Simon in April

[i_can_read]

Who: Simon and YOU.
What: Catch-all and specific top levels,
Where: Around,
When: All of April
Warnings: Horror genre references, body horror specifically, cult/religious trauma, dissociation and emotional issues, so much swearing, etc. Just Simon Things (TM)



A. Yeah my heart it spoke, and the stars replied -> OTA

Simon is easy to find on clear nights. He drops his shields for as long as possible--as long as he dares, because how long? is a question that dogs him, haunts him, taunts him, fills him with fear and forces the stones around him to close up once more--and floats or lies in the grass or rests in the fork of a tree, bathing the nearby area in a red glow.

What's he doing?

Looking at the sky. Specifically, he's looking at the stars--all the many hundreds of thousands of them, spread across the abyssal vault of heaven. Large ones, small ones. Shimmering curtains and waves, clustered scores of speckles barely distinct from one another. And bold, shining monuments to light, standing apart from any neighbouring gleam. He stares up into them with his own swirling pools of light--the pools of light that are his eyes--their radius so large and wide-armed that they almost evoke the galaxies above.

Small, pale, imitations of the miracle that dwarfs him. A tiny, feeble imitation in the lush world below. A world vibrant and verdant with life.

It almost--

It almost.... makes him feel like he was meant to. Like God is real. Like--like maybe this is what God is. This is God, or God's doing. But then, what is he doing here? What is he, Simon, doing? Here? What is he? What's it for? Why? Why--why is he, Simon, here, why him? And for what?

So it's not always a peaceful moment.

Sometimes it is, sometimes the wonder of it all eclipses the grief, the fear and confusion.

But sometimes... sometimes there are sounds. Quiet, muffled sounds. Like he might be... crying?

Don't worry, though--he'll stop the very instant he hears anyone coming. And his voice--sharp with paranoia and danger, or coarse with emotion and suspicion.

"Who's there?"

B. Plant Your Hope With Good Seeds -> Closed to Henry and Parvati

Despite a not-very edifying (or perhaps too edifying?) conversation with Umemiya, Simon is nonetheless undeterred. He's interested in the garden, and he wants...

He wants to do that. He wants to garden. Just a little. He doesn't know how, what with the utter lack of hands... or legs... or any way to carry or dig or bury or plant. He wants it so badly. It's like an ache--or a burn. A compulsion, an impulse, something nudging at the back of his mind.

He's been thinking about it, sitting there in the grass and under the canopy of nearby trees. Sealed up inside his shields, where he can see only darkness and hear the world only dimly. Protected. Encased and isolated, sheltered and solitary. Safe.

Ha. Safe isn't real. But it feels safer.

Bwcause if he stays in there, encapsulated by the darkness and the security of his rock shield, it feels like.... well, like the submarine. And when it feels like the submarine, it becomes easy to defy gravity.

The downside, of course, is that he can no longer even feel vibrations through the ground. And this leaves him completely unaware of anyone walking by.

But that's fine, right? It's not like he's going to drop his shields and scare the bejeezus out of anyone all of a sudden--

Or so he (doesn't) think, dropping his shields suddenly right as someone walks by.

C. Training wheels fell off -> OTA

[Simon still spends most days rolling around, opening his shields to look around and then closing them to follow his planned path.

Or else he's in the air--flying with his shields up like the world's most dangerous aircraft. Because he still navigates the exact same way he did back in the submarine, with the camera. He recognises the irony, but it's... kind of comforting, weirdly. It gives him something to do. And every time he opens his shields, he has a new vantage, a new vista to take in.

It's an experience that never gets old. High or low, terrestrial or aerial.

He just.... he doesn't have the best control while flying, so..... um. Possibly he falls. With luck, it's merely nearby. But sometimes he falls directly onto someone. Or onto a building, or onto someone's current project.

It's a work in progress, okay?]

D. Wildcard!

[Drop me a line at railerat or just throw something at me here and I'll figure it out!]

Comments

A

[offtracks]

"I am Ingo, of the Oran Berries."

Warden of the Pearl Clan, he ought to say. But why? Even if he still holds the title dear to himself, it means nothing to anyone here. Truth be told, he did not go out to find company; he's just always been given to the occasional nightly walk. The sound of someone crying attracted him.

It's a Minior? He only became acquainted with the species recently - is this one of the ones who fell? "Are you quite alright? I can show you to some lodging, if you would like?" His tone is gentle. His voice is sort of loud anyway.

