Post Doves: Community - Chapter 1
odd story i made!
Post Doves: Community - Chapter 1 CW: Mentions of self harm. Heavy topics handled questionably. Take care, reader. You're wonderful and loved. The continent of Haruspalon Vales contains three small, peaceful countries: Artemis to the east, Valhalla to the north, and Sade to the west. In Haruspalon Vales, it is highly unfortunate that the dove, an intelligent creature of nature which history had awarded by creating it into a symbol of grace and benevolence, transforms into an aggressive and eternally tormented monster after a year of its lifespan. "You're headed to Gardens?" Irie asked Sunflower on an online chat client called Stryfecomm. "Arthur wants to see a friend there. He wants to get him out of the place," replied Sunflower. "I'll drive. Bring the crew. Pollution make you lightheaded? Bring more heads." Many religious people in Haruspalon Vales believe that some people become doves upon dying, and that this is the punishment for being a good person. Artemis was a place of feminine strength, with tiny airborne islands. Valhalla was a cloudy and mountainous region called utopia by some, known for its Russian styled dance sport. It had a historical homeless uprising before it developed a heavily censored intranet. Sade was a land less mountainous than Valhalla, but its largest mountain exhibited volcanic activity, which mages had to constantly shield its populace from. Sade's technology harnessed volcanic energy, and its culture enjoyed violent media. None of these countries possessed a military, and the details of weapon ownership were made points of debates. An artemisian co-inventor of the world's first raygun would have tragically turned herself into a dove out of guilt over an incident, had her wife not talked her out of it. Sunflower performed a sprinting leap, a mid-air flip, and landed sitting on a tower of haybales. The tower almost tipped over with the force of her nine foot jump as she sat back nakedly with her arms and legs outstretched, celebrating her feat with a brightly smile as she gazed at a forested horizon with a small island floating above it. Her pink furred, half salamander, half rabbit body gleamed in the sun as her long, thick salamander tail swept the hay. She was a "Lagophibian sapien." Her layered, medium length, sun yellow hair had streaks of white highlights near the ends. Her long, drooping ears protruded. Her face and body had a very expressive and dextrous mix of human - animal anatomy, body more human before its extremities. Many sentient species on the continent were like this. She cut her celebration short and pulled a page from her belt's small satchel. The page read "Bucket List: Extend lifespan to another thousand years," and "Find Karl Marx's lost gay poetry." She was a little disappointed that she couldn't think of more than two items, and she still had centuries of youth left in her. Life in a commune was good, but she thought her ambitions could use a little more money ever since her mom sold a patent. Steve's blue bat ears would fold forward and flip back up as he thrust the virtual reality headset away from his face. On its side read "Made in Valhalla." He thought the training simulations were annoying. They were full of obstacles, targets, batons, sentry guns, and animated stick figures that leaked green fluid when struck. He checked his phone to respond to Sunflower's texts on Stryfecomm about her visiting Gardens State, but not before moving a golden poppy from a table to a decorative wooden latching box with the name "Derek" engraved on it. Steve typed, "My bro and I once saw a gator under the car while growing up in Gardens." Sunflower replied, "Oh yeah, you told me this one. It ran away. Your brother loved alligators. He could be a behaviorist." "Yeah, remember his halloween outfit?!" "He tackled your legs and tried doing the death roll. It was so funny." "I wish he survived conversion therapy. We would've run away from dad together." Steve paused before continuing, "Are you headed to the shelter?" "We are. Almost there. That ugly globe with Maus Mouse World is in sight. Zeux got stuff from a fake magic shop too. Ttyl." "Take Care." Arthur sobbed loudly while embracing Harvey in the middle of the six seater car. "You cried like a babe last time you saw me, too," Harvey said in a jovial, hushed tone. "Awww, you two," Irie chimed in kind. Irie was the Black lady at the wheel, with braided hair and fluffy wolf eared headphones. Harvey was the middle aged White dude wearing shades, with slightly unkempt brown hair. Arthur was a brown Pitbull mix Canidae sapien. Zeux was the masculine bodied, white furred Rabbit-goat in the back with Sunflower, who was still nude. Alex was the black furred Fox-moth-fox Goth with an eyepatch and ankh cheek-fur markings next to Irie. Alex surveyed the crowded parking lot of the homeless shelter. Some people were playing b-ball, a couple were playing chess. One person was awkwardly rummaging around in a dumpster, body halfway in with their legs limply hanging out. Alex subtly pointed to a disheveled lady sitting in an empty corner, "I think she could use some help." Everyone in the car's attention lingered on her before Zeux replied, "You're right," while reaching for their seat belt release. Harvey interjected, "She's too close to that dealer over there. He's got it out for me. I don't wanna..." Sunflower added, "There aren't any security cameras on her either." They waited a moment longer before Irie concluded it with "Let's just go." As she drove out the lot, a thrown syringe bounced off the car's window. Across the highway overlook could be seen something like a city full of theme parks encased in a snowless snow globe. Everyone in the car avoided mentioning it. Zeux and Sunflower played together on a pink, handheld game console. Harvey turned to Arthur, and the two reminisced about their time at the shelter a year ago. They spoke about the slightly broken piano - now slightly more broken. They talked about the last song that played on the radio before Arthur's leave, "Gimme Sympathy," by Metric. Arthur explained that his first visit was spent waiting for