entrancelogs | Next stop, the Twilight Zone!

Entry tags:

Next stop, the Twilight Zone!

Who: Max and OPEN (especially whoever is watching X-Files/Twilight Zone)
Where: One of the tea rooms on the ground floor, converted into a home theater
When: Evening of February 11 (what are timezones idk)
Rating: Let's go with PG to be safe?
Summary: It's a mingle! With cool TV shows! What could go wrong!
The Story:

She'd sent out the invite, but just to be sure she also put up another text to the network: "Ground floor tea room, 8pm for Twilight Zone and X-Files!" By 8:00 she'd set up a wicked home theater, with a massive TV and top of the line sound system. Hooray for unlimited and magical closets, though how that TV fit in one will forever be a mystery!

The tea room had expanded to accommodate a larger than normal crowd. There's a big couch along one wall, bean bags spread around, and throw pillows on the floor. A long, low coffee table is situated in reach of most places, on top of which Max has laid out some pizza, chips, and soda.

Finally, to get just the right atmosphere, the room is slightly cold (though there are blankets around) and the lights are dimmed so that shadows seem to jump around as the shows run their course on the TV.

What shows, you ask? She decides to play them in this order:
Twilight Zone's The Monsters are Due on Maple Street
Twilight Zone's Five Characters in Search of an Exit
And finally, X-Files' Bad Blood

All in all, it's a few hours' worth of interesting, amusing, and sometimes downright disturbing TV.

[OOC: Max's invite was more popular than I expected, lol. I thought I'd put this up in case anyone wants a mingle! Feel free to post a top level comment about what your character is doing, and comment around. :D]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

For the most part, Max spends the time bundled up on a beanbag with a blanket, next to the couch. No opening speeches or anything, of course. She greets some people with a cheerful "Hi!" as they arrive, or engages in a bit of small talk until she starts the ball rolling at 8:00.

After that she's pretty intent on the shows, staring at the TV. Though she does look around at the viewers now and then, wondering how she managed to get this together, and amused that people actually showed up.

And, of course, because it's Max, once in a while people will hear the click of a camera from her direction, as she takes pictures of people lit by the gray light from the TV as they watch.

After each show she's very free to talk and speculate on the implications of the series', as though these are very real and important things (aren't they?).

Chara comes early. They made a promise, after all, and they don't want anyone else to see. They wouldn't even let Max see, if they didn't think they could get something useful out of what Max thinks is worth photographing. Memories are valuable. A stupid doodle is nothing.

When they show up, they fiddle nervously with their sleeve. Like there's something up it. Or maybe it's just nerves! But never mind that. They have a crumpled sheet of paper in their hand, too. They make sure to keep their promises.

They put a smile on.

"Greetings, Max."

Max is checking the DVD player when Chara comes in, the first to arrive before anyone else. Which means it's just the two of them alone. Oh joy.

Honestly, after Max picked through her Wonderland photos, she didn't feel quite as hesitant to show them. Her recent pictures have been pretty good, and it's not like the context would be unfamiliar to Chara.

And there's no way she'd show any pictures from Arcadia Bay, anyway.

She stands up to walk over and greet them with a smile. "Hi! You're early." She looks down at the paper in their hand.

"I didn't want anyone else asking about this. I only promised to show you," Chara explains. "If someone else sees, then they might make fun of it."

Not like Chara actually cares. Creatures who can't feel anything certainly don't have to worry about getting embarrassed. Which sorta makes how scrunched-up and wrinkled the paper they're holding is... well, it makes it a little funny, doesn't it? The least damaged of all their attempts, actually. They tried to toss together some stupid, simplistic flower, just like they used to draw, but the childishness of it... no, they couldn't bear it. They're not a kid anymore. Maybe they never were a kid!

So instead, they offer something a little less sincere. Maybe kind of creepy. But maybe they'll get an interesting reaction, so there's that. "I got a little shy about it," they explain. "I scribbled out everything I drew. I even scribbled this one. Silly of me, right?"

There always seems to be this disconnect to Chara that Max can't quite put a finger on. Sometimes they seem so childlike - worried about being laughed at, about being good - and sometimes they say things that seem to be coming from the mouth of a cynical adult. The disconnect makes itself felt this time through what Chara is saying, and the ugly red smear across what would otherwise be a cute kiddy drawing.

Max stares at it for a moment, ready to smile as though appreciating the attempt, but coming up short when she actually realizes what Chara drew. Again, this feels like a weird disconnect, and she can't help but keep an eye on Chara as she tries to understand what happened.

"You don't have to be shy with me," she finally says, willing to believe that that's the reason behind the red marks. Besides, kid's emotions can be hard to understand sometimes. "It looks cute. It's too bad you scribbled on it. It's like you have something against flowers," she adds, handing back the drawing and mustering up her smile. "Maybe next time you won't feel shy."

