#1 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
zib) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
deercountry2021-12-11 10:12 pm
zib) wrote in deercountry2021-12-11 10:12 pm
Entry tags:
I used to look up at space with hope and wonder in my eyes
Who: Zib, and possibly you? (Some threads closed, some open)
What: Event shenanigans in the form of paranoia and memories about aliens trying to kill you
When: Throughout the month of December
Where: Around Disaster House, or walking around on his own about the city and beaches
Content Warnings: paranoia, obsession, descriptions of cartoon violence, descriptions of more horrifying alien body horror violence, mention of parental neglect, mention of murder, identity issues, insults involving one's sanity, etc. will add more if they come up in a thread.
also, hit me up with pm or plurk if you want a starter of your own rather than one of the open prompts
Winter Mourning / outside Disaster House
Zib is not quite an official resident of the Disaster House, but his ship is currently here on their property while he figures out how to try to fix it and get it running properly again. And his friends had been nice enough to let him sleep on a couch instead of sleeping outside upon discovering that he... did not have a house he had any plans of staying at until this issue was resolved.
So not quite going full-hobo like he was since arriving, he's been in a rather good mood despite the ship crash. For the first time he can ever remember in his life, there are actually people he can think of as his friends that are willing to have his back, and it's gotten him thinking that maybe there are more things to find about this place to appreciate. Instead of, you know, attempting to run away and off this planet as soon as possible.
So once he hears about a Trench tradition to gather some bones together to create a decoration, he does just that, setting it against the outside of his ship in the driveway of the Disaster House for the time being. Maybe it will be a good luck charm--something to keep him going and hope that his ship will be repaired again soon.
Except... it glows, and touching it suddenly brings Zib and anyone else who may have come upon it into his memories. And there are two things that will become very quickly apparent to anyone upon finding themselves in this memory, regardless of which one it is.
The first thing is, Dib is very much human. Far more human looking in his past memories than he has ever looked since arriving in Trench despite attempts to disguise otherwise. The Dib of the past has normal skin complexion, proper ears and nose, and isn't wearing a ratty hood to hide the back of their head. Their glasses don't have a chip in them, and for all intents and purposes, they look like a normal child.
The second thing is that all of his memories seem to revolve around a central target: a small green alien named Zim. Even in memories where Zim is wearing a disguise, it's easy to tell that it's still the same person due to how tacky and lame the disguise is. No matter what form he's in, he is present in every memory of Dib's that can be brought forth when touching the antler decoration he made. Sometimes, it even feels like there's a sudden moment where you are seeing things from Zim's perspective rather than Dib's, before cutting back to seeing it from Dib's if you are unfortunate enough to get one of those type of memory journeys here rather than experiencing it as a third party.
Which begs the question of whose memories you are actually seeing in some regard, doesn't it?
As a result, you may end up finding yourself in one of the following:
A. The day these two first met and their rivalry began, from the look of things. It's... it sure is a lot! It seems like while Dib has been a nice enough guy here in Trench, he holds no such kindness toward Zim from the second they met.
B. One of, if not many, numerous ridiculous fights that these two have had since then. Dib finds out that Zim has an allergy to meat and throws baloney at him in the school cafeteria, Zim retaliates via injecting Dib with a method to turn him into baloney. Dib points out that a nurse might find it odd that Zim doesn't have human organs, Zim retaliates via stealing everyone's organs, including Dib's lungs. They chase, shoot, throw things at each other, yell about how they are going to defeat the other, and so on in a constant cycle of battles and escalating over the most riduculous shit, even if, arguably, Dib does have a point that letting Zim win could hurt the Earth even with the stupidest of schemes. Either way, Dib sure does get hurt a lot in his pursuit of saving the Earth.
Which one of these dumb fights did you get suckered into having to bear witness to? Will there ever be a day where this ongoing cycle ends?
C. The answer to that, dear friends, is yes. And unlike the downright ridiculous fights and sometimes laws of physics and logic getting thrown out the nearest window, the rivalry ends rather simple and brutal. There's no lead up to what caused this particular fight, as if Dib himself no longer remembers what was so different this time. It just starts with Dib, standing over Zim's body, the other bleeding out a bright pink fluid onto the floor of his lab. The little backpack thing that Zim wears has been torn from his back, lying in a mess of broken wires a few feet away.
And Dib stands there with pink blood on his hands, and for a moment, he actually looks confused by this outcome. He attempts to prod Zim's body, call his name... but Zim doesn't answer, and continues to remain lifeless on the floor. Dib looks down at his hands covered in thick pink alien blood, and just... stares, begins talking to himself.
