002 - Octopus's Garden In the Shade

[thebeastwithout]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[Today on the hot mess that is Retrospec, somebody's either fallen asleep on their keyboard or allowed their cat to play with the computer for too long, 'cause there's a solid string of this for about a minute straight.]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Garfield Logan added 3 new photos - in Huntington Avenue, Recollé
2 mins

[The first photo is a blurry image of Gar screaming, with only his head and upper chest visible. Something long and twisty is visible at the edge of the frame.

The second is a slightly less blurry image of a... realistic-looking octopus tentacle, for some reason.

The last is an image of Gar's bare chest underneath a ripped shirt, which no one ever really wanted to see, but we're all being traumatized today so just go with it. Everything looks normal up until the part where his shoulder attaches to the octopus tentacle in the previous picture.

It's kinda gross.]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Comments

[thebeastwithout]

i think we're still trapped in a giant dome, but i appreciate the thought

[ok
gar is going to actually stay silent now
for reals
how do you meditate
breathe
he's breathing a lot
he's good at breathing
just follow the app...?]

[invocate]

true. the dome is still there.

[and now she'll just wait. see if the meditation helps any. any maybe hoping the dome stays in place... at least a little while longer...]

I apologize for this weird tag in advance!

[thebeastwithout]

[he isn't sure what breathing will accomplish
it's not like
he doesn't do this approximately 900000000 times a day
still
it's not like he has anything better to do right now, either
the app instructs him to breathe in a rhythm and to focus his thoughts on the counting of the breath

1
2
3

he wonders what will happen if he walks downstairs right now
mom will probably faint
that would be kinda funny but also kinda terrible
dad would tell him to quit fooling around
is this really something he's going to have to deal with forever
people say he should be able to remember being an octopus
whatever his memories are, they don't involve being an octopus
crap he stopped counting uh

89
90
91
92

do they?

95
96
97

what does he have right now
singing karaoke
that city, with those other kids... all of them looked... odd
cyborg - that person's name was cyborg
the others were... the boy with the mask, the sullen girl in the purple, and the extremely tan girl wearing... probably not enough
and...

214
215
216
217

his parents
they were biologists
studying... monkeys
something like that
they had died in a flood
but this was his memory from here
...wasn't it?
on the boat, in the river
when it had capsized...........
he had been thrown to shore --
no
into the water
he could remember... the water

321
322
323

the water..... he was in the water...
there was something about the water...]

Aw geez.

[Why was he even thinking about this...?
He reaches over and types a quick message with one hand]

meditation is making me think weird things

[invocate]

i am sorry? what kind of weird things?

[thebeastwithout]

oh
nothing
it's fine
just like
old memories of things i haven't thought about in a while

[invocate]

oh
i guess that can happen sometimes
thoughts drift in

[thebeastwithout]

...
...
...

i think maybe this has happened before

i dunno

[invocate]

remembering old memories?

or the arm tentacle thing?

[thebeastwithout]

...i'm not sure

[he had been swept to shore by the water - he remembers the sheer force, pushing him away, rushing into his lungs
he couldn't do anything...

so why...

does he also remember... swimming towards his parents -- and his arms slicing through the water like...]

i think i went swimming a long time ago
when i was a little kid
i can't remember what happened then but this suddenly doesn't feel so strange

[invocate]

okay. that is something though.

do you feel a little calmer?

[thebeastwithout]

yeah

yeah i think i do!

guess i got distracted by the other weird stuff i was thinking about

i'll probably freak out again when i look at it ag oh wait what?!

[invocate]

what? what is it gar?

[pls don't tell her you now have even more tentacles Gar]

[thebeastwithout]

it's gone!!!!

[it takes a few moments before he clarifies]

it's an arm again!
it's been an arm - i was just typing with two hands and i didn't even notice

what happened!!

[invocate]

Oh thank goodness!

[she was seriously beginning to wonder if Gar was going to turn into some sort of tentacly squid-boy]

maybe once the initial shock wore off your body was able to... reset?

[thebeastwithout]

uhhhhh i dunno!
that sounds scientific sure

i still don't know what happened but like
it's definitely an arm again
right??? it's back??

[she gets a picture of his skinny arm underneath his torn sleeve]

i guess i just gotta
not think about octopuses?

[invocate]

i am really glad to see your arm

but yes, maybe not think about octopuses

and keep that meditation app handy until you have a better idea what is going on

[thebeastwithout]

[a faint pause before he responds]

yeah ok

[today he has learned that being alone with his thoughts is disturbing, but not any more disturbing than waking up to freaky body mutations
either way he's not excited about experiencing either of those things again]

thanks for your help
i guess everything's cool now
talk to you later?

[invocate]

yeah! see you at school!