arm to the teeth [OPEN]

[sullenstallion]

Who: Dylas and you!
When: After the new arrivals.
Where: A storage room in the Curti Center, later walking slithering to his home in the housing district.
What: Dylas receives a wonderful regain that earns him a few stares. Not entirely sure what's wrapped so tightly in the canvas, he decides to unroll it before heading home...
Warnings/Notes: Mentions of cannibalism, mostly played for humor.

i. can I give you a hand?

What’s their problem?

[Dylas asks the question aloud and at no one in particular as he makes his exit from the Biggs and Wedge. As if getting called out there wasn’t annoying enough—he’s been trying to keep a low profile for a number of good reasons. But those two assholes? They wouldn’t even look at him. Dylas calls himself a monster, but being stared at like one from people who have probably seen all kinds of weird shit is more annoying than hurtful. And all because of this parcel.

He looks down at where it’s tucked under his arm. Something from his home word, apparently, that’s what he’s carrying. But it’s long, lumpy. He can’t remember owning anything shaped like this back in his apartment. In fact, in Ryslig, he hadn’t owned many things at all aside from fishing equipment. This...it’s too short for a fishing rod. And with the canvas, he can’t smell it.

...well, it can’t be that bad.

And it isn’t bad until he’s stepped into what he thinks is an empty, seldom-used store room and sets the parcel down on a small table. He wastes no time in unwrapping it and, lo and behold, there’s a human arm staring back up at him. It’s still wearing its watch. Cute. Dylas stares down at it with a sigh, torn between relief, horror, confusion, and exasperation...when he hears the door opening. But it’s too late. He’s like a deer in the headlights, eyes wide and mouth hanging open as the door slowly swings open.

How is he going to explain this?]

——Don't look!!! I'm, uh, changing!

ii. just another normal day

[So, maybe he understands why Biggs and Wedge didn’t make eye contact with him now. Maybe. Maybe he’s also surprised he made it out of there without any authorities being alerted, because what the hell. He’s heard about these things, these objects from other people’s home worlds. He never thought he’d get one. And now that he has one, he doesn’t want it. Throwing it away would also be problematic.

Dylas manages to make it to the housing district without any further unraveling incidents, but when your morning starts with someone sending you an arm, your luck isn’t bound to get much better. He’s slithering fast, his massive weight taking corners without pausing. One moment, a passerby could be minding their own business, and the very next there’s a giant snake-man clutching a package crashing or near-crashing into them.

Sometimes, Dylas is nicer, but today is not the day for that.]

Are you trying to eat sidewalk, or do you just have your head up your ass?

[He’s agitated enough by the encounter for his fangs to be showing, but maybe he’ll calm down. Maybe. Once he stops glaring and feels less tense about this whole ordeal.]

Comments

[peninhand]

[ She beamed and giggled. If you couldn't laugh about the little things really... ]

Hmm! My brain works in weird ways sometimes. I can't say whether it was unintentional or not.

[ It had been a hundred percent intentional. Given the tension, a simple pun was just what he had needed to relax and stop dreading what her reaction would be. But still, if she didn't dissipate any doubts immediately, he would probably think she was a psychopath. When really, she just has sociopathic tendencies.

She rose a finger. ]

Listen.... I have been taken from my homeworld. I now have magical powers and I live in a world where murderous hamsters are commonplace. Oh, and T-rexes too. That is, when we don't go on trips in some sort of weird interdimensional space where we risk getting lost in our memories.

[ When worded like that, it really sounded incredibly stupid. Regardless, her smile grew sadder as she lowered her finger. ]

That thing they gave you... That's not even close to the most disturbing thing I've seen lately. And that says more about me than it does about you, wouldn't you say?

[sullenstallion]

[At least one of them can smile.]

Uh-huh. I wonder.

[If she's going to laugh like that, he's got a pretty good guess. But he shakes his head. Intentional or not, the feeling of tension is gone so he's thankful. He listens to her speak while slithering over to where he threw the arm, twisting to face her as she explains.]

This place is pretty weird. You're not wrong about that. But trust me. This, uh, gift says a lot more about me than it does about you.

[He 'bends' down to pick it up and returns to place it on the canvas. He wants to hurry up and wrap it back up, but now that Monika has seen it...it'll just make him look flustered if he freaks out about it again. The man's arm sits there, his watch cracked and no longer running. It's cold to the touch, too, and looks like it's been preserved in a freezer.]

You're not going to tell anyone about this, are you?

[His tone is flat. He doesn't sound worried or like he's threatening her. He just looks at her, eyebrow raised, waiting for an answer.]

[peninhand]

[ She smiled sadly and shook her head. ]

Why would I? [She shook her head.] We all have secrets we want to hide from other people. Man, I would be pretty annoyed if someone walked in on a secret of mine and told everyone. So no, I won't.

[ She looked down at the arm. He'd... Gotten that from the Dream Width? But she thought people only got thing that once belonged to them or were somehow related to them. And that arm quite obviously didn't belong to him... ]

So hmm... Do you want to talk about it?

[ Of course he wouldn't want to talk about it. But thankfully if she had played her cards right, he would anyway. ]

[sullenstallion]

There's a big difference between...uh.

