(open/closed)

[beeped]

Featuring: Richie Tozier (beeped) and you
What's happening: Various shenanigans
Day/s: March
Content warning: one prompt has character death; probable language and general warnings that come along with richie & his canon.


↝ sandpaths; open

[Switching to working as a sandpath technician has proven to be a good change for him. The fresh air, the sunlight, and physically exhausting work--it's put him in slightly better spirits. At least he keeps busy enough that he doesn't think about how much it sucks not to talk.

He can be found on various parts of the sandpaths, sometimes carrying bags of sand, sometimes slacking off.]

↝ on the search for peanut butter; closed to max

aRE YOU READY FOR AN ADVENTURE

[Everything is an adventure, but this is also a Very Important mission. Ever since hearing about the dog that left them things, Richie's wanted to find treats or something. Naturally, Max has to go with him. She was the one who knew about it first, after all!]

↝ training day; closed to frank

[Is there anything better than learning fighting, self-defense? Playing Streetfighter, probably, but this is still really great and he's extremely excited to learn a thing or two.

So much so that he's swinging a stick around like it's a katana or something while waiting for Frank.]

↝ house 11 garage; closed to housemates; cw: character death (pt 1)

[It's a normal day, inasmuch as a day can be normal in a city where the loudest loudmouth needs to be silent. Richie goes about his day, enjoys the sunshine, slugs some sand around, pats himself on the back for managing to stay quiet for so long.

Later in the day, he heads back home. The house is quiet, which he doesn't think much of at all. Instead he heads straight to his bed in the garage. He flops down on the mattress, staring up at the ceiling.

A flash of yellow catches his eye and he sits up. It doesn't register at first; he's just puzzled by the vibrant yellow in his otherwise dull-colored room. Richie sits up, slides off of the bed and picks it up from the bedpost.

It's only at that point that he recognizes it. A yellow raincoat, one that's too small for him. Blood-stained, missing a sleeve--

The scream that escapes his lips is one he can't control; the raincoat falls to the floor, and within seconds he's just gone.]

↝ later; reset room; open (pt 2)

[Richie doesn't remember what happened, or how he got into the reset room again. But it's unnerving, especially when he can't piece enough together at all. Eventually, he'll get around to texting one of his friends, but for a while he can't bring himself to do much more than to sit and lean against the wall.]

↝ wildcard [CYOA or contact me for plotting via pm or calaveras]

Comments

cue up the rocky music

[oorah]

[ frank is a solid bulk of a man, but even without soundproofed boots and a determination to do everything silently, he's fully capable of moving his bulk completely without noise. he catches the stick in midair before he's even telegraphed his presence, giving richie a wholly unimpressed look. ok karate kid, they're starting over. is he ready for boot camp? ]

[beeped]

[His jaw drops, so certain that Frank literally appeared out of nowhere. It's crazy and he's amazed. Richie gives an exaggerated bow--just like something he's seen in a few Ralph Macchio films.

He's paying attention and he's ready to learn! He'd say as much but he also doesn't feel like dying.]

[oorah]

[ he puts the stick over one broad shoulder and gestures for richie to start down the path. they should go somewhere safer because this kid seems like the type to get himself killed. go figure. he signs: ] Fight Club. [ without knowing or caring if he'll be understood, already following closely behind the boy on the way to his house. ]

[beeped]

[Richie has no idea what Frank is talking about, which is a shame because he'd totally dig that movie if he'd been around when it came out. He'd understand a little bit more what Frank was talking about--but that's okay. He knows that he needs to follow, so that's what he does. He stays at Frank's heels until they're at the house.

Inside is definitely a good idea; he'd inevitably get himself killed otherwise.]

sandpaths

[iisupergirlii]

[Kara admires the sandpath techs. without them, they'd be stuck indoors all day, unless they can fly, she guesses. which is what she's doing now, patrolling the city in the air. she sees Richie, scrawny and kid-like, hoisting sandbags behind him, and she swoops down to help.

when she lands in front of him, though, there's a look of shock on her face. this kid looks so much like Mike it's unreal. Except, he has glasses, and he's maybe a little scrawnier. Taller? Maybe? But it's definitely weird.

Still, Kara sweeps her red cape behind her and gestures to the sandbags with a smile.]

Hey there! Need some help?

[beeped]

[Richie's heard of some kid around here that looks like him, but he's yet to encounter Mike directly, and at this point he's not entirely convinced that his sort-of doppelganger exists.

Kara's surprise doesn't register as having anything to do with what he looks like. He's too busy trying to process the fact that this lady was flying. Like some kind of superhero, right out of his comic books. He needs a moment.

He nods and drops the bag of sand he's carrying in favor of responding.]

yeah definitely! how were you flying? that was LITERALLY the coolest thing i've seen in at least a week. maybe ten weeks.

[iisupergirlii]

[yup, never gets old.]

