Roleplaying

Jett was stunned, but only for a moment after the hit had landed – it had landed hard, too, but he was a quick reaction. Before he moved he noticed, though, the suddenly changed behavior of the creature, and he held back the blow he was about to return. The being fell, and Jett wasted no time dropping his knees on it's arms, pinning it down, and placing one hand on it's forehead to keep it from wriggling.

“Sick? Look like you might pass out.”

Jett looked deeply into his eyes, examining the red tinge. He wasn't familiar with them, but he was confident that he was some sort of new age ghoul. Jett hadn't had the chance to interact with many of them, and when he did it was usually from a far distance. None before had attacked him, but that had been near rough gang turf. It seemed to be their turn-off zone.

“Don't move, let it pass.”

Verit was going cross-eyed from the closeness of food, and shut his eyes against the suddenly painful brightness of the midday light. He felt like he was burning up, the human's hand feeling like ice in comparison to his fevered forehead. He winced in pain at the pressure applied to his arms, feeling them go numb. It was painful, really painful, and made Verit hold his breath against it.

He struggled against the pin, barely registered the words being spoken to him. Nothing was going to 'pass', and he certainly wasn't going to stop moving if it meant dealing with his arms being ground into hard concrete. There was not a single time in his life that Verit remembered feeling so much pain from such simple physical force- he'd had serious injuries and they hadn't even felt half as bad. 

Jett stared down at the feverish new ager and felt a frown coming on. He looked and moved like he was experiencing excruciating pain, and Jett knew only one cure for that.

“I apologize,” he said, lips twitching into a twisted frown and his chin pulling to the side.

He wasn't looking forward to what he was about to do. Jett pulled his left hand back, curling it into a fist, then let it fly. It connected with the ghoul's chin in a resounding smack and slight crunch that was only heard when someone had been hit hard enough to get knocked out. Jett pulled himself off of the limp creature's frame and stared down at his fisted victim, mildly upset that such drastic measures had to be taken. He turned, pulled his bag and coat from under the crate he had hidden them in, and then, with a braced body, Jett reached down and slipped his arms under the creature, slinging him up over his shoulder and heading onto the sidewalk leading to the south.

It wasn't completely odd to see someone carrying a body in those parts of the city – whether the creature was dead, Jett's intended dinner, or a drunk who had passed out, it didn't matter to any of the local inhabitants. There didn't seem to be any gang members chasing him, and there were no law enforcers around to be reckoned with, so all left him alone.

The weight of the ghoul wasn't as light as Jett had hoped, but he bore the burden with determination and relentlessness. He pushed onward refusing to stop and rest. As he walked he took careful notice of the things around him – all zombies were awkwardly shuffling for shelter, often running into streetlamps and tripping over steps. It was his first warning that darkness was soon to fall.

His second was the lack of Nedians out on the streets. He could remember meeting his first one. He had been young, and the alien in question had caught him thieving a stand on the open market street. There was no reprimand, not even a reclaim of the food taken, just a firm hand around the wrist that led him back to the Vaudeville Collective and pushed him in through the gate. Jett had struggled and begged to be let go, but all the vendor would say was 'Darkness is lurking'. It was confirmation for him that, when the sky blacked out only minutes later, Nedians did have a rumored power for capably sensing when the light was about to change drastically. That, along with Zombies scrambling for cover, was his only reassurance of when the sun was really going to be covered soon enough.

Jett pushed on, his legs tiring just as he saw the Vaudeville shanty town gates. He stumbled up to them, weary and dirty, still covered in Asian leftovers. The guard zombies, ones that had been tamed like wild dogs, yanked at their chains and began snarling. Carane, the gatemaster, yelled a command down to it, then looked up and greeted Jett with a sharp nod, pulling the gate aside to let him in.

Jett headed towards a larger shack with a faded pink roof and herbs hanging in the windows. He banged his fist on the door heavily and leaned against the frame. Indoors shuffling could be heard. A woman opened the door and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him in roughly before pointing silently to a table laced with thick leather straps in the middle of the room. Jet slid the ghoul down and began tightening the braces against his limbs.

“He's sick.”

The woman gave him a glare full of exasperation and mild disappointment at his obviousness. Then, still keeping her words to herself, she began pulling together vials, pastes, and ground plants.

