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Jess · V.I.P 260

RE: The Park: Apocalypse

Ravynlee · ~ ModMother / The Cougar ~ 290

I haven't read it yet (just logged on, of course this is the first thread I check ^.^) but you do realise there's no pressure as far as the writing side of things go, right? I mean, you do have a life outside of this site and things happen, I understand. Don't stress yourself out over it. I can wait (I hate waiting, but I'll get over it XD) so seriously yeah... don't rush or make things hard on yourself on anyone else's account I say. We've done good to get as far as we have but we don't want to ruin that or burn ourselves out creatively speaking just to keep it flowing at some breakneck speed

Anyway, am sure you know all of that, I just felt like sharing it. And now I'll shut up and go read and come back and edit this post on comments when I'm done!

Jess · V.I.P 260

Heh, truth is I'm just too stubborn. I started it and by God I was going to finish it. The other irritations only served to fuel that. *eyeroll*

Ravynlee · ~ ModMother / The Cougar ~ 290

*lol* You, stubborn? Haha. Aw it's all good. And that's not meant to come across patronising as I'm sure it sounded. Just don't stress 'eh? Life throws enough crap at us, don't pile more on for your own sordid amusement - unless of course you enjoy that masochism, then who am I to judge really?

Hehe.

Again, I'll shut up now and try and take this foot out of my mouth...

EDIT:
Aww! That last paragraph was a real... I can't find the word, 'sentimental' one wasn't it? *grimaces* (still not the word I was looking for but hopefuly you got the point) - I can't say I was shocked about Jill's attitude or her and Wesker's departure - clearly she seems tired of 'trying to save our sorry asses' without the gratitude or respect she probably thinks she deserves (all that I 'read' from her response to Keith's comment) and a bit away from the group may cool her head off somewhat. That's obviously the plan anyway. She may bethinking we'll come to our senses and beg or run back to The Park soon enough anyway, lord knows at this point. But the fact the group has segregated now means 1) we have less people to look out for and 2) less people to watch our backs. I enjoy this 'wandering off into unchartered territory' feel we've got going. With all this previous talk of scientists and possible cures and such it just seemed to fall into place nicely... See what happens from here I suppose!

SO - I take it that's your post out of the way for now? I assume you want me to take over again or do you have anything else planned before I do? Just curious. I haven't started yet. Another reread or two to get my thoughts in order and I might be good to go. Work again tomorrow but I can try and pen something up before then. Your call! =)

-- Edited by Ravynlee on Sunday 14th of June 2009 03:30:05 PM

Jess · V.I.P 260

Yeah, that's it for me, for a little while.

I was thinking though, now might be a suitable time for the little bit of a fast-forward you suggested earlier. The group we've got now can mostly get along without too much antagonization, and the Doc's place is big enough to hold them all without a lot of interraction anyway. They're going to be searching for, er, Rob Jr.\Taijitsu for a while before the find it. Give Rae and Amy some time to recover before really picking th narrative back up.

Just a thought

Ravynlee · ~ ModMother / The Cougar ~ 290

Amusingly enough, we can do both at the same time. I'm thinking about something as we speak. My biggest issue at the moment - what to do with the 'extras' (Being Keith, Corey and Dean, maybe just Keith and Corey) while I work on Rae and Amy's recovery and Trinity's... 'issues' as well as hunting um... Junior *lol*

But yes, we have finally gotten to that point where we can go - three days later, a week later or some such without there really being an impact (providing we keep DL - wherever the heck he's dropped off to this time around - up to date with how much time has passed so he can correlate his posts with / in between ours and still have it make general sense). Otherwise, yes I see the point you're making, no one would realistically be getting up wandering the desert after being stabbed / severe blood loss etc and bounce back to 100% the next day. They need time to recoup as individuals and as a group. They've had a lot happen in the last 24-72 hours Park Time wise, it's time they sit back and get a handle on things again. Good idea =)

So starting now. Won't have anything up, I shouldn't realistically think, tonight, but will try to aim for tomorrow before work. That's the plan anyway. See what happens ;) Thanks again!

Jess · V.I.P 260

I figured we would have Rae, Amy, Corey, and the Doc staying at the clinic, and the others went out in search. Or Corey could go with the searchers - he could do either one reasonably, really.

