quietplacelogs | Zoonotic Hookworm

Entry tags:

the dark tower: jake chambers

Zoonotic Hookworm | OpenLog001

Featuring: Eddie Kaspbrak + Open to anyone
What's Happening? Eddie's dancing to some sick tunes at Town Hall, fixing up some interesting light mechanics, and...handing out lemonade because how generic can we be (also giving out other food goods from the greenhouse).
When: Various days throughout March. New players may tag into this even though I'm posting it now.
Content Warnings: All the music linked is uncensored so there's some swearing/questionable content, Eddie's usual content warnings may be applicable at any time.Underage kid technically offering up booze- potential mentions of underage drinking. I will try to tag headers if particularly harsh things come up.

𝟷. 𝙴𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚎 𝙺𝚊𝚜𝚙𝚋𝚛𝚊𝚔 𝙶𝚎𝚝𝚜 𝚊 𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝙸𝚍𝚎𝚊
Location: Town Hall

(Attending classes helped well enough, but Eddie still hardly knew what he was doing. He was sitting on the floor with a pile of wires in front of him, and a variety of other odds and ends. There were a couple of light bulbs sitting in front of him as well. He was fussing mostly with wires, twisting them together at the ends and looking this way and that next to a notepad he had laying open next to him. There was a bunch of notes inside it with little drawings that clearly showed the blue prints for something.

Any one of these days, someone might see Eddie getting the wires properly attached to one of the light bulbs. He has an assortment of what looks like buttons and maybe on a lucky day, one might see him pushing one of these buttons and seeing the light bulb flicker to life. Every now and then, he messes up something with the wires and gets a tiny shock. It never fails to make him jump and yelp before sticking said injured finger into his mouth with a glare sent to the wires. But it seems those incidents are few and far in between.

What on earth was this kid making anyway?)

𝟸. 𝙴𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚎 𝙺𝚊𝚜𝚙𝚋𝚛𝚊𝚔 𝙱𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚜 𝚊 𝙼𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚘𝚛 𝚃𝚠𝚘
Location: Town Hall
CW: Vulgarity in linked songs though not all of them.

(Figuring out how an ipod worked with its speaker had been a bit of a trip for Eddie, but he had figured it out in the safety of his soundproof room. He had also indulged himself greatly in his soundproof room by playing his music quite loudly. Not really 'blasting' it, but it was more noise than he had heard in a long time and it felt great. Even though he didn't recognize an overwhelming majority of the music, it turned out that the future had some awesome tunes. It felt unfair to hog all this greatness to himself, so he decided to start setting up shop over at the Town Hall.

The locals might not be too fond of him doing this, but after finding one of the soundproof rooms used for classes, he left the door open and set the music up on a desk. Again, he wasn't blasting it, but for such a quiet area, anyone would be able to hear the music playing idly and when they follow it to its source?

Well, Eddie was dancing quite generously around an open space he'd cleared out in the room. There was no real rhyme or reason to his dancing. Some people might realize he's using a few moves that had cultivated during the fifties, but mostly he's just moving around to the beat, bobbing his head, and sometimes even singing along. He listens to mostly faster songs, but there are a few lulling slow songs that gets him swaying in lazy circles. It felt good to be noisy and move around, so all in all, Eddie was flushed smiles. Whenever a song is from the fifties, it's clear that Eddie knows the song much better.

Whenever someone enters though, there's quite a few different ways Eddie will react.

1. If it's another child, particularly one he recognizes, he might grin and instantly go over to grab at their hands and pull them in to dance with him- or at the very most, gesture for them to come over.

2. If it's an older teenage boy or adult man, he'll stop moving and smiling completely, looking instead a little embarrassed and quite possibly ashamed.

3. If it's an older teenage girl or woman, he'll slow down his moves entirely, looking uncertain, a bit awkward, but after a moment he'll smile shyly and gesture vaguely for them to come and join him.

Any number of popular songs from the fifties to 2017 can be heard playing from his stereo of all different genres.

