body horror meme

[lolk]

WARNING -- POSSIBLE TRIGGERS (violence, pain, parasites, zombies, etc)

body horror meme


Something's gone wrong. Maybe it was a little parasite, wiggling under your skin. Maybe something bit you that one night in the woods. Maybe someone decided they didn't like you and placed a curse on you, or maybe the local psychotic AI decided she liked you and filled you full of nanites. In any case, you're changing, body and soul. There's no way to stop it. No way to reverse it. And above all, it's the most painful thing you've ever experienced...

HOW IT WORKS:
- Tag the meme, leaving your character name, fandom, and any preferences in the subject line
- Other character tags you
- You tag back, and use the random number generator to select from the following options. Or don't, and do whatever strikes your fancy. If you roll something your character already is, either roll again, go for human, or pick something that otherwise suits your fancy.
- Other character reacts, or is free to also roll on the table
- Play out the results.
- Have fun, but respect the preferences of others.

1. Water-dwelling. You're growing gills, or your skin is turning translucent, or you're sprouting fins, or maybe you're outright turning into some form of sea life. It doesn't matter what you're turning into – what does matter is that you're slowly losing the ability to breathe air, and there's no water in sight...

2. Animal. Something bit you, and you're turning into an animal. Your bones lengthen or perhaps shrink, break, twist, and reform, your teeth lengthen or shorten, and above all, you feel your instincts being overridden. Your senses sharpen; you notice smells you never did before, your vision becomes more sensitive to movement. If you're a predator? Man, these people look mighty tasty. Prey? OHGOD, EVERYTHING IS TERRIFYING. Lizard? Enjoy your new inability to regulate body temperature. Bird? Have fun with the whole beak and hollowing bones. And don't even get us started on insects and arachnids...

3. Parasitic Something's inside you, and it's changing you from within, chewing up your insides and altering your thoughts. You're not sure how much longer you're going to be you, and when the parasite's going to take over completely...

4. Demonic You've been meddling with dark powers beyond the ken of mortal man, and it seems you've accidentally sold your soul. Will you be the traditional kind of demon, horns and hooves, or something far more terrifying and ineffable?

5. Undead: No doubt about it, you're dying, but as you are, something's been altered in you. Maybe you're becoming a vampire – and not the fun kind, either, we're talking ugly, ravenous, and mad. Maybe you're a zombie, or a ghoul, and human flesh looks mighty tasty. Or maybe you're just turning into a ghost bent on vengeance. In any case, death is never fun.

6. Cybernetic Get captured by the Borg? Strapped to an operating table? Injected with nanites? Whatever happened to you, you're slowly turning into something half man, half machine, your squishy bits being replaced by mechanical components.

7. Lovecraftian You've heard their song, the terrors from beyond the stars, and even now they sing in your blood as your flesh transmutes into something ineffable and unknowable. You revel in the pain you feel even as you seek to spread it, to herald the end of all things... or maybe worse, you're aware of the transition as your mind becomes not your own.

8. Fusion/Hivemind You begin to fuse with the first person who tagged you – physically, mentally, or both. Soon, you can't tell who is who, which one of you is the real you, as your thoughts become one. Join in the fleshsong, mortal...

9. Inanimate Your body slowly petrifies and hardens, turning to stone, wood, glass, or something stranger still; or perhaps you liquefy, turning to some kind of liquid, or maybe you dissolve into the air itself.

10. Wildcard / pick your own Pick whatever you like, combine a few options, or make up your own.

Meme originally posted by teal_deer.

Comments

[pulling_rank]

Thanks for giving me permission. I'm grateful.

[He shakes his head and heads back upstairs, the trek itself taking more out of him than it should have. By the time he actually gets to his room, he gives a cough, gasping to pull a breath in. Something is very much not right.

A wave of dizziness sweeps through him, and he reaches out to steady himself on the nightstand next to his bed, only succeeding in leaning too far forward and collapsing to the floor. The lamp gets knocked over as he goes down, crashing to the floor, and breaking.]

