Been around the world and found

[squeedlyspooch]

Who: Zim and OPEN!
What: Getting his bearings and going on a glue hunt after going into debt for being a shithead AKA intro post.
When: Day 103
Where: The lake, cookhouse, wandering everywhere!
Warnings: Zim being Zim.


A. The Lake.

[Zim is standing in front of the lake, disguised and disgusted. The very idea of having to live somewhere so close to such a large body of water is not only repulsive, but it's utterly offensive to him. He hasn't actually checked to see if this water will burn him, but that isn't the point. He isn't going to risk that out in the open, where anyone could potentially see a little green alien being set on fire due to something entirely normal to humans. That would look more than a little suspicious.]

Ugh, this terrible. Probably filled with germs, too.

[He kicks at a rock, watching it land in the water with a dunk. With his luck it probably rains and snows here, too. No GIR to do any information retrieval for him, so he's on his own in finding an ample supply of glue to deal with all this water. This is absolutely ridiculous. Does this place even have glue? That thought has him pausing, because what if it doesn't? What if he's stuck here, surrounded by who-knows-how-much-water, with no glue baths to prevent it from making contact with his skin?

That's enough to get him shaking his fist ineffectually at the lake.]

I should drain the whole thing!

B. The Cookhouse.

[His next stop is the Cookhouse, because that seems like a possibility in finding the above-mentioned glue. That one horrible child in his class really enjoyed eating it so maybe there's some human or mutant or whatever here who likes doing the same. It can't hurt to look, right? He doesn't have a lot of options here, and he isn't exactly sure how carnivals work. His intel on Earth (which was terrible to begin with) didn't include a lot on stupid festivals, those being a total waste of his valuable time and all.

He's marching (literal marching, goose-stepping and everything) around, not actually taking any food (because ew) but definitely appearing to be searching for something. Eventually he makes his way over to one of the cooks and in a most demanding voice shouting:]

You! Food drone, where is the glue?? [This is absolutely, 100% the correct way to refer to another employee and no one can convince him otherwise.]

C. Wandering!

[Sooo the cookhouse was a total bust. Which he finds dumb as hell, since glue is clearly an edible thing. It should be made available to eat! Perfect, simple logic. Hardly his fault those idiot cooks can't get that through their thick skulls, though now this means he's wandering the carnival aimlessly, still disguised, attempting to finding a booth or something that looks like it might sell glue. Maybe with the school supplies? Not that they have school here, which is also bizarre to him.

This time he's going to hold off on the approach-and-demand approach to this hunt; it would look a little suspicious if he just began asking every single person for as much glue as possible. He at least knows that human children generally don't need that much glue. He'll just have to find any signs of the stuff, which he is perfectly capable of doing, because he's so good at doing reconnaissance when he has to!

Reconnaissance involves going to places like the game booths, and the tents where the animals are kept. Because of course glue might be there. Feel free to run into one little green weird-looking kid who is obviously on a very serious mission that involves looking under tables and shit.]

Comments

c

[wild_magic]

[Susan's job has him in the gamer's circle, today, and it isn't hard for him to spot Zim looking around and under everything. After a couple minutes he approaches him, a curious look on his face.]

Did you lose something?

[squeedlyspooch]

[That is the unmistakable sound of a child and Zim is already cringing as he turns around to face... yep, a child. He hates children so much. Once he's turned around he reflectively snaps:]

I'M NORMAL!

[And then immediately settles down. His eye is twitching as he forces himself to smile (it looks a lot more like him just gritting his pinkish, weirdly interconnected teeth than anything else). He throws his hands in the air!]

Fellow filthy child! Where do they keep the glue?

[wild_magic]

[That's not normal in the slightest, but it doesn't matter to Susan. After all, he's not especially normal, either, after growing up in a forest his whole life. His curiosity turns a bit more into confusion though at the question (although he doesn't think much on the filthy part, either - he definitely has a stick and a leaf or two stuck in his hair)]

I haven't really seen any glue. What do you need it for?

[squeedlyspooch]

[Zim is making a mental note to himself to make an extra effort to avoid making contact with this girl. Boy. Whichever, he can't tell the difference between the two when they aren't Irken.]

Normal glue reasons! Arts and crafts! [That was what they used it for during class so that should work....]

[wild_magic]

I don't think we have any arts stuff. There isn't really a place to do art around here.

[And why would anyone want to, anyway? It sounds boring to Susan. Wouldn't you rather explore or play the games?]

B

[sunflowerfields]

[It seems that somebody needs to learn their manners!]

Say please.

[squeedlyspooch]

[Manners: not a thing Zim ever uses, or probably knows. Right now is no different, as he just looks impatient.]

What? No. Why would I say that?

[That is actual honesty there. He claws his hands up, all six fingers.]

Give me the glue!

[sunflowerfields]

Because, if you don't say it, I can't give you anything.

[squeedlyspooch]

That's utter nonsense! What are you, some kind of android that requires a verbal password??

[sunflowerfields]

[Okay, she has no idea what any of those words mean. Time for a distraction!]

And why do you need glue so badly, anyway?

A

[mirrortide]

You can try and drain it if you want, but you should know that people won't be too happy. I won't be too happy if you drain it.

[Did Zim expect someone to come out of nowhere at him? No? Too bad. Lapis makes it a point to frequent the lake when she can, and his grouching just so happened to coincide with her said frequenting.

Also, her dratini loves the lake, so she wouldn't exactly be happy if it suddenly went missing. Lapis, not the blue noodle snake which is currently wrapped around her waist like a weird living belt.

Zim is doing the dratini a frighten. She can't get into the water with people there to watch!!!.]