Haha, thank you! ;) My name's Supergirl. Flying is one of my powers. What's your name?

[beeped]

the name's richie. how'd you learn that flying was your superpower? did you fall off a building and then stop falling? what else can you do?

[This is important.]

On the search for peanut butter for a good dog

[beyourzoomer]

[She's eating a bite of some kind of fruit preserve when she gets his message and she grins involuntarily. She hasn't really spent much time with Richie yet, and she's really hoping they'll have some luck finding a treat for Teddy. She quickly types him a message back.]

bring on the adventure!

[beeped]

AWESOME

[You know he's excited when he's bothering with capital letters at all. He's as sound-proofed as he's capable of being, all the way down to tying a bandanna around his face to effort to keep quiet.]

where are you? i'm still in my room but i can meet you in the front yard or wherever. i bet one of those abandoned buildings has treats

[beyourzoomer]

[That's something she's definitely picked up about Richie. She doesn't bother with a bandana, but she's used to going out searching buildings and houses for anything that might be useful. It's almost a daily routine at this point. She doesn't have a lot of hope for finding peanut butter, but who knows with this place?]

i'm in the kitchen eating breakfast. have you eaten yet?

[beeped]

oh

no

i forgot and here we are, needing all the fuel for today!

[Unsurprisingly, it takes no time at all for him to appear in the kitchen. He gives Max an animated wave before diving into the pantry to get some food for himself. Immediately after he finds something, he sits on the counter and stuffs his face. The sooner he's done, the sooner they can go on their hunt.

He has no idea if they can find anything either, but boy does he want to try.]

reset room

[justbeingknife]

[ It wasn't like Majima wanted to get a sample of the red dirt they'd seen in the footage, okay? He didn't to be anywhere near it. He just wanted to use the Reset Room workshop to work on something -- a project for one of the Sunday classes where Tony would probably give him the sideeye if the damn circuits didn't work right this time. ]

Sorry, didn't realize there was someone...

[ Wait. Not only had he never seen this kid before, but he was slumped against the wall, like --

Majima bent down, signing quickly. ]

You okay? Hurt?

[beeped]

[Richie rubs at his face and looks up at Majima. The familiar face is a welcome one; he's still trying to piece things together despite the gap in his memory, but he's fairly certain of one thing.

And that's the thing that's bothering him the most.]

i'm okay

[Except that's not entirely true, and right now he's having a difficult time pretending that he's Perfectly Fine.]

i think i died

[justbeingknife]

Yeah, maybe.

[ More like almost certainly, but Majima wasn't used to dealing with formerly dead kids popping out of freaky red horror rooms, so this would have to do. ]

You got that red crap all over ya. Think you can stand up?

[beeped]

{Richie isn't sure that he's ready to accept the certainties of what happened to him, so he'll settle for pretending that it's only a possibility right now. It's just a lot to process.

He rubs at his face with his arms and nods slowly. He thinks he can stand--and after a moment he pushes himself to his feet. He feels a little wobbly, weak-limbed, but he doesn't fall over so there's that.]

i don't really remember what happened
guess this means the soundeater thing isn't bullshit

reset room

[thatsruff]

[Teddy spends a lot of his time not on patrol waiting near or in the reset room depending on how easily he can find someone to let him in. Those who come through it, whether new or recovering from death, needed comfort often. And beyond that, the General had given him a mission to learn as much as he could about death and the side effects surrounding return from it here. He took both his own assigned task and his new side mission seriously, but his first priority was to help those dealing with their entry or re-entry into this place as best he could.

When one of the kids whose scent he recognizes from the eleventh house reappears in the building, Teddy pads over to where he is sitting, carefully and softly placing a paw on his knee.]

[beeped]

[Few things are better than a dog. Even when he's feeling low, terrified, and disoriented, there's no denying that Teddy is exactly what Richie needs right now. The paw on his knee pulls him out of his thoughts.

His smile is shaky, but he tries his best to be reassuring--as if Teddy is the one who needs the comfort.] Thanks boy, I'm okay. [As he says it, he reaches out to stroke behind Teddy's ear.]

[thatsruff]

[Teddy leans into the touch. His eyes do not leave the boy and his paw does not move from his knee. This human puppy smells of fear and has a tremor to his limbs that the dog recognizes. He moves himself closer, and leans his body into the boy's. He is large, heavy, and warm and he rests his chin on top of his paw. This is a good boy from the house of good human puppies, and he needs someone now. Teddy will be that someone if he can.

After a short period of comfort, he turns his head so one eye can focus on the boy's face, and a message from his device to Richie's goes out with the username Upsilon.]

Nothing will hurt you in here.

[clussy]

(Hell hath no fury like a Kaspbrak on a rampage.

Or so the legend goes, anyway. Though 'fury' wasn't exactly the word Eddie would use to describe his feelings right then. It was a messy, confusing situation. He didn't quite understand what had happened even when it happened. Mostly because he had been in his room with the door open. Hearing Richie scream had given him half of a heart attack- but then the disquiet after was worse.

