Beep Beep, Richie

[mrsklover]

WHO: Richie Tozier and the poor soul here with him
WHERE: Calibrations
WHAT: Also Calibrations
WHEN: Guess. It starts with C and ends in Alibrations
WARNINGS: Homophobic slurs/homophobia/internalized homophobia, child neglect, bullying, drug use, alcohol use, suicidal ideation, and CLOWNS

The room is an arcade. When you first walk in, you see that it has been abandoned, likely for years. There is dust on all the machines and half of them are just blinking 'GAME OVER' without any way to start it again. But near the back, you can hear something. The sound of a fighting game. Street Fighter! And there playing it is a small boy with a grey ringer shirt, thick black glasses, and extremely messy dark hair.

It's Richie. Richie at twelve years old, playing his favorite game and ignoring you completely. There is a blinking button beside him to activate two-player mode. But if you don't want to do that, there are a few other options.

Some other game machines have buttons blinking as well. The closest machine to him is called The Secret and sings almost a circus song in 8-bit. A few aisles away, another game has a button lit up and this one is called Homeward Unbound. It has no music and nothing on the screen except a house, no lights on in the windows. The last game with a play button is all the way in the corner and looks like an old beer tapper game. The screen has a cartoon of adult Richie's face on it, smiling until, for just a second, it changes to him crying. Weird.

There is more in the room that seems to almost glow among all the dust and debris. A token sits in the tray where kids once could get more for the games. A red balloon drifts along the floor with the words 'I <3 Derry' on it. And finally, for the person searching the hardest, they might see a bloody knife stabbed into a carved heart on one wall.

Welcome to Richie Tozier's head. God help you.

Comments

[wearingthestars]

"Kinda feels like you care a bit," he notes, but he does wilt a little under that glare. How are teenagers so good at glaring? Had he ever been that good at that age?

"...And maybe," Billy allows, "Would that be so bad? If he was?" he presses gently, allowing Richie to distance himself from the label.

[mrsklover]

Richie turns and looks at Billy, unsure underneath the tough, prickly front he was presenting.

"Of course it would be. It's... Fucking gross."

Richie blinks both physically and in the argument as he follows that up with a quieter, almost nervous:

"Right?"

[wearingthestars]

"Mm...I don't think so," Billy answers, borrowing more from his mother's techniques as a psychologist than he'd like to admit, "Why do you think you feel that way?" He tries to keep his tone free of judgement, free of any person hurt. This isn't about making the 'kid' feel guilty, it's about helping him explore these feelings.

[mrsklover]

Richie raises a skeptical eyebrow at Billy.

"Are you some sort of shrink? Asking about my feelings? Dude. It's not that major. I feel that way because that's how people feel about it. You're really telling me you don't?"

[wearingthestars]

He gives a faint laugh through his nose and smiles.

"I dunno. Sometimes it helps to talk about that stuff. But I remember not wanting to."

Billy nods then. "I really don't. He seemed nice. Until he was kind of a dick. But I don't think that has anything to do with the sort of people he thinks are cute."

[mrsklover]

Richie's attention is completely on Billy now as he listens to him talk about Connor in a pretty accurate way. At the time, Richie had been pretty isolated from his friends so they didn't even know what happened. He hadn't been able to talk to anyone or commiserate. Having the chance now is... Alright, he guesses.

"With a cousin like Bowers I don't think he had a chance to be anything but a dick. It's part of their genetics." He frowns. "If I'd known, I wouldn't have played with him."

[wearingthestars]

"Yeah, I know his type," Billy sympathizes, "And uh...look, as a kind of...adult- I guess- let me tell you something most adults won't admit. Being your age is the worst. You don't have to pay rent, but...somehow when kids beat the shit out of each other every day or any other thing adults would be charged for, they always tell you to just shrug it off. And it's not okay. But...you know...it does get better. Eventually," he promises.

"The world's still full of Bowers-es but...you learn there's a lot more people who aren't dick. And who won't care about that stuff...God, I sound like some kind of PSA, don't I? Ugh."

[mrsklover]

Richie watches Billy as he speaks, unblinking with his intensity. He's never really thought about the bullying thing like that, but Billy has a point. Not that he's gonna say it. But. Still.

He concedes with a small smile.

"You really do. Wanna throw in that I should stay in school and not do drugs?" The smile doesn't fade as Richie turns back to his game and just sort of absently plays it.

"For the record, I didn't do the first and definitely did do the second. Sorry to tell ya."

[wearingthestars]

Billy flushes and laughs, shrugging a shoulder.

He feels a little foolish with the reminder that this kid isn't really a kid. And maybe he should have been saving those speeches for someone like Cap to make. He's always been better at that kind of stuff.

"...I ran away across the multiverse," he offers with a small smile. Not exactly the same. Especially since he did manage to stay in school, and not do drugs and all that jazz.

