R1 DEADLAND PT2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

[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

[sendintheclown]

[Gogol's just where he was. This isn't right. That's not how it should be.

What a cruel joke.

Of course, what else can he do but laugh? Loud, frenzied, desperate laughter.]

it's a joking placeholder but i'm also just serious

[lovedanime]

[Mitarai is walking around the corner and hears the laughter and just starts CRYING LOUDLY]

[sendintheclown]

[Gogol remembers that sound. That crying that could only belong to one person. As if his misery were simply transferred to another, Gogol springs back into enthusiasm, and starts to run towards the source.]

Little bird!

[lovedanime]

[Mitarai looks up at the running man. Clown. He raises up both his little forearms, all full of justified pain.]

Nikolai-san!

[You know what first things first MAKE SURE THIS TOUCHING REUNION CAN'T GET INTERRUPTED BY WAVER. He pushes out this request with great effort.]

Did you know that... In the arcade... They have a snowmobile racing game?

[sendintheclown]

[3, 2, 1 Gogol is scooping those little arms into his own.]

They do? [That sounds delightful.] Why don't you show me?

[lovedanime]

A-Alright!! [Mitarai is nodding fiercely as tears drip off his chin. He turns so they can start walking in the direction of the arcade. Mitarai doesn't have the coordination to march forward like a ballerina with both his hands criss-cross holding another pair of hands; instead he wraps both his arms around Gogol's one arm like a child finally getting the chance to lead a parent to a part of the grocery store.]

After all...

Everything he liked... I like too.

[devotingly]

[ making my way downtown, walking fast, faces passed--

is that the clown's laughter?












walking faster. ]

[sendintheclown]

[honks ominously THERE'S NO WAY TO HIDE NOW]

[newhire]

[She doesn't come find him until much later. And yet here she is-- further proof that he can't escape. Not yet.]

...you've always been fond of games, right?

So then... can you guess why I'm here Nikolai Gogol?

[sendintheclown]

Are you going to put me in stocks and have them all throw fruit at me?

[That’s it that’s all he’s got.]

[newhire]

...not in the slightest.

I came here because I'm the only one who could.

When you left earlier, there's something you took with you that someone out there still desperately needs. So... I came on his behalf to ask if you'll tell me.

[sendintheclown]

[Well, now he’s getting an idea, and he steps back on his hostility, looking a little worn out.]

What does he want?

[newhire]

...right now Edgar is looking for a reason to live and not...

[Not chase you into the afterlife.]

So the compromise that I was able to come to him was that I would ask you this in his place. And that's... what your feelings are for him.

[throwabookatit]

[ Hey, you might hear some footfalls, Gogol. They're coming at you fast.

Like the book that Rebecca's swinging, as she charges you. ]

[sendintheclown]

UaaaAAAAAAHHH!!

[That hits, and knocks the afterlife out of Gogol with a mighty squeak.]

[throwabookatit]

[ Why does he squeak, she keeps wondering that. Oh well, here comes another swing. ]

You fucking arse!

[sendintheclown]

[That's a clown mystery for you, Rebecca.

She makes another hit, and Gogol just cowers pathetically.]

Stop! Stop! I'm already dead!

[throwabookatit]

And who's fault is that, huh?!

[ Not...at all stopping. ]

Who made that damn choice?!

[starswink]

[Well, he definitely couldn't miss Tess's shouting from the rooftops. Rather than shouting back, though, he's actually trying to run his way up there first, but on his way, the laughter catches his ears and before he knows it, he's coming up behind Gogol. Somehow it is Yoosung's fate to always run into the culprit first.... he could just keep going, but "Fuck clowns!" was a pretty clear reverberating message, so she will probably forgive him for stopping to ask what the hell his problem is.]

Do you actually think this is funny?

[sendintheclown]

Oh, it’s downright tragic.

[He asked for literally one thing and he can’t seem to get it.]

That’s why it’s funny.

[starswink]

[He huffs. That's the kind of laughter it was, sure. But this guy killed Tess, so he's not about to find anything that happened to him tragic.]

Yeah, I guess it is "hilariously" tragic how everyone keeps doing just what the administration want.

[Without knowing anything about the situation, that's all he could say about it... but he kinda doubts anyone else is going to ask.]

What the hell did they promise this time?

cw: suicidal ideation

[sendintheclown]

"The longer and more carefully we look at a funny story, the sadder it becomes." Don't you think the same is true of the other way around?

[He grins and relaxes his shoulders.]

Something about saving a person. I thought it'd be a win-win scenario, either way.

[That clearly didn't work out.]

abuse mention

[starswink]

....

[Yoosung has never heard of this quote, and he bristles to think of it in reverse. Of course laughing at someone else's sadness, such as Tess's, is despicable. He wants to believe that he would never understand the possibility of looking enough to turn into that. But Yoosung has been trapped in a long, sad story before. It flickers on his face, the recognition of learning how to feel good in a world of pain. So maybe the quote is right after all. But that doesn't mean he'll accept it so easily coming from a friend's killer, who apparently tried to drag her (maybe more friends on top of that) into something that was possibly even more about suicide than it would be about saving someone. Even if... even if that was also really, really relatable, when he was only alive now because of the costs he'd pay if he hadn't stayed alive and entertaining. But the clown was someone everyone surprised it even took him this long to kill anyone, weren't they? So how can he believe it's the same....... He squints at him hard.]

Y-You're not the only one in this story. Two for one isn't fair and you know it... How long did you really look?

[itwasfeyt]

[Maya rounds the corner, curious as to what all the laughter is about.

Seeing that it's Gogol, well, it's not like she can't die here, right? Maya is a woman born without fear, which is why she's taking off one of her sandals and tossing it at him.]

Hey! Knock it off!

[sendintheclown]

[That sandal just bounces off of his head and he cackles.]

Nope! Why should I?