FOR NIER (YES I KNOW SPOILERS, HEI)

[duranduel]

Comments

[duranduel]

Oh, you are?

[He...actually seems a bit confused?]

Yeah, yeah, that's what a good guy does. [And a shake of the head.] And no, I wasn't gardening. I was...

[He stops, looking upset.]

Um. Digging some graves.

[amain]

... Mandricardo?

[ HELLO? ]

Why?

[duranduel]

The bat, and the dog we brought back....Hector, and Miku....

[He sighs.]

I mean, they were dead, so. It was...something I felt we needed to do.

[amain]

Were you all trying to protect them?

[ Sad. Nier does like animals, usually. ]

You could have asked me to help you.

[duranduel]

...

[A nod.]

We were. [....] And no, its fine. I felt like I had to do it right away. I didn't want to bother anyone with it.

[amain]

[ ... This is so sad. ]

Do you mind showing me where you buried them?

[duranduel]

No, I don't mind.

[He'll gesture for Nier to follow.]

[Sure enough, after a bit of walking, there are two freshly dug mounds, with small bouquets of flowers on top of each one.]

[amain]

I'll make sure to leave gifts here, too.

[ Because they mean a lot of Mandy. ]

... Do you want to tell me about them?

[duranduel]

I don't know much about Miku. That was the puppy that Ichiro and Mabel had. And Hector was...our bat. We adopted it from a pet store, and then anything and everything just kept trying to attack us.

[And a beat.]

And then Hector tried to attack us, too. But it was all because of that damn Tanaka.

[????]

[amain]

[ ... Huh. Yeah. Ichiro naming a dog Miku makes sense. Unless he didn't name it, but that's still super funny. ]

... You guys were talking about Tanaka earlier.

[ Whomst. ]

[duranduel]

Yeah. That fucker.

[And he really looks pissed off at that.]

They were the ones who...sold us the dog. This pet store employee. Except they were more like a voice? And they just seemed to do nothing but want us all to suffer. Because Hector and Miku were supposedly "cursed" and that's how it worked.

[A sigh.]

Hector and Miku are dead because of them.

[amain]

... A voice.

[ Nier doesn't like where this is going, but he listens some more. A part of him is of course angry because no one should have to suffer more than they have to. ]

So they sold you "cursed" pets because all Tanaka wanted was to watch you all suffer. Everything and anything started to attack your group. [ Is that right. ] Did Tanaka say more?

[ More importantly: ]

Did you get your revenge?

[duranduel]

[He nods at all of that. That is right.]

They hated animals. But they wanted to be the employee of the month. So when we wouldn't kill Hector and Miku, they decided to do it themselves to be nice.

[And he shakes his head.]

No. We didn't. How could we?

[Just a voice.]

[amain]

[ Nier squints because why does this sound ridiculous. He's more focused on the fact they're put through hardship, coming out bleeding and also Mabel WITH BROKEN TEETH? Good to know mods are like how dare you not kill your new pet. ]

I don't know... I was hoping you would get a chance.

[ Sometimes you can stab voices, okay? ]

[duranduel]

[Sometimes you don't kill your new pet and then your new pet tries to kill you!]

...We didn't. And we won't. We're just here now.

[And two animals are dead.]

[amain]

We can at least make this place pay... For sending us on these trips—for this whole system.

[ That is like one of the few solaces Nier has, but... This isn't about that. This is about Hector and Miku. ]

How did you escape?

[duranduel]

[He nods at that. Burn down the whole campus, honestly.
]

Um. A door appeared. People were gonna come after us, so we just left.

[amain]

[ endgame soon who will survive hope nier's dead ]

A door... That sounds so simple.

[ Which he's glad for? ]

[duranduel]

It does. But that is what it was. After all of that crap. Just a door.

[also NIER BETTER SURVIVE]

[amain]

[ put him out of his misery ]

Just a door. [ It kind of pisses him off, so he's tapping his foot against the floor... ] Nothing like the usual friends show up and you have to fight them deal?

[duranduel]

[He shakes his head.]

No. No friends. And all the people we fought, we couldn't see their faces.

[amain]

... I can't tell if that's more or less unsettling.

[ Faceless people chasing and attacking you? Or your loved ones. ]

[duranduel]

I don't know. Either way, it was what it was.

[amain]

… Yeah. It’s not like we can refund those experiences.

You’re the type that feels a lot. [ Which he thinks they have in common. ] Are you just tired?

[duranduel]

Feels...a lot...

[Somehow he looks like...upset by that.]

Yeah. Maybe. I guess.