video; un: castrum doloris

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video; un: castrum doloris

( when the feed opens up, there may be a misunderstanding concerning the network connection. the screen shows only black, a darkness that shifts—

clothing, it turns out, once the handler of the device shifts into view with suspect curiosity. the face, young, looks overexposed, as if the camera can't reconcile how striking the contrast is between her consuming-black get-up and her pallor. she looks tired, sullen under her eyes, apart from her attention appearing ignited enough to have turned this thing on at all. she doesn't seem to fully believe that this thing works, mostly because she's still trying to figure out how it works. in a dream world where monsters exist, blood rain happens, and cannibalism is a genuine hankering, wireless internet is the thing that seems to be the most impossible of things she's encounter.

but she's seen enough sci-fi movies to just roll with it, especially since— )

Is this a joke?

( her tone barely inflects up with her question, and her voice comes low on a slumped drawl. the feed spins around to reveal an empty classroom; she's either the first student here to class at Deerington High today, or the only one. how odd, right? not another single soul in this classroom with her.

not even...a teacher. )

I got out of bed for this...but apparently, the teacher couldn't be bothered. The rest of the students just decided to leave. ( empty chalkboard, though the desk appears to have been set up before now. when she turns the Fluid around again, the placard with the room number, the name B. Dearborn is written in by hand. clearly, some one is supposed to have been here.

Lydia's face appears again, eyes heavily lidded down into an unamused leer, a hint of a frown scrunched into the corner of her mouth, puffing her right cheek. ) This place is a mess. Did someone die?

( she sighs, kicking back into her seat a little, holding the device up now. ) It's bad enough we're supposed to pretend like everything's normal, and now I'm expected to do homework, too.

Glad to know the bureaucracy of the public school system still exists in dreamland.

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Just play hooky. Who's gonna get you in trouble?

[ If the teacher's not there it's not like they can do anything. ]

You're allowed to leave if the teacher's not there after fifteen minutes anyway, that's the law.

Hey, Fisticuffs. ( why is she not surprised that Billy's here to play the little devil on her shoulder? even if at this particular moment, it sounds like the most logical option, right now. ) Are you suggesting there are actual laws around here?

Then again, at this point, with how this place works, I wouldn't be shocked if the price for a bad attendance record is being turned into the frog they'll dissect in the biology class next door.

( that...sure was something, Lydia. thanks for that mental image. )

[ Okay, he actually likes that nickname. ]

If that's the price, I think I'd be in line for it before you. I've never even gone, except to check out the gym.

[ But it seems like he still graduated, somehow. ]

Cool, we can get bisected together. ( it's probably just a matter of time. )

Kind of not surprised. Dodgeball champion? ( does she sound patronizing? maybe a little. maybe in a way that isn't actually scathing, at least, as she slumps down in her desk seat. )

Can't wait.

And I'm more of a basketball guy, though I was a threat in dodgeball. [ He was also big pretty easy to hit, but if he hit you it was gonna leave a hell of a mark. ] As for you - lemme guess, an art class type?

Are you stereotyping me? ( even if it is actually correct?? she leers through the connection, and seems as though she should be more offended...but isn't quite there, judging from the lack of fire in her tone.

but here's the weird part: someone is asking Lydia about herself. in some people, neglect makes them scream louder. in others...complacency is a coping mechanism.

her eyes roll down consideringly, unsure how to navigate this part of the conversation. does she offer more? he looks back up, the shrug of her shoulder mostly hidden by her all-black ensemble. ) Literature too, and I like Latin. Except for the teacher who graded us on pronunciation — we don't have any record on how Latin is supposed to be spoken.

Sheesh, what're you gonna do with all those fancy classes? [ Latin is definitely fancy to him, art is kind of fancy. Literature he actually had to take, but he didn't do very well.

That some people actually want to go to college and the like is a concept that eludes him. ]

I'm more of a mandatory classes, straight-Cs kind of guy. Except for gym.

[Some minutes later, a text comes through. True to form, it's Wrench's suspicion that calls out the loudest through the flat words on the glowing screen.]

Stay on your guard. It might be a lure. Are you really the only one there?

[A few moments pass, and one can almost envision the mounting indignation that grips the man on the other side of the phone.]

