genessia | OPEN LOG; EVERGLADE, GENESSIA - do not reply until you read the ooc post

OPEN LOG; EVERGLADE, GENESSIA - do not reply until you read the ooc post

The first sign that something was going on that day hadn't been at the crack. It hadn't even been in Genessia, as a matter of fact. The first sign had been a sound not unlike a window shuddering in a heavy storm. It perforated the atmosphere within Everglade first.

Only a few moments later, Fayren would hear the same shudder echo through its forests, forcing birds to flee the cover of the trees. In the populated areas of the kingdom itself, it would be much quieter, as if it were miles away.

Then it would return to Genessia. The crack in the sky was rapidly saturated, thousands more than before forcing their whole shapeless bodies against the barrier. Some of the strange aurora-tinted color seems to press into their ranks, a few of the strange creatures being forced back, but quickly being replaced by another of its kind.

And a sickening crack could be heard in all archways near and far, but it was loudest in Everglade, where a new crack had formed. Two humongous cracks appeared in Everglade's barrier like a sinister grin as if it were laughing at the town just above the clocktower. The two cracks took only a couple of seconds more before the strange monstrous creatures burst small holes into that crack, not big enough to fit their bodies through at once.

The leaked through, dripping like poison from an apple out of that sneering mouth in the sky until the first of these creatures fell to the ground. The eager, hungry soul from before, whose abyss of a stomach had been shared with the whole of Genessia when he'd opened his misshapen jaw the first time a few days ago now looked from side to side in the streets of Everglade.

The first face he saw was that of an NPC, and he only saw it for a moment before launching himself at the man and pinning him to the ground. Some would recognize him as the grizzled owner of The Rabbit's Foot. A loud scream was put out from the man as the creature opened its jaw wide, but did not eat him. Nothing seemed to happen when his jaw was opened, as a matter of fact.

The creature closed its mouth slowly before standing upright on what seemed to be a two-legged form, though if it had arms they didn't take shape. It made a gesture as if it were cracking its neck as the man escaped quickly, locking the door to his shop behind him.

More of the creatures were piling into Everglade slowly but surely, but this one in particular caught sight of a local werewolf, someone with a pendant, a soul, and repeated his mauling, but this time- this time something happened. This time a strange, glowing mist seemed to pull out of the Everglade resident's body, a faint glimmer of aurora with it, and in a short time this person stopped screaming. They were still alive, but it didn't seem like there was anything... inside, really.

A hissing, victorious laughter left the creature and he moved on, heading toward Genessia's gate along with his oversized mouth pulled up into an eerie grin that reflected the crack in the sky. Those that had made it in through Everglade's crack followed suit.

They had to let the rest of their friends in through Genessia; it was only the polite thing to do.

{{ READ THE OOC POST FOR IMPORTANT DETAILS ON THIS EVENT! }}

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[Okay..that was unexpected. He thought for sure that she drew her last breath, but she was alive. And speaking much better than he thought someone would if they had something sticking through their body. ]

Liv, you- [Should be dead. But that was hardly important right now, because the fact was she was alive. Or at least seemed to be.]

I'm no doctor, but isn't that a bad idea? You have a metal sticking through you. Nevermind the fact that you shouldn't be alive, if I pull it out now you will be dead for sure. [Because she would bleed out completely. Though looking at where it was, there didn't seem to be a whole lot of blood.]

[ Alive was subjective. Liv had to be chided to use the term 'undead' when she tried to say dead, but alive? No one who knew what she was thought that.

But she couldn't wait. And with that thing in her lung, it made it a little harder to talk than she would've liked. Everything from the metal in her back to the nearby spirits that David was holding off was just screaming in her head and trying to push her adrenaline to the max- a joke that almost made the sign to the lung feel deserved.

Liv put both of her hands on the ground and pushed herself up as her eyes started to change. A red deep enough to look like her irises had filled with blood themselves. No. No. Liv stilled, concentrating on keeping herself Liv, on keeping herself human, and lowered herself back to the ground, turning her eyes back to David almost helplessly. She needed him to remove it or she'd probably lose control of herself until she felt safe again, until that adrenaline rush disappeared or she managed to find some way to pull full-on zombie mode back into full-on Liv mode. ]

Thanks for the urgent news flash. I can't pull it out on my own while it's in my back unless [ Wow, having a punctured lung definitely made it harder to finish a sentence. Pesky oxygen. Finding a surgeon who would repair her back without asking why was going to suck. ] Please?

