entrancelogs | the morning light shines a lifeline [closed]

Entry tags:

the morning light shines a lifeline [closed]

Who: Clem, Jay, and Tim
Where: Movie theater
When: 8/12
Rating: PG probably?
Summary: Clem saved their butts and Tim promised her a bad movie night and oh my god Clem i am so sorry
The Story:

[He doesn't actually know what movie Jay picked out, which is probably not the best way to start things out. He's never been one to really trust Jay's intuition on anything, but given that Jay's choosing a horrible movie to watch instead of making a potentially life-threatening choice to enter the woods armed with little more than a camera and some scaldingly good intentions, that's probably the least harmful decision Tim could leave him to make.]

[The movie theater's empty for the next handful of hours, near as he can tell, which is for the best, 'cause he's pretty sure no one else save for a few freaks like them would be technically eager to watch what is bound to be a painfully despicable work of cinema.]

[He hangs back after shooting Clem a text to let her know the time and place, hoping that Jay's technical knowledge of how movies work means he's the most cut out to be the guy to physically set it up.]

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[It's not long before Jay shows up, lanky arms wrapped around an impressive yet somewhat imposing stack of DVD cases. Balancing on one leg, he uses the other to swing down the seat of one of the chairs in the front row, and then gingerly, carefully, he sets the stack down on the seat.]

[The seat flips back up, and the stack falls over immediately.]

[Cursing under his breath, he gathers the DVDs back up and stacks them again, on the floor this time. Least it's not as sticky as some movie theater floors he's experienced.]

[He should probably acknowledge Tim, shouldn't he?]

Hey.

[Great job.]

So I brought...a lot, so you and Clem can pick out whatever looks like your kind of thing. I've got a couple favorites in here, but I've seen basically all of 'em, so I'll leave it up to you two.

[He looks up toward the back of the theater, spotting a narrow staircase up to a door that looks like it leads into the projection booth. If there's a DVD player, it's probably in there.]

( Clementine steps into the movie theater shortly after Jay does. She lifts an eyebrow at the sight of all those DVD cases. It's strange but cool to see the both of them outside of a life-threatening, zombie situation for once. She doesn't really forget what either of them told her.

They come from a very dangerous world too (with memory and time loss and coughing? and dying. people died).

She walks up to the both of them with a tiny smile on her face. )

That's a whole lot of movies.

[Jay sure did bring a lot. That lifts Tim's eyebrows some - good god, neither of them are cut out to host this disarmingly, unnaturally casual thing for someone else's sake - but at least he keeps his mouth shut. He doesn't know how to smile in a way that won't look false as hell, but he can offer a killer deadpan:]

Jay's kind of a movie guy.

[Unsurprisingly.]

And it, uh...looks like he picked up every B-movie in the past seven decades.

[Jay rolls his eyes.]

Trust me, this is just skimming off the top.

[Now that the DVD Tower is stable, he reaches into the front pocket of his hoodie and pulls out...surprise-surprise, the digital camcorder he's been favoring recently. It's just barely small enough to fit into a sweatshirt pocket, but that's still an improvement on what he had before. He snaps the viewfinder screen open. It's already recording.]

[During the last event, he wasn't sure why he felt like he was missing something. Now he remembers.]

[He pulls the first few DVDs off the stack.]

I wasn't sure what you guys would want to see, so I got, like, a...sample platter.

[He gestures with the DVDs in his hand as he talks, and the covers are just barely visible.]

So were you thinking 'old monster movie' or 'bad CGI' or 'weird kids movie' or...?

I mean, that's one way to have variety.

( Clementine sort of smirks at Tim at his deadpan and then glances at Jay's camcorder but doesn't comment on it. She figures if he's used to like losing time and memories then he might like having a record of what actually happens. It's pretty smart.

She leans down to rifle through the DVDs, picking one up as she reads the back of it. )

This seems pretty awesomely terrible!

( She likes monster flicks. Having lived so much worse, they're actually kind of fun to watch. )

[He'll give it to Jay - he really knows his shitty cinema. There's a joke lurking under all that - something about how he obviously would, if he agreed to work on Alex Kralie's film project - but all things considered, that'd be pretty damned tasteless.]