There's a school here?

Oh my god, you sound so paranoid. ( says the girl that texted Wrench tensely panicking after a xenomorph broke into their apartment building. look, that terror was a mind hack, Lydia's already spent a cumulative couple of hours wondering how these Fluid devices brainwash the people using them. )

Not in the building, just in this class. I would leave too, except now I have the whole room to myself.

...You know they gave us a town map in the basket, right? ( honestly though? Lydia's smiling a little. it's more amusing than anything, that question. )

I have a healthy skepticism for the place that kidnapped us and chained us in a hedge maze. [Lydia should be able to feel his world-weary scowl reaching across the constrictions of technology. He understands she's a teenager and thus has the world and its inhabitants completely figured out, but come on now.]

Right. Can't say that finding the school was my top priority. [He's not a creep, and this should be positive news. What he is, though, is particularly curious. And more than a little unsettled.] Are there posters on the wall? How does it look? Indoctrinating?

I can tell you're scowling. Your face will get stuck like that, or so every really skeezy, overbearing adult has told me. ( listen, Lydia is stuck in a dream world where nothing makes sense, maybe she could be taking a class right now about how to astral project, or psychically control her surroundings. maybe!! well, she's not, but what if it existed? )

Okay, that makes sense. I can see you teaching ASL, though. Maybe if you ever get bored here. ( you know, bored of the monsters and near-death experiences. )

Yeah, it's really George Orwell in here. Pretty sure the chalkboard is secretly a two-way window. Saw them crunching pills into the punch they're serving in the cafeteria. ( lydia, please. )

Edited 2019-09-04 21:19 (UTC)

You said every other student walked out? I'm not sure my ego's strong enough to withstand that letdown. [Which is to mention nothing of the fact that Wrench is certain convicted felons aren't capable of obtaining teaching credentials. The idea settles in the back of his mind, though, as a bead of curiosity. Would anyone take him up on it? Maybe if he could sell the benefit...

Her next remark has him scowling even harder. Yep, Wrench is definitely risking permanent damages from the expression he's giving his phone.]

You understand the irony in your statement is lost in this place. Don't make me pull out my map.

I think if you just show up for class, it will intimidate everyone to stay in their desks. Teenagers are wild animals, we'll find any excuse to get out of class. ( honestly, as much as Lydia can enjoy school sometimes? she enjoys her depression naps at home even more. )

Maybe you should pull out that map, there's lots more to Deerington than a couple of schools and our apartment building.

( next comes a pause of consideration, because guess who keeps all of the stuff from her basket on her person at just about all times, including one town map? )

There's a pretty creepy church in town with a graveyard. I've only walked by it, I thought I saw someone wandering around when I went by. ( or, something. )

I thought the education system in this country was moving away from classrooms ruled by fear and authority.

[Wrench rolls his eyes and pitches his phone on the kitchen countertop, near which he's pulled out a light fixture and is busying himself with some casual electrical work. When the Fluid buzzes again, he's not particularly slow to pick it back up. This is your would-be teacher enabling your schooltime texting habits, Lydia.]

Was he blue?

dude just do what i do and dont bother
no one cares if you go to school here

Look, I hate school as much as anyone else, but I also don't love the prospect of being a freshman dropout. Dreamland or not.

Then again, I haven't decided how I'll feel if I spend like, five years here before waking up at home, still 14, with an entire college-level comprehension. ( kind of makes a strong argument to call it a vacation here in nightmare central, but she thought, maybe, school might have provided a small flicker of...something normal? it was worth a shot. )

uh wow you're thinking way more about it than i have in my entire life
so i'm 95% sure you're overthinking it

[Unless this is normal for humans, he wouldn't know.]

but now i'm wondering if everyone still ages here or not
like
dream-ages
or even remember any of this when we wake up
i never remember my really bad dreams, this would count as one of those

I'm pretty sure it's normal to wake up here and wonder what's going on back in the real world. Are we in comas? Is it just one night's sleep? Maybe we won't even remember any of this when we wake up. If we wake up.

I tend to only remember my weird dreams. ( maybe she has been over-thinking this. blame the fact that it's been a harrowing month of settling in and not knowing how to take any of this. )

But if I make it through high school and into college while I'm here, that's less in student loans I have to deal with, right?