Here's just a snippet of what might be heard- and certainly feel free to assume songs and put your own in for them to sing along to or have fun with:

1. Shake It Off by Taylor Swift
2. Rockin' Robin by Bobby Day
3. Don't Stop Me Now by Queen
4. Come On Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners
5. Mambo No.5 by Lou Bega
6. Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars
7. The Time Warp by The Rocky Horror Picture Show
8. Oops!... I Did It Again by Britney Spears
9. Timber by Kesha
10. So What by P!nk

+Open Arms by Journey
+Imagine by John Lennon
+Can't Help Falling In Love by Elvis Presley

For House Eleven: As he is doing this often in his room, feel free to have any one of the people living in House 11 join him there.)

𝟹. 𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝙻𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝙶𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝙻𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚜, 𝙼𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝙻𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚍𝚎?
Location: Throughout town.
CW: Kid serving alcohol??

(You know those stereotypical stands kids set up with the painted sign of 'LEMONADE'? Yeah. Eddie's got that set up at various parts around town except there's no table. It's just a sign sitting upright and he's sitting cross legged wherever he's decided to set up. Although in some places he's found tables to use for the time being. He's get two big things of lemonade- one marked as 'soft lemonade' and the other as 'hard lemonade'. What could this possibly mean? Pretty easy. The soft is your regular old fashioned refreshing lemonade.

The hard lemonade is really fucking sour. Like this kid barely used any sugar sour and it has a kick to it. Is this lemonade spiked?

It might be.

Either way, Eddie's going around serving up some fresh lemonade. On top of that, he has small crates with fruits and the like that he seems willing to part with for some traded goods- as there's a little sign in front of them saying 'TRADE 4 THINGS'. What things? Ask him, obviously. Really, Eddie's not a big stickler, and half of his food stuff will probably just be given away for the hell of it, but he might as well try and get things while he's at it.

If he's serving his lemonade and selling his things anywhere soundproof, he's absolutely got his stereo set up and playing music very softly. Just for a change of pace. If he's around workers, such as people laying out sand or other physical tasks, he very well might come up to your character if they look like they're working particularly hard and offer a cup of the (soft, non-alcoholic) lemonade. You're welcome, buddy.)

𝟺. 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚜
(Eddie goes all over town all the time for various things or just to explore. Feel free to ask about setting up a scene or just start up something on your own! He works at the Greenhouse and lives in House 11 so those are both options as well for interactions. Please feel free to ask me questions.)

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Oh jeez- oh. Okay. Okay. (It made him feel stupid for all of three seconds and he definitely messes up at first. But then the second time he tries, he gets it pretty smoothly. It got Eddie grinning as he leaned back with Majima.

Eddie always cared about looking cool that was half his problem. Honestly.)

Do...(He begins to ask, but then stops. Rethinks himself, and then finally just shakes his head. He changes his mind on the question he had been about to ask.)

Do you know a lot of guys that can dance?

Huh? Sure.

[ Majima sounded a little distracted at first, before autopilot sort of took over and he looked over his shoulder, favoring Eddie with a cheeky sort of grin. ]

'Course, if you mean are they any good at it, that's a little hit and miss.

[ Dancing wasn't really a traditional mobster strong suit, at least not in Japan. Sure didn't stop some of them from trying, though. ]

Your friends into it?

(It was easy to fall into it once you knew the steps. Especially since Eddie had bothered to turn the shuffle off and now it was just going through Michael Jackson songs one by one.

He gives a little laugh, because okay, a fair point. It was still a little wild to him. He doesn't know why the question catches him off guard, but it does, and he blinks at Majima and gives a shake of his head.)

Oh...gosh. No. Maybe jokingly, but...(He actually really doesn't know about Richie since he was from the eighties. But he certainly couldn't imagine Bill dancing except with a girl at a dance or his wedding or something.)

Boys don't really dance. Or well. They're not supposed to except like. You know. With girls? (At least that's as far as Eddie knows. Although he doesn't feel quite as strongly about that anymore, obviously, and was having a rather good time on his own.)

What? So it's only if yer performing as a singer or something?

