#coccineouswriting

[coccineouswriting]

Have you heard the rumors?

This art gallery, now under new ownership and rebranded, was a hot tourist spot back in the day. Guertena’s works once covered every inch of the building. All came to fawn and ponder over his intentions and thoughts behind the pieces, letting themselves be drawn into the mystery of its beauty.

Well, that was until two people went missing. 

A young girl and man disappeared in a gallery with no back doors. Staff diligently received and escorted out guests, having members at the ready to take the next group. All claimed to have seen the girl come in with her mother and father, the man alone. None had seen them leave the “Fabricated World” exhibit. 

Oh? The “Fabricated World” is the other side of this gallery. It is a place of nightmares, art in motion attempting to steal from you which they do not have. A life. 

The man in charge promises all of Guertena’s works are all stored at another gallery, somewhere far away, yet… they have seen them. 

A beautiful painting of a girl caught the eyes of a group of rowdy teens that had separated from the rest of their class. It depicted her curled up, eyes gently gazing at the red rose blossoming in her hand, fingertips bent to caress the petals with care. Stems grew from her heart, wrapping around her body like an intricate tattoo. Various roses could be found growing among their garden.

They claimed to have seen her come alive. 

If you ever come across her painting, left all alone in a deserted corner of the gallery, know this. You are already halfway into their world. 

If you stay she will take your life just as hers was and turn you into one of her beautiful roses, just as she did to one of those silly boys. He has been declared missing, but that is not true, we know where he is. 

Is that all? Oh no, there is one more! Remember that man? Two went missing, how sad is it that he is always the forgotten of the duo. 

A horrid fate awaits at his hands. While beauty and innocence lure those to the girl, only fear and disgust seep into those that lay eyes on him.

Thorns protrude from his skin, tangled in his tattered coat and tight around his neck like a noose. His skin is charred and thorns blackened, body supporting clusters of wilted petals pressed into to skin of his face and hands, burnt traces suggest they were once on his neck as well. He holds his fist in front of him, attempting to crush the rose that lay in his palm. 

He has no sympathy for the living anymore. Once he has you in his grasp, there will be no escape. Whispers say that it is a painful ending, slow for his satisfaction. 

Now you know of the origins of our resident creatures, so I believe it is time for you to go home! You feel for them!? That won’t do! They have long since left behind their humanity, only monsters are left. 

Shoo now, it is almost closing time and I have a job to do. Stay safe? Why, how kind of them to say….

It is fine. I have long since learned how to avoid Ib and Gary. 

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I didn't do much revising and editing on this since it was a vague idea that is more of a drabble of what could be a much longer AU type writing.

The idea of Ib and Garry being supernaturals, bound by the horrible rumors that float around in that TBHK style is fun to think about.

Ib would never want to hurt anyone, so I imagined she would take them and turn them into roses(however that works), never angry enough to kill, finding a loophole through how they perceive her as someone too pure to kill another.

For Garry, with the patches of burnt skin and black thorns, I wanted it to seem like a punishment for when he went around burning things and using his lighter. Or I was leaning into another idea that, because he would obviously never hurt Ib, he attempted to burn all the growth off himself but all it would do was appear burnt, unable to be destroyed. The petals being pressed in areas, almost like scales here and there but rose petals, was me thinking back on how Mary and The Lady in his first room took to tearing apart the petals on his rose.

Gary would not kill either, but there is more of a loose canon type vibe with him because of his anger issues. Like Ib, it's the rumors but since his appearance is more frightening, horrible scenarios would come to mind and then birth into those said rumors.

Well sorry for the rambling! This is my first post and I am excited to be able to share some writing pieces and ideas. I hope I did tagging correctly. I sincerely hope you also enjoy this little bit of mine.

I really do recommend playing/or watching someone play Ib, the Remake came out last year and added in so much more dialogue! Toilet-bound Hanako-kun is the anime/manga where the rumor prompt came from, also a recommend.