I Love How Vividly I Could Imagine Toki's Trip! - Tumblr Posts

Kloktober 2024 Day 6

Road Trip or Drug Trip

I love thinking about how a lot of Toki's life experiences where with Dethklok because prior to that he was pretty much isolated from the world.

Today's entry is an example of that, featuring my holy trifecta: Toki, Skwisgaar and Pickles. Because, of course, Pickles can't be missing when it comes to recreational drugs ;)

When Toki saw Skwisgaar and Pickles hanging out in the living room of their apartment, he got curious.

Ever since he joined Dethklok, he had practically clung to Skwisgaar like a baby koala would to a mother. He was the one he felt closest to, in more than one way.

And, Pickles? Well, he was no Skwisgaar, though he was pretty approachable too so Toki walked up to them to ask them what they were up to.

In an almost solemn manner, Pickles tapped at the sofa he was sitting on, and Toki sat next to Skwisgaar, leaving very little space between them. Skwisgaar barely reacted.

“Toki,” Pickles leaned in, like he was going to open his coat and show him the rarest candy in the world. “Have you ever tried acid?”

“Acids?” Toki repeated in confusion. “Whats lemons tastes like?”

Skwisgaar groaned and Pickles let out a belly laugh. “Nuh, nuh, I mean…” He stretched his hand in front of Toki and opened it. A single orange square with a green skull drawn on it laid on his palm. “This.”

“Wowee…” Toki inspected the tiny drawing. “What ams this?”

“Whaddya think?” Pickles grinned at him. When Toki didn’t seem to understand, he stuck his tongue to reveal a white square on his tongue. 

“Oh!”

“Ja, Tokes, we ams doingks drugs.” Skwisgaar said, resting his back on the couch. “Kids hours ams overs.” He closed his eyes, seemingly relaxed.

Pickles gave Toki a mischievous look. “Unless you wanna join the adults.” 

“Uhm…”

“Pickle, no,” Skwisgaar intervened, still with his eyes closed. “He ams goingks to flips out and thens I’ll has to takes cares of him. Likes always.” He muttered the last two words.

Ignoring his bandmate, Pickles offered his palm to Toki. “So?”

“Mmh…” Toki’s gaze alternated between the drug and Skwisgaar. “Mmh…” He kept looking, undecided. “Okays!” He accepted, took the small tab and put it in his mouth before he swallowed. 

“Atta boy!” Pickles patted him in the shoulder, chuckling.

“Now whats?” Toki asked.

“Now…” Pickles laid down on the couch. “You wait…”

“Oh…” Toki frowned in disappointment.

He hated having to wait.

–

Bored off his mind, Toki fell asleep on the couch, only waking up when Murderface dropped beers in the kitchen and Nathan yelled at him in frustration. 

The initial grogginess didn’t wear off after a few seconds, and Toki felt slow and kind of stupid, but not in the way weed made you feel slow and stupid. Not in a happy, funny way, no. It was daunting and he felt weirdly empty and lost. Like there was something off with him. Like there was something really wrong with him. And what were those moving spots on the wall, were they always there? Wait, where did they go?

“How is it goin’, Toki?” Pickles asked with a sleazy smile, he was now smoking a blunt. “Feelin’ it yet?”

“Uhm…” Toki gazed at his surroundings, trying to find the spots again. “Ams…” The patterned floor seemed to be moving now. “What ams happenings to mes?”

“Ye’r trippin’, dummy.” Pickles said. “Do ya like it?”

“Uhm, n-nots reallies…” Toki replied, feeling like a stranger in his own body, in his own home. “Cans I stops?”

“Dere we goes…” Skwisgaar shook his head. “Now he ams goingks to cries and ruins my trips.” He clicked his tongue in frustration. “Dis is fuckingks dildoes…”

For some reason, rather than wishing to prove Skwisgaar wrong, Toki felt weirdly enabled by the commentary instead. “Ahhh!” He cried, huddling to Skwisgaar for comfort. “Dis ams scaries! Makes it stop, Pickle!”

