2020-05-10 - What If the Weed Smoked You?

It takes August a second to realize what's going on, and even then it's a stretch to say he understands, but at least he gets that feeling. That sinking feeling that tells him this is one of those Dreams.

He tries to move, and his legs are stuck. Christ, what the hell. He looks around them, trying to get his bearings, see if he's in here alone, or not.

Kailey makes a soft moaning as she slowly comes too. There is a moment of swaying and then she stretches and stops. Her eyes blink open and while she can't stop the yawn or watering of her eyes ipon waking, she can be otherwise still. One second. Two. Her eyes move to take in the scene. "Fuck."

Aidan squints against the light. Okay, the warm is nice, but ow. It takes a good few blinks to focus on things, brow furrowed as he tries to place the scents that are definitely not his trailer. And people who are definitely not Baylee, in fact, that's-- oh. "Hey, August," he greets the older man, with a hint of resignation, and grins crookedly, adding, "We gotta stop meeting this way?" Looking down, he tests moving his legs, leaning to scoop soil away if necessary.

Grant was soooooo totally having a great night testing out hie roomie's new merch. Thank you Greggo. Employee perks at the dispersery are not lacking, that's for damn sure. He yawns and stretches and, yup, falls over. Sitting in the knee deep dirt he takes a moment to scrape a pile together like a damn pillow and doesn't even question his existence. The light is... good. The footsteps are... not his problem. The light is in his damn eyes though. He sighs and signs, Hey, cuz. Cracking an eye he signs back to August something he doesn't expect to be understood but equates to: I was just talking about you. Okay here's to doing something about the light. But soft dirt nap. Wait... dirt nap??! There is a murmur he mistakes for his internal monologue, "If I'm dead again someone's ass is getting haunted."

August half-turns, gives Aidan a wry smile. "Ah, yeah." He looks around, trying to take in their surroundings. Are they shrunk? Are they normal sized and in something huge? (Maybe the difference isn't relevant, it's a Dream after all.) Now he hears Grant, sees Kailey. "Hang on, we'll help get everyone out."

He shifts in the soil, tugging with his legs to wiggle them loose, and like Aidan, shovels handfuls aside. Well there goes this pair of pants. It's a good thing he was dressed for work, so they're a pair of ragged denim jeans.

He freezes in place when he hears footsteps and chatter, begins digging much faster, yanks his feet free and begins looking for a way out of his pot and over to Kailey's. He has zero intention of them being immobile when they run into...whatever that is.

Kailey had, of course, looked at August soon as she heard his name. Was that minor relief mixed in with the horror on her face? Maybe. "Thank you!" She tells him as he helps her get the last few handfuls dug from around her feet. Lately she had taken to being barefoot around the house. Or in socks. These socks were now filled with dirt and she starts to empty them. But the voices make her freeze, turning to stare wide-eyed at August. Softly she whispers, "Can you make out what they're saying?"

"Oh, hey," Aidan says, brightening slightly when he sees Kailey and Grant there. Last time he saw both of those two, it wasn't too bad, really, right? Although last time he saw both Grant and August...

The sound of those steps isn't more soothing, and he leans forward, pressing his hands into the soil for leverage and tugging out first one leg, and then with that foot braced as well, the other. Maybe he wasn't planted as well as the others, but it lets him slide free without too much trouble. "You help her, I'll help him?" he suggests to August as the botanist appears to be making good progress as well, and heads to the edge of his pot to judge how hard lowering himself down is likely to be.

Grant looks back up to Aidan and arches an eyebrow and pulls one foot free and then... an bare foot. He looks down into the pot curiously and tries to shove his arm back in there and fish around for it but there's something about people being in a little bit of a hurry so he stands there and looks from face to face to face, though he gives Kailey a wave allo. he doesn't sign but curious to Aidan for some direction or explain action or...is he trying to search his cousin for snacks?

August negotiates his way out of his own pot, moves to help Kailey out of hers. "Okay. Yeah. Those are...dryads. Or Ents." Made out of good ol' MJ but he is not saying that out loud, no sir. He calls to Aidan in a rough whisper, "The lights," then reaches out to send a short jolt of lightning at them. He's still getting used to this ability, which announced tiself by shocking the hell out of Eleanor one morning in February. This is a bit better: it nails a bunch of the lights. So that's some cover, after a fashion.