[ Even back before disco, at least there were things like festivals, where performing traditional dances wouldn't be out of place. Either way, Majima felt some new appreciation for the era he'd come up in, where it wasn't frowned upon for ordinary folk to kick up a little dust every now and then. ]

Sounds like a drag. They even have dance battles back in Sotenbori -- that's how I learned this, by watchin' one on a footbridge.

[ Granted, he hadn't actually known about them until recently, but this was perhaps because of his personal situation more than anything else. ]

(Eddie gives a shrug and then nods.)

Performing or dancing at a dance with a girl. Weddings and stuff. I know we had a club back in my town, but it was the same thing there. Boys danced with girls- or well. I figure anyway. Boys don't usually dance on their own or anything.

(Eddie mostly knew that the Black Spot was burned down. Beyond that, he wasn't too sure what happened in the club. He assumed dancing though from what it sounded like.

He cracks a smile though because Majima was right.)

It kinda does, doesn't it? Dancing's fun. What are dance battles? (All he can picture is some weird combination of dancing and fighting but he's almost positive that's wrong.)

[ That was... really not that far off, considering what Majima usually used breakdancing for. Spoilers: BEATING UP DUDES. ]

There's this thing called crews -- usually got a couple guys who practice breakdancing together. They put on dances in public, so staking out a choice spot to meet up and strut their stuff? It's pretty high up on their list. Thing is, if you wanna keep a good spot, you gotta fend off challenges from rival crews.

So they have a dance-off to see who'll leave. It's called a 'breaker battle', if you wanna be exact about it.

(What A THUG. Gosh why does Eddie get along so well with this ruffian.........)

Weird...That sounds like a totally different world. That sounds like what animals do when they do their weird mating dances.

(Yes, he is calling it 'peacocking' without actually realizing it.)

Yeah, 'cept they're fighting over reputations, not girls. I lived in the city, too; they got more of that kinda thing than small towns.

[ It was absolutely peacocking, 100%. ]

Anyway, there was this crew called Areshi I ended up gettin' friendly with -- they wanted to go nationwide by gettin' on TV.

I'm surprised they don't just fight.

(From what he understands about how guys like that work anyway. It would make more sense. Except as he thinks about it, it does kind of save both sides from having to worry about their guys getting injured.

He almost cracks up at the idea of Henry Bowers dancing aggressively at him instead of just breaking his nose.

But he doesn't laugh- just smirks a little.)

I wish that's how it was all the time. But I'm pretty sure if I danced at this one dick from school, he'd just stab me in the leg.

(Or worse. Eddie angles his head, brows raised.)

Wait like. Become famous dancers or something?

Fighting ain't their thing. I don't really get it, but this way they can take care of any disputes peacefully.

[ "I don't really get it" being the operative phrase here. ]

But yeah, famous dancers. Dunno how far they would've gotten, but they were pretty well-known in Sotenbori, I guess.

[ Majima grimaced; goddamn Eddie, were you for real ]

Sounds like the dudes at your school could use some general anesthesia. You know, no matter how many times ya tell me about it, your hometown was hot garbage. The hell were your teachers doing? Besides collectin' a paycheck, that is.

[ Although... now that Majima thought about it, people had pulled knives on him for bumping into them on the street. But at least he was an actual criminal. ]

(Eddie bobs his head quite a bit. He doesn't get any of it at all because he just isn't in a gang, but he'd be lying if he said it wasn't interesting. He wonders what Bowers would think he if he knew Eddie was actively befriending literal gangsters.

He laughs quite a bit at the idea of Henry getting anesthesia, but it doesn't last too long and he just stares at him for a while. Then he gives a rather tiny shrug.)

Would you believe me if I told you the worst part about Derry wasn't IT? (It always sounded so ludicrous whenever he said it out loud, but it never failed to be true. His eyes drift and he focuses on a point in the room rather far away.)

It was just the adults. The adults were so...You had the shitty ones, yeah. Like Dorsey and Eddie Corcoran's daddy- the shitty you know because you can't miss it. But it was filled with adults who always said they cared but...They didn't really. They'd watch them beat your face in and shove it full of rocks. Maybe say they'd call the cops, but they were afraid of the scary stuff too and didn't care if some little bitch eleven year old got his arm snapped by a bully.

