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
What? That was you just three seconds ago!
[ He sighs impatiently. Whatever. He's not gonna try puzzling out the logic of this, it doesn't matter. He immediately whips out one of his pistols, because of course he was carrying one on him this whole time. And he asks what's really the only important question here: ]
Is murder on the table?
[ He takes aim, lining up a lethal shot. ]
no subject
[The disembodied voice sounds faintly embarrassed. The chimera's voice sounds faintly infuriated as it continues to scream at James.]
Murder is totes on the table 'cause this is some kinda horrible nightmare, probably, but maybe don't say it out loud?
[This is probably because the chimeric thing has now turned into a swarm of bees.]
no subject
At any rate, it's not like he has a choice now. It's pretty hard to fight a swarm of bees, he's not really armed to fight something like that. So he just...does what he can. And shoots at the bees. Surely some of them will be killed this way. ]
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...Are you shooting the bees?
[One (1) bee has been obliterated into red paste.]
...God, we're gonna both die in here.
[Gar needs better friends. Friends that don't shoot bees and let dinosaurs eat their arms.]
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So he grabs one of those, pulls out the pin, and drops it right in the middle of the swarm of bees while he darts away from it as fast as he can.
He just hopes the bees don't follow him and stay near the grenade. ]
no subject
[Well, something's definitely going to die. Gar barely has time to utter half a protest as he realize what James is doing before the grenade explodes with a concussive blast. Hopefully James clears it in time, but who knows how much experience he actually has with setting these off.
The more important question...
The swarm of bees did attempt to follow, but it looks like a good half were caught in the blast and disintegrated. The rest of the swarm twitches and vibrates spasmodically, jerking and twitching as a whole before they slowly come back together.... coalescing back into one...]
Oh my god.
[They coalesce back into the form of a boy with his right arm and leg blown off.]
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But he's not about to get distracted by it either--or at least, not any longer than he already has. If he's gonna shoot to kill, now is his best chance. He whips out the pistol again and quickly shoots twice, aimed right for the boy's chest. ]
no subject
The Gar in James's mind falls silent.
The form of the... person... thing... whatever on the ground is slowly disintegrating.
Around them, the released animals, who had up to now been rampaging around at random, banging against the fence, fall silent.]
.........Fuck.
You're really going to........ just let them loose...............?
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He looks back at the boy and shrugs, almost helplessly. ]
I guess so. What else would I do?
no subject
........
Just............ If they get out...
I don't know if I -- if he can... handle it......
God.
You're at least... going to..... help...... right?
no subject
Yeah...sure.
[ Not that James even knows what he's talking about. But that's fine. He doesn't mind making empty promises to a dying man. ]
no subject
[The manifestation of Gar that's lying on the ground looks away in disgust.]
...You're just... saying that......
[But there isn't any more time. With a disgusting squelch sound, the rest of him collapses into faintly glowing green goo... the puddle spreads out a bit across the ground and almost laps at James's shoes.
Gross.
Before he can process too much else, there is a sudden cacophony of noise as the fence disintegrates - and every single animal released from the zoo charges for freedom. But as they rush forward, unicorn at the head, they cross the threshold where the fence stood and... disintegrate.
Each one explodes into millions of dazzling green sparks as they pass through, their remnants shooting up into the air and lingering as a cloud of... something. More and more rush forward - literal hundreds and thousands of species, commonplace animals, things that James probably doesn't even recognize, things that James recognizes to be impossible, rush forward towards whatever freedom it is that this dreamscape can grant them. At his feet, the pile of goo, too, trembles violently for a few moments before disintegrating into the same sparks that fly up to join the rest.
And as the cloud grows larger, something begins to take shape in the middle... Each glittering green spark spirals and swirls rapidly in the cloud until it finds its place, atom by atom, piecing together his form from the feet up until the body of one (1) Garfield Mark Logan, missing no body parts and possessing just the one human head he needs, fuses together with a flash.
..........He drops from the sky and lands heavily on the ground on both feet.]
Jesus!
I said you could kill him, not like, put him through slow torture death, man.
no subject
When Gar finally reforms, he crosses his arms obstinately. ]
It would have been quick if he hadn't turned into bees first!
...Besides, he was dead either way.
no subject
[Gar shrugs.]
...But, uh.
Thanks.
I... think I owe you.
no subject
[ James looks confused at Gar's last comment. ]
You owe me for killing a bee monster version of you?
no subject
[seems pretty self-evident to him]
I mean, it was evil bees.
[Duh.]
Also, like, I don't know if I can fight a part of myself. That was... something I thought I made to protect me, but...
I dunno.
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[Gar lifts up a hand.]
I didn't want to deal with all of the... weird feelings and instincts I had to deal with when I was an animal. So I locked everything up in here pretty tight.
no subject
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[He scowls.]
Look, it worked when I needed it to. Don't judge my technique, man.
no subject
I just killed another version of you.
I think I judged your technique pretty soundly already.
no subject
[There is a sudden gust of wind as Gar explodes outwards, and an enormous dragon faces down James with a snarl.]
-- was all that was holding me back!
[...]
..................is what I'd say, but this is still a dream, so it's definitely not working this well in real life.
You should be impressed anyway.
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He immediately punches it in the face with his metal arm, hard as he can. ]
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[The dragon rears back and whines like a puppy.]
WHAT WAS THAT FOR?! YOU'RE RUINING MY COOL MOMENT.
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