ArchivedLogs:In Which Zombies Are Discussed, Both In English And Not, And Some Tears Are Shed

In Which Zombies Are Discussed, Both In English And Not, And Some Tears Are Shed
Dramatis Personae Derek, Ellin, Taylor	2015-11-03 "I know it'th not what I wanted to hear but it'th what I needed." (Part of Flu TP.)
Location <XS> Gardens
From indoor gardens to outdoor, though without the protective greenhouse glass the back gardens do not last all year round. Still, the gardens out here are well-tended and well-worth spending time in, as well. The paths wending through the beds of flowers and herbs and vegetables spread out through the school's back grounds, tended by students as a credit class. Benches offer seating and a small pond is home to koi and turtles, as well as a few frogs. At the far back edges of the garden, a droning buzzing marks a few stacked white boxes as beehives. There's a strange quiet air to the school today, so many people ill, so many teachers out, so many classes cancelled. It's lunchtime now, no classes in session /anyway/, but even the great hall is less /great/ than it should be. Not so much bustle, more kind of /trudge/. Shuffle. Drag. The day is inching along with a lot of sniffling, a lot of coughing, a lot of pill bottles and tissues and Dayquil and falling asleep in half-empty classes /anyway/. Taylor's skipped the whole falling-asleep-in-class thing; he's fallen asleep, instead, in the bright warm sunshine outdoors. Forgotten all /about/ lunch, though he probably needs it; he wasn't at breakfast, either. Instead he is dozing, in jeans and Xavier's sweatshirt and Tough Mudder tee, on the rocks by the koi pond, several of his many arms flopped down /into/ the water; his cellphone, clutched loosely in his hand, is in severe danger of joining them soon. Derek is one of the lucky few who hasn't gotten sick yet, but it doesn't mean he hasn't felt the effects of most of the school getting ill. Not caring if his morning classes were cancelled or not, Derek's spent most of the morning in the woods and has only emerged because it's lunch time. Dressed in his usual jean jacket over a plain coloured t-shirt, green today, and jeans he wanders towards the gardens, the faint smell of cigarettes clinging to him and a small bruise on his right cheek. He doesn't even realise he's in the gardens until he spots his roommate dozing. Not wanting to disturb Taylor, but noticing the cellphone, Derek does his best to quietly walk over and tries to slide Taylor's cellphone out of his hand and away from the water. It's a multiplicative effect. All five of the girls are radiating increasing misery. From sniffly, to achey and a little nauseous, she is absolutely miserable. Much like, apparently, her classmate Taylor. She is currently slumping out towards the coy pond in the direction of Taylor. She of course recognizes Derek as well, from the previous day. The kid who DIDN'T say she was gonna die! Tablet pcs come out and she moves to form a semi-circle with her various selves around the pond, even waving in Derek's direction. She even manages a sickly, silent smile. Her wave? But a single finger opening and closing in greeting. Today her selves are taking turns instead of doing everything at the same time. Because ugh, movement. There's not any resistance when Derek rescues Taylor's cellphone from its imminent watery demise. Taylor's sleep-addled reaction is slow, delayed; his fingers close on emptiness, now, his brow furrowing when his hand finds nothing in it. One (dry and slightly cracking) tentacle shifts to pat at his chest, fumbling around sleepily. "Wassat?" His eyes scrunch tighter, then slowly open. "...nnnf. Ohhh. Derek." He seems in no particular hurry to actually get up. Or move. Or anything. Just staying flopped down on the nice warm rocks, yawning wide and resettling himself. "... Ellin." This is followed by a snuffling. He blinks up at the sun, evidently much /sunnier/ than it had been when he fell asleep. One finger taps at his other wrist; there's no watch there but the questioning look in his expression is easy to read all the same; what time is it? "Your phone wath about to go into the water." Derek says leaving it in it's new spot a yard away from Taylor's hand and the water is. He looks around then flumps down to a sitting position with a bit of a sigh. "I'd athk how you're feeling but I'm pretty thure I can figure it out. It'th lunch time, tho if you're hungry and want me to grab you thomething, let me know." His eyes glance over at the five Ellins walking over and returns the wave by raising a hand in greeting. "Thorry to wake you, dude." Ellin watches Derek rescue the phonulator. Three smiles thinly in Derek's direction, then rescues her tablet from her side. < How iz ur sistr? > The other four flop back down onto the grass and stare up at the sky miserably. She then pulls up the tablet's clock briefly and thinks very hard about the image since she has no idea how to communicate with telepaths properly. Thinkthinkthinkthinkthink. At least her thoughts are slower and murkier today. < I thot we werent sposed to talk english? > Nevermind that nothing Taylor said was actually technically English. < We need 2 get u a ziplock for ur phone. > Taylor's eyes widen, darting to the water first; he relaxes, though, when he sees his phone safely dry on the ground, and gives Derek a thankful nod. Only now he sits up, slowly, dragging several arms up out of the water and rubbing at his eyes with one damp one. His shoulders hunch inward, slightly shivery despite the warmth of the day. "Mmngh?" Ellin's comment about English just makes him blink. Scrub at his eyes harder. << {Words are hard.