[Open] Zombie apocalypse, AHOY

[zomboii]

Who: Unnamed & YOU
Which: Open log
Where: Reverein & dreamscape
What: Unnamed has a dream about his home....a zombie apocalypse :')
Warnings: Pandemics, disease, undead, mild gore...bc they zombies


Dream - cw zombies, mild gore, pandemics, disease

[ The dream begins with a city of towering buildings. Skyscrapers as tall as any world of modern civilization, built so that they could touch the clouds if only the right weather permitted it. City stretches as far as they eye can see. It's a marvel and a feat of engineering, creating the impression of a cast society...until the details of the image become clearer.

The vast buildings are battered and broken. The city is not pristine, but ravaged by time and nature. Some of the skyscrapers have toppled, their inside burnt out by some long-gone calamity. Others lean precariously to one side, whole sections of its floors missing. This metropolis...is nothing more than ruins.



Roads are flooded; their signs overtaken by wild growth. There are cars, worn and rusted and broken. Dozens upon dozens litter the streets. Some have their windows smashed in. Others, it's as if something has broken its way out.

Potholes and debris are everywhere. Storefronts have been looted and lay ruined or boarded up. There are barriers over what could have once been strongholds, old stores; banks; park gates. Disrepair is everywhere.

Something has happened in the city. Something very, very wrong.

Little clues can be found here and there in the form of graffiti on the walls: NO WAY OUT some say; others read SHELTER AHEAD, long-since crossed out. Several of the houses have old Search & Rescue marks on them, the red of their paint long since faded and worn. The numbers, for those that understand them, are clear: 5DB, IF. Dead Bodies. Infection.

The dream starts there. An empty house, broken and cold; the scent of damp mildew lingering in the air. There are old photos on the walls, but their surfaces are caked with dirt and grime. Some are broken and the pictures inside are all but rotted away. The kitchen table is broken in two down the middle, as if from a large impact. The front door lies flat in the entrance. There are scratch marks in the rotted wood. Something tried to claw its way in--and succeeded.

There's a stifling, isolated feeling which permeates the dream...right up until a (perhaps familiar) sound comes from behind: ]

...Auh?

[ Unnamed blinks at your character: dishevelled and dirty, clothes in tatters...but most of all, confused. What are you doing in his world?? ]


[ ooc; WELCOME TO ZOMBOI'S HOME WORLD, Y'ALL. It sucks 8') And it's filled with zombies! (the slow-moving kind). Feel free to dreamhop as normal or as one of the infected! Wanna be a zombie? GO FOR IT. Zombies will ignore other Infected & leave them alone, but if you'd like them to respond to your character as food...that is also fine. You can also tag as if post-dream (aka your character saw the recording) and went to find him after.

FOLLOW YOUR HEART. hmu on owlits if you have any questions/wanna plot/etc

EDIT: it is also 100% optional for dream!zombies to recognize your character as food!! they could ignore them, not notice them, be indifferent to them, etc. Horror threads are not a must c: ]

Comments

[Zombifornia Dreamin']

[itstillhurt]

[Azula has heard that it's possible to walk in people's dreams- a notion that didn't appeal to her in the slightest, but she's also heard that sometimes it can happen entirely by accident. She'd been skeptical at first... but then she woke up here.

This... is not the village. Not at all. If anything, this looks more like the city where she was before, if something had gone terribly, terribly wrong. The houses and lots are bigger, but the skyscrapers in the distance are about the same, and the superficial distinctions are far less meaningful than the obvious neglect and disrepair that's consumed everything. Most people would probably find this creepy, she's just concerned about criminals and vagrants. If they could even exist in a dream.

Are dreams dangerous?

She doesn't feel like experimenting with that question, if she can avoid it. She stays on alert as she makes her way into the nearest house. The door has already fallen open, the latch broken- by external force, judging by the marks on the wood. She can't tell if they're claws or just particularly determined fingers. When she steps into the house, she's greeted with the unpleasant smell of mildew, and the scene of... what was clearly violence. A broken table, several pictures knocked off the walls or cracked in their frames. She's startled by a sound behind her, and she whips around into a stance of violence, preparing to attack-

Oh. Him.]

What are you-

[Wait, no. She needs- ugh, she doesn't even have her journal with her. Well, that's... inconvenient. If she were any good at Dreamotion, she could no doubt conjure it, but, well-

She sighs and relaxes her stance. What was he wearing? Had he been forced to scrounge clothing from these decaying ruins or something? Well, it didn't really matter.]