[It's right then and there that he realizes he doesn't understand the trials and tribulations of a teenage girl. He stares, golden eyes unblinking as he tries to think of something, anything.]

There's...a difference between having two boyfriends and holding onto an arm.

[Did he just accuse Monika of having two boyfriends? That's not what he's trying to do, but he soldiers on anyways, tapping his claws on the crate the arm rests on.]

And nope. I don't want to talk about it. I'll find someone to get rid of it, so don't worry. They must've made a mistake.

[He puts on a brave face, but he's fidgeting. Between drumming his caws and the way the tip of his tail twitches in plain sight, he's clearly nervos about something.]

[peninhand]

[ She raised an eyebrow as he tried thinking of what secrets someone like her could have. Two boyfriends? That's cute. Well, maybe not totally off the mark, she had a crush on three different person right now, after all.

But he clearly hadn't realized just what sort of skeletons she had in her closet. ]

Gosh, do you think it's the worst someone like me can hide? I can single-handedly think of many weird secrets for someone you think is normal.

[ .... Oh, she'd done it again, oh well. ]

If they had just made a mistake, you wouldn't have been so embarrassed. [She shook her head.] Ahaha! I'm sorry, I don't mean to be pushy about this. But I also know sometimes keeping things bottled up... Just doesn't help in the long-term.

[ That and she's curious to know the whole story, but details. ]

[sullenstallion]

[He makes a "tch" sound, passing air through his teeth. It's annoying, being called out like that by a teenage girl.

But she's asking a question, and after thinking about it? He has a damn good answer.]

I think it's weird you're a Necromancer, too. That's not something most people would pick, is it?

[He lets the accusation hang in the air. He's not a person, so he's blameless in this. But her?]

It was a mistake. [He tries to put more emphasis on the words this time, like repeating them will make them more real somehow.] Anyone would be freaked out if they were given an arm, right?

[peninhand]

[ Well now, that is awkward. But not awkward enough for her to let the facade slip. ]

Hm! That's already a bit weirder. [A smile.] But still far from the weirdest stuff I'm into.

[ She wasn't really a person, too. Not that he could tell based on the way she looked. If only he'd believed her when she'd told him the real monsters weren't always those who looked the part. ]

Ah well, if you don't want to speak about it, I won't insist. [She wasn't fooled by his words, but there was no point in persevering. She knew if someone caught her in the act of deleting, she wouldn't answer no matter how much she was asked about it. She turned away] I still think what I said when we first met. I know how disheartening it can be to feel... Well, you know. Ah nevermind, I'll leave you be.

[ A gesture of the hand, and she was on her way unless interrupted. Bone appétit. ]

[sullenstallion]

...Are you sure you should be telling a monster twice your age that you're into weirder stuff?

[This sounds bad to Dylas. If anyone were overhearing the conversation, he's pretty sure he'd get yelled at for both that and the arm. Ultimately, it's only a minor distraction from the more serious matter at...arm.

Seriously.]

It's not that...it's not entirely what you think. Whatever you think this is, there's...more to it. More you don't want to know.

[He says that like he thinks he's protecting her. And to him, he is. She seems nice. Really, Monika is someone he'd have liked to have spoken to again, but...this is going so badly. He calls out a 'wait' before slithering away from the arm and closer to the door.]

Are you trying to be just as vague as I am? It's not cute.

[But he remembers. They 'have something in common.']

[peninhand]

[ A monster twice her age... Truly, he still thought her a normal and sweet human being. How she wished he was right. How she wished she would be as careless and happy as she had been prior to her epiphany. But she couldn't tell him. Much like him, she had secrets she wanted to keep.

But... ]

I have a friend who always tries to be cute. Hmm, but I don't think that's it, I just... [A pause as she took a pen as well as a piece of paper out from one of the boxes.] Struggle to find the right words.

[ Still facing away from him, she hastily wrote something on the piece of paper... Though it still took a few minutes for her to complete. Once done, she placed the piece of paper on the box she'd opened. If she couldn't convince him with spoken words, written words would get the message across. ]

I think that should do it, that's for you. [She turned her head to look back at him with a slight smile.] Don't judge me too harshly ahaha! I can do better when I have more time to get my thoughts together.

[ And with that said, she left. Should he pick up the poem, the handwriting was obviously rushed but still readable: ]

  Human

He wasn't like me.

Was he an animal? Was he an alien? I didn't know.
I'd never seen anything like him before.

I asked out of curiosity:
A monster.

Could a monster be kind? Could a monster smile?
He looked away to answer:

  "I am a monster.
  I am dangerous.

  I am different.
  I am horrible.
  I am a bad person.
  I am a monster."

Sorrow and sadness in his eyes,
He left and I was alone.

      Then I saw my friend

She was like me.

She was beautiful, she was human.
She smiled at me.

I told her whom I had met today:
A monster.

Could a monster be kind? Could a monster smile?
She responded with a laugh:

  "He is a monster.
  He must die.

  He is not like us.
  He is different.
  He is horrible.
  So he must die."


She was like me

And with a smile,
                She took a knife to kill him.

[sullenstallion]

[He's.

Pretty sure this poem is about how Monika wants to kill him. Somehow, it makes him feel...bad? He wishes she hadn't seen this.

Dylas liked talking to her.]