Don't Dead, Open Inside || Action

[postocular]

Who: Carl Grimes, a bunch of zombies, and you
Broadcast: kinda?
Action: Waystation
When: Right now


(( ooc: This is a blanket content warning for blood/gore/death. So! There are zombies ahead and you’ve found yourself on the waystation! You have two options: evacuate, or fight them off. Things of note to remember: Being bitten or scratched are the easiest ways for infection. We don’t suggest being eaten. Magic will be hit or miss depending on player preference/discretion. Characters who become zombies will be treated as in-character deaths. Standard rules apply! The event will last a total of 24 hours. Have fun, and enjoy all the undead things. If there are any questions or anything at all, feel free to pm this journal or hit me up at skorozima. ))

[ The Fleet has been floating along its predetermined path for the past few days, getting further and further away from the Yadrolla System and toward unknown territory. Along the way, those oh-so convenient waystations continue to pop up at their usual intervals. Identical in every way to every other, boring waystation. Neat, right? There are even some of those familiar orange-skinned aliens and some human travelers milling about and generally minding their own business. It’s a good place to stretch your legs, get sodas of questionable flavor, and take those nifty new pets for a walk!

Interrupting the general peace of the waystation, a shrill siren starts, and a robotic voice comes over the intercom as well as all communication devices on the station and surrounding spacecraft, repeating a monotone message. ]


ATTENTION. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY. LOCKDOWN IMMINENT. ATTENTION. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY. CALMLY EVACUATE USING THE NEAREST EXIT. LOCKDOWN IMMINENT..

[ Soon, it becomes apparent to those on the waystation what the emergency is. A gaggle? A murder??? Just.. a lot of undead. They’re not in any particular hurry, shambling and stumbling along.. until they spot what looks like some good eats. That seems to get them excited, arms stretching forward, teeth gnashing, and more growling than any sort of verbal mishmash meant to be words. THEY’RE NOT A WORDY PEOPLE, OKAY?

For those looking to escape, it’s quite easy to outrun them unless you’re not paying attention to your surroundings. Corners can be tough! Just don’t get bit or scratched and all is well, except for their incessant attempts at making you a snack. For those who haven’t come across them before, or have run into some variation of them in another world, they’re resilient up to the point of losing their head or the brain being destroyed. Limbs being broken or missing don’t seem to slow them down, just send them a little off-balance.

All they know is attack and eat.

For those of the fleet still on their ships, they gravitate around the waystation, seemingly not wanting to go anywhere. There is a short window of time from the emergency alert to the entire waystation going on lockdown. Those wishing to help evacuate can do so- but they have to be quick!

Once the lockdown is in place, communication ceases with the waystation. All the rest of the fleet can do is sit and wait, and hope for the best. The doors will re-open twenty-four hours later, once it’s clear the situation is handled and they can regroup, count their losses, and wait once again for the perished to rejoin their ranks. ]

Comments

voice

[goldenglasses]

It's open! [His voice is as cheerful as it usually is and he smiles when he sees her.] I see you still have both arms and legs. That's a good start.

[He's heard a little bit about what has happened while she was in the shower. He tries to keep his tone light and happy. A bit of a friendly atmosphere is what he's hoping for.]

voice

[passingthrough]

What can I say, I've grown pretty attached to them? [She doesn't tell the bad joke with any kind of flurry. She wasn't sure what to expect but it wasn't exactly this. She sits down on his bed. Her body is weary from the long day. Her arms especially.]

How are you holding up?

voice

[goldenglasses]

I'm pretty sure as someone who didn't spend the last few hours trapped on a station with some sort of horrible virus outbreak that's my question to ask.

[He reaches to take one of her hands in his. Hoping the contact will bring her some sense of comfort.] I'm fine. [Hearing bad news second hand is something he's sadly just had to get use to over time.] How are you holding up?

voice

[passingthrough]

Sometimes I think it's worse to be the one who can't get to the people they want to protect. Can't save them. [She's definitely been that person and the thoughts of everything she could have done differently still haunt her.

She feels his hand and takes it as silent permission for more contact, leaning her head against his shoulder.]

Okay. Tired. Not sleepy. Just tired.

[goldenglasses]

I won't pretend like that wasn't bad, but it's over now. I can get to the people I want to protect again and in the end they didn't even need me. They were able to protect themselves.

