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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[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?"

( Clementine smirks a little at Tim's 'cough'. She doesn't know how rare laughter is for him, but it definitely didn't sound at all like a cough. Clem just sinks in, lifting her eyebrows, glancing over at Jay to see he like knows all the words.

Wow, that's impressive.

She laughs when he turns toward them. Her smirk widens. )

My heart can't stand it. I didn't prepare to be shocked!

( She raises up a gummy worm as if in denial. )

[Jay is actually mouthing the words in time to the credits. He gets several seconds of flat astonishment before Tim flicks a piece of popcorn at the back of his head.]

I've gotta new theory.

[That theory is not, actually, "Jay is a huge fucking nerd," because that was already a given, though at this point he doubts it bears mentioning. It has grown rapidly apparent to all parties that Jay is a nerd of the first order, unavoidably.]

Whoever wrote this got paid ten bucks extra for every instance of the word "future."

[Jay's eyes light up at Clementine's comment. She's actually into it. She's actually having a good time.]

[And then a piece of popcorn hits him in the head.]

[He reaches into the nearest bucket and throws a small handful--maybe four or five--back at Tim in retaliation.]

The guy actually had a speech...thing. A speech impediment. Guess 'future' was one of the only words he could say without having it show.

Still no excuse for using it that many--oh, hey, it's real Bela.

[And Real Bela it is, for a few very brief scenes. An old man mourning his wife at her funeral. The same old man standing aimlessly in a suburban front yard.]

[These couple scenes have some promise, in Jay's opinion. Not much, but some. Even if they don't really mesh with the rest of the movie, he's glad that getting stuck onto the rest of this disaster means they're still around.]

( Clementine laughs at the popcorn fight, clearing her throat and shoving more worms into her mouth like she doesn't notice. It feels like pointing out the popcorn fight might ruin it so she opts to not mention it at all.

She reaches for more worms, sliding them into her mouth. _

Real Bela?

( She turns toward the screen.

Her mouth parts. She leans forward. She watches. Hrm. )

[He gets peppered with an answering fistful of kernels in reparation. He picks a few stray speckles of white from his hair with as much dignity as he can muster - not very much at all - and flicks them casually in Jay's direction, squinting at the figure on the screen.]

Is this gonna be "real Bela" for the rest of this take, or...?

[He's halfway expecting the poor man to drop dead mid-take, with the kind of quality movie-making they're bearing witness to here. Christ, this guy makes Alex Kralie look like Stanley Kubrick.]

[Jay winces as one of the kernels hits his cheek.]

Yeah, barely.

[Jay perks up as the scene changes. Two people look out the window of a plane to see...a comically fake flying saucer, wobbling precariously outside the window.]

["What in the world?" asks the stewardess. The pilot's stern reply: "That's nothing from this world."]

( Clem laughs at the kernel that hits his cheek. That was some good aiming, okay?

She tilts her head to the side with an amused smile. This is truly terrible. How even. )

That thing looks like one of those tops you can spin on a table.

Do you think that's what it actually is? Like totally from this world, pilot.

[She sounds like she's...actually enjoying this, wonder of all wonders. Like maybe this isn't just some stupid waste of her time, and Jay dispensing trivia is even funny, in its own way. Like all this counts as something like a good day.]

[Maybe they did something right for once.]

I bet that's exactly what it is. I bet they covered a little top with aluminum foil and hung it on a string and called it a day.

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