} >> It's a very strange mental effect -- the words that come through in their mind are very definitely not English. In mental space, it /sounds/ quite crisp and clear, like Taylor's regular speaking voice, in careful Japanese. There's not really any ambiguity about the fact it is Not English -- and yet, despite this, his /meaning/ comes through more or less well regardless of their (lack of) understanding of the actual words. Not a translation, really, but his /intention/ clear even if the literal words may not be intelligible. << {No English. Right. Did I? Shit.} >> His shoulders hunch inward, here. << {It's creeping me out.} >> Derek rubs his temple at the odd effect and not understanding how he understood that jibberish in his brain. "Creeping you out?" Derek tries to joke but his smile is weak. "My thither...thee'th moody. Not doing tho well but not many people are. Thee can pack a good punch when annoyed though." He rubs the bruised spot on his cheek. "I jutht with I knew more about thith whole flu, can't lie, I've been worried like crazy 'bout her." With hearing that there might not be a cure, something about zombies and death, Derek's mind has been racing with worry. It takes a little calibration not to shout mentally. Indeed, the most notable thing for Ellin is how she folds five different lines of attention span and focuses them all on Taylor. This mind-talk stuff? Her own thoughts don't dirty themselves with direct linguistics in this medium, thankfully. Instead, once half of her attention is on Taylor, she spends time pruning and polishing intent. Like having a small horde of sculptors working on a statue. << Now this is fun! You sort of did. I don't think you said anything bad, though. >> A pause, and then Three resorts back to the tablet. < That iz awful Derek. I have some makeup if that bruise is bothering u. Did i put some ice on it? > As for no cure? She turns her nose up suddenly. < My daddie iz dropping by later 2 help Doc Mkoy and their totes gonna beat the stuffing out of this stuff. > One of Taylor's arms snakes outward, stretching out to pluck up his phone and return it to his lap. He leans foward, bracing limbs against his knees and pillowing his head against them. << {Damn, that was from Daisy?} >> He winces, head shaking. << {Tempers been high lately. Also -- creeping me out. Last time... } >> He represses a shudder, exhaling heavily as his eyes focus down on the ground. Stare there, for a long moment. It takes a while for him to return his focus to the conversation at hand. << {Your dad's going to fight Doctor McCoy?} >> Derek lets out a chuckle and waves a hand. "Nah, my fault thee warned me but I wouldn't thtop bothering her about how thee felt. Older brother and all that. And no, no make up, it'th nothing." << I've had worse. >> He takes a deep breath and shakes his head. "No, I think Ellin'th thaying that her Old Man ith going to help the Doctor find a cure." He doesn't share her optimism but he's never really been an optimistic guy. Derek looks over at Taylor and hesitates before asking in a quite voice. "What do you mean latht time?" The girl makes a face alright at that. < The disease. Their going 2 fight teh disease. Dad was with teh CDC when it hit the 1st time and hes an immunologist. If Doc Mkoy and him could join forces tehy cood be doctor sooperheroze. > Three flumps down and trades duties with Two so she can rest. < Im sorry ur face hurts. > Ellin considers for a long moment just where to go from here. < I think I want orange juice. Tay u want some 2? Dee u want some snacks? > Five has already hopped up to go slumping in the direction of the kitchen. << {Oh, good. Cuz Doctor McCoy is. Big.} >> There's still lingering confusion in Taylor's expression, not particularly cleared up at Derek's question. He frowns, face scrunching up. "Uh --" His arm rubs against his face, again. << {Oh, man, I'm /starving/.} >> Ellin's offer momentarily derails him. << {I'll take anything. Please. Thanks. And yeah,} >> he finally reroutes his thoughts to Derek, << {My sibs have been pestering the shit out of me. Long-distance, though. They're worried, too. Because --} >> Now he's back to looking a little confused. << {You know, The Plague.} >> Even through fuzzy muddled psionic-concept interpretation, it's clear that whatever Taylor is referring to here is Important. << {Starting to feel like two years ago all over again.