[He moves his head to the side to give her easier access to his shoulder.] Then rest for now. No need to do anything but sit here and relax. And if there is any crisis in the new few minutes it's my turns to take care of it.

[passingthrough]

Oh good. I was hoping it was someone else's turn.

[She's quiet for a moment. She doesn't really want to change the dynamics of what's happening, but she also feels like she's just waiting for the other shoe to drop and that isn't a good, relaxing feeling either.]

How much do you know about what happened over there?

[goldenglasses]

I know that there was some sort of an infection. That's why the place went into lock down. I also know that there was a lot of death because of it.

[passingthrough]

Yeah... It spread quickly and affected so many people. More than I would have even guessed would have been on a waystation.

Did you hear about what they were like after they died? [It sounds like a strange question to her and she was there.]

[goldenglasses]

[Wait, what?] What do you mean after they died? [That would be a no.]

[passingthrough]

[She was kind of hoping he'd at least know. That he was assuming things and just not rejecting her.]

They'd get hurt and then sick and then they'd die. But after that, their bodies would get up again and go attack people who were still okay to spread the infection.

[goldenglasses]

Get up again? So... they didn't die, is what you mean? [Zombies aren't exactly something he's given much thought to in the past.]

[passingthrough]

No, they did die. No breathing or heart functions for too long to come back from. I don't know how to explain it. I didn't have any equipment there to study it, but they were dead and then they were still gone, but they were moving and biting and dangerous. Maybe whatever infected them was still alive and animating them the spread itself or go to a new host? I don't know.

[goldenglasses]

Ca- can a virus really do that? [It didn't seem possible.] But, they got up. They were acting. What if--- [He stops himself. What if they were still alive? is probably not what Kitty needs to hear right after living through it.]

[passingthrough]

How much of any of this should be possible? [No, as far as she knew a virus couldn't, but some of the people there said they'd seen it before like Carol and Daryl. They were sure they were dead and even if they weren't...they were a threat that she couldn't contain.]

They were acting like the only thing they understood was wanting to eat people. And even if they were still in there somehow...they aren't now.

[goldenglasses]

But- a virus could be cured. If they were moving then there must be some sort of life to those people, isn't there? Maybe they could have recovered after the virus was removed.

Was that what lifted the quarantine? Was a cure found?

[passingthrough]

[She pulls away, standing up and pacing the small room.] I think the virus was the only thing still living. [But, no, she can't be sure. Even if they were exactly like what Carol and Daryl faced back home, they weren't scientists. They couldn't completely explain what was happening. At least they hadn't. They were just sure killing was the only option.]

Come on, Vash... [She feels sure he knows a cure wasn't found.]

[goldenglasses]

[Vash watches her pace. There wasn't a lot of spare room in the ship's small bedrooms so he stays sitting so she can move back and forth as needed.] Can't blame a guy for being hopeful.

[Okay. So maybe you can.] I'm assuming things just got worse from there. [It's his way of giving her permission to unload if she wishes to.]

[passingthrough]

We had to stop them. [A pause as she comes to a halt.] I had to stop them. [She wasn't alone in that, but she wasn't talking about what other people did. She's talking about what she did and doesn't want to use a group mentality as cover. She figured something like this would come up eventually with Vash, but she didn't expect it this soon. Maybe it's better. Maybe he won't get hurt this way. And what's a little more rejection for her? A whole damn world rejected her.

She looks at him directly and speaks firmly.] And I don't need anyone else making me feel guilty about something I had to do to make sure people who couldn't defend themselves could still walk out of there alive at the end!

[goldenglasses]

[Vash listens carefully and quietly as she speaks. His face one of soft compassion as he waits until she finishes.

Once it's clear she's done he still doesn't say anything. Instead he stands up and hugs her tightly. Speaking gently into her ear.] I'm sorry. I'm so sorry you had to make such a choice like that.

[Did he think she made the wrong choice? Yes. Is this the time or place to say that? No. Was he one to judge after what he had done to save Meryl and Milly? No.

So instead he'll hold her and silently wish there was something more anyone could have done to avoid the whole situation.]

[passingthrough]

[Her breath catches as he puts his arms around her. From the look on his face and the way he stood it should have been obvious, but it still came as a surprise to her. It takes another beat before she responds to it, wrapping her arms around him and hugging more tightly than she expected of herself especially with sore arms and she buries her face against him.

