Dr. Alberich Von Wissenschaft and Mr. John Doe

Dr. Alberich Von Wissenschaft and Mr. John Doe are characters in Journal of Sociology.

Bio:
Dr. Wissenschaft was the foremost mind of his generation, a veritable genius whose mastery of the sciences approached the unbelievable. Head of several teams that discovered the cures for some of the most deadly diseases known to man, Alberich always yearned to be the man who would finally gain that greatest power over nature: mastery over death itself. After all, what could be more rewarding, more memorable, more challenging, then finding the secret to immortality? After years of research (in between ending the spread of an odd new STI that was sweeping Central America and curing the common cold) he finally put together a proposal good enough to get him a billionaire's attention at a random biology social event and spent the next year working towards what would be his final project.

Everything began as planned. A suitable body was found - and as an added bonus was without any sort of identification that could tie him to an annoying 'traditional' family who would want him to 'rest in peace'. An assistant was found - a annoyingly young, but nonetheless talented and extremely enthusiastic medical student named Francine Archer, who would not only be able to help him in managing the equipment and details necessary, but was enough of a fangirl to not spill the beans on this project like lab assistants were so famous for doing.

Everything proceeded smoothly. Some issues getting 'Mr. Doe' up and living again were circumvented by altering the rather unoriginally titled revivification machine's processes to allow the connection of Alberich's living (and very exceptional) brain and nervous system to that of the dead man. His joints, weakened from the decay expected of a long-dead man (despite top-notch preservation skills thank you very much) were reinforced with small amounts of steel in order to insure they wouldn't just tear off like they did during an unfortunate lab transportation, and his skull was similarly plated - quite heavily - in case of the off chance that a full activation would cause his brain to violently explode in a torrent of energy.

Everything... ended rather poorly, to say the least. Archer's parents were in a violent accident, and the fool girl didn't realize that this project was more important then her parents being alive right now, and was replaced at the last minute by a rather burdensome and incompetent fool named Trisherd Okom, who supposedly was working towards the same degree as Archer (and could at least still keep quiet, though it was more out of stupidity then loyalty now). Perhaps more importantly - though it's always hard to tell with assistants as terrible as Okom - several of the more vital parts to his contraption were recalled only weeks later by their manufacturer for being faulty. Alberich only found this out when the actual recall happened a couple of months later, but it can be said that letting Doe consume the brains of the factories owners was one of the times he felt less guilty about his necessary cannibalism then a proper human being ought to.

The professor never got the chance to find out exactly what went wrong (though it likely had something to do with an explosion), as he happened to wake up in a rather large pile of debris where his machine and most of his lab had been. And in another man's body, specifically the one he had spent the past year working to revive. Also, Okom happened to be lying dead at his feet. Oh yes, and there was also the coppery taste of another man's blood in his mouth - Okom's, if the brainless, torn up body in front of him was any indication (and the only other possible body was his own, and even then it seemed to have been scattered in a thousand different places - or at least was never discovered).

The situation turned out to be just as unsalvageable as it originally appeared when the shambling form Alberich was trapped in refused to respond to his commands - both from his mind and from 'his' vocal chords. It was only after assaulting a handful of do-gooders looking for survivors and eating a cop who had come to lock away the 'maniac trying to bite people' that Alberich managed to convince the rest of 'himself' that perhaps it would be better to run away then attract even more attention.

Since that fateful day Alberich gave up on attempting to reverse his situation. 'John' proved even more incapable then Okom at managing to accomplish anything of any scientific value - at best, a decent feeding could keep the body in one place for a day or two, and even then only half an hour or so of proper work ever got done due to John not grabbing the proper document twenty times over or spilling some vial all over with his clumsy grip or just losing it and knocking aside all of his hard work. And heaven forbid he drop something - it seemed the most impossible task for a zombie was to bend over and pick something up. As for getting other scientists to help, he had even greater difficulties. Never mind the fact that most couldn't even cure a skin condition if they put their mind to it, but most were unnerved by his shambling and occasional grasps at them. And if John happened to feel a long and enlightening conversation would be made more interesting with one end of the discussion being fed to the other, well, there was a whole night ruined, and another city he wouldn't be able to show his face in for at least a decade.

Instead, the duo travels the world, with no other purpose then finding someone or something that might improve Alberich's lot (or getting another meal at someone else's expense, but that's just John and as such doesn't sound as noble on paper). Often posing as a 'relative' of himself, Hartlieb, as impersonating a supposedly dead, famous scientist or claiming a name exclusively used to describe people who lack descriptions is more then a little bit suspicious, he plays up the 'related to a genius and know a little myself' angle to get access to the events he once wooed rich funders at to try and find a mind even remotely close to matching his. And worst comes to worst, it's easy to nab a few brains and jump town when you're a man who isn't real. In the event of, oh let's say, getting kidnapped and thrown into some sort of interdimensional battle royale, it could also perhaps be believed that not being real could mean that nobody notices when you're gone...

Items/Abilities:
The good Dr. Wissenschaft of course retains his genius-level intellect and controls the pair's head, in addition to inadvertently insured that his brain would be properly protected before the transfer by a steel-plated skull. Mr. Doe, on the other hand, is 'responsible' for the rest of their body, and has at his disposal many regular traits and abilities of the undead; namely near unlimited endurance, some rather impressive passive healing abilities, and a hunger for human brains, in addition to human ones such as joints that are just that little bit tougher to snap off thanks to the supports built in to stop him from falling apart pre-revival and a (mostly) well-preserved body. Though their shared body is physically controlled by the literally mindless John, Alberich can manage to exert some control over it so long as the zombie is passive. This turns out to be a double edged sword however, as should they go to long without eating John's undead nature will force Alberich - between his many complaints - to consume that which they require to live (for those who've forgotten thus far: brains). Alberich has done what he can to accommodate for this, creating 'beverages' that if looked into are just heavily blended brains with various different spices and seasoning put in them to make them taste more pleasant.

Description:
The dynamic duo is, as mentioned above, mostly split in their control over their shared body. Alberich controls the head and its many functions, but unfortunately even his stellar brain cannot fully spread itself to master John's body. What little there is of him is however much like his former self - though the more intellectual side of him has been dwindling as of late due to a lack of practice. However, he has managed to retain the gentlemanly refinement built up from wooing potential donors, which proves exceedingly useful in convincing pedestrians, police, and various other dangers that the shambling body wandering down the street is most certainly not an undead monstrosity. Meanwhile, John is more of a set of basic functions with a name then an actual living being, being an abomination literally lacking a brain. That being said, Alberich can sometimes swear that the zombie part of him is gaining a sense of humor, or perhaps malice, due to a larger then normal amount of blows to the head the two experience in their day to day activities. On the whole though, John is subservient enough when pacified by a good meal, at least enough to let Alberich handle minor chores such as getting anywhere without his other half wandering to the nearest passer-by and pigging out. Truly a gentleman academic.

John himself has a surprisingly normal appearance outwardly - thanks primarily to the efforts of the good doctor. You get a look inside however, and you see their body for what it truly is - dilapidated organs, rotted flesh, and a general decay you don't find in the living. Pretty much your standard shambling zombie past that.

Their attire is normally limited to the only two outfits Alberich ever wore, that being his scientist scrubs and lab coat for obvious science purposes or a tuxedo for wining and dining. When push comes to shove though (by which I of course mean John finds himself absolutely starved and makes a rather unpleasant mess) he'll find himself putting on just about anything rather then be stuck with ruined and rather incriminating scraps. After all, a proper researcher must always look his best or at least attempt to avoid any unfortunate revelations when it comes to ones true undead nature.