I suppose this is your dream, then?

[She doesn't know if he can hear her in the dream or not, but she's really not expecting an answer anyway.]

ALL GOOD

[zomboii]

[ Yes, him. He looks a little more worse for wear than she knows him in Reverein. His hair's messy and clumped together. His clothes are smeared dirt and numerous dark brown stains that look suspiciously like it could've been blood at one point--and that's to say nothing of his hands. His nails are practically black from grime.

On the other hand, Azula will find that the same barriers to communication which exist in the real world don't, here. It's a dream, as whimsical and fanciful as anything a subconscious can conjure up. Azula speaks and the impression, the intent behind it all, comes across perfectly.

"Is this a dream? Mine?" His lips don't move and he doesn't make any signs, but the meaning of what he wants to express carries over regardless. "I thought this was home."

She may notice that his stream of thought, consciousness--whatever it is--is much more clear here. He doesn't need to worry about grammar and vocabulary like he does in the waking world. She can just understand. ]

[itstillhurt]

[That... is admittedly a bit startling. She's still getting used to not talking to him, and now he could hear her after all?

Well, it was a dream, she supposed.]

This is a dream of your home. If it was the real thing, I wouldn't be here, and you wouldn't hear me if I was.

[She doesn't seem impatient about it, she seems to just be explaining her reasoning.]

[zomboii]

Ouhh...

[ "Oh, that makes sense! Okay. But how did you get in my dream...? Did it show up in the lights?" The lanterns is what he means, the ones that record the dreams for others to see. He so rarely sleeps that he hasn't had very many dreams since arriving.

"I don't remember going to sleep." He takes a moment to look around them, studying their surroundings. "I think I remember this house." ]

presents zombie childe to you

[monoceroscaeli]

[When he wakes up, he's not where he remembers himself being. In fact, those thoughts don't even cross his mind, as Childe slowly gazes across the apocalyptic wasteland that is this city. He's never seen skyscrapers like this before, but they hardly matter as he trudges his way through overgrown streets and past crumbling buildings. He doesn't smell anything coming from this area, as he continues his stalk through deserted neighborhoods looking for food.

The man shambles into a house, scraping his way past a dilapidated couch and table, through and past the kitchen table that's been broken in two, when he hears a noise. His ears perk up and he turns towards the sound, but all he finds is what isn't food; another zombie. But somehow, parts of his mind are still intact, and he recognizes this boy as younger than him.

Childe grunts in response, finding that he can't form words to communicate properly, as if he could speak at one point in his existence. But what he wants to know is why this kid is here and why does it look like his clothes are all torn.]

the thing i never knew I needed before now

[zomboii]

[ The grunt is a familiar sound--would be familiar, if he could hear it. But the uncoordinated movements, the sluggish gait and the way Childe's head rolls towards him... That, he knows. ]

Auh~ Uh uh, oouh.

[ This zombie will probably lose interest in him despite the noises he makes. They always do. Something about the noises he makes compared to the ones animals make just don't seem to catch the interest of the Infected. He doesn't expect much from the man before him now, although he does note that somehow...there's a sharpness to his gaze that's a little different. His clothes look fresher.

Unnamed tilts his head. ]

Auh...

[ He wonders if Childe will do anything if he...pokes him? ]

[monoceroscaeli]

[The younger zombie pokes him and he looks down at the finger, unbothered by that. If anything, it's amusing to him. What, did he think that he was ignoring him? The Harbinger turns to him fully, examining Unnamed as if he were interested in what was going on here with him in this run down old house with nothing here to bite.]

Hmmmfff~

[He lets out a small noise, and his mouth twists upward into a sort of smile. He's here, what do you need? If anyone were to ask him, he'd say that the guy probably needs a better set of clothing, even if it doesn't matter. Childe can't feel the weather, only the ongoing sense of wanting to find something alive.]

[zomboii]

...!

[ Oh snap, is that--a smile? Did this guy just turn to him and smile...? ]

Auh! Ouuuuh, ah! Uh!

[ Unnamed's so startled he doesn't even know where to start--does he sign? Make more noise?! Gestures!! He'll do gestures--!

