[ The lumbering dead scrape their feet along the ground, groaning and grunting in apparent distaste and honestly? He can't blame them. To be as mindless as this with only the innate instinct for food to guide you... Well, that particular similarity between them doesn't bear thinking about. Is this what Louis had seen in Europe, he wonders. Horrible stuff.

Even at this strange reduced capacity his powers still give him a leg up - though he's sure an infant could outrun the clumsy ambling of these creatures - but there inevitably comes a time when he senses vaguely through the haze that is the state of his Mind Gift in this place someone who is not quite as lucky.

A heavy thwak and the animated corpse hits the wall, congealed and blackened blood spraying as the skull cracks like a rotted fruit. He upturns his nose more at the disgusting state of that once so coveted substance than the actual killing itself, then looks at the figure the creatures were advancing on. ]

You ought not to turn down alleyways too often. So many of them have gates at the end nowadays, and unless you can fly, I don't think it would end terribly well for you.

[ Space travel. What a ridiculous idea. He's seen plenty of films detailing the venture, even read a few novels set in space -- hell, when he woke from The Sleep he read up obsessively on America's great achievement in putting man on the moon -- but he can't help but feel entirely disenchanted by the whole affair. What is up there, after all? According to the photos of Armstrong's small step, there isn't much to be found other than dust and rocks. ]

[ Well, that's how he thought before arriving here. A space station, fitted to the rafters (or, metal roof as the case may be) with everything a person could want on Earth and an extraordinary array of alien wares too, designed for those who have died to have a second shot at life by helping to save neighbouring planets from peril. The only problem is that Lestat is not dead - well, not dead in the sense that everyone else here apparently is - and he has no interest in playing the hero. ]

We're to be a team. [ He announces with no shortage of distaste in his voice. ] For the next mission in a few days. I hope you're strong.

[ The worries of eating poisoned berries and nuts in a place such as this is not a concern that Lestat needs to worry about. While the people around him pick and prod at their bounty of the forest while others search to find adequate places to build shelter, Lestat watches with mild contentedness and wonders when he might start to feel hungry. It will be difficult, everyone here is already afraid, but it won't be impossible. And he loves a challenge.

A group of them go on a small hike up a nearby patch of hilly planes, and Lestat joins. Less people, more opportunity. He tries to scan their minds, but his powers are muddled here. He'll have to get to the bottom of things the old-fashioned way. So later, when they sit by a small fire to talk, Lestat begins his assault to determine which of them might be an ideal meal. However, when someone throws herbs onto the fire, a sickly sweet smell attacks his senses, making him cough up air he doesn't need, and suddenly something painfully true bubbles out of him: ]

a. I have killed everyone I have ever loved.
b. I can't decide which of you to eat first.
c. I am so lonely my heart might break.

[ Lestat is vain enough that even a small forced change in his appearance might be enough to end his world. He hasn't seen his handsome face change in over 200 years, so it's understandable he's a little attached to it; right down to the length of his hair, the fine lines near his mouth, the bristle of his sharp eyebrows, the strength in his hands...

Having wings is not that bad. To a point, he understands why his power might have presented in this way, though he wishes it could have been any other of his vast array of abilities that decided to physically manifest. The tail is interesting, a long white and gray thing, incredibly fluffy and seeming to move of it's own will. He watches it with careful eyes now, before he glances at the person standing beside him at this gathering for new arrivals. ]

Do you know what kind of animal tail this is?