Event Log: Dead Men Walking

[hadrielmods]

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!

Comments

[foundafamily]

Firo presses his lips together to hold back a chuckle and nods semi-seriously. It wouldn't be nice to make fun of the kid when he's so earnest and prepared, though that's exactly what Firo finds a little funny. Czes tended to lapse into feigning childishness at times, but Muscovy seems a little more stubborn than that. "Then I'll leave it to you. Just tell me what we need when we get there."

As for being careful... Well, he knows Muscovy isn't careless. He's a responsible kid. "I didn't mean that you weren't. Just, you know, a guy's gotta worry at a time like this."

[muscovy]

"Because you're my big bro and family looks after one another."

This is why he likes being an individual, just a kid, not a nation. It makes that sentence so much more straightforward. It might be lonely sometimes, it might feel incomplete even now after years of it, but he doesn't need to put other priorities ahead of his family.

[foundafamily]

Firo cranes his neck to peer down the street leading to the store. Still looks clear. When he responds, he looks right at Muscovy with a firm nod. "Exactly. I'll do my best to take care of you, but it's harder to do when I don't know what you're up to."

Especially when said activity involves zombies.

"So... You were with Rey?"

[muscovy]

"Yes."

He doesn't want to be in the situation that he was in before finding her again, though, and he knows that Firo isn't a benevolent kind of adult, so he can trust him with admitting some need for help.

"I will call you if we run out of food while there are such things in the street next time."

[foundafamily]

He nods his thanks. "Just so I know what's goin' on. And just for now."

Who knows how long they'll be here? Firo wonders if he'll see Muscovy grow with the time, a bittersweet thought.

"So what'd she show you?"

[muscovy]

"You have to stab them in the brain. Or main their brain or shoot it. And you can't let them bite you."

That, essentially. Rey wasn't super wordy about her lectures, and her method of getting to a person's head will be different from his just by virtue of her being a lot taller.

[foundafamily]

Firo nods slowly. What Muscovy's telling him is more clear than what he's heard from the people who for some reason assume he knows what's going on. Sato gave him practical advice too, and this helps him understand more of why it worked.

"So how'd you do?"

[muscovy]

"It was not difficult. They are rather slow and not very bright.

...But Rey was faster." She's stronger and bigger, so that was to be expected, though.

[foundafamily]

Wow. Firo smiles a little, but inside he feels like he got slapped by the past. It's weird to hear the words coming from someone else, but they sound familiar; he was always comparing himself to his Family and brothers when he was a kid.

He reaches over to muss Muscovy's hair. "Who knows, you could catch up to her one day. The important thing is that you survived today."

[muscovy]

"I'll never be able to throw fire, though."

He knows he'll be big and strong one day, with a certainty that goes way past what other children can have. He's heard people from the future talk about it. But at the same time, he'd also like to be stronger now.

[foundafamily]

"Yeah..." Firo frowns, feeling like he's let the kid down.

There might be something he can say, he realizes. "...Maybe not like Rey, but did I ever tell you about Randy and Pezzo? They're enforcers for our family, but they don't just use guns and knives. They can do something like what she does, it just takes a little more."

[muscovy]

"...What do they do?"

That sounds interesting. He'd like to be able to do what Rey does, he's seen many times now just how powerful it is, how it lets her win easily almost every battle that she gets into.

He doesn't want to be that destructive in the long run, but once people know that you have an ability, you don't need to exercise it anymore.

[foundafamily]

"They pour oil on stuff and then throw a match. They've actually hit some stuff from pretty far away." Like Szilard's head.

"Sometimes they've used fireworks too."

[muscovy]

That doesn't sound like a bad idea.

"How do they pour the oil when what they want to hit is far away?"

Though that won't help with keeping fire away, like Rey did.

[foundafamily]

Firo looks up at the cave ceiling as he recalls what he's seen of their skills. "They get the oil in these cans that can squirt it pretty far when they're squeezed. They can get at least a few feet. And the match can go as far as you throw it, though I think there's a trick to making sure it doesn't go out when you do. I'm not as good at it as they are.

"If we find the right stuff, you can try it."

[muscovy]

"...How hard is it to put out fires that you start that way?"

He would want to try, but that's a consideration. Most of the time, he doesn't actually want to kill anyone. ...Always, really, but sometimes there's no other way. Some people just cannot be fixed, or not killing them would cause greater issues than their life is worth.

[foundafamily]

Despite growing up in buildings that were essentially firetraps, that's something Firo has never considered. He blinks at Muscovy, first parsing the question and then groping for a good answer.

"...I dunno. But it's probably fine if we do it near the river--we could have you aim at stuff floating in the water or something. Besides, it's mostly stone here."

[muscovy]

"What if I only want to set someone or something on fire until they stop being silly?"

That's another concern. He's fairly sure that Rey would be able to ...stop someone being on fire, too.

This is the weirdest "Firo gives advice" tag I've ever written

[foundafamily]

"Uh... Silly?" He's coming to realize that 'silly' to Muscovy has something of a deeper meaning. He's pretty sure the kid means actual offensive behavior rather than 'silliness' like Isaac and Miria's antics. So stuff that still needs to be punished but likely doesn't require death. "The stuff I had in mind was more, uh. Permanent."

Firo sighs as he tries to think of a good answer. This seems like it might be a moment where he's supposed to teach like a good big brother. "You shouldn't set somebody on fire if you don't really mean it. If they're just being 'silly,' then you'd have to try something else. You could put their hand on a stove if one was around. Or just break their fingers."

It is a pretty weird piece of advice

[muscovy]

He's not sure how easy it would be to put the stove thing into action - after all you need a stove, first, so it really only works if the person is either at their home or if you're living together, or something similar.

But the breaking their fingers thing sounds reasonable. No prerequisites except for the strength to do it, or even just the logistics. If you're not strong enough, jumping on a hand will crush something, too. He nods seriously, filing Firo's advice away for when it might be needed.

"So they only set people on fire if they wanted to kill them?"

[foundafamily]

"Exactly. They actually focused more on property if there was still hope the person could pay 'em back. Not that that didn't kill some people too, probably..." Firo sighs. Randy and Pezzo aren't bad guys, but he realizes he's probably not making that clear right now. It's not the important part, though.

[muscovy]

Muscovy nods. That does make sense - going after property (if they have it), assuming that you're not after said property, anyway.

Which wanting them to pay them back sounds like. "But if they put their things on fire, and they would be poorer and have an even harder time to pay them back."

[foundafamily]

Firo shrugs. "Well, it's not really the point if they're poor or not. I think the idea is that if they know you mean business, they'll find a way to pay up."

They're getting off track, aren't they? Firo scratches his head. "...So did you wanna try it?"

[muscovy]

He doesn't really like that idea. Sure, sometimes you have to hurt people to fix them, but if it means that their families starve... but then. Sometimes that is necessary. And if not, it is still a thing that happens and that will hopefully not be necessary anymore one day in the future when people have stopped being silly.

"If we can find what we need for it." It still sounds like an useful skill. Especially here where burning down some property won't existentially hurt someone, because they can still move easily and replace most things from the shops.

[foundafamily]

Firo peeks in one of the windows of a shop they're passing. It doesn't look like there are any zombies inside. "Maybe it'll be with the other stuff.

"I'm not as good at it as Randy and Pezzo, but I think I can teach you. And you're sharp, so you'll catch on."

He has faith.