Don't jinx it. What the fuck is goin' on? Where 're you? M'up to my ass in fuckin' swamp-gator-backwoods bullshit, what the fuck? I'm glad this shit got bombed now!
[why does he sound sort of relieved to talk to him]
[voice let's pretend this is towards the beginning]
[a pause -- snow? a blizzard? he tries to conjure up what that looks like from movies, from TV]
[but bears distracts him from trying to form something coherent, because he knows exactly what a bear looks like from too much Animal Planet and Discovery channel]
Jesus shit. Anybody with ya that can kill bears? Ya could sleep inside 'em or somethin'. M'with a bunch'a creepy buff psychos who can punch alligators open so it ain't too bad except at night where ya can't see 'em. -- Uh.
...It felt like wakin' up in that shitty fucking town again. Roofies or somethin'.
[frustrated growl]
I knew some shit like this was comin'! Nobody fuckin' listens! He's runnin' a test or experiment or somethin', or maybe it's a game or both...
[frowns on the other end of the call, growing more anxious about the reason for their move (and more anxious about Gau, alone, in snow that even he, someone from the surface, doesn't quite know how to deal with)]
[helpfully]
-- Arctic. That's the one up top, right? Ain't people died in the arctic?
I... I don't want to t-think about that r-right now! [It's less ill-tempered as such a request usually would be from Gau. He didn't want to think about it, because he didn't want to think about it being a real possibility.
Keep talking to Badou, he told himself. Go silent and get even more mentally lost than you physically are.]
If it's j-just a game or a-an experiment, t-there's no reason h-he'd let us d-die, right?
Maybe you'll think fuckin' twice about what we talked about before, now.
[it's a bit of a sharp dig, uncalled for maybe, but Badou's never been anything but serious about how goddamn repulsive being someone's playthings was; he's seen a lot of it, avoided it all his life with all his energy, and he won't be one now]
[even if here was better than home, people needed to wake the fuck up -- every incident like this could be their lives lost (temporary death didn't mean it wasn't still death, wasn't still something to take seriously)]
...There's probably people on the island with ya, if he's doin' the same shit at each place. I woke up further in an' walked out to find 'em mostly at the shoreline.
[it's a reverse scenario, not all that helpful, maybe -- but all information was useful eventually or potentially (so he'd been taught)]
Uhm. Make sure ya keep a eye on the coast, maybe, so you ain't walk in circles -- or did'ja go inland already? It sounds windy...
[The harsh accusation stung more than the bitter frost at his fingertips, and it made his crunching footsteps in the snow stop cold. He had to breathe in short, desperate breaths to get the oxygen needed for the tone he had to convey.
If Badou was here right now, stuck in the freezing wind with him, he'd be in his face, teeth gnashing mere inches from the other boy's. The same effect was achieved by Gau focusing what energy he had into speaking (yelling) into the phone directly-]
...I won't c-change my opinion! Even i-if it's something l-like this!
[The advice is heard, considered and accepted without argument. Gau would save his breath for the arguments that mattered to him. This was one such argument.]
If R-Raikou-san wants to remain here, then I will go through w-whatever the L-Landlord puts me t-through! I will m-make it back to him, f-for as long as he wants to stay here! I-I will not sacrifice his happiness for my own!
[Through death, hell and nothingness and back, he would be with this man.]
[the sudden fire in Gau's voice isn't entirely a surprise, although Badou (more survival minded than anything else) would have assumed it would be an argument to have later, when Gau wasn't stumbling through whatever a blizzard was like, when Badou wasn't up to his knees in swamp water]
[he's wondered every day what it would be like if Dave were here, what the plan would be then; he himself would probably want to stay, while Dave would be itching to get back. and he'd follow his brother's lead, like he always has, because home was where Dave was, even if he would've gotten more of his brother's time here, even if they were definitely safer here (with those hooded men who knew where they lived and what they had been doing)]
[Badou would have felt the way Raikou probably feels, if Raikou's reasons for staying are what he suspects, what Gau has told him in small, haphazard chunks -- that family mattered most, even more than freedom]
[but Dave never would have been alright with it; with being owned, with being property to dump onto islands, to force into happy little homes with parents and siblings. he would have thought freedom mattered more than family (mattered more than Badou, because -- because that's how it was then, even when they were free)]
[as far as Badou is concerned, Dave's is the final word on the subject; it was wrong to be here]
He's wrong. Ya shouldn't hafta choose. Your family or your freedom -- it should be both. It could be both.
