Is it okay if I stalk you? [Backdated to Undeadfield]

[have_your_lives]

[Well, after being abducted, killed, and buried, Schuldig is unexpectedly - although is it really unexpected, in Mayfield? - back. Though he's looking a little...different. He's prowling around Mayfield in an outfit that would be called eccentric even by his standards, looking for a few specific people. Ema and Edward are at the top of the list,

Comments

[weiss_tank]

[Of course he finds Ken. Why wouldn't he? His fellow Tokyolite is also walking around in that silly tux. Of course, Siberian hasn't seen him yet.]

[have_your_lives]

[Never mind that Schuldig is wearing the exact same thing - he can't help cackling at Ken's outfit.] Going to go prove to Miakis that you look even worse all cleaned up than you normally do, Siberian?

[weiss_tank]

[While yes, he does want to find Miakis, he really hates this stupid get up. Tuxes just were not his style. They were stiff, they itched, and really he just hated the way they looked.]

Like you're one to talk Mastermind! You look like a fuckin' scarecrow in that!

[have_your_lives]

[Schuldig smirks broadly. Unlike Ken, he's worn formal clothes before - and while they're rarely his first choice of attire, he certainly thinks he looks better in them than Ken does.] At least it's a look I can pull off. You look like you need a cone to keep from pulling those off you with your teeth.

[glowing_science]

[Ema proves easy to find--she's going through her daily routine to try and take her mind off of the graveyard. Even trying to do this, however, nets her little relief. Schuldig will be able to tell that her surface thoughts go back to the graveyard and how she felt seeing all those headstones.

Well, that and dealing with Edward's grief. It was a long, sad night last night at Edward's house, just the two of them huddled together trying not to be swallowed by their own despair.]

[have_your_lives]

[Schuldig slips in through a window; he does this silently and with surprising grace, thanks to being agile and used to unconventional means of getting around. From there, it's easy enough to slip up behind Ema.] People have been dying in Mayfield as long as you or he have been here. What is it about headstones that makes it seem more serious?

[He hasn't forgotten his reason for coming, but he can't help but be a little curious. Why headstones should make such a difference in their perceptions of Mayfield's usual high death toll, he can't imagine.]

sob, I'm the worst

[glowing_science]

[Ema jumps and spins around, thoroughly--and unsurprisingly--spooked by Schuldig's sudden appearance. He seems... odd. But he seems alive, from what she can tell. In some bizarre way, it's a relief.

More than that, he asked a question. After a deep breath, she answers it.]

It was empirical evidence of your death... and you weren't back the next morning like the dead usually are here. A change in the system is something to be worried about.

[have_your_lives]

I'm assuming this is the collective 'you'. [Schuldig cocks an eyebrow. He has no illusions that Ema is particularly glad to see him; he half expects most of her relief comes from knowing that if he's back, then probably the others she was worried about - and that Edward was worried about - are back too.

Being a telepath, he's aware that some of that relief is indeed reserved specifically for him, but he knows not to read too much into that. It's a reaction she can't really help, and one she tends to find questionable or shameful. He can't bank on reluctant sympathies that are half engineered out of a sort of abusive dependency...even if they're really the only kinds of sympathies he's capable of evoking.]

The town was just working up to this. [He makes a somewhat mocking gesture to his outfit.] What do you think? Was it worth the effort?