[The camera, likewise, earns a flat look, but he doesn't call attention to it. Asking Jay to stop recording would be like asking someone to stop breathing; for him, it may as well be vital.]

[He's got no idea what is it about the title Clem picked that's so awful, but he trusts that if Jay says it's bad, it's probably pretty damn bad.]

Plan 9 from Outer Space. [He digests that silently for a moment, then shrugs.] Never heard of it.

[Jay's eyebrows twitch upward as he sees Clem's choice, and his eyes light up.]

[When Tim says he's never heard of it, that decides it. They're watching Plan 9. This is happening.]

[He reaches down to take the DVD case from Clem.]

You're hearing about it now, that's for sure.

[He clicks the case open, double-checking that the disc is inside.]

Alright, this one needs backstory so I'm gonna give you the backstory. [The speed of his voice picks up, dragging out of its usual drawl.] There was this guy, Ed Wood, and he was this...godawful director. Like, he tried, and I guess that's all that counts, but he wasn't good at all. So he decides he's gonna make this monster movie, and he manages to get Bela Lugosi--like, if you've seen the original Dracula, he's the original Dracula. So he's got Bela Lugosi, he's got this great concept, and he's got the money, so they start working on it, and what happens?

Bela Lugosi drops dead.

So he's gone, and what do they do? Cancel the movie? Maybe get a look-alike? No, they grab-- [Jay snickers.] They grab Ed Wood's wife's chiropractor.

Like, that's the kind of movie this is.

( A lot of that goes over Clementine's head, because she doesn't know what a chiropractor is, but she gets they just grabbed some random dude's wife's something to fill in a pretty epic role. She's pretty sure acting takes skill that a chiropractor wouldn't have. )

Wow.

Sounds like they threw random shit in and tried to make it a movie. Terrible.

( She smirks. In other words, she made a perfect choice without realizing it. )

We just need popcorn and candy.

[He has...maybe never heard Jay say that many words in one go before. It lifts his eyebrows somewhat, but then Jay laughs, sounding like he's genuinely enjoying relaying this. That right there makes most of this worth it.]

[He's never heard of Plan 9, much less the story behind it, but he's pretty sure that makes it the worst movie ever made, or close to it. One side of Tim's mouth quirks into something approaching a smile.]

[Almost.]

[Ed Wood, a godawful director who tried. Sounds familiar. But he doesn't say it.]

Once you hit eighteen, we're making this a drinking game.

[Something about "once you hit eighteen" strikes him. It just assumes they'll all still be here then, years down the road. Years of watching bad movies.]

[Sure, this isn't technically an afterlife, not for everybody, but...Jay's just thinking, that's all.]

Sure. Drink every time you've got, like...cheap, pie-tin-looking flying saucers on fishing wire. Take a sip every time it randomly switches from being filmed during the day to being filmed at night. Drink every time Fake Bela Lugosi.

[Tim can't drink, right? So he might not know how quick they'd all get alcohol poisoning from these rules.]

I mean, we can do it with soda, I guess. This place have a concession stand? Or--or do we just have to do a kitchen run?

Count me in.

( Clementine snorts lightly in amusement. She doesn't mention she's already been drinking especially since it sounds like a drinking-game might require more drinking than she's used to. Also, people would probably judge them for it. )

There's a concession stand!

( She's been here before on her date with Dipper. )

Jay, you get the movie set up. Tim and I will get the concessions. What's your favorite drink and candy? ( This is very important information, Jay. )

[God, does Jay have a favorite anything? He's never asked him, has he? Never even asked his favorite - his favorite color, his favorite movie, if he has one. He was always simply Jay, and nothing more than that.]

[The hell kind of friend does that? Is that even what they are at this point?]

[But. Concessions. That gives him something to do with himself and, more importantly, something to do with his hands, which have felt like they've been awkwardly fluttering about like big, clumsy moths since this whole bad idea began.]

[He really only feels confident chiming in:]

If it's something caffeinated, we are finding you a decaf version, buddy.

