Beast Boy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thebeastwithout) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
recolle2018-08-18 08:14 pm
thebeastwithout) wrote in recolle2018-08-18 08:14 pm
Entry tags:
[open] 006: The Human Zoo
WHO: Beast Boy and You
WHERE: Dreamdive
WHEN: August 20th
WHAT: You know what
WARNINGS: Some mild body horror, violence, can definitely opt out of anything that you'd rather not see.
[He hasn't wanted to make a fuss over it. The timer on his hand... The timer that everyone else had... Of course it didn't feel quite right. It would probably end with the detonation of a bomb that leveled Recolle or something horrible like that. So he ignores the pulsating feeling... ignores the increasing tension and pressure...
Until it is too much to bear.
He collapses in the middle of a street and the world around him vanishes.]
[I: Admission]
[You are in a zoo.
A dark, dilapidated place, falling to pieces. The sky above you is blanketed with billowing, purplish-black clouds. The cages are rusting and all of the animals inside are restless, uneasy. There is not enough space to maintain these exhibits. There is no bedding, no food, no habitat. Just... an empty steel cage.
The animals are commonplace, at first. Raccoons and squirrels and chipmunks and finches. One animal to a cage, every one of them staring out warily at those who pass by. But as you progress, the animals become... more exotic. Cassowaries. Leopards. Caimans. And then... and then you turn a corner and you are face to face with a Tyrannosaurus Rex, barely constrained within a cage in which it can barely move, its razor sharp teeth mere inches from your own.
But it does not attack. It simply glowers... And you are free to move on. ...There is much to see here, if you care to linger. Every animal you could possibly imagine. Maybe some you can't.
...Is that a unicorn?]
[II: Feeding Time]
[The path through the zoo is circular. A wide subtle loop, so that it might not be obvious that you are going around in circles. But as you clear the outermost loop and you progress further into the heart of the zoo, the exhibits change.
Monkeys become apes. Apes become unidentifiable simians. And then...
Humans. Humans in masks. Masks and costumes, each of them standing stock still as if they are made out of wax. There is a boy in a domino mask wearing red and green with a cape billowing out behind him. A tall man, perhaps still a teenager, half his body made of mechanical parts. There are more like this, people who look... exactly like one would imagine superheroes to look. Superheroes... and supervillains. You can take a closer look if you'd like.
At the end of this path, one of the exhibits glances up as you approach. And without any provocation whatsoever...
The figure draws two swords, casually slices through the bars of his cage like butter, and begins to walk straight towards you.]
[III: Special Exhibit]
[You've escaped Slade. Or perhaps you managed to miss his exhibit altogether. You're through the second loop and you're closer to the heart.
And now, the cages become few and far between, but as you approach the first one, you can see that trapped inside... is Gar.]
H... Hello?
Hey... Who is that?
[But if you begin to speak with him, you might find that it's not quite the same Gar you know. For each person who comes by, they'll find someone a little different in each cage...]
[IV: The End]
[You've satisfied the various manifestations of Gar's anxieties and hidden desires and needs and longings. Perhaps they were a little too needy, but... they've let you on towards the end. And it really is the end, at last.
At the very center of the zoo, sitting cross-legged on the ground, Gar is contemplating a thick, tangled knot.]
...Hey, dude.
It's me.
Like... really me. [...] You can tell 'cause I said 'dude'.
WHERE: Dreamdive
WHEN: August 20th
WHAT: You know what
WARNINGS: Some mild body horror, violence, can definitely opt out of anything that you'd rather not see.
[He hasn't wanted to make a fuss over it. The timer on his hand... The timer that everyone else had... Of course it didn't feel quite right. It would probably end with the detonation of a bomb that leveled Recolle or something horrible like that. So he ignores the pulsating feeling... ignores the increasing tension and pressure...
Until it is too much to bear.
He collapses in the middle of a street and the world around him vanishes.]
[I: Admission]
[You are in a zoo.
A dark, dilapidated place, falling to pieces. The sky above you is blanketed with billowing, purplish-black clouds. The cages are rusting and all of the animals inside are restless, uneasy. There is not enough space to maintain these exhibits. There is no bedding, no food, no habitat. Just... an empty steel cage.
The animals are commonplace, at first. Raccoons and squirrels and chipmunks and finches. One animal to a cage, every one of them staring out warily at those who pass by. But as you progress, the animals become... more exotic. Cassowaries. Leopards. Caimans. And then... and then you turn a corner and you are face to face with a Tyrannosaurus Rex, barely constrained within a cage in which it can barely move, its razor sharp teeth mere inches from your own.
But it does not attack. It simply glowers... And you are free to move on. ...There is much to see here, if you care to linger. Every animal you could possibly imagine. Maybe some you can't.
...Is that a unicorn?]