"Ents? Like from Lord of the Rings?" Is Kailey's whispered and puzzled response as she carefully gets down from the pot. The socks are just held in one hand for now as she opts for going barefoot. She uses them to brush the worst of the dirt from the soles of her feet as she ducks down and behind some of the other 'people' still in their pots. "What do we do?" She glances at Aidan and Grant. Is waving appropriate? Hers is very lacking in return and is just aborted halfway in.

Aidan, on the other hand, is totally saying that out loud(ish). "There are pot Ents? Shouldn't they be like... a whole plant?" Okay, that might not be the most important issue right now, which August's harsh whisper helps bring to mind, and though he looks like he's about to try to do something about them, that seems to be nicely covered!

He gives August a thumbs up that's probably invisible in the sudden darkness, which is about when it occurs to him that this... probably leaves the dude who was using a bunch of sign language last time in a difficult position. A moment of focus and he thinks something approximating a knock on the other three's minds as he opens up a mental channel, following it with <<Sorry, usually I'd ask first but, pot Ents coming our way and I feel like maybe we wanna avoid them. And whispering's not gonna work. Can anyone tell if the other potted people are, uh, people people?>> Toward determining this, he moves to try to look more closely at the nearest one, in the dimness. Is he going to have to poke 'em to find out?

Sadly, he does not dispense snacks at this time.

Grant is not subtle and looks from Kailey to August shocked and intrigued, "Ants?!" and not subtle without his ears in. He looks eyes dark, curious, and glances to the magician startled signing Sweeeet. He approves of mental shenanigans especially in the dark. So at least this is folks he knows. That's alright. And these other folks? Grant wipes his nose to get rid of the itch with the back of his wrist without hitting himself with his own shoe. There's a plus. Still he wades over to the nearest adjacent pot and reaches a hand gently to give them a jostle. "Dunno, cuz, I'll look."

'Ents,' August emphasizes, signing the word out to Grant. But like Aidan, he's figuring there's not much chance Grant will see it. Still, he tries.

And then he seeks out the people in their pots. Or, what he figures are people. Except...

<<I don't...I don't think those are people. Not like us.>> He looks at Aidan. <<Double-check for me?>> He ducks, maybe to reduce the risk of being seen by the...ents.

"Sooo...what's the plan?" Comes the mental voice of Kailey. It's more musical than her actual voice. There's a hum to the words that sounds like bells or maybe a reverberating viola. Kailey lifts her head slowly to peer about as she tries to keep other bodies, August and Aidan primarily, between her and the Ents. "Anyone see a way -out?-"

Aidan pokes the person lightly, then straight-up prods, brow furrowing. And then August makes that suggestion, and he nods in the dark, ducking down a bit as well in response despite the dimness. <<Checkin',>> he replies, and there's a pause that becomes a distinct pause before, <<Uh. Okay. People here are plants. Plants here are people. I mean, straight-up, like, pretty sure we could make the people grow or wilt easier than the Ent dudes. It's all flipped around.>>

Grant signs back to August in a fluid fluency that keeps the gestures short, efficient, and moving. He replies with his mind's voice too though in a process that seems like it's trying not to freak out. 'Duuude There ain't no one home. Like these guys are mondo in 'The Situation used to read them bedtime stories' levels of brain dead. Dude... duuuuder... ooooooh shitshitshit guys they really are not home. If we're tiny though... can you imagine the size of the kitchen on this place? We should find it.'

August grimaces. <<Not sure we can free them, then, if they're...plants. Which means we're just freeing ourselves.>> He cranes his neck to see around them, trying to find a way out. Ah ha, right where it would usually be. <<Door out is over there, by one of the ents. Need him distracted.>>

...and then he hears Bubba say that. He freezes, gritting his teeth, and tries to cast an illusion to distract the ent away from their empty pots. Obviously rats took the plants! Damned rats!

Kailey tilts her head and narrows her eyes as she peers at the Ents. She hears what they're saying and there is some alarm that crosses her face. The sign language actually catches her attention for a minute and, lo and behold, she even seems tof ollow it. Still she keeps to mind-talking, "We need to move," She says and scans the room for someplace better in the darkness. Then another idea seems to come to her and her gaze goes from the room to Bubba. And she's narrowing her eyes in a very pointed way.