(Eddie blinks, and slowly shakes his head.)

Teachers just look the other way. All the time. Dorsey went to school black and blue I can't tell you how many times and then everyone was shocked when his daddy pound his head in with a hammer. How are you shocked by something like that? (He asks Majima point blank, but relaxes a second later. He wasn't really asking Majima, after all.)

It's weird. I was raised all my life being told negroes and Jews and Asians were shitty people just by virtue of being alive. That I gotta cross the street when thuggish looking guys came my way cause they'd only be trouble. (Eddie's eyes cut over Majima, making it clear he's talking about Majima in this case.)

But so far, all that seems like a crock of bullshit. I know there's bad gangsters out there and stuff, but I really don't think adults back home knew a goddamn thing about anything they talked about.

[ Again, Majima was left to wonder how Eddie had even made it out of his hometown alive, let alone intact. He assumed that eleven-year-old was Eddie, and though broken bones were nothing new to a yakuza, it was hard to imagine a kid growing up in an entire community full of the casual brutality of people who simply didn't care. Where it was simply luck of the draw whether you managed to make it to adulthood or get a hammer to the skull.

How could anyone experience that and turning out anything like normal? ]

Well, you're honest about it. That's more than I can say for most when it comes to anyone who's different.

Folks back where I'm from, they won't say anything to your face. And it ain't anywhere near as bad as Derry. But you look at the way we treat illegals -- or even permanent residents -- and you can read between the lines. It ain't right, but that's how it is.

[ He regarded Eddie silently for a moment or two, like he was mulling something over. Maybe part of it was how to feel about the implication that he wasn't a 'bad gangster'. ]

I think you're right, though. You can't just look at someone and judge if they're good or bad. People're people, no matter where they're from.

...But they do have a point about gangsters. There are bad ones. 'Fact, I ain't so sure there is such a thing as a good one.

(Making it out of his hometown had been one thing. Making it out with a sound mind was something else entirely. Eddie might freely discuss the details of his town, but there were darker things yet that he kept sealed inside. It was an accurate guess, and not one Eddie would deny. Broken bones and busted faces weren't too new, no, but it was the atmosphere of Derry that really felt the worst. And something about Henry himself that made Eddie's skin crawl in all the wrong ways.

Eddie wasn't normal, was the thing. None of the Losers really were, but Eddie heard his mom's voice in his head on the regular and had some deeper issues that Eddie himself would never be able to understand at age twelve with a knowledge of mental illness that's founded solely on what the fifties thought of.

He's not aiming for pity, and frankly, he's glad Majima doesn't shutter himself down. Eddie's telling Majima because Majima can be trusted, and because it was just Eddie's life. There was no beating around the bush.)

A lot of the ways people treat other people isn't right. (Eddie's voice is soft, but understanding. He knows he isn't perfect with all that...But lord knows he's got a soft heart.

Eddie regards Majima right back, his eyes narrowing the tiniest bit, almost as if some small part of him was anticipating something worth challenging. Oh yeah. Majima had fallen into the very neat, well protected category of 'friend' in Eddie's mind and that meant...Well. A lot of things.)

I still think a lotta people look weird, and whatever, but at least I know better than to figure they're good or bad because of it.

...Maybe. (Maybe there are no good gangsters. Not when push came to shove...But.)

I still think you're a good person though. Maybe you do shitty things, and maybe you're not good all the way through, but I think you're good where it counts. You don't need to be spending time with some kid, but here you are. Bad people don't really bother listening to other people talk about problems either.

(And Majima had squatted down that day back in Eddie's room and really listened.

Majima saw Eddie.

And Eddie doesn't know how to feel anything but...grateful.)

You're my friend. A real friend. And it's okay if you do bad things sometimes. I think...I think as long as at the end of the day, you have something good in mind, it's okay.