Chara knows when a smile has to be a conscious effort. Oh, they know. They see it written all over that response. And they smile, and smile, and smile. They smile so much, they almost burst into giggles right then and there. But that wouldn't be at all appropriate, would it? No, it'd be creepy.

About as creepy as explaining who this flower in particular is. About as creepy as explaining that actually, it would make an awful lot of sense if they had something against flowers, because they still remember the horrible bitter taste of chewing up petals and the burning of their throat, their tongue, their stomach all blistering, they still remember gagging and coughing and retching and--

Well! That's not a very nice thing to talk about at all.

"Yes. Maybe next time. Thank you for not laughing." They crumple the picture up and shove it away in their pocket. "I'll do a little better next time! What about your pictures? You brought some, did you not?"

Chara definitely looks cheerful, but Max also thinks there's a whole load of thoughts behind that big smile. She has no idea what exactly they could be thinking, but... Sans mentioned that he knows Chara. Maybe she could ask him sometime. Maybe. It feels a little bit like gossiping, but honestly she just can't understand Chara, and she wants to. Mostly because she wants to help any orphan kid.

Her thoughts are put on hold when Chara asks about the pictures. "Oh, yeah. Uhh." She goes over to her bag, which she left off to one side, and rummages through it for a bit, pulling out three of her instant photos. "It's really not much." And not as... mysterious, she adds, in her thoughts. She hands them over and watches Chara's expression, feeling a little shy herself.

The three pictures are pretty, and all from Wonderland:

The first picture she took in Wonderland, a selfie in the Entrance Hall. She looks worried, her camera held at her waist to take a shot of her image in one of the countless mirrors. She's slightly soaked from being outside in the snow and not wearing winter clothing. The hall behind her is huge, brightly lit by candles. A fairy tale.

Her room on the third floor, which looks so much like her dormitory in Blackwell Academy. The bed is messy, many small and subtle lights hang across a large empty wall, and a fancy stereo sits on a table at the foot of the bed. Next to a window looking out to the Mansion grounds is a desk with a laptop, its screen dark.

Another selfie, this one in the Most Hideous Creature Known to Man mirror of Stan's Mystery Mansion. Alex is standing next to her, but it's not clear if he knows he's in the shot or not. Filling up the mirror is an assortment of other attractions on the tour, like various animals with unicorn horns glued on. This time the camera is held up to her face, blocking most of her expression, but her amused half-smile is visible.

Edited (this is so long omg im so sorry) 2016-02-13 04:52 (UTC)

Alex gets as far as halfway into the room before the video screen starts to glitch a bit, and a few more steps in reduces the entire thing to white noise.

Oh. Right. He'd almost forgot the debilitating awfulness that comes from living with this weird-ass technological curse hanging over his head. Too many run-ins with a faceless monstrosity seems to have left him permanently tainted, and therefore an instant mood-killer at movie parties. Joy.

He sighs. "Jesus Christ."

He appropriates one of the bean bag chairs and drags it over to the furthest corner of the room where, mercifully, his electrostatic radius doesn't seem to be interfering too much with what's happening on screen. He wants some goddamn Twilight Zone, damnit, and he's not about to let some dumb nonsensical thing that happened to him months ago mess that up. He just...has to watch it at kind of a distance. That's all.

With few exceptions, anyone who draws near to his isolated corner wayyyyyyy in the back of the room will be pinioned with a fierce glare. This here is his little patch of isolation. You can run along and find your own.

Chara's... well, they're definitely a lot of things, and none of them are good. But they're a perceptive kid, and they intend to get every last little bit that they can wring out of these photos. They linger on each in turn, maybe a little too long; the silence must be uneasy for someone shy about showing their work. It doesn't take that much time or scrutiny to tell if a picture is pretty or not, but Chara doesn't care about prettiness. They want to see what they can glean about Max.

First, these seem to all be Wonderland photos. Nothing about who she used to be. A little unfair, Chara thinks, since the drawings of flowers were very much who they used to be. But then, the drawing they actually gave was very much who they were now, was it not?

They recognize the first photo as the same hall they arrived through. How old is the shot, they wonder? She looks cold. A little damp. Chara remembers being freezing all over, waking up after having been laying in snow long enough to soak their back through. The nervous look on her face is notably out of place on a selfie.

The second, they almost don't recognize, but they see the mansion grounds framed by the window. This must be the shape her room took. Very different from the one Chara shares with Frisk, but if they change to meet their inhabitant's needs, that's not surprising. It's cozy. Modern. 201X modern, anyway -- what year even is it anymore? To be expected, if Max knows about things like polaroids and the X-Files. ...Looks cozy. Chara wonders briefly if that laptop can get internet here. But that would be silly, wouldn't it?

