[open] 003 - It's Not Easy Being Green

[thebeastwithout]

WHO: Beast Boy & Everyone
WHERE: Around town
WHEN: March 12 - March 20
WHAT: Gar has mysteriously vanished for the last week! He's probably dead or something.
WARNINGS: First part is an open message leading to action, later parts are action

[retrospec text, 3/16]
hey this is gar
i'm uh
super sick or something
yeah let's just go with that
definitely dying of the plague

can someone get me my homework for the week and leave it in my mailbox? XXXX huntington ave. thx.

[action prompt 1, 3/16]
[On the night of Monday, March 12th, Gar drops off the face of the earth. He misses school all week without any legitimate reason that his teachers know of, his phone redirects to a busy tone whenever it's called, and he doesn't respond to any text, call, or Retrospec message he receives in the intervening time.

When he finally breaks his silence on Friday night, it's been four days since he's talked to anyone at all.

If anyone feels the need to check up on him, he's just texted his address to the public... Not the brightest thing to do, but then, he's never claimed to be bright.]

[action prompt 2, 3/17]
[On Saturday, he finally goes stir crazy.

Late at night around 1AM, a shadowy figure hops out of Gar's window and slips onto the streets, keeping to the darkness as much as possible. He moves quickly - in about 10 minutes, he reaches a nearby convenience store, hovering awkwardly outside for a few moments before he finally takes a breath and steps forward. In the harsh fluorescent lighting of the store interior, he is revealed to be covered head to toe in a thick winter outfit, complete with thick gloves and a balaclava.

He kinda looks like a (very small) bank robber.

For the next several minutes, he quickly piles as much snack food into his arms as possible, forgetting the basket in his haste. Eight bags of potato chips, a lot of frozen treats, piles of pudding - whatever works as long as it's unhealthy and filled with sugar.

This is a great plan up until he rounds a corner too quick and crashes into someone, sending his snacks flying.]

Aw crap!

Uhh, sorry, dude. ...I thought I was the only one in here this late.

[action prompt 3, 3/20]
[After a week of missing school, Gar reappears the following Tuesday, his parents having put their foot down in regards to his... condition. Despite his begging, he is, for some reason, not allowed to wear a balaclava to school, either.

The open stares begin the minute he steps off the school bus.]

...Hey, take a picture. It will last longer. ...Also you can spread it around Snapchat quicker so you can make fun of me on like, a global scale instead of just local.

[The newly leaf-green Gar runs in the opposite direction from anyone he knows, and spends most of his time sitting in a back corner staring at a wall, stone silent. The day passes miserably slowly.

Gar spends most of his time Googling 'train tickets to Antarctica' on his phone.]

Comments

Text

[fiddlestick]

Oh no...
I hope you feel better soon!
Do you want me to bring you some soup?

[thebeastwithout]

no!!!!

i mean uh

it's mega laryngitis so soup will... hurt

thanks anyway

action prompt 3

[frostythehitman]

[ They don't share any classes together, being as they are a grade apart. But James does spot him--let's say at lunchtime, for parallel threading purposes. Gar didn't let him sit and mope alone with his weird new arm and weirder jacket, so James isn't letting him pull that now either.

James almost feels lucky by now that he's so innured to all this Retrospec nonsense that seeing someone turn green isn't that big of a shock anymore. It always is, of course, just a little--the Russian roulette aspect makes it just random enough that he's never really prepared for it--but it's made him pretty good at keeping his cool when he sees it happen to someone else, at least.

He sits opposite Gar in a way that blocks him from view in the lunchroom as much as possible. ]

So...would the neon jacket help here, or just make it worse?

[thebeastwithout]

[it all comes full circle!!
incidentally, james was also the last person gar had a serious conversation with on the previous monday before he vanished
when he sees who's approaching, he glances around first to see if there's still time to run away before he slides down in his seat and pulls his hoodie as far over his head as possible]

Nah. My green is more 'muddy puke green' than 'neon'. Colors would clash.

...Yo, sorry, can you sit somewhere else?

action 1

[maidofmistakes]

[Knock knock. It's Kara with armfuls of homework at your door.]

