hadriel | video

[As if Newt would ever give up the chance to make a video, so here he is sitting in the kitchen. Also, he's bored being cooped up inside for an extended period of time, so there's also that]

Okay normally I would ask why people are actually venturing outdoors when shit's going down like this, but something tells me that's a super pointless question so instead here's this one:

So we got one account of what zombies are like in one person's world, but I was wondering what other incarnations are out there. [Newt folds his arms on the table, leaning down on them a bit] In Haven, there were a couple running around in some of the tunnels and they were from the same world as a couple of my housemates--one of them almost bit me. That was a trip. [he pauses, briefly, blinking] Er. The zombie, not my housemates. [--except--] Well, okay, one of them stabbed me in the chest and killed me but that wasn't until later so I don't think that really counts in this conversation? [he says it so casually. . . . . . . ANYWAY, back on topic as Newt waves a hand] Anyway, these zombies were taken over by a fungus called cordyceps. Basically it took over the brain of the corpse of whatever it attached itself to and made it into a puppet.

Now, we have this same fungus in my world, but it never went all zombie on human beings, just small animals. I'm talking, like...bugs. Sooo basically I'm wondering what other types of zombies people might've either run into, whether from their own world or a different one. And what caused them to become zombies in the first place. I'm talking like virus or fungus or whatever.

Or, like, whatever else anyone wants to talk about because holy shit I'm so bored right now.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[This is only private because things are a little tense at their house regarding some aspects of their world, and he doesn't necessarily want Hannah or Beth seeing detailed discussion of wendigos. The subject itself isn't exactly secret or anything though, especially considering the event that occurred here.]

As far as I know we don't um, have zombies at home, but we do have wendigos. They sort of count, I guess, at least as far as the 'used to be human and likes to eat people' thing.

[Also he didn't miss that casual comment about being stabbed and killed by a zombie, but he's not going to mention it for now.]

That...sounds pretty zombie-ish, I guess? How are wendigos created?

Yeah, they're um, not really undead though. And they're way harder to kill than zombies.

[Which sucks.]

Um, it sounds kind of ridiculous, but basically a wendigo spirit possesses anyone that engages in cannibalism and then turns them into this super fast, super strong monster.

[Newt's just going to...digest that for about ten seconds, before he huffs, blowing out air] Honestly, dude, that's way less ridiculous to me than a lot of things I've encountered. So basically they act like a zombie in the eating people sense first and then they become a wendigo which is like a zombie anyway.

[...]

That's creepy. Are they commonplace in your world or what?

[It's always nice when people just kind of accept the weird. Chris is still getting used to that himself, but he does appreciate not having to get past the disbelief part of the explaining.]

Pretty much, though it's a spirit possession... Thing, but yeah.

I um, don't know, exactly. We know for sure they're on this one mountain we were on before we got here, but since monsters aren't supposed to exist at all back home who knows if there's more of them.

[Oh, and--]

The uh, wendigo spirits are also here. In Hadriel.

Shit, so it was like a super terrible surprise, huh? [except then there's that little addendum--and Newt blinks] Wait...like, the monsters hiding out in the tunnels kinda hanging out or...what?

Yeah. We were already dealing with some really screwed up stuff going on, and then surprise! Monsters exist too.

[That night sucked.]

I um, don't think there are any wendigos that are like... Physical, in the caves, but the spirits should be there yeah. So if anyone decided to eat people in the caves, they're pretty much for sure getting possessed.

[Listen. Newt is a really expressive guy. And there's something about this information that's clearly worrying him.] Okay. No cannibalism in the caves. I'll keep that in mind because that--yeah. That doesn't sound fun.

[It's not difficult to tell Newt is worried, but Chris isn't all that certain of whether it's more than what would be expected from the subject. It's kind of a worrying one, after all, especially since--]

Yeah, um, good plan. And I mean, it's probably paranoia at this point since it's been fine for like, seven months now or whatever, but at one point Rage and Fear kind of... Screwed with the food, here.

[It's probably clear where the story is going.]

[Newt makes a face then, disgust] Ugh, yeah, I heard about that. It was, like...human meat or something, and so everyone went nuts?

Yeah. Everyone who ate it, anyway.

[Chris hadn't had much of an appetite at the time for several reasons, and it had turned out to be really fortunate.]

They all started turning into wendigos, but the process um... Takes a few days.

So...you have to keep eating it, even? [that's so disturbing--and Newt shudders for it]

Oh, um, no, that'd be... Actually I dunno if that'd be worse. More gross, but...

[But it'd also have to be a more purposeful thing, at least in a lot of situations. People like Hannah, who had just been trying to survive, wouldn't have been turned into one of those things.]

But um, just that... With the event it wasn't like, all at once. It takes a few days for even the first changes to show up, so it was kind of hard to, you know, figure out what was going on. And we really didn't expect there to be monsters from home here.

Okay...so just for future reference, what are the signs exactly?

Uh, the first ones are getting pale and their nails growing, then their eyes get all cloudy and they start growing like, angler-fish teeth. And then um, their hair falls out and their limbs start getting longer and their skin turns super hard.

[And it keeps going from there, but those are definitely enough signs to look for and Chris doesn't want to think in too much detail about the whole transformation process or wendigos in general.]

Yikes. Uh, okay, I'll...keep an eye out for that. [he breathes out a puff of air, hoping that they'll never have to deal with that. Fingers crossed.] Man.

Yeah. Uh, hopefully though the gods aren't into repeats and no one will like, go all cannibal on anyone in the caves.

[Because if neither of those happen, they're probably all okay as far as wendigos go.]

Ugh, yeah, here's hoping. I mean...they haven't seemed to be very into repeats so far, right?

[here's hoping...]

So far, yeah, no repeats I can think of except Hope asking people to take out monsters and handing out rewards and stuff. And I'm totally good with him repeating that one.

[No complaints there.]

Dude, same. I'm still not sure how I feel about this whole 'gods' thing, but i'll take whatever rewards they're handing out at this point. You never know what might come in handy.

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