Ravynlee · ~ ModMother / The Cougar ~ 290

I'm not 100 % sure just what the Doc is supposed to / should / is going to tell them about um... "junior" let's just call it'. If he assumes, as Trinity does, that Dave's the papa here then it's possible the Doc won't want to say, 'Hey baldy, grab your gun, we're going on a hunt to find your mutant offspring that may or may not be infected' - hmm. I can imagine the reaction that would get. Possibly. I was almost under the impression that the Doc himself wouldn't hunt - he has other things to do (he is a dark horse that one and a mystery unto even himself) but give the guys primarily (and Trinity of course) the green light to go fetch. I'm still not 100% sure. Actually I'm not sure about the Doc's way of thinking at all. He's a shady character, it's possible he wants more than just 'Junior' caught but... lets assume, something else to 'play' with ;)

Jess · V.I.P 260

Hahah. Yeah, I'm pretty certain the Doc wouldn't quite take that route. More like, give them a description of Junior and tell them to go find it while he stays home and tends to the women. He'd keep them in the dark as much as possible, and keep himelf out of danger as much as possible. Well, except for Trinity and Keith, since they already know, and given time they may see fit to tell the others.

Jess · V.I.P 260

Yes yes, double post. Hopefully I can be forgiven.

Rav, I love how you're showing these brief little snippets of Rae's memory. Every time you do it I think she's going to catch sight of Junior - gotta love that suspense.

So, I managed to get in the zone today and typed up my next post (earbuds + Disturbed\Stonesour\Anarchy Club + max volume did the trick), but I made sure not to mention Rae or David so as not to interfere with any plans you might have.

Ravynlee · ~ ModMother / The Cougar ~ 290

Of course you're forgiven. I do it all the time (well enough let's just say). And thanks by the way. To be honest I hadn't thought of it like that (suspense), glad it works though =)

I was using a few subtleties before, with the doc's removing of Trinity's sweater from Rae (and subsequently taking it with him) I tried to imply perhaps he's hoping 'Junior' can somehow sense her now/smell her in much the same way the dead do to blood - this dragging David along under the guise of being a beast of burden was a smokescreen of course to get a 'sample' from him to test without him realising what was going on - assuming of course Dave is the dad, the Doc's going to want to make sure 'Junior' doesn't go all 'Alpha Male' and take out his papa... maybe! *lol* Not only that I was suggesting the Doc's carrying on his experiments and so on behind the scenes as well as playing his mind games with the others and looking for 'Junior' - All of this of course throws back to that concept last week perhaps that we were throwing around about scientists and experiments etc. There's also a small thing to note in the subtleties department, and I'm not sure if I did the right thing or not, giving the Doc an almost 'ESP feel' *shakes head* when he basically got David to back off and shut his mouth from threatening him. If you've a good memory you'll remember what the Doc told David was almost exactly what Dave told Rae at The Park not long after Nick left. He wanted *ahem* services, she wanted none of it. That was where this whole 'agreement' thing came back into play. Seeing as how the Doc seems to be able to read people eerily well I thought with him basically making david eat his own words he's also questioning this whole relationship David's kicked off with Rae. Maybe the Doc's warning him to back off already at the detriment of future 'Juniors' (XD) I'm not sure. I just thought that was worthy of mentioning in case you wanted to use that to your advantage at some point later on is all. But back to that crazy Doc again...

While I'm not under the impression that he is trying to save mankind (I agree with Trinity in thinking he's the type to see the world suffer justly) but rather I think he'd be the one trying to benefit from what's in essence fallen into his lap. All this 'pushing the boundaries' he's been doing (you implied with what he's done to Selene I think) suits this current situation perfectly - not only does he have 7 test subjects to manipulate mind, body and other ways, he's also got at least 3 women to play 'God' with, he's got 4 men to 'crack' and do his bidding, and he's got Trinity and Dean, who are in their own right, something worthy of much experimentation and tests on their own. Throw 'Junior' in and god knows what other experiments he's been doing and how successful/unsuccessful etc - and we have a potent mix here to play with. Looking at it through The Doc's eyes I'd be feeling like a kid with an ant-farm, and feeling omnipotent and untouchable behind this veil of 'fear and respect' he's built up simply by taking in the desperate and healing the sick.

