thisavrou | video 02 | Alzheimer's Disease

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video 02 | Alzheimer's Disease | Introducing the Losers

(It felt a little bit like a blessing. After losing his memories, getting them back, and going through that alone, Eddie had damn near broken himself down with how badly he had missed his friends. But then they showed up. Not all of them, but the three boys he had been the closest to for the longest, the kind of childhood friends that started out in the single digits. Eddie Kaspbrak was happy. Maybe not perfectly, but for the time being, they were each other's perfect distractions and it was good to have them around.

On top of that, Eddie wanted them to know everything about this place. Including, most importantly, the people who lived there. He could have dragged them from place to place to introduce them to everyone he has come to know and care about, but then he remembered how the device worked and realized how much faster it'd be if he just sent out a video introduction.

So here he was, turning on the video feed and smiling into the camera. Anyone who had seen him lately would have noticed the kid was a bit off, but not here. He might still have bags under his eyes, but there was a brightness in him that hadn't been present in nearly an entire month.)

Hi! It's Eddie. So I know I told some of you about my friends a little bit? And guess what! They're here. Not all of them, but my best buds are- like. Childhood best friends.

(Can you feel his excitement? Eddie is practically vibrating. He's sitting in his room currently, and all it takes is him removing the device entirely from his wrist and turning it around to show Richie Tozier sitting on the floor.)

This is Richie Tozier. He's probably like, my best best friend. You might also notice he has some striking similarities to a trash can.

(He whips the video back around and grimaces a little. Richie was already speaking up with 'Whatever, eds, it's trashcan, not trashcannot.' The quib comes as Eddie's already turned the camera away, and Richie doesn't bother waiting for Eddie to stop talking. Them talking over each other is nothing new, though. Eddie doesn't even hesitate before plunging on.)

Really though, I have to apologize on his behalf for anything stupid he says. And trust me, most of what he says is really stupid.

(And Eddie's up and rushing out of the room, jogging down the hall before bursting into the nearby room that Bill and Stan were sharing. The camera gets whipped around and focuses on Stan. Not looking so amused at the intrusion.)

This is Stan! He's um- the man with the plan, you know?

(Then just like that, he's pulling out of the room, and heading into the main area.

The video doesn't focus on it, but as Eddie slides it across the room, people might notice that the door heading out of their unit is covered in several words painted in black. A large Derry painted over the door, a long list of names down the back of the door, including the Losers' names themselves. And of course, the ominously crookedly written It at the bottom of the door. On the wall beside the door are other words, some sketches, one that almost even looks like a map of something with 'sewers' written over the top of it. But it's a brief passing, something that slides in and out of perspective like a passing thought.

Then Eddie's focusing on a new boy and zooms in on Bill Denbrough's face.)

And this is Bill. He's practically my brother. He is arguably the coolest of us all.

(At first, Bill looks rather grave for his age, waving at the camera for his introduction. But then Richie has to go and jump at Eddie's back, grabbing at one of his cheeks which automatically has Eddie shrieking on the other side of the camera, and at that, Bill starts to laugh. Richie's voice filters through, indistinguishable (probably) insults not easily heard between Bill's laughing and Eddie's whining.

Eddie barely gets the camera back around, his face flushed, and he gives a long exasperated sound. Richie's hand can be seen coming out and grabbing at Eddie's cheek. Again.)

So that's- oh my God, stop- my best friends. So say hi. As for us? Well...We got some uh- stuff to do.

(Is that a small pile of what looks like Kaittan fireworks in the background? Oh boy. Let's just hope those are actually just strange looking sticks.)

OOC | It's completely up to you how you want to interact with this! Feel free to talk to Eddie directly, or make a post directed to all the Losers that they can respond to via separate threads. It's a free for all sort of thing so do whatever.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

(Why are all of Eddie's friends personifications of trash? It just doesn't add up.)

Why 'Sadcat Manor'? Are there lots of cats there or something?