Uh, hi? Are you doing okay?

[thebeastwithout]

[gar hears the knocking from his bedroom and freezes
the curtains shuffle just a tiny bit

ok

of the people who are not allowed to see him like this, ever, kara is at the absolute top of the list

didn't he say to leave it in the mailbox?!

he hovers at the front door and yells -- ]

Uhhhhhh... No one's home! Please... direct all deliveries to the... box for mail.

text

[robitussin]

do you really want your last days on earth spent doing homework

(for real though i hope you feel better)

[thebeastwithout]

ok point but

if it was up to me i would never do homework again but my parents are like 'if you're gonna stay home from school you at least have to keep up with your work' which is totally lame but i guess that's how parents are

action 2

[usurpers]

[ eren lives in an apartment with a rather large dog accompanying him when he doesn’t stay at fort mccoy directly— he also sleeps earlier than the birds at times, needing to wake up earlier and not liking midday naps particularly. so, titan wakes him up to go to the bathroom, and sometimes, eren loses his need to sleep for a little while. he’s already raked nearly six hours of snoozing by now, he’ll just nap a little extra when he gets home and will probably be good to go by five am.

who goes out for a walk to the convenience store this late anyway? a guy with a german shepherd in need of the bathroom, clearly, and maybe a midnight outing. titan is tied outside, peering into the convenience store door waiting for his human, while eren grabs pre-breakfast: three muffins, a bagel with eggs, a sandwich and treats for titan. he’s got everything in his his basket and ready to check out before, off.

eren’s y’all, not to mention sturdy, so he hardly loses much footing compared to the other, really weirdly bundled up guy, now sprawled on the floor with a mountain of snacks scattered. eren immediately has some red flags raised; middle of the night, all these snacks, no way of identification? a rush? this guy is attempting to shoplift.

that does bring an immediate stink eye and cautiously bending over to take a potato chip bag, at least until the bundle of clothes speaks up, making eren furrow his brows. ]

Wait, Gar? What’re you— The hell are you even doing here?

[ the cashier looks over his counter with some concern, but eren gestures that everything’s okay, putting his basket down and beginning to hastily pick up the rest of the things. ]

[thebeastwithout]

Oh my god.

[Of all the people in the city he had to run into, it had to be Elliot's army boyfriend who already hates him. Gar does the logical thing after five seconds of staring in horror.]

Uhh... No! This is... Smar. I'm... Gar's half-identical cousin.

[...]

I'm visiting for the weekend?

action, 3/16.

[mr_fancy_car]

[Even if he did not text his address to the public, a PE teacher is going to show up at Gar's doorstep. He's concerned. Very concerned.

The knocks are sharp and loud.]

Mr. Logan? It's Mr. Edgeworth. [A pause.] Are you all right? Your other teachers are beginning to wonder what happened to you. [And so is he.]

[thebeastwithout]

It's who?!

[why are his teachers here this is literally the worst scenario imaginable how could this have happened

gar freezes on the other side of the door]

E-Everything is... fine! There was... a gas leak, and we all died, and now it's just ghosts in here. You don't need to check up on me ever again; I'm super happy in the afterlife.

[nailed it]

text

[destiny_key]

i mean
youre probably really sick if youre asking for your homework

you okay???

[thebeastwithout]

geez i'm not asking for it
my parents just think i should be doing my homework even if i'm sick and i'm not about to fight with them when i'm feeling crappy

i might die, so no worries if you never see me again

text

[ladytakamaki]

Gar? Everything okay?

[thebeastwithout]

uh well no?
but it's cool
you don't gotta worry about it

action, 3/16

[invocate]

[Lesson 1: Do not post text your address to the whole network.

Lesson 2: Do not say your are super sick where Li-Na can see.

Because this is the result of these two errors: Li-Na knocking on the front door of Gar's home, a box in her arms of GET WELL SUPPLIES. A thermos of ginger tea for an upset stomach. Two ziplock containers (those tall round ones with the neat screw-on lids) of congee. A box of saltine crackers. A box of kleenex. A bag of cough drops and a box of those stick on cooling gel pads.]