Verit was out like a light, his teeth clipping together with a click! before all went dark.

It was like he blinked. It seemed to him not a moment had passed when he blearily opened his eyes to a foreign place. He closed his eyes immediately after. Even the extremely dim lighting jabbed needles into the backs of his eyelids.

Verit's head throbbed something fierce, and he turned it to the side in an attempt to relieve some pressure. In his current state it hadn't quite caught up to him that he was strapped down, on his back and heavily restrained. Though considering he expected to be dead it wasn't too bad.

Making a low noise akin to a groan, Verit felt the after effects of being knocked out. His teeth had nicked the inside of his cheek creating a cut that dribbled red out of the corner of his mouth. His head felt like someone had taken a hammer to it, and a good bruise had formed on the underside of his chin. Human mimicry at its best.

It suddenly hit him that he smelled two humans in his direct vicinity, and his eyes snapped open. He hissed and tightly shut his eyes once again, hurting from the exposure, and stressed his restraints. In the few seconds he had opened his eyes, he'd caught sight of something in the works that he decided he definitely did not want to experience.

Jett looked over at the table when he heard the ghoul's movement. He turned his body from the woman and walked closer to the table, studying his new found companion with unconcerned and curious eyes even as he pulled against the restraints and struggled to be free. Jett noted the bruise beneath his chin and turned his head slightly to say,

“Bruising, fever, blood, fainting.”

The girl behind him huffed through her nose in a short, fed up manner – she had already taken all of this into account, and she knew he knew that fact, but it made Jett feel better if he could notice it, too, and make sure she didn't miss anything. This new ager was his responsibility, after all, and he wanted to make sure he didn't neglect his duties to him.

“Snap to it,” he said to the ghoul.

"Bite me," Verit said through his teeth, momentarily fixing the human with a narrow glare. Red was dripping down his chin now that he'd turned his head to the side, the liquid that had been previously going down his throat was now streaming across his face. Fever, dehydration and a good slugging didn't mix well.

Letting the blood mimic smear across his face or whatever it will, Verit twisted his head to the other side, writhing his neck about in an attempt to snag a belt strap with his teeth and potentially pull or rip it off. He wasn't a human or whatever- there was no way their remedies could work on him. At least, he didn't want to chance it. It wasn't like he'd been treated before. He trusted his own bodily functions more than he did whatever strange-smelling things the mutt was gathering up.

Then again, that's what Verit gathered from the human's words. Hell, they might as well be preparing to offer him up as a sacrifice to their alien overlord or whatever entity they put their alien parasite-infested minds to pleasing. 

The strap fitted around his neck was snug, and it held hard on his throat when Verit tried to grab it with his teeth. He was probably choking himself, but if he got it then he'd be free.

Celeste looked over her shoulder and surveyed the actions of her patient with a sharp frown. She fluttered her hand at Jett, grabbing his attention, then pointed sharply to the ingredients and recipe on the table before her. Then, wasting not a movement, she scurried forward towards the ghoul and grabbed his jaw roughly in her hand, correcting his head to the side. Her fingers were soft, gentle, but her grip was firm and unrelenting.

She turned and signed to Jett quickly. He raised an eyebrow and looked back at their patient bemusedly before saying,

“Celeste wants you to stop moving so much, she says you're hurting yourself.”

With her left hand she touched the side of his face, willing him to return her steady, yellow gaze. Her fingers massaged his temple in a soothing motion, and her thumb stroked the corner of his mouth wiping away the blood.

Almost-

Verit's chin was turned to the side, his teeth just missing the edge of the neck strap. He cursed inwardly, his brows drawing together in frustration. He almost had it! Jaw now clamped shut, Verit found it impossible to snap at the fingers holding his head in place like he wanted to. He would have taken them clean off otherwise. And then go and make a point of chewing them into pieces.

Verit tensed at the touch to his face, expecting a blow. Lips pulling back in a snarl, Verit attempted to make his distaste clear. He flexed and unflexed his arms, angry with their uselessness in the situation- and annoyed with the situation in general. Nevertheless, he found his eyes threatening to roll up in pleasure upon the caress- an urge that he fought with a vehemence. He was going to kill somebody when he got out of this.