He winds up waving his arms and gawking, only to half-sign "Nice to meet you" in the midst of it all. Like. You know how, when you wait for something and prepare for it and think of every conceivable scenario and how to handle it, that when it actually happens you do a bit of a mental 404? That's this. Him right now. ]

travelling to weird places? No big deal

[startraveler]

[Aether isn't sure when exactly he got here, but he observes this world with both dread and curiosity. His brows are knit closely. Whatever happened here was no doubt a great tragedy that claimed many lives. But it seems to be all in the past now.

Aether carefully steps through the broken house, not expecting to find anyone here. Except he does and the face is familiar. Aether turns to face the boy and it hits him. This must be the place Nanashi comes from... or maybe it's his dream?

Without thinking much, the traveler runs up to the confused boy and wraps his arms around him, as if to shield him from the destruction or to offer comfort that he's not alone here.]

best big brother ever<33

[zomboii]

Ou--mmph!

[ Well, he was going to welcome Aether once he recognized him, but that's all cut off in favour of the impromptu hug he suddenly finds himself in. He doesn't hesitate to throw his arms back around the Traveller though. Aether is here. In his home...! He has no idea how it's happened, but he's ecstatic and relieved all at once.

He's home--but he's not alone. ]

--Ouh! Ah, ih!

[ He gives Aether another squeeze and then leans back, wanting to get his hands free to sign even as the other boy holds him.

"Aether, you're here!" Luckily for him, however, the dream carries with it impressions. Unnamed doesn't have to speak for the meaning behind it to come across, the same kind of intrinsic knowing that keeps him from realizing that it really is bizarre that Aether would be here in his world. ]

♥♥

[startraveler]

[Aether pulls away to look at the boy as he tries to sign and he realizes that speaking here is easier. It is a dream, after all, not bound by any logic or reason.

"I'm here" he mouths and wonders, if the other can understand it even without signing. Perhaps he can even hear Aether's voice in a strange way, that dreams sometimes carry.

The traveler grabs the boy's hand and gives it a small squeeze.

"You're not alone".]

[ dream! ]

[leveillpier]

[ At some point, she's starting to think that her accidental adventure dream walking was becoming too frequent for her taste.

The imagery before her almost overlapped with images before the battles she had encountered in her past. She had to blink a few times to stop the imagery from overlapping. Since it was a dreamscape, there was no telling what might happen if she lets her mind wander. She doesn't like what she sees and grasps her rapier tightly at the handle. She's prepared to strike if anything attempts to catch her off guard.

The most vivid imagery is the desolate buildings and massive damage. Everything was charred with damage and destruction. It looked like the end of the world had reared its ugly head in the dream. She can't help but feel even more perplexed as his strides became longer.

The buildings and it's surrounding all didn't look familiar, or even remotely what she was used to seeing. Something about its technology was lost in time. Mayhap, the far future or an advanced civilization that she's never seen before. She doesn't get time to process that imagery before the sound behind her cautiously draws her attention.

The sound is enough that she quickly turns on her steps and makes her way toward the sound. Her eyes widened when she saw who came from the broken debris. ]

..You--!?

[ She almost runs to him as she reaches for his arm and form. Was he hurt? Is he okay? What was happening? It takes her a quick moment to understand whose dream she had stumbled into. ]

Alisaieeeeee

[zomboii]

Auuuuh~

[ "Alisaie!" Her name radiates out from him in the form of a wordless greeting. It's his dreamworld, his dream. He thinks in Signs and pictures, but none of that matters here. Communicating is as simple as wanting to express something and the meaning will come across. Thus it's not really her name he says, so much as the impression of it written out with the understanding that it's what she's called that comes across.

His surprise as seeing her and his delight when she begins to fuss don't need to be conveyed in the same way; she might fret, but he's all smiles as she checks him over. He doesn't even try to stop her, more interested in--

"I'm okay, I'm okay! Hi--you're here!"

Again, not words. Not exactly. But she'll understand it all the same. ]

[leveillpier]

[ The impression momentarily stuns her for a moment. As she is dreamwalking, it's different from being in the place they were taken from. At least, that's her conceptual understanding of dreamwalking. Anything can happen and people's versions of themselves in this dreamscape, is different from outside of it.

She nods in understanding. Though, she's speaking to him, it appears he may also be understanding her words as well. Not in the sense that he heard her, but rather the same as how he interprets her name, her expression of seeing him is what comes off from her.

