[OPEN]

[keephersafe]

Who: R and you~
Where: Outside around the grounds
When: 9/8
Rating: PG-13 (will edit if needed)
Summary: The zombie is exploring his surroundings properly, after his second event in Wonderland. Will match format. Please no headshots.
The Story:

When he had first found himself in this place, it had not been in the best of circumstances. Coming back to yourself surrounded by dead bodies is, as a zombie, not the most pleasant places to be. After that, making sure he kept away from the Living and didn't get shot in the head had taken priority while he took the time to process his new situation.

Someone kinder than he had come to expect had shown him how to use the phone he had, but most of the time it sat unused in the room he had set up a small, minimalist base in. It wasn't like him not to hoard things, but the suddenness of his situation and his concern with the constant, near-overpowering smell of Living people took far higher priority than snowglobes and 12" vinyls. For a while, he hadn't dared to venture out at all, but the second upheaval ('event'?) pushed him to realise that whether or not he wanted it, he was going to be drawn into being involved in this place.

It is that thought that has him in the gardens in the early morning, when the grass and flowers are still wet with dew. It's safer, he reasons, when people are less likely to be around and he doesn't have to battle against the Hunger that has only been growing more insistent with his loss of direction. He hasn't spoken to anyone in days now, and it's beginning to show.

His progress down the garden paths is deliberately slow, almost casual in its slowness but only to hide the occasional slide into shuffling. He's cleaner than he was, but a shower and a change of clothes do little to disguise what he really is if you get too close... or if you have former experience of zombies.

Comments

[choosetruth]

That's not possible. Certainly not sustainable.

[The only times zombies weren't hungry in her experience was when they'd just eaten, and then they still want to spread the virus. Hungry zombies are actually less dangerous than the ones who are trying to convert you. Hungry zombies will just kill you. Other zombies spit or claw or do whatever it takes to induce amplification.]

What happens when you do get hungry? You still going to be this coherent?

[keephersafe]

[R sighs very softly. It's a deliberate act, pulling in air and letting it out near-soundlessly. It isn't that he doesn't understand. She's afraid, and that's sensible. She thinks he's dangerous, and that's sensible, too.

He glances aside, and nods his head towards a nearby bench.]

I'm going.. to sit there.. okay? [Still barely moving, his attention is trained on the gun.]

This.. looks suspicious.

[choosetruth]

You can sit. I'm not putting down the gun, though.

[She doesn't care how suspicious it looks. She knows how fast zombies are. Fast enough he could kill her easily if she let her guard down, but not fast enough to evade a bullet aimed directly at his head.]

[keephersafe]

... Okay.

[Reasonable. R sits down, as far along the bench away from her as is possible for him to be, and briefly grips the edge of the wooden seat with both hands. It's been-- Well, no. He's never actually sat and had an actual conversation with someone while they pointed a gun at him.

Usually, the conversation part is skipped over.

He glances over to her. She asked him a question, and he wades through increasingly soupy thoughts to find it again.

What happens when you do get hungry?]

Hunger isn't... [This is going to be difficult. Briefly, he looks frustrated with himself. Oral eloquence has never been one of his strong points and he could really use it right now.] Not the right word.

[Ugh. And? Come on, R.]

But.. some of us-- are changing. Were changing.

[choosetruth]

You still have to eat.

[She doesn't say it out of concern for his health, of course. If he starved to death she wouldn't weep for a minute, any more than she would if she put the bullet into his skull right now. But it's a fact of life for all creatures, virus-ridden or not. If zombies don't eat, they'll starve to their second and final death. They can't just change into not being hungry. It doesn't make sense.]

[keephersafe]

[He looks at her. It's not the dead-eyed, vacant look of any zombie she might have seen before, and he assumes that it's the impression of someone being in there (that's how Sans had put it) that has kept most people from jumping to immediate conclusions about him.

It's just his luck that there are some who have prior zombie experience.]

... No, I don't.

[As he denies her a confirmation, he feels the resolve coil inside himself. Here, without Julie, he could have been lost. He could have given in to the Hunger again, but he didn't.. and it wasn't her, it was him. He didn't want to.]

I don't.. have to.

[choosetruth]

[She doesn't look convinced.]

Bullshit. If you don't eat, how do you stay alive? Photosynthesis? Sheer force of will?

[keephersafe]

[Another shrug.]

Don't know.

[A flippant voice in the back of his mind points out that he's not alive, and her argument is flawed, but it doesn't make it to his mouth. This is the case with most of his thoughts, but he's rather glad for it this time.]

