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worldofmemeness2016-09-30 05:31 pm
modmachine) wrote in worldofmemeness2016-09-30 05:31 pm
Entry tags:
TEST DRIVE 01
Don't feel limited to the scenarios presented - make up your own prompts as much as you want! Reserves will open on the 7th and Applications on the 15th. In a grassy square in the Central District, wedged in between dorm halls, there is a tree. Far wider than it is tall, its leaves are just beginning to turn from yellow to orange, with a few green stragglers near the top and a growing carpet on the grass beneath it. At one end of the tree's reach, there is a picnic table, the sort with benches built in to either side. Anywhere under the boughs, a distinct ticking, like the sound of a clock, can be heard. Moving about makes it clear that the sound is loudest nearest the trunk. Numerous small gears stick out of twists between branches, though they do not appear to move to the naked eye. Someone has hung a string of orange lights in the branches for Halloween, along with some cotton spiderweb. No matter how closely you look, there doesn't seem to be an end where the lights plug in to anything. Otherwise, there is nothing unusual about the decorations. In the center of the table, half-covered by leaves, there is an iron plaque that has not been particularly well-treated for rust. Some of the writing on it is almost legible. It is chill to the touch. Someone's carved their initials and a date into the end of one bench - Abandoned vehicles are by no means an unusual sight in the Sixth District. Abandoned buses are slightly more unusual. This particular bus has boarded up windows, a black light string hanging over the windshield, and the words HAUNTED HOUSE written along the side, where the old inoffensive public-transit advertisements have been painted over. The front door serves as the entrance; the back leads into the wrecking yard and the haunted "house" proper. A girl in her late teens in slightly unsettling gothic lolita sits in a cheap folding chair around the front of the bus. She doesn't charge admission, though there is a candy bowl labeled for Donations on the card table next to her with a few bills and some change in it, in the center of a group of candles that burn in skull holders. She reminds everyone who passes her to please not touch the actors or props inside. Occasionally, mist from a smoke machine on the other side of the wooden fence billows around her ankles, almost seeming to form caressing fingers running down her legs. Across the street from her, two men sit in a beaten up old pickup truck, the much taller man smoking cigarettes with the windows open. The shorter man fidgets almost uncontrollably, constantly glancing in the direction of the girl and her bus. Their voices aren't loud enough to hear distinctly from the haunted house side of the street, but the woman at the bus entrance shoots them occasional looks none-the-less, alternating between pleased smiles and blank stares. Painted along the sides of the truckbed, in much dirtier letters than those of the haunted house, is the phrase NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH. In a bar downtown, it's not much different from any other night of clubbing, except that everyone is wearing masks. Ranging from the elegant custom work of a nearby boutique (conveniently open even after sundown tonight, if you need to pick one up) to cheap colored paper held on with elastic handed out at the door of the bar, masks are the must-have accessory tonight. Indeed, many of the parties won't let you in if you don't have one. Those paying careful attention might notice little dots of red on the necks of some of the partiers, especially those who seem a bit pale and have called off drinking for the night. Aside from that, though, it doesn't seem like anyone's really getting hurt; it's just a fun time for everyone. Except for the poor guy who made the mistake of wearing an owl mask and yellow contacts, anyway. Just within hearing range of the beating bass of the clubs, a young woman in a red jacket holds a mask in her hands, turning it over and sometimes holding it to her face to look at in a window reflection. The long face of it calls to mind some kind of black dog, perhaps a Doberman or German Shepherd. She isn't dressed at all for an evening at the clubs, and has a canvas bag slung over her shoulder with the shape of heavy books straining the fabric at the bottom. Not everyone seems to be getting into the spirit. A playground near the center of the city has precious few decorations - save for a spiderweb on one of the swingsets that seems to be natural, not man-made. A pumpkin or two have been left near the edges, but they're all smashed, the orange guts running along in a streak that seems to blend into a thin line surrounding the entire perimeter. The see-saw looks like the board's been freshly painted, but otherwise all of the equipment looks almost lonely and old. The rust on the metal stains everything an orange-red, and the slide in particular seems the worst hit. Still, everything is at least standing, and those who attempt to play on it will find it sturdy and warm in the cool night. ... Except for the merry go round. That one seems to be bent, as if someone very heavy sat on the edge. It still turns, but it wobbles dramatically, with horrible squeaking noises. Still, it's usable, for anyone who would like to play. | |
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"And well..." She shrugs her shoulders. Yes, she assumes that that the latter is the case, but there isn't really much that can be done. This isn't her place, she has no power or connections here, and she is also alone. Even if she investigated, she couldn't do anything with that knowledge except for being cautious. "You cannot really protect humans from themselves. And you would have to do that before protecting them from something else, most of the time, to cause a lasting change."
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Then he pauses, and glances at her, frowning beneath the mask. He may be a bit naive, but he's not stupid. "Themselves," he repeats. "Aren't you one of them?"
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...And that was an interesting question. Not so much because of the content or because it is asked at all, but because he seems to be serious about his question. That makes her wonder.
She shakes her head and chuckles. "No, I am very much human. I simply consider myself to be more ...attentive than most." Not the worst description and not the best, but she is definitely very much a squishy little human. "Are you?" The question doesn't come out nearly as casually as she meant it to sound, but she tried.
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The hesitation, really, is probably answer enough....
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She doubts that that is the issue here, but still feels the need to say it. He seems so... fragile, not physically, but - like a child, in a way. A child caught in an adult's body, with a grandfather's thoughts.
She doesn't reach out to lay a hand on his arm, but only because she stops herself from it.
"There is nobody whom I would want to tell, and I am not in the habit of trying to ...end what doesn't try to end me." She lets the last words hang, reassurance and threat at once.
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He's a bit relieved, too. He hates lying, but usually he can get around it because he hasn't exactly had very many people ask him if he's human, directly. But if she guessed, then he doesn't have to pretend.
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The smirk is back in her voice.
"I am Marja, by the way."
Her accent is more pronounced when she speaks her name. She used to adopt the English equivalent when pronouncing it while speaking English, but these days she simply falls back into Finnish, her sounds falling less round and drawled, straighter, and the English manner of speech takes a few words to fully return after.
"It's nice to meet you."
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She watches the dancers for bit. "Why did you come here?"
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A child caught in an adult's body, with a grandfather's thoughts, she had thought. Maybe that was a lot more on point than she had assumed.
Her voice is gentle when she asks: "How old are you?"
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"You are doing well for one so young. Is your ...creator still around?"
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He ...feels bad, now that she thinks about it. The feeling is strange, off somehow, like the whole reality around him is off balance... no. Like he unbalances the reality around him. She can't quite tell which angle he's coming from in this. It's more like he's swinging he scales around than tipping them one direction or the other.
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Well, yes. She can confirm that one. Somewhat, anyway.
"Do you know why?
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Huh. An unformed, divergent reality that simply exists within the consensus, walking around it without incurring paradox but incurring... something else instead that is no less damaging. More so, perhaps.
Fascinating.
"Probably because it fractures the certainty of what we are."
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"No, it's not that easy. Think about it... imagine you are on fire, and walking into people's houses on fire. Yes, that may be an issue with their houses that aren't fireproof, and people not being fireproof themselves, but that doesn't mean that you can "explain" to them that they just have to be fireproof, because people inherently aren't."