I'm also wondering what to do with the whole Doc and Amy thing. I'm sorry, call me dense, but up until you spelled it out for me in black and white this last update I didn't even realise Amy and Keith were actually 'an item.' Maybe it was my bias thinking she, not unlike Rae, had been a kind of pawn between two kings here, in the middle and equally loyal but not really 'attached' to either. Sorry, now I've finally caught on I'll try and write that accordingly! *lol* Anyway, point was, I'm still unsure whether the Doc has feelings for her (aka Frankenstein's Bride) or if she, like Trinity, and like Selene etc, is somewhat 'enhanced' or deliberately altered. There's a possibility, as Corey lamented to Keith in your last post, that the Doc may have done more than just 'fix' her when she'd been here last for her abortion - or worse now he has her back he has something far worse in mind - and I'm wondering if there's not other types of Juniors out there, or if in the least, some sick little monstrocities festering away in test tubes for the Doc's twisted enjoyments *lmao* (I really am reading way too much into this! I do that!) This skewed/horrific way of thinking also makes me wonder about Rae - I'm in two minds as I read yours over again what the Doc as we've loosely 'defined' him would do. Originally seeing Junior as some kind of abomination (and now a marvel for medical/science) I'm wondering if he'd risk Rae and Dave so much as making kissy faces at each other for threat they'd concieve another 'thing' again - or would he actually encourage that kind of behaviour thinking perhaps Junior is almost nature's way of 'evening the score' so to speak as far as the zombie apocalypse was concerned, if not mankind? I don't know, and that's why I cut off when I did last night. I have no real plans as I sit here thinking about it. I'm even wary of this idea of Rae actually 'meeting' her offspring, wary of course of not pushing this into the outer-realms of fantasy - as we walk a fine line given the subject matter regardless ;) Junior's there and he's lurking but as far as Rae's concerned she's probably convinced herself she's a few sandwiches short of a picnic in the sanity department even without 'seeing him/it' *lmfao* Let's just push her right into the straight jacket department!

Anyway I'll try and pen something tonight - but in case you may or may have not noticed I'm uncomfortable switching points of view as you have so I've avoided that where I could. Blame me for making your life so difficult *lol* I did that on purpose 0=) Glad to see we at least have similar standards in mind with The Doc's hideout with the better amenities and hotel-like feel. That was what I was going for - the whole 'if it feels too good to be true (it probably is)' vibe. Glad you caught on/wrote that in. Makes my life a bit easier I'll admit. So thanks!

Oh and one more thing -
It only took a second for me to remember, and to my credit I didn’t leap up and start shooting.
Hilarious! I don't know why but I laugh aloud every time I read this. It's a credit to the 'human' spirit (and I use the term loosely as we talk about Trinity, considering we don't quite know anymore exactly 'what' she is ;)) that they endure all of this and still manage to have, however skewed, a sense of humor. And Dean and his appetite. I'm liking this guy more and more everyday as a character, I swear. They're all quite well defined characters now huh? I'm proud of us. We're doing well (modesty forbids me from saying so obviously) but we rock. Haha. Awesome stuff. Will try and post more soon. I'll go work on it now before bed.
=)

-- Edited by Ravynlee on Monday 15th of June 2009 08:59:02 PM

Jess · V.I.P 260

Hm, I'll leave it up to you to decide exactly what Doc M's relationship with Amy is. I had a few ideas: that maybe he had tried some sort of genetic enhancement but it didn't take (and of course that's makes her incredibly interesting); maybe her child was similar to Rae's 'Junior'; maybe they knew each other in some way before that whole pesky zombie apocalype thing happened; or maybe it's simply because she's a pretty girl and he's lonely. That last option would be risky, since she would no doubt reject him, and rejecting the Doc doesn't seem like the safest thing to do. But yeah, whatever you come up with

As for the Doc himself ... He's undoubtedly into playing God, and he does have some good subjects for it. He would probably be eager to get Rae pregnant again, even to the point of pushing her and David together, but what with the violent nature of her last delivery, I'm sure he would realize that's a bad idea. So that leaves him with Amy and Trinity. This could also be a reason for his interest in Amy - and since he knows nothing about Trinity's, hm, 'history' shall we call it - he'd be interested in her as well. Having said that, as he didn't stop at getting a little sample of DNA from Rae and David, he might press the others for a drop of blood for testing, "just to make sure they're healthy" (as they're no use to him ill). Then he would find out about Dean and Trinity's enhancements, and that would make him very interested in whatever offspring they might have.

