[VIDEO] post-event

[axemeaquestion]

Hey, so... whoa.

[A bruised and bandaged woman nearly drops her device.]

Shit, sorry. Still getting used to this thing.

[For anyone who met Rochelle before but missed her at the Archives event, she's finally out of her bloodstained clothes. The shirt she's wearing today was crisp white with CRYSTAL BEACH cut out of an iridescent square print in bold letters.

The video straightens out, and Ro attempts to recover gracefully as she sits on the floor and smiles. Her back is against a coffee table littered with history books and moonblessed-aimed welcome pamphlets.]

Name's Rochelle. You can call me Ro. Sorry if I'm still kind of a mess. Better than before, trust me. I worked in TV news before things kinda went to hell back in my... world? World. Shit, that's still weird to say.

I'm kind of coming out of what you'd call a... zombie apocalypse. [AWKWARD GRIN GOES HERE??] And now I'm on a whole other goddamn planet. Still... processing that part. Compared to my life before, though, this is actually... kind of normal. I mean, not REALLY, but seriously. Not looking over your shoulder every damn second of your life makes ANYTHING seem normal. Even getting turned into a mermaid by a hunk of screaming rock.

[That's a weird thing to call Osse, Ro, but okay.]

So I guess my point is... I wanna ask. What does a fresh-out-of-the-apocalypse girl do to adjust to semi-normal life around here? I'm looking into TV network sort of work around here, actually, but otherwise...? I'll give shit a shot.

[Then - she hesitates. The casual attitude disappears, and her smile fades. There's no smooth way of transitioning into this, but...]

And on a more serious note... if anyone here finds three guys going by Coach, Ellis, and Nick... let me know?

I know that's not much to go by, but uh... Coach is a big guy in an FHS school polo. Good guy... NEVER stops talking about food if you give him a chance, though. Ellis is a real yee-haw Georgia type boy. Should have a shirt that says "bullshifter." Don't ask me why. [She laughs weakly at that - then shakes her head.] And Nick... well. You'll know Nick if you meet him. He thought bringing a white suit to a zombie apocalypse was a GOOD idea.

Long story short, they're my friends. We survived a hell of a lot together, and I'm worried about them. I've been looking around everywhere, just in case, but. If you ever meet some guys that vaguely match that description, just... point them my way.

And if it helps... all three of them probably smell like shit.

Comments

voice; un: phoenixevolution

[manufactured]

You're almost refreshingly blunt, you know, with regards to calling things what they are.

Granted, I don't know if my world's relationship with the undead has quite reached a level deserving of being called an apocalypse.

[axemeaquestion]

Thanks, I think. "Zombies" is kind of an exaggeration, if I'm being real. Ours weren't slow or undead like the movies. Just sick. And mutated a whole damn lot.

Called 'em zombies all the same, though.

[... wait.]

Hang on. You got zombies too?

[She's still wrapping her head around the idea of multiple universes, but. She's trying.]

[manufactured]

We do. I wouldn't say ours are the slow, shambling kind, either, but that depends on several factors. Who they are, what they're infected with. It all makes a difference. But sometimes there really isn't a better blanket term for it.

It's not often that I meet others that are so candid about it. Not the best thing to have in common, I'll admit, but if it's something that's already happened and there's not much to be done about it...well, it's the sort of adversity that makes for interesting allies, at least.

[axemeaquestion]

Damn. That's weird to think about. I'm still wrapping my head around the idea of "worlds," but the fact that more than one can have zombies is... extra surreal, I guess.

It's not great, yeah, but... honestly? It actually helps to know I'm not too alone in that.

[manufactured]

I can assure you that you aren't; society hasn't completely collapsed where I'm from, but the situation is...unfortunate. At our current point, it's more that there are certainly places we avoid now, and because people are what they are some are seeking ways to weaponize it. Opportunists and terrorists and the like. So it's going to be a rather orchestrated apocalypse, if it ends that way. Disappointing, but unsurprising.

Might I asked what caused it, in your world? Do you know?

[axemeaquestion]

Jesus. I'm almost jealous yours isn't the society-collapsing kind, but... not so much the weaponized part.

[She sighs.]

No one knows for sure. Reports started in Pennsylvania, mostly around Fairfield. There's word it spread through mammals at first, but I don't really know. Just saw what people did to their livestock.

People started calling it the Green Flu. Thought it was a flu for a couple days, too, 'til things got worse. After that, it only took a couple weeks before the whole state was overrun. Spread even faster after that.

[manufactured]

Ours was a viral outbreak, but nowhere near that potent. Small favors, I suppose.

[For...most of the world, anyway. He supposes.]

It is a pleasure either way, Rochelle. Even if this remains a bit of an unfortunate thing to bond over. I take it you're finding this world at least somewhat acceptable by comparison...?

[axemeaquestion]

By comparison... yeah. Surreal as shit, though. If it wasn't for the zombies, I'd still be convinced I was dreaming this.

[manufactured]

[The noise that gets out of him is almost a laugh. Light, either way.]

Some days, I'm still not sure that I'm not.

[axemeaquestion]

[... Okay. That gets her grinning a little.]

Not just me, then.

[manufactured]

Certainly not. Fortunate that we're well-suited to adapting, I suppose.

[axemeaquestion]

Is that what we are? I thought I was just flying by the seat of my pants.

[That's a lie tho. She adapts to weird shit pretty quickly.]

[manufactured]

As one who works in media, I'd think you would know better than most that some things just sound nicer.

[He's quite proud of his own adaptability, but it's not like literally anything back in his own world prepared him for...well, any of this. Bit of Column A, bit of Column B.]

[axemeaquestion]

[Pfft. Okay.]

Fair enough, mister...? [Name?]

[manufactured]

Albert Wesker. Surname is fine.

[axemeaquestion]

Wesker, then?

Alright. Good to meet you, Wesker.