... What are you g.. going to do?

[He doesn't expect she'll stand there with the gun forever. Eventually, she'll have to decide her next move.]

[choosetruth]

That depends on you, doesn't it?

[She doesn't lower the gun, though at this point it is less and less likely she'll shoot him. He's still a zombie. As long as he's within range, she's holding her gun on him.]

You say you're not planning on eating anyone. Fine. What are you planning on doing? Where in the mansion are you staying? What do you intend to do about the people who are not as quick on the uptake as I am? Because believe me, there are a lot of people who will shoot you on sight.

[keephersafe]

[She hasn't shot him yet, but he's in no doubt that if he moves or does anything she doesn't like the look of, she will.

Then she asks a lot of questions, and as each one is fired at him his expression becomes more and more bewildered. His capacity to answer enquiries only stretches to one at a time, usually, and while he gets her point, when she gets to the end of her speech he does the first thing that his frayed instincts tell him to do.

He shrugs again.]

... Used to that.

[People that will shoot him on sight, that is. He imagines that, at some point, he'll probably get shot. He'll probably be permanently put down. He doesn't like the idea, but he understands it as a definite possibility.]

Been shot at.. a lot.

[choosetruth]

[She suppresses an eyeroll.]

Good for you, but I suspect you're usually not confined to an area this small. You need to explain the situation to the rest of the residents.

[keephersafe]

I--

[What? Is she saying what he thinks she's saying? He goes over what he thought he heard again, just to make sure he processed it correctly.]

... Don't... think that's a good... idea.

[choosetruth]

[She raises an eyebrow behind her sunglasses.]

You know what the one thing I like even less than zombies is? Liars.

[keephersafe]

[He has no idea what to say to that. His lips work briefly, but no sound comes out, and he manages to look nothing less than entirely baffled.]

...

[R, say something. Don't just stare at her like an idiot.]

... What?

[Way to go, genius.]

[choosetruth]

[She sighs impatiently.]

Do you intend to attempt to pass yourself off as alive?

[keephersafe]

[A couple of moments pass, then he gives Georgia a look. Really? It's a funny idea, because there's no way that someone who looks like him is going to pass as living for more than ten minutes.

Slowly, he shakes his head. Even if he wanted to pass himself off as alive, it's not going to work.]

[choosetruth]

[She didn't think so.]

So your best bet for surviving is making sure people know what they're encountering. They'll see a zombie either way. Control the circumstances in which you explain what you are, and you can make them see a person as well.

[keephersafe]

[It isn't that what she's saying doesn't sink in. Rather, the concept that letting every trigger-happy person who'd happily pop a zombie in the head know that he's here entirely fails to sink in as a good plan.

Experience tells him that when people figure out what he is, they shoot at him. There's a reason he's out here at an hour in the morning that he hoped not to run into too many people.]

Not... buying it.

[choosetruth]

[She raises an eyebrow.]

You realize I won't be keeping your secret, right? Nor will anyone else who runs into you, and there will be other people. Your choice isn't whether people know you're here or not, it's how they find out.

[keephersafe]

[He frowns at her. It's not like she isn't saying anything he hasn't already thought of - other people are probably going to point guns at him too.

There's something in the way she says it that he doesn't like one bit.]

Is that a threat? [R says quietly, all four syllables sliding out smoothly, his curious attention entirely settled on her face.]

[choosetruth]

It's a fact.

[With her sunglasses it's hard to tell if she's meeting his eyes or not, but she's certainly managing to focus enough intensity his way. Her hand shifts on the gun, arm straightening a little. She doesn't like the way he's looking at her.]

I'm a journalist. I don't lie for anyone. Dead or alive.

[keephersafe]

[The young (dead) man looks at her a few moments longer, then gently shrugs and almost seems to sigh.]

You'll... do what you want. N.. no matter what I say.

[choosetruth]

Yes, obviously. [That's generally how she is.] But what I choose to do can change depending on what you're planning on doing.

[keephersafe]

... I'll have t.. to think about it.

[Outing himself sounds stupid, but since he can't get out of this situation, she... may have a point.

It's not something he can make a snap-decision on.]

[choosetruth]

[She doesn't look happy, but that's not a change from how she's been the entire encounter. She nods, lowering her gun, though she doesn't put it away.]

I still won't keep your secret. But I won't publish either. For now.

[She doesn't make any promises about forever. If he continues to hide, she may well change her mind. Especially if he hurts anyone.]