friends after escaping his parents. Harvey said that he was finally ready to "get out of this blister on Artemis." Harvey inquired about Sunflower's nudity, and she would respond that public nudity was legal in Gardens, that nobody would see her "trans peter," and she had a set of clothes ready just in case the cops got upset anyway. Two first responder vehicles could be seen behind their car as it joined the street. Harvey asked about Alex's eyepatch, and Alex said he received it after becoming a victim of a callout post. Alex lifted the patch to reveal a perfectly working eye before chuckling and saying "It's actually just for looks." Alex turned to Zeux, curious about their trinkets from a place called Merissa's Apothecary. Zeux explained that the "Ring of Amnesia" temporarily transforms a target of intent into a random animal while also making them forget the moments before. Zeux added that the "Pendant of Farewells" euthanizes farm animals that "will only bring sorrow to themselves and others," usually because they're dying of old age. Alex eyed the rearview mirror before his head followed. "Their camera's not on." Irie parked the car into a wide alleyway. Alex told Sunflower not to reach for anything. Everyone put their hands on headrests and other high surfaces while Irie rolled down the windows. Five mostly human figures with outfits distinctive from the public approached. They wore star badges with symbols of skulls atop rods, with a snake emerging from the left eye, and a wing from the right. They weren't the "Armed Medical," they weren't normal cops, these were Medicops, one of Gardens' three competing branches of law enforcement. They went around checking the license plates and talking about how they "got the wrong people." One in square glasses cracked his voice making an annoyed request for the rest to behave. "Is this the guy?" went another with a thick mustache before replying to himself, "No, this isn't the guy. Let's leave them alone. Sorry for your trouble!" The mustached and bespectacled medicops were about to walk away before another in a pilot scarf and aviators came up to the left of the car, next to Zeux's door, while speaking in a slight Texas twang. "Have you seen a kid spraying anyone with a pink water gun? We have reason to believe it was a modified firearm." Another cop came over carrying a casual demeanor, slumping his crossed arms on the open window to the left of Aviators. "Excuse me," Harvey remarked with a hint of irritation. "Oh - sorry," apologized the medicop on Harvey's door as he got off it. He was blonde, blue eyed, had a nose piercing, and an artistic tattoo of a uterus sprouting flowers on the left side of his neck. He had another tattoo, of a nude redheaded woman clutching a bed on the right of his neck, head on pillow and blankets without edges creasing, as if his skin were the blankets. Aviators peered at Sunflower, "Aren't you a cutie," before his eyes scanned down her body to meet the pink game console between her and Zeux. "Alright, that's it." "That's not a water gun," said Tattoos. "I just want the pink girl thing," Aviators whispered before shouting, "You're all sick and need help! Do as you're told and you'll probably stay alive!" as he fumbled with the semi-automatic handheld tranquilizer in his holster. "I don't want to have to ice you crazies!" Mustache roared at the car from behind the rest while pulling out a deadlier firearm. Before Aviators' tranquilizer swept fully up to Zeux, Zeux unbuckled and took their ringed hand - the right one - from the headrest, and pointed it at Aviators while swerving out of the way. Aviators shot a dart and hit Sunflower's shoulder instead of Zeux before Aviators disappeared with a thunderous crack and a split second of bubbling glow. Zeux switched from index to bird finger and hit Tattoos by pointing it at him, then Mustache with the ring finger, then Bespectacled with the pinky, and there was a last cop with a gold star sticker on his cheek they hit with their thumb. The tranquilizer fell into the car from Aviators' nonexistent grip and Sunflower pulled out the dart in a panic, applying pressure to her shoulder with a folded shirt she picked up off the seat. "I didn't think that would work," Zeux said shakily. "Good thing you capped those losers before I did," Alex responded as he holstered a pistol he drew on the windows, Irie raising her head after ducking under it. Everyone looked down and out the windows to find walking pigs where the medicops stood, except for Bespectacled, who became a swan for some reason. Then the pigs exploded into scorch marks on the ground as Zeux's pendant glowed before Zeux hirriedly removed it and threw it under the seat. Sunflower limply reached over the seat and picked up the tranquilizer to hit a crack shot at the bespectacled swan remaining, rendering it unconscious. Irie then put the car into reverse over the swan before going forwards back over it. Four bumps could be felt as the car exited the alley. "Have you ever thought about giving up the grift?" said a woman to a transphobic author named Jeremy Zittich during a television interview. Jeremy sounded like Kermit the Frog. "No, it's the only way I can survive in the limelight. I have to lie. There's no way in a lifetime I could redeem myself for what I did, and may the people have mercy on the rotten soul of my overfed image. My only other option is to live life in more peace and privacy with my superfluous wealth, and that bit of loneliness scares me, to be quite frank with you. I'm just an infantile man." Steven changed the channel to a news station with a reporter saying, "The theft of this artifact has caused nonstop uproar, and many Sadians are wondering what kind of anti-religious bigot would do such a thing," before Steve flipped open his laptop to chat with Sunflower. "So are Harve and Arthur together?" Steve asked. Sunflower replied, "Just friends afaik. Harvey said he's straight... or mostly straight. We're just chilling on the island above the farm. Lotta trees here and everyone's playing with water guns. Alex is administering Harkness tests to talking caterpillars. Oh! Irie found a patch of rose peonies!!!"