Open Log

[doctorkishitani]

WHO: Whoever happens to be in the library on this fine evening.
TONE: Studious. Or social. Or conspiratorial. Depends on what's bringing you here.
RATING: PG for now, but subject to change depending on what happens.
WHEN: May 23rd: around 19:30.
WHERE: The Library
WHAT: Whatever you happen to be doing in the library on a Wednesday evening.



It's quiet, but looming exams seem to be making the library a bit more crowded than usual and the various students turning pages and furtively whispering to each other keep it from being completely silent. The candles hovering above the various tables and ostentatious bookshelves slowly grow brighter as the sun begins to set, gradually adjusting to the changing light.

In short: You're in the library. What do you do?

Comments

[doctorkishitani]

Shinra quickly makes his way over to the Magical Creatures section and begins scanning the bookshelves. Given the unexpected assignment, most of the books on dragons and dragon care probably would have been checked out, but Shinra reasons that it's worth looking anyway. If all else failed, they could always take out a book on magical reptiles. There was probably something to be learned there.

[mo_cara]

As he turns a corner, he'll come across a tall, lanky figured slouched against one of the bookshelves, wearing a purple hoodie with the hood pulled up over his head and a riot of unruly curls over his face so that his features are hard to make out, though his skin seems to be ... startling white? Like paper white?

The figure is unmoving, just leaning against the shelf and not reacting to Shinra's presence at all.

[doctorkishitani]

Shinra turns the corner and continues to ravenously scan the bookshelves. He leans up, craning his neck to peer at some of the higher shelves before turning to offer the lanky figure in the purple hoodie a grin and leaning over to whisper excitedly.

"Hello! Are you looking after an egg as well? I can't find any books on dragon reproduction or dragons in general, but I'm hoping to find something on magical reptiles. Have you had any luck?"

[mo_cara]

The figure starts with an odd snorting sound, throwing its head back, eyes wide beneath all that hair, to reveal the painted face of a black-and-white clown. Oh. It's just Gamzee, and apparently he has mastered the art of sleeping standing up.

"Woah, motherfucker!" he exclaims, in an exaggerated whisper. "Where'd you all be coming from?"

[[Shall we say they have Transfiguration together?]]

[doctorkishitani]

He starts slightly as the figure suddenly throws his head back, but quickly composes himself as he recognizes Gamzee.

"I was looking for-- Wait! Were you asleep? I didn't think humans could sleep standing up. At least not instinctively. I know horses sleep this way about half the time, but it's a defence mechanism for them. Human's wouldn't have that particular instinct, being at the top of the food chain. Have you been training yourself to sleep upright?"

[[That works!]]

[mo_cara]

Gamzee just stares at the other boy, trying to parse out what he's saying. "I guess motherfuckin' so!" he says finally, in a cheerful tone. "Because I ain't being no hoofbeast, last I was checking myself out."

He glances down again, as if to make sure his big feet haven't turned into hooves or something, lifting one, then the other.

[[Splendid!]]

[doctorkishitani]

"Really?" He takes a step forward and leans up to peer into Gamzee's eyes as well as he can. "You must have amazing adaptive capabilities. How long have you been able to do this? It must have been challenging. Was it?"

He follows Gamzee's gaze downwards, pausing his line of questions to join the other boy in contemplatively peering at his shoes.

[mo_cara]

"Uh, I dunno. I guess I ain't never been thinking about it much," Gamzee admits. His shoes are kind of dirty Chuck Taylors, in a shade of purple that was probably vibrant at some point. "I just got to get my snooze on sometimes, dig?"

Gamzee doesn't seem particularly uncomfortable with the other boy's close proximity, though, and just gives him a dopey, goofy smile when Shinra peers into his face. His eyes are ... well, just a little bit bloodshot.

[doctorkishitani]

Shinra tilts his head. There was nothing especially remarkable about Gamzee's feet. They were slightly larger than average, but that wasn't really surprising, given his height, so he couldn't really guess why the other boy was contemplating them.

He looks back up at Gamzee, taking a step back and eagerly returning his smile. "So it's all based on instinct? You do have amazing adaptive capabilities!... Unless you have a form of narcolepsy. Do you ever hallucinate? Or feel as if you're having an out of body experience?"

[mo_cara]

Gamzee relaxes, and smiles more confidently as they get on more solid ground, ground he's familiar with. "Like you mean be seeing shit what actually ain't there, or be like flying in my dreams over everyone, except I ain't really catching no z's? Hell yes, motherfucker, all the time!"

The taller boy blinks as something occurs to him, and he peers at Shinra curiously. "Do you, too?"

[doctorkishitani]

"Yes! Well, that's the most commonly known type. They can also be auditory, or tactile and I think there have been some cases of gustatory hallucinations, but I don't know as much about those. But at any rate, if you're hallucinating, having out of body experiences and spontaneously falling asleep, you might be narcoleptic."