} >> Derek looks over at Ellin for a moment. "Huh... thure, thankth. Haven't eatten anything yet today." And he probably would have forgotten to eat lunch had she not offered. "Becauthe you're family. I can't thop being worried about Daith, I..." He takes a deep breath. "No, I don't know about the plague. What happened two yearth ago, pleathe. I need to know what'th going to happen to her. I can't, I just can't loothe her. Thomeone yethterday wath talking about zombieth?" < Sounds like Ill need 2 of me. > One gets up and accompanies the other body towards the kitchen. < Lemme no if u tink of anything. But Im not going back once I leave. > Ellin giggles fiercely. < Ill bring lots of treats and juices. Im comin back w/a bag. We can picnic. > The giggle, however, hurt a little, and soon the body holding the tablet passes it off as the one rolls over onto her side. < OMG I wish I had sibs. I wood totes take them shopping and play dolls w/them. I have best dolls. I use 2 be a monster high fan. > Totally different wavelength here. < My daddie is like sixtie anyway. Doc Mkoy dont have 2 be big. Dad is a marshmellow. > << {Mine came out for family weekend, but I don't see them nearly enough.} >> This is pretty wistful. California is Too Far Away. Taylor curls a thick arm around his mouth to stifle a series of coughs; by the time it settles he's just giving Derek a puzzled look. << {... yeah. Zombies.} >> This comes with a mental image, shambling dead with grasping hands and chomping mouths shuffling over the lawn, Scott and Jax blasting holes through their heads before they can reach the mansion. << {... how do you not know?} >> This sounds /confused/, not accusatory. << {They were /everywhere/. The plague -- it was horrible. Just swarms of dead. It killed a /million/ people here. The city was quarantined, they brought in the army, it /still/ hasn't recovered. But it -- it wasn't just here, it was. /Is/. Everywhere, I mean. Everywhere people speak English anyway. How -- do you...} >> He rubs at his eyes again, head hanging in confusion again. Derek looks a bit embarassed and his eyes find anywhere to look but at Taylor or Ellin. The mental image shakes him pretty badly. When he finally speaks, it's very hesitant. "I.. I'm from a thmall city in Kanthath. I never really paid much attention to the newth, we didn't have internet at home and where we had T.V., we didn't have cable and I didn't watch the newth or much T.V. I thkipped thchool a lot. Thingth back home, they were rough. Tho... I gueth I jutht ignored anything elthe going on. Anyway, that'th not really important." Derek takes a deep breath and tries to give Taylor a smile, though it's very strained. "They were able to find a cure before, right? Tho, everyone thould be okay eventually?" << Yeah right everyone is going to be okay. >> Ever so gently, Ellin frames a simple thought at Taylor. << I think you embarassed him without meaning to. He would likely welcome a topic change. >> Again that formless 'intent' and 'meaning'. Then she's back to typing for public consumption. < Eeew. Grossgrossgross. I dont like killing. Its so awful. I no its a complicated world but I still dont like it. > Ellin wrinkles her nose a little bit in thought. < If you skipped school then I wood totes be willing to be ur study buddy when u need it. > A pause, and then she has to erase the words on the tablet, to offer: < Im on my way back. Last chance 2 ask for anything specific. > << {/Oh my fucking god/.} >> With an odd suddenness there /is/ exasperation in Taylor's mental voice, sharp and swift as his eyes narrow on Ellin. << {Did you miss the part where /a million people died/? Or maybe the part where /we all lived through that/? Watching everyone we love /worse/ than dead, dead and coming back to try and /eat us/ and I'm /so sorry/ if this might be /embarrassing/ to talk about for /Christ's sake/.} >> He's getting up abruptly (kind of shakily), several of his arms flung irritably into the air. Oddly, it's Derek and not Ellin he's apologizing to for this outburst: << {... sorry, dude, I just can't right now with -- ridiculous -- hyper-polite -- /white people/. You want the lowdown on the plague, I give it to you later. I think I need sleep.} >> Aloud: "/Gnnnh/." His hands are rubbing at his head as he starts back towards the dor. Derek gives Taylor a nod. "I think you gave me enough for now, thankth, really. I know it'th not what I wanted to hear but it'th what I needed. If you need anything, jutht le me know." He pushes himself up and looks over at Ellin. "Either your incredibly optimithic or incredibly thupid, and I'm thomeone whothe incredibly thupid. Thudy buddy ith the latht thing I give two thitth about right now. Anyway, lunch ith almotht over tho I'm gonna get going." He raises his hand in a wave to the Ellins and heads off back towards the forrest, his mind racing with what Taylor told him. << You don't wanna be polite or show respect for other peoples feelings, that's fine, but do not drag being 'white' into it. That is not the issue. You don't wanna talk about it, fine, but its not his- >> The thoughts just cut off, suddenly. And they take on a new tone. << I didn't miss it. My father was right up there with the CDC and I spent the entire time wondering if something was going to happen to him. Maybe I haven't lost people like everyone else, but that's not->> Then Derek hints at her being stupid. All three of the remaining girls look struck. With sniffly faces, they get up and run off sobbing. Less purposeful, the word 'stupid' rings in her head again and again.