Pat Syve - called Zombie through the events of Deadheading - is a young human living in UV-00282 Portland.
They have black hair, which is kept in a sideshave, with bangs covering one of their eyes and half their face. One of their eyes is green, while the other - under their bangs - is brown. Their skin is tan, and they have two scars on their cheek, a nose piercing, and bushy brows. They wear a black choker with a red lightning-shaped charm on it, along with a black shirt with a skull on it and red sleeves. Under this are black baggy pants, and big, clunky black boots. They keep these shoes well polished, along with their nails.
During the visual novel, their appearance is a zombie, with black eyes featuring white pupils. Their other eye has a dark green patch of skin stitched over it. In addition to this, their ear has a chunk bitten out of it.
Pat's childhood friend, Otto Gardener, visits Portland and offers to go camping with Pat and a few others. Pat clears their weekend for it and goes for a drive into the forest.
PERSONALITY
Pat's introduced as sarcastic and blunt, finding humor in getting in under other people's skin, especially those who react strongly. They enjoy doing bits and jokes, though they end up taking things too far without realizing it, overstepping and truly hurting other people's feelings. When this happens, they try to play it off cool, though it's clear they still feel badly for it. Pat tries their best to figure out where this limit is, though they never quite manage to figure it out. Pat means well, even if they suck at showing it.
Their parents never really pushed them to participate in their interests, so Pat never learned to pursue these things - they're good at playing guitar, though that was before their hands started causing chronic pain for them. Nowadays, they've been into making music on the computer, posting it on the Internet for people to listen to. They have a small following for it.
Pat's personality is changed depending on the player's actions throughout the game.
TIMELINE
Pre-Deadheading
Pat's the only child of their parents, who divorce not long after their birthA. Thanks to this, Pat gets two of everything, and never really feels the loss of their parent's relationship too deeply. Their parents try really hard to be considered the 'cooler' parent for the custody battle, which leads to both trying to act more like a friend to Pat. Pat gets to do whatever they want with full support of their parents.
When Otto is put in the seat next to Pat in 2nd grade in an attempt to get Pat to act more quiet, Pat instead finds a new friend in Otto, and the two chat the whole time in class. They stay close friends through childhood, though after graduating high school and Otto's move, they drifted apart somewhat. Despite this, Pat hasn't done much else with their life, and is still willing to drop everything to hang out with Otto.
After high school, Pat gets a job for a little while, but they wind up getting fired. They haven't picked up anything new since then, mostly coasting on couches.
Deadheading
In the fall of 2019, Pat gets a call from Otto, who tells them that Otto is in town and wants to go camping. Pat agrees to this, finding nothing better to do with their weekend, and head out to a local camping site to meet with Otto and other friends.
Otto and Pat gather firewood and leaves for a campfire while the other two pitch a tent and take care of some injuries sustained while walking out to the site. The two talk about the last few years, where Pat reveals they haven't been doing much of anything with themself. Otto says they think Pat can do anything if they put their mind to it, and their admiration makes Pat somewhat uncomfortable, so they change subjects. At the campfire, Pat really wants to tell scary stories, but Otto volunteers to do so instead. They tell a story about a zombie finding a cure and bringing themselves back to life, which isn't a very scary story in Pat's opinion.
The moon rises, and the friends go to bed. They're woken in the night by crunching sticks and leaves outside the tent, and Pat decides to go with Otto to investigate and see if it's a bear or something. On their hunt, Pat talks to Otto again, this time about their method to success - getting college going, friends, a job. Otto says that they just made a plan and broke it down into smaller steps when they got overwhelmed. This isn't something that's ever occurred to Pat to try, and they thank Otto for their advice.
In the morning, Pat tells the others that they actually had fun on the trip, and are looking forward to next time.
Post-Deadheading
Inspired by Otto in the woods, Pat decides to finally start their higher education - locking in a major for mortuary science, aiming to become a mortician. With support from Arthur Taron and Anne Yvolve, who prove to be bigger cheerleaders than Pat realized, they manage to strike a balance between fun and responsibilities. Whenever they find a roadblock they can't figure out a way around, they usually call up Otto, though they'll reach out to Anne or Arthur from time to time.
RELATIONSHIPS
Otto Gardener
Pat's known Otto since they were both little kids, and they remained close through middle and high school, despite Pat going to a different school in the middle. When Otto moved away from Portland for college, Pat kept in touch, though they weren't very comfortable constantly using social media to message each other. Through the last few years, they'd drifted apart, but upon seeing each other again it was like they'd never been separated in the first place.
They think Otto is the most passionate person they've ever met. They'd never say that without a few layers of insults, though.
Anne Yvolve
They struggle to figure out how to interact with Anne, given how different they are from each other. Pat's only sense of bonding is through insults and jokes, which works fine with Otto but not so much with Anne. She takes everything too seriously, in their opinion, and it makes them kind of tense when talking to her. They don't enjoy the walking-on-eggshells feeling they have around her, especially given how they struggle to find the line between 'okay' and 'too far'.
After the camping trip, Pat tries to be a better friend, and Anne's pretty understanding of their troubles in the social skills.
Arthur Taron
Arthur and Pat find themselves arguing more genuinely than with others, given how Arthur needs everything so orderly and straightforward while Pat prefers being obtuse and fucking around. They think he's fun to mess with, though, and go out of their way to try to get at him more than other people. They think he's probably fine with it, and if he wasn't, he'd say something - in fact, they think sometimes he might even enjoy their stupid bits and jokes. They swear they've seen him hide a smile or two before.
He has a good head on his shoulders, even if he's a pain in the ass, is their diagnosis.
TRIVIA
Pat's facial scars are from running into a glass door when they were a kid.
They prefer their mom over their dad, though they'd never say that.
Pat has autism, and their special interest is taxidermy.
