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Post by ◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊ on Dec 8, 2012 20:22:35 GMT -8
For neatness sake, the converse here thread shall now live, HERE! It is done.
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DKender
Only One Skeleton has the Power to Control both Life and Death, Light and Dark, Words and Blank Space, Our Humble Lives Continue Only by the Grace and Magnanimity of This Skeleton
Nay, let us walk from fire unto firey skeleton ...
Posts: 9,204
Gender: Unknown Skeleton
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Post by DKender on Jan 24, 2013 13:06:24 GMT -8
OOC: Heeeeey Jara! Can you embed this/other responses inside your last community center post? I <3 U Sincerely, DKender "You mean the television station? I know we're going there to scope it out and look for clues, but nothing beyond that, Sir. Oh, I have an idea! You can teach me ..." He lowered his voice. "Police SWAT hand signals, you know, like on TV? That we we can communicate nonverbally on missions. I already know sign language, if that helps."
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DKender
Only One Skeleton has the Power to Control both Life and Death, Light and Dark, Words and Blank Space, Our Humble Lives Continue Only by the Grace and Magnanimity of This Skeleton
Nay, let us walk from fire unto firey skeleton ...
Posts: 9,204
Gender: Unknown Skeleton
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Post by DKender on Jan 25, 2013 12:34:16 GMT -8
OOC: Jara, in honor of your latest edit, here's another response to add to the comm. center post. Deeerek did pretty well. Did everybody hear that? I said DEREK. DID. PRETTY. WELL."I changed my mind. Let me go, too. You need all the help you can get."
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Post by Dr. Jar on Jan 25, 2013 14:28:57 GMT -8
(OOC: Edited response!)
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Post by Gillsing on Jan 28, 2013 18:46:28 GMT -8
((The following is what Ben reports to Dr. Melange.)) Ben- "When we first met Kristen down in the cafeteria, Ivan checked her pulse and breath, and she seemed to be alive and able to answer which movie she last saw. I guess her reply was a bit strange, since she claimed to have watched Pocahontas with her daughter before she'd had to come in for a meeting, and she was sure that the babysitter was taking care of her daughter. I didn't ask for details, because I figured she might be telling herself that to feel better. But maybe she just didn't care. I also didn't know for sure that they didn't have ways to get in and out of the building, because she didn't look like she'd been trapped without food or water."
Dr. Bebe- "I think we can safely assume, based on what you're telling me, that these creatures are still alive and in command of their full memories and reason. As such, we should probably consider them humans with an illness. I'll get into that more later."
"We never checked Marco, but with Kristen being alive it seemed unnecessary. On the way up to the 'Big Guy' I asked about other survivors and she implied that they'd all been turned into zombies. And the helicopter pilots were the first to go. Her whole attitude seemed a bit cavalier, but I figured that's corporate people for you. Or a regular zompocalypse survivor. Was a bit of a surprise to hear that there were only the three survivors, but that was still three more than we'd expected when we first arrived."
Dr. Bebe- "Interesting. It is possible her attitude was a neurological effect of the condition, but we can't know for sure until we have a larger population to compare them to."
"When we met 'the Beez', as Lashonda called him, he started to talk about zombies as 'the future', and didn't agree with our idea of killing them all. I asked him to explain his business plan, and according to him and Kristen they were going to have the zombies deliver themselves to people, but they hadn't quite figured out how to direct zombies to specific recipients. That's what they apparently thought of as 'thinking outside the box', but it sounds to me as if they were stuck inside their own little Amazon-box."
Dr. Bebe- "Haha! Indeed."
"Kristen had said earlier that her boss was a genius, but if he ever was, his brain must have been affected, because both his plans and his actions in that room seem pretty stupid. Not zombie stupid perhaps, but certainly as stupid as your average stupid criminal who gets to be on TV."
Dr. Bebe- "I don't know how familiar you are with the man. He was widely regarded as a business genius. But this condition... I'll need to hear more."
"Marco had made some food down in the cafeteria, and we all got a boxed lunch with meat that smelled vile and rotten. I guess it must have smelled all right to them, or else they wouldn't have tried to get us to eat it. When we wouldn't eat, and when I pointed out that people would probably kill their zombies if they sent them out into the streets, the Beez gave me an ultimatum: I could either join them, or be made into a zombie. I tried to get us out of there without a fight, but the Beez just showed his long, purple tongue and yellowish eyes, and made it pretty clear that they really wanted to turn me into a zombie and eat me."