<<They prolly have pop-tarts the size of a magazine.>> If this was tempting Aidan to go with Grant's suggestion at all, the sound of that guy noticing the missing, uh, them knocks any such thoughts out of his head, and he closes his eyes a moment, willing the four of them to be unseen, unimportant, uninteresting... invisible, or at least Somebody Else's Problem. That's before he catches August's suggestion, alas. <<I kinda just hid us? I think. So that prolly counts. They prolly won't notice us if we try going.>> And he starts seeing about threading through the pots toward the mentioned exit.

Grant creeps around the tables crouched lower. He pauses and one short gesture REALLY? Looking up and back he is now on a mission. Oh yes. But... there's people and... big leafy dudes who are sticking people in pots and... he's got munchies. He's too damn hungry to be scared. His stomach is now leading the hunt and if he's got to he'll navigate this place like a hungry mouse if it comes to that.

August watches, tense and still, as Bubba panics about a rat. A huge rat. Yeah don't fuck with that rat which is totally there. <<Okay. Door.>> He pauses, though, as they get closer, seeing Bubba is now the one in the way. Time for...another rat. That rat's brother, maybe. Or its mom. Yeah--mama rat. <<Let's see if I can drive him off...>>

Did someone say poptarts? Kailey turns to look at Aidan and then Grant with interest. <<"Do you have to talk about -those-?">> She whines faintly and then sighs softly. As they make their way towards the door she glances at the Ents and smiles. Just a little bit. <<"I wonder how much they weigh...?">> Kailey, for her part, is not helping with the hungery. She is almost always hungry right now and the mention of food makes her stomach rumble subtley. <<"Nice distraction,">> She comments and once again doesn't giggle. The door is close and she eyes it. <<"We should make a run while they're distracted.">>

Aidan continues toward that door, not at a run, but a reasonably quick-paced stride. <<I'm pretty sure they can't see us now, we just gotta...>> He trails off, eyeing the not-people they pass. That's really creepy. <<I got pop-tarts at home. I mean, normal size, but if we can get there, I'll share.>> First, though, exiting. And if they happens to see a massive kitchen full of snacks and empty of Ents outside... well, maybe a look.

Is Grant trying all of the things? Yes. Yes he is. That...that is not a preferable taste. Note to self call his hookup for snacks. For now the Pop-Tart the size of a Rolling Stone is on. There's a half-lucid grin from the skater and he signs sending her the mental wave too 'Fuuuuck yeah girl. I'll find you the biggest fuckin goddamned pop-tart known to man. but it ain't in here.' He's making a break for it. It might be into an Ent. It might be into a kitchen. it is definitively out of this room.

August slows to a stop when that smell hits him. He knows it too well, remembers things associated with it that don't bear close scrutiny. Then he sees the...grafting.

It takes him a second to do something other than stare. He drags his eyes away. <<Do we... Maybe we should destroy this place.>> It's a very Lilith moment.

Kailey glances back at Grant and she smiles briefly at him. She signs to him, 'Fuck yeah!' before she turns back to the matter of escaping this place. And lo and behold she is properly creeped out when it hits her what she is seeing. And she slows down slightly with a look of disgust on her face. And maybe some sympathy. Just a smidge. She wraps her arms around herself as if to assure that her limbs are there and her own. No more smile now, that is for sure. Instead she is trembling and wide-eyed, taking a small step away from the nearest mutilated person-plant. "Oh fuck," She finds herself whispering, hands coming to cover her mouth.

That little step allows her to see something. A finger points from mouth to another Ent near a drying rack type area. It stands between all of them and the exit and has her skittering back into August's shadow. <<"There's another one!">> Her mind squeeks.

Blood is a too-familiar scent, and Aidan stops short when he sees the... graftings. His arms wrap across his stomach, and he takes a deep breath through his mought. <<They're... they're plants,>> he answers August, though it's at least as much as though he's reminding himself. <<They're plants that look like people being tended by people who look like plants. So we-- no. We go.>> He pulls his gaze away from the graftees and it catches the same thing Kailey does, with an almost simultaneous, <<Crap, another. He's not looking though. I can try to hide us from him too...>>

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude... Grant pauses and stares confused and his glassy eyes widen a bit. There's a telepathic response, but his fingers fail to sign dumbfounded, 'Bro, this is not how I wanted to get taller...' He should be looking for a weapon or a pop tart, and presently all he can really manage in the shock of this is, 'One leg is definitely longer than the other on that gu-...person...sss..?' panic. Ooooh shit. Oh shit. Right Bax needs a plan and he comes up with the one one he can right now and that is to take his hand and protectively cover his junk. Fuuuuuck naw!