I'm wondering right now what effect seeing Junior would have on Rae. You'd think that if nothing else, it would definitely bring back her memories of that time, but on the other hand, sometimes the human mind locks up instead of cracking. After all she blocked out those memories in the first place - what's to stop her mind from putting them under heavier guard so that she'll be able to cope? Then she would have more of a "aagh, monster, kill it, kill it" reaction to her baby, whereas it would, in some creepy way, probably be trying to sit in Mommy's lap *lol* I love the twistedness of this situation.

Anyhow, thinking aloud done. Eager anticipation commencing

Ravynlee · ~ ModMother / The Cougar ~ 290

Good god!

That was brutal but brilliant! I so did not see ANY of that coming (I was going to say that update 'blew me away', but that's in horrible taste ;)) I'm really... I don't know what to say. Just wow. I think I need to recover before rereading! Awesome! Now THIS is what a zombie story needs - some real grit! I applaud you wholeheartedly. Brave and still well exectuted. Damn, shame about Dean though... *sigh* these things were bound to happen I guess...

I still... have nothing. I can't follow that with anything quite yet... just wow. Still getting my head around it! Kudos!

Jess · V.I.P 260

Perfect. I did what I set to out do if I left the Patron Saint or Ranters speechless.

I've actually had that scene in my head ever since we brought Dean in, and I just couldn't keep it in anymore. Some things are worth the wait.

Ravynlee · ~ ModMother / The Cougar ~ 290

^ That you did. And now I'm feeling... I don't know, like I can't compete for want of a better word. Am still impressed about it, have to say. But as for what to follow that with I'm beat. I have a few ideas outside of that but not sure how/if to incorporate it or what. Truth be told I have a full 48 hours and as much as I want to write something just for the sake of it (and to take some of that 'pressure' off you), I'm not 100% sure I can at the moment. Again, if you're inspired go ahead and pen more. I'm staying up to date and thinking and processing etc but time-wise may not be posting just yet. Give me at least a day or two, minimum. If inspiration strikes I'll post ASAP. Til then I'll wait, reread as I often do, and keep watching the threads

Jess · V.I.P 260

*lol* If this was a competition, we'd be even. However, I would still not advise killing anyone on your side of the equation. We need this people darn it.

Anyway, I really don't know where to go from here myself. I'm still debating on the best thing to do with Dean's body and Trinity's (or, I guess we can call her Jamie from here on in) mind. For now I don't really have the opportunity to write anything up, so if you've got ideas, I'd suggest working within the time between your last post and mine, just with a disclaimer or timestamp of sorts. "Three days before the gunshots" "Two days before the gunshots" etc. As for me - hm, to avoid the sticky sitch I left my main two in, I might just do something for Amy and the Doc or Keith and Corey.

Hmm. Actually I think I can tie them in and set Jamie and Dean up a continuation as well. So if you do pen anything, can you work in a visit from Keith to both Amy and David? (Him having manipulated Erin to letting him visit so he can tell them that's something's being planned).

Ravynlee · ~ ModMother / The Cougar ~ 290

I'll work on my side most likely tomorrow night after work and such, I prolly won't have the time as I said at least til night tomorrow and even then that depends highly on what my shift is for the following day (I still don't know yet, I might be starting at 4:30am again) so chances are you might have to work in your 'bridge' and I'll come in after you and at least tie up any loose ends you may need or I need if it's applicable.

