forum The Gods are Falling from the Sky (surreal urban fantasy o/o anyone?[CLOSED ty])

Started November 12, 2019 by @Young-Dusty-the-Monarch-of-Dusteria group

tune

Oscar nodded in understanding, pulling a book off the shelf and opening it up. "I will. I'm going to read everything."

Honor laughed quietly and nodded, impressed by his determination as she got to one of the computers and started to research Oscars kind for him. It was the least she could do for him as he tried to learn everything.

(Perfect time for an info dump, lol)
The library's online database, and the various other sites linked to it, were numerous but vague when it came to Erased Ones. So little knowledge was available about them that most of the articles cited the exact same papers and experts. One thing everyone agreed on was that Erased Ones came in five subgroups on increasing power and danger, and that all types disguised themselves as humans for the most part. One article carefully described everything scientists knew about each type, and based on what it said, it was possible to guess that Oscar was a Level Three. Level Threes were unnaturally intelligent and physically enduring, with sharp tempers and the ability to recover from even the most sever of injuries–given enough time. The article said that during Manifestations, when Level Threes were using their powers, they usually showed part or all of their true form, and that they often had true forms that witnesses described as terrifying, monstrous, and gruesome. A footnote mentioned that the Goldenrod Agency was currently looking into potential military applications for Level Threes specifically.

Honor read quickly, trying to remember as much as she could and wanting to have Oscar come read this. The part about recruitment from the goldenrod agency worried her, as well as dealing with Oscar’s powers. Maybe she should try to find out what his powers were. And now that she knew what level he was, or was most likely, she knew it probably wasn’t safe to stay so close to the agency.

Oscar, meanwhile, was steadily diving deeper and deeper into the library's archives. He's started in the biographies, then moved to the self-help books, then tore through the sections on crafts, the arts, lifestyle, and humor. The shelves of heavy science books, covering everything from astronomy to biology to advanced physics to environmental sciences, slowed him down a bit, but soon he settled into a ground-eating rhythm and dove straight into the section on history. He lost track of time, reading faster and faster, dizzy with the overload of information but having too much fun to stop.

Computers were Honor’s weakness when it came to focusing, and soon she found herself playing Tetris after pouring through everything she could find about Oscar’s kind. It was a great waste of time, and as soon as she got bored of that, there were hundreds of other games, minesweeper being the one she chose next. Classic games were her favorite by far, and the internet was full of them.

Oscar finished the last history book forty-five minutes after they'd arrived at the library and looked around for fresh meat, caught up in the momentum he'd gathered. He spotted the fiction room and beelined for it, surprised to see that there were significantly more people in this area of the building. The kids' section was laughably simple to look through—he barely had to open each book before closing it again and putting it back on the shelf—and in no time he'd graduated to the young adult fiction. At this point he actually had to slow down again, as many of these stories involved magic and other things not covered in his previous reading. He pulled out a tall stack of books and sat down at a nearby desk, frowning as he tried to decipher the lingo of a girly teen drama series. Briefly, he considered tracking down Honor and asking her to explain it to him but decided that she was probably busy and he shouldn't bother her just yet.

She really didn't know what Oscar was up to, but staying at her computer seemed like a good idea. He was probably reading everything and Honor really didn't want to interrupt if he was happy with reading. Her games were going good too, and she was almost hitting her record on tetris as the colored blocks fell into place.

Another twenty minutes, and Oscar finally finished the YA fiction. Another thirty, and he'd finished the adult fiction as well. At this point, he ran out of books and wandered into the main room, feeling befuddled and slightly dizzy. His brain was currently a tornado of words, names, stories, and facts, and it didn't seem like it was going to settle any time soon. He wandered dreamily through the library, trying to find Honor and pausing once in a while to let his head and stomach calm down.

Honor was still faithfully in the spot she said she would be, at the computer, though now looking back through articles relating to Oscar and his kind. Newspaper articles relating to recent sightings, and magazine issues talking about his kind stayed on her screen and she poured through them, learning and reading and more and more realizing it wasn't safe to stay here.

Eventually Oscar found her, averting his eyes from her computer screen as the blue light bothered his headache. "Hey…..I read everything…..what're you doing?"

"Everything…as in all the books?" She questioned, jumping slightly when she heard his voice but turning away from the screen and facing him, "We've only been here for a few hours, and you've read everything?" Honor was impressed, and also shocked that he could possibly read that fast and for that long but she didn't say anything, just smiling lightly instead.

"Yup," Oscar replied tiredly. "I feel kinda weird now, but I really liked it. I wish there were more books here. Some of them were kinda weird and I didn't understand parts, but now I know about so many things. Like art. I want to try to paint sometime. Do you like painting?"

