entranceway | [video] whatever bitter brew you're drinking

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[video] whatever bitter brew you're drinking

[♪ Clementine debated a lot on whether or not she should use video or text. People see a kid, and they already feel a certain way about that. It might have them keeping some truths to themselves, and it's important that she get all the information she can for this article. It's a matter of life or death. These zombies end up in Wonderland? People will be dropping like flies unless they already know how to deal with it.

However, Georgia talks about truth a lot and how important it is, and the truth is Clementine's a kid who has lived through 2 years of zombies and an apocalypse. It's the truth, and she's been through plenty of shit because of it. She finally decides to do video. She's clearly seated in the library with a notebook at her side and a bunch of recording devices she's only just learned how to use.]

Hi, I'm Clementine. I'm an intern with After the End Times with Georgia and Shaun.

I'm writing a paper about people's zombies or walkers or whatever you call them in your world. If you have the dead coming back to life and trying to eat people, I want to know about it. I want to interview you about it.

I get I'm a kid, but I've already lived through some shit. [She winces. Cursing is probably not professional.] My world's had walkers for over two years.

Don't hold back with me. People will die if this shit's- [GAH] stuff's not right. This is how we can keep people safe when Wonderland gives us an event from one of our worlds. We gather the information. We share it. We teach people how to survive. Even if you come from my world, you might have some tips on survival that I don't know yet so I want to talk to you too.

We can talk here or you can meet me at the library. Georgia said she'd be checking in too so don't be surprised if she pops in on the interview since I'm still learning how to do this part.

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[People in the library might find Clementine at one of the tables, surrounded by her notes and her pen and her highlighters, which she's trying to use to help her color coordinate her notes which she'll take on what people tell her. Each color for a different world/different type of zombie.

When she was last in school, she wasn't making notes. She was only just learning how to write a full paragraph.

The third grade feels a long time ago. She's got a gun and hatchet on her as always. They're sheathed. Then the camcorder goes tumbling out of her hands as she hisses out a breath:]

Fuck! [Way too loud for a library. Definitely not professional.]

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[It wasn't taking much for Newt to realize why some would want to stay here, or even just to make their home there while they could. He was for the most pragmatic of reasons. What other choice did he have? But for some this had to be so much better than what they might be facing.

Yet at that question his expression turned grim, ducking his head as he nodded.]

He thought with an army of inferi, which yes he would be capable of controlling, he could enact his desires to change the balance of power in the world.

You see, he might not even have to control them entirely. [Shifting, perking to the subject if only because sharing information delighted Newt, even if this subject did not.] They can be charmed in many ways. As guards that come to life with movement, or to be sent on missions dangerous to those that can actually be damaged and killed. Or they can be ordered to kill.

[Admitting the last was nearly painful to Newt, gaze dropping once more.

He stay silent for a long moment, though he glanced back to the girl with a smile.]

A shame only a week then. I was raised in that world as a youth. My mum raised magical creatures, well a specific one, an then I went to school with hopes of becoming a magizoologist. I'm still quite fond of my time there.

Can you tell what the inferi look like? I mean do they look like people or like they're rotting corpses?

[It's an important distinction. They can only know how to fight each type of zombie if they know what they look like, how to distinguish them from each other. Some of them have weaknesses the others don't, and it's important to use the right precautions with the right zombies.

Clementine smiles back at him.]

It sounds like you had a really good time.

I would have wanted to be there longer. It was- It was warm. Good. That life felt real even if I know now it wasn't.

[But that's one of those things that can happen with Events that are alternate universes.]

It depends on how long they've been around. Some are like that, others more skeletal. Depends on the body they were made from, and how long they have been dead.

[He winced, offering what was meant as a smile and more of a grimace.]

I feel bad talking about this with someone so young, and you've probably dealt with so much more of this than I ever have.

[Which he felt was such a sad thing.]

School was a good time, even if I was a bit caught up in my studies. [And a certain friend but that was years ago.] If there's ever anything you wish to experience again, I can give it a try.