So sorry he's very rude

[i_can_read]

Here's the thing.

When Simon said 'who's there,' what he really meant was 'do I have to fight you?'

This made sense in his head (or... mind? he doesn't have a distinct 'head' any more), where the alternative would involve the other person ('person,' Simon still struggles to think of all these things as people) leaving him alone, and not introducing themself and staying there like they currently are.

"Go away," he says, from his place up in the tree. His voice is sullen and low.

lmao

[offtracks]

Hm. Well! Fair enough! But Ingo is a dutiful sort, so he does ask:

"Are you sure? I would be quite remiss if I left a passenger in distress, or without anything they need!"

Thanks Ingo for being yourself

[i_can_read]

Normally, Simon would have been pretty short with this guy. Or rather, would have continued to be short with him--he does want to be left the fuck alone, and he wishes everyone would stop making it complicated to be alone.

But, of course, that's just it: once again it has become complicated, because what the fuck does that mean? He doesn't sniffle, because he doesn't have a nose. But his voice is still thick with not-really-suppressed emotion.

"What?" His slowly-swirling eyes swirl just a little bit slower with confused suspicion. Or suspicion-laced confusion. One of those things. "What do you mean, passenger?"

B!

[edgewater]

Parvati and Henry agreed to come on this quest together anyway, eagerly walking up and chatting. The Tinkaton has left her hammer at home, instead carrying a small toolbox in one hand. She hasn't noticed Simon yet, still happy to just talk until--

"Agh! Crap!" She squeals, finally noticing the Minior.

SORRY IM LATE ladsfds

[no_ufo_ending]

Henry walks in Parvati's shadow despite being bigger than her. He wears a sash full of little loops for the various gardening tools he's picked up over the months and between his wings is a backpack. He chats quietly, listening as he learns more about this other Pokemon. This other person.

He opens his mouth to comment on how he learned from the library that soil is different in different environments and might be better for different plants when his new friend cries out. Henry stiffens and his antennae stand straight up, but he doesn't cry out.

"Minior..." Henry observes in an awkward, flat tone. He doesn't recognize Simon at first. It's been a minute and he's seen so many of the little star Pokemon--but this one seems to have hung around!

[i_can_read]

In fairness, maybe having what looked natural rock suddenly fall to pieces in order to manifest a bright red glowing shape isn't. Great? For every situation?

Such as, for example, existing unexpectedly along a garden that's not supposed to be occupied by pieces of living star energy, or whatever the fuck Simon is now. He hasn't remotely figured that out, and only a couple of 'people' seem interested in it. One of those people is a freak, and another is a young child. His pickings are real fucking slim.

Anyway, at least Simon doesn't freak out. He just kind of sits there in the grass, glowing and swirling.

"Yeah," he says. He glances at the giant hammer, managing to look more visibly nervous than one would expect a minior to achieve. Maybe it's the little beads of light that look like brows. Or the uncertain line of his mouth.

He doesn't like being stared at much, either, he's found. So this is uncomfortable all around.

"Sorry. I think."

parvati doesn't have her hammer on her btw sjghsd just gardening tools

[edgewater]

"No, it's fine. You just startled me."

Parvati shakes her head and adjusts her slightly askew goggles with her free hand. She's not normally so jumpy, but it's not like she could have known she'd get jumpscared by the little fella. "You, uh. You digging too?"

May as well ask. She only signed up to do it with Henry, but the company wouldn't be unwelcome.

C

[belowthesea]

[Jack has started to relax after most of the Minior got shot back into the sky. He's at least... let his guard down, he's not expecting to have to dodge another falling rock from the sky.

Which means that when a rock does in fact smack directly into the back of his head, he reacts by whirling around to grab Simon and spike him into the ground.

Thankfully, it's sandy out here, so it isn't the worst landing he could have gotten. But Immediately afterward Jack lets out a little yelp and leans over to get a better look at him... and that means the next time Simon peeks out he's going to get a Teddiursa towering over him and trying to sniff him.]

[i_can_read]

[The good news (such as it is) is that smacking Simon's rock shell hurts him not at all. He feels the impact--but he also felt the impact of cracking into the back of Jack's head, and if it wasn't for the yelp, he'd have assumed he'd just bounced off a tree before hitting the familiar yielding texture of packed sand.

The bad news is that the yelp startles him, so it takes him a few seconds to recover.

