Ethel
Accepted Character
Metaphorical Invertebrate
Posts: 18
Full Name: Marlena Ethel Perry
Species: Werewolf
Gender: Female
Homeworld: Earth, 1933 (Devilverse)
Height: 5' 5"
Weight: 155 lbs
OOC Name: Husher
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Post by Ethel on Oct 24, 2014 18:39:02 GMT
▽▽▽▽▽▽▽ The slow horror of that statement dawned on her like the morning after a crazy, regretful night. She showed about as much horror on her face as one would if they realized they slept with their best friend on accident. About as much.“W-w-what r-research could you have possibly do on me?” she asked. Her voice trailed from the shaky breathiness of shock to the tilting lull of skepticism. She let out a sort of a dismissive scoff-laugh that didn't look suspicious at all. Could he have possibly been accusing her of some latent vampirism, the likes of which her family possessed? Parasitical manipulators (or manipulative parasites depending o how you saw it). Obviously, she wasn't really a vampire despite her bloodlines, so that comparison was null. No. He just had to be some sort of alien spy sent to dissect her innermost thoughts (and probably her actual corpse too). “You've been working with them, haven't you? You've been working with them the entire time!”
But what she couldn’t understand was why they chose her of all people to investigate. She wasn't anyone notable, at least in her opinion. She was just another human failure, one amongst the millions. “But why me!? What have I done that's at all noteworthy?” Her hand left the forestock so she could run it through her hair. She shook her head as she looked down. “I-I'm just a bargirl! Sometimes I sing and play piano! That's it! I don't understand!”
Her mind raced as she waited for an answer, weaving fantastic tales to explain all this nonsense. First, some nefarious three letter government agency (probably the FBI) had captured her, and now they were experimenting on her with the help of their alien overseers. They were singling out 'criminals', of which she could technically be described as. She worked at a speakeasy as an entertainer and barrista... and also she moonlighted as a hitman and helped a serial killer dispose of corpses. They knew about one or the other and now they were using her as a guinea pig for punishment, like they often would to those deemed a burden to society. They were planning a new world order, and in their alliance, sent one of their common dregs to work in union with human enforcers. She knew what the end result would be but those Families behind the scenes did not, and they would punish not only her, but all of humanity for their failure.
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Fidget
Accepted Character
Posts: 27
Full Name: Miles O'Malley
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Homeworld: Vanilla Earth
Height: 6'6
Weight: 172
OOC Name: acorncap
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Post by Fidget on Oct 28, 2014 11:01:26 GMT
Fidget slowly raised an eyebrow. It was becoming ever more obvious that someone had been left on the cool side of the incubator, and frankly, he wasn't sure what to make of this particular mess of panic. As much as being intimidating should have warmed his shriveled little heart, Ethel's discomforted rambling was putting him more on edge than he cared to admit. An arrogant Reptoid he could handle, he expected that much, and he could artificially inflate his own ego in retaliation. But a skittish Reptoid only made him even more skittish. Skittish Reptoid with a gun? Well. There had to be more pleasant ways to die (At this point, his brain gave him a friendly reminder that some breeds of Reptoid found human flesh to be delicious.).
He let her ramble, pressing as far back into the chair as he could without tipping. Her whole shpeil was disjointed and confusing, and he wasn't sure how much salt he should be taking it with- it was reasonable enough to assume that a few reptiles (Particularly the defective ones) would be sent to mingle with the hoi poloii and keep an eye on things. Hell, it was even reasonable to assume that they could end up as "bar girls" or whatever (Fidget hadn't been to enough bars to know if there were girls there or not.), but the near out-of-place insistence had him wondering. It was, after all, in the nature of Reptoids to lie.
"I, eh, meant you as in general. Your kind. I ain't dumb enough to go chasing down specifics, I don't have a death wish."
It was an awkward explanation but it was the only one he had.