At the question, he peers back up at Gamzee for a moment before looking down contemplatively, "I think I did once, but I'm sure it wasn't a narcoleptic hallucination."

[mo_cara]

"I don't know what narcoleptic is all meaning, but I'm pretty sure all the seeing things be because of all them drugs what I done," Gamzee explains cheerfully. "'Cause I'd see some freaky shit sometimes after the glue or the oven cleaner. What'd you see?"

[doctorkishitani]

Shinra grins as he flicks his gaze back up to Gamzee and launches into his own cheerful explanation. "Oh! Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder. It's normally characterized by spontaneous sleep attacks and interrupted nocturnal sleep and occasionally by hallucinations. But if your hallucinations were brought on by drugs, you might not be narcoleptic."

He pauses again, offering Gamzee a small, contemplative frown. "It was a long time ago, so I don't remember exactly what I saw. I think everything just seemed to be distorted. What did you see?"

[mo_cara]

"Oh, damn." Gamzee tilted his head back and stared thoughtfully at the ceiling, his eyes going semi-unfocused. "Lots of shit. I done see me a goat that lived in the sea, because it were all being half fish, except it was giant and white, so I guess it was all being a motherfuckin' ghost? And one time I saw this giant motherfucker with big horns and a skull for a face, wearing bones and blood, so he was probably the motherfuckin' devil, except he was kind of cool, like I knew he was down with the clown, too, and he was all being on my side."

Unconsciously, he taller boy's hands clasped in front of him, and he started rocking back and forth from the balls of his feet to the heel, forward and back, forward and back. "I saw my mum dead, and she was talking to me from the motherfuckin' window, in the dark you know? She was all behind the reflections, except I don't always remember what her face is all being like, so she didn't have one. I think I seen just about everyone I know dead one time or another. They're always motherfuckin' aggro at me when I see them like that. Except Tavros. He was just sad."

[doctorkishitani]

Shinra watches intently as Gamzee rocks back and forth, his grin faltering as he hangs on to the other boy's every word. He then peers back up into Gamzee's eyes, frowning slightly and taking a moment to mull over everything he'd said.

"I don't know what any of that could mean, but it seems that aside from the instances where you saw people you knew, the imagery has been relatively benign." He pauses for a moment, chewing on his lower lip. "I wonder why seeing your family was more upsetting than seeing the Devil. That seems unusual, but you might have just been under the influence of a more aggressive drug at the time."

[mo_cara]

"Ain't nothin' wrong with the devil, he gots his motherfuckin' place in this world," Gamzee says philosophically. "We all are to be tested in the end. The Dark Carnival ain't for the weak."

He tilts his head to one side, examining Shinra curiously. "You big in Div? 'Cause they always be talking about how dreams are meaning shit, except I'm not good at that part. I like the cards."

[doctorkishitani]

Shinra laughs quietly and somewhat sheepishly at that remark. "You're probably right. Many creatures are irrationally feared because they're primarily known as harbingers of death, and now that I think on it, the Devil isn't all that different."

He smiles back, completely unperturbed as Gamzee examinesl him. "And yes! It's probably one of my favourite subjects! And I do enjoy dream analysis! Are you really good with Tarot cards? I've always had trouble with that unit. Possibly because..."

He trails off, pausing contemplatively for a moment before peering back up at Gamzee, "What's the Dark Carnival? Is that another colloquialism?"

[mo_cara]

Gamzee nods in response to the question about cards, an expression of mellow interest lighting his face. "I like them pictures, and all the clues they puts in them, so you can tell what each of them is all being about! How come you don't-"

But he cuts himself off when Shinra asks about the Dark Carnival. This is serious shit! "I don't think it gots nothing to do with them colloquials, but the Dark Carnival is where the souls all go when we ain't living no more. You got to be tested! And go through trials of fire and temptation, and then be judged because of what you do!"

[doctorkishitani]

Shinra smiles as Gamzee as he begins his explanation, but fixes a very serious gaze on him throughout. He then pauses for a moment, emitting a quiet, contemplative sigh. "So, it's the afterlife?... I don't think I've ever heard it described that way. Is the Dark Carnival meant to be different from other depictions of the afterlife? Do you go there as soon as you die or is it an apocalyptic idea?"

[mo_cara]

"Nah, it's just like ... " Gamzee pauses, trying to think of how to explain it. "The bridge. To whatever comes after you die. Like you go through the Carnival, and you get tested, and if you pass, you go on, to this giant motherfucking paradise where it's all colored tents and bumping sounds and everybody grooving together with love because we're all the same! But if you give in, if you're a fucked up person who can't give that shit up, then you get trapped, forever, and it's torture."