Sh-Sherlock-!

[It's a soft rush of air, and he can't pull in enough air to call out again. He can hear his pulse pounding in his ears deafeningly loud.]

[the_new_sexy]

[Although he's made it his purpose to be as lazy as possible when John is irritating him, hearing John's strangled cry and the crash of the lamp are more than enough to throw him out of that and into a run up the stairs.

He pushes open the door to John's room and rushes to his side.]

John? What's going on?

[he looks at his fingernails. Blue. Lack of oxygen. He turns him over and checks his pulse. Thready. Bad. He needs air.]

[pulling_rank]

[He wants to say something, anything, but he can't. He tries, and all he manages to succeed at doing is gasping for air that he isn't actually pulling in.

He reaches out, grabbing onto Sherlock's arm, and gripping it tight as he's able. He's afraid. He can't breathe, and he doesn't know why.]

[the_new_sexy]

It's all right. John, it's going to be all right.

[He pushes John's chin up and leans in, listening for a breath. Nothing comes, and he pushes John's mouth open, swabbing for some sort of whatever might be clogging it.

Then, he leans down and breathes into John's mouth, trying to give him some sort of air. He fingers his jaw for a pulse, but his fingers slide in to the side of John's jaw.]

[pulling_rank]

[He knows what Sherlock is doing, what he's trying to do, but it isn't helping. It's uncomfortable. He still isn't breathing on his own.

He feels his hand on his neck for a pulse, and then there's a very uncomfortable, and also very strange feeling as Sherlock's fingers slide in to the side of his jaw.

He would definitely be making a distressed noise if he could at that moment. As it stands, he squeezes his arm tighter.]

[the_new_sexy]

[John's mouth is moving open and shut, and Sherlock leans over to look at John's jaw. Wide, open slits on John's jaw. He immediately moves to cover them, to stop blood from pouring out of an obvious cut he should've seen earlier. Cut, injured, john. He can't stop a cut that deep from bleeding.

But it isn't bleeding. It's pulsating. Moving, quivering, like John is trying to breathe.]

Gills.

[pulling_rank]

[Despite his waning energy, he manages an incredulous look when he hears Sherlock say that. Gills. That's impossible. It's impossible.

But he can't breathe. His grip on his arm lessens, and the edges of his vision are going dark. He's not unconscious, not yet, but he will be soon.]

[the_new_sexy]

[It should be impossible, but it clearly isn't. Sherlock doesn't think, he just dashes into the bath and stops it up, turning the water on full blast and running back to John. There's no time to think about sensible things, he just has to get him somewhere he can breathe.]

With the water running, it should be enough to aerate the water, give you oxygen. John. I need you to work with me, all right? When I get you into the water, you need to drink, do you understand?

[he grips him and starts to drag him into the bathroom.]

[pulling_rank]

[John can hear him talking to him, but it sounds like it's from very far away. He tries, uselessly, to try and push himself up, but his body won't obey his commands.

He's helpless. He's felt this way before, on the battlefield when he'd been injured. Dragged away from a man he'd been trying to save after he'd caught a bullet in the shoulder. Everything was a blur after that, a painful, frightening blur, and that's exactly how he feels right now.]

[the_new_sexy]

[he doesn't hesitate, he throws John into the bathtub, even though it's not even halfway full, and turns John's head towards the spigot of water. He doesn't push him down, doesn't want to risk the possibility that he's just imagining John's gills. John needs to be able to move away if he needs to.]

Drink. Drink, it'll push the water through the gills and take in air.

[pulling_rank]

[He splashes as he hits the water, rational mind fighting against the sudden water all around him, and tries to knock Sherlock's hand away from his face. His heart feels like it is going to hammer out of his chest, and in the midst of the panic gripping him, he accidentally pulls in water.

He can breathe again. It's impossible, but he's breathing again.