[Jay snorts, looking past Tim at Clementine.]

Don't listen to him. Black coffee.

[Does he even like coffee? He definitely drinks it, that's for sure. He drinks it more than most other things. Close enough.]

[But favorite candy? That's a much harder question. Jay pauses halfway up the stairs to the projection booth to think.]

[He doesn't remember the last time he had candy. He knows he definitely used to have it, because he was a kid once, and that's what kids do, but, like... He must've had candy at the movies. He saw a lot of movies, though not always in theaters.]

[His brain latches onto...something, at least.]

If they have those...Junior Mints, I think they're called? Those're pretty okay. And I mean, if you're getting snacks anyway, popcorn's basically mandatory.

( Clementine snorts in amusement even if she's eyeing the two of them like. C'mon, guys, it's movies! Except she understands. She went on her first date with Dipper here, and Dipper took care of the snacks. Clementine wouldn't have known what to pick herself.

Movies aren't a thing in the apocalypse, and she's guessing neither of them had the time for something so casual and fun. )

Okay, black coffee! I thought that it's gross to just have it plain like that. Not that I'm judging.

( she's judging a little but in a teasing way. )

Yeah, I think they do. Popcorn's a guarantee. Okay, Tim, c'mon. With me. ( she waves in his direction, heading towards the concessions. her arms are tiny. she can only carry so much, okay? )

You're not gonna sleep tonight, and it won't be my fault.

[But you know what, whatever. If Jay wants to thoroughly fuck over his cardiorespiratory system, it's not like Tim's in a position to judge - he couldn't possibly be, when he's the chain-smoker with pre-existing lung issues.]

[But he's rolling his eyes as he follows Clem, regarding the spread of completely unfamiliar snacks with a slightly uncertain eye.]

Okay, so I don't actually know what half of these things are.

[Sleep and maintaining a regular heartbeat are for the weak.]

[And then they're gone, and it's Jay's job to figure out how to operate the projector.
Shouldn't be too bad, right?]

[He reaches the top of the steps and opens the projection booth door into an impossibly large room. Seriously, though, it's...bigger on the inside. Dark, too, with the blinking LED lights of vast banks of modern media players (and some that might be beyond his time) lining the walls. Besides the readouts from those machines, the only light comes from a small window leading back into the rest of the theater. He can barely make out the looming shapes of several older projectors in the back, some covered with sheets. He's not sure how far back this place goes, but for now he's assuming he won't have to find out.]

[One small mercy: it doesn't take long to find one of the blinking boxes that can play DVDs. He loads the disc in and hopes for the best.]

[There's a hum to his right, and he turns to see a digital projector, positioned in front of the small window so that it faces the theater screen. He doesn't believe that projector was there before, but for now, he's not going to question it. After a couple minutes, a picture flickers onto the screen showing--lo and behold--the DVD menu for Plan 9 from Outer Space.]

[Next to the projector sits a remote control, like the ones that come with an ordinary DVD player. Jay hits "play". The menu disappears, and a loud brass sting comes through the theater speakers. Dammit, pause, pause-- There we go.]

[He takes the remote control with him when he leaves the booth. He's hoping the signal will reach from his seat in the theater, run by the same "magic" as the rest of this place.]

( Clementine's smirking at Tim, raising an eyebrow at him, because it's not like she's an expert here at all either. )

I don't either! All the more reason we should get all of the candies including the Junior Mints. We can try whatever we want and see what we like best.

( She hands Tim a scooper since he's likely tall enough to actually reach the popcorn machine, and she holds out a bag, sliding in one of every candy in the display case. She just makes sure to get a couple extra of the Junior Mints so they have plenty of what Jay likes most.

Her bag's now heavy with all the candy she shoved in. )

How's the popcorn coming?

[She's officially carrying this movie night. This was supposed to be for her, and here she is getting all the work of being the relative life of the party. Jesus. Jesus christ. This was a terrible idea. He is so sorry, Clem.]

[He starts shoveling popcorn into a couple extremely large, extremely deep bins. This isn't what's recommended for a ketogenic diet - so sue him.]