Dreamscapes are indeed different. After a moment or two of proper inspection and "Vercure," waiting to be used, Alisiae releases him. Though, his tattered state of dress is concerning to her. ]

Aye, I can see that you haven't a single injury. However, you must be careful.

[ There she goes with her words again. Hopefully that can be relayed to him. It's worth a shot. ]

I seem to a knack for constantly dreamwalking, it seems.

[ She sounds almost sarcastic when she says those words to him. ]

This is your dream?

[kikuichi]

[He carefully examine the broken house as he walks along, each step quiet and deliberate. When he pass by a broken window, he glanced out to see the ruined outside. As if something happened.

He wonder, is this the future humanity wish to prevent? The sole reason for the enemy's decision? Yet this isn't his world, which remain intact yet...

Hearing a sound, his hand instinctively reach for his sword's hilt. And he turns .. to see a familiar face. He blinks, before he smiles.]

Oh, hello there, kid.

[zomboii]

[ "--Sword!"

What he means to do is greet Norimune, but he can't help but notice the way his hand goes for his weapon. And when he sees sword? All other bets are off.

He lets out a gasp as he closes the distance between them, hands raised--but not reaching out to touch the sword. Yet.

"Wow, wow...! You have a sword!" He doesn't really 'say' it so much as the impression of what he wants to convey gets carried over; the same way one would understand another language if it was spoken in their dream, regardless of they'd learned it or not.

...Really, what he should be preoccupied with though is not a sword, but where they are. Any normal person would find the ruins around them the most pertinent thing. But this guy? No way man Norimune has a sword. ]

Dreams!

[fishflakes]

[It's not often these days Toge gets to see something more familiar to his own home when he enters a dream. But though the tall skyscrapers and modern buildings remind him of his home back in Tokyo, a closer look tells him that this is very much not a happy dream in the slightest. All the destruction, ruin, and abandonment... it almost gives him flashbacks to the incident that he. had been dealing with in Shibuya before coming here.]

[He's watched horror movies in the past, so it doesn't take him long to realize that this is a zombie apocalypse. And while he's never dealt with one in real life himself, he's seen enough to know that he needs to be wary of the groaning, shuffling figures around him. Fortunately, his Jujutsu training helps him stay mostly out of sight, weaving and ducking around debris to avoid most of them. But as he's peeking out from behind a broken-down truck, wondering how he's going to cross the road ahead, he jolts as he hears a familiar call. And turning around, he sees a familiar face.]

Tuna??

[He pauses for a moment, before he signs slowly. "Nanashi?"]

[zomboii]

Ouh!

[ "Toge?" His lips don't move and Toge's name doesn't actually sound out, but he'll know that's what it was all the same. Unnamed looks just as surprised as Toge does, but that's only until he face lights up with excitement.

"Toge! You're here!" Paying no heed at all to their surroundings he hurries over, oblivious to the horrid state of the world around them. This is his normal, after all. As far as he knows, his world has always been like this and nothing's amiss. "What are you doing? Playing a game?"

Why else would he be ducked behind a car, trying not to be noticed? ]

[fishflakes]

[Toge lets out a relieved breath when the friendly zombie recognizes him, and he relaxes a little bit. Even if the world around him's gone to shit, he's happy to see a familiar face here. But his happiness is short-lived, as he frowns, remembering why he's hiding behind a car.]

["No game. Hiding." He signs, but then pauses. Wait... these were Nanashi's "people", weren't they? Would he react okay to telling him that he was on the run from the zombies?]

[recreator]

[It becomes apparent that something is very wrong the moment Emet-Selch opens his eyes. And yet, aside from a fleeting heaviness within his breast, such scenes are all too known to him. He has seen countless calamities and aetheric disasters, the ends of civilizations and the toppling of empires - some wrought by his very own hand.]

[What, in the end, is one more?]

[Through the cracks and smashed window panes he can just glimpse the outlines of a broken city not so unlike his own, and within the remnants of this rotting home, the signs of a one-sided struggle. Some beast, he imagines - and barely stalled from the looks of things. Yet for all its familiar scenery, the city itself he cannot claim to recognize, at least without seeing far more of it.]

So this world, too, has met its end.

[He speaks to himself as he picks his way towards the open doorway, debris crunching underfoot -- and then it's that sound which he does know that has him lurching in his tracks with a shout that sounds suspiciously like a curse.]