[Clementine nods as she writes that down too and then glances back up at him when he speaks. Her mouth parts a bit, and she's not sure how to reassure him. She can hardly remember a time when she lived in a place where people treated her like a kid. In her own world, she was locked in a shed, because everyone thought she was lying about being bit by a dog instead of a zombie. She would have died if she hadn't broken out and stolen what she needed.] It's my life back there, and it's been my life for the last two years. I've seen... and done some terrible shit.

You don't have to feel bad. It just... is what it is. There's not much that'd surprise me. [She's killed lots of zombies. She's killed... quite a few people too.] So how do we kill them? If they all show up here, we need to know how.

[It's the most important reason. It's the reason she's doing all this. People need to know how to keep themselves safe.]

...really?

There is a belief that what we must do to survive should never be considered part of who we are. Says a man who breaks the law to save those that deserve to be said.

[He offered a shy smile at that, knowing he wasn't likely doing anything nearly as bad as she had. Except he'd been sentenced to death for it, and then only broke more laws.]

I'm sorry that's your world as well. I've heard about the events, but I've not been here that long so perhaps this world is no better.

[Which wasn't hopeful in the least, but he was often torn between pushing forward in this place, and feeling drawn down by it. Especially with the idea of inferi or their like loose.]

Your best option would be fire. That's what I know of that would work best. They seem to feel no pain from what I understand and physical attacks only work if it can be quick enough to dissemble them. So fire, definitely. Does that work on the kind you dealt with?

[Any knowledge was good, that much he completely understood.

Which was why he nodded.]

I arrived with my wand, and while my specialty is magizoology, I'm fairly skilled with charms.

[And while most might not see her as a child, he couldn't help himself and he wanted to do what he could do make a child's life better. Especially when even in their short talk, he could only imagine how bad it had been.]

Really? [Clementine's voice grows quiet then as her gaze darts over to him. She doesn't know if she believes it, if she can believe it. All of her has been shaped by that survival, but it's something she'd like to hang on to anyway.] The world's a lot better for me at least, but I know it's not that way for everyone.

A lot of people want to get back.

[She can understand that. If she still had her parents back there, she'd miss them. She'd want to return. If the world was still as it was before the apocalypse, she'd want to go back too, but the apocalypse happened. People keep dying over and over again, and she's mixed up in it all.]

Okay, that's good to know, but it might be hard for people who can't do magic. I've never really been around anyone who's tried fire before on the walkers where I'm from. Mostly it's just destroying their brains so I guess if you crisped up their brains, it'd work. We shoot them in the head or we bash their heads with something, but someone once used an electric fence to fry zombies and it worked so-

[Fire might work too but Clementine hesitates in saying it absolutely would without having test it out herself. they just don't really have a good way of setting zombies on fire. Gas is hard to come by, and how would they light it? They don't really have magic, but she thinks if they did maybe there'd be less mobs out there.]

Magizoology?

[She tilts her head to the side in curiosity. She can remember some of what she learned about in Hogwarts but not all like a distant memory of a life that was hers but not.]

I truly believe that. Your morals and ethics are your own, but you can't judge your actions by them when life turns upside down. If you're facing zombies, since you're asking about them, and you kill, you shouldn't judge yourself because of that.

[And while most think your actions at the worst of time said the most, Newt did believe the ends justified the means.]

I would think all forms of fire might work. I'm certain there's other means that could be used. Though I agree, fire would destroy the brain, so I would assume that works on your zombies as well.

[He nearly smiled at that comment about the electric fence. He could guess just what they was, and what that might do to inferi.]

It's the study of creatures that are magical. The ones from my world.

[Clementine nods seriously though she doesn't say much more about it for the time being. It's not a part of her she's really cracked hard into to examine those bits and pieces of what she's capable of and at what point- at what point is it okay and what point is it not.]

Might have to keep that in mind. Figure out how we can use fire without... burning the mansion down too.

[It's also making her think she might have to stock parts that could be used to make an electric fence. Not that... she knows what those parts would be, but she has the time to learn and figure it out here.]

