the morning light shines a lifeline [closed]

[postictal]

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.]

Comments

[burntvideocassette]

[Jay's still sort of reeling at what Clementine just said: "You've both been through a lot of shit, and it's okay to feel how ever you do when you're reminded of it."]

[People don't just...talk like that, do they?]

[It's not okay. It feels awful. He guesses that's just the price of knowing what he and Tim know now, but it's not 'okay'.]

[Wait, Tim just asked him something. He lets it sit for a moment, waiting for his head to catch up with his ears. Oh. Huh. That's a coincidence.]

Yeah.

[He's just fine, thanks. He's 'okay'. And he's definitely not thinking about Alex Kralie.]

goes again real quick don't mind me

[postictal]

[Tim's not the only liar in the bunch. They've both always known that. Or maybe most of them have. It's hard to tell which parts of Jay are in denial about himself and which parts have elected to accept that he's not the objective narrator he thought he was.]

[Or maybe that's just wishful thinking.]

She...probably didn't know. [He shoots a swift glance in the direction of the door. Still shut. Good.] Right?

nyoom; also behold jay merrick master of denial

[burntvideocassette]

[Oh god oh god oh god]

[He could just say no, but he just knows that's the kind of thing that'll blow up in his face later. She's said a lot already, and she can say more because he told her more because he's a goddamn moron. "No" isn't gonna cut it.]

[And he's not a liar. Not when it counts.]

She...knows there was a movie.

[postictal]

But she didn't know it was...what kind of part that played in it.

[She couldn't have known. She couldn't have - she's a good kid. The way they'd fucking met had defined that, well and truly. Maybe she just hadn't thought. Maybe she doesn't know what it's - ]

[No. She can't not know how it's like. To have reminders leaping out at you from the shadows. To watch ghosts swirl in your head and imprint associations into the backs of your lids.]

Couldn't've. Right?

[burntvideocassette]

Right.

[Not a lie. Not really.]

[shorthair]

( Clementine comes back with a full drink, hoping the two of them have kind of sorted out whatever- whatever they might be feeling at the moment. He doesn't know that they have, but she lifts her drink up in their direction. She's trying to read the mood, but she's not really certain what it is. )

Hey.

I'm all ready if you two are. Time for the invasion!

[postictal]

[They've sorted things out as much as they're liable to - which is to say, not very much at all. Tim suppresses a sigh as Clem re-enters the conversation - more at Jay's unwillingness to admit to anything than Clem's arrival onto the scene. He glances briefly at Jay, one last time.]

[Can't go pushing something like that right now.]

Sure thing.

[burntvideocassette]

[Jay catches Tim's eye for a brief moment, and he hopes that his barely-suppressed panic isn't too obvious. Chances are he's not that lucky, though.]

[Time for the invasion, though, and that's enough to brighten him up at least a bit.]

[Silver ships wobble precariously across the screen, while obviously-stock-footage soldiers unload rockets into the sky in an attempt to bring them down. Eventually, they turn tail and wobble back to the mothership, and two of the soldiers launch into a truly inane monologue about how the government will force them to cover it up. Or...something.]

S--so I heard somewhere that the spaceships were just pie tins glued together. But some other places're saying it was an actual spaceship model kit, so I'm not sure which one's right.

[The aliens report to their leader. They announce that they've just put Plan 9 into action: the revival of the dead. Sounds like Plans 1 through 8 didn't go so well, but the leader's being lenient with them because Earthlings apparently don't take too kindly to being threatened with the living dead. Who'd'a thunk.]

[shorthair]

( Clementine raises her eyebrows with a tiny smile as she settles back into her seat, taking a drink from her straw. She can sense things haven't completely worked themselves out since she came back, but it's been a fun movie night, and she just wants to watch the rest of the movie with them and go back to having that good time again. )

If they were pie tins glued together, I really hope they got some pie out of it all, because it's like the very least they deserved, right?

( She smiles when the aliens report to the leader. It's funny to think of zombies coming about because of aliens in the sky. No one really knew how they actually happened. Hell, no one could try to figure it out, bu tit'd be nice if it was just one big foe that could be defeated- maybe. Aliens probably have cool technology that makes that hard. )

I wonder what all the other plans were.

[postictal]

[He's not really okay, but maybe he's approaching it. That's about all anyone can ask for. Especially in the short-term. The spaceships sure as hell look like pie-tins glued together, which is what raises Tim's eyebrows even further. Settles him back in his seat a hair.]

[He will never call Alex Kralie's Marble Hornets the worst piece of cinema ever again. Not now that he's witnessed thisfestering pile of hot garbage. And what's more, Clem raises a good point.]

Wait - were there eight more of these things before this one?

[Or is it just inexplicably called Plan 9 for no reason?]

[burntvideocassette]

[Jay looks over at Tim, wide-eyed. The sheer horror of the concept of eight other Plan 9 movies isn't something the human mind was built to contemplate.]

No. God, no. This is the only one.

[He cranes his neck to face Clementine.]

I don't think they ever say what the others were, but I might be forgetting.

[Chances are he's not, though, given the number of times he's seen this one. It's a classic, okay?]

[The pilot and his wife are back. He tells her to keep safe and lock all the doors, but in true horror movie impending victim fashion, she teases him for being overly concerned. Inevitably, it comes back to bite her (almost literally) when Real Bela rises from the grave Inside the house, though, it's Fake Bela who menaces the young woman. She lets out a real, proper 50s monster movie scream and runs for her life...into the graveyard...which is right next to her house. After a short chase scene that's everything they might expect out of a movie like this, she collapses by the side of the street and is rescued by a passing motorist. She's safe...but for how long? Dun-dun-duuuun.]

[shorthair]

I don't think you'd forget that.

( Clementine says that with amusement, because it's pretty clear he's watched this movie a whole bunch of times. He was quoting the start of it, but okay, she sinks in to watch the rest, eating her popcorn and drinking her soda. )

...holy shit.

( She leans in to watch. ) That scream was pretty good. ( at least pretty classic for screams. )

[postictal]

Who lives next to a graveyard?

[He's making an effort now, and he crunches a handful of popcorn for good measure. Shuffle it all under the rug and let Jay and Clem have something nice for once. Don't put your foot in it this time.]

Seriously, what the hell were they expecting? Is this a sci-fi film or a horror film or...what?

[burntvideocassette]

[Jay grins at Clementine's comment about his familiarity with the plot. If he's honest with himself, he'd rather have a reputation as a bad movie nerd than the reputation he's already got back home.]

[He raises his eyebrows at Tim.]

Maybe the rent was cheap.

[Jay grabs his own handful of popcorn, eyes back on the screen.]

I mean, the genre lines weren't exactly the same back then. A lot of horror had those...I dunno, sci-fi "elements," I guess you could say. [There's a sarcastic edge to his voice.]

[The aliens bring the undead onto their ship and nearly get attacked. ("Turn off the electrodes quickly! They can't tell us from anyone else!")

Back on earth, the police fumble through an investigation of an open grave, which turns out to be...the grave of a former investigator on their team! ("It's Inspector Clay's grave! But he ain't in it!") Which the viewers already know, because he's been lurching around undead for the past fifteen minutes of the movie.]