[Badou didn't have either, and it hurts to watch, to hear about that kind of loyalty when his is stretched so painfully far away]
There's nothin' stoppin' him from takin' his family, an' you, an' tryin' to get the fuck outta here. It's selfish an' stupid an' fucked up to sit around an' do nothin'. He's makin' you a hypocrite.
[It's impossible to tell, but his hard, firm stance in the snow is starting to shake and wobble with the wind, barely resisting the temptation to fall to the ground.
Perhaps it was hypocritical, if you boiled down the complicated situation to it's simplest terms. But it was more than a choice between family and home, more than between safety and danger, and more than Gau could speak for.
It took him by surprise, though, how much it bothered him- and it wasn't frustration from anger at a completely false fact]
F-For Raikou-san to have his f-freedom and his family it would... I-It would require turning the laws of death around in my home universe!
[He forces his voice to become louder as it trembles with the cold.]
That isn't r-r-r-ight, Badou-san! I-It can't happen like that! No m-matter how tempting that option may seem, you can't do that w-without knowing the consequences of such a short-s-s-sighted wish!
[In his mind, there was one way to turn the laws of nature around according to the existing rules in his home universe, and he would never use Miharu in such a way.]
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Re: [voice during the event holy shit he's calling him for once]
[why does he sound sort of relieved to talk to him]
[voice let's pretend this is towards the beginning]
B-Badou-san, there are bears here! We're in d-d-danger!
[Brrrrr. Shiver shiver.
There's some relief in that frantic explanation, somewhere.]
Re: [voice CLEARLY]
[a pause -- snow? a blizzard? he tries to conjure up what that looks like from movies, from TV]
[but bears distracts him from trying to form something coherent, because he knows exactly what a bear looks like from too much Animal Planet and Discovery channel]
Jesus shit. Anybody with ya that can kill bears? Ya could sleep inside 'em or somethin'. M'with a bunch'a creepy buff psychos who can punch alligators open so it ain't too bad except at night where ya can't see 'em. -- Uh.
[voice]
[Maybe portions of this island were different than the others, maybe if he looked far enough into this blizzard, he'd get to a different climate-
Crunch. Crunch. The sound of footsteps on snow, if Badou even knows what that sounds like.]
N-No, I woke up on a s-shoreline alone... [A stuttered breath.] I'm searching for o-others.
[He has to keep talking, keep moving-]
Alligators? S-Stay away from the water!
Re: [voice]
[a pause; he doesn't know what that sound is at all, pictures rocks and gravel coloured white]
[he rubs the sweat off the back of his neck (his hair has been matted with mud and he's filthy, everything just sticks to you)]
I don't think we're at the same place. The others think there's more -- islands... they wanna build a boat, but fuck that...
[the vocabulary is new, stilted, awkward in his mouth]
Ya can't stay away from water in a swamp. Ya been inna blizzard before?
[voice]
...A s-swamp?
[It was too much of a radical change in an environment to be feasible, so he accepted Badou's hypothesis of multiple islands immediately.]
An i-island would make sense... B-but how did they appear s-so suddenly?! What is the p-purpose of this?!
[It was a reason to stop. Don't continue further looking for him. He's probably not even here.]
I-I've been in snow before, but... but this i-is nothing like a-anywhere in J-Japan, even in Hokkaido! T-This must be the arctic!
Re: [voice]
[frustrated growl]
I knew some shit like this was comin'! Nobody fuckin' listens! He's runnin' a test or experiment or somethin', or maybe it's a game or both...
[frowns on the other end of the call, growing more anxious about the reason for their move (and more anxious about Gau, alone, in snow that even he, someone from the surface, doesn't quite know how to deal with)]
[helpfully]
-- Arctic. That's the one up top, right? Ain't people died in the arctic?