"I... I did it? I actually did it... I actually beat him this time? That's... that's a good thing, so..."
But is it, though? What exactly happens after you've finally defeated your rival anyway?
He glances at the PAK on the floor nearby... and begins to reach out toward it...
Run Rabbit, Run / around the neighborhood and woods
[Once he realizes what the purpose of the Winter Mournings are, and as the month continues, he starts feeling sicker with paranoia. Not just towards others--did they see those memories? Are they afraid of him? Will they hurt him even if they don't know?--but also toward himself. Is he still Dib? Is he now Zim? Is he just a Zib after all, just as his alternate self had called him in that awful void?
So he distances himself. He goes back to staying outside working on his ship, exploring, and gathering supplies for his own needs rather than allowing himself to be in the physical presence of people. But that doesn't curb his paranoia--what if someone tries to attack him while he sleeps? So he builds traps all around his ship in case someone tries to touch or break into it. He keeps his hood up at all times, but prepared to lash out with a PAK leg the second he notices sudden movement. He even steals a couple of knives to keep in his closes just on the off chance someone gets past his PAK's defenses.
He isn't going to let himself be attacked. He refuses to die. He refuses to have things stolen from him.
Not again.]
What: Event shenanigans in the form of paranoia and memories about aliens trying to kill you
When: Throughout the month of December
Where: Around Disaster House, or walking around on his own about the city and beaches
Content Warnings: paranoia, obsession, descriptions of cartoon violence, descriptions of more horrifying alien body horror violence, mention of parental neglect, mention of murder, identity issues, insults involving one's sanity, etc. will add more if they come up in a thread.
also, hit me up with pm or plurk if you want a starter of your own rather than one of the open prompts
Winter Mourning / outside Disaster House
Zib is not quite an official resident of the Disaster House, but his ship is currently here on their property while he figures out how to try to fix it and get it running properly again. And his friends had been nice enough to let him sleep on a couch instead of sleeping outside upon discovering that he... did not have a house he had any plans of staying at until this issue was resolved.
So not quite going full-hobo like he was since arriving, he's been in a rather good mood despite the ship crash. For the first time he can ever remember in his life, there are actually people he can think of as his friends that are willing to have his back, and it's gotten him thinking that maybe there are more things to find about this place to appreciate. Instead of, you know, attempting to run away and off this planet as soon as possible.
So once he hears about a Trench tradition to gather some bones together to create a decoration, he does just that, setting it against the outside of his ship in the driveway of the Disaster House for the time being. Maybe it will be a good luck charm--something to keep him going and hope that his ship will be repaired again soon.
Except... it glows, and touching it suddenly brings Zib and anyone else who may have come upon it into his memories. And there are two things that will become very quickly apparent to anyone upon finding themselves in this memory, regardless of which one it is.
The first thing is, Dib is very much human. Far more human looking in his past memories than he has ever looked since arriving in Trench despite attempts to disguise otherwise. The Dib of the past has normal skin complexion, proper ears and nose, and isn't wearing a ratty hood to hide the back of their head. Their glasses don't have a chip in them, and for all intents and purposes, they look like a normal child.
The second thing is that all of his memories seem to revolve around a central target: a small green alien named Zim. Even in memories where Zim is wearing a disguise, it's easy to tell that it's still the same person due to how tacky and lame the disguise is. No matter what form he's in, he is present in every memory of Dib's that can be brought forth when touching the antler decoration he made. Sometimes, it even feels like there's a sudden moment where you are seeing things from Zim's perspective rather than Dib's, before cutting back to seeing it from Dib's if you are unfortunate enough to get one of those type of memory journeys here rather than experiencing it as a third party.
Which begs the question of whose memories you are actually seeing in some regard, doesn't it?
As a result, you may end up finding yourself in one of the following:
A. The day these two first met and their rivalry began, from the look of things. It's... it sure is a lot! It seems like while Dib has been a nice enough guy here in Trench, he holds no such kindness toward Zim from the second they met.
B. One of, if not many, numerous ridiculous fights that these two have had since then. Dib finds out that Zim has an allergy to meat and throws baloney at him in the school cafeteria, Zim retaliates via injecting Dib with a method to turn him into baloney. Dib points out that a nurse might find it odd that Zim doesn't have human organs, Zim retaliates via stealing everyone's organs, including Dib's lungs. They chase, shoot, throw things at each other, yell about how they are going to defeat the other, and so on in a constant cycle of battles and escalating over the most riduculous shit, even if, arguably, Dib does have a point that letting Zim win could hurt the Earth even with the stupidest of schemes. Either way, Dib sure does get hurt a lot in his pursuit of saving the Earth.
