un: willthewise | 001

[deadboywalking]

[Will's been here for a hot second, and he's paid careful attention to...things that are going on. And he's more than ready to hit y'all with a whammy of a moral conundrum. Forgive his slow typing; he's from the 80's and texting isn't really a thing.]

if you do something bad -- like really bad, like unforgivable -- in your life before here

are you allowed to not tell anyone about it? or try to be better here? are you allowed to start over entirely?

is that bad too?

Comments

[deadboywalking]

[Some Wacky Shit, my dude. Some crazy wacky bad shit.]

you would? even if it was really bad?

[justbeingknife]

Yeah.

In my line of work, you gotta find people you can trust, and keep 'em close. You don't just throw 'em away. I know anyone I trust that much, they ain't gonna stab me in the back for no reason. And even if they do, it was my fault for bein' flatfooted in the first place.

...But that's me. People say I'm pretty oldschool.

[deadboywalking]

[Will understands...some of those words? He gets the general gist,
at any rate.] i wouldn't be angry if it was them instead of me. i mean, i'd be upset and sad and stuff, but i wouldn't never want to speak to them again.

...but it wasn't them. it was me.

[justbeingknife]

I know.

[ Oh, boy, did he ever know.

It occurred to Majima that it was bizarre that the most real conversation he'd had about the events overshadowing the last two years of his personal life was with an American grade schooler, but here they were. Here. They. Were. ]

Sorry it went down like that.

[deadboywalking]

me too.

but i mean, we're here now. i wanna try and make it better here. if i can. [He pauses, then:]

don't you?

[justbeingknife]

Well, I ain't ready to throw in the towel on getting back to Japan just yet.

But yeah, guess you could say I got a different outlook on things. And it ain't bad, trying to do right. That help ya any?

[deadboywalking]

do you miss it a lot? your home?

it does, kinda. sorry. it's probably kind of annoying to be asked a ton of questions.

[justbeingknife]

Don't sweat it. I can tell you're chewin' something that ain't going down easy.

Up 'til just recently, I hadn't been back home in a while. So I guess it's too soon for that. But I am worried about the people I left back there.

Didn't get to say a proper goodbye, either. Hope they're gettin' along on their own.

[ He'd left Sunshine in a good spot, and doubtless Sagawa would find a replacement manager for the Grand... but it still wasn't a great feeling, thinking of all the people he wouldn't be able to check on one last time. ]

[deadboywalking]

maybe they'll come here? my friends max and mike are here. it's possible, right?

[justbeingknife]

Hell no, I don't want them to end up here! 'Specially not any of the girls.

[ like he wouldn't wish this on anyone

ok

maybe his boss ]

Between gettin' to say my goodbyes and them gettin' to live peacefully back home, I'll take wondering how they are.

Still, one thing I can't figure out is why all these people're showin' up with their friends. Were you all together right before ya ended up here?

[deadboywalking]

oh. I guess you're right -- I wouldn't want my mom here. it's too dangerous.

no. we all came from different times. I came right after something really bad happened so for a while I thought I was dead.

[justbeingknife]

Yeah. Might be easier on a personal level, but it ain't worth it.

[ He furrowed his brow slightly at this news. ]

Wait, different times? Did you notice if any of you were going missing?

What I mean is, let's take someone who's from the future compared to you. Did they notice you'd gotten sucked into France?

[deadboywalking]

I don't think I'm the best person to ask. I wasn't really aware for a lot of it.

[justbeingknife]

[ Majima tilted his head slightly at this choice of words. Translation hiccup? ]

Maybe I'll ask on this network, then.

And hey, you ever wanna jaw at someone about this kinda thing again, looks like I'm stuck here.

[deadboywalking]

there's a lot of people here, so you'll get a looooot of answers.

well. i'm kinda glad you are. at least for a little. you're nice.

[justbeingknife]

Uh, come again?

[ Will, were you really calling an ex-gangster nice...... ]

I'm just normal.

[deadboywalking]

you've been nice to me. you haven't, y'know...thrown anything at me or screamed at me.

[To be fair, his standards are very low.]

[justbeingknife]

That's...

Yeah, okay, normally people ain't supposed to throw things at kids. Or scream at 'em. The hell?

You should be eating ice cream and running around and shit.

[deadboywalking]

sorry. i mean, i do, most of the time. it's fine, it's just someone i used to know would yell a lot and call me names and stuff.

it's okay, he doesn't live with us anymore. or he didn't, back home.

[justbeingknife]

[ Will, why were you apologizing........ ]

Well, good. 'Cause he sounds like a grade-A shit lord.

[deadboywalking]

[It's what he does best, okay.]

mom said he was just really unhappy. i think we made him unhappy.

[justbeingknife]

Your old man?

Don't sound like much of an excuse to me. Once ya have kids, it's your job to take care of 'em. And it definitely ain't all right to take your problems out on someone who can't fight back.

Your mom sounds like a smart lady, though.

[deadboywalking]

yeah. he lives in indianapolis now.

she's the smartest person in the whole entire world. [Might as well make a "mama's boy" shirt for Will right now, cause he'll wear it.]

[justbeingknife]

That right? Bet she's tough as hell, too.

[ #singlemoms, man. It sort of made Majima wonder about Dolly, and how she and her little girl were getting along. Hadn't been able to say goodbye to them, either... ]

You good to her?

[deadboywalking]

yup. she's braver than anyone i've ever met. nothing scares her.

[There's a pause, and Will trying hard not to think about certain things.]

i want to be. i'm a lot of trouble, though.