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Ethel
Accepted Character
Metaphorical Invertebrate
Posts: 18
Full Name: Marlena Ethel Perry
Species: Werewolf
Gender: Female
Homeworld: Earth, 1933 (Devilverse)
Height: 5' 5"
Weight: 155 lbs
OOC Name: Husher
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Post by Ethel on Oct 28, 2014 12:01:08 GMT
▽▽▽▽▽▽▽ She regained her composure, what little she had of it to begin with. “Your kind? What do you mean by your kind?” she asked, encroaching on him. “I-I-I'll chase specifics for as much as or long as I choose. Now you should answer more specifically, or I'll splatter your sweetbread all over the wall behind ya.” Did he mean humans? She was born a human and she usually looked like a human. Or did he mean werewolves? No one was allowed to really know about that, and she had yet to use it practically. She prepared to transform and rend people to shreds before, sure, but she never actually done it so she wondered how he would know unless she was stalked for a very long time. That was a disturbing revelation. Then again, he could just be referring to her folks and the peculiar nature of their survival. It couldn't be her legal status; he had no reason to fear 'criminal scum' like her. His people? They were beyond the petty, common laws of Earthling society anyways.
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Fidget
Accepted Character
Posts: 27
Full Name: Miles O'Malley
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Homeworld: Vanilla Earth
Height: 6'6
Weight: 172
OOC Name: acorncap
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Post by Fidget on Oct 30, 2014 15:33:39 GMT
Fidget opened his mouth and made a guttering, spluttering noise not unlike a poorly kept vehicle trying to start up. He wasn't sure what she wanted him to say, exactly. Just because she said she wanted a specific answer didn't mean she wanted an honest one.
If he played stupid, and feigned newfound complacence with the world order, he might walk free and live to breath another day (If the ship for survival hadn't already sailed.). Alternatively it could result in a bullet to the face.
If he was completely honest, he might get off with maybe a partial lobotomy or some nice old-fashioned brainwashing, if they felt he was worth the resources (Which he doubted). Or it could result in a bullet to the face.
Now he could stay silent, but Ethel had already assured him that doing so would result in several bullets to the face.
The unfortunate number of bullet-riddled outcomes weren't doing anything to help his nerves. He continued stuttering over his words until he finally settled on "Rrrrrrrrrrrrreptoiiiiiiiiii-yuuuuuuuuuuumans?" while desperately searching her face for some confirmation of approval on either set of syllables.
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Ethel
Accepted Character
Metaphorical Invertebrate
Posts: 18
Full Name: Marlena Ethel Perry
Species: Werewolf
Gender: Female
Homeworld: Earth, 1933 (Devilverse)
Height: 5' 5"
Weight: 155 lbs
OOC Name: Husher
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Post by Ethel on Oct 30, 2014 19:14:17 GMT
▽▽▽▽▽▽▽ Fidget started making all sorts of terrible mouth noises that was reminiscent of her old Ford Model TT; he seemed just as slow too. While she wasn't surprised Ford designed such a awful truck chassis and she at least knew how to fix its flaws, she looked bemused by Fidget's latest display of incompetency and she certainly didn't know how to repair the fried wires in the alien's brain. And she probably wouldn't want to either. When he finally stumbled into an answer, her eyebrows shifted wildly, unsure of what to make of it. “Um.” Then she laughed. She had no idea what a 'reptoiyuman' was (though she certainly would know what a 'reptoid' was if it wasn't after her time), but whatever it was, he was very off-base. Unless it was just his species term for something she actually was or may have been. “I'm just a regular ole Homo sapiens, ya big sap, b-b-but please... level with me here: just what in the Land of Goshen is a 'reptoiyuman'? I am curious now!” She sat down in a chair in front of him, crossed her legs, and stared at him with an almost manic zeal.
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Fidget
Accepted Character
Posts: 27
Full Name: Miles O'Malley
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Homeworld: Vanilla Earth
Height: 6'6
Weight: 172
OOC Name: acorncap
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Post by Fidget on Nov 3, 2014 2:16:11 GMT
Fidget wasn't sure if he should be relieved that he was still breathing, horrified that Ethel was still toying with him, or insulted that some lizard wearing fake skin had the utter gall to declare themselves a homo sapiens. "Look, lady, I have no fucking clue what you want me to say here. You want me to say you're human, I'll say you're human, I'll pretend I ain't saw nothing and I'll move on, won't tell nobody, won't say a damn thing. You want me to be honest, I'll say I know you ain't no homo sapiens, all right, I'm a homo sapiens. I ain't even one of the bigger homo sapiens, I'm nobody, I just-" having finally run out of breath in his lungs, he stopped and breathed deeply. He ran his hands down his face and half-giggled to himself. "I'm guessing you're a terrestrian reptoid right? Got some Draconian slavemaster breathing down your neck? I know you lizards don't have no concept of love or mercy but you know spite right? Petty revenge? You could let me go and... and..." he belatedly realized this rambling, barely coherent argument probably would have gone over better if he hadn't admitted to being a 'nobody'. That just meant she could easily torture and dispose of him and no one would be the wiser.
