[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

[monoceroscaeli]

[The next time he opens his eyes, he's in his bedroom. His hand immediately shoots to his chest, sitting up suddenly and being relieved when he finds there isn't a hole there. Sweat drenches him, and yet he feels unnaturally cold despite it- maybe it was the coolness of the air around him mixed with how wet his clothes were that was the source of the problem.

Sighing, he gets up anyway, the phantom of the boy that reached for his hand still burning brightly in his mind as he changes his sheets for something fresh and showers. Maybe this wasn't the best idea, as the dream was still so fresh in his mind. Who was that? His name was Nanashi Noriyuki, if his memory serves him correctly. Someone he doesn't know, a name he doesn't recognize save from that dream. How strange, how vivid it all still was in his mind, where normally he'd forget what he'd dreamt about the night before.

Did he really eat another person?]

-------------

[The next day, the Harbinger goes about business as usual. There was a certain Snezhnayan dish he wanted to cook for Aether tonight, so the traveler could sample yet another dish from his homeland that he was so proud of, so he's out picking up a few things to do exactly that. Still feeling tired from the night before, he chooses a bench in the Plaza to rest on, grocery bags sitting next to him on it.

Maybe a nap would be in order when he gets home.

Though he doesn't notice the boy who he'd saved in that dream he had last night in the Plaza as well, as he almost dozes off on the bench before starting awake again. He's only concentrated on keeping his eyes open until he reaches Aether's, and then maybe he'll crash on the couch once he's put way the food. Really wishing he'd gotten better sleep last night.]

emerges from the ether

[zomboii]

[ It's been a stress-riddled night. After that dream, Unnamed doesn't go back to sleep. He doesn't need to. Even if he'd felt the pull of fatigue, it wouldn't have been enough to soothe him after a dream like that. He wanders the woods at first--not sure if he's awake or dreaming as he searches for the neighbourhood. It's not until he takes a good lungful of the fresh air that he realizes the scents around him are all wrong--that he isn't back home.

He's in Reverein. And that dream--was the person in his dream a visitor? He had to be. If he is then he isn't gone, he can still find him. Can get someone to help him.

It's a long, fruitless search through the night. He's a little bedraggled by the time the sun rises and people start to mill about the town proper. A couple people ask if he's okay and all he can do is ask if they've seen "orange hair like me person", but the description doesn't exactly...help. There aren't any other zombies in Reverein, and his words are too vague to net him the response he's looking for. It's disheartening that he's contemplating going to Shigeru to give up and tell him all about the horrible dream he had, when he catches a hint of familiar orange hair in the crowd.

He doesn't even try to confirm if it's actually Childe before he runs through the crowd; it has to be, it has to be, it has to be--

It is. ]

Auh.....!

[ Unnamed doesn't hesitate. He catches sight of Childe and near-well throws himself at the man, wrapping his arms around him tightly amongst a myriad of distressed, intelligible noises. ]

FLYING TACKLES YOU :DDDDD

[monoceroscaeli]

[He can feel himself start to doze off again on the bench, eyes closing from the terrible sleep he'd had the night before. But his battle senses never fade, something that tells him there's someone coming right at him. It might be the only thing that keeps him from passing out right there on the bench, and a too-familiar "auh" reaches his ears. Childe looks up to see Unnamed looking distraught and throwing himself at him, mildly startling the Harbinger through his sleep-deprived state as he catches him in his arms.

Tartaglia doesn't even know what to say at first. But he recognizes the boy immediately, and tries to calm him down-]

Hey, Nanashi, right? It's okay, I'm right here.

[Ah, but this means the dream he had last night...they'd shared it, hadn't they? He has questions with no answers to them, and a very upset zombie in his arms.]

Don't worry, I'm not gone. It was just a dream, that's all.

[Still doesn't know he's deaf.]

is tackled.....much like childe

[zomboii]

Uuuuu..... Uuuuuu...!

[ It's not the way someone would typically cry. It's just one drawn-out, wavering sound--but it's clearly very heartfelt. It's a relief to feel Childe's hands come up to steady him; it means he's real. That he's there, not still, never to move again.

The dream wasn't real.

He's never felt so relieved to be wrong about something in his life.

He can't cry proper so his nose doesn't get runny and his eyes don't leak, and there's no flush to his face--but when he finally looks up at Childe to really see that he's alright, it's plain on his face.

(Childe might not realize he's deaf, but he's so emotional and relieved right now that he doesn't even try to Sign either. SO.) ]

[monoceroscaeli]

[If there was any worry that Childe had that Unnamed was going to try to eat him, it's erased when he looks up at him with that level of relief. He shoots an earnest, softened expression back down to the boy, surprised that he really did care that much about his well being, before breathing out a heavy sigh.]

C'mon now, let's calm down a little bit. You're going to get yourself worked up so much that you'll get sick at this rate. Well, if you can get sick at all.

[But he can't dismiss how awful it must have been for him, watching his companion die right in front of him like that. Not once has Childe gotten the impression that Unnamed is used to seeing comrades go down in a fight.]

[zomboii]

[ The one saving grace here is that although Unnamed can't heard Childe's voice, considering where he's plastered himself, he can feel the vibration and sensation of Childe speaking. That's enough to remember that he should try to communicate properly--he needs to let Childe know that it isn't like in the dream for him, where he could understand all manner of intent. ]

O, ouh...

[ He sniffs a little--taking in Childe's scent (healthy, safe, alive) so he can commit it to memory--and brings one hand away finally so he can point to his ear and mouth in the Sign for deafness. He adds a bit more to it by pointing to one ear after and shaking his head, looking only a touch sheepish about it.

He's not ashamed to be deaf, he just doesn't like when he forgets to let people know. Given the circumstances though....he'll give himself a tiny break. ]

[monoceroscaeli]

[He understands now, a recognition reflecting in his eyes now that he's explained. This is why the boy hadn't reacted like Childe had during that dream, there was more to it than their inability to speak. The Harbinger only smiles and nods, reaching into his jacket now to pull his journal out to write in it.]

Sorry, I hadn't known that you were unable to hear. I don't know sign language, so I'll communicate like this, then. It's good to see you again, Nanashi.

[He hands the journal over to Unnamed for him to read, giving him a small smile.]

[zomboii]

[ Like always, Unnamed is reminded that he has a long way to go when it comes to reading and writing when he gets a good look at what Childe's written. It isn't impossible for him to understand--he gets pretty much most of it--but it's got periods. Commas. Capitals! So many things he's not always certain where or when he should use.

None of that stops him from concentrating on the page briefly to print his response in it with dreamotion, one word appearing after another:

"It Okay. Not lot people understand Sign Language. I learn read to talk to people!" Like Childe. "Happy you awake. Happy you move still. Dream scary and sad. Not like dream!" ]