Celeste's fingers moved from the side of her patient's face to his forehead. A soft sigh of exasperation whirled from between her teeth, and, unable to gauge his temperature with her hand, she carefully lowered her head until her cheek touched above his brows. Her eyelids shut in concentration, and her arm moved to position her hand until it was buried in his hair.

She pulled away and looked back at Jett, waving to catch his attention. He turned and read the signs she made to him with her hand, then swiveled back to the table to add more ingredients to a tin cup.

“Celeste wants to know if you eat anything other than human flesh,” Jett translated to the ghoul.

The healer in question returned to rubbing her fingers through the patient's hair in small circular patterns, attempting to soothe his pain as well as she could. The fingers that gripped his jaw massaged near the hinge, urging him to loosen the tightness in his face and the hard expression he wore.

Verit froze at the sudden closeness of the mutt, shocked something would be so careless as to get so close to something that would hurt it. Before he recovered and had the chance to bite, however, the mutt had already retreated a safe distance.

Not ready to miss his next chance, Verit immediately went back to trying to nip off his new collar the moment the mutt turned its back on him, struggling against its grip. "You want to bet?" he ground out harshly as he strained to shake off the touch. His attempts were in vain, however, and soon he found his burst of energy running out. He hadn't strained himself hard enough to feel any effects, but already he was tiring of his struggle against his restraints. 

He begrudgingly let himself be pet. The last time he tried to eat molding mystery meat it came back up bright red and a lot wetter than when it went in.. 

Jett finished mixing together herbs and powders, wiping his hands off on his pants. He bent down and began rifling through a cabinet until his hand withdrew holding a small parcel. With the aid of a blade he snapped the string holding it together and pulled off the cloth covering to reveal a hunk of meat. Celeste waved him on in a hurried motion, and he snatched up the cup, bringing it over to the table along with the food.

"It's human... You can have it after the medicine," Jett said, moving to unbuckle the head and neck restraints.

Celeste held the ghoul's head down, slipping one palm behind his head and keeping the other clenched at his jaw. Jett took up the cup and, with one hand braced under the creature's neck, positioned it over the patient's mouth. Before he poured Celeste jerked her chin at him and seemed to communicate silently through her eyes.

“Celeste doesn't want to waste her ingredients. If you don't drink all of it I'll have to tube feed it to you,” Jett said in a monotone as if he'd relayed these instructions many times before.

Then he began pouring.

It really was human and Verit was amazed he hadn't detected it earlier. He wasn't quite listening to what the living human was saying to him, merely salivating and staring at the food with barely-contained interest.

Medicine...?

Before he knew it, Verit's neck and jaw were being handled and a cup containing a substance unknown to him intercepted his line of sight. He opened his mouth to object to the treatment which turned out to be a mistake however, when, not a moment later his throat was flooded with the 'medicine'.

Not having taken an adequate breath beforehand nor having prepared himself whatsoever, Verit promptly gagged and choked, his supine position providing absolutely no help in swallowing whatsoever. Unable to deal with the steady stream stopping him from breathing, Verit fought against the hands holding him down in an attempt to get away from the thing that he was practically inhaling, coughing and struggling.

Celeste nudged Jett's arm with her elbow until the cup was tilted back upwards and he stepped to the side. She unhooked the strap holding his chest and pushed on his sternum until his back was curved and his head was in a more upright position. Her fingers moved from the back of his head down to his upper back, patting it gently as he coughed. She made a gentle, unvoiced noise of comfort before gesturing to Jett to grab his head to keep him from moving.

She ducked quickly beneath the table and returned with a rubber tube connected to a plastic funnel. This was thrust in front of his face in a threatening manner, and her eyes, though sparkling, told him exactly what she was thinking – Get the rest down, or I will.

Jett huffed through his nose in a short laugh.

Verit nearly keeled over, dizzy from his brief sludge-breathing stint. His restraints held him in place, however, as did the mutt, and he glared at Jett the moment his vision cleared, dodging the tube thrust at his face.

It didn't seem like he was going to get out of here before he finished downing the rest of the cup- that is, if he survived having the thing in his system. He suspected there was no animal products to be heard of in the concoction, much less anything remotely edible.