Dr. Bebe- "The crux of the condition: a desire to eat zombies, and seemingly also some devaluation of human life."
"Which seems a bit strange. I would've thought that people-flesh would taste better than zombie-flesh, but I guess they would've had to eat me alive for me not to become a zombie. Maybe fresh zombie tastes better than old, decomposed zombie, though? Because they had lots of zombies to eat, so there ought to have been something special about us living people that made them decide to drop the act and attack even when they were outnumbered."
Dr. Bebe- "Perhaps so. Though eating a person without a zombie phase involved would be as simple as killing with a massive head injury." "Ah! I didn't think of that. Good to know if I ever get really hungry and... Well, maybe not!"
Dr. Bebe- "Heaven forfend!"
"Marco went down after getting my torch in his face and a bullet from Tyrone in his head. So they feel pain just fine, and die from head injuries. The Beez got his left hand chopped off by Lashonda, and his blood was kind of gooey. Since we never checked his pulse and breath I can't be sure if he was alive or not. But he had sharp, crooked teeth, and that long tongue, so clearly he was some kind of monster. We never checked if Kristen or Marco were as far gone as their boss, or if they were basically human with crazy behaviour. Both Kristen and the Beez seemed focused on me during the fight, so whether or not Kristen was a monster, she certainly acted as if she was."
Dr. Bebe- "A common thread in this world of monsters is that they don't attack their own. Zombies are an occasional exception. Without better information, I still think it's safe to assume they were all of the same type, and derive our information from all three."
"But I suppose she could've just been extremely loyal to her boss, and gone along with everything that 'genius' suggested. I certainly got that vibe from her. Company spirit, group think, 'Kaizen', what have you. I wouldn't rule out that the Beez was somehow turned into a monster and then Kristen and Marco were the only ones loyal enough to go along with him, and any other survivors were simply killed. Or they could've all started out as regular humans and been turned into those... ghouls by eating zombie flesh."
Dr. Bebe- "Perhaps I should entertain other possibilities more strongly."
"After the fight Tyrone chucked the bodies out of a window so we could set them on fire outside. I just didn't want to take any chances. And perhaps I should worry about their ghosts coming for my juicy flesh one night. Because if ghosts want to fulfil some kind of wish they had when they were alive, eating me sure seemed to be the only thing those ghouls wanted in their last moments of existence. Hmm. If that's the case I hope ghosts aren't smart enough to remember addresses, because I told them we were from the 403."
Dr. Bebe- "I wouldn't worry about their ghosts any more than any other. Ghosts have pretty universally shown themselves to lack advanced thought."
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Jan 28, 2013 19:58:00 GMT -8
Bebe scrawled something down furiously on a paper, before reading it back. Dr. Bebe- "OK, Ben, based on your information plus Lashonda's, this is my entry for the big book:
GHOULS - When a human consumes the flesh of a former zombie, there is a risk of acquiring the ghoul pathology. It is unknown if there is a minimum amount that must be consumed, if a single bite is sufficient, or if it's possible to eat some zombie meat without becoming a ghoul at all.
Ghoulism is a pathology of a living person, rather than a state of undeath. Pathogenesis is still mysterious, so we have no early symptoms to report. Full blown ghouls have, or possibly have the following traits: They are compelled to eat zombies. They are frightening to zombies. They may feel the desire to turn humans into zombies. They have diminished compassion for humans. It is unknown but probable that they still have normal social function within their kind. They may have poor self control, but are able to curb the pathological urges for short periods of time. Their metabolism is possibly sluggish, with a slowed pulse and blood pressure. This is not diagnostic, as they can fool basic tests. They may have some degree of enhanced speed or strength, which must be from the supernature of the condition, as it is metabolically impossible with the diminished blood flow. Though not initially obvious, an angry ghoul may display abnormal enlargement and cyanosis of the tongue, and irregularity and sharpness of dentition, possibly as a means to enhance predation.
Does that sound right to you?"
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Post by Gillsing on Jan 29, 2013 6:40:21 GMT -8
Ben- "Yeah, that should do," Ben nodded.