[ Majima didn't consider himself a bad person -- who did? In their heart of hearts, didn't most people consider themselves the protagonists of their own story? The wronged party, the one who tried to do the right thing, regardless of what side the truth actually came down on?

But perhaps it was reflective of the kind of person Majima was that 'you're a good person' was the last thing he wanted to hear from anyone. Under ordinary circumstances, he could just play it as a joke, move the fuck on without considering how he'd rather have someone stab him in the gut and twist the knife than look at him like that and say the same words she had.

It wasn't an option here. And why? Because it was abundantly clear by this point that it was true. He didn't even want to try wrapping his head around the idea that, by the reckoning of Eddie's life, someone like Majima actually qualified as a good person.

What Majima looked at Eddie with now was just this: sorrow.

And with it, acknowledgment. ]

I tried.

[ He said finally.

Past tense. He'd really, truly tried -- with everything he had. Hell, according to Kiryu, it was going to work. Everything was going to come up fucking roses in the end, and Majima Gorō was going to walk right back into the Tojo with everything he could ever ask for. But Majima knew what it was going to take to get there. That was why Reims was such a personal hell for him -- because he couldn't let it go, couldn't simply slip on the mask that Nishitani had given him and run wild.

And as long as he remained caught like this, between one moment of home and the next, everything would be both sweet and sour.

This was purgatory: the silent, unending wait before his past could be settled.

But for a friend? He could bear that much.

Majima's expression cleared; he extended a fist toward Eddie, low enough so that the boy could reach it. ]

Friends, then. Hope ya know what you're in for.

(Eddie, for all his empathy, is oblivious to what he's said and its impact on Majima. He's not oblivious to the change of Majima's expression, but Eddie doesn't know what it could possibly mean. Though it becomes evident a second later when Majima finally speaks: I tried.

Eddie dips his head down, considering the simple but telling answer in full. It was something, even without discussing the details of it, that he felt he could relate to. He tried to be a good person too. He did what he thought was good and right, and he stayed viciously loyal to his friends because he felt like that was what people are supposed to do.

But there were still things that made him a bad person. Things that made him feel crunched into a corner where he had no other choice but to think bad things and maybe sometimes even act on them. No one was perfect.

When Majima offers his hand, his fist, it confuses Eddie for a second. He's never fist-bumped before, and so he just smiles and wraps his hand around the curve of Majima's knuckles. Well.

He did his best.)

I think sometimes all we can do is try.

(And there was nothing wrong with that. He stares up at Majima and he lets go of his hand entirely. It's been some time since he's felt comfortable enough to hug an adult, but Eddie steps right on up and wraps his small arms around Majima. He's small enough that he feels even tinier against Majima, and his face winds up planted comfortably against Majima's chest. He squeezes with all his might the way some children were wont to do when they felt like the person they were squeezing wouldn't get hurt because of it.)

It's okay. Pretty sure we're both shit shows so it'll probably work out all right.

[ Majima didn't correct Eddie, simply stood there with a slightly bemused look on his face as Eddie responded by wrapping a hand around his fist. It was a goofy-ass situation he was in, all right, trying to replicate an American gesture from the future with an American kid from the past. But what else was new?

When Eddie hugged him, it came as a surprise... but maybe not as big of one as it would have when he'd first arrived in Reims. His first, instinctive move was to put a hand out to ruffle Eddie's hair; instead, he returned the hug.

Majima didn't squeeze hard, like Eddie had, and nor did he complain. After having Lee try to bear hug the air right out of his lungs (or maybe it had been Majima's ribs he was trying to crack), this treatment seemed mild in comparison.

He did smile, though. ]

Yeah. Here's to bein' a total tire fire.

[ There was a slight rasp to his voice -- slightly disguised by the fact that the iPod had finished its run on Michael Jackson and was now on to Cyndi Lauper and 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'. ]

...Well, that's the most inappropriate fuckin' soundtrack I've heard in a while.

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Zoonotic Hookworm | OpenLog001

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cw: uhhhh child abuse racism antisemitism like just awful shit. typical derry talk.

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