--by the star, boy! Have you been practicing your sneaking skills this entire time?

...And I see that you're filthy to boot.

[Emet-Selch deflates with an exhausted sigh. If Unnamed is present, does that mean he knows something of where they are? He's about to raise his hand to sign to him properly, but...]

[zomboii]

[ Not even Emet-Selch can escape the jump-scare.

...Mind you it was unintentional, but Unnamed looks delighted to see the man all the same. Because grubby hands or not, he is going to make a happy sound--nasal and high-pitched--and throw his arms around the man.

"Emet!" It's not a voice that carries over, so much as it is the understanding that Unnamed coveys his name. "I found you! Hi." He looks up, grin a mile wide. "Did I surprise you? You were thinking hard!"

Again, none of it is said aloud; but Emet-Selch should be able to understand anyway. ]

[recreator]

[Such an understanding might perhaps come as a surprise to any other, yet beyond the briefest moment of confusion, Emet-Selch does not seem so terribly stunned by this turn of events. In fact, were it not for their earlier discussion about the boy's experiences with dreams, Emet-Selch might easily have mistaken this phenomenon as his own Gift finally deigning to make communication with the young undead possible.]

[So this is a dreamscape, then.]

[He sighs again, defeated, and allows himself to be clung to and hugged, even as he makes the usual effort to appear stern and displeased, his yellow eyes sharp as he peers down into that grinning face. 'Emet-Selch' comes the correction, the movement of his fingers spelling out the letters. Yet since that's hardly necessary here, he'll allow the dream to do its work; it should go some way towards better providing nuance and inflection.]

...Find me you did.

There is some truth in my being surprised, I confess - given I was not expecting to see you here.

I was merely reminded of places I have been to before, fallen to similar states of ruin. Yet this particular city is not one that I know.

Are you familiar with it?

In your dreams, doing bad things

[herewardbound]

This was new.

Well, not strictly new, in fact it was old, very old, with buildings that had plainly been abandoned for years, faded graffiti marking every available surface-

But he hadn't actually engaged with zombie-related media much. The big 'everything with zombies in it' zeitgeist had been before his time, though he was familiar enough. Who wouldn't be? Mostly it was just dull surprise that he was having a dream about a zombie apocalypse at all, which was, honestly, very dull.

One had stumbled out from behind a shed, shambling towards him with arms outstretched and jaw agape- and earned a bullet for its troubles. Another beheaded, a third kicked over the edge of a rooftop, after he'd climbed up to stay out of the way- and he carried on like that, getting rid of whatever was in the way or got too close.

The big question was, of course, who in the hell was responsible for this? Akechi was pretty sure this wasn't his own dream- it just didn't fit, somehow, but where, then, was the person responsible? Surely there'd be some sign...?

oh my G O D akechi pls????

[zomboii]

[ This is not House of the Dead Akechi you are not supposed to go around murdering everything like it's an arcade game?? For someone who missed the zombie zeitgeist, he is offing a heck of a lot of them. And with remarkable efficiency.

It's a miracle Unnamed hasn't seen him doing it yet. There's an intrinsic sort of understanding that there's someone here to find that comes with a dream, but it's not until the body Akechi 300's off the roof falls down in front of him--right in front of him--that he startles.

He's no stranger to the Infected doing stuff like that. They're not all that aware of their surroundings on a good day, and if they see something that attracts them...well, they'll go after it regardless of what obstacles lie in their way. This particular zombie has landed on its head, so it's out for the count. Unnamed only spares a second to kneel down beside it and make a short "Ouh?" It doesn't react, so he leaves it.

Curious as to what could've made it walk off a building of all things, Unnamed backs up a ways and peers up at the roof. ]

[herewardbound]

He wasn't looking down, at that moment. He was looking across the rooftops, gauging distance. Could he jump to the next house...? Probably. He'd made shorter jumps, and clad in the naval coat that had come with Captain Nemo, he had no doubt in his abilities. It was really just a matter of finding whoever the dreamer was without alerting the horde to his presence.

He took a leap- and landed on the next house's roof. Now, what to-

Movement behind him.
In one fluid motion he drew his pistol, turned, aimed-

And immediately lowered it. Noriyuki. Looking... very pale. And very dirty.

And very dead.

And ahhhh shit.