Not Even The Popper Could Exactly Recall How Or Even Why They Retained Some Form Of Sentience, Let Alone

Not even the Popper could exactly recall how or even why they retained some form of sentience, let alone why they only regained some human faculties after becoming a Popper from a regular OD. All they knew that it was probably a fate worse than being completely feral, since they assumed that the non-sentinent ones weren’t painfully aware of they imminent self-destruction.

The mutant carefully brushed his giant pustule to the side with his non-mutant hand, letting out a “Yeah...that’d be nice...” while simultaneously nodding his head. His head, curiously, was essentially a human’s shape with a mouth as its only feature, and even that mouth was more humanoid than mutant although all of its teeth were shearing incisors.

He kept an echo-located “eye” toward the source of the voice just in case the human decided to drop down with a melee slam or some other attack, although he tilted himself to make sure their little conversation didn’t attract any other unwanted attention.

Carbonation (Closed RP)

It wasn’t as if PT hadn’t been caught by surprise before. Bullets, they could take a couple as they escaped because having surpassed the regular life expectancy of a Popper weeks(?) ago had rendered the contents of their largest pustules gelatinous. Explosive projectiles like a TNTeddy, they could leap away in time. Fizzco Robots deploying? No problem. A little trained echolocation, however dulled it was by the sound of their inner chemical reactions, went a long way.

But by curiosity? That caused the Popper to let out a squeaky shriek, flinch and stumble back. They still hadn’t quite recalibrated their balance to account for their pustules always being in their “fully charged” state, and they landed on the pavement on their rear. Propping themselves up by their arms, they were even more surprised when bullets and/or explosive projectiles weren’t immediately forthcoming. Nevertheless, they could feel their pustules thumping outside their chest - or leg - or whatever part of the body they grew from.

They traced the general direction of that voice up above, to the top fo the building. They couldn’t tell how many people were up there, though if it was more than one they figured they’d already be an orange coat of carbonated paint all over the alley.

They raised their club hand - their once dominant hand - and waved in the voice’s general direction. “Hi?” Theirs was a voice made scraggly by their compressed torso affecting their lungs, but it was recognizably human.

Carbonation (Closed RP)

@i-am-moss-the-boss

Running (and occasionally jumping) with the hordes was actually an efficient way of getting around the city. But for a Popper that broke off a pack to get to an alleyway, it was actually tiring. It wasn’t that the OD couldn’t feel fatigue, more like they had a much higher tolerance against it due to the extremophiles surging through their bodies 24/7. Rather, it didn’t help that this particular Popper was aware of their fatigue - which meant it was easier to get tired.

The mutant prowled down the alley carefully. There was never any telling where humans would show up, and the only surviving ones here were almost always armed.

They stopped before a large rectangular object that they recognized despite not having eyes; a vending machine that the Popper swore had been broken into only a few days ago had been repaired. They cocked their head around, trying to sense that no-one else was around. Not that their echolocation was that good with the constant sound of fizzing bubbles from the pustules growing out of their body, but it did help them keep alert.

Once they were sure, they recoiled their mutated right hand (more of a large club after its mutation) and started thwacking the vending machine’s safety glass, trying to get it to break open…

The Popper chuckled a little, watching the Carnival still somehow operate despite everything that’s happened - to the city, to its people, to them. “Don’t worry. I’ll do my best not to...die,” PT replied, reflexively blocking out the word ‘pop’ from their vocabulary. “Feels like...something wants us to meet up or something eventually.”

It totally wasn’t any kind of narrator or controller. This wasn’t some kind of video game complete with cheat codes, though with what they’d heard humans were doing with variants of the mutagen, it might as well have been.

They scratched around their wound with the finger stubs sticking out of their club hand. “I’ll catch ya’round...yeah?”

Carbonation (Closed RP)

The Popper placed the extra can on top of the machine with their left hand before reflexively offering his right hand to Richie. Upon realizing it was also their mutated hand, they switched back to his left one. “PT. Just the letters...it’s all I can remember,” they replied, forcing a genuine albeit somewhat creepy smile. “Thanks for...not shooting me, I guess.”

Although their smile looked creepy with their fangs out, their body seemed to be returning to its normal skin color, while their pustules seemed to calm down. “So, uh...you come by here often?” he asked, scratching the back of his head with his mutated hand.

Carbonation (Closed RP)

About a dozen mutants descended upon the spilling vending machine, the fizzco robots calling in one of their big guns to stop them. PT made a break past the horde, getting grazed in the side by a stray laser blast from the robot they tackled. Fortunately, the robots quickly got preoccupied trying to control the horde trying to crowd their way to the cans and PT managed to slip through.

Nevertheless, it took some time for them to get to the carnival area, what with the scabs and gangs and whatever else didn't look mutated trying to shoot at them. That and despite having reasonably good echolocation, it was also hard for them to remember what exactly a carnival was. Still, the prospect of a new actual friend drove them on though, until they found a spot by the carnival gates to recover. They peered around with their echolocation to see if Richie was nearby.

Carbonation (Closed RP)

tfw tumblr is banning nsfw content but you’ve already kept all your nsfw stuff offsite for years