He slumped over his knees like the air had been punched out of him. "Ah, fuck me." he muttered. What exactly had he done to deserve this particular circle of hell? He almost wished she'd shoot him just to put him out of his misery- maybe lightning would strike twice and he'd wake up somewhere else, with a nice, tasteful hole in his chest.
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Ethel
Accepted Character
Metaphorical Invertebrate
Posts: 18
Full Name: Marlena Ethel Perry
Species: Werewolf
Gender: Female
Homeworld: Earth, 1933 (Devilverse)
Height: 5' 5"
Weight: 155 lbs
OOC Name: Husher
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Post by Ethel on Nov 4, 2014 21:05:31 GMT
▽▽▽▽▽▽▽ “Y-y-ya think you're some kinda wiseguy feedin' me that garbage? You don't even look like a human being! You look like a goddamn caricature of a human being! I'm gonna guess your people don't usually have noses, huh? Because that's--" She pointed at the long broomstick-esque nozzle jutting out of his face limply . "That's just ridiculous.”She kind of looked like a caricature of quite a few things (the female form, the roaring 20s, ect.), but hell if she even realized that. “I don't know what you mean by 'terrestrian reptoid' or 'draconian slavemaster'. I only know what I can make out of context clues here. Are you calling me a serpent person? Ugh, nevermind!” Her mother was many generations removed from her zmajevit heritage, but if anyone knew her name, they could probably guess the draconic descent of Zmajevic. There was also the much closer, reeling reality of Ethel's own kelpie blood-- kelpies were sea serpents in the end; they only started off looking like horses. Maybe that's what he was referring to, but she rather not risk confirming it, if for whatever reason he was interested in it. But his idea of 'honest' intellectually offended her. “You want the truth? Is that it? I guess your superiors already know enough about me. It's nothing they don't already know. My name is Marlena Ethel Perry. I'm 23 years old. I currently work for brother at his 'club' as an entertainer or bartender, whichever is needed at the time. I'm also a 'cleaner'. That's it. That is literally the worst of the worst that I do.”She also sold people to other people, and it was still considered human trafficking, but she rationalized it as being for everyone's greater good. Maybe he wasn't entirely wrong after all. “There is nothing more to me than that. I'm pretty shallow. And pathetic too...” And yet, Ethel still had room to insult herself in front of anyone, even some scumbag alien working for the FBI. “I can prove I'm a human, but you can't prove to me you're not some kind of impersonator! You're an elf. Some kind of weird, Nordic phphphphphailure!” Her back cracked as she sat up straight and rolled her shoulders. “In fact, I-I-I can prove you're a deceiver! That's the whole reason you're still here.”
She suppressed another bout of manic-paranoid laughter.
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Fidget
Accepted Character
Posts: 27
Full Name: Miles O'Malley
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Homeworld: Vanilla Earth
Height: 6'6
Weight: 172
OOC Name: acorncap
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Post by Fidget on Nov 16, 2014 0:27:33 GMT
Fidget was well aware that he was a little on the homely side. And frankly he was fine with that, being attractive was far from his list of priorities. This wasn't the first time someone had insulted his face to his face, he'd be surprised if it was the last. And strictly speaking, it wasn't the first time he'd been accused of being something other than human, but that didn't keep it from scraping on his nerves. He spent too much damn time and energy trying to wake his fellow humans up to their unfortunate situation to just let people cast him out of the race entirely, ugly mug be damned.
He rubbed the bridge of his (still broken, he remembered belatedly.) nose and tried to sniff. "Look lady, it's called a deformity. I know it ain't the prettiest nose on the block but it's my nose, and it's as human as it can be, because I'm human, and humans have noses."
He wasn't sure if she even heard him as she launched into her own elevator-pitch biography. But he listened- hell, it never hurt to listen, you never knew what sort of info you were going to get between the lines. He squinted when she said she could 'prove' her humanity- and decided to call her bluff.
"All right then. Prove it." He folded his arms and leaned back. "Prove you're human, and I'll prove myself."