Though maybe if he was obedient enough he could lower their guard, escape, kill them both, and then raid whatever stores of human meat they might have and be done with it. Some plant-based tonic couldn't possibly outweigh at least a good hundred pounds of food, right? And that was just going off if that one parcel was all they had- the human really couldn't be that hard to kill. He'd just make sure to avoid the brain area just in case.

Verit dipped his head in begrudging submission, eyeing the human with resentment.

Celeste nodded at the ghoul's submission, and she motioned at her friend to bring the cup back to their patient's lips. She watched carefully making sure that not a drop was wasted. Once she was satisfied and had waved Jett away she restrained his chest again, and whipped a knife seemingly out of thin air. As she began carving the chunk of meat into thin strips, she signed quickly between slices.

Jett watched her hands and translated. “Celeste wants to know your name, how long ago your symptoms started, and how you think you got sick.”

The healer plucked a thin shred of meat between her fingers and dangled it over the ghoul's mouth, just out of reach. She was clearly unamused and wanted her answers, though her eyes seemed to tell of a strong dislike for baiting him. Nevertheless, the meat hung where it was, unrelenting.

Earth is a dangerous place, whether in the hybrid-infested countryside or crumbling, dark cities, but no place is more dangerous or rough than New Chicago. Whether out on the streets or high in the penthouses, no one's truly safe.

The world has become a new place. Some people call it impossible, but others just call it apocalyptic. There's barely a government, and what's left of it is corrupt and dangerous - the people live in factions, gangs, or try to survive on their own, and the only peace between them are through the pacts that have been made. The rich thrive and keep themselves safe, but anyone unfortunate enough to be less than that spends every day hoping to stay alive.

Species:
Ghouls - they're intelligent beings, humanoid in appearance. Their skin rots, and their lifespan is determined by how long their meat stays on their bones.

Zombies - they're dumb and benign unless angered or bothered. They're brainless, so essentially they don't do anything except wander around, bump into things, and (on the occasion) turn into a terrifying killing and flesh-eating monster. These aren't characters, but they can be used by any writer as a tool, the way one would write about a pet or object a character interacts with. If you plan on using a zombie, PM me to clarify what you want to use one for.

Humans - just like us, but now they share their planet with many other species. Many feel cheated out of their home, and most scramble to keep their kind from dying out.

Aliens - there are many, many kinds, and over the years they've adapted to the newness of the world. From tall to small, these creatures come in all shapes, sizes, and origins. (PM me to clarify what kind of alien you would like to be - it has to be your own creation or one that someone else in the roleplay has made up).

Mutts - an alien-human, alien-alien, ghoul-alien offspring.

Hybrids - always different, always weird, hybrids are animal-human-zombie creatures. Whether four legs or two, each species of hybrids are as oddly animal as they are humanoid. Some can talk, most can't, but all have a highly feral nature and are willing to 'defend' themselves quickly through force.

Additional - any species you think should be on this list that isn't. PM me if you have any ideas.

None yet.

THE ROLEPLAY SLOGAN: Falcon hug that piece of beef jerkwad

No godmoding, guys - be cool

Come up with your own, unique charater, but make their personality realistic. No one likes a Mary Sue or an impossible character.

You only get to kill another character, or injure, if you have the writer's permission.

Don't let things that happen in character affect or influence how you treat someone out of character, and please don't use your character as a way to get at another roleplayer. Don't be cheap.

If you want to write a huge post, go for it! Write a huge one! But, before you do so, write up a message in the OOC chat to let everyone else know it might be a bit and to wait to post until you finish.

If you need to write a post that connects directly to a previous post, but you're worried that someone else might post before you can finish writing, say something in the OOC chat and everyone will wait to post until your done, but you only have a 4 hour window to finish up and post.

Always check the OOC before you post, just so you know what's up.

Breaking the rules can end up in being expelled (kicked out, or whatever you want to call it) from the roleplay depending on the offence.

Lastly, if you have any questions, hit me up. If you choose to be an alien, mutt, or hybrid, send me a message giving me more information on your character as well as an example of what your roleplay post might be like so I can get a sense of what kind of writer you are. If I like your moxie, you're in.