A robot??? Like

A real robot? Can you even live with a robot? Aren't they just like toys?

(Yeah he hasn't met any of the robots yet, so the idea of one being a 'person' is a little beyond him.)

The nameplate does not bear any particular titles with the exception of a single symbol: 🙀

[Hence, the name. Sadcat.]

Yes. I believe he's capable of turning into a car, though I cannot imagine why he would. It is not as though we've an abundance of roadways here. I don't particularly speak to him often.

We get all sorts here. Robots included.

OH that place.

That's crazy what? Is he a person or something in a robot or a robot person?

That's crazy. I guess not impossible.

You don't get like. Uh

(How to say 'murderous clown demon entity' smoothly?)

Everything, do we?

I've not asked him. I believe his name is Sideswipe, if you're terribly interested in getting to know him personally.

[They've not bothered. For a variety of reasons.]

That would depend on what you mean by "everything." Robots, skeletons, demon children, anomalies, superpowered humans...we have our fair share here. Was there anything you were asking after in particular?

That might be a rude question if he IS a person
But it also might be an interesting question if he ISNT a person
I guess robots can't really have genders though so maybe?

(Kid has zero clue about gender being a mental thing. He still pretty much associates it neatly with sex. Ironically enough, he has never once thought that hard about Chara and has simply deferred to 'they' cause Chara never fell neatly into 'girl' or 'boy'.

Amazing what kids could do when they didn't even try.)

Maybe.

I guess. There was this thing back in Derry- that's where I grew up with my friends. I'm just nervous It'll come here is all.

I imagine that depends entirely on how the robot prefers to identify.

[But, far more pressing - a thing back in Derry. And "It" gets its own set of capitals, too. That sounds, potentially, important. That sounds, potentially, dangerous.]

Should I inquire what the warning signs might be, should it appear?

Edited 2017-12-03 23:59 (UTC)

What do you mean?

(It's a very genuine question, even if sincerity doesn't translate well through text.

Potentially dangerous is a very calm way of putting it. Eddie stares at the text, and frankly, he's only just started to talk about this more actively with people here. But even if he hadn't, Chara was a child. Which meant that Chara was in far more danger than the adults aboard the ship.)

Children will start to die. Or go missing. Not just one or two. But a lot.

(That's really the only warning sign of It being here.)

Adults don't seem to notice It as much. Or ever. I don't know. It looks like a clown most of the time, but that can change if you're afraid of something It can use. It sometimes smelled like popcorn or you could hear carnival music but everything would

be so heavy

(Eddie is. Really glad Richie is there with him just then in that room. He wasn't good at talking about this, not at all, not in detail particularly. It might have been okay if he'd been with Chara in person, would have felt better with Chara in particular since Chara registers in his mind as safe-good, but he wasn't, so instead, he winds up pressing into Richie, trying hard not to think too explicitly about it, but it can't be helped. He can still see the leper's face, can smell its rot with the weird popcorny hints just beneath.)

Edited 2017-12-04 02:55 (UTC)

It's a rather complicated concept.

[And at the present time, nowhere near as important as what Eddie is relaying to them now. Clowns. Popcorn. Carnival music. Everything would be heavy.]

[...a good thing, then, that Eddie was not present upon the visit to Deslora, with its mirrored hallways and clownbees and shifts in perspective. They cannot say for certain, but they're personally of the mind that it would not go over very well.]

Understood.

In the event that anything should happen, I will ensure those most equipped to deal with the situation will be notified.

There are a great deal of children here, as I'm sure you've noticed. Would it be necessary to warn them?

We beat it before. We could probably do it again. We made a promise to if It ever came back.

(What Eddie was saying, was that despite how much he didn't want to, he realized that if It ever came here, a part of him would feel largely responsible. He had a feeling the others might too. Their promise was blood-drawn and that sorta thing had a potent magic in it.