As for what to do with Dean's body - I'm not sure. The way you left it I'm assuming of course Jamie (feels funny now not to call her Trinity, someone will need to correct Rae on that when they all catch up again) - is alive, despite her horrific injuries that are obviously on the mend. If I read that right (It was last night and I'm a bit hazy on the details, forgive me if I've misread something). I'm also thinking that Dean was technically half what Trinity/Jamie was after all he was experimented on too. He might be dead in the physical sense but then become reanimated, you do have a degree of leeway here in playing with what state, if any, he 'came back' in, even temporarily. Assuming someone heard the shot and came running and discovered Dean's missing the back of his cranium and trying to dislodge Jamie's then it's a way to get most of the group back together, if at least perhaps Corey, Keith and Jamie if not the Doc and his mini minions as well ;) Just thinking was all.

Also, as for David, include him where you see fit. I have no plans of killing anyone off at this point, including him, infected or no (which has never been discovered either way and may remain to be so at least for now). Rae can stay in solitary. I have a method to my madness. Also it frees you up having to 'include' me for now and write on the peripheral, and I can write myself or overhear or so forth something you may happen to come up with to tie us back in together. The Doc can continue his social/psychological/physical experiments as you see fit. At least I'll be healed enough to face a zombie horde soon enough...

Oh, thinking further. If Dean is dead (and stays that way) what's the Doc's plans for him? I've been contemplating this idea that he's keeping a few zombies as 'pets' for want of a better word in a safe yet secluded area, maybe close to his 'lab' perhaps (don't ask me why, I'm thinking RE Extinction here, the part where that crazy scientist has zombies sedate and working on puzzles til it flips out and mauls into the scientists' lackeys - if you haven't seen the movie that scene won't ring any bells for you). Point is I as Rae want to write something about seeing this, these things the Doc's keeping to study. That's part of my idea. Rae will stay secluded from the mainstream, David for the most part, because I'm working on the theory that yes he is infected and only the Doc knows it, so to save Junior competing with a sibling *lols* I'm thinking the Doc may manipulate Rae (or at least her 'connection/bond/mother's love) for the thing she still doesn't know about but keeps having these inklings/flashbacks about, and she's going to not quite empathise with the zombie plight, but perhaps be suckered in to helping the Doc in some of his experiments, and of course in doing so cause a rift to happen between the group, if not her and Davey. That's just my thoughts at the moment, all I need now is TIME to work on it all. Like I said do what you can when you can and I'll try and start something tomorrow. I have to get past my house inspection, work and volunteer work tomorrow so I wont be home til tomorrow night, so please don't eb waiting on me - pen anything should you feel/if you can.

I'll shut up now and get ready for bed. Let you digest that rant above. Best of luck. =)

Ravynlee · ~ ModMother / The Cougar ~ 290

Double Post. No point suing me, stand in line ;)

So, where are we up to with this little epic at the moment? I'm now going to safely assume DL's not coming back at all, period, without so much as a word here as of late to let us know his intentions or to let us know he's read anything at all, so I'm wondering where to from here? Seeing as how it's our story now (hasn't it always been, realistically?) I'm wondering what plans you've got in mind to progress this thing - and primarily above all else what this ellusive '2 days' conspiracy is really all about.

I'm wondering also what's happened to Dean... erm, Dean's remains. I can't shake the fact he should have reanimated - then again logically speaking he did blow his brains out and cranial damage is how we officially dispatch of said beasties, so maybe a flat-out dead might make the most sense. Dunno. Also thinking since Trinity's there with him (and she feasted to some degree) if perhaps she isn't 'changing' in some way too - or in the least will get the blame and be extracated from Doc's lair - as a murderer or another thing he wants to study/unleash to the world aka 'Project Alice' style RE Nemesis of sorts??

Anyway, just ranting here cause things have been quiet as of late. I'm almost lamenting a few things now, since we've progressed to this level and kind of been forced to go where we did initially with 'The Park' instead of roaming freely and meeting up when it was more mutually convenient, I've been having these ideas about rewinding back to the plague itself, to right back from the minute the world went back*sswards, as I've so colourfully heard it said ;)

