taxonomites | fifteen | various notes around Taxon | visual

Several notes have been left around Taxon over the last few days.

For Fred >> An electronic cart has been folded up and is leaning against the door. There is a note.

HC Clements

Bring the Drill

For Rose >> A note:

I'm okay.

Please take care of yourself.

Love, D

For Tara >> A note:

I'm sorry about before.

HC Clements. Tomorrow.

For Fitz >> A map of Taxon, with a segment of woods circled, and a circle around HC Clements. Also, a note:

Tomorrow.

Once all are delivered, the Doctor plants himself in a nondescript alley in central, smooths out his hair, and flips on the tablet to visual. He grins madly at the camera.

Of course, right before he opens his mouth to speak, music begins playing. Ah, it's that old familiar tune, the first bars to "All By Myself". The Doctor feels the music tug at his heartstrings, and he opens his mouth and says:

"No, I'm serious. I'm not singing that, stop it."

He says it with enough force, that an Extra walking behind him stops and turns to stare at him. The Doctor focuses on the tablet.

"So, rumors of my disappearance have been greatly exaggerated, of course," he says, all smug and self-satisfied, as per usual.

The Extra behind the Doctor picks up a pipe from the ground and starts towards him. The Doctor, focused on the tablet, doesn't notice.

"But! Since the Council, or whatever you call it, is doing such a fantastic job of keeping law and order, I think I might give the citizens of Taxon a head's up about the actual threat around this place."

The Extra is now right behind the Doctor, and it raises the pipe above its head.

The Doctor continues. "You should really look out for---"

The Extra slams the pipe down, and the screen goes suddenly static, then fizzes back to the Doctor, struggling with the strangely violent Extra. The Extra smacks him across the face and he falls over, out of camera range.

OOC: To those whom he's left a note, you're welcome to just meet him at HC Clements after or prior to the events with this Extra.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Maybe," the Doctor says, following Doul into the nearby shop. He shuts the door behind them and uses the sonic to meld the lock.

"Maybe it's something else," he reasons. "Maybe they're finally trying to break free of whatever's hollowed them out. Aggression's the only emotion they have so far."

[It could be, but I have seen zombies break before and I have seen them become rebound to a new owner. If it is the one, then it would imply some individuality; if it is more than one, then they are still just strawmen.] Hopefully the Doctor won't be offended by the fact that En-Doul cannot sit down. [My alternate has been working on theories about the nature of this place and asked that I, or whoever takes his place, continue.]

"What do you mean?" the Doctor asks, circling the shop and looking for a back exit should they need it. "A new owner? Do the...zombie-people in your world, do they have owners?"

The Doctor's never thought of the Extras that way.

[Why else would they be brought back? It wouldn't be right to snuff and reanimate someone without reason.] En-Doul pauses and cocks his head to one side, [There is a difference between zombies and the Dead. I am thanati, I was Quick, and now I am Dead.]

"Quick," the Doctor repeats, saying the word as though he's trying to understand the hidden phonemes behind it. "Doul---the other Doul---called me that. Not much time to talk about it then, of course. Everything about that time's all a bit fuzzy."

[There are the Quick and the Dead, Doctor.] The zombies of High Cromlech may have once been something like human, but there's no real term for what they are while they're living.

"Well, I haven't died yet," the Doctor says. "And I don't plan on starting. Come on, En Doul. We've got to get out of here before that Extra figures out a way in."

[I wasn't implying that you were due to; rather, I was explaining the term when you asked.] He's not sure why the Doctor put a particular emphasis on a part of his name, but he suspects that it's meant to emphasize the difference between him and his counterpart. It's enough to upset the lich by reminding him of the danger that they'll all be in once the Liveman returns.

[Why do you think it's hunting you?]

"Not sure why it's hunting at all," the Doctor admits. He peers out the window, where he sees a few more Extras heading towards the shop, each holding a makeshift weapon.

"Might be because of the people going missing," he suggests. "Lots of people vanishing randomly as of late. I plan to stop it. Maybe our captors don't fancy it."

[The ones returned to mulch and slurry once they're no longer amusing enough?] ...hello and welcome to Doul's pet theory that the Extras (and some of the locals) are grown in a vat.

[If they come here for you, I cannot help or fight. If they have come for us both, then I won't feel any guilt.]

He doesn't understand that En Doul is referencing a vat, but he does understand the idea that the Extras, and perhaps the citizens, are being slaughtered when they're no longer interesting.

"Well, good to know I'm not the only person in this city who thinks that. 'Going home' is far too simple an explanation."

He gestures to the back of the store, motioning for En Doul to follow. "And if they come for either of us, they'll find nothing. Allons-y, let's get out of here."

[They can take us from different times, places, worlds, variations of worlds. Why would anything be simple or understandable to creatures like us?] For now, En-Doul will follow the Doctor, but he moves slowly and there's nothing either of them can do about it.

The Doctor bounces in place at En Doul's slowness, but he says nothing of it. He's traveled with a penguin in the past, after all. He understands when slow is necessary.

"Well, if we can't properly understand it, it's best to make it until we do understand it. So, let's think experiments, shall we? What would you do with an experiment that wasn't cooperating?"

[I gave up my tests and hunt for new knowledge when I was put down, but I suspect that how you adjust your experiment depends on its purpose.] A scientist or philosopher isn't an appropriate occupation for one of the newly Dead.

"You make yourself sound like a dog," the Doctor says, not particularly caring if he sounds rude. En Doul isn't Doul, though Doul probably would've gotten the same rude response in that case.

"But the purpose, that's the point. They have a purpose for keeping us here. Entertainment, maybe? Are we not entertaining enough with...music and dance and nonsense like that?"

fifteen | various notes around Taxon | visual | location: central

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