[II: Feeding Time]
[The path through the zoo is circular. A wide subtle loop, so that it might not be obvious that you are going around in circles. But as you clear the outermost loop and you progress further into the heart of the zoo, the exhibits change.
Monkeys become apes. Apes become unidentifiable simians. And then...
Humans. Humans in masks. Masks and costumes, each of them standing stock still as if they are made out of wax. There is a boy in a domino mask wearing red and green with a cape billowing out behind him. A tall man, perhaps still a teenager, half his body made of mechanical parts. There are more like this, people who look... exactly like one would imagine superheroes to look. Superheroes... and supervillains. You can take a closer look if you'd like.
At the end of this path, one of the exhibits glances up as you approach. And without any provocation whatsoever...
The figure draws two swords, casually slices through the bars of his cage like butter, and begins to walk straight towards you.]
[III: Special Exhibit]
[You've escaped Slade. Or perhaps you managed to miss his exhibit altogether. You're through the second loop and you're closer to the heart.
And now, the cages become few and far between, but as you approach the first one, you can see that trapped inside... is Gar.]
H... Hello?
Hey... Who is that?
[But if you begin to speak with him, you might find that it's not quite the same Gar you know. For each person who comes by, they'll find someone a little different in each cage...]
[IV: The End]
[You've satisfied the various manifestations of Gar's anxieties and hidden desires and needs and longings. Perhaps they were a little too needy, but... they've let you on towards the end. And it really is the end, at last.
At the very center of the zoo, sitting cross-legged on the ground, Gar is contemplating a thick, tangled knot.]
...Hey, dude.
It's me.
Like... really me. [...] You can tell 'cause I said 'dude'.
no subject
[Gar shrugs a little without looking up.]
Some kinda... lame, symbolic thing or whatever, I guess. ...It's coming apart.
[He scootches to the side so Eren can see more clearly. The lame, symbolic thing is still a coiled-up ball, but true enough, it seems to be loosening in some areas.]
Guess that's 'cause of you guys.
no subject
Including you. [ there would be nothing to untangle without him heading some of his dream followers, at least. ] Does it make you feel anything?
no subject
[Gar pulls a face and flops over.]
I feel like a moron. God, I'm such a loser.
[He makes a few more sounds of displeasure at his own behavior.]
Like... that was seriously the lamest dude on the planet I dunno how you guys even put up with all of that. I need to record like, a video apology or something.
[For all his theatrics, Gar is trying a little too hard to disavow his alternate self. He betrays himself by stealing a quick glance towards Eren as if to gauge what he thinks.]
no subject
oh, wow. wow!! ]
You’re talking about yourself, right?
no subject
[Gar frowns at Eren..]
...I dunno what all of that was about. Galtry didn't get to keep me. ........He does manage my parents' money, though. Maybe I should be more concerned...
no subject
zee did mention this to him, but only now did most of it make sense. ]
Someone’s messing with us. This was the only way to revert it. [ he gives gar and his knot a look up and down, before gesturing to a spot that could be loosened. here. ]
no subject
[Gar arches an eyebrow.]
You mean Retrospec, like every other time something stupid happens? I can't believe they had me living like that for two months.
[As Eren points at the knot, Gar gives a slight nod, though he doesn't pull on it quite yet.]
no subject
[ it’s not really judging, just . . . trying to get him to think. ]
Have you ever heard the name Vanderweele?
no subject
[He tries to think for a moment.]
...Yeah. That's one of the people who founded Recolle or something like that, right? It was in some of the information people pass around.
no subject
Except he never died.
no subject
[yeah he didn't get the full deets.]
...Yup, totally knew that.
Just, uh... you know like, hypothermically, if I didn't... what happened after that? ...He went underground and started planning vengeance?
no subject
[ eren is a grammar/spelling/diet police and you have been pulled over and fined for such a deed. ]
He’s doing what we’ve been seeing. The changes, the layers, these . . . Alternate versions of us. Retrospec’s been trying to fight it off, Zee confirmed it.
no subject
[nailed it]
...Zee told you that it was that guy specifically? ...He never told the rest of us anything useful.
So where is he?
no subject
Most of the rest wouldn’t bother to listen. [ or even understand, for that matter. ]
Vanderweele? [ a pause. ] No one knows. But they’re working on it.
no subject
Um... I guess.
I mean, it's not something people talk about too much, but we all read that stuff, I think...
So the goal is to like... find this guy and get rid of him?
no subject
If it’s all true, that’s probably the plan. [ but, as for the knot . . . eren gestures to it. ] Maybe you’ll want to finish that one, first.
no subject
[He gives a shrug.]
That's almost done, anyway.
You ready to get out of here, then?
no subject
[ he did come here because of you
little dude ]
no subject
...Let's talk about this more later.
[With that, Gar gives a slight nod as the fibers of the knot dissolve before him - and with it, the fabric of his dream...]