He's hesitant to expose himself; he waits, listening for voices or other clues. Paranoia prickles along the surface of his thoughts. There's no fight-or-flight. It's fight-or-fight for Simon, and he's waiting for the hint that he needs to fight.

He can't hear very well through the rock, however. And sniffing is a very quiet activity.

So it is that he is completely unprepared for a faceful of round bear when his shields drop.]

AUGH, FUCK.

[The rocks reform around him immediately.]

[belowthesea]

[Jack is the same - fight-or-fight, since he can't run very fast and things in Rapture were pretty much never willing to let him get away. But he does at least have the presence of mind not to hit someone again after they just screamed in his face, so he just startles backward with another yelp.

It takes a few moments for the initial alarm to pass, before he can actually investigate Simon properly. He's got his shell, and he's a lot more conscious than the Minior he was helping launch into the sky, so... this is different? But different means he needs to figure out the new way to handle it.

There's another pause, before Jack picks up a stick and starts poking Simon's shell with it.]

[i_can_read]

[The thing is, Simon isn't much of a screamer. At all, actually.

If he'd had his own body--or any body, and not simply a vulnerable ball of spacelight and energy that he was inhabiting--things would have played out so much differently it's hardly funny.

But he doesn't, and he is. He is that. And he's well aware of what happens to other Minior without the protective layer of stone.

So in order to attack, he had to retreat.

And in order to retreat, he had to remember to do that. And somewhere in there, the frustration and offensive reflex and everything else got a little scrambled. So he yelled in the round, beady-eyed animal's face and slammed the stone around himself, and--

Had enough distance for his brain to kick in.

His first thought is why the fuck did I do that?

The second is do I actually need to ram this thing?

They're both good questions, and add a little more delay to him actually slamming all 90 lbs of projectile into the Teddiursa's face. In fact, once he's secured inside his shields, he realises that while he has no fucking idea why he was shouting like an idiot, he probably doesn't need to take any drastic action yet.

But he can feel something rapping against the rock. What is it doing? Is it testing the shield? Is it going to try and break in? ]

Hey. Uh.... hey. What're you doing?

[His voice is muffled by the rock; he may sound awkward at first, but when he threatens harm, he means it.]

Because I don't want to hurt you if I don't gotta, but I will hurt you. So....

[Smooth, Simon. Very smooth.]

C - I'm throwing a fun variation on this, adding to the 'and then on the 15th emporio gone' hehe

[seacub]

[More than likely, Emporio has encountered Simon while rolling around. There's only so much they can do to...avoid that, really. Simon can't just not move, and saying 'just keep practicing' never fixed anything.

...Not to mention he was really, weirdly tense after that day, to put things politely! (He wonders what happened...)

But, he's been supportive! Offering things that can at least help preserve the stone, warning of any sharp turn related obstacles up ahead, and, he's even been trying to read up on the Minior species in general!

But this is great. This- this is-]

...You're doing it!!!

[Flying! Floating! Something! He's-]

Oh- Oh no-!!

[Not doing that anymore, hold on Simon, he's ready to try and catch you- !!!]

[i_can_read]

[Simon has no idea what to make of this kid's enthusiasm, really. He's allowed it. Or tolerated it? He's tried to tell him to knock it off but it doesn't have any bite to it, because there's really no bite left in him for something so small.

And it is helpful, sometimes. This child has read more books on more subjects than Simon has, obviously. Or--at least he's retained more of it. Simon can't remember a lot of things. Emporio seems to remember everything.

In any case, if there is one thing he wishes Emporio would really stop, it's--]

NO, WAIT--

[seacub]

I got a cart!!!

[Just in case Simon is about to drop those shields, DO NOT-]

It's, uh, feathers!!!

[That mass migration's good for something anyway.]

[i_can_read]

It's what?

[Simon has just enough time for incredulity before he lands--with an explosion of multicoloured feathers and still the heavy Krack-KLANG of solid stone hitting the bottom of that poor cart.

But he caught him!!!]

A

[pyrodulia]

"Someone you haven't met yet, so answering that question doesn't actually give you any information."

Slinking out from the trees is a large, light-colored mammal. Quadruped, vaguely canid. No, vulpine, but for the nine tails that fan out from her rear end. Her--the voice is definitely female.

"What's wrong with you?"