It swallowed him whole because it was in that moment Eddie remembered one loud, glaring piece of evidence: the garage was not sound proofed.

He scarcely remembers getting into the garage. His shaky look around. Eddie doesn't even remember when he finds Richie's glasses- only that he does. He curls his hands around them, staring down at them for God knows how long- until he realized he was crying. He rubs his face and rushes out of the garage and outside. He grabs his bike, grateful as all hell to have it back, and plows off down the sand trail. Awful hope was climbing into his throat. The reset room.

It had to be.

It had to be.

The moment Eddie's there, he clumsily sets his bike down outside and gets inside. One breath. Two. Inhale. Exhale. You can breathe just fine, Eddie. He has to remember- though the pressure was crackling all around him. Then he sees him. Sitting up against the wall like a small shell of the person who always seemed so much bigger in his eyes and a small something in Eddie crumbles up. He strides over to Richie, emotions slamming together like rams at a mountain top, and he can't figure out which he feels most keenly. The fear, the anguish, or the rage. He hadn't even noticed Georgie's jacket. Just....the absence of Richie.

Eddie comes to a short stop in front of Richie, his hands balled up on his hips. At some point he had hooked one of the arms of Richie's glasses into the collar of his own shirt, and they hung there like a piece of decoration. Eddie's breathing is wheezing and stilted, the kind that normally would have him pulling out his inhaler. He doesn't now. There are definitely tear streaks down his face, and his eyes are a little red, but he isn't breaking down. He takes in a sniffing, shaking breath. Opens his mouth. Shuts it. Opens it back up.)

How fucking dare-(His breath shudders to a stop and he covers his face with a hand, then drops it.)

You're not- you're not supposed to- to fucking-.

[beeped]

[He doesn't know how long he's been there, curled in on himself like this. It's too confusing, too disorienting, and it certainly doesn't help that he hasn't been able to see clearly since he found himself here. Fucking useless eyes, useless memories. It doesn't matter how hard he tries, he can't quite place how or what caused any of this to happen.

Richie only looks up when he hears Eddie's voice, and only then, his best friend is little more than a blurred outline of colors. He rubs at his face and tries to smiles, to laugh off all of this. Like it's all some stupid joke, just like all of his other jokes. As if he won't feel so scared and confused and hurt if he could just laugh.

But the moment he tries to laugh, the moment he breaks. His voice cracks, he trembles, and his eyes well up.]

I-I'm sorry, Eds. I-- [He rubs at his face. He might need a minute.]

[clussy]

Do not even think about laughing, Rich.

(Is what snaps out of him the moment he can tell that that's exactly what Richie is about to do. Of course, it doesn't make it far at all and something in Eddie collapses hearing Richie break down. He's instantly on his knees next to him and wrapping his arms around Richie's shoulders.

He pulls him close and presses his face against the top of Richie's head, smothering his own emotions there. They didn't matter right now. What mattered was Richie was alive and okay.

His hands squeeze around him and he just holds him for a moment, breathing slowly, and hell. He doesn't bother to stop himself from crying. There was no point to it. He presses his mouth against the top of Richie's head in a long, firm kiss before squishing his cheek there.)

Don't call me that. (He finally says after a long moment, his voice terribly soft. He didn't really care. He knew he didn't, and he knew Richie didn't, but what else was there to say. He sits back onto his calves and he rubs at Richie's face too. He removes Richie's glasses from the hem of his shirt and unfolds them, placing them delicately onto Richie's face. There. That was better. He fusses a bit with Richie's hair, his clothes, that anxiety still pinched up tight. Finally he closes in, resting their foreheads together and grabbing Richie by his biceps.)

You scared me. (He murmurs, sliding his head off and resting it down against Richie's shoulder.)

Reset Room

[beyourzoomer]

[She feels like she's in shock as she makes her way into the Reset Room. She doesn't know the details of what happened precisely, but whatever it was had resulted in Richie dying. At the house. In the garage. Jesus Christ.

For a moment, she just stares at him where he sits on the floor against the wall, quieter than she's ever seen him, even when he can't talk. Normally he's so animated even without speaking, but now he's just sitting, listless.

Max cautiously moves over to him and slowly sits down beside him.]

Hey.

[beeped]

[It's nice to have Max there. Or comforting, rather, since there really isn't anything 'nice' about this entire situation. Richie's grown close to her since he's gotten here, and few things are better than having a dear friend in times like this.

He digs his palm against his eye socket and looks over at her. There's the sorriest attempt in a smile.]

Hey. Thanks for joining the party.

[beyourzoomer]

[There's definitely nothing nice about the situation. There's a terrible, sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.]

No offense, Richie, but this is the worst party ever.

[She draws in a breath and shifts closer, hesitantly draping her arm around his shoulders.]