did anybody order the crispy dib

[zib]

Who: Zib and YOU?
What: Recent event hi-jinks and other dangerous activities for 12 year olds probably
When: During the month of September
Where: Out and About

Content Warnings: Alien Body Horror, more than likely even more mentions of cartoon violence and horror because Invader Zim is a heck of a canon, will add other warnings when they come up.



A. Settling In/Growing Pains

[To the possible surprise of anyone who has met Zib since his arrival here, they'll find that this strange kid is, for some reason, not staying at any houses with anyone in this place. No, in fact, he can be found on the outskirts near the beach, where his "home" that he's currently staying in is a rather peculiar looking transportation vehicle and the attempt of "hiding" it via large tarps he's put up over nearby objects to hang over his little ship where it's parked here like a makeshift roof.

Currently, the tarps are not up and you'll be able to see it, and that it looks like it has enough room for one, maybe two people to ride it in the seats up front where the controls are, but otherwise only enough room in the back for one that has a thin blanket lying in the open doorway... has Zib been sleeping in this spot since he got here?

He doesn't notice anyone approaching him though, as he has his back to the world while he appears to be doing some kind of repair job outside of the ship, a panel opened and wires being moved and reconnected as he mutters to himself.]

Stupid planet, stupid ocean... didn't think the water would affect the wires like this...

[There's only one other thing of interest here, and it's that there are flowers that have been planted around his little makeshift hobo home. Purple hyacinths, to be more precise... but very sickly looking and like they are in the process of wilting...]

River of Regret (cw: a lot of body horror)

[One moment he's picking up a Raven feather, the next he is suddenly on a boat with other Sleepers, and at first, Zib doesn't seem to be particularly bothered, instead seeming to take in the sights and making notes of what's going on... he only stops, however, when two people come into view, tied up and suspended in the air. Zib abruptly stands up in the canoe, alarmed.]

Gaz? ... Dad?

[He starts to put his foot on the edge of the canoe here, like he's about to jump out and try to reach them even though they are clearly dead... but then he freezes, because when the canoe continues a little further, and suddenly there's a whole cluster of bodies gathered together... all the same body actually, but in various different states of death.

His own, as a matter of fact. There's one of what looks like Dib being pecked and pulled apart by the birds eating it (why does it smell like baloney in the air?), one that has Dib's ribcage pulled open and exposed to reveal that the lungs are missing and have been replaced with some kind of toy that makes a mooing sound like a cow when a bird pokes it with it's beak... it just keeps getting worse and worse states for this kid's body to be shown in.

So yeah, this is... a lot to take in.]

Bloodsport (cw: potential violence)

[Zib tries to fight off the urges for violence save for the occasional spit of poison or tearing up and stabbing random objects he finds (acting on them too much, it makes him too much like Zim) that try to steamroll him the longer the month goes on, but eventually he passes out and the poor weird kid ends up at The Gate. He looks up, blinking blearily at where the noise of the crowd is cheering and demanding to see some violence, and... laughs, awkwardly.]

Well, this is... hahaha... ironic... I guess...

[He remembers having sent several versions of Zim to a pit like this himself to duke it out among themselves, and now it seems that it's his turn. It's darkly funny, in a way.

Eventually he turns his attention to the other person that they tossed in here with him, and regards them warily.]

Soooooo... what now?

[Maybe he can convince them not to fight or to at least make it look like he wins... if not, however... then he'll have no choice but to get violent to protect himself...]

Wildcard

[Got something else in mind that you want to do with Zib here? Hit us up with any ideas you've got! You can PM me or find me at wailords if you have any questions!]

Comments

settling in

[entreats]

[ There is so much going on here.

And yet it seems to weirdly suit Zib. After all, the main impression Ange got of the kid who she met on her first day in this new place was just that he was.. well, very, very odd, to say the least. Especially for a kid his age. And while it'd be easy to file away as a kid just wanting to be Special and Unique and all, it seems like Zib was a little bit more serious about it than that, judging by.. everything going on here.

Ange isn't even sure what to comment on first as she steps over closer towards the odd.. ship, vehicle, whatever it is.

So she stares for a moment before speaking up. Hopefully you did notice her walking over while working, Zib, otherwise sorry for the potential startling. ]

Your garden looks like it could use some help. [ Just saying, you weird little van life kid. ]

[zib]

[Zib looks up from his work with the wires here, eyes wide in surprise before he recognize her as the girl he spoke to when he first arrived.]

Oh, it's you!

[He lets go of the wires for now so that he can stand and come greet his guest properly, tugging on his makeshift hoodie to make sure the PAK is still hidden when he steps over to see what she's looking at... oh, right, the flowers.]