[voice]
Keep talking to Badou, he told himself. Go silent and get even more mentally lost than you physically are.]
If it's j-just a game or a-an experiment, t-there's no reason h-he'd let us d-die, right?
Re: [voice]
[it's a grim thought, but nothing too departed from his every day life; it makes him think of Heine, of Lily and Giovanni]
What're you gonna do?
[voice]
[an exhale through chattered teeth.]
I-I will f-f-find help! I c-cannot let the l-landlord play w-with my life like t-this!
Re: [voice]
[it's a bit of a sharp dig, uncalled for maybe, but Badou's never been anything but serious about how goddamn repulsive being someone's playthings was; he's seen a lot of it, avoided it all his life with all his energy, and he won't be one now]
[even if here was better than home, people needed to wake the fuck up -- every incident like this could be their lives lost (temporary death didn't mean it wasn't still death, wasn't still something to take seriously)]
...There's probably people on the island with ya, if he's doin' the same shit at each place. I woke up further in an' walked out to find 'em mostly at the shoreline.
[it's a reverse scenario, not all that helpful, maybe -- but all information was useful eventually or potentially (so he'd been taught)]
Uhm. Make sure ya keep a eye on the coast, maybe, so you ain't walk in circles -- or did'ja go inland already? It sounds windy...
[voice]
If Badou was here right now, stuck in the freezing wind with him, he'd be in his face, teeth gnashing mere inches from the other boy's. The same effect was achieved by Gau focusing what energy he had into speaking (yelling) into the phone directly-]
...I won't c-change my opinion! Even i-if it's something l-like this!
[The advice is heard, considered and accepted without argument. Gau would save his breath for the arguments that mattered to him. This was one such argument.]
If R-Raikou-san wants to remain here, then I will go through w-whatever the L-Landlord puts me t-through! I will m-make it back to him, f-for as long as he wants to stay here! I-I will not sacrifice his happiness for my own!
[Through death, hell and nothingness and back, he would be with this man.]
Re: [voice]
[he's wondered every day what it would be like if Dave were here, what the plan would be then; he himself would probably want to stay, while Dave would be itching to get back. and he'd follow his brother's lead, like he always has, because home was where Dave was, even if he would've gotten more of his brother's time here, even if they were definitely safer here (with those hooded men who knew where they lived and what they had been doing)]
[Badou would have felt the way Raikou probably feels, if Raikou's reasons for staying are what he suspects, what Gau has told him in small, haphazard chunks -- that family mattered most, even more than freedom]
[but Dave never would have been alright with it; with being owned, with being property to dump onto islands, to force into happy little homes with parents and siblings. he would have thought freedom mattered more than family (mattered more than Badou, because -- because that's how it was then, even when they were free)]
[as far as Badou is concerned, Dave's is the final word on the subject; it was wrong to be here]
He's wrong. Ya shouldn't hafta choose. Your family or your freedom -- it should be both. It could be both.
[Badou didn't have either, and it hurts to watch, to hear about that kind of loyalty when his is stretched so painfully far away]
There's nothin' stoppin' him from takin' his family, an' you, an' tryin' to get the fuck outta here. It's selfish an' stupid an' fucked up to sit around an' do nothin'. He's makin' you a hypocrite.
[voice]
[It's impossible to tell, but his hard, firm stance in the snow is starting to shake and wobble with the wind, barely resisting the temptation to fall to the ground.
Perhaps it was hypocritical, if you boiled down the complicated situation to it's simplest terms. But it was more than a choice between family and home, more than between safety and danger, and more than Gau could speak for.
It took him by surprise, though, how much it bothered him- and it wasn't frustration from anger at a completely false fact]
F-For Raikou-san to have his f-freedom and his family it would... I-It would require turning the laws of death around in my home universe!
[He forces his voice to become louder as it trembles with the cold.]
That isn't r-r-r-ight, Badou-san! I-It can't happen like that! No m-matter how tempting that option may seem, you can't do that w-without knowing the consequences of such a short-s-s-sighted wish!
[In his mind, there was one way to turn the laws of nature around according to the existing rules in his home universe, and he would never use Miharu in such a way.]