All Hallow's Eve

This night, hell, this week has been nothing but surreal.

Let's start with the ugly. Mye, a previous client of mine, was being treated at the lab for classified reasons. It was troubling to say the least that she had so much going on in her mind. Also added to that roster was Jeffery, a fellow coworker. once again, he managed to get himself injured and I was charged with treating him.

I did show a bit of my darker side while doing just that. It was almost a reflex. Make him pay for toying with my emotions...show him what happens when you anger the hybrid medic...etc. I hope I didn't harm him too much. Also being tortured...my pet pumpkin from the ruins whom I'm running tests on...Harold.



There was one thing that brightened my spirits, and it happened just before Jeff's injury.
I may have found a researcher willing to help me with my parents' leftover work.

Dr. Tiberius Modan

Fellow researcher at Ashagi and one of the more intelligent ones from the way he spoke. After explaining a bit about the work I had done and wanted to do, he gave me a disk with data on his past work, most of which included genetics research and development. There was even one with similar properties to my truth serum.

If he approves my thesis and proposal, I might actually be able to achieve what I came to Midian to do after all.

Adding to this good news, it's -

It's Halloween!

....you had to spoil it.

You suck at being upbeat and cheerful, stick in the mud.

Leave it to me.

You...little...

Anyway...there's a grand party in the Apoc Square.

Everyone in Midian got dressed up for the big event, including Grumpy and Grumpy's girlfriend.

...what's she supposed to be again?

Adagio is the concept of Destiny this Halloween.

And I am not grumpy!

Right.

And I'm the ghost of Christmas Past.

You were a Romani/ Gypsy, right?

Yup. I'm surprised you don't have some weird nickname or snarky comment about my costume.

Ya did good...for a stick in the mud.

I'm going kill you one day.

That would be a form of suicide, Grumpy.

Analysis in Progress..

Well now, could it be that I'm actually needed around here?

Following a mass rebellion from the already overpowering pumpkins last night, Ayr gave me the go ahead to gather some brave souls for the purpose of collecting a live pumpkin sample for my research. I'm not sure if it was out of necessity or convenience that he let me do this, but I'm grateful for it thus far.

I get to show how far my intelligence can take me.

But are you satisfied with just that?

Of course not.

Once again, I'm just showing myself as the smart but quiet one. It's a recurring stigma.

Fauna, Munch, Adagio, and I headed straight for the den after the guards couldn't handle anymore. I expected a bunch of vines and few pumpkins trying to grow on our heads. Yet we came face to face with...

...whoa.

Yeah.

Rank

I've been spending more time away from the den, mostly due to the pumpkin vines running amok. However, I believe the real reason is that I have nothing to do with the Pack at all. Most if not all seem to shun the hospital, and I seriously doubt they'd set foot in Ashagi for help. No, most choose to stay within the comfortably toxic ruins.

During a discussion atop a ledge, I think I finally saw my place in the Pack family food chain.

Medic.

That's it. If anything other than a "Yes" or a response to remedy an ailment comes out of my mouth, it's disregarded. Ayr is planning a large scale journey to Leviathan in the mainland as well as taking ideas as to what the Pack could do for a living. I tried hinting that maybe developing technology that could be sold might work. Pool together the minds of the Pack to create something as the Pride has learned to do. That seems to have been shot down.

As for the vine problem, Dirk wondered why this was not happening through the city. So far the vines seem be content with the ruins alone..just like most of the Pack. I've been looking into that very thing for weeks now. Ayr did mention a desire to get a researcher from a pharmaceutical company to check...what am I then?!

22 years of Life

It's my birthday.
22 years old.

Hard to believe at one point, I didn't think I'd live this far. How many times did I think my life would come to an end?

I've lost so much, yet gained more than I imagined. S far today, I have one good memory to start off my new year. A late night happy hour with Yewh. Lately, we've been able to talk freely with each other, a big difference from when we first met. I suspect a common love of alcohol can do that. Come to think of it, I drank a lot over that night...

2 glasses of rum

3 glasses of scotch

1 White Russian

1 rum soaked milkshake

1/2 of orange juice.

How do you NOT have a hangover?

I did have a hangover this morning, but I ate between drinks to take some of the edge off. Taking medicine for hangovers helps too. But enough about alcohol. My talk with Yewh triggered a question in me. Well, it was several questions really.

What now?

How far have I come?

How far have I fallen?

I can answer the latter easily, but the focus was on the first two questions. I'm training to become a reliable researcher. I have become a great physician and medic. I have found a wonderful family and a beautiful love. I know now that my mind is in need of work, but I'll figure that out later. I have soiled my hands more than once, and will likely continue to do so. I will be challenged no doubt, but I must learn to prepare for that or at least persevere.

All in all, I think things will look up for me.

Us.

Right. For us.

Shift in the wrong direction

Well the cat's out of the bag.

Thanks to Syle's big mouth and his equally crazy girlfriend, Ayr now knows that I work for Ashagi. However, he believes me to be an enemy or spy of sorts. He even dared to wave a gun and fake vial of sulphuric acid in front of my face to "get me to talk." If he knew me well enough or at least tried to, he'd know that simply asking me would have garnered an honest answer.

Hey now you aren't completely innocent.

I know that. But I hate when people assume they know me oh so well when they rarely speak to me. For Syle, just working at Ashagi was enough to give him an imprint of my personality. And Ayr seems to share it.

You'd think the whole "Older but wiser" shit would come into play.

Indeed. Ayr is old enough to have preconceived notions about this, and it was to be expected. The man even went so far as to liken me to Hitler or someone with Stockholm syndrome.

He thinks you actually like the people there?

I'm a former experiment who was tortured by them and now I defend the few good deeds they do. Therefore, with such little information, it can be falsely concluded that I love my job.

You do seem happy sometimes.

When I learn something new, yes. I'm naturally curious about how things work. Of course I get excited then. Oh, what's the use? There is nothing I can say to defend my workplace. They have a long established view as the evil corporation of Midian, and wee little 'ole me is not going to change that view within the Pack or the Pride anytime soon.

So what will you do?

I work. I'm not giving this up, even if every hybrid on this separate land mass comes to hate me. I like my salary, I like my apartment. I like not having to run for me life all the time.

They could always turn on ya.

What else could they do that has not be done already? I'll simply go back to being a lab rat with no one to care.

Woah...you HAVE thought this through...