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Ethel
Accepted Character
Metaphorical Invertebrate
Posts: 18
Full Name: Marlena Ethel Perry
Species: Werewolf
Gender: Female
Homeworld: Earth, 1933 (Devilverse)
Height: 5' 5"
Weight: 155 lbs
OOC Name: Husher
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Post by Ethel on Nov 17, 2014 2:43:13 GMT
▽▽▽▽▽▽▽ ' It's as human as it can be, because I'm human, and humans have noses.' That was more suspicious than saying nothing at all in regards to his comical face appendage. She never seen a deformity quite like it before. It made her wonder if his nose was always like that. How did his mother push him out of her body with that? She couldn't, of course. He was probably spawned out of a puddle of primordial soup or hatched from a jelly-like egg. “Prove that I'm human?” Oh, this was going to be good. The Nordic actually wanted her to prove that she was a human, knowing full well the truth of the matter. He actually took her up on that offer. She didn't have anything to disprove her humanity-- nothing bodily at least. When she wasn't a werewolf, she looked and functioned like a normal, albeit maladjusted, human being (with some dental problems). She pressed her shotgun against her legs horizontally and leaned in. “How would you like me to 'prove it' to you then?” She was willing to humor him. She was curious as to what this test would be. If it was a ploy to get her guard down, then he would be mistaken. But maybe, just maybe, she was wrong.
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Fidget
Accepted Character
Posts: 27
Full Name: Miles O'Malley
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Homeworld: Vanilla Earth
Height: 6'6
Weight: 172
OOC Name: acorncap
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Post by Fidget on Nov 21, 2014 15:45:06 GMT
Well there was no reason to back down now. One of them was going to have to give in this game of chicken and it wasn't going to be him.
Fidget leaned forward to match her, pointing two fingers at her and bobbing them up and down for emphasis. "Now, I'm willing to bet you don't have any goat's milk handy, considering your kind's reaction. So we're just gonna have to do this the shorthand way." He took a breath- human or no this was usually the part that got him slapped, and he really wasn't in the mood for further head trauma (Or shiny new orifices.). But he swiped his hand up in a lifting motion and said "Let me see your stomach."
It wasn't a perfect meter- When dealing with shapeshifters it's hard to find a real 'tell' as far as species go, but if you know where to look and what to look for, it isn't hard to start noticing the little mistakes and slip-ups. A nictitating membrane here, a spinal ridge there, sometimes the face is too smooth or too narrow. Sometimes the pupils just don't dilate right, or the eyes bulge forward a little too far. These could be caught and corrected, of course, if a reptoid lasted long enough to learn how. But the most reliable flag was the lack of a bellybutton. Fidget theorized this was simply because they forgot. There was no reason a shapeshifter that could quietly replace any given human at will couldn't imitate a simple universal scar, but it was a scar no Reptoid in the universe had naturally. There are no umbilical cords in an egg.
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Ethel
Accepted Character
Metaphorical Invertebrate
Posts: 18
Full Name: Marlena Ethel Perry
Species: Werewolf
Gender: Female
Homeworld: Earth, 1933 (Devilverse)
Height: 5' 5"
Weight: 155 lbs
OOC Name: Husher
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Post by Ethel on Nov 23, 2014 0:12:31 GMT
▽▽▽▽▽▽▽ The comment about goats milk had her confused, but the supposed 'shorthand way' wasn't much better.
“M-m-my stomach?” He wanted her to display her belly to him? Unless he meant her literal stomach, to which her answer would be a definite no. She could only assume that he wanted to look at her navel, since reptiles (which he claimed she was) didn't have those. However, if she was just some sort shapeshifting skinwalker, she could always just imitate the appearance of having a belly button (that's what dad did!). What kind of logic was that? However, she wasn't going to argue the flaw in the thought process and corroborate his convictions. “Okay...” If she wasn't for almost entirely convinced he was a specimen of another species, she would have never agreed. She didn't think there was much to be desired in her form, but human males were disgusting creatures who looked at any woman in such a way, then rated them on that quality alone. But he was a dysfunctional Nordic alien. He wouldn't care, surely. She had to worry more about him striking her in the gut. Shotgun in her hands, she lifted her the hem of her dress even higher, hiking it up to her bust. She had a nice, flat belly. The skin was smooth and taut, but all across her lower abdomen, hip to hip, were a series of several pink scars shaped like tiger stripes. She was wearing underwear and stockings, but she took off her garterbelt. Too uncomfortable. She had a narrow waist, wide hips, thick thighs-- it was 'ideal' for women, except for all the scars. Besides the stretch marks, she had scars that were obviously from traumatic injury. And of course, the birth scar at the center of it all. She had an umbilicus, praise be. Though she knew being judged by an alien wasn't the same as being judged by a human, she was still pretty embarrassed about exposing her nudity to him. She'd make sure he'd have to do something equally humiliating. “There ya go. Everything is in order. Ready to fulfill your side of the bargain?”