But, fo all intents and purposes, I'm willing to continue on here in the spirit of good old fashioned escapism and such - and considering we've been at this a while now, no need to kill it off in a manner of speaking, just move it elsewhere, so if you've got an idea to share please do. I'd interpretted the 2 days warning Keith gave David as a sign of mutiny, perhaps escape (ignoring the fact that Dean dies on that exact day, they probably didn't mean that) - but if you've got something else in mind so be it. I've left it open to interetation too with Rae's decision, whether she goes along with the plan the others devise, whether she defies them to stay and fight a 'nobler cause' with the Doc (or so she believes), or whether the rest don't give her the option and we all go anyway. I'm wondering of course too why the Doc hasn't been insistent on them finding Junior when it was all he had been worried about before this (before you ask, that was kind of what I'd been implying in that exchange between the Doc and Rae, not that she knows it, but he's trying dirty tactics to stay and 'help' when all he really wants is her around knowing full well her offspring won't go anywhere without her - in the least harvesting what he needs without her knowledge to continue his god-like experiments as he's apparently done to Amy - and is yet to try or suspect with Trinity). Also, I feel we need to have something happen here in the Doc's place. We either all begin to converge for a mutiny and the Doc 'comes clean' with us to whatever results or maybe the dogs outside go nuts and zombies are approaching, maybe the dreaded 'biggies' as were mentioned at the start of this thing, and maybe Junior might show it's ugly self and be misconstrued as the enemy, leading the group to 'accidentally' kill it and the Doc to be so peeved he throws them all out.... I don't know at this point... I'm really just waiting on you.

As you seemed to have a few things in the works here between Dean's passing that no one knows about and this 2 days business, not to mention The Doc's conspiratorial murmurings with Amy, I'm just waiting now to see what, if anything, you add to give me some insight on where you want this taken. Unless of course you want me to come up with something. Just thinking aloud as usual was all. Hit me back to brainstorm if you feel the need to chat. If not, I'll wait and see what develops in the story thread itself ;)

Jess · V.I.P 260

No point suing me, stand in line ;)
"Why then am I standing in this line?" ...Agh, sorry, I had to

To be honest I've been completely unmotivated lately and haven't even thought about the Park hmm

It probably doesn't help that I really have no idea where to take it all from here -- the potential 'mutiny', Dean's body (or whatever the hell's left of him), Jamie's mental state, what the Doc's been up to, Junior\Taijitsu's whereabouts, Amy's recovery -- you could say I've dug myself quite the deep grave and can't figure out how to climb out. Especially since I'd like to tie in as many of them as possible.

I'd really like for the gang to stay at the Doc's for a while longer, because it's such a fascinating, creepy environment and I'm positive we could milk many more chilly scenes out of it (thinking of your last post here). But, I'm not positive if that can be made possible with the whole mutiny seed I planted when I thought it was such a sparkly new idea. And, just more or less keeping things the same -- stuck there with the Doc looking over their shoulders -- is kinda boring. So I was also thinking about having then return to the Park, clean it up, re-settle and have a bit of a fresh slate; but (there's always a 'but') suddenly leaping off to fight zombies wouldn't make any sense for a supposedly linear story and besides, it wouldn't resolve any of the current issues. I'm also really liking the idea of a bit of a long-term flashback. Exploring these characters' backgrounds some sounds fun, particularly with Jamie's dubious past and Rae's being something of an outsider.

So yeah, as you can see I'm at a crossroads with no clearly-labelled signs. Ain't got a clue. Well, there's a few mushy ideas drifting around, but with the lack of inspiration they're staying pretty ... mushy. I'm sure if I can get out of this little sitch -- stop feeling overwhelmed and write write something, dammit *lol* -- I'll have my gusto back. Until I have the opportunity to sit down and think a little, and let it come out, the ball's in your court, to use you own phrase against ya

All I can say on that front is, remmember that Rae can't have much of a sense of time right now, so five days could seem like ten, or two. If you've got some ideas, play with them however you like. Reading that last post of yours was awesome -- I seriously did not want it to end. Now if I can just channel that.