[i_can_read]

There are answers that would have been helpful--like openly stating whether or not you're a threat--but that answer isn't one of them. It's not quite enough to stem the flow of tears, either--or perhaps 'tears' is a better term, as what leaks from his eyes is more like sand or stardust than saline.

It is enough to silence his actual sobs, though--and put an immediate defensive edge to his response.

"Nothing." His voice is coarse and raw; it gives him away immediately. His conviction--the conviction of a man who is expected to obey, to function and to serve--collapses mere seconds after.

"No. That's not true." Something is wrong with him. Something he doesn't understand, or have the ability to describe, or know what to do about. The emotion wells up again, overflowing, and his voice comes out broken. Hollow.

"I don't know. I don't know."

[pyrodulia]

"Ah." It is a pathetic sort of response, but Agnes has been here long enough to at least pretend to sympathy. During the long winter, she was often the one warming up frozen Pokemon, offering comfort and body heat, even if that runs counter to everything Agnes was made to be.

So she doesn't immediately show Simon scorn, as she walks closer with slow steps, settling on the ground near him at a sit, her tails tucking neatly behind herself.

"Is it you, or is it this place?"

D - Going up

[dripdrive]

When randomly signing up for a quest on the quest board, there's no indication of who you're teaming up with other than a name, so Anasui wasn't exactly sure who Simon was. However, Anasui's never been picky with who he worked with, and so he had turned up to the Spire, ready to go talk to Spinarak as soon as he met this 'Simon'. Whomever he was expecting though, he certainly wasn't expecting the Minior whom he had harassed before, and Anasui raises a thin eyebrow as he sees the floating meteor.

"... Considering you fly now, I'm surprised you've signed up to build walkways," Anasui says, voice completely neutral.

Simon is SO wrong about how this day will go, it's cute

[i_can_read]

"You." Simon literally spins around to face the giant gangly beast--which is fascinatingly accurate, considering his shields are up--and does not even fall out of the air for doing it.

Clearly, he's getting the hang of the controls.

Not so much his temper. It's not easy for something so inexpressive to hover menacingly, but he's doing a surprisingly solid job of it without even trying. He doesn't know this, exactly. But he wouldn't be surprised if he knew.

Instead, what he knows is this: the owner of that voice is a fucking psychopath and he isn't letting that bastard anywhere near him.

"Get the fuck away from me, asshole."

[dripdrive]

Anasui watches Simon turn apathetically and looks at him with the same, cold stare. A part of him is a little confused why the Minior is so clearly upset with him but that's masked by the part of him that really doesn't care.

"Hmph, I have no intention of coming near you. That's not going to help us build a staircase or whatever we're doing," Anasui says simply. "You can stay away from me as far as you'd like as long as it doesn't stop me from doing this quest properly."

sidles in late with A... this probably happened in the first half of April

[loopsiedaisy]

"Just another stargazer!" The response sounds bright and cheerful, no matter what Simon's tone is.

It's not untrue. If Siffrin got curious about the (to them, colorless) glow coming from a tree near one of their favorite night sky watching spots... who could blame them?

The cat-like Pokemon heaves themself onto one of the larger branches in Simon's forked tree. They stay at a distance beyond arm's reach - their arms, since it's not like Simon has any - but is that for Simon's benefit, or theirs? They're not hiding that they're eyeing him, though.

[i_can_read]

Simon lets the replying voice travel through him with a kind of defeated passivity. The fact that someone is already there means that he can't prevent them from being there. It's a stupid kind of logic, but it's what he's used to: he is powerless to change what happens or what people do, and he simply has to adjust however he can to keep going through the world.

Which is to say, he doesn't tell the animal crawling up the tree towards him to fuck off, even as it does that exact thing (much to Simon's extreme discomfort.) He just watches it do that, and is quietly much relieved it keeps some distance, even if it really isn't quite enough.

"Uh," he says, intelligently.

[loopsiedaisy]

Siffrin watches Simon for a moment, waiting for him to say something more. When nothing is forthcoming, they laugh into their paw. "Cat got your tongue?"

Their tail dangles off the side of the branch, swishing slowly; they inspect Simon's dropped shields, and then Simon himself a bit more carefully. Whatever they're looking for, they don't comment on it - instead they finally turn their head toward the sky. For now.

"You know, you're a lot easier to understand than all the other shooting stars!" Despite the current lack of words.

(Wait does calling Simon a shooting star mean that the "stargazer" part was also a pun -)