The third... they linger a little longer. They stuck to the forest the whole time they were in Gravity Falls. Made more sense to take their chances with the wilderness than with a crowd of human beings. They don't know the other person in the picture, and they don't recognize the tourist trap they stayed away from. Max looks happy... maybe this one is from before Wonderland?

"...What's this one from?" They finally ask, holding the third photo up.

It wasn't a conscious effort on Max's part to only include Wonderland photos. Her stack only contained the pictures from Oregon that were most precious to her, and that she kept in her bag all the time. Sometimes it's enough to take them out a look at them, at night or when she's alone, but they're not something she shares with just anyone. She naturally set those aside when she sorted through her choices.

Several times, while watching Chara, she has to stop herself from speaking. At the first photo, she wants to explain that she likes selfies (that sort of thing gets you judged back home) but bites back the words, shuffling her feet. There's some surprise that Chara doesn't recognize the Mystery Mansion tour, but then again it's not something they would have enjoyed. "The last event," she says. "I took the tour. Twice, actually."

Out of curiosity, she asks, "You don't recognize it?"

During the short break before the X-Files episode, she walks over to Alex and hands him a bag of chips. "You know, the light static sort of added to the effect. You'd be great at making Blair Witch Project films." Not that she ever watched it herself. Nope.

And her tone is light, not giving away if she's teasing or not.

"No, I went into the forest and didn't look back. I don't care much for..." Humanity. Adults. Crowds? Don't be creepy, Chara. "...I don't care much for tourist traps. I love getting lost, though."

They look at the last photo again, closer this time. The mirror's reflection mostly seems to reveal exactly the kind of garbage they'd have expected to see at that pointless shack. Fake monsters, shams. Lies. Trash that only exists to gouge money out of people. What was the point of going? Let alone twice? Maybe the fake monsters just felt more safe and comforting than the real ones out in the forest.

Chara shuffles the photos over, holds up the first one -- the selfie with the worried air. "I like this one best. You don't look happy, but it's... warm. Your face isn't hidden." They stack the pictures neatly together, then hold them out. Return them in the same order, tidy, undamaged. "But the third is nice too. Is the guy in the shot your friend?"

Dipper is... a terrible person to watch things with. Between his experience with real supernatural occurrences and being himself younger than good computer animation, he tends to be very critical and talkative, though he mostly keeps it to whoever has the misfortune to sit near to him.

He's... better when it comes to X-Files, partly because he really is a fan of his world's Y Cases, and partly because it turns out Dana Scully is just as attractive as Donna Skilly and Dipper really likes redheads. Especially smart ones that are as skeptical as he is and solve mysteries, even if she doesn't believe in the supernatural.

Honestly, as much as he's always reluctant to admit the non-his world versions of things are good, he has to admit, X-Files is pretty awesome.

Max nods to herself at Chara's comments - getting lost has led to some pretty awesome pictures for her. Though it does bother her that Chara, who's so young, would wander alone during an event.

It's strange how similar the two of them are, really. They're both strong introverts, they don't really mind being judged. Though in Max's case it's a simple thing, a willingness to do what she wants - take the tour, make selfies, speak her mind (when it comes easily, anyway) - without being worried about what other people will say. Whereas with Chara... maybe someday she'll find out the full extent of Chara's willingness to do what they want to.

She's glad Chara picked one of the selfies as their favorite. "It's when I first got here. Nutso." She takes the pictures and looks at the first one again, remembering how crazy that day was, while absentmindedly answering the question. "Alex. Yeah. He should be here soon."

Fortunately, Max is one of those exceptions. Alex must've chosen a convenient time to walk in, because he's not super about broadcasting his little inadvertent talent all over the damn place whenever he enters a room. Hopefully it'll have just added to the spooky atmosphere, and no one will be the wiser.

"Fancy that," he says dryly. Almost like he accidentally starred in a Blair Witch Project of his own, featuring his own personal worst nightmare.

But, whatever. He's not here to discuss that. He's here to watch spooky things. He accepts the bag of chips and digs in. "Guess I wasn't thinking, so, yeah. Keeping my distance from the big screen."

"Some hope for the future, right?" She'd probably better get the X-Files episode rolling, but she does want to know his opinion. Especially from Alex, who is just as big a fan, and probably a good judge of these things. "So, what did you think of my episode choices?"

"Wow, really? I was scared out of my wits when I got here. But you already know that, don't you?" Scared. That excuses the knife, right? That makes it a bit more okay? Surely. Surely it does... doesn't it? "I'd say you took your arrival pretty well, then." If she thought to record it, then that seems smart. Leaves evidence behind, some clue for when someone comes looking for you. If someone comes looking for you. If someone notices you're gone. Well, the sentiment's a nice one, anyway. At any rate... that must make Max fairly new, too? Couldn't have been a balmy summer day when she arrived, at least.