Ravynlee · ~ ModMother / The Cougar ~ 290

Sweet. Dug a deep grave for yourself huh? Haha. Nice analogy there ;)

But seriously... I too have been mentally roaming lately. I'd been toying with this idea of the group being out in the open, looking for what exacyly I don't know, a place perhaps to start again without having any real clue where to start. I do like the idea of having such a vast virtually limitless canvas to play with, as opposed to one small compound after another, but when you break both down we're essentially left with the same thing - we have zombies, we fight zombies, we interract on a 'human'/empathy level, we rest, we fight some more, so on. I don't exactly know too about the subsequent return as yet to The Park. My only inspiration for heading back primarily was for DarknessLover's benefit, and because the story was essentially supposed to be based there. Considering he planned this and then took off and never came back, part of me now wants to do likewise and avoid that place, mainly because it's constricting to some degree but also not 'our' creation. I had however considered we as a group may go back and actually work on it, expand it, really do our best to make it the start of a new life, a new town, something worth actually fighting and living for (in this spirit of post-war existence and hope and all that).

My main inspiration was like the Warsaw Ghettos of Hitler's Germany, places of absolute devestation and hardship through which the survivors tried to adapt and get on as much as they could with life in general while the enemy outside slowly whittled away and eventually overthrew. I'm thinking this 'reconstruction' of a whole town is a) going to take time (and time we have considering this story has no real limits unless we so choose it, world's ended pretty much, it's in our hands now, muahaha ;)) and b) give us something 'bigger' and more cohesive to work towards/a common goal rather than this every-man-for-himself notion we've been up against since starting. Rather than small scale hunts we go out and we sweep for survivors. We attack the Mountain compound (maybe not, maybe leave this til later and we're stronger) - or we merge with them? Maybe they've been attacked, maybe they need our help? With more 'lesser' characters to have at our disposal the more we're going to feel the devetsation of losing when the zombies breach a patrol, when disease takes over, etc etc. Like the Holocaust Ghettos we have our committee, the main what 6 of us, maybe Doc, who knows, who make the big important decsions, and a whole mass of people beneath us that we're suddenly responsible for in every conceiveable way - not only do we have zombies to contend with but now we have the same fight for survival we had before but on a grand scale - not to mention the internal conflict of starting a society from scratch with 6 different viewpoints on what should be and what is. The guys will help construct to keep themselves busy, Trinity can help train to fight, Corey may get a few pups back, etc, and give them all a sense they're fighting for something and really bring them together as a community - before we come up against more dangers outside

In this way of course we can utilise any skills or past experience we had before the war and aid in the city's construction. You and I both know Dave (in real life) worked construction briefly, there's one, and maybe Amy used to be a teacher or a piano tutor after school who can teach kids to sing/perform for another. Maybe Corey again has his heart set on saving as many abandonned pets out there as he can find that weren't wiped out by the infection? All of these 'skills' are windows to stories we haven't heard yet, look at it that way ;)

Now on enemy front we have the zombie horde of course, and there's literally got to be hundreds of thousands around us that we just dont know about yet. Considering the world is pretty much full of walking corpses we need to re-tip/balance the scales back in a more 'believable' percentage and have these things just coming out by the droves... we need more than a few brief confrontations. We need to look at a bigger picture. And I have the key - with Doc ;) (Bear with me, I have so many ideas as usual it's hard to keep them coherant, but I'll do my best XD)

The concept that the Doc's been experimenting on these things, and has for ages probably, has great potential. Say he goes out regularly and picks up a few zombies and brings them in to experiment on. Say we or some of us go out and join him, or at least he takes us out once to teach us the right way to go about it and then leaves us in charge of that chore every few days/week or so? But rather than comb the desert he takes us to what used to be a nearby city? Say it's in a valley. We can see the dead but the dead don't have enough hand-eye coordination to clamber out of this... I dunno, cave-in, tunnel, ravine, crevice, whatever, and the Doc's been tapping this 'river' of zombies - and now we see such a huge swarm of the dead that he's been tapping we're all getting a better picture of the scale of the zombie infestation across the country/planet. Maybe from this we see he uses the kids as 'bait' drawing a few zombies out and catching them - this act can draw a lot of heat from some of us, maybe some of us agree with his 'the end justify the means' act. It has potential too; he has kids, kids are fast, kids aren't... altogether 'normal' anymore anyway. Just something impulsive I was thinking about. BECAUSE from this idea I had Rae, in her lost-mother mentality, actually have a great idea to rescue the kids, maybe that boy who helped her from before, or even Selene (and she'd be a great one, the doc would spaz if she went missing) and essentially take the kids from the doc and do a runner. This of course will cause a huge rift now, amongst everybody and ultimately we'd have to leave, leave because Rae took it upon herself to steal this kid/kids that may or may not be altogether 'human' anymore anyway. See where that option could take us? ;)