Which one of these dumb fights did you get suckered into having to bear witness to? Will there ever be a day where this ongoing cycle ends?
C. The answer to that, dear friends, is yes. And unlike the downright ridiculous fights and sometimes laws of physics and logic getting thrown out the nearest window, the rivalry ends rather simple and brutal. There's no lead up to what caused this particular fight, as if Dib himself no longer remembers what was so different this time. It just starts with Dib, standing over Zim's body, the other bleeding out a bright pink fluid onto the floor of his lab. The little backpack thing that Zim wears has been torn from his back, lying in a mess of broken wires a few feet away.
And Dib stands there with pink blood on his hands, and for a moment, he actually looks confused by this outcome. He attempts to prod Zim's body, call his name... but Zim doesn't answer, and continues to remain lifeless on the floor. Dib looks down at his hands covered in thick pink alien blood, and just... stares, begins talking to himself.
"I... I did it? I actually did it... I actually beat him this time? That's... that's a good thing, so..."
But is it, though? What exactly happens after you've finally defeated your rival anyway?
He glances at the PAK on the floor nearby... and begins to reach out toward it...
Run Rabbit, Run / around the neighborhood and woods
[Once he realizes what the purpose of the Winter Mournings are, and as the month continues, he starts feeling sicker with paranoia. Not just towards others--did they see those memories? Are they afraid of him? Will they hurt him even if they don't know?--but also toward himself. Is he still Dib? Is he now Zim? Is he just a Zib after all, just as his alternate self had called him in that awful void?
So he distances himself. He goes back to staying outside working on his ship, exploring, and gathering supplies for his own needs rather than allowing himself to be in the physical presence of people. But that doesn't curb his paranoia--what if someone tries to attack him while he sleeps? So he builds traps all around his ship in case someone tries to touch or break into it. He keeps his hood up at all times, but prepared to lash out with a PAK leg the second he notices sudden movement. He even steals a couple of knives to keep in his closes just on the off chance someone gets past his PAK's defenses.
He isn't going to let himself be attacked. He refuses to die. He refuses to have things stolen from him.
Not again.]
no subject
He goes quiet when Dib approaches again, letting Zib take over and resume running through the memory. He does have to fight the urge to raise an eyebrow at the cleaning thing, because even if he gets wanting an alternate universe version of yourself out of the way, Dib seems really... disheartened. He's watching Dib leave with the mop, frowning a tiny bit, before his attention snaps back to Zib.]
Oh. Uh, in Deerington these kinds of memories usually just ended on their own. I can't remember any of 'em that ended when I wanted them to end. So we might just be stuck here, dude.
no subject
That's... not really what I wanted to hear. [He runs a hand through his hair, clutching at one of his antenna for a moment before sighing.] Okay, well, for now it should be fine to go ahead and do what I said I was going to do, about sending Two through one of the holes outside to Dib's universe--that way we can also make sure Two doesn't run into you while you're looking like that.
[So he walks over to the computer nearby and begins typing in several commands, namely a message to Two to have them report in for the important mission in mind. The response is quick, a very eager message on screen that Two is "ready to prove themselves to Number One for this task" as well as a confirmation that they are going to go to one of the hidden spacecrafts and leave as commanded.]
That should eliminate that potential occurrence, I hope. If I recall correctly, Two did go and make it through to the designated location last time, so there shouldn't be any reason why it'll go any different this time either...
[But, Zib's hands pause on the keyboard for a beat, face unreadable as he looks at the screen, before he suddenly turns around quickly.]
We should probably go to the lab--we'll be able to watch what happens with Two better from all the screens I've got stored in there. Plus, it is a pretty cool room I've made here, if I do say so myself.
no subject
Either way, the important thing here is the memory ending. Fern has no clue how to force it to end (if he did, he would've done so for a bunch in the past), but the longer they're here the more dangerous things get. He frowns, concerned, which probably looks weird and unsettling when he's still shapeshifted as Zim.]
Okay, dude. [The 'dude' coming from a Zim is probably weird, too. He follows Zib over to the computer, watching curiously. At least the actual Zim #2 seems pumped for this.] Sounds like a plan.
[He pulls his eyes away from the screen and nods at that. Seems like a good idea to him!]
Cool, do I gotta stay looking like this?
no subject
[Or at least that's the hope, anyway. Provided that his other self doesn't abandon the room he told them to stay in, and, hopefully, Dib shouldn't have a reason to like last time. Zib is pretty sure there weren't any computers in that storage room he sent his other self to look at, after all.
