#ithas

[revvnant]

for the meta meme... michael's zombieisms/the Decay from physically dying from the scooper, how he looks and functions and lives with it, etc

send me a topic to write a meta about my muse on.

so this ended up being a. huge fucking post. and i haven't even covered everything. thank you to @rubensmuse for helping me break this down into digestible chunks, this wouldn't have gotten done without her. i hesitate to call this the zombie bible so let's call it. the zombie. pentateuch. with more to come, someday. beware of extreme gore below, but such is zombiefication.

part one: physical appearance.

initial wounds.

michael received two wounds from the scooper -- one in his skull ( the one we see in the cutscene, where the arm snaps at the camera and the screen goes read; this split the front of his head open ), and one in his torso ( to more efficiently empty him out ). his tongue survived, but his eyes were initially forced out of their sockets and then popped back in ( in terms of layering, you have michael's actual eyes, and then a layer of remnant behind them, and then ennard's eyes ). once space had been cleared in his torso and head, which involved shoving a lot of his brain out, they removed whatever muscles in his arms and legs prevented them from stretching out and puppeting his body. if a bone shattered, they tossed it; if it just broke in one or two places, they held it together and used it as an anchoring point to pilot him, filling in any leftover places with cables. you can imagine he kind of walks like a mess. their exit did a tone of damage to his throat, too, which is part of why his speech is so fucked ( he's just also permanently dry, since he doesn't produce saliva anymore ).

additional wounds.

as his skin began to dry and shrivel, he got a lot of tears, which he either sews or staples back together as needed. his cartilage is gone, so he's molded on a nose to help fill out his face ( more on that below ). his teeth can be very loose in his gums, especially after ennard launched out of his throat; he gorilla glues them back into place. getting the hard glue out of his gum holes when his teeth inevitably get knocked out again is sort of a nightmare. his hair and nails no longer grow, so he's very careful with them, because he doesn't want to replace them. he could and may wear a wig eventually, i haven't decided.

public appearance.

michael takes steps to conceal that he is a zombie. he wears rather heavy makeup, and will often layer on a medical mask, hat, scarf, bulky headphones, or any combination of the above. anything he can do to conceal his discoloration. applying this makeup can be difficult due to the quality of his skin; he actually purchases some mortuary-grade supplies to augment his kit, and did some research into how after life care was performed in funeral homes. i'd imagine that, once he got into the 2010s, youtube and tiktok were boons for him. not only did it teach him to do 'natural' makeup, a skill that he did not have from his punk phase as a teenager, but it helped him learn how to treat his skin in such a way that it wouldn't tear further, or accrue water damage from layers of wet product. guy who learned the term 'desairology' and started glowing. a couple of things he's picked up from mortuary vloggers are a semi-permanent false nose and a foundation/concealer airbrush. the first decade or so was rough for him, though, because he couldn't really walk into a funeral home and ask for help. back then, it was a lot of slathering on dollar store concealer and the most basic of contouring and using lipstick as single-tone blush and praying. ( extremely rare tiktok w? )

part two: physiological and mental impact.

social degradation.

we see in the sister location end cutscene that people are rightfully wary of michael when he's zero-makeup. when he starts doing his face, though, reactions can range between 'that man has a really bad skin condition, we shouldn't stare' and 'he's serving uncanny valley and i'm getting extremely uncomfortable'. i think, again, as we move towards some of the wackier looks of the modern day, he gets fewer stares. he occasionally will tell people who ask that he's had facial reconstruction surgery due to an accident, which usually smooths over the suspicion with sympathy ( though it does nothing for the discomfort, but that's part of life ). he tries to avoid spinning stories if at all possible, but he'll sometimes get frustrated with someone's reaction -- especially if it's over-the-top -- and start churning out a sob story about how he stepped on a landmine to serve his country, which will normally shut the average hurricane citizen up.

nevertheless, he is afraid to go outside. his whole 'living in the shadows' thing is in part due to extreme paranoia about being attacked for his appearance. it's a sharp contrast with how he was as a teenager, when he very much embraced an alternative aesthetic and welcomed the judgment of his community ( there are layers to that but now isn't the time ). once it's out of his control, and moreover tied to the end of his life, he stops embracing 'being different' and starts desperately trying to blend in. to that end, he doesn't go out often, especially in the summer when the smell starts to kick in and it's harder to bundle up. catch him out and about in winter!

confidence and sexuality.

being dead has really fucked with michael's self-confidence. setting aside his feelings about how he was murdered to focus solely on his post-mortem experience, his predominant feelings are shame and frustration. he's ashamed of his smell, he's ashamed of his discoloration, he's ashamed of how uncanny and misshapen he looks once his body starts to really break down and he loses that muscle he was so proud of. he's frustrated, because when he had literally nothing else, he had his body -- and this ties into his sex drive.