His eyes widen, looking towards Sherlock as if to ask how this is possible, but takes in another mouthful of water. Another breath. Slowly, very slowly his pulse starts to return to normal.]

[the_new_sexy]

[He checks John's pulse from his wrist. Going down. That's good.

No, it's bad. This won't last. This can't last. Sherlock doesn't know an enormous amount about fish, he's deleted all the irrelevant data, but he does know from a particularly harrowing childhood incident that they absorb most of the oxygen in the water when it's not aerated. This will work for a brief time, but it won't be permanent.]

All right, John. You can't speak, but I need you to let me know if you can hear me. If you can, hold one finger up.

[pulling_rank]

[He continues drinking in water, still more than a little disturbed that it is working. Sherlock starts talking to him, and it's hard to understand at first, but he can hear him.

He holds one finger up above the water.]

[the_new_sexy]

All right, good.

We need to work out what's happened to you, but first we have to get you stable. This isn't going to last.

There's a biological wet lab in the basement of Bart's. But that's a cab ride away. You won't survive more than a half hour in this setup.

[pulling_rank]

[The helpful, not so panicked part of his brain in charge of sarcasm wants to pipe up with something about Sherlock needing to work on his bedside manner, because it leaves a lot to be desired.

But he can't talk to him like this. It's more than a little frustrating.]

[the_new_sexy]

This can't have just happened, something had to have facilitated the change. No one just grows gills.

Did you take anything at Baskerville? Anything at all? Did anything bite you?

Two fingers for 'no'.

[pulling_rank]

['Oh yeah, there was this whole thing I forgot to mention about a wet lab with radioactive sharks. One bit me, it itched for a few days, I thought it was nothing.' Clearly, the lack of oxygen hasn't affected his sense of humor, not that Sherlock will know.

He lifts two fingers.]

[the_new_sexy]

[Sherlock looks at the two fingers, and wonders if they're actually affirming 'no', or if that, coupled with John's expression, means a rather more vulgar gesture.]

Well, there isn't much time. How long can you go out of the water without having to breathe? Maybe we can make it in a cab.

[pulling_rank]

[The world may never, ever know.

He drinks in more water then mouths, 'Not long'. It isn't very helpful, but it is the truth. He'd only just made it up the stairs and to his room, but he'd been fine after he'd gotten out of the shower.]

[the_new_sexy]

Yes, I know 'not long'. How long is not long?

[he looks to the door. Maybe he can build some sort of an aerator. Something. Anything to keep John alive.]

[pulling_rank]

[He doesn't know how long. He reaches up to take hold of the sides of the bath, and pull himself up. Only one real way to find out, wasn't there?

He flounders at first, when he comes up out of the water. There's a brief moment of panic, as he tries to breathe, but he can't again.

He tries to focus on the fact that he can breathe out here. He shouldn't have any difficulty with this and-

-he gasps in an actual breath. Then another, and struggling for each one. The gills on the side of his jaw flatten and seem to merge with the skin; no longer needed.]

I don't know.

[the_new_sexy]

[Sherlock leans in, watching as the gills flatten away, becoming part of his skin.

He blinks a few times, as if to shake away what obviously can't be true but what must be true.]

We have to get you somewhere with faster moving water. Something aerated, in case it starts again.

[pulling_rank]

[He nods and moves to push himself up, so he can climb out of the bath.]

I won't argue with that.

[He's trembling slightly, still very much out of sorts after that ordeal. Not to mention his being completely soaked now, and cold.]

[the_new_sexy]

[Sherlock, oblivious to the fact that he's also wet and cold, immediately heads for the door.]

I'll need to take some blood and skin scrapings, too. See if we can figure out what's mutating in your cell structure.

[pulling_rank]

[He follows after, just a bit slower.]

I think we have enough time to change. You'll freeze out there. We both need different clothes.

Cabs probably won't take us if we're soaked anyways.