[squeedlyspooch]

[Zim starts and yelps, but manages to compose himself after a moment, looking Lapis up and down. Okay, stupid blue thing that likely isn't human even though it apparently cares about water, making it extra stupid in his mind.

So he just scoffs.]

I don't care what some blue mutant thinks!

[mirrortide]

Your insults need more work. [Lapis is completely unoffended by him calling her a blue mutant, because he's obviously a horrid little green mutant.]

That being said, I'd suggest you start caring what others think, because it's probably not a smart idea to turn a good chunk of the carnival against you by draining away their hard work. [A pause.] Besides, I need the water for my performances.

[squeedlyspooch]

Hard work? You drones made this?

[He is so utterly baffled by the idea of man-made water structures. That's so much worse than something that formed naturally.]

[mirrortide]

Well, I didn't, but others did. I just use it when I need to.

[Sorry, Zim.]

C.

[periphrasing]

[There's some part of Peridot that knows she needs to be the bigger person here, and make an attempt to not be a vindictive piece of shit to Zim? She is his boss, after all, and being crappy to her underlings probably won't reflect well on her. But... their first meeting was just so epically catastrophic that it's really, really hard to resist.

She's actually off duty when she sees him marching around the ride area of the carnival, and... She doesn't actually say anything at first? Zim might not even realize she's there right away unless he feels the burning scowl she's directing towards him from a short distance away. She knows he's not actively doing anything to warrant her ire at the moment, so he's just going to get the vicious stinkeye for the time being.

Go on. Make her day, punk.]

[squeedlyspooch]

[He doesn't notice her right away, being entirely focused on his mission and all, so Peridot will be treated to several minutes of Zim examining things and at one point finally demanding that one of the game operators tell him where to find the glue. From observing one thing should be very apparent: Zim does not have a lot of experience with carnivals. None at all, in fact. Irkens aren't exactly the types to indulge in frivolous entertainment that doesn't involve pain or conquest.

Eventually however, Zim does notice. His first instinct is to glance around and see if any of her drones are stalking him, then start glaring back. For several more minutes. It's a glare-off before he realizes this is interfering with his mission, so he stalks over and speaks rapidly, all in one breath.]

I know I'm incredibly amazing and you can't help but be in awe in my presence but I'm on an extremely important mission right now and your ugly is distracting so begone with you!

[And he waves a hand for emphasis. That should take care of her.]

[periphrasing]

[Fortunately, Peridot is already familiar enough with Zim's particular parlance that the whole 'ugly' comment doesn't really get a rise out of her this time. Still, she scoffs loudly and puffs herself up a bit, growling:]

Hey, you're the one that walked in front of my line of vision, clod. And what kind of mission could you possible be on, anyway? I sure didn't assign you anything!

[squeedlyspooch]

Of course it isn't a mission you assigned, I doesn't take orders from filthy monsters.

[Especially filthy Peridot monsters.]

It doesn't even have anything to do with you! You're just wasting my valuable ZIM-time!

[periphrasing]

[Zim hasn't even been here for a week yet, and Peridot already looks exhausted with his presence. Like. Just. Every word out of his mouth seems to age her, which is impressive considering that she is a literally ageless being.]

Unfortunately for the both of us, [she growls,] since the Ringmaster saw fit to assign you to my team, you do take orders from me, and anything that you do, even when you're off duty, does have to do with me! So why don't you just save us both some time and tell me what you're up to?

B!

[insidescoop]

[Suffice to say, Carly is not a Food Drone. At least not last she checked. Therefore, she's absolutely oblivious to the fact that this Strange Short Green Thing is addressing her.

Her shadow absolutely isn't however, so while the fairly tall, inky mess of feathers and glowing orange floats in place and continues getting her food, the shadow 'awakens'-with 'eyes' of violet, squinting to the other.]

You want 'glue', of all things? Why look here then, it's an adhesive...'

[Congratulations; apparently the strangeness even caught Aslla Piscu's eye.]

[squeedlyspooch]

[Wow, there goes his focus on the conversation with the food service employee. That gets abruptly ended (or maybe Zim is just bored with it already, given the employee clearly doesn't stock the glue) as he turns to face the floating feathery mass of shadows that is speaking to him.

The food service employee just looks confused and after a moment takes the chance to escape.]

Eh?

[What what whaaaat is this thing even. It's kind of spooky.]

Why wouldn't I look here? Human children LOVE to eat glue!

[Should he even bother pretending to be human when this spooky thing obviously isn't, is what he's thinking.]

[fortuneglass]

[Before Aslla can do more than chuckle, Carly turns her black and blue eyes down to the 'human', blinking a few times at her shadow.] Eh? Aslla, who are you...

[...Ok well obviously You are who he's talking to, but for now she just stares at what he was telling her shadow. Glue...being eaten...??] HEHHH??? Since when!? That can't be healthy at all!!!

[The shadow continues to chuckle.]

[squeedlyspooch]

[Zim jumps a little at her intrusion, blinking at both of them. She's got a lot less spooky going on than that other thing, but her screechy voice is also a lot more annoying. And neither of them have told him where to actually find glue so he's getting impatient.]

That doesn't matter! [Melvin had no regrets, so Zim is going to stand by his reasoning.]

Now one of you, tell​ Zim where it is!

[insidescoop]

Why do you even want to know..?! [Hey, she's not that screechy!!

And oof, the shadow is Still Laughing-] And stop laughing, Aslla, it could be serious!!

Not if he wants to eat it, it isn't~

[Rude-!!] ...You don't want to eat it, right..? That's really bad for your brain, I'm pretty sure...