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

[lovedanime]

[Mitarai is following along, literally and figuratively. Offering the pamphlets with such fervor he was obviously keyed up, and the progression of the stroll has started to even him out, so it no longer seems worrisome to briefly separate for something necessary like that.]

Really? Good for you on facing your fear, Nikolai-san! May I ask how you did it?

[sendintheclown]

Oh! The Detective -

[As soon as he says that he pauses, perhaps a moment too long. That’s just a memory now, isn’t it? From now on, he would only ever be a memory.]

He dragged me into it! We went through it together, and he was fearless, fighting back at everything with biting criticism!

[If Poe had been scared, Gogol couldn’t see it through his own terror.]

It was really fun!

[lovedanime]

...

[During that pause Mitarai forces his lips with a whimper to stay in a thin line. He doesn't think of any apprentice as "the detective" and had the impression Gogol wasn't on terms anything like this with Lieutenant Anderson or Connor the police droid. The following moment of silence itself leads Mitarai to the answer: Only a mystery writer, someone who draws from life or might as well according to his fans, could have such a chilling presence not even in the room. Gogol is probably in the same situation as Mitarai... even worse since the matching puzzle piece is all the way up on the table. Then the two of them just have to click together like pieces from differently printed sets by the same thrifty manufacturer, even though their paints won't blend together.]

Huh, so he's good at criticizing horror media beyond just novels!

["I wish I could talk to him." They had been friends in their own right, and they admitted to each other that Gogol was their friend too, imagined all three of them hanging out together. But that idea hurts him in its current impossibility, and it'll hurt Gogol even more. Mitarai wracks his brain for a more spiritual contribution from Poe towards the spirit-raising effort.]

Then I'll try to develop as a creator, too! Let's... not... dawdle!

[sendintheclown]

[The hurriedness of the situation, unavoidably, reminds Gogol of that one shared in the past. It was funny how ready he was to have it all done with quickly, but now finds himself wondering if he should’ve afforded himself more time. It was...really...funny....]

Haha! [As always, Mitarai’s spirit reaches him.] What a noble quest! I can’t keep you waiting on that, can I?

[On they go, towards the haunted house.]

[lovedanime]

[Nod! Then they go through the door! The darkness itself at least doesn't bother Mitarai, but his darting eyes suggest he's looking for something.]

...is there a diegetic soundtrack? Or is the organ just all the way in the back?

[sendintheclown]

The back, I think.

[Admitredly, the finer details of the house is what he remembers the least from the visit.]

We said there should have been an opera ghost! [A fond smile at the memory.] Maybe I could live here and make that my new profession?

[lovedanime]

Performing arts certainly suit you the most!

[Mitarai glances a little uncomfortably between all the dangling chains and spiders as they progress.]

And I know you're an excellent host.

[He won't directly encourage being stuck as a ghost haunting a single place, though.]

[sendintheclown]

You really do?

[Truly, Gogol didn't get enough of a chance to be a host among the living. He did have that one hostage situation he broadcasted, in which he was a wonderfully charming (and endearingly clumsy) host. Surely everyone appreciated it before the carnage started, or maybe even a little bit after too.

He begins to walk through, a touch more confident than his initial visit, leading Mitarai by the arm.]

Then maybe I should go for it!

[lovedanime]

[Strictly speaking Gogol's approach to Mitarai late in the game was more like a very pushy guest, but he still got served more fruit by him than all the other apprentices put together, and he knows that's what a host should do. Mitarai's mother raised him right.

Mitarai opens his mouth to voice his sentiment but that's when the Giant spider falls down and he does scream pretty wildly.]

[sendintheclown]

[Gogol jumps back at both the spider and Mitarai's scream, letting out a shriek himself as he clings to him.

Then, he cracks into a laughter, and looks up at the dangling arachnid.]

Hello again, Mr. Spider!