voice| on the other (octopus) hand

[ohrlyeh]

[Usually Howard interacts with the network through text, since he's nervous of using any other format, but this time, his deep and weary voice can be heard.]

Um. A question out of curiosity, I-I suppose. If you've "received" a physical change through Retrospec, what was it? If you've received several, what is the worst one...?

[There's the sound of something falling off a table onto the floor. He lets out a shuddering sigh, his tone slightly exasperated.]

Yeah. [A pause.] Before I forget, I need someone who can go out and get some groceries for me. I'll pay you for it. I just don't feel like going outside for a while. I-I'm fine...really...............

[ooc: somebody's got tentacle hands now. life is fun!]

Comments

[odasaku]

[ odasaku has about ten seconds to take in everything that happens. howard shouts and he's immediately alert, but it's when the door opens that he finally sees why he's being so secretive.

and it's a very good reason to be.

but odasaku seems to pay that no mind as he kind of...toes around the tentacles to pick up the cat with the same deadpan expression he always wears. akage meows sadly, struggling to go back to her newly found toy. ]

God, Howard, I'm sorry she's just-- she usually doesn't act like that.

[ yeah well she's never encountered a person with tentacles so wyd ]

[ohrlyeh]

[Howard freezes like he's some poor animal on the road just realizing he has seconds before his potential demise - he winces instinctively for a scream that never comes, a rush of shocked words that are never heard.]

[Odasaku just...walks inside, among his tentacles, as if this happens every other day.]

[Howard's eyes have never been this wide.]

You... [He stops, starts again.] Can't you... [His tongue feels like dead weight.] Y-you-I don't...?

[His poor wounded tentacles instinctively slide back into his sleeves, though the rest just curl lazily on the floor. Finally, he lets out an extremely choked noise, one tentacle actually raising up in the air to gesture at the other tentacles.]

How are you not seeing this?!

[odasaku]

Oh. [ he glances around, and finally realizes that what he had been stepping around had certainly been tentacles coming from howard's body.

he glances around, and nods. ]

I see them.

[ are they strange? yeah. they're definitely strange. but it's not something that he's...afraid of, strangely enough. maybe before retrospec, they would've given him quite a shock, but after all of this? nah. ]

Back in December... I got hauled out of a bar fight by a giant extendable red arm that came from this teenager.

[ he pets akage's head, who seems to have accepted her lot in life as not being able to bite howard's tentacles ]

Since then, I just kinda accept everything, y'know? The app always gives people weird or awful things. I've just decided to let it be.

[ he pauses, glancing at the open door and the groceries that lie in the entrance before turning it back to howard. ]

You need help putting them away?

[ohrlyeh]

You just...accept everything...?

[This is...completely illogical. People don't just accept things! That's stupid! That's dangerous!]

What's...wrong with you? [He would pinch the bridge of his nose in shocked exasperation if he could.] I-I don't understand...

[This is...so weird.]

I mean, I guess? [A few tendrils slither over, picking up the groceries by the handles of their bags.] I still have trouble with...accurate movements with these things...

[odasaku]

According to people, a lot of things.

[ he shrugs, like it's not a big deal for him. if he's an idiot for thinking this way, then maybe that's just how it is. he never considered himself to be a smart person in the first place.

he glances at howard's movements and nods. toeing around the tentacles again, he manages to get back to the cat carrier where he puts akage back in. with his hands free, he takes the bags from... the tentacles.

he has to admit: it is weird. but it's not unpleasant. ]

Just tell me where these things gotta go and I'll put 'em there.

[ohrlyeh]

Just...in the kitchen. If you please.

[This is surreal. Howard would pinch himself if he could, just to confirm whether he's dreaming or not. He steps back from the other, tentacles receding somewhat into his sleeves like they're shy snakes.]

Thanks for not freaking out. [A sigh.] I-I'm already scared already. I was terrified you'd be scared too.

[odasaku]

Alright.

[ as instructed, odasaku takes the grocery bags in his hands and makes his way to the kitchen carefully and starts putting the things where...he thinks they should go. he's not very organized but he'll do his best to make it not look like a mess for howard.

while he does that, he talks. ]

Yeah, I think that's understandable. [ he feels bad for him, really. there's no words of comfort that odasaku can offer because...he's never been through something like this. ]

Did you just...wake up with them?

[ohrlyeh]

[It's pretty much a mess there already. Oda really has nothing to worry about as far as that.]

Yes, I did. I thought, at first, that somehow, there were a lot of roots growing everywhere...and then I realized what the roots were.

[And where they came from.]

I was already expecting them to show up, though. It's bad, but I honestly just thought..."it's about time"...

[odasaku]

[ oh, well that's a mood. luckily oda knows how to deal with messy kitchens and he'll just... put them where he thinks they need to go.

but he does stop when he hears that last phrase. it's about time...? ]

So...the past you had these tentacles...?

[ohrlyeh]

Yes. He did.

[He states it casually, like "of course, that's just normal for my past self to have had tentacles".]

He had normal hands too sometimes, so I assume I can change them back somehow...

what if howard is doing that exact pose in his icon right now

[odasaku]

[ huh. odasaku returns to putting the groceries away, thinking about it. so past howard had hands that could turn into tentacles... ]

Maybe if you think about your hands really hard they'll turn back.

[ what. ]

LOOK ODA I DISCOVERED MY SKELETON IS A LIE

[ohrlyeh]

[He looks incredibly unamused by that piece of advice.]

Yes, let me try that again for the hundreth time, why don't I...?

[odasaku]

They always say the hundreth and first time is the charm.

[ he shrugs. do yOU HAVE ANY BETTER IDEAS HOWARD. ]

I guess it's like learning how to walk or something. Takes time and practice to learn.

[ohrlyeh]

[His only ideas have been staying inside, far FAR away from society, honestly...]

Urgh...I guess...I mean, if it was the same for my eyes...

[His voice devolves into a nervous murmur, a few tendrils raising near his face. He then remembers that he technically doesn't have fingernails to chew on.]

I don't like it. Having to concentrate on making myself human...like I never was in the first place...

[odasaku]

[ odasaku manages to overhear that bit, but makes no mention. if howard's eyes aren't human-like, then that's just how they are. he won't press the subject though, because he's sure that it's more than just a touchy subject.

he glances down when howard speaks up again. odasaku wonders how it would be if he realized that he wasn't human...he probably wouldn't be able to take it. ]

Yeah. It sounds difficult.