MINI CONTEST NUMBER ONE Name: Acinonyx_jubatus
Quest link: Linkage And since I used another quester's character in my story, here's
Kokonotsu's quest.
Prompt Response: There was a parrot calling in the distance, a loud, shrill squawk that slowly brought him out of a dreamless sleep. As soon as he was awake enough to know that he was awake, he jumped up, startled. This wasn’t where he had gone to sleep.
At least, he didn’t think it was. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t know where he went to sleep last. Come to think of it, who was he? Try as he might, he couldn’t remember; he couldn’t remember anything. He was dressed in a red t-shirt and jeans, which looked as though they’d been slept in for awhile.
“What the hell is…?” He trailed off. Was that his voice? It must have been, though he certainly didn’t remember it either. Slowly he swung his legs around to the edge of the bed, taking stock of the room he was in. There was a bed, a night stand, a dresser and a table, as well as a separate room that was most likely a bathroom. The single window in the room was drawn closed, but no light shone around the edges, so it must have been night. It appeared lived in, judging by the few clothes on the floor, and a few pieces of trash. There wasn’t any sign of the room’s owner.
“Hello?” He called out, a slightly nervous tinge in his voice. Something just didn’t feel right. Glancing down at a shirt on the floor, he picked it up and checked the tag. ‘Ryan’ was written on the tag in sharpie marker. On a hunch, he twisted the shirt he was wearing around and checked the tag. ‘Ryan’ was written there as well.
“So I guess my name’s Ryan then…” It was an odd feeling, to discover what your name was.
“So that must mean that this is my room, and my stuff. Or else I’m wearing someone else’s clothes.” Talking to himself was helping Ryan deal with the situation. His was the only voice he’d ever heard, as far as he remembered.
Ryan started to walk to the door; maybe there was someone outside who could help him. He stopped as he passed the bathroom though, catching sight himself in the mirror. There was no way he could just walk past it and not look at himself. For a while he stood in front of it, taking in his features; his light brown hair and eyes, the glasses he was wearing, his general build, the darkened tip of his nose and his elongated ears, the blunt claws tipping his fingers that had previously gone unnoticed.
Wait, what? His nose, ears, claws? Wasn’t he supposed to have nails or something? The ears and nose weren’t right either. He tugged his ears, feeling a small pain when they resisted being torn off of his head, as well as the claws poking his sensitive ears painfully.
“I don’t think I’m supposed to look like that, am I?” He sounded like a first grader in a calculus class; whatever this was, it was way over his head. As far as he could remember, humans didn’t look like that. He was a human, wasn’t he? What else was there? He quickly stripped off his shirt, to see if anything else was different than what he though humans were supposed to look like. There were long strands of grey-white hair growing from his chest and back, and upon further examination, he found he had a small tail. It was a darker color than the rest of his skin, and seemed oddly rough. With a little thought, he found he could move it a bit.
“What the hell?! I know that’s not normal!” The panic was back in his voice, almost hysterical. Looking for some sort of explanation, he almost literally burst out of the door to the room, still shirtless, only to nearly fall down the stairs in front of him.
“Woooaaahh!” He cried out, nearly loosing his balance. Once he did, he slowed down enough it observe his surroundings. He seemed to be on the second story of some building, and looking to the right and left, there were others to either side that looked exactly the same, at least from what he could tell from his vantage point and low amount of light. It seemed there were only lights on the front of the buildings, and what looked to be a larger group of buildings off in the distance. There seemed to be trees around the edge of the open area the buildings were situated in, but it was too dark to make out what they might look like. Though it was dark out, it was warm and humid enough that it was uncomfortable outside even with his shirt off.
The loud yell just happened to catch the attention of man in a lab coat walking by. Noah was heading to the cafeteria to get dinner, hoping that he wouldn’t run into any of the animal-people. He couldn’t tell from this distance who or what this man might be; there was a light directly behind the man, and all Noah was left with was a silhouette. He would have preferred to have ignored him and continued on his way to the cafeteria, but it was possible that the yell meant trouble, and he was worried he might be chased if he ran.
“Hallo? Ist everyzhing alright?” His German accent very noticeable, as well as the nervousness in his voice. Noah might have been worried, but Ryan simply felt relieved; there was someone else there! Looking down, the man stood on the ground roughly where the light behind him shone, at least enough to make out some details. Wearing the lab coat as he was, he looked like a doctor; maybe he could help!