michael was and is hypersexual; for someone with very little autonomy, due to his family situation, his inability to hold a job, and his poor reputation in town, his sexuality was a means of expressing himself, and, more importantly, of feeling both desirable and in control. it was the one way in which he could use people's negative opinions of him to his advantage, by being 'forbidden' and therefore tempting. this is why it's important to me that mike be conventionally attractive before his death, because his body rotting is a loss in just about every way for him. his good looks, his bargaining chip in a shallow community that only otherwise wanted him for his mechanical skills, meant everything to him. in a household that offered very little by way of affection, sex was affirming for him. it fulfilled a basic human need to be touched and to be admired.

now, luckily, there are some freaks -- especially in the rp sphere -- who would fuck a zombie, and good for them! michael doesn't really have that before the pizzeria burns, but he has it now! everybody clap.

physiological degradation.

michael's physical processing has sharply declined. i try to have him teeter between supernatural and firmly scientific, and sort of judge based on the scene and the emotional stakes. i think, as a revenant, michael's emotions override everything else -- hence why he can snap and attack someone with force and speed that should be impossible. him having a frightening aspect to his zombiehood is important to me. in a lot of ways, he's serving as a vessel for justice on behalf of dead children; that, in my opinion, grants him certain rights in the cool superpowers department. however, to keep him grounded, if he doesn't hit that point of blinding rage, then he's fighting against a body that isn't really… designed to move anymore. he can have delayed reactions, he can fumble things, and it takes him time to do complex engineering that it wouldn't have in the past, because his fine motor skills are a crapshoot. he shambles. he loses his balance. he can still run pretty fast, but it's a downgrade from just how beast he was when he was human.

mental degradation.

his mind is being hit on two fronts: nerve damage, and mental/emotional damage. with so many dead or damaged nerves, his thoughts can be slow and disjointed. couple this with pre-existing psychotic episodes and you have someone who's not all there the majority of the time. in fact, the only time when he's really sharp anymore is when he's on shift as the night guard. everything clicks, then. that doesn't stop him from having intrusive hallucinations or delusions, but it helps. it gets him close to a 'flow state' where he can function without too much trouble.

emotionally, being one mind out of six total ( maybe more! ) did a number on him. he was smothered into silence in his own head for so long that sometimes he forgets that he can think. it almost feels like he has too much space, now. everything echoes, ideas feel far away, and the background noise that he became accustomed to is gone. compare this with him eating electronics to feel 'full' again. he was put under enormous physical and mental pressure, and then that pressure released suddenly, and he's not coping well.

that's it for this post. there's stuff here that i've gone into more detail with elsewhere, such as the mental impact of living with ennard. mike also has a totally different physiology in my post-sb au that's far more indulgent when it comes to my favorite zombie archetypes / themes; but in terms of game canon, this is basically what we're dealing with.

[devouraes]

* ⚓️ ... “ wait. did you hear that ? ” / sparky :) —@ithas.

“ mhm. ” a raspy shhh followed as she took one step back, her body following suit in an exaggerated lean to peer around a corner, down one of the many halls the students called a second home ( or, if you're six, just home. )

was sneaking around with an armful of supplies she'd helped smuggle from the mad science lab how six expected to spend the day ? no, but she wasn't complaining ; mischief seemed to always find its way back to her, and sparky had said they needed it for something complicated and kinda gross that she didn't fully understand, so if they needed it then it's simple ! go and get it, and besides, who said being thick as thieves had to be metaphorical anyway ?

“ s'all clear. ” she says once she's confident there's not a soul in sight to catch them leaving the scene of the crime. adjusting their grip on the books held tightly in both hands —— all kinds of equipment they didn't know the purpose of balanced precariously on top —— six then settled into rocking comfortably on their heels. “ hey, what do i - i get out of this ? ”

question prompts, accepting.

[talentforlying]

what do you want from me?

' oh, not much. pleasure of your company an' such like. ' gratingly insincere, teetering on the knife's edge of SMUG — his curiosity measures almost as vast as his ego, and even in his efforts to exercise the former, he can't quite resist the urge to flex the latter. his head cants quizzically to one side as he watches each small shift in expression, every faint or formidable motion; balancing his chances of SUCCESS in this line of questioning against his chances of being run off with a shovel.

' you were in the graveyard the other night. i saw you. ' he lets that sit, careful not to make accusations; not like he's got anything concrete to go off of, or anything that he'd PROFIT from sharing around. ' what were you digging for? '

@ithas / ANGELS IN AMERICA STARTERS ( always accepting )

[odett3]

@ithas

she has been watching them. perhaps they have been able to feel it ; odette herself is well-acquainted with the prickling feeling at the base of the skull when one is being watched. or maybe there was a strange flash at the corner of their eye at some point, a quick movement of white skirt or pale arm before it vanished just as quickly as it had been spotted. it is always curious to see a living soul out here. odette is so used to her own kind, some strange thing forced to be almost between life and death - - - or that is how it feels, most days - - - rather than flesh and blood untouched by power.

