Unfortunately, taming zombies is literally flat-out impossible, as their behaviour is caused by the OPPOSED_TO_LIFE tag, which makes them automatically-hostile to all living organisms and completely-indifferent to anything that isn't both of those things. Unfortunately, removing the tag results in the zombie not really being as mindlessly-hostile as it should, so that doesn't really work.
I'm usually fine to just skim the useless posts unless it gets to the point where we have pages and pages and pages of crap to sort through. Thank you for playing referee for me, though.
Mr Frog was in his bedroom preparing to change into his sleeping garments when a screen on the wall opposite aside him lit up, displaying Joseph's familiar, eerily-perfect face. Mr Frog gazed at him apprehensively; he didn't particularly care what anyone saw him doing -- he kept his illicit activities well-hidden, and wasn't the sort of man that would attract voyeurs in any number -- but Joseph's intrusion demonstrated very clearly that there was no hiding from him here.
"Good evening, Mr Frog," said Joseph balmily; "I trust I'm not interrupting anything?" He winked conspiratorially at Mr Frog and added: "No plans with a certain blue-skinned belle?"
Mr Frog scowled, annoyed at the insinuation. "Not in the forseeable future, no," he growled; "I didn't join Eris for its romantic opportunities." He had to admit that Silena was incredibly-attractive in her own ditzy, quasi-humanoid way, but simply interacting with her felt like a smiling piece of sandpaper was being rubbed directly across his spine. The last thing he wanted was to |touch| the idiot.
Joseph shook his head disapprovingly. "Now, now, old boy," he said smoothly, "I'm just having some fun. There's no need to get so ruffled." He straightened up, drilling his unpleasantly-pleasant gaze into Mr Frog's eyes like two unflinchingly-friendly laser cutters. "Anyways, to the point..." he said breezily, "I was watching the security feeds from your workspace -- interested in your progress, you see -- when I saw --" Joseph furrowed his brow slightly "-- pretty little Silena break down in tears after being led to watch one of the dwarven test subjects turn." He leaned forward and steepled his fingers and continued, his voice dripping with concern: "Now, what would possess you to show such a delicate young flower such a terrifying sight?"
Mr Frog paused, his mind racing. Showing Silena the Spawn may not have been terribly-suspicious in and of itself, but to a psychopath like Joseph, it could very well be all the evidence anyone ever needed.
"She's been breathing down my neck and getting underfoot ever since I came here," he said evenly, thinking quickly; "Watching her break down was very cathartic." It wasn't a lie |per se|.
Joseph frowned, his eyes suddenly serious. "In that case, I'm gravely-disappointed in you, Mr Frog," he said; "I value your genius, but I won't tolerate you victimizing my staff. Your petty malice is their suffering." He shook his head, tut-tutting softly; "I can't say this is surprising, however. Though you've severed your ties, you're clearly still a Ballpoint man through and through."
Mr Frog felt a brief flare of anger at the comparison, though he didn't particularly care what this lunatic thought of him. "I hate that blasted company and everything it stands for," he said flatly.
Joseph nodded. "I know you do," he said, "and that's why I accepted your aid." He shrugged and continued: "I won't hold your cruel heart against you. It's your work that I value, and sadly, not everyone is as enlightened as I." There wasn't a trace of irony in that last sentence the Mr Frog could detect. Mr Frog toyed with the idea of pointing out Joseph's incorrect pronoun choice, but decided against it -- the blowhard probably wouldn't even pay attention. Mr Frog remembered Draignean and his nigh-on-impenetrable narcissism; he'd wanted to strangle the man back in the day, but Joseph was worse by a factor of ten.
Joseph bowed his head. "Good night, Mr Frog," he said cordially, before terminating the call.
Mr Frog chewed on his tongue, slightly-nervous; he took a swig from his flask. How much did Joseph suspect? Did he even suspect anything? Silena's cheeriness was like a puffy white cloud passively obscuring the sun, but Joseph's was like an impenetrable mask. He couldn't read the man at all.
Spearbreakers had been a festering backwater filled with smelly, stupid dwarves and without the slightest trace of advanced technology, but here at Eris Mr Frog had to weather a relentless game of cloak and dagger; eyes were everywhere, and there was no way of telling what they thought about what they were seeing. He'd never felt so uncomfortable in a research facility.
Mr Frog finally decided that there wasn't any point ruminating over it and went to bed. He'd just have to be careful, that's all.