For a brief moment, he entertains the thought of doing the same to Fern--see if there is a closet that he can lock Fern in just in case what he remembers of this place decides to expose too much of himself here. But unlike his other self, he's pretty sure Fern isn't stupid, nor incapable of breaking down a door if he was locked into a room somewhere. And... well, Fern said that he would be on Zib's side no matter what, right?
So, he points to the door that leads to the lab, and gestures.]
After you! Take a look for yourself.
[Inside, there's another fancy chair in the middle of the room, similar to the one he has modeled like a throne. Except, this one has several cables attached to the back of the chair that wind upward into the ceiling and appear to connect to several of the monitors set up in the room. There's also some tables with different tools and chemicals labeled and set out where it looks like he may have been experimenting with different objects during his time here.]
no subject
[And uncomfortable. He's still got some complicated feelings about his shapeshifting, though he's at least glad it was able to be helpful in this situation.
He shifts back down to his normal appearance, shaking off the excess Zim-coloured grass. It feels much better to looking like Finn again, and he nods before trotting off on over to the lab, entirely clueless as to Zib's actual thoughts. As far as he knows this is all going very smoothly!
Heading into the lab, he looks around. He'll raise an eyebrow at the chair (he knows a throne when he sees one), walking around it to poke at the cables with his foot before moving onto the tools and chemicals. He's picking anything up that looks like a weapon.]
Dang, I don't understand anything in here. It's cool!
no subject
Thanks, I worked really hard to get this room to my liking. It involved a lot of scrounging around for parts and things that fall into this place sometimes from the reality tears, along with all the Zims that keep showing up.
[He addresses his Computer, asking it to pull up the feed for the tracker he has on Two so that it'll show how the brainwashed Zim's mission is going as they pass through the tear into Dib's universe. So far, so good, it looks like he made it through safely and is on his way to Irk where the Empire is located.]
When Two gets there, the plan is to have him get into the room where his leaders are, and insert a cable that will transmit the virus to all of the Irkens present, including their Tallest who command over all the others of their species. And with the Tallest brainwashed, they'll be able to spread the virus to the rest of their army by commanding any of the soldiers not presented to come in contact with a means to upload the virus into them as well.
no subject
He tries his best to keep up with Zib's explanation. Fortunately, it's pretty dumbed down, and he's at least got a basic understanding of how computers and viruses work and whatnot.]
Cool, so you've got a lock on all of this. [He glances around, to see if any edges of the memory have started fading or flickering.]
no subject
Zib, however, has not noticed this at all. Or maybe he can't see it himself? It's probably the former, given that his attention isn't on anything now other than the biggest monitor in the room and watching what Two is doing, who appears to have reached the planet Irk and is making their way to the mainframe where their leaders are. It looks like the plan is still going well...
... Well, except for a small window that has popped up in the corner of the screen that displays a potentially concerning detail: There's a percentage labeled "timeline stability" that's begun rapidly flickering in an unstable manner as Zib suddenly turns his attention to Fern.]
Hey, I just realized, there's something I forgot to ask you.
no subject
He pokes around a little bit more, keeping an eye on the memory itself along with the entrances to the lab (just in case), and looks over when Zib speaks up.]
What is it, dude?
[Feeling a bit more secure in this ending well, he wanders on over to Zib. The timeline window on the screen catches his attention temporarily - it doesn't look good, but they've almost made it out.]
no subject
Can you... not tell anyone about anything you saw here? I mean...
[He reaches a hand up to his PAK, touching it lightly for a moment.]
I plan on eventually telling more people about the PAK, at least to those I trust like you, but... I don't think I'm ready to do that just yet. Nor really talk about what it was like in this place more than I've already said about it before. Does that make sense?
no subject
'Course it does. I promise I won't tell anyone about any of this stuff.
[And because he can, he goes to (carefully, because of the PAK) ruffle Zib's hair.]
You can count on me.
no subject
... Probably not since his dad was still alive, and even then, it didn't happen all that often. His family was not a very affectionate one, unfortunately.
Zib looks down--not because he wants Fern to stop, but because he's afraid that he might do something lame like start crying from a mere head pat, so he quickly rubs his face and forces himself to calm again before he speaks again.]
Thank you... I really appreciate that.
[The screen suddenly flashes behind him, that odd fluctuating percentage finally settling on a number: a mere 40% stability for the Irken systems affected by the virus in the timeline that they had been observing. Which, is probably a sign that things are not going to go well, that whatever is meant to happen next is probably not a good memory for Zib.
But, at the same time the memory they're in seems to have begun closing in on them, the flickering and fading around the edges getting closer to where Zib and Fern are standing. Trench is coming back into view in the space that has disappeared so far.
It looks like the memory is finally ending here.]