August is willing to listen to Aidan. Barely. He makes himself walk, following the others.

And then they reach the drying racks. He stops again, slowly looks over at Aidan. He doesn't need to use any mind speech to specify what he's thinking: Are you sure?

The smell hits Kailey and she wrinkles her nose. For a few seconds she breathes through her teeth, a hand covering her nose and mouth now. <<"I can try to hide us?">> She offers mentally after about 10 seconds of heavy breathing on her part. Of course a moment after she offers she begins to process. Fingers wiggling at her sides and making soft little plucking motions.

Aidan closes his eyes a moment to focus on trying to weave the same illusion over them in this one's mind: nothing to see here, not your problem even if there were. Which there isn't.

There definitely is for them, though, and he looks even more ill as that smell reaches them and he sees the racks. His jaw tightens and shifts, and he glances to August. A hestitation, but then a firm nod. <<You felt it too. There's no one in there.>>

It's at this moment Grant reasons if he dies a fourth time and these dudes try to cremate him? Yeah they are likely going to totes get a buzz for a while and probably a sugar high too. The saving grace is he's eaten that crazy hippie shit Daisy brought back that time that tasted so damn ripe it almost ate through the plate. he got through that, he'll get through this. Right. Focus. Think of pork buns. 'Never thought I'd find anything that could put me off bacon. Good lord.' Right new priority: survival. What's he got to use here. Damn good think marajuana doesn't lead to harder drugs, it leads to carpentry. There's a quick assessment for something he can use to unhinde a table or wedge the door closed behind them after they go through. Ooh a wedge would be nice.

<<That's exactly why we should do it.>> But despite the feel of his conviction, August doesn't summon any fire. He wants to though--oh how he wants to. He keeps sneaking along.

The basket of body parts is almost too much. He dodges it, stares at the arrangement of pieces that spills everywhere.

We should leave. We should leave. <<The door is the way out.>> He starts towards it, if for no other reason than of he leaves the Dream maybe he won't burn everything down.

CLATTER thunk skitter

Kailey freezes at that sudden loud sound. Then looks down at her foot in horror. For a moment she is frozen in fear, then she just bolts for the door. Which -really- isn't in her best interest. It was probably that pause that gets her hit by the basket. And it isn't like a nice, easy glancing blow. No it smacks her in the head. "OW!" She cries out. Because that really did hurt. Staggered she shuffles a little to the side instead of straight, a hand going to where the basket hit. And the body parts? She now is covered in gore and most of it isn't hers. That realization draws a low groan of horror from her. She is holding it together as she shakes her head and tries to follow after the others. Barely holding it, though. <<"I want -out-!">> Is her only coherent thought currently. Beyond 'Ewewewewewew'

<<I don't think there ever was anyone in there. It's like, it's-- they'd maybe feel this way in a normal grow?>> Aidan's still convincing himself as much as anyone; the urge to set things on fire is a strong one, even without this particular situation, even before there's what seems an awful lot like dead people thrown at them. He manages to dodge them, wincing when Kailey doesn't. Goes well with the queasy look. <<Run!>> he sends, possibly less under the impression anyone might have a different plan as emphatically endorsing the current one.

Grant can only think so loud. He's not even angry; he is stoned off his balls, and resigned in their collective trauma, 'After this shit I'm going vegetarian. not because I like animals but because I really fucking like hate plants. This is some bullshit.' There's a pause and he wonders in his stream of consciousnesses if pop-tarts are vegetarian cause he thinks he remembers Vyv yelling about how they aren't even a food... so it doesn't count but might not push the anti-plant snacking adgen- INCOMING! Something goes whizzing by him and Bax bends in some fluid Matrixian way that can only be adequately described as collapses like a rag doll on rewind. Pulling himself back up to a stand he sneaks over to try to make sure Kailey's not going to keel over here. He doesn't catch the sound but he knows when to bail. Runningrunningrunningrunningrunning!