Escape From Alphabet Zoo™
The Founding of the Zoo
Doctor Abcde Wxyz is a wealthy man. You know who he is, I’m sure, so unless you live under a rock you don’t need me to pronounce his name for you.
Spoiler! :
You know him as the guy that successfully brought back the Saber-tooth Tiger, the Dodo bird, the Zanzibar Leopard, and the Wooly Rhino from extinction, among other animals. Everyone suspects he has baby dinosaurs hidden somewhere, too. But that’s all old news. Since then, his team of scientists have also developed genetic-altering technology with astounding results.
His most popular invention is the PigmaPet™ technology. Wouldn’t you like to dress up your dog for Halloween, but avoid the tacky fabric that Fido despises? Just mix the appropriate PigmaPills™ into your dog or cat’s kibble, and you’ll instantly start to see your dog’s fur change color. There’s the PigmaSafari Pack,™ featuring tiger stripes, zebra stripes, leopard spots, or pink flamingo feathers. The PigmaSuper Pack™ offers countless superhero costumes, and the exclusive PigmaGlow™ makes your pet glow in the dark. The effects are temporary, of course, and completely harmless. In the next few months, Dr. Wxyz’s team will be releasing PigmaScale,™ for aquarium fish and certain reptiles, and bird owners are eager for the release of PigmaWing™ next year. Nothing has been patented for humans just yet, but it’s only a matter of time.
Even with these incredible successes, Dr. Wxyz is still hunting for new ways to expand his company. Preferably, he wanted to do something with both animals and the alphabet (it’s a well-known fact that Dr. Wxyz adores those twenty-six letters that run in his blood), but he had no idea what that something was. That is, until his four-year-old daughter Lmno brought him a crayon drawing of a zebra with the Starbucks insignia scrawled on its flank.
“Daddy?” Lmno had said, pouting with bright red lips. “Don’t you like it?”
Her father gently laid the zebra drawing on his desk and wiped his forehead. “My dear girl,” he said. “This is brilliant!”
How hadn’t he thought of it before? At first, he simply felt foolish that it hadn’t crossed his mind. His technology could do anything, anything! He could use PigmaPills™ to advertise McDonald’s golden arches on an elephant’s skin. What about the alphabet? Perhaps he could use alliteration, like an elephant advertising eBay! Or a dodo bird for Dell Taco!
“My little lemon,” Dr. Wxyz crooned, lifting his daughter into his arms. “Would you like to have an Alphabet Zoo?”
“We already have a zoo in our backyard, Daddy.”
“Yes, yes, but that’s not an Alphabet Zoo. That’s just a zoo.” He swept his hand across the room like a paintbrush. “Imagine, Lmno! A penguin for Pepsi, a zebra for Zale’s, and a saber-toothed tiger for Subway! Twenty-six of them, with the sponsor cash pouring in! Companies like Geico that already have animal mascots wouldn’t need them, of course, but imagine how many would!” He sat his daughter down at his desk and pranced around the room, gesticulating wildly. “A saber-tooth tiger exhibit, the Subway sandwich insignia glowing on its fur, soon to be the star of commercials and billboards and t-shirts and coffee mugs and snow globes! Tourists begin flocking to our zoo, eager to pay money to see the real thing! Companies like Subway would pay fortunes!”
“I like Subway,” Lmno said.
Here’s where you come in.
Twenty-six animals and twenty-six company sponsors have funneled together into the basis of Dr. Wxyz’s Alphabet Zoo on Pigma Island, located one hundred and fifty miles off the coast of Hawaii, and you are one of those animals.
You wake up each morning, eat your food, and enjoy an hour of blissful peace and quiet as the PigmaPills™ settle into your system and the familiar tingle spreads across your skin. Then the park opens and you’re ushered into your exhibit. Through the glass you can see the the tourists and their flashing cameras. Sometimes men with bigger cameras come to take videos of you, paying particular attention to the annoying markings on your flank.
What’s wrong with that?
Several things, in fact!
1) Side effects: remember how we said that the PigmaPills™ are completely harmless? When used sparingly and on cats and dogs, they almost always are. But in this case, these various animals are being exposed to the same chemicals every single day, and to say the least, it’s not healthy. Different animals experience different problems. In Dr. Wxyz’s excitement, Alphabet Zoo was set up in a miraculously short time. Scientists had less time to perfect the PigmaPills™ as they’d like, especially because they are for such diverse creatures.
2) You can’t avoid taking the pills: otherwise, you’d go hungry. It’s the zookeepers’ number one job to make sure you eat those pills.
3) No drinking water during display time: in order to keep the Pigma™ colors as vibrant as possible, water is not allowed until night time, as it tends to dilute the color. Naturally, this will affect certain animals more than others.
4) The limelight: the excessive and relentless exposure to the world is certainly taxing, as you can imagine.
5) And overall: let’s be honest. You’re treated less as a living being and more as a walking advertisement. Dr. Wxyz, an animal lover, would have never expected it to turn out this way, but for the twenty-six unfortunate animals at Alphabet Zoo, nothing will change.
Unless you’re brave enough to fight the system.
Escape!
Depending on their personality, some animals may be perfectly content with living in the zoo. After all, they're practically celebrities. Otherwise, most would rather risk the chance to get out of there and avoid the pills and the tourists.
Cruise ships and supply cargoes arrive every morning and leave every evening, some to Hawaii and some to the mainland (the U.S.). When I make the map of the island, after having the list of different animals and knowing where they are, I’ll post it here and show which animals can have contact with one another and somewhat plan during nighttime. Generally, the zoo is in alphabetical order.
What will the animals do once they're free? Their Pigma™ colors will have worn off, for sure, but that's hardly a disguise. After the Alphabet Zoo explodes with news reports about their missing animals, anyone can put two and two together - that zebra wandering around the park probably didn't escape from any old zoo. It's up to these animals to hide as well as they can until they can be reunited with their kind if they want their freedom forever. Being free from the exhibit bars is one thing. In the real world, it's an entirely new challenge.
Character Slots
As you can see, all characters have been filled in by now, and the unclaimed letters have been set as NPCs. However, those who still would like to join certainly may. Just let me know which NPC character you'd like, and I'll reserve it for you. If you're new to storybooking, this is a great one to begin with!
Spoiler! :
Character profile:
Remember, the company name and your animal species must begin with the same letter!
- Code: Select all
[b]Name/Company Sponsor:[/b] (The name of the company is the official name of your character.)
[b]Animal Species:[/b] (can be an extinct animal, just be sure to check with me first)
[b]Appearance:[/b] (how is the company advertised on your animal? Describe the design)
[b]Personality:[/b]
[b]Reason they want to escape - or don’t:[/b]
[b]Strengths:[/b]
[b]Weaknesses:[/b] (any side effects from the pill?)
[b]Description of their exhibit:[/b]
Questions? Interested in joining? Head over to the DT!
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