R1 DEADLAND

[lockdownmods]

[it’s strange, for the people who were already dead, the shift in scenery is sudden and complete. For those who have just arrived? It’s like you’re back where you left?

How strange.

But if you ever need her, you can always reach out to the guardian of this place.]

LOCATIONS
Note: locations lag a week behind the living counterparts

Comments

[coagmentatio]

(( BELATEDLY AF his Permissions/Opt-Out is just over here! ))


[ He sure is putting a lot of effort into keeping to himself, except when bugging Yuuki...?

Up until now, it's been a matter of catching him just as he's heading back to his room. Though, feel free to spot him as he's making his way to the garden or quietly sitting on the floor in the hallway, writing... something. The second he notices someone approaching, said something is getting hidden via him slowly and casually flipping the paper over.

There's nothing too exciting with him, otherwise. He's kind of just... here, and unsure of what to do with himself. Or even what "himself" now equates to. ]

hallway

[supportrole]

[ Yeah, Mishima feels that life. (Er, death. Whatever.) He has seemed noticeably less miserable since Yoosung got here, at least. Like, still depressed, but it's less debilitating! ]

Hey, Aiden.

[ Did he just flip that paper over...? ]

What are you working on?

[ Because it kind of looks like a blank piece of paper. ]

[coagmentatio]

[ He tilts his head a bit as he looks up at the younger man. ]

Hey, Yuuki... [ ah ] ... I was giving writing a try, again.

[ There's a moment of hesitance. ]

Even though it wasn't something I had much time for, I used to do that, back home.

[supportrole]

Really? What kind of stuff do you write about?

[ Glances at the back of that paper again... ]

I mean, if you want to talk about it.

[ He leans back against the wall nearby, slipping his hands into his pockets. ]

I always thought it might be kind of cool to go into journalism or something, but I'm not any good at creative writing or anything like that.

[coagmentatio]

[ He's hesitant, but he does flip it over enough to show it's the start of something: a poem. Emphasis on start, since it will most likely require his explanation to know what it is. ]

It's never anything special, but I write a variety of poetry.

[ There's a tilt of his head. ]

Even natural-born talent demands practice.

[starswink]

[Once Yoosung finally happens upon Aiden, he's honestly even more stunned to see him than Mishima. Maybe it was just because they hadn't gotten particularly close during the entrance exam, yet his disappearance was the first major shock that made him anxious to figure out what the voices meant by "it will get worse", the possibility of seeing him again had never once occurred to him. He was just a confusing existence. And now Yoosung has found him... truly a reminder that he's passed on to the other side. But how do you even greet such an entity? By awkwardly waving, I guess.]

Oh, hey... [It's me, Yoosung! I'm dead now!! He can't say that.]

...Remember me? [Yeah, that's more like it. They're in the garden by the way.]

[coagmentatio]

[ There's something ironic happening here, but Aiden won't point it out in a normal way. ]

A college student named Yoosung Kim, who's the Prospect of Gaming. Your international age is 20, and your Korean age is 21. You're 171 centimeters tall and 68 kilograms in weight.

You were declared gullible, and an M - whatever that means. You don't have a girlfriend, which I don't understand being considered a weakness. You like an MMORPG called LOLOL, you enjoy cooking, and you enjoy volunteering. You dislike studying, you dislike people hiding things from you, and you dislike being teased.

[ With that, he's lightly tapping on his temple, gaze shifting away. ]

I couldn't forget any of that, even if I wanted to.

[starswink]

[Yoosung, on the other hand, clearly hasn't mentally refreshed himself on the mock round profiles to remember that Aiden's pointed out his eidetic memory, but in his defense, a lot more time has passed for him. At any rate, it's a bit flustering to have all of that recounted to him, including the embarrassing parts. Yoosung definitely looks weaker for the brief moment when he mentions his lack of a girlfriend - his eyes widen as being reminded of it makes his stomach ill from the dark realization - but he just laughs it off softly without explaining as he lets him continue to rattle on. It's true, but not how he thought... and it turns out in this moment he definitely feels like things were hidden from him, and like he was teased. ....But none of this is Aiden's fault. By the end, he's just rubbing the back of his head, somewhere between sheepish and a little impressed.]

Aha, that's too bad. It wasn't a really flattering profile, was it? Geez.

[He'll take a seat by the pond, where he can watch the critters.]

But that was pretty cool, Aiden. I'm glad I don't have to introduce myself again, anyway... It's been a while for me. I heard there was something of a time skip before you guys came here.

[coagmentatio]

[ One thing about being a hunter is learning to read emotional output... and so he's definitely watching this guy's expressions closely. ]

The profiles weren't built with context, so judging someone entirely based on it, would be stupid. [ shrug ] Besides, something such as being gullible has always felt like another form of optimism - if anything, I'm jealous. Meanwhile, studying is a preferential thing, and I'm sure you're among a majority in disliking being teased or having things hidden from you.

[ He's glancing upward for a moment. ]

"Cool"... [ said as though it's not a word he's used often ] You're the first to call it that.

[ But there's an uncomfortable expression on his face as he thinks over that mention of a time skip. ]

This place goes entirely against what I thought I knew, back home. [ wry smirk ] Just how much time passed, for you guys?

[starswink]

[What a soothing response.... Yoosung wasn't entirely expecting that, so he looks a bit uncertain, but his smile does grow a little more genuine at that.]

Well, you're the first to say they're jealous of my gullibility... so that makes us both first timers here? [A bit of a silly thing to say, but he's not sure what to make of it... I mean, eidetic memory is objectively cool, isn't it??] But I'm seriously the only one who thought it'd be really handy for studying?

[He'd ace all his tests if he could do that! ....Well, it'd still require not procrastinating on reading the textbook though. But he'd only have to do it ONCE.]

It was a couple of months or more. We basically spent an entire summer in these vacation houses and the abandoned mall. All of it was behind a wall just like Fayflower's.

[coagmentatio]

[ He gives a dim kind of smirk. ]

... I guess learning did always come easily. But being smart in a textbook sense isn't all there is to it.

[ There's a very slight tilt of his head. ]

Vacation houses? [ a soft frown - that feels like mockery ] I'm guessing you guys weren't able to explore, at all.

[starswink]

Noooope. It was basically just like the school. If I didn't have LOLOL to play with Terra and Max I probably would have died of boredom while we waited....

[He sighs.]

There were a few things that I found there. Vivi's tablet, for one. I figured out there was enough of a connection between the place and Fayflower, so I killed the power so we could talk to those voices again, but it didn't last that long.