Uh, yeah, I guess so... I got to admit, even though I know a lot about inventing and working with electronics, I don't really know much of anything about plants. So I'm not sure why they look like that...

[entreats]

Well, as a fellow non-expect, I'd say it might be since it sounds like you're neglecting them.

[ Not like Ange realises that he made those flowers grow in the special way a lot of them have been growing flowers ever since arriving them.. Considering they're near his.. vehicle or home here, Ange assumes that he just tried planting regular flowers for the atmosphere or something.

.. even though she has to admit that he totally does not seem like the type to do so. ]

Have you even tried to water them at all?

[zib]

Uh... I tried doing so once, but they still seem kind of dead looking for some reason? Maybe I did something wrong, but I was pretty sure I followed the instructions I was given about them...

[But, then he shrugs.]

It's not that big of a deal if they do die, though. I could always try to plant new ones or just... forgo it entirely.

[entreats]

.. wait.

[ It's the mention about doing something wrong and instructions that gets to Ange. She glances over at the guy, seeming to think about something and hitting a realisation. ]

Did you bury something to make these flowers grow? [ She's seen the natives do that as well, after all. ] And I don't mean just seeds.

[zib]

Oh, yeah: I heard it was some kind of tradition people had here and I was curious to see what would happen if I tried it too, and study the result.

And... well, this is what I ended up with.

[He says, gesturing to the dying flowers.]

[entreats]

[ Ange tried it too - though she remembers her flower turning out.. rather differently than these. And not just because it was a different kind of flower. It's just that she might have been a little bit more alarmed if her own flower turned out to look like it was dying after burying something personal.

.. maybe he just didn't follow the instructions the right way, Ange thinks? She looks back over at him from the flowers. ]

What did you bury?

[zib]

Err...

[Zib looks awkward all of a sudden, fiddling with the hood he's wearing to cover his PAK.]

I'd tell you, but you might think it's weird or gross.

[entreats]

[ She glances over at him - even with a slight, curious noise, but mostly with the look on her face.

A look that says she's not exactly sure what to think. He doesn't sound like the kind of person who'd give that kind of warning for no reason, but.. well, it's not like Ange hasn't constantly seen gross stuff for the past few years of her life now.

The bar is pretty low. ]

Hit me. [ She just says. With her calm, deadpan tone too, like she's pretty sure she can handle hearing about whatever gross thing it was. ]

[imaglyphwitch]

Is that a spaceship?!

[Luz had taken a walk to the beach because, well, this month had definitely made her restless. The last thing she expected was to see a spaceship near the ocean, because why the heck would there be one? Yet here it was, and there was the pilot!

He looked super weird]!

Why'd you bring it all the way out here?

[zib]

[Unlike when Ange stopped by, Luz's shout is more jarring in the quiet of his work here, and so Zib nearly jumps a foot off the ground in surprise upon hearing her. The PAK attached to the back of his head initially reacts by causing two thin, metal appendages to spring out as if expecting a threat, but then he forces them to retract back inside quickly when he turns his head, pulling his hoodie back up over his head to hide the PAK.]

Geez, don't startle me like that! I could have accidentally damaged something just now...

[But, with a quick glance at the wire panel in front of him and seeing that it's fine, he breathes a sigh of relief before turning his attention to his new guest.]

Yes, it's a spaceship I'm working on right now. More importantly, who are you?

[imaglyphwitch]

[Whoa, this guy was spirited! To be fair though, she did interrupt him while he was looking pretty busy with his stuff, enough that it even looked like he was going to attack her. She was pretty glad he didn't though, because she had no doubt that Tempest would have felt her fear and come running. It did help, though, that Luz had Eda's staff with her in case she needed to defend herself, or to fly away].

Sorry about that! I didn't expect to see something like that here, it seemed pretty advanced and cool to look at! This setting seemed to be stuck in a time before my own, or at the very least some kind of alternate universe? Anyway!

[She stuck out her hand].

Luz Noceda, aspiring witch! Who might you be?

[zib]

[He blinks at the offered hand, before he allows himself to reach out and shake it.]

Dib Membrane, paranormal investigator... did you say that you were a witch? Does that mean you can do magic and stuff?

[That's a good place to start, he thinks, before he even tries to get into explaining the whole alien spaceship thing.]

[imaglyphwitch]

Dib. Dib. Diiiib. Interesting name!

Yes, actually, I can! I have a staff and everything! And you're what, some kind of scientist?

[She was really curious about his whole...thing].

[zib]

Ehh, kind of? Or at least my Dad would say that my science isn't "real" science, even though it totally is.