"I don't really think it's a disease though. I think that it's probably more like being half undead, due to the zombie flesh merging with the living body. Unless we find some kind of holy water that can cleanse a body of all undeath, I don't think it can be treated."
"But that's just me, and I'm not a doctor," Ben shrugged.
Dr. Bebe- "A pathology is not necessarily caused by a pathogen, but that is a bit of jargon. Yes, I'm certain this pathology has no viral or bacterial component - rather, it is something supernatural."
Ben- "The really disturbing part is that if zombies can feel fear, does that mean that there's still someone in there? Because fearing ghouls couldn't be some kind of second nature retained from human life, could it? Maybe zombies are all being mind-controlled to attack living humans? We're just as deadly as ghouls, so if their fear was rational they should fear us as well. And if their fear is irrational, why would they fear ghouls who want to eat them? Maybe it's the mix of living and unliving flesh that confuses them?"
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Jan 31, 2013 1:02:45 GMT -8
Dr. Bebe- "My model for the neurological functions of zombies has been that they are mostly mindless, distinguishing the living from the dead on the basis of automatic social cues they've retained from life. So far, that model has held up to our best scrutiny.
But if they can distinguish a third category of being, even though it certainly gives the same social cues as a healthy human, then this is indeed the first evidence to strongly contest my hypothesis.
In fact, I might have to throw out my idea completely and start from scratch! Well, it's an occupational hazard of science. Thanks for the help, Ben!"
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Post by Gillsing on Jan 31, 2013 14:41:26 GMT -8
Ben- "Glad to be of help. And thank you for keeping track of all of this."
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Jan 31, 2013 20:22:40 GMT -8
And it's in the Clinic now! Excelsior!
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Post by Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse on Feb 4, 2013 11:34:44 GMT -8
By the time the REI crew got back to 403, Patti could barely stand on her own. As they came in to the comm center to unload, Ash set Patti down on one of the sofas. Wearily, she unslung her duffel bag from her back and tossed it on the floor.
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Post by Dr. Jar on Feb 4, 2013 12:03:04 GMT -8
Ashley had avoided speaking of the incident on the way back, for the most part. Once they were inside, he carefully helped her unpack her bag, and put away his own things quickly, before getting a washcloth and some water to help clean up the blood. "...Do you need to see Dr. Melange or Dr. Victor? Are you alright? What happened?" He offers the wet washcloth to her, it was a little insulting to clean it for her without her permission. "...I was...honestly worried that we'd lose someone in there." He says, entirely serious and even grave. He seems to indicate the person that they'd lose would have been her.
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Post by Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse on Feb 4, 2013 12:07:34 GMT -8
She accepted the cloth and began cleaning up. "I was somewhere else for a moment. Giant fucking maggot. Creepy bitch that was, I dunno, sapping my strength. I'm just tired and have a killer headache. A little water and some sleep is all I need. If I still feel bad in the morning, I'll go find Doc Vic."
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Post by Dr. Jar on Feb 4, 2013 12:17:54 GMT -8
"....A maggot? A real maggot? Was it a monster?" He seems somber, and wide awake despite his weariness. The marks on his neck were turning into dark bruises in the shape of fingers, and he rubbed them. They seemed to bother him a little. The scar over his lip seemed prominent as he pulled it inwards. "I think we almost lost you. You know, I was really scared. I didn't know who we lost, or where you went." He remarks, his tone seeming casual, but his body language was not. "Without you, we all acted like idiots. It's sobering." He exhales and leans against whatever was behind him. She may become aware of the very real possibility that he always looked tense and alert, even when he was tired.
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Post by Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse on Feb 4, 2013 13:08:05 GMT -8
"I don't know what was real and what was not. You said I wasn't there, but where else could I have been? The room I was in, the hall that took me there, was definitely not inside that building. When I tried to shoot the woman who was hurting me, the bullets went right through her, so maybe she was just in my mind. I'm not sure if I ran around the giant maggot or through it. It was surreal and too real at the same time." "I don't think I could form a coherent explanation in my current condition. I don't know. Alternate dimension? Extra-dimensional space? Maybe I was just passed out in the darkness somewhere where you couldn't see me and everything was in my head. I don't know." "Can you help me to my room?"
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