[mrsklover]

The confession has Richie's attention again as his head almost whips around. At first it's because of the idea of a multiverse. But then again, with all that happened here, that isn't quite so shocking. So the second piece is:

"Why did you run away?"

The game is forgotten as he just leans against it. "You've got magic and are nice and shit. What did you have to run from?"

[wearingthestars]

"We're supposed to be exploring your brain, aren't we?" Billy teases, but he smiles a little. 'Nice and shit'. It's one of the better compliments he gotten.

"I um...accidently summoned a evil magical parasite...thing? And it wanted to...eat me. And then the rest of the universe too. But mostly me. And she did some weird magic so our parents and adults in general didn't believe us or see what was going on."

Weirdly familiarly, isn't it???

[mrsklover]

Richie's jaw falls wide open. Yeah, yeah that is weirdly familiar.

"Holy shit, man! That's what happened with Pennywise! He wasn't a parasite, I don't think. I don't know. Maybe? He wanted to eat us, too! And he made all the adults all fucked up and not able to see what was happening or believe us! Woah!"

Richie never thought he'd ever find someone who understood this shit. And now....

"Your parasite wasn't a clown, right?"

[wearingthestars]

Oh wow. It really is nice to be able to tell that story and not get a weird look, and he feels bad for that momentary rush that connection gives him. It really shouldn't be something to celebrate.

"Right?? Even was happening right in front of them??" God. Poor Richie.

Billy shakes his head, then pauses in consideration. "No? I mean, she was kind of a shape shifter I guess. She could turn into...goo. Mostly she just had the form of my boyfriend's dead mom though."

[mrsklover]

"Holy fucking shit, dude! Pennywise did the same stuff! He was all sorts of crap just to scare us. Oh my God, I wonder if they were like fucking related or something!"

Richie is enthusiastic now, arms flailing as he talks a mile a minute.

"One time, Pennywise had like blood all over a bathroom. Covering it! No adult could see anything! It was dripping blood and nothing! And Bowers? That dude carved some kid's stomach right in front of an adult and they just drove by like nothing was wrong. It was so fucking bad!"

[wearingthestars]

"Are you guys magic?" Billy wonders. If this Pennywise is the same sort of thing as Mother was, that would make sense...unless he fed off something different.

"Jesus..." Billy pales a little, eyes wide. And sure, Mother did some messed up body horror things too, but not quite so bloody. At least not that Billy saw. "I told Cap. My parents...everyone. They just kept trying to bring me back to her. How did you stop him?"

[mrsklover]

Richie glances over to the red balloon that is drifting around the floor. As it gets closer to them he shies away, almost fearfully.

"No. No, we're not magic. We're... We're just kids. Magically delicious, maybe? But that's it. We stopped him... We stopped him by insulting him, actually. When were weren't scared, it made him small. And then we crushed his heart."

His eyes dart to the knife on the wall and then away.

"It...cost a lot, though. More than I would have spent."

[wearingthestars]

That's horrible. And terrifying.

Billy follows Richie's gaze, noting that fear that seems to come with either option, though they seem to affect him differently.

"...Is there one you want me to see?" he asks, still feeling like he needed permission.

[mrsklover]

When Richie looks back up at Billy, he looks smaller, somehow. Scared or maybe worried. Still, he shrugs, pretending to be unbothered. "They're both things I see all the time anyways. I dunno if you wanna though. I'll let you know that the one over there..." He gestures with his chin at the knife.

"It's probably the worst moment in my life. So that is saying something..."

[wearingthestars]

Well that...hmm...that's not something Billy's sure he wants to force Richie to live through again. Even if it is something he carries with him.

"...Maybe safer to start here then," he says, approaching the balloon, a little anxious with how fearful Richie was, but reaching out to touch it.

[mrsklover]

Richie watches as Billy reaches for the balloon. When his hand makes contact, it bursts into a bright light, blinding them both. When the light fades, the room is different. It's darker and cave-like. Richie is there, with all his friends around him. And so is Pennywise with his arm around another boy..

[wearingthestars]

Billy flinches back at the light, but that's the least of his concerns when the room, and the...whatever it is- holding that boy...

"Jesus," Billy curses in surprise as Richie hit the thing full force, followed by his friends.

Fear momentarily roots him to the spot as the thing shifts, reaffirming his theory that what ever It is, it's similar to Mother.

[mrsklover]

As the fight ends, the arcade fades back around them. Richie is smiling at Billy a bit. "Jesus? No. No, that's Pennywise. The dancing clown from Hell." Richie gives a shudder at the memory.

"We thought we'd killed him, then. Even had a whole last word and whatever. But no. Fucker is like a cockroach. I am pretty sure we got him the next time, but who knows? They can check when I'm 80 I guess."