In the moment she gets the job done. She always has. She does it smoothly, efficiently and as compassionately as one can do that job while doing the other two things too. She'd even do it with witty banter sometimes. And she can't pretend she doesn't sometimes enjoy the art of a fight when her adrenaline is pumping. But the kill? She never enjoys the kill. And later when the battlefield's gone cold and she's as relatively safe as one can get that's when it comes back to her. When she feels the weight of it no matter how bad the bad guys were or how much it served the common good. It still adds to the burden of it all. More losses.

For all her talk of these people being dead she doesn't really know that for sure. Maybe they'll be able to figure it out more accurately or maybe they never will. But it was still a heavy night for her and while she wouldn't take hearing he thought she was wrong well, he doesn't say it. He gives her what she needed.]

Me too.

[goldenglasses]

[He holds her tighter when she accepts his hug. Holding her for awhile before speaking again. What else really is there to say?]

Do you--[A beat.] Would you like to stay here tonight? [His intention is not to move things forward so quickly. He just knows if the roles were reversed he doubts he really would want to be alone.]

[passingthrough]

I'd like that.

[She's a little surprised he's offering so soon. She gets that it's likely the circumstances and under the circumstances she doubts he has anything in mind beyond sleep and and talking and cuddling. Which is fine with her. She's actually always had a hard time sleeping alone. He might have noticed a sharp change in her sleep patterns after Winn disappeared. Then again, the ships didn't merge that long before his disappearance and she and Winn split time between her ship and his for sleeping. But once he left Kitty tended toward more staying up until she was too exhausted to be awake anymore and she spent a lot of that time out in the common areas of the ship, preferring not to be alone if someone else was up. Sometimes on the Iskaulit instead or a planet they were visiting.

When she wasn't doing that she was sleeping in Kurt's room with him. Only sleeping. She does absently wonder if that was something Vash ever noticed or if he thought anything was going on between them. She never tried to keep it a secret, but a person who phases and a person who teleports don't have to spend a lot of time in open hallways either. Her sleep was usually restful despite her past as long as someone was at her side. She figured if things worked out it wouldn't be long before she was hoping Vash wouldn't mind someone to sleep next to regardless of how far along they were otherwise. It's nice to get the offer instead.

She probably would have worn something cuter, but it isn't about that now. Her arms relax, but she doesn't move away from him just yet. She just can't maintain that strength after tonight. It feels nice to be held like this. It would have felt needed and good even if tonight had been peaceful. She's just been missing it for a long time. She should probably be leaving well enough alone here. But it's Kitty, so...]

Aren't you supposed to be hating me right now?

[goldenglasses]

[Kitty may be a little disappointed later when Vash will try to insist she take the bed and he'll take the floor. He's new to this whole "dating" thing. But that's a later problem.

He had noticed her late night sleeping habits, but had been left unsure if that it was normal Kitty behaviour or if it had developed after Winn had left. He certainly noticed it more after his disappearance.

Vash also hadn't missed the times she came out of Kurt's room or could hear her soft breathing as he walked past. It was another thing he didn't question. The two had history so he was never surprised or thought too much about it.

He doesn't let go when her arms relax. For now he can be the strong one.]

I couldn't hate you. [But that didn't seem enough.] I could only hate someone forced onto that way station who enjoyed it and felt no remorse when all was done. The type of people who don't worry if they're hated or not in the end.

[passingthrough]

[She can deal with later problems. The best part of them is that they happen later. For now, she just appreciates that he keeps holding on to her. She keeps her arms around him with fingers splayed on his back.]

Well that's definitely not me. [She's always had a lot of feelings about it. She's glad he said remorse and not regret though. There are things she regrets, but she doesn't kill unless she's sure it had to be done because the consequences of not doing it were worse. Though if it turns out those people could have been cured after all then she'll deeply regret tonight. She had wanted to find a different way. Maybe if she'd been with the others when it started she could have gotten the teamwork going and funneled them in somewhere secure. But those who had been bitten and scratched kept turning. She doesn't want to keep thinking about it though. She's already weary from that for tonight.]

Are you still okay with like liking me? [Using his term.]

[goldenglasses]

It's like-like. [He teasingly corrects.] And yeah. I am if you are.

[Because he knows he's still not Winn.]