[He was mostly-sort-of-dead back home, so he always assumed his being unconscious or asleep or whatever was related to that.....]

i think if we could answer any of that people would've done it by now
or it's all part of this sodder stuff and people are taking their sweet time
or don't care
does it even matter?
having a life-changing dream that you can't even remember after you have it
maybe this is all some big joke by a cosmic deity
or life
life going here's a good joke, ha ha, your pain and suffering is hilarious and none of it even matters, how you like them apples

what the heck
why do you need a loan to be a student?

[ Will's not using the video feed option for this. As grateful as he is that Lydia did, of course, because it means Will gets to see that placard.

At least he's got a dog now to fuss at him when he goes still for too many minutes in his front yard, staring at his phone. ]

yeah, he died.

i'd suggest you go home, but only if it's safer there than it is in the school.

( woah.

wait. )

Are you serious? My social studies teacher is dead? ( Lydia has heard that death is temporary here, but...still. that means that the guy was probably killed.

or...died ~~stupidly~~ tragically, maybe. )

Would have been nice to get some sort of memo so I could sleep in.

I mean, there is another class in 45 minutes. I guess it sounds silly but, I figured I'd see if showing up here would be a not terrible way of passing the time while I'm stuck here. Honestly, the worst thing about school back home wasn't the school part. ( it was kind of everything else. )

[ He taught social studies. How did Will not already know that? It's almost enough to distract him from the phone again. At this point, only the fact that he's met - more than just met - Lydia before is keeping him anywhere near a conversation about this. ]

yeah. outside of the dome. it's not safe here, either. i'm assuming you noticed.

well next time someone i'm friends with dies, i'll make sure to check if they teach at your school. to give you a heads up.

[ Sarcasm aside, though... Will understands the sentiment. ] school itself is rarely the problem. it's other kids, or the teachers, or someone else's expectations about what you're supposed to do in school or get out of school.

[ A beat. ] i hope social studies wasn't the subject you were looking forward to most.

Noticed? Yeah. I was chased by the thing from Alien. I think you're old enough to have seen that movie probably. ( Lydia isn't even thinking about years here, forgetting that Will is like, ~from the future. she's just thinking of the whole age restriction thing, concerning movies. )

Har har. What I mean is, you'd think the school would say something. Is there an obituary for him? ( oh, there's a thought. )

Is he going to have a funeral? ( don't people typically come back after death here? how do they know it'll happen every time? )

At least you get it.

I mean, depends on how good the teacher is supposed to be.

i am. [ Will's ears are ringing. He hesitates about this, because oversharing in person is one thing, but the lag of texting it deliberately means this is a real decision. In the end, he decides to share. ] that's what got your professor. i'd be careful. do you have someone keeping you safe already?

not that i know of. for either. i think some people keep unofficial lists of the dead, here, but mostly it's just contained in everyone's personal memories.

i wouldn't know. he never tried to teach me social studies. [ The implication being that he'd taught him other things. Guess Will's feeling sappy today. ]

hopefully in a week or so, you'll be able to let me know if he's any good.

Oh. Oh dear. [He's going to assume that the B. Dearborn is the same Dearborn that he lives right next door. That's concerning. He'll have to go check up on the other.] Honestly speaking though, dying is a common affliction of this place. You'll find that many of the inhabitants here have experienced death in this place at one point or another. [Somewhat unfortunate, but he'll be thankful that there are hopefully those that are still unscathed from the thralls of death.]

I don't think attending school is something The Authority enforces though. They only really enforce the town laws that we had received with the typed letter.

Though, I think I somewhat lack certain understanding because I had found my school to be rather pleasant. [Wizard school and all.]

Yeah I heard, about the death thing. Kind of saw it happen, too. ( Team Bears represent, whoopdie doo. please don't remind her of it. she has a hard time stomaching meat after the cannibalism part. )

Worst part is i was kind of joking, but apparently my social studies teacher had to go and get themselves killed. Kind of dramatic to get a day off from work. ( she's joking! probably. )

I get it, everyone's being pretty lackadaisical about the concept of school and bothering at all. I kind of like school though. It beats working underage, since minors don't have autonomy or rights or...anything. ( can you feel the extent of her eyerolls, here? )

Where did you go to school? ( probably somewhere for rich kids to play polo and tie sweaters around their necks, she thinks. )

I'm so sorry. [He means it so genuinely too.]