[Well she said please and all. He didn't really think it should be pulled out, not when it was likely the only thing keeping her alive. But..he'll just remove it and figure things out later. He grabbed hold of the rod as two spirits sat on the roof top of the building that the sign belonged to.

David was aware of them, but it probably didn't seem like he was. He pulled the rod in one swift motion and yanked it out of her. Fire erupted from his hand and burned along the rod and he threw it at the spirit that hit her and lodged it in it.

Meanwhile, the spirits on the roof top were leaping down towards the two of them.]

[ Liv didn't scream or anything. She was prepared for it. Most things she couldn't even feel on a full level anymore, but she could still feel the sting of it being pulled out. It didn't take long for her to recover once the sign was extracted from her back and she pushed herself up again, this time without any consequence. You know, until the two spirits landed just about the second she was on her feet.

That was when one lunged at her and Liv.. well, she was already on edge. There was all of zero chance of her avoiding full-on zombie mode now. Black veins crept through her body, the most notable one across her forehead. Her eyes turned that deep shade of red again. For still looking physically human, there was definitely something about her that was wrong. She opened and closed her mouth once before lunging at the spirit herself wordlessly. Full-on zombie mode didn't much lend itself to lengthy battle monologues so much as mindless badassery.

Which was both good and bad. Without the reservations and thinking part of being human, leaving that little bit of humanity left behind for the great cause of not getting eaten first, Liv had no problem attacking the one nearest to her with her bare hands. Safe? Probably not. But that wasn't a concern. What was a concern was the fact that this thing needed to die. The super strength seemed to push it back a little, but it wasn't quite enough to take it out. No, when Liv got knocked back into the building she'd previously been briefly impaled on, that was when she got what she needed to at least temporarily take the thing out. Whoever the shop owner was would be missing both a sign and a part of their plumbing, since Liv very much just ripped a pipe out of the side of the building to hit the spirit with, bashing its general head area in until the thing dissipated. It would be back, but not before they managed to get out of there.

She didn't bother to check whether David had taken care of the other one before she turned around with a loud, breathlessly undead growl, her jaw hanging open as she looked over at whoever was left... and it was entirely possible that she hadn't decided whether to attack again or not whether all she was staring at was David or another spirit. ]

[David waited until the rod had stuck into the other one before he prepared to enact his plan, which would have been to grab both spirits and impale them on the rod like they were spirit kabobs. That had been his plan, at least. He didn’t expect Liv to be a secret badass and take on one spirit herself. So he was left having to grab the one that was remaining in the air with telekinesis, and he held it there for a moment while he stared at Liv. The change was obvious. She was taking it on with a ferocity that was almost animal like in nature.

He was left launching the other one onto the creature to make that kabob instead, he aimed his hand in both creatures direction and an intense flame shot from his hands and engulfed the two of them. When it disappeared, the creatures were no longer there. Okay, that was one situation that was finished for the moment. But..well..he wasn’t sure if he was about to be in another one right now or not. He studied her for the moment, red eyes and black veins clearly visible. She didn’t look human completely human, something he had expected her to be, but clearly he was wrong.]

Liv? Is that still you?

[ Liv's mouth opened and closed a couple of times mindlessly as she stared at David. Ragged inhales and sounds left her mouth for what probably seemed like a very long couple of seconds. It was harder for Liv to come back from it when she hadn't intentionally gone into it, especially when she didn't have access to as many brains here as she did in the morgue back home. She was hungry and people didn't end up at the hospital autopsy table anywhere near as much in a place where no one stayed dead.

Liv took one step forward before freezing in her place. She knew better. She wasn't this thing, she was Olivia Moore, infected by this thing. It came in handy when she needed to defend herself but she couldn't let herself become it. Even if David looked like he'd be good food for thought for a few seconds. The red in her eyes receded and the black veins dulled, eventually disappearing. Her eyes were still wide for a couple of seconds afterward, like she was clearly worried it had taken so much effort to get herself back to normal. Or as normal as it got with her.