She shrugged slightly, logging off the computer and standing with a sigh, "I'm not much of an artist, but I can get you supplies somehow. But first, do you have anything else you want to do here? Otherwise we can head to my parents house and see the animals. They might have painting things too." Honor wondered if he would ask about the computer, and she really didn't know how to explain it if he did.

On any other day, Oscar would have absolutely asked about the computer, but at the moment he was far too distracted by all the learning he'd just done. "Um….we can go to your parents' house now. Did you know that there are books here that are about books? It was really weird."

(Sorry it's short, I'm really swamped)
"Yeah, they're weird aren't they?" She said with a laugh, pulling her keys out of her pocket and nodding towards the door, "Lead the way Oscar, whenever you're ready to go."

(It's fine ^^)
Oscar immediately headed for the door and went through it, screwing up his face when the bright outdoor light stabbed him in the eyes. "Ow. I still feel pretty weird…..my head feels like it's too full."

Honor nodded, looking up at his hats and tapping the brim of the ball cap, "This will block some of the light, just don't look up in the sky. Maybe reading too much is a bad thing for you, next time you'll have to read slower or less." She waited until he had gotten himself steady again, then started towards the truck, debating whether to call her parents or not.

"But I don't want to take it slow," Oscar grumbled, keeping his head down and following Honor to the truck. "I learned so much just now, and it was great. I know about all the stuff I didn't understand this morning, and even more stuff I hadn't even heard about. I just…..need to think about all of it for a bit, I guess…..until things calm down."

"Well you can think about it the whole drive to my parents house, it's a ten minute drive from here." She said, unlocking her truck once they reached it and hopping into her seat, starting the truck and smiling at the familiar rumble, "We'll probably just stop and see the animals, they're a little busy tonight but we can stop over for a while."

"Okay." Oscar was mildly disappointed that they wouldn't be seeing her parents, but was still excited to observe a farm up close after having read 36+ books about them. He sat back and closed his eyes, trying to sort through the library's information and mentally box it up so it was more organized. "Let me know when we're almost there."

“I will, you just focus on what you’re doing.” Honor said, pulling into the road and turning off the radio so that Oscar could focus. She settled in and starting following the same road she followed every time she went out to her parents.

Oscar folded his arms and sank a little deeper into his seat, pushing his brain to do one last task before it could rest. He imagined to himself that the entire library was set up in his mind, and swiftly placed all the books he'd read in their correct places throughout the building. There was a minor struggle between his inhuman ability to memorize things and the limited functions of his physical human brain, but eventually he shoved and stretched his memory until the inhuman side won out. He slowly cracked his eyes open and sat forward, his headache fading. He wasn't sure how long he'd been sitting quietly, but the landscape outside the truck seemed much different. "….Where are we now?"

"We're out in the country now, only a few more minutes." She said gently, glancing over at him and smiling, "Is your headache gone?" Honor's focus went back to the road almost immediately after looking over at him, pointing momentarily at a large farmhouse down the road and the farm that it was on, "That's my parent's house, and also where I grew up."

Oscar turned to look at it with interest and curiosity, nodding at her question. "Yeah, my head feels better." His gaze flicked over the farmhouse, taking in every detail. "Will we get to go inside?"

She shrugged, turning onto the dirt driveway and parking next to a dirty red truck, one that was clearly newer than her own though, "Maybe, depends on how long my parent's guests are here and how long you want to stay." She didn't bother locking her truck this time as she hopped out of the car, looking up at the white farmhouse and smiling as she started up to it, calling back to Oscar quick, "I'll be right back, you can wait there and I'll show you around in a minute."

"All right," Oscar called back, fidgeting with his seat belt as he waited. All the facts and stories about farms he just learned were brought to the front of his mind, and he wondered what kind of farm this one would be. Would it have cows? Chickens? Barn cats? Cornfields? Or something else entirely? Did this farm have a unicorn in the barn, like the one in the kid's book he'd skimmed through? He craned his neck, trying to see around the house, but from his vantage point he could learn nothing.

Within a few moments, Honor was back outside, smiling and eating an apple as she walked back to the truck. "Ready for a tour now? I think you'll like seeing all the animals, there are a lot of them here." Her parent's farm was mostly for growing corn, thought they had a few cows and other animals too, along with tons of barn cats roaming around. It would be fun to see what Oscar thought of the place.

Oscar quickly hopped out of the truck. "Yeah, I'm ready! I was wondering, do you have any unicorns here?"

"No, there aren't any unicorns here," She said, laughing lightly and clearly happy, "But there are a lot of other animals if you want to see them." Honor motioned for him to follow her as she started towards the barn, a worn but strong building, painted the usual bright red and the faint sound of cows coming from behind it.