[He then gestures to the spaceship now.]

Like this ship right here? Used to belong to an alien that I managed to steal it from, so now it's mine and I can use it to go into space and everything. It's pretty cool.

[imaglyphwitch]

You have a a spaceship and you know how to use it, right? Can you operate it?

[Because it sure sounded like science to her].

Oh. Well, I guess its your spaceship now? Did you ride here, or were you also a squid?

[zib]

Of course I can. It's how I've been able to go to various planets and stuff... well, before now anyway. This time I somehow ended up as a squid getting here? But then I found my ship while walking around afterward...

[Zib's not really sure how it got here under those circumstances, but hey, he isn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, or however the saying goes.]

regret

[droptheious]

Varian deals with suddenly being thrown into a boat by ravens with the resigned air of someone who's spent well over a year and a half of his life dealing with exactly this kind of nonsense. He sighs, softly, leaving Zib to make his notes- he's so damn tired, he doesn't want any creepy boat rides.

The bodies sure are... well, they're a thing. Varian's stomach twists a little as he reaches out to put a solid grip on Zib's arm.

"Don't. It's- it's probably not real. This is what this place is all about, messing with you," oh god, there are a lot of dead Zibs here, too- and yup, there's the meat boy, Varian shakes his head clear, trying to focus on the living Zib. "It. It's usually a way to get people to...talk or something."

[zib]

[Zib nearly jumps in alarm at feeling Varian grab his arm. Quite honestly, he had forgotten Varian was even there for a good minute there. His gaze doesn't leave from looking at the copies of his own body being mutilated in different ways, but he does at least respond.]

Talk? About what, exactly?

[droptheious]

[Varian wishes he wasn't used to this kind of mess. It's- well he hasn't had to deal with corpses for a few months, but this is still tragically nothing new. Nor are Deerington's games. ]

Usually about...well, whatever emotions that brings up. The nightmare did this kinda thing a lot. Tried to dig into your deepest fears and bad emotions, made you open up about it.

cw: organ theft

[zib]

I don't think I could "open up" any more than I already have right over there.

[He says, jerking a finger at one of the corpses where Dib's insides are pretty prominently on display.

... Which, is probably not what Varian meant by that, but thankfully he does continue--]

Do you remember me telling you about how, before I got here, I was stuck in a void with multiple copies of the same person I hated? Well, these are all his doing. Like that one there--[He points to the one with the missing lungs]--is from when Zim stole my lungs as well as a bunch of other organs belonging to the kids at Skool, because he thought that he could trick the school nurse into thinking he was human if he had a bunch of them on hand to show for it.

[droptheious]

Har har.

[Just the dryest laugh ever. He grimaces and focuses on the Alive Zib instead.]

Wait. What... what was he planning to do with all the organs? Like...was he just gonna...show up with them and expect it to convince her he was a human? Just like... "here's a bunch of organs that are outside my body but definitely mine?"

cw: dark harvest is a very hecked up episode for a kids show

[zib]

Oh, no, he uh...

[Zib winces, just remembering it and how disgusting Zim was about this.]

He ate them. Like, shoved them down his own throat to hide them inside of his body. That way the nurse would hear a heartbeat or lungs working when using the stethoscope or whatever else they tried to test on him.

And then he replaced everyone's missing organs with whatever objects were nearby that would keep them alive long enough for his ruse to work before eventually we were able to get our organs back. Mine took a while to get back though because every time I tried to breathe...

[As if on cue, a raven pokes at that corpse and the sound of a cow mooing can be heard as Zib rolls his eyes.]

That would happen and it caused everyone to think I was some mutant cow boy or something instead of, you know, the fact that my lungs had been stolen. He thought it was hilarious so he held onto them until people moved on to other things to distract them.

so beautiful, so awful

[droptheious]

[Sorry, Zib, Varian's just kind of staring. And staring. And oh hey there's a bit more staring going on. When he speaks, his voice has a faraway quality to it, like he's escaped to another realm for a few minutes.]

That's- that's not how biology works. In any way? That- that would just kill people???

[Oh god, is he having a stroke? Is this what having a stroke feels like?]

I'm sorry I don't- how did you survive that? Or...or did you die? That sounds like... that should definitely kill you.

[zib]

I... don't really know how none of us died from that, honestly? I try not to think about it too much.

[But then he ends up getting reminded of this nonsense anyway, thanks regretful boat ride.]

Like people have definitely died because of Zim, but that was one of the few times his crazy schemes didn't kill anyone... I can only think it was the alien technology he had used when swapping out everyone's organs the way he did to trick the human body into thinking it was still able to keep going afterward until the organs were put back.