Friday 23 February 2018

Dead by Daylight Survivor Interview – Nea Karlsson


Dead by Daylight Survivor Interview – Nea Karlsson

Written by Casey Douglass


Dead by Daylight Survivor Interview – Nea Karlsson


Dead by Daylight is one of my favourite games at the moment. As a writing prompt, I thought it would be interesting to interview some of the characters involved, working in parts of their back story that are known, and adding a few other twists and quirks that hopefully fit in. You'll get most out of this is you are familiar with Dead by Daylight. It's horror, so be prepared for some gore if you do read on.

First up is Nea, my favourite survivor character, and at the moment, my only Prestige 3 survivor.

Me: Hi Nea, it’s good to meet you.

Nea Karlsson: Yeah, you too. I’m just surprised The Entity brought you here. You’re not dead or something?

Me: I hope not!

Nea: I’m sure you’re fine. Actually, I don’t even know if I am, so who knows what the fuck is going on?

Me: I mean, I remember sending the email and The Entity replying. I don’t remember much after that.

Nea: Fuck, you’re pale!

Me: Just feeling a bit...

Nea: Yeah, I can see.

Me: So... I’ll do this interview and see how I get back later. Guess that’s all I can do.

Nea: Keep on keepin’ on. I know the feeling.

Me: That might be a good place to start. What’s it like being stuck in your own kind of ground hog day, being butchered and chased over and over and over again?

Nea: It sucks, but you get used to it. I mean, the pain hurts, but when you die or get out, old pain becomes ghost pain, ghost memories of pain anyway.

Me: You know you’ve experienced it but it feels detached, or maybe like watching a recording of yourself on your phone, but one you don’t really connect with?

Nea: Totally! It hurts like fuck, and then it doesn’t.

Me: What’s it like when the players who are controlling you make you do silly things, or stuff that causes more pain than is needed?

Nea: I want to slit their fucking throats! Yeah yeah, Mr Big Dick, making me bodyblock a hook against a maniac with a machete, just so your dweeb friend doesn’t get scratched. I didn’t get where I am today being that fucking dumb.

Me: How did you wind up here? I know you had brushes with the law awhile back, but that’s some distance from ending up in some kind of purgatory.

Nea: My life turned to shit when my parents moved us from Sweden to the States. I didn’t want to go, but I had to, because I was still a kid.

Me: And it was in the States you found your love for skate parks?

Nea: Hell yeah! I mean, I couldn’t skate for shit, but once I’d managed a few aciddrops and pulled a few melongrabs, I was hooked. I got a sweet custom deck made by this guy near our hangout. He was a chill artist type soul, always doodling.

Me: I won’t pretend to know what an aciddrop or melongrab is. Was the guy the person that got you into tagging your Mashtyx tag everywhere?

Nea: [Laughs] Maybe.

Me: Why did you do it?

Nea: Tag? To be seen!

Me: For your tag to be seen, or you?

Nea: Both I guess. I think I was the invisible kid, not really having any power in the world. So I started tagging, and when I hit my 20s, I switched things up to more sketchy things.

Me: Pun intended?

Nea: No way. But I like it. I stole some stuff, tried some stuff, fucked up a whole lot. Learnt a lot too.

Me: Your sneaky ways?

Nea: Yep! I practised slipping away when no-one was looking, making supplies last longer, because I mean, I was fucking broke, and generally, learning how to fall off high shit and not stumble. Man I lost a fair few thugs that way, back in the day.

Me: Stuff you make good use of now too!

Nea: Hey, anything to help me stay alive. Or whatever I am. As I said, I’m not sure any more.

Me: Which Killer do you most like to face, and which makes your heart sink when you know it’s them?

Nea: Damn, I’ve not really thought about that. I mean, to put it in words. Favourite would probably be Leatherface. He’s a big dumb fuck, and that skin-mask stops him seeing most shit. You can smell him coming a mile off too, which helps. You might think it’s all that chili, but the dude just stinks fullstop.

Me: Least favourite?

Nea: Oooh, I’d say The Shape.

Me: Because he’s creepy?

Nea: Fuck yes! You’re working on a gen and something makes you look up and he’s there, breathing into that white mask. He scares the shit out of me, literally has a few times. And he always cops a feel when he takes you to the hook.

Me: That doesn’t sound nice.

Nea: No shit! Still, some of us have it worse!

Me: The other survivors?

Nea: Yeah. He hates Dwights. Especially tea-bagging ones. Hand on heart, I saw him drop a tea-bagging Dwight once, pull his trousers down and castrate the dude there and then!

Me: Where were you?

Nea: Hiding behind a broken wall, spying through the bricks.

Me: Shit!

Nea: Yeah. Shit. If you speak to Dwight, he’ll probably deny it. I know what I saw though. I’d never seen two mangled balls thrown at a wall before that. Like two little bloody water balloons going “Splat!” Hope to never again. Fuck that.

Me: So... we didn’t really get to how you ended up here, in The Entity’s realm. We touched on your move to the States and your survival skills, but you didn’t say how you actually got “here”.

Nea: My memory just stops at a certain point, like it’s been rubbed out. I was there, now I’m here. No fucking journey in-between. I don’t know what happened, whether I did something dumb or was just unlucky. All I know is I’m stuck here.

Me: I was going to ask if you wanted to get back, but I realise how stupid that question would be. Do you think you’ll ever get back?

Nea: No.

Me: Really?

Nea: I’ve been here long enough to just get the feeling that this is it. I could move on somewhere else later, I don’t know. I just doubt I’ll get home.

Me: How does that make you feel?

Nea: You sound like a fucking psychiatrist.

Me: I wish I earned what they do.

Nea: Yeah but you have to talk to crazy people.

Me: Interesting people.

Nea: Fucked up people. Perverts and neurotics and skitzos.

Me: They are still people Nea, that’s not very kind.

Nea: Fuck being kind! They’ve got things cushy. I get murdered thousands of times a day! Oh boo hoo my dick won’t work if I don’t get caned across my arse. Boo hoo nobody loves me. Boo hoo I might be gay, what will my husband think. Survival! That comes first. If you’re surviving, you’re ahead. Anything else is just mental masturbation.

Me: You sound like you think you’re more alive than they’ll ever be.

Nea: You’re a genius!

Me: And you’re starting to fade.

Nea: Oh great! Another round!

Me: Thank you for talking to me Nea, I wish I could help you.

Nea: The only person that can help me is me, as per usual. Stay safe Case.

[Nea blinked out of existence, her fists clenched and a scowl creasing her face].