"are you lost?" her voice drifts through the cool night air towards them. the lake is far from the road, and travellers do not often stumble through enough wood to wind up here when they are lost. "the road is back that way." one graceful arm arcs to point with extended finger to the west. "i can help you find it again. if you need."

[1end]

"You may never know your fortune."

“ are you talking about my guns? ” gideon says, because she cannot imagine anyone would see her as rich in anything except various sculpted arm muscles. those are a result of a bored young girl with little else that brought her relief except crashing against her body’s limits and shouldering them further back a little bit every day.   

“ you could be fortunate too if you picked up a couple of weights. we all start somewhere! ”  

[auditoryeden]

[leatherforhell]

violent and reliable are Maybes bc it depends

I love that both of them find it extremely important that ugly nature is appreciated

[magicveiled]

"I wish you could see the world through my eyes, Victor. There is magic all around us, even now at this very moment, right under your nose where you'd least expect it. I'm not saying scientific fact isn't valid, merely questioning to what extent can we consider some of life's strangest abnormalities to be a result of your precious science, or something else entirely otherworldly."

@ithas liked for a starter from morgan !

[mirrormania]

@ithas || The doctor will see you now!

" The-the-the-- the trouble is... It's just so obvious! I still see all the lines of surgery remnants where I cut away and left the flaws behind in the ether... "

[spookyagentfmulder]

Sentence Starter for V. Frankenstein @ithas

"Special Agent Fox Mulder, FBI. Are you Dr. Frankenstein?"

[sheldoney]

@ithas

"Is there something you would like to tell me? Secrets don't exactly make friends."

[pygmalionpining]

hey have you seen my risperdal

what are you moaning about now, victor, you pathetic slab of wet cardboard? your 'risperdal'? i don't even know what that is. [toilet flushing in the bg.]

[muerteface]

🕷️      @ithas    ›    victor said . . .        do i sound pessimistic? i do not mean to be.     ›    still accepting.     

the ticket to her concert sits on the table between them. gwen has been sucking on an iced coffee that tastes too much like cinnamon ( it had been recommended to her by mj . . . maybe the other was trying to poison her, one disgusting drink at a time ). though it burns her tongue, she takes another too generous sip just so she doesn't have to speak for another beat. " yeah, " she sighs, eventually. she pushes the coffee beside the ticket, palms lying flat against the table. it was a busy morning --- people came and went around them with the same ferocity of nervous butterflies. a server hovers near their table and doesn't leave until gwen nods them away, awkward and graceless while sleep still clings to her. " you sound like an asshole. sorry, i was trying to think of a nice way of saying that and i couldn't, so . . . are you coming or not? 'cause i can give the ticket to someone else. if you don't want to come. it's no big deal. "

[revvnant]

ithas: haha michael you are kinning frankenstein's creation

who up being the son your parent wanted so bad but soon came to loathe following them everywhere even though they hate you and you hate them because you also love them and where else can you go if not to your point of origin, getting angrier and angrier until you eventually start lashing out and hurting people who don’t deserve it up to and including a Wa Wa Little Child in an act of desperate rage and maliciousness that pushes you over the moral event horizon, all because you cannot bring yourself to harm the person who bore you because FatherMother is always at least a little Untouchable in the eyes of Baby ( if you HIT the person who you CRAVE love from then they’ll FOR REAL never love you and it’ll finally actually be your fault and you’re still holding out delusional hope that they’ll cave and apologise and take you back ). ok? yeah ok.

[sopranique]

she'd knocked on that door carrying all of the world's hopes. going against all whispers of oddity. when @ithas opened, the young lost girl exclaimed with despair. ❝ are you a doctor ? they say you are... please, help me. ❞  / sc.

[wcven]

❔ (+ for anyone on @dynsie too !)

send ❔ and i’ll list a couple muses that i’d like to throw at yours!

VICTOR + OTTILIE - two infamous 'mad scientists' faced with how to move forward after a creation of a 'monster'. victor moves forward with literature, ottilie moves forward by becoming a supervillain, each to their own.

ELIZABETH + GWENDOLYNE - both the results of scientists playing god, i feel like they would have a lot to talk about.

STEPHANIE + HOPE - she's hardly a batfam level villain but the idea of two college students one secretly an investigator the other secretly a dark web fence both dancing around the other finding out is amusing to me.

GWEN + AMARA - two artsy gals both betrayed by their mentor. maybe amara forged a piece of rodin’s work or even gwen's or they just travel similar circles. inspired by sherlock holmes / elementary amara can be either in the modern era or the late 1800s.

MAX + FRANCINE - both our versions loosley follow 616 canon but i'd be interested in figuring out how they would interact