I was also thinking of Dean. I know he's technically dead but I mean his disposal. Before that, his discovery. The Doc seems to have secluded Trinity and Dean from the rest as if he knew something was amiss with them and was trying to keep them separated and safe. If this suicide wasn't expected I'm assuming the Doc's going to have some reason for keeping the two sharpshooters locked up in a room together for a week without comment. If this isn't psychological warfare then maybe he's just being flat-out cruel, I'm not sure. BUT I'm thinking if perhaps Selene comes in and asks where Dean is and when Trinity can't answer (or doesn't know how to) Selene in a panic runs back to the Doc to tell him Dean's escaped. So this of course can set everyone else off chasing a white rabbit of sorts while Trinity's left to deal with Dean's actual remains - OR failing that, the Doc arrives to see for himself and finds Trinity with Dean's body. He's not shocked, he's highly suspicious. Trinity starts to tell lies and Dean maybe starts to reanimate, maybe not fully but spasm. Doc has him hitched on a gurney and whisked away. Now Trinity and the rest all converge together waiting while the Doc works on/studies/experiments on Dean who may/may not actually be healing/reanimated/human... Now we have the group back together again, that may be a start anyway - and at some point conversation will get to why the Doc wanted them to catch in the first place. Trinity will utter the name she heard Doc call it 'Taijitsu' and describe what she knows about it. Rae will make a comment probably along the lines about it needing to be caught not killed or it's not it's fault, it didn't ask to be infected, and Trinity will give her the 'you should know' look/speech. Then Trinity will prompt the 'You don't remember do you?' and maybe Rae will finally catch on/be told. Maybe through this soul searching etc Dean will wake up and go postal - and we rush in to find Dean not quite Dean but something else. Trinity will have to react and take him out - and her actions will leave everyone speechless perhaps. Maybe at this point she'll come clean about what Dean told her about her past. The Doc will want to examine her... we can do with this what we will...

Anyway none of this of course has made it anywhere to paper yet. I'm still ranting and wasting precious wrtiting time talking about things that may never actually happening, but if nothing else I'm throwing ideas out and if you can evolve any of them then by all means feel free. As for the whole extended past scenes I'm keen for them too but one thing I can't stand, and refuse to write, are 'flashbacks' - If they fit into the here and now or as conversation I can work them in. They could be standalones, that is, long updates in dreamlike form, a recollection, or a story told around the communal fire when the attacks aren't imminent, that kind of thing. I'm still not sure how to go about any of that as yet. And as much as I still am geared towards this Ghetto envirnoment I still can't see all of us going along with it - Trinity especially doesn't seem to me to be that keen on starting a kind of new life over as Rae and maybe the rest do, Trinity still stands out in my mind as the lone warrior, and if she goes along with this plan then surely thwre's going to be friction just by her inclusion - but at least she can spearhead some attacks out there outside our city walls, perhaps? ;)

Oh and glad you liked the update. Don't have anything else yet. Still just thinking - and ranting ;) Forgive me. Hope you get your mojo back soon - and if not, borrow some of mine XD

EDIT: as for the 2 days thing - we can work around it. Maybe Keith was demanding answers, they're gonna storm up to the doc as a group and demand something. Maybe Amelia (or whomever 'finds' him)'s reaction throws a proverbial spanner in the works. The focus shifts suddenly from 'that's it, we don't need this eerie crap, we're getting the hell out of Dodge' to 'WTF happened to him? We need answers!' - it's not perfect of course, but we can still use it. If as I ranted above the Doc's briefly distracted with Dean's remains the rest of us can sit around discussing the pros and cons of abandonning ship, which of course Rae won't want to do, and Dave will eventually relent from his usual hard*ss stance and maybe the same will be said for Amy and Keith - if begrudingly - who don't want to break the group up anymore for fears if we go our separate ways we probably wont last as individuals much longer. As I said, just a thought... a very long and in depth thought, but at least you know where my mind is at now anyway... mostly XD

-- Edited by Ravynlee on Monday 29th of June 2009 08:21:41 PM