That's... really cool. You must really love magical creatures.

[It was probably the worst question Newt could have, but that comment made him consider it.]

What does happen if the mansion is damaged? Say during events, or the actions of those in the mansion? Has that ever happened?

[Not that he was looking to do damage to the mansion, but what could happen here, and how it was handled, that had him curious.]

I do. They're a huge part of my life. I was working to help one of them when I was brought here, actually.

I think the magic in it just- It puts it back together. I've seen big messes before, and it just fixes itself. I'm not really sure. Maybe people would have to come together to rebuild.

[It'd make it feel more real, but Clementine can't say she knows for sure. The events she's lived through never seem to harm the mansion permanently.

She smiles a bit at the thought.]

Which one were you helping?

[Newt nodded along with that, not sure what to think of that magically, but glad for it in one respect.]

I suppose that's a good thing for our own sakes, even if it is still so confusing. The logistics of it all, you know?

[And he doubted no matter how long here was there, he didn't think he would ever truly find any answers to it all. Just more questions. Even already he was coming to that conclusion.]

A creature native to America called a Thunderbird. He had been kidnapped from his homeland, and I was working on returning him to where he belonged.

Yeah, I know. A lot about this place doesn't make very much sense. Magic's not even real where I'm from, but it's sort of this explanation for a lot of what does happen here.

[But knowing magic here, it's been kind of beautiful. It's stuff she would have loved as a kid- It's stuff she would have loved to think was real as a kid. She'd read fantasies and books about impossible things and adventures. She'd think it was so great.]

Really? Wow. What does a Thunderbird look like? Why would anybody kidnap one?

[Okay, this interview has switched a bit, but Clementine can't help but be curious.]

I can only assume that it is magic, just of a sort that I'm not entirely familiar with.

[But one that he did want to explore, one that he wanted to learn about.]

They're a large avian, with the look of a predatory owl mixed with perhaps a falcon. They're intelligent, filled with magic, and utterly fascinating creatures.

As for why anyone would kidnap them, likely as a trophy, or perhaps trying to train them for defense. Whatever the reason, it was no good and Frank deserved to be returned to where he came from, where he is considered a sacred being.

He's part of the reasons that I want to return to my case and to try and fix things.

[Clementine quiets as she listens, and they're no longer talking about walkers or zombies, but it's amazing like something out of a story.

She laughs a little helplessly.]

His name was Frank? [She smirks, shaking her head.]

Kind of an ordinary name for an incredible bird, huh? He definitely doesn't deserve whatever that asshole was gonna do to him. Sounds like you're doing really good work over there.

[Newt ducked his head, but he was smiling.]

He didn't seem to mind it, though I am not sure what his own kind might have called him.

But there is that. He deserved better than being chained and kept as a pet and so I've worked to protect him. It's sort of become my life's work, truth be told. Thank you.

Yeah, he deserves more.

No one should be chained.

It's really good that you do something like that to keep them safe and protect them. I think it's really cool. I mean, I wouldn't want one as a pet, because they deserve more, but it'd be cool to see them sometime. See what they look like. What they can do or learn about it like a story, but it's real.

[or at least it's real in his world.]

I don't think of any of them as pets, though I know some of them will stay with me for all of their lives. If I ever have the chance to have any of them here though? I'll be sure to introduce you.

They are real, though many in my own world don't know. The nonmagical rarely encounter them. Though even within the magical world, many try and get rid of them, if only to hide us from the rest of the world. I'm actually working on a book to help educate my world to protect them.

Thank you.

So on top of saving the creatures, you're working on a book so people can be more educated to help them? That's- It's pretty amazing. I hope you get that book out to people so they can know.

[Oh but that made Newt duck his head, cheeks flushing at her words. Glancing up at her and then down again, unable to hide the shy smile that curved his lips.]

You are too kind, but thank you. I've been told I do, by some who've actually read it. Rather a delight to know that ahead of time. It is just me exploring what matters to me though. For the sake of the animals.

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