“Toki, gets off me…” Skwisgaar grumbled, though he hardly did anything besides that. 

“Ahh!” Toki lifted his feet off the floor, convinced he had just seen a squared snake slithering around. “What the hecks?!”

“Haha, he said heck…” Pickles giggled, amused by the sight. 

“Skwisgaar!!!” Toki shook the guitarist’s arm. “I don’ts likes this!!”

“And I don’ts likes you clinginks to mine arms but whats cans I does…” Skwisgaar stared at the ceiling. “Eugheugh, dere ams somes guitars floatingks deres.”

Pickles followed his gaze. “Oh, yah, that’s totally sick, dood.” He pointed at a spot on the ceiling. “They have like, little stars all over and they are twinklin’, twinklin’...”

Toki raised his eyes and saw nothing but the white boring paint and the fluorescent light blinking, attracting moths. “Why amsnt I sees the sames things yous see? Why amsnt I on de sames trips you has?! Whys?!”

“Toki.” 

“Whats?” Toki looked down in despair. 

Pickles was smirking at him. “Just let it flow, dood.” Then, he blew smoke into Toki’s face…

…And it was like he was transported into a different world. He glanced around and he was floating on a big white guitar. More specifically, a Snowhorse Explorer. The sky was shifting colors in irregular shapes and lines, constantly everchanging, constantly moving. Unlike the sky, the guitar had a permanent form, moving forwards and carrying Toki with itself. 

Curious, Toki peeked to see what was under and spotted rocky mountains, covered with polka dots of different colors. It made for quite the beautiful sight. However, when he looked closer he realized the dots were actually skulls. Hundreds, thousands of skulls all over the mountains. And some of them still had eyes, glaring at him with such hatred that he was instantly reminded of his parents.

“Ahh!” He looked away, clutching onto the guitar for the lack of anything else to hold.

“Toki.” A deep voice resonated and Toki tried to search for the owner to no avail. The guitar vibrated under him when the voice spoke again. “You gotsa to calms down.”

“Skwisgaar?” 

“Ja.” Skwisgaar said. “Dis ams likes a guitars solos. Yous controls it.”

“I does?”

“You have the power, Toki.” Another voice said, up in the sky and Toki looked up. There was a beer bottle amidst the chaos. “Make it yer thin’.”

Before Toki could say anything, however, the sky abruptly turned into a whirlpool, pulling Toki inside. The guitar accelerated and Toki had to grab onto it so as not to fall. He wasn’t scared anymore, though, just curious about where it all led. Well, he was maybe still a little scared, except the curiosity weighed more.

As they approached the inners of the swirl, the colors began vanishing, turning into blinding white instead. The buzzing in Toki’s ears was deafening, so much that he couldn’t hear himself screaming anymore. He couldn’t feel his hands either, or the rest of his body. It was as if he was fading away, disappearing into the light, so he closed his eyes…

And suddenly everything stopped. 

Toki opened his eyes to a completely different sight.

It was still colorful, albeit slightly less chaotic. Purple blue skies and magenta clouds decorated by flowers. Pink sand with big gummy bears on one side, and fresh green grass with mushrooms on the other. Kitties floating on gigantic candy. And rainbows, so many rainbows. All over the place.

It was beautiful. 

The Snowhorse descended to let him down on the ground, where Toki began happily exploring. He could even spot a castle in the distance and, somehow, he knew in his heart that it was his. That this was all his.

His heart swelled with happiness.

–

“Uhh…he hasn’t moved in a while.” Pickles said, eyes reddened but slightly worried. “Should we call the ambulance?”

“Eugh, no ways, we’ds gets arresteds.” Skwisgaar replied. After a moment, he turned to Toki, whose eyes were closed, and he smiled. “He ams enjoyingks it.”

“He is?!”

“Ja,” Skwisgaar leaned down and picked his Snowhorse. “Soes lets not ruins dats.” Unceremoniously, he began fretting on the guitar. 

And it turned into the most beautiful music in Toki’s world.