nodd (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
murdergate) wrote2024-03-04 07:16 pm
murdergate) wrote2024-03-04 07:16 pmSPACE COAST: PRIVATE CONVO: SHOMA
[ sometimes i am mean to children ]
murdergate) wrote2024-03-04 07:16 pm
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Kid...
[ is that HIS voice? no more talking unless he has to.
flipping to chapter 4 to at least see what it suggests when the empathy mine runneth dry. ]
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You think I could like someone like him? A stupid old comedian who gets clowned on all the time. He barely ever goes on TV either. And when he does it's always some ridiculous thing like getting piping-hot oden shoved into his mouth. The day after he goes on air, I always get made fun of by my friends. I hate it. I'm sick and tired of it! I told you, I hate him! Everything about him! I hate how much he drinks and how he acts so cocky and stubborn when he's drunk. He talks about all these big dreams that he can never achieve. When he sobers up he remembers what he did when he was drunk and squirms under the blankets. Isn't that sad? It makes me hate him even more. The way his nose hair is always sticking out, the way he wipes his face with sanitary napkins, his stupid, awful singing in the bath tub. Everything about him is creepy, awful and pathetic. I hate him.
[ at some point in your reading, you hear a somewhat familiar voice of an extremely angry 12 year old voicing these sentiments.
you turn the page to a photo of a Ferris wheel. one of those pop-up diagrams, and you see the wheel going round and round as another paragraph lays before you. ]
Dad and I are fighting. I ran away from home yesterday. My friends made fun of me because it's my dad's fault for being pathetic. "Pull yourself together! Show me how cool you can be on TV!" That's what I said to my dad, then. "I bring smiles to the audience. If I can do that, I don't care if I get mocked. That's what it means to be an entertainer." When he said that, I blurted out "That's why Mom got sick of you and left!" Dad turned bright red and said, "Then why don't you just leave too?" So I did. That's why I left the house.
[ reading these paragraphs...you feel a sense of anger. you're humiliated. you're frustrated. you're desperate for your father to just listen and stop clowning around and actually try to make your little family work instead of only thinking of his dreams. you used to support him. you used to love his comedy and encouraged him to follow his dreams. and then things got worse. and worse. and worse. the teasing. the lack of money. the times your house is empty because your stupid dad has skewed priorities.
when you turn the page, there's a new assessment quiz. looks like it's time to help program your dad. ]
Career Assessment:
Which of these jobs should your father take?
a.) comedian
b.) businessman
c.) illegal arms dealer
[ make your choice? or you can, like, do something else if you want. ]
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can't exactly give up now.
dad seems to not be a great comedian and while nodd knows about illegal arms dealing (on a minor scale), he suspects that wouldn't work for shoma.
b.) businessman ]
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but when you go to mark the page, you find your hand moving to turn the book to the section for option c.) illegal arms dealer. ]
So your dad's in over his head, huh? Not like he'd ever tell you. He'd rather keep digging himself in this little hole he's made until he becomes a criminal. The comedy career hasn't worked out, has it? Your dad borrowed some money. And borrowed more. And borrowed more until those people came to collect.
[ a diagram on the page shows what looks to be a very deep hole with two hands trying to pull themselves out. ]
But the yakuza...your dad shouldn't get involved with them, should he? They're dangerous, and illegal, and dealing firearms just for money isn't worth it. Hey, wait, what do you mean he owes them money now, too?
[ outside...you hear the sound of a car, a brief blip of a siren, and soon there's a loud knock on the front door.
do you answer? ]
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and here come the violent loan sharks.
and there, a siren... acab...
but nodd doesn't think shoma's home will have many knives that aren't kitchen cutlery.
he stands up, flipping through the books as he heads to the front door. is there anything helpful in its pages? ]
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you stand up, and as you flip through the pages you find that so, so many of them are blank. everything is empty for a while...until you get toward the end. ]
you'reonyourownyou'reonyourownyou'reonyourownyou'reonyourownyou'reonyourown
[ over and over in giant paragraphs. the knocking persists, and you've reached the end of the book.
now what? ]
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the book's thrown aside and when you look through the small sliver of a window you can see a police car outside. there are two officers at the door, seemingly waiting for you to open it. they don't seem like they're angry or about to arrest you, but the air around them is stern. ]
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but he doesn't know, perhaps the police of shoma's world aren't so bad.
they won't know magic, anyway. probaby. okay. opening the door. hello officers. ]
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(for reference the conversation with ryuki and tama cannot be heard, and the messages on the phone cannot be seen.)
and soon that fades. the entire house fades? everything disappears, and it's just shoma in a void standing in front of nodd looking extremely tired of that particular memory. hello. ]