It had taken her a while to answer, but she finally did. ]

I'm still me.

[ Oh. There was a bit of a wheeze in her breath, even after her zombie mode had left. It was probably left over from the hole in her lungs. She'd have to get that fixed soon. ]

[He relaxes a little when she seems to come back to herself. Yeah..yeah that was a little weird. He wasn't sure if she was going to try to attack him or what.]

I guess you aren't a normal person, are you? The fact that you also have a hole in your body but aren't dying is a bigger tip-off of that too. And I was sure you were about to try to beat my head in like you did that thing with that look you had in your eyes. Will you be able to heal from that?

It can be harder to control, depending on.. certain things. [ Like whose brains she's on or how long its been since she last ate or if she's in a position where her adrenaline levels are elevated due to a situation most would consider it life-or-death. ]

"Aren't dying" might be a little subjective in my case. I'll still need to have someone close the wound for it to heal.

[ Before he gets any ideas about what she is though, she hesitates but follows up with: ] It's not like you or the people from your world. It's a disease, and if I don't do certain things to sate the symptoms.. no more Liv and the potential for future history documentaries to come off like B-horror flicks.

A disease where you become ragey and super strong? And just how do you get it? [David reaches out with his mind during the time he is speaking to her and then holds out his hand and a surgical suture appears in his hand. He’ll save you the trip of finding someone. He doesn’t want her walking around wounded anyway. He floats the needle and thread up as he comes closer to her.]

Just stitching the wound up should be enough, shouldn’t it? [Using his telekinesis to do it would only take a few moments. Pain didn’t seem to bother her, so he assumed getting stabbed with a needle in rapid succession wouldn’t bother her either.]

By getting scratched. Or bit. Or probably having sex with a zombie, but that's a non-issue here because I'm never risking that.

[ Liv raises an eyebrow at the needle and turns around, lifting up the back of her shirt. There's a small bloodstain on it, but nothing that looks like it could've been a fatal wound. She makes sure to keep her front covered. ]

The damaged lung tissue inside, then the skin. Otherwise everyone's going to be able to hear me wheezing as a drum roll before I enter a room. Have you done this before?

[ After barely caring about no anesthetic on open heart surgery, as long as he has some idea what he's doing, she's down to not having to explain this to anyone. ]

[He paused for a moment.Okay, he didn't catch that that's what she was until now.]

Zombie. You're..a zombie? [She was the most well together zombie that he ever thought he would see.]

You don't look or act like what I would expect from a zombie. [He floats the needle and thread inside of her wound, using his telekinesis to feel and close the hold in her lungs before quickly stitching it.]

First time. Just kind of figured it would be like stitching together cloth. And you apprentaly won't die if I get it wrong, either.

It wasn't what I expected either. But as long as I eat human brains, I stay me instead of ending up full-time brain-eating hoard-starting apocalypse monster. Which is why I had to give up on being a heart surgeon and start working in a morgue. I try to eat as few as I can, but the longer I go without eating, the dumber and angrier I get. It's also harder to come back from full-on zombie mode- which is what I call.. [ She gestures to the pipe that she ripped out of the building to make her point. ] That- if I haven't eaten any in a while. I still need to eat normal food too, but I can't taste anything that doesn't say "World's Hottest" on the label.

[ She can vaguely feel the needle going in and out of her, but it doesn't hurt. Definitely not even close to getting the pole in the first place, which was still ridiculously numbed. Liv stayed still until he was done. And here she thought she wouldn't get any weirder surgery than getting to watch her own anestheticless open-heart surgery after getting shot. Telekinetic surgery took the top spot there. Ravi would be thrilled. ]

I've only ever killed on person, and that was because she became like me at the same time I did, but she was trapped for months and couldn't eat. We tried to get her to come back, we tried feeding her and talking to her, but it didn't work. Not eating is how you end up a zombie of the mindless, rotted, murdering variety. I had to save my boss and I was on emotionless hitman brains, so it made it a lot easier to deal with at the time. I don't like thinking about it now since I knew her from before, but you should know you don't have to worry about me.