[thebeastwithout]

[Gar is not sure whether to feel gratified or horrified that Li-Na has wasted all this money and time on him when he's not like, actually sick, technically speaking. He definitely feels the urge to escape out a back window, but sadly, his backyard is penned off and there's no exit apart from... going into the front yard.]

Uh.

Hey, thanks for visiting the Dayton residence, no one's home right now so please leave a message after the beep.

[This will definitely work.]

A2

[lalliho]

[He doesn't have the social acumen to Not Stare, even if he should be focused on he few items that have fallen from his arms onto the floor. Green beats out...idk, busted soda can spewing shit. Finally, some kind of sound seems to register and he snaps out of it with a Lalli-brand awkwardness that makes it seem as if that wordless stretch didn't happen.]

I like it better this late. No one around. Unless I need a lot of stuff. Then a real cashier is good, I guess.

[thebeastwithout]

[oh shit it's lalli]

Uh.......

[the fact that he's somehow had the horrible misfortune to run into one of his actual friends freezes him in place for a few seconds. ...the fact that lalli is obviously staring petrifies him into stone.]

........

[He pulls at his balaclava, but of course, the skin around his eyes is still visible.
Maybe... Lalli doesn't know it's him......
Gar affects an atrocious British accent.]

Jolly good, my very thoughts exactly! Uh... do be a good... lad? and let me uh... scootch by.

strolls in 500 years late for some action 3

[alitaba]

[ Futaba also doesn't share classes with her underclassman either but you know how high schools work, they'll bump into each other eventually on school grounds. Unlike certain other people, she immediately goes for the jugular ]

You've been cursed by the forest!!!

[ I'm sorry for her everything ]

[thebeastwithout]

[Gar stares at her with a look that can be kindly described as 'stony'.]

...Yeah, sure, I'm gonna turn into a tree soon.

At least trees don't have to go to school.

slides in late with 2

[alienated]

[Keith works stupidly late shifts, so being at a convenience store during the wee hours of the morning is on brand for him at this point. Alas, getting out of work after midnight makes him cranky — and he's definitely giving Gar the stink eye even as he bends down to start picking up both of their items. There... sure is a lot of cheap bottled coffee in Keith's basket.]

It's fine. [It is not.] Just watch where you're going next time.

[... And a beat. Because this is a legit representation of Keith's brain.]

Wait. Have I seen you before?

[Or, heard. Nice outfit???]

[thebeastwithout]

Uhh.

[Gar stares at Keith for a few moments while sweating uncomfortably through his layers.]

No...?

[Honestly like, he might have seen Keith's profile picture here and there but he doesn't have a strong recollection so he's not exactly lying.]

I'm... visiting from out of town for a few days so definitely not!

[devilsadvocato]

Hey Gar it's Mr. Nelson.
I'll make a study guide for you and have one of your friends deliver it to you.
Is this a regular sick or is this a Retrospec kind of sick?

[thebeastwithout]

oh
right i forget teachers are on this thing too

uhh ok thanks i guess i'll try to keep up

[by 'try' he means 'put in the least amount of effort possible']

and it's uh, super deadly plague sick, yeah, can't give details 'cause the cdc's got this on lockdown

action 3

[livingdeadgirl]

[Ami was actually 100% willing to believe Gar had mono or something, despite having missed a significant amount of school for Retrospec reasons herself, lately. She almost doesn't recognize him when she spots him at lunch, since... she's not expecting him to be green... but it's hard not to notice him.

There's not even really a decision process. She just goes over to his table and takes a seat. Horn girl and green boy, huh? Dude, you could make a shitty 3D movie out of these guys.]

Hey, Gar. Good to see you're not dead!

[thebeastwithout]

[Gar is trying very hard to avoid all eye contact with anybody else in the cafeteria and melt into his seat, to the point that he startles a bit when she sits down.]

O-Oh.

...Hey, Ami.

[He sounds deflated.]

Close enough, I guess.