It was reckless, maybe, but that was their world's monster. Eddie wouldn't want it to fall on other people to deal with.)

I don't want anyone hurt because of it. I don't even know if it can be beaten. Maybe chased off.

Maybe. I don't know if that's something that could ever happen. But maybe it wouldn't be bad to warn them that if they start seeing weirdly specific scary things to get worried- which seems obvious but it's different than just getting spooked.

This world frequently draws things to it that are not meant to end up anywhere. It was certainly not my intention to come here. I doubt the arrival of this creature, whatever it may be, will land upon anyone's shoulders.

[In other words?]

[It won't be his fault.]

I will pass the word around.

I'll tell kids I meet too. I told a couple people. Sans knows.

(He doesn't really know about their relationship with Sans, so he really thinks nothing of this.

He does notice what they are implying though. It helps a little with the potential guilt. After all, they had a point. While he had wanted his friends here, he's pretty sure he did nothing to bring them here.)

Are you afraid of anything?

Yes, I can see you've quite warmed to him.

[If there were ever a way to transmit scathing sarcasm via text...]

[Well. He's free to interpret that as he likes.]

I'm afraid that I'll never find a way to shuffle off this mortal coil, doomed to be tethered to this worthless existence for all eternity.

[They're not precisely lying.]

He's nice to me.

(Eddie only just started texting. Any sarcasm will be completely lost on him. So will pretty much all other tones of voice, honestly.)

Um.

So death? Or rather, not dying I guess? Or an endless afterlife?

It could see stuff like that too, you know. Mental stuff.

I've already lived the concept of eternity. I doubt it can show me that which I have not already seen.

[A TAD PRESUMPTUOUS, KID.]

Yes. I'm sure he's very nice.

Just don't cross one of his many invisible, undefined, arbitrary boundaries, and I'm sure he will continue to be "nice."

Yeah, well. There still might be something even you're not aware of.

(There certainly had been for Eddie, but it is something he Does Not Talk About. Not even with his friends. He believes Chara could be fearless, certainly, but he wants to give a proper warning.)

What do you mean?

(Chara has so much to teach him, honestly.)

You could say that I know him.

In fact, I might know him better than he thinks. I'm a very observant person, just as I was back home.

How much do you know about him?

I dunno. I guess not a whole lot, but enough to know he's my friend. I've only been here for a month so I guess I don't know anyone that well.

Why?

A word to the wise, Mr. Kaspbrak:

Do not trust him. Particularly if he promises you anything.

(Eddie doesn't like that warning so much. Not when he's good pals with Sans, and not when Sans had been there for him through some of the worst things he's had to experience here.

And yet he has mixed feelings about how to respond. He's always had friends who were friends with each other. Never friends who had conflicting views about one another. He's never been in that position where one friend hated another friend of his, and he's at a loss of how to respond without offending either.

It was a horrible position to be in. Especially when he's pretty sure his relationship with Chara required a little more attention than normal relationships. He stares at the text, and for the first time, realizes the beauty of texting. He doesn't need to worry about what face he's making, or saying something dumb. He can think this out better than whatever kneejerk reaction he'd have otherwise. He thinks, maybe, a little redirection would be a good idea.)

Has he broken promises to you?

[In that moment, he reaches the foundation of why it is that Chara so prefers the textual medium as well.]

[In a few moments, they've registered a patient response. It takes some time to marshal into something cohesive, but it springs into being nonetheless.]

Once upon a time, a human child fell into the world of monsters.

This was not a kind world. Monsters did not look fondly upon humans. They needed their SOULs to free themselves from the prison in which they were trapped. They needed seven SOULs to break the Barrier that trapped them Underground, and they had already gathered six. This child was the seventh.

But there was a kindly monster woman who watched the place where humans fell. She wished to see the child safe, and so she asked the man who told her jokes to promise her one thing: that in the event that a child should fell, he would promise to keep them safe; to protect them, and watch over them.

