2114 Paleface.

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Stuff like finding a corpse is one of those things you only think you know how you’re going to react to. What it’s like in your mind versus the actual experience can be very jarring. I’ve had experiences where I was sure I was going to fall apart in the moment where something in my brain just clicked & I breezed through it without any problems. So it can go both ways. I’ve seen strong men break under pressure while the weak ones stood up & continued without complaint. There are just some things that strip away the artifice of yourself & leave the real version you hide from everyone exposed.

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“I’ve seen a rich man beg I’ve seen a good man sin
I’ve seen a tough man cry
I’ve seen a loser win and a sad man grin
I heard an honest man lie
I’ve seen the good side of bad and the downside of up
And everything between”…

“God forbid you ever had to wake up to hear the news
‘Cause then you really might know what it’s like to have to lose”.

Paleface sounds like the name of a Dick Tracy mobster.

Get together with Pruneface and form the Face Mob.

There’s a truism in the military that happens often enough that it’s a not cliche. Often, the bold, competent men who do well in training and war games fall apart under in combat while the quiet guys who generally fade into the background during peacetime training are the ones who excell in real combat.

Indeed, but simply seeing a corpse is not really comparable to combat stress. Totally different psychological factors at play, not to mention the severity thereof. I think Reggie will be fine, though perhaps have a renewed perspective on life for a while.

Reggie seems to be handling it pretty well overall.
Sure, he looks like he’s about to faint, but he’s not freaking out and he’s focusing on keeping himself calm.
And props to Thomas for making sure Reggie’s ok before anything else.

Thomas, in my stupid opinion, is the one character who sees himself the most unrealistically, or the character who doesn’t seem to see himself realistically at all, or mostly, or something.
His self deprecating comments show a distrust of himself, … or else he’s just fooling me, and knows stuff about himself that I don’t know/slash/haven’t been shown.

He’s a bit *too* self reflective, self obsessed, and can’t look at himself objectively as well as he can others. He’s the best among them at analyzing those around him, but the lens are too close to focus for him to get a clear picture of himself, so to speak.

That’s just my 2 cents, but I hope one day he can make peace with who he is.

I love how he is supportive of “his crew”, even if he is his own blind spot, he’s the character I feel closest to. Well, … he’s nicer than I am, but most folks are.

Poor Reggie. That image will probably stick with him for a long time, probably the rest of his life. Seeing *pictures* is already hard enough, but being in the same room with a body, especially coming upon one so unaware, would be a whole different experience. Luckily he’s far from alone down there. (I don’t think any of them would have gone this far alone, not that I’d blame them, that’s just dangerous)

I’m not 100% sure how I’d react; I spook pretty easily and not a fan of ass-droppingly scary movies, but I’ve been surprised by my reactions here and there. Still, in Reggie’s shoes, I’d probably be thinking the quickest route to getting the fudge outta there. Fresh air, that’s it, need fresh air..

Don’t care how big a horror buff you are; actual corpses are a different matter entirely. Probably freak anyone out at least a little. Especially finding what amounts to a mummy in a secret room under an empty building.

My mother worked at a morgue when my older brother was young. He used to sit and snack on chips while watching the doc do his autopsies. There are some folks who are just unflappable.

You always remember your first time with a body. I used to work in a nursing/rehab home, so it was not an unusual occurrence to try and wake someone for breakfast only to find that they passed in the night, or to have someone fall over and die on the spot. For me, the first one was a resident who suffered a heart attack on the way to dinner. Since she had a DNR order on file, all I could do was sit there and hold her hand as she passed. It’s an interesting thing, intellectually, to process someone staring at you right in the eyes as they go. There really is a light that goes out. And I think that’s what I remember the most. Not the redness of her face or the horrible, painful contorting of her body. Just her stare.

For what it’s worth.

Lots of desiccated corpses in open cave burials in some old Mexican cities. They look a bit like mummies, but kind of natural. Not horror at all.
The biggest horror I ever had was seeing a burial with open casket in the US of friends of a friend. It looked so unreal – like a Disney version of the persons – I felt like everything was fake in the US, even death.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that what we call civilization is completely made up, from a to z. The only thing that does not make this ‘insane’/unreal is that millions of people subscribe to it.

My dad took a couple of photos of my uncle after the latter passed away (peacefully). It was kind of odd seeing him in a resting position on a bed, eyes closed and hands on belly, except clearly dead.

(Yeah, if you wonder, I thought at first it was pretty ghoulish of dad, but strangely enough I felt “at peace” after looking at the photos closely for a while. Didn’t expect that.)

I am now approaching 70. When I was a teen I witnessed a horrific accident and I rushed in to help. I can still all these years later recall every detail. I can even remember how everything smelled. My point is simply that an event at a certain point in your life can become a permanent mark that stays with you forever.

“I am glad that all of us friends came down here to see a dead body. Which spooked me more than expected. I am glad that I have a friend like you to Stand By Me.”

I hate funerals and I hate being confronted with dead bodies, yet…
Comedy and tragedy seem to intermingle in my life. This year, our dog was put to sleep. It’s a simple phrase, but it doesn’t cover the anguish of waiting for the vet to come at 4AM because a much-loved family member is suffering and this is the only thing you can do. The vet sedated him, then injected the vein twice before he elected to go for the neck.

Seeing what remained after the vitality faded just left me numb; how easy it was to just be stopped and not get up again. We left his body on the sofa where we’d been caring for him, and it fell to me to cover it with a blanket.

The entire time this was happening, one of the cats was snoozing at the other end of the sofa.

I was the first one up the next morning, and as I was looking at the post, I sat down absent-mindedly – nearly on top of the body. I stood up right quick, I can tell you.

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