On Being Stuck in the Headspace

[outofthemanor]

I fully agree with you, it is a wonderful torture to endure, and I thank you for putting me through it each and every day. The types of characters you have up here... some are so strange, I doubt they understand the first thing about taxidermy. But we both know that causing me pain by keeping me trapped, while enjoyable, is not the reason we came to our arrangement. 

You wished to 'play' me. I've never been used as a form of puppet before, and I think it would be an experience to try. But you've not done anything with this, and I find myself... disappointed. Though I must admit, forcing me to endure an overload of Disney to stop my complaints until now? You truly are vicious.

It can't continue like this, however. I hope that you are able to find a solution that we will both be able to agree on. A girl can only stay buried in an unmarked grave for so long before she has to move on, after all. 

Wednesday Addams.

Comments

[walking_dead_walker]

To be fair, taxidermy isn't the most common skill. Although maybe it's more common in a world where the dead never come back to bite you.

[Even if it was only dead humans coming back in his own world, it made sense that people would be a bit warier of the dead in his own world, since there was precedent for the dead doing things people thought they couldn't.]

[outofthemanor]

Oh but the dead do come back to bite you, in all worlds, if their remains aren't given the care they expected. The Egyptians knew it well, and death was treated with the utmost honour in their culture. The Vikings new, and so would burn the bodies before they had a chance to come back. We bury our relatives six foot underground in a small, confining wooden box... And the fear of the Walking Dead is present among most.

And a wise fear it is. They have nothing to stop for. No need for sleep, or to eat, to drink, or rest in any matter at all. As humans, we do. Death brings many gifts, and our deceased family members, should they start walking again, would likely want to share that gift with us.

[Then again, she was an Addams, and used to dead relatives just showing up at the dinner table, or joining them in the living room. They made sure to always keep something rotting around for their tastes]

[walking_dead_walker]

Burying the dead doesn't really stop us from coming back, though. It really only serves to make those first few hours of coming back quite unpleasant.

[He still hated being enclosed in small spaces to this day because of that.]

Though it is interesting that you bring up the dead not being given the care they expected, since I did ask to be cremated and I clearly was not, though I doubt that could be the whole of the issue or walking corpses would happen far more frequently.

[outofthemanor]

I know. You're welcome.

[Because to an Addams, of course unpleasant is a good thing. Incuding claustrophobia? Why, even better]

Well, it's certainly one theory into why the dead walk. Another is the use of failed chemical biological creations being dumped and the waste seeping into the graves of the dead, enough to reanimate whatever is left of the person - though as you would likely know, the media never portrays the breakdown of the body in the correct manner. People who have been long dead still shown as whole bodies when they are more likely to have had their flesh rotted away... Inaccuracy like that is not to be accepted

[walking_dead_walker]

[He looked confused for a split second when she said 'your welcome', uncertain what she was saying it in response to. He quickly dismissed it, however.]

Most of the dead I've seen rise haven't waited too terribly long before getting back up, though the biological waste explanation would certainly explain why a lot of people started raising at once when we hadn't been before. And once we already rose, I do believe the rotting...well, I think the brains helped with that.

[He seemed a bit awkward and embarrassed bringing up the brains.]

[outofthemanor]

Well, it would make sense. Wait too long on the onset of decay would have begun and the flesh begin to rot. The best way for the walking unalive to blend does require their flesh to be as unrotted as possible.

[She considers this] What in particular about the brain would help with preventing the onset of decay and decomposition?

[walking_dead_walker]

Well, brain is used sometimes when curing animal hides so they don't rot.

[Not that he had much experience with hunting, but his previous boyfriend did.]

Or maybe it just provides sustenance so that what ever semblance of life I might have will be enough to keep the flies and bacteria from breaking down my flesh.

[Or it had, before the neurotriptaline made him aware of what he was doing...and seemed to provide quite a bit more life than eating brains ever had.]

[outofthemanor]

That is true.

[It's genuinely something she's never considered: when an Addams pops up from the grave, it's just a relative visiting for the day]

Though the latter would argue a vague sense of mysticism involved in the creation of your waking and walking as well.

[walking_dead_walker]

[He shrugged.]

I know some people certainly think there's a mystical aspect to it.

[outofthemanor]

Of course there is. Scientific experimentation is all well and good, but without a mystical aspect, you loose an explanation of why the walking unalive do not continue to decay, flesh dropping off and internal organs turning to soup as they walk around, a cruel mimicry of the life they once lived. Only the wrong types of magicks will help you there.

[walking_dead_walker]

Yes, and I am quite glad I don't have to deal with that, seeing as I've been walking around like this for about five years. Strangely, in some ways I've been feeling...less corpse like.

[outofthemanor]

The longer you spend doing something, the more normal it becomes.

[walking_dead_walker]

[He shook his head.]

No, it's more than that. When I first came back, I couldn't feel anything. I could be shot, stabbed, whatever, and I wouldn't even notice. For the most part, that's still the case, but occasionally...I feel things. Discomfort in my eyes, or just...a flash of feeling. Like my nerves are reconnecting, but only just starting to.

[outofthemanor]

Interesting... the theory that the reanimated self regains it's soul the longer it travels has been one of person interest. Of course, the best way to confirm if your nerves were reconnecting would be an open biopsy.

[walking_dead_walker]

I think I'd rather not, thank you.

[After all, just because he didn't typically feel pain didn't mean he was going to volunteer to be cut up.]

[outofthemanor]

A shame. Trying to find another specimen will take time.

[walking_dead_walker]

Well, yeah, you're certainly going to have to do a whole lot of looking to find anyone who wants to be sliced open.

[outofthemanor]

No, I'm sure I'll find a willing accomplice quite quickly. Reanimated corpses tend to survive practically anything unless dispatched in the absolutely correct manner. A biopsy is not that manner.

[walking_dead_walker]

Well...yes, and I doubt I'd even feel it, but that doesn't mean I want to hand out free reign to just start slicing me open.

[outofthemanor]

Again: pity. But I suspect I'll be able to find someone curious enough to do it.

[walking_dead_walker]

Yeah, good luck with that.

[outofthemanor]

Thank you.