Maybe that's useful. Someone who seems to... well, not like Chara, but tolerate them? If she's been here longer than Frisk or Sans, maybe her voice would hold more sway around here than theirs. Maybe she'd vouch for Chara. Maybe.

Something to consider. Something else to consider: Max's connections. This Alex guy, right? He's gonna be here. A bunch of humans will, probably. Boy, wouldn't it be easier if Chara could see them all as potential assets?

"He looks nice," Chara announces, even if they really don't think so at all. Just one of those things you say to be polite. Like a good kid. "Maybe I'll say hi to him too."

Edited (WHAT ARE NAMES) 2016-02-14 03:09 (UTC)

That's a little easier to grok. He grins appreciably, leaning back.

"Picked some solid classics. I'm impressed." He may or may not have a few early memories of hiding behind the sofa as he watched the black-and-white mysteries unspool on the screen. Brings back good memories. "Looking to rope in some new fans?"

Wowie! What luck! Here Chara thought they'd be the only kid who bothered to come watch some old cheesy TV. And yet, here's Dipper. Their number one fan.

Throughout the Twilight Zone, Chara behaves. Sits quietly on a beanbag chair, away from anyone else. By the time they've all moved on to the X-Files, though, they're being a little less good. More interested in watching the audience than watching the show. People make the most interesting expressions sometimes.

They get up to get a handful of chips, but they don't bother returning to their seat. They drape their arms over the back of the couch, right over Dipper's shoulder. Proximity sure is great, huh?

"Wow, what's-her-face is pretty cute, huh?" Chara announces.

"...Yeah," she says, pointedly. She can't forget that first meeting, nor can she ever fully trust Chara. But she likes how much they seem to want to improve. And she wants to understand. But if it comes to vouching for them, even against people who know them better... maybe, actually. Maybe.

She looks amused when they call Alex nice, but she doesn't make fun, because he is nice to her. "You should. But uh. Try not to get on his nerves."

"Indoctination," she says as an explanation, smiling. Those were some of her favorite episodes, actually, and she was probably a little less scared as a kid than he was. But she did pick them out for an ulterior motive too. Kind of to encourage people to work together. Easier to say it through a TV show than in person.

"I just hope they like it," she said, glancing at the people behind her.

Wirt should probably be a little more concerned when Dipper turns up to his room and just drags him to things. He hadn't really been paying attention to the network, but even if he had been he probably would have assumed this invitation wasn't meant for him. But Dipper had turned up at his door and literally grabbed his arm and dragged him along and Wirt didn't question it much. Dipper said he'd explain and that was enough, probably.

Once he's there though, he's kind of glad he came. He's always really liked the Twilight Zone, and though he's a few years shy of being able to watch the X-Files (from what he's gathered, it won't even start airing until he's in college) and has no context as to who anyone is, it's a pretty good episode from what he can tell. He can be kind of a wimp about horror, but well-written science fiction is an entirely different story. The Twilight Zone is exactly the kind of show that can get in his head and make him think about life and human existence for days afterwards, and he's the kind of person who enjoys having his world shattered by a good story.

Rather than take a seat on the couch or a beanbag for himself, he claims one of the pillows and sits right on the floor, leaning back against the couch. He's polite enough to take off his pointy hat (leaving behind some awful pointy hat hair), even though he's sitting low enough that it's not actually in anyone's way.

"Oh?" They look up at Max, paying a little closer attention. They knew the roundabout, tactful way people talked. They knew human nature. They were sure that stilted single sentence told them everything they needed to know.

But they ask anyway. "Why's that? Is he not that nice after all?"

"You should do one of those cult films sometime," he says with a smirk. "You know, Rocky Horror or some shit, bring toast and hot dogs for everyone to throw at the screen." He has no idea what Max's take on underground films is, though Alex is exactly the type to take his movies way too seriously because he is an artiste.

He's got a good vantage point of the rest of the room from where he is. He recognizes Mini-Jay, and Gnome Kid is unmistakable with his big pointy dunce hat. "People seem to be enjoying themselves."

Wirt sighs as the first Twilight Zone episode ends. During the show he shushed Dipper a couple times from where he was on the floor, because seriously just watch the show. It's especially frustrating as someone who's seen every episode and knows exactly what happens, because he knows that if Dipper just watches it instead of analyzing out loud and critiquing the production value he'll get all of his questions answered. To a degree it feels like watching almost anything with Greg, but that's more because Greg has no attention span, being six and all.

Now that it's over though, Wirt's rolling his eyes.

"I mean...yes, technically it was aliens in the end, but that's like not the point at all," he says.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 7

Next stop, the Twilight Zone!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

I can't draw these, hence tldr

ota

shush these are beautiful words :9

^_^ orz

no subject

no subject

Dipper | ota

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Wirt | OTA

no subject

no subject

no subject