[Okay, so that is a lot to take in. She’s a zombie, but she only eats the brains of dead people. Mostly because she would turn into an actual zombie if she didn’t. And she couldn’t taste things, and she worked at the morgue to have access to brains. She made it easy for him to understand her situation. He didn’t know if there was anything ethically wrong about her eating brains. She wasn’t hurting anyone and the dead weren’t using them anymore.

And she did seem sincere about it all.]

You’re in a pretty messed up situation. I can see why you would want to hide this kind of thing from people. If they knew about you, it might turn into a witch hunt because of the potential danger that you pose. [He thinks it goes without saying that he needed to keep this bit of information about her to himself.]

Eating brains sounds pretty disgusting, though. Human brains, at least. [He's never tried animal brains, but he knows some people eat them.]

[ It was, but she wanted to talk while she was getting her stitches anyway. It wouldn't waste time on them being out here and unsafe if she talked while he worked. It was way better than him assuming she was a murdering zombie brain-eater, too. ]

Even more here than at home. People already don't stay dead here apparently, so add the zombie threat to a potential invasion of privacy for anyone I eat the brains of.

It is disgusting. It never gets easier and it's the most disgusting thing I can imagine.

[He thought some people here could do with having some secrets exposed.]

Yeah. I can see how this situation would be problematic from many angles. You having to hide yourself and what you are, needing to eat brains just to keep who you are. [He wasn't sure how much widespread panic it would cause if people knew what she really was. He didn't envy her at all.]

How many people here know about you?

You're it. Congratulations on getting into a very exclusive club.

[ The enthusiasm is astounding, really. Liv tries to peek over her shoulder to see if he's done, not really being able to tell exactly. That's the problem with barely feeling the little things- you can't exactly tell when the big things are completely fixed. ]

I'd call it a trust circle, but it's more like a line. [He doubted there would be enough people to make a circle if she had her way.]

Anyway. If you have any problems, I guess you can come to me and I'll try to help you out as best I can.

This place is great at accepting people regardless of species, but I'm not sure it'd extend to someone who eats their friends and mirrors said friends' personalities, talents, and memories for as long as there are leftovers in the fridge. So yes, trust line. I'd rather not find out what a torch-fork laden angry mob at my doorstep looks like.

..Thanks. [ She means it. She really does. Snippy remarks about zombieism aside, having someone there for her is honestly a relief again. What kind of luck does she have to find someone she can trust with already? ]

For what it's worth, I kind of understand. I used to absorb peoples minds when they died. They'd live on within me. Not only that, but I used to spawn new personalities all the time. The nastier ones like to take control and do bad things if I didn't keep my guard up. I had thousands of them roaming around inside my head, so like I said, I kind of understand.

I have trouble telling where I end and they begin sometimes with just one. I'm sorry.

[ It didn't make her feel better about her problem but there was a sense of perspective to be gained from it, and the thought behind it was clearly an empathetic gesture. She had a feeling he knew that it wouldn't make her feel better. ]

Sometime when we're safer, I'd like to hear about it if you want to talk.

[He knew it wouldn't. But there was something to be gained from knowing that there was someone out there that had been through the same struggles as you. Not so much misery loving company, but more so comforting to know that there was someone that you could at least relate to.]

We can. I'll be around.

Do you need passage out? I can send you right to the Archway.

Are the other archways not overrun?

[ Her original plan of escaping to Everglade was the opposite of safe, clearly, but she hadn't been able to check the other archways yet. ]

Everglade is the worst. They've gotten into Genessia City, but I don't think it's nearly as bad as this one. The other Archways are secure as far as I know, so they should be safe.

Do you have time for two trips? Clothes without potentially infectious blood near the potentially open-wounded people in the temporary crisis centers would be best.

[ Being that close to that many people in the midst of chaos is probably not a good thing. Especially if someone sees the tiny bit of blood on her shirt and wants to 'help' and suddenly help becomes zombie hoard apocalypse time. ]

Edited 2015-07-15 09:50 (UTC)

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OPEN LOG; EVERGLADE, GENESSIA - do not reply until you read the ooc post

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