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

here we fucking go

[throwabookatit]

[ Another day trying to get used to life in a simulation, being an AI. Recover from a fuckton of trauma. Another normal day. Why, look, there's Waver, yelling as he usual--

Wait. ]

Wh- what?! [ Rebecca goes to grab his arm, to keep him still. ] Wav- Waver what are y- what happened, oh my- hold still for a second, I haven't!

[ does that mean that little bitch killed her boy, oh my god ]

[devotingly]

Then get out of the way, Gale—!

[ gales. waver stops, eyes wide as he recognizes rebecca. ]

Gales... you’re here.

[throwabookatit]

[ Rebecca, a little quicker on the draw, immediately tries to look him over. What a silly thing to do, they aren't hurt here anymore, but-- well. Habits die hard.

Like they all have, apparently. ]

Of course I'm here... Come here, let me- just catch your breath for a second, alright?

[devotingly]

That’s— no—

[ but, eventually, waver gives up in trying to find a way to answer rebecca, his shoulders dropping in defeat. ]

Damn it.

[throwabookatit]

[ The urge to ask what happened is strong, but Rebecca refrains, cautiously moving her hand, from his arm to his shoulder, and the other one...to his cheek, if he'll let her. ]

I know. I won't keep you from doing anything you feel you need to, especially-- especially to someone whose wronged you. But your mental state matters much more than that bawbag.

[ He was definitely killed. Mitarai definitely killed him. ]

[devotingly]

[ waver immediately tenses up when rebecca touches his cheek... but he doesn’t pull away. instead, he leans into the touch, eyes screwed shut as he tries to calm down. ]

My mental health? Who the hell cares about that...?

[ deep breaths help... somewhat. well, at least he’s not angry now, but it seems he’s still obviously troubled. ]

We’re dead, Gales. I disgraced the wishes of not one, but two people.

[throwabookatit]

We're dead. It's true.

[ Probably, he's never heard her speak this gently. This patiently. ]

But it's not the end. We've got our minds, our selves, and each other. I'm not going to say you didn't just go through something traumatic...but you've not reached the end of your rope. Not if I have anything to say about it.

[devotingly]

Traumatic? That wasn’t traumatic... it was pathetic!

[ no, the weight of his death hasn’t fully settled on his shoulders. not how he tried to fight off mitarai or how he had to struggle back to his room, aware that he was dying. that his only consolation was that he was able to die close to something that belonged to his most important person.

the one who told him not once, but twice, to live for him. ]

I’m... I’m so fucking pathetic. No wonder I died like that.

[throwabookatit]

Waver Velvet, you are a lot of things, but you are not pathetic.

[ Rebecca shakes her head and takes a step closer. Don't move him, go to him. To hold him. ]

[devotingly]

[ his chest rises and falls quickly as waver tries his damn best to keep himself from crying. the last thing he wants is to cry in front of someone— that vulnerability is something he doesn’t want to show again and yet...

and yet rebecca hugs him. she hugs him and assures him that he is not nearly as pathetic as he thinks he is. the same way so many people have done, but waver has refused to believe due to his own stubbornness.

but now, in this weak state, he can’t do anything but accept the words of comfort. burying his face in rebecca’s shoulder, waver sobs, uncaring of how ugly it sounds in his own ears. ]

I couldn’t— I couldn’t— My promise—

[throwabookatit]

[ And so she holds him tighter, so he can't ignore it, gently shushing him and rubbing small circles into his back. His words strike something in her too, especially as she remembers now, her last conversation with Ashton. His increasing worry and desperation as she simply thanked him, accepting her fate.

I promise I won't leave you. Maybe it was a childish promise, but it was one she held so close to her heart. One more important than her crush, one that in the end she still broke. One that...she could see the effects of, in the end.

So it's with intensity and understanding that she murmurs back to him: ] I know.

I know, just...let it all out right now. It's not your fault, Waver.

[devotingly]

[ it's not your fault

those are the words that finish breaking the multiple walls that waver had set up for his own protection. perhaps he'll resent rebecca for it later, since the last thing he wants to be is weak. but it doesn't matter right now. he continues to sob his frustrations, every once in a while mixing in an apology that's not directed so much at rebecca but at the two people that impacted his life so much.

it goes on for a couple minutes, until the sobs calm down until they're just shaky breaths. hesitantly, waver pulls away from rebecca, wiping his eyes with the back of his sleeve. ]

I'm...sorry about that. I shouldn't have...

[throwabookatit]

[ She keeps a hand on his shoulder, another at his head. The look on her face... It's so far from pitying. It's understanding, gentle. ]

Have what? Done what every one of us has, at some point? [ She shakes her head. ] You're fine. If I got to wail and blubber when I woke up here, you're certainly allowed to let yourself cry.

[devotingly]

[ waver doesn't pull away from rebecca, but he can't find the will to look at her in the eye. he sighs. ]

I don't...know what to do now. Will we be able to get out of this?

[throwabookatit]

I... I don't know, Waver. But I do know nothing's impossible, at this point. There...is a way to bring people back from the dead, with little consequence.

[ She smiles, just a little bitterly, though he can't see. ]

I was proof enough of that. Quite a few of us were. So... I want to believe...someone on our side can pull through, for us.

[ None of that android bullshit. ]