acknowledges Firo and his query.

"Who cares about that?"

Not Rey. And definitely not when the city is already crawling with dead people trying to eat living people. She can't help but feel like this has happened before.

Firo sighs. "Are you kiddin' me? Probably everybody who walks in here is gonna care!"

Everybody has the same priorities as Firo. Or they should.

He leans back on his bar stool, shaking his head as he takes a long drink. "I'd never let my place back home get this dirty. Same for Alveare."

Even when they had to take care of people in there, they were always tidy about it. That's why Firo, ever considerate, often chooses to choke people to within an inch of their life. Hardly any mess to distract the customers.

Tragically, Rey can't say she'd share the same courtesy towards the people from back home. She doesn't nearly have the respect towards her fellows like Firo here to just break bones and leave it at that. Everything she does is loud and messy and hardly subtle to say the least.

"Not my problem. Things are already a mess in this place, thanks to Fear. Probably got his feelings hurt when we weren't spooking each other enough," she mutters that last part out.

After a moment, she sets down her glass, fingerprints smudged with red across the transparent surface. As she reaches across the bar top again, she grabs a couple towels this time.

It's a rough cleaning job (if you can even call it that), but she does what she can to wipe the smelly gunk off her bare arms, neck, and face. The stains are still evident, but at least she's not completely coated in thick layers of blood and rotting organs. She even takes a moment to wipe some of the filth left behind on the counter, glass and bottle she's using.

"Better?"

Come on, Rey. You can do better than that.

Firo surveys her job with a flat look, but he can't quite hold back an amused snort. "'Better' doesn't exactly mean 'good.'"

Something that might convince her occurs to him. "...What if somebody comes in here and gets freaked out by all this? You'd just be makin' Fear happy."

Think of the Carlisles of the world! Or, more importantly, think of the Carlisles of the world feeding Fear, because their actual comfort isn't as important as spiting a god.

Countering with a flat look of her own, Rey drops the towel over the counter.

"Swarms of dead people are wandering the streets out there, and you think people are going to get freaked out by a bit of blood?"

Or a lot of blood, whatever.

She shrugs a shoulder. "Fear is already probably getting his jollies no matter what I do."

"Too bad, I thought for sure that'd work." Spite's always a good motivator, right? Firo sighs into his drink and drains the glass.

"You never know with people. Here most of 'em are fine, but some are real wimps."

He thinks a little more. "What if Delight gets pissed off and shuts this place down?"

Rey has plenty of spite, but it only extends so far. She doesn't really have any other comment beyond a nonchalant shrug and a dismissive demeanor.

"Delight doesn't seem to be the type to get pissed over some spilt blood. If she can set up an entire housing neighborhood and alter the city's appearance for several days, then chances are she's more than capable of fixing up a little mess without straining herself."

Well, it's a 'little mess' compared to what's going on outside.

Firo's jaw hangs open just a little in disbelief. Okay, so she has her points in refuting his arguments, but seriously? He's seen enough filth to know not everyone shares his preferences, but, damn it, they should!

"Your mess! Jesus, what's your room look like if you've got this kinda attitude?"

He shakes his head. He's hardly as exasperated as he sounds; his volume is rarely directly proportional to his irritation.

"My room looks perfectly fine, thank you."

Albeit lacking in certain furniture that one would expect to find in a bedroom. But who cares about that?

That's when Rey takes a drink and fills her glass again. "Anyway, it's technically Fear's mess, since he's the likely culprit behind those assholes out there."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

He pours another drink. This is pretty fun, actually--it's like bugging Berga or Claire over drinks.

He laughs at the excuse. "That's like if you broke into a store and blamed the owner for the broken glass everywhere."

Shooting him a forced dubious look, Rey scoffs at Firo's comment. "Are you really asking if you can see my room? You could at least buy me a drink."

Obvious teasing, of course. But the implications and innuendo were too tempting to pass up.

"If the store owner's an asshole, then he deserves it."

And Fear is definitely an asshole.

Obvious teasing? To most people, probably. Firo, on the hand, flushes red and nearly falls off of his chair.

"I-I didn't mean it like that! I just--"

What does he do? Is he supposed to apologize? Leave?