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Fidget
Accepted Character
Posts: 27
Full Name: Miles O'Malley
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Homeworld: Vanilla Earth
Height: 6'6
Weight: 172
OOC Name: acorncap
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Post by Fidget on Nov 23, 2014 18:32:56 GMT
There was nothing more surprising than an agreement. Fortunately, Ethel had nothing to fear for her modesty, though Fidget did spend an odd amount of time staring in sheer, dumbfounded shock at her navel. Eventually he leaned back, crossed his arms and stared at her face, before letting out a small "Huh. Well I'll be damned."
Again, it wasn't ultimate proof. But he wasn't smelling any brimstone (Possibly because he could only smell his own half-dried blood but that was a different issue.). So for all intents and purposes, he was willing to accept that she was a human being (A banged-up skipping-record of a human being but human nonetheless.). He put his hands in the air complacently "All right. I believe you. Figure if you were a reptoid you wouldn't be smart enough to have a belly button anyway, so, I'll believe ya."
It didn't occur to him to be embarrassed or to retract any of his previous statements. Better safe than sorry, and a little healthy paranoia had never hurt anyone as far as he was concerned. But that did make him wonder about the scars- Ethel had an admirable amount of paranoia herself, and he couldn't help but wonder if she didn't have slightly more reason behind it (Not that you should need a reason to fear the subliminal sapping of your free will by a shady global ruling class.).
He put his hands down. "So. My end, what do you want, same gig or...?"
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Ethel
Accepted Character
Metaphorical Invertebrate
Posts: 18
Full Name: Marlena Ethel Perry
Species: Werewolf
Gender: Female
Homeworld: Earth, 1933 (Devilverse)
Height: 5' 5"
Weight: 155 lbs
OOC Name: Husher
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Post by Ethel on Nov 23, 2014 20:06:52 GMT
▽▽▽▽▽▽▽ As soon as he said the words, Ethel dropped the tattered hem of her dress back around her knees.
“Oh, everyone is damned,” she murmured, echoing a sentiment they've always harbored. She was arguably right, even here; this felt like it was some sort of personal Limbo. But now she had the chance to contemplate his navel. “I need you to completely disrobe and then douse yourself with a cuppa water.”
That would be a scene no one should want to see, yet Ethel was eager to watch him humiliate himself in the name of 'proof'. However, she expected him to completely deny the request, on account of his innate weakness against water. She didn't have any citrus fruits or strong fragrances (aside from on her skin), so she couldn't make the concoction proper. She'd just have to allow Earth's life liquid do the job all on its own. “I bet you're feeling lucky I don't have any lemons and that I left my perfume... somewhere.”She still didn't know where she was exactly. "Come on, I'll go get the water," she said motioning him to follow her.
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Fidget
Accepted Character
Posts: 27
Full Name: Miles O'Malley
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Homeworld: Vanilla Earth
Height: 6'6
Weight: 172
OOC Name: acorncap
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Post by Fidget on Dec 2, 2014 15:40:11 GMT
Now the water Fidget could understand, and the perfumes and lemons he should be grateful for the absence of even made sense, hell, he'd admit they were probably rather necessary (Wandering about in lemonade rain and later having your face pounded into the sand with no shower to split the two didn't exactly leave one smelling like roses.), but not for the reasons she thought. The stripping though, that part seemed excessive. He wasn't sure what she could be looking for that wouldn't be readily apparent with his clothes on anyway, and he wasn't delusional enough to believe she was going to get some sort of sexual gratification out of the event.
Picking nervously at his sleeve, he followed her into the next room. Had to hand it to her, whatever her faults, Ethel was damn prepared. He could appreciate the fine art of water hoarding- after all, it was a valuable resource, especially if it were untainted by government hands and chemicals.
"So uh, you sure you want me to take everything off? All of it?" he asked uncomfortably. It occurred to him that the worst possible scenario here was that he'd die cold, wet, and naked- and on the off chance his last death wasn't a fluke, he could very well wake up cold, wet, and naked. He started eying Ethel's shotgun again.
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