He made this promise sincerely.

He failed to keep it.

He failed multiple times over.

This child perished innumerable times during their journey, all while he watched. He had the full power to prevent their suffering, and he did nothing. Over and over, he did nothing.

This was after my time.

But yes, I suppose you could say he has broken promises to certain parties I've known.

(Were this someone besides Chara, Eddie might have thought they were pulling his leg. He also knew a little about Sans world, and enough to register that monsters were very much a thing there.

That feeling rises up in his stomach. That nervous, itching anxiety that wasn't so dissimilar to the feeling he'd gotten when Mr. Keene had begun to tell him that he wasn't sick. Not quite though. Chara didn't horrify him like Mr. Keene had, wasn't threatening him with those dry eyes and smile that said Yeah, Eddie, you're a fucking nutcase. You got it, buddy.

But it was that trepidation of the truth that Eddie wasn't so sure he was ready for, or that he even wanted. Truths, at times, could be much worse than any lie. The truth of It, the truth that Bill had shared with them that day at the Barrens when he first decided to confide about Georgie's picture.

It made Eddie's stomach churn just thinking about it all. And that feeling was here right now. (Stop talking, please, you don't have to tell me this.)

The worst part is that Eddie doesn't fully distrust the story. His closeness to Sans is genuine, but the disadvantage is that of the Adult.

Adults were notorious for breaking promises. They were good at failing children, even when they had all the power in the world to stop. Like that man who had been too scared of Henry Bowers to do a damn thing but stand there and watch while Henry pounded gravel in Eddie's face.)

What is it about growing up that makes people ignore the things that they could do? Adults have all this power but they never

Why do they never use it?

(He doesn't expect Chara to answer, not really, but Eddie felt stressed, felt upset. Adults were so, so cruel.)

[Is it cruel of them?]

[They anticipate - protests. They expect rages, refutations, insistences that you're wrong! He would never do that. Or, even if he would, even if he did, it's different now, and he's different, and how dare you say such a horrible thing. Frisk could get over it, could they not? They could just shrug it all aside and walk on and hug him and trust him and love him like he's someone that earned it, like he's someone that put even the barest, most mediocre effort into any of it!]

[Nothing about his answer communicates mistrust.]

[It's not...]
[It isn't something they hear, very often.]

I cannot say. If I were to guess, it would be my wager that there is an expectation among the elder that children are just as powerful and capable as they. Perhaps they do not register that wariness between adults is not the same as the treatment of one adult who does not trust a child.

I've been informed he's changed. I have yet to believe it.

(Eddie wasn't going to abandon his relationship. He wants to know more, wants to understand better, but he doesn't doubt Chara. He knows adults and how they functioned too well by now. While the adults in this place seemed good, seemed genuine and honest people, Eddie would always have some gut-deep cautionary feeling towards them.

It did not help that his mother's brand of cruelty was cloaked as kindness. Eddie's perception of adults is severely warped. He doesn't know what a healthy relationship with one should even look or feel like.)

We aren't.

(Eddie has felt power before, but it has been rare.)

I don't know. I never knew him before. I know he's been kind to me and really helped me when I needed it. And I do care a lot. But I know what adults are like too.

I don't know. Maybe adults can change. I've never seen it happen, but I've also never seen stuff like space travel either and here we are.

(He wasn't being optimistic. Just realistic.)

Some may have it in their hearts to forgive him.

I am not one of them.

[They have never pretended otherwise. They do not forgive, and they do not forget. They resent and they remember. They lever the weight, the burden, of another's sins upon their shoulders when all they would prefer to do is forget.]

[They cannot be allowed to forget. To pretend that their words and actions do not still carry ripples.]

If you mean that he's not taken you aside specifically to threaten you with death despite the fact that you are yet to bring anyone to harm, perhaps he has learned.

video 02 | Alzheimer's Disease | Introducing the Losers

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