Perhaps she should have expected it, but Firo's strong reaction has Rey snapping her head towards him with a mildly startled expression. What the hell is his deal?

"Relax, it was just a joke. You didn't do anything wrong."

Geez. She knows her sense of humor sucks, but that was abrupt.

He blinks and, after a moment, rights himself in his seat. "Huh?"

She's not mad? Weird... But maybe that's a good thing? He decides it's easier not to question it. "Well, in that case..." He decides to stare at the floor instead of her as he waits for his blush to die down. "Um, where were we?"

He'd like a speedy topic change, but he's too flustered to even remember what they were talking about.

Even with his head ducked like a dog that's been caught ripping open a bag of treats, the complexion of Firo's face is difficult to miss. Rey could take the easy route and continue to tease him, but something tells her that it'd be better to just indulge him and switch subjects.

"Right. So, how's the weather been treating you? What with all of the shuffling dead people walking the streets and all."

Hell if she wants to go back to arguing semantics again. She's more interested in how Firo has been handling this whole thing.

Thank god. Firo's totally fine with this change of pace.

"I got here fine, didn't I? What about you? This has gotta be one of the weirder things Fear's come up with."

Zombies as they are now aren't yet a cliche in Firo's time. He doesn't even know what to call these things.

It's good that Firo doesn't seem to be the type to easily lose his cool. Means that he's less likely to add to Fear's meal.

Rey shrugs a shoulder, dismissive at the comment.

"Not really. If the idea was to scare people, he could've done much better."

Zomies are old news by the time Rey is from. That doesn't mean the old fad is unheard of.

Firo raises an eyebrow. Sure, he wouldn’t say anything like that’s scary, but it’s definitely something. “Oh yeah? It’s still pretty off-the-wall. You’re used to a buncha’ guys who look like corpses walkin’ around?”

"Walking corpses? No. But I've seen my share of fucked up things from home that this is child's play."

Dealing with living, thinking people in a war zone offered more tactical challenges than witless husks.

Ever eager to defend what he sees as a possible avenue to insult, Firo adds, "I didn't say I was actually creeped out, just that he gets some points for creativity."

If she's going to bring it up... "Sounds like you've got some stories to share."

Hint hint.

Since Firo comes from a place where immortality and alchemy are a thing, and he's been in Hadriel long enough thus far, his response isn't so shocking. After a while, you just get numbed to it or you go insane. And Firo doesn't strike her as the type to lose his head.

Rey shrugs a shoulder, recognizing a hint when she sees one being given.

"My father's cells have been used to create all types of atrocities over the last few hundred years. So yes, perhaps I do."

No, pretty sure that translates to 'I definitely do'.

Firo pauses, mouth opening a little in surprise, before responding. "The hell's that mean? What's he doin' with his cells?"

It reminds him a little bit about what Ennis said about Szilard's cells; he's not sure what precisely Rey means, but it sounds like something big's being done with the cells.

The fact that Firo has something of an idea on the concept of genetics is surprising to Rey. He didn't seem to understand much when she was talking about her father's immortal cell line before. Though what parts he did get he didn't say.

"His cells have regenerative abilities. Works not much unlike your immortality. Except that his also have mutagen properties, which can have various outcomes when applied to different fields of study. Some have weaponized it. Others have used it to speed up its physiological effects, resulting in unpredictable changes to one's body.

"My vessels are also made up of these cells," she adds.

Whether or not Firo will understand any of that, she can't tell. She isn't well practiced at speaking in laymen's terms.

Edited 2016-10-01 03:18 (UTC)

The field of genetics is a few decades off by Firo’s time, but cells are relatively well studied; Szilard, of course, knew a lot about them from his research and the research he stole. Firo, though, doesn’t bother dipping into those memories for now—he just recalls Ennis talking about them when trying to explain her nature as a homunculus.

A lot about this is reminding him of that painful conversation.

Unlike with Ennis, though, this is hardly pressing. So instead of really pushing for that explanation, Firo just nods and takes a drink. Slow and thoughtful.

"Hey, Rey? You don't talk to normal people much, do you?"

I love this already

rey is the rudest.

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