Silena stood rooted to the ground, staring in horror at the shrieking Spawn standing where her father had been. She wanted to run away, to find a way to help him, but she was paralyzed. She watched helplessly as the monster pounced towards her with its claws outstretched, after which it slapped her sharply in the face. "Wake up," it barked in a familiar deep voice.
Silena tried to raise her arms to block the creature's assault, but she couldn't move. Something seemed odd about the situation; however, she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
The Spawn adjusted its glasses, then grabbed Silena's arm roughly and pulled it in, seeming to examine it; afterwards, it slapped Silena again and brought its grotesque head closer to her face. "Wake up," it repeated roughly, louder this time; "You seem to still have a pulse. I'd suggest that you use it."
Silena's eyes opened with difficulty; Mr Frog's bearded, bespectacled face was in front of her, looking highly-unimpressed. Silena flinched; it wasn't a very pleasant image to wake up to. She was lying on the couch in their quarters. She unsteadily brought herself up to an upright position; her entire body felt as though Frog had strapped heavy objects to it, perhaps as some bizarre experiment.
"Did I fall asleep..?" mumbled Silena; Mr Frog nodded curtly. Silena suddenly went bolt upright, her eyes wide. She'd only sat down for a moment. "I'm so sorry!" she wailed in a panic; "I'll get up and help you right away! Please don't get mad at me!" Silena had slept extremely-poorly the previous night, her sleep having been relentlessly interrupted by terrifying nightmares about the Spawn.
Mr Frog raised an eyebrow. "I'm not angry with you," he said bluntly; "I've only just had breakfast myself, and besides that, I never actually needed your help in the first place." Silena chewed on this; she supposed that she was happy that Mr Frog wasn't angry, though he didn't have to be quite so rude.
Satsified for the moment that his roommate was conscious, Mr Frog turned and walked towards the exit. Silena forced herself to her feet and staggered after him; the diminutive man turned around and looked up at her, raising an eyebrow.
"I-I'll be right with you," stammered Silena, she wobbled as she tried to walk, her legs not cooperating.
Mr Frog furrowed his brow for a moment, thinking. "Actually," he said, his voice suddenly-halfway-pleasant, "Why don't you take the day off?"
Silena's mouth dropped open in disbelief. "Really?" she said, her eyes wide.
Mr Frog shrugged dismissively. "You're enough of a bother when you're fully-rested," he said casually; "I can't imagine the sort of unspeakable gremlin you'd be in your current state."
Silena beamed, a brief shadow of suspicion overtaken by pure joy; she'd gotten used to his barbed comments -- they weren't really worth retaliating over -- and she was genuinely-grateful that he was letting her have the day to rest. "Thank you," she said; she stumbled over to Mr Frog and hugged him tightly, ignoring his protests, lifting the little man off the ground as she did so.
Mr Frog wriggled free from Silena's grasp and dropped to the floor; he glared at her and began walking back towards the exit. "Just try to get some sleep," he said bluntly as he opened the door and left.
Silena walked back to her bedroom; as she did so, however, a familiar nagging doubt entered into the back of her mind. So many things about Mr Frog just didn't add up nicely. Just yesterday, he had shown her the most horrifying sight imaginable seemingly just to watch her suffer, yet was now suddenly magnanimous enough to give her a day off no strings attached. He usually ignored her... except for when he was bombarding her with oddly-specific questions regarding Eris's operations. He claimed to be allied with Joseph, yet demonstrated nothing but cold contempt for the man. Perhaps he was merely an eccentric genius, but Silena's father had been one as well, and there had always been some logical motive behind his errant behaviour. Mr Frog was acting like this for a reason, she was sure of it.
Silena tried to puzzle it out for a few minutes, but her sleepy brain refused to put the pieces together. She'd think about it some more after she'd slept, she decided.
Meanwhile, Mr Frog continued down the hallway, feeling almost giddy. Not only had he earned Silena's gratitude -- a potentially-useful resource at the moment -- but he now had an entire Silena-free day stretching out in front of him. Perhaps he'd have a halfway-pleasant day for once.
E: Fixed missing comma, corrected incorrect past participle, changed 'voyeuse' to the more-general-purpose 'voyeur'.
EE: Removed reference to hidden weaponry, as I am 99% sure that there is absolutely no way Frog could have kept it hidden from surveillance.
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Topic: [34.11] Spearbreakers - It shudders and begins to move (Read 2280175 times)