[Two red-and-white striped popcorn buckets should be enough to start with, he's pretty sure, and he settles them down at the front row of seats.]

I think we're set for the opening titles at least.

[Jay makes it down the steps just as the other two return, bearing drinks and a bag and two massive bins of popcorn. Overkill? Maybe.]

[But Jay hasn't been to a bad movie night since college, and he's not sure if Tim's been to a bad movie night ever, so maybe overkill's not a bad thing.]

[He shuffles up to them, holding the remote in one hand and the camera in the other as he peers down at the spoils from their concession stand run.]

What'd you get?

[More importantly, what did Tim get, because Jay doesn't think he's ever seen the guy actually enjoy eating something.]

Edited 2017-08-21 06:42 (UTC)

We got one of everything so we could try them since we didn't know which ones were our favorites.

Turns out we're all bad at candy.

( Clementine didn't fail to notice how Jay also stumbled over which one was his favorite. She used one of those cup holder thingies for their drinks, cause popcorn requires drinks.

She even got Jay his coffee and then asked Tim what he wanted so she has that for him too. )

[Well, between the three of them, they might be able to make a well-adjusted teenager who hasn't had a traumatic experience slotted into those early years or at some point after.]

[Or maybe he's finally learning to do something with that latent sense of humor he apparently has, albeit a dry and sarcastic one. But at least he's in good company as far as that goes. Tim flops into one of the seats, eyeing their spoils with the unusual, unexpected sensation of having too much choice, all at once.]

[Eventually he grabs something called a "payday," because that's a word he actually recognizes, and rips the wrapper off.]

You're gonna be riding a caffeine-sugar high for hours, [he tells Jay dryly,] and you're gonna have no one but yourself to blame for that.

We set?

[He rolls his eyes at the "caffeine-sugar high" comment. Like that'll feel any different from normal.]

Looks like it.

[With some effort, Jay manages to pry his coffee out of the cup holder. They may be bad at candy, but they're certainly good at variety. Jay snags a box of Junior Mints, and after some deliberation, a box of Sno-Caps.]

[Which drink was Tim's? He grabbed a Payday, so looks like he's a peanut guy. And what candy does someone pick if they're an eleven-year-old apocalypse survivor?]

[Mystery still unsolved for now, he sets his camera on the armrest, stuffs the boxes of candy into the cupholder of a seat, puts the coffee in the other, pulls the remote from where it had been awkwardly hanging out of his pocket, and settles in as best he can.]

[He holds the remote up to the other two.]

Just say when.

( Clementine reaches for the package of sour gummy worms as she takes her seat, sinking back and grabbing a handful of popcorn too. She's ready for some terrible movie magic since this is her first time discovering people actually watch bad movies on purpose.

It actually does sound pretty fun to her, and she's kind of excited. She's also pretty sure these two would have struggled to figure out how to have a movie night without her here.

She takes a bite into the sour stuff. It's sufficiently sour so she's making a face before speaking up. )

When!

[Tim snorts.]

[It's not a laugh, but it's definitely amusement, because the combination of Clem's face puckering up and that characteristically facetious answer was a little too much for even Tim to resist. He quickly converts it into a cough - made difficult by the fact that a payday turns out to contain caramel and peanuts, and have sort of partially glued his teeth together.]

[Just watching the opening titles has his eyebrows crawling up his forehead.]

Jesus, this is gonna be terrible.

Jay's attention darts over to Tim on that "cough", but it's not long before his eyes are fastened firmly on the screen.

The narrator begins--or, more accurately, 'Criswell Predicts':

"We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future."

Jay mouths silently along with the words, because this monologue is a work of accidental, terrible genius and he couldn't not memorize it.

From his seat on the far right, he turns to Tim and Clem for the last few sentences, furrowing his brow in mock-solemnity as he continues to lip-sync.

"Let us punish the guilty. Let us reward the innocent. My friend, can your heart stand the shocking facts about grave robbers from outer space?"

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sorry for my lateness! ;o;

no worries!

seconding the no worries!

thanks ;o;

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