“Oh my God, oh thank God there’s someone here!” Ryan came rushing down the step, giving out his thanks so fast the words nearly joined together. He stopped, breathlessly, in front of Noah, trying to think of what question to ask him. Why am I here? Where are we? What is this place? In the end, his brain settled on a rather odd question.
“Why do I have a tail?” Noah stood frozen as the man came running down the stairs. It was a changed islander, though not by much. He was sure he was being attacked, and that any moment he’d be killed and eaten. His legs refused to work though; he stood still, waiting for his end to come. It never did, however, and instead he was left with a hairy, shirtless man looking at him hopefully and asking why he had a tail. Surely the man had met someone else who had changed, or at least someone like Noah who what was going on. But to have been here long enough to change and not be aware of the situation?
“You mean you don’t know about zis place?” Now Noah was the one who was confused.
“Haven’t you met anyvone else?” Ryan shook his head.
“I just woke up, and I uh, don’t really remember anything. What is this place, exactly?” He scratched his head. Was he in Germany? Was that why the guy had the accent?
“Nothing? Vhat’s zis last thing you remember?” Was the guy just lying to him, like that dragon had? He at lest seemed sincere about it though. Maybe the docs had just been messing with the man’s mind. Noah certainly wouldn’t put it past them.
“Not a thing. Evidently my name is Ryan; at least that’s what my shirt says.” He glanced down, realizing for the first time he was shirtless.
“Or what the shirt I was wearing had on it, in any case. I woke up a few minutes ago in that room up there. I can’t remember anything about myself. Or why I look like this.” Now that he thought about it, Ryan realized this guy was what he thought humans were supposed to look like. He didn’t have the pointed ears or the dark nose that Ryan had.
Noah debated whether to tell the guy the truth. He could just say he didn’t know and walk away, but what if the guy came after him later once he found out the truth? On the other hand, he might attack Noah if he found out the truth right now. He obviously wasn’t in the best state of mind at the moment. But Noah eventually decided he didn’t want to make enemies in the long run. He may as well come out and say it.
“Zhe doctors here, zhey are turning people into animals.” Animals. That would…explain his ears and his tail, right? Without having memories of his life beforehand or even memories of what it was like to be fully human, Ryan found he couldn’t be that upset about it, let alone wonder how it was possible. It could have a common occurrence for all he knew. The notion intrigued him more than it repulsed him. This form was all he ever knew, even if it had only been for fifteen minutes.
“Why are you turning me into an animal?” Ryan had mistaken Noah to be one of the doctors he had spoken of, due to the lab coat. There was no malice in Ryan’s voice, just curiosity.
“Vhat?! I’m not turning you into and animal! Zhe doctors in zhe lab are. Zhey are going to turn me into vone too…” That last part was said dejectedly; Noah remembered his life, his freedom. He wanted it back.
“Oh, sorry, with the coat and all, I thought maybe you were doctor too.” Why would he be wearing a lab coat if he wasn’t?
“Where can I find someone to ask?” “I vas a doctor, but I did not verk here.” He sniffed a bit trying not to let his emotions get the best of him. He turned away, not wanting to let Ryan see him upset.
“There ist a speaker in your room. If you press zero, you can talk to zhe doctors.” All this talk about the doctor’s here was really getting to Noah; his voice cracked a bit at the word ‘doctor’. Tears were starting to flow now, not matter what he did.
“I…I haff to go.” He wiped his face and turned around.
“Mine name ist Noah, by the vay. It vas nice to meet you Ryan. Gutten Abend.” He quickly hurried off back to his duplex, too upset to eat anything right now. As he walked away, he remembered what someone else had told him when he learned the truth.
“If you ask, Dr. Moreau vill tell you vhat you are becoming.” He shouted back.
Ryan could see that Noah was becoming upset, and though it best not to push him about his past. That he could talk to one of the doctors in charge was good news though.
“Alright, I’ll do that, thank you. It was nice to meet you too, Noah.” Ryan waved as Noah turned to leave. At the mention of the good doctor’s name, Ryan’s arm froze. Dr. Moreau. With just the simple mention of that name, all of Ryan’s memories came flooding back; his family, his life, the day the other zookeeper died, coming to the island. The truth.
He realized he had changed. Suddenly he could remember what he had looked like before, and the fact that he would never look like that again. God he had a tail. As fast as he could, Ryan ran back up the stairs to his duplex, barely making it to the toilet in time to throw up.
Reply