He might be out of commission for more than just a day. Leaves you feeling rather dreadful for a bit of time. Unfortunately.

I always been fond of school, but I suppose I always was more into learning and being inquisitive since I can't say that I had other reasons to skimp on classes. I wasn't what you would consider popular. [He wasn't. At all.]

Also, perhaps school for muggles is far less enjoyable. I went to school for magic. Hogwarts. [Surprise.]

It's all right.

I almost typed out "it's not the worst thing to ever happen to me" but...the Dome was actually worse than the other thing I was thinking about. ( so was the hedge maze. good job, Deerington, for topping the time when Lydia's ghost friends were being magically tortured, leading Lydia to call a poltergeist, who tried to marry her, and got swallowed up by a worm monster. )

So I can sleep in for a couple days, noted. ( just wait until the day Lydia finds out that Newt wound up expelled though, huh? )

Um, you lost me at "muggle," and the part about magic hog warts. ( this is all beyond her. )

It isn't, but there's also nothing that can be done with what has come to pass.

There's possibly really only one or two experiences I've had that I can possibly say are worse than what I've experienced here. This place really does its best to be rather awful. There are better days or months. Some that are almost pleasant. I can't say if that will come anytime soon though. [Newt can possibly still say the death of the Sudanese girl and Leta's death are probably still the worst. Though, maybe it's a different kind of terrible and that's why they bother him so.]

Sorry. Non magic folk. Muggles. It's the word we like to use in England. I'm a wizard. I'm unsure how else to really say it. [He hopes he didn't...overwhelm her suddenly???]

( a...wizard. )

A wizard. ( she really has to type that out, just to really conceptualize what she's being told.

please forgive her. )

Did they make you wear a pointy hat to your graduation ceremony at warthogs? ( trust: nothing about this conversation right now is more overwhelming than having had to run away from Ellen Ripley's biggest nemesis a week ago. look, she really can't figure out how to take this all seriously, not when she's imagining some old bearded man in a purple robe with tacky stars all over it. )

Uh. No.

I mean, we didn't have to wear hats at any capacity. [Which isn't really the problem at hand.] I never graduated.

I was expelled.

The real joke is that you assume you're required to attend school in any capacity.

You're right, fooled me. Lifetime of attending school, don't know how I got confused.

Is this entire town against education? I happen to like enriching myself, knowledge-wise. I just hate being around people. ( and happens to like forewarnings like, hey, insomnia-riddled teenager, go ahead and sleep in today, also for the foreseeable future. )

There are quite literally no consequences for playing truant whatsoever. Get a job, if you find yourself growing bored during the day. At least those happen to be useful.

[And those can be enriching too! Depending on what the job is.]

Oh my god, don't "get a job" me, I can't stand it. ( sorry, her dad is kind of rich and selfish and she's probably heard him shout that out of his car at stop lights in New York City at the people who tried to wash windows for a desperate couple of bucks. )

Sorry, but sitting in an empty classroom with a ton of books is way nicer than standing at a cash register, waiting for something to happen. I just would have liked to sleep in today; almost died last week, still kind of exhausted from that. ( Lydia isn't even sure what skills of hers she might have that she could build a career around. in before "photography processing" — something tells her she doesn't want to see what weird stuff people might want to take photos of. )

Suit yourself. One entails the procuring of money and one does not, though I suppose you could always steal if you're so inclined.

[They're...not about to condemn that, by the by. Why should they? To each their own, and all.]

Most of us almost died. That is what one calls a standard weekday in Deerington.

[ The girl on the feed is small, skinny, but clearly around Lydia's age. She's lounging diagonally on some soft surface, most likely her bed, and is filming herself from above. As the feed clicks on, she's mid-yawn. ]

That's what you get for bothering to go to school.

Considering the fact that a giant murderous alien broke into my apartment building, I almost feel safer here than there, for now.

Just would have liked a "hey, no pressure getting to homeroom, on account of teacher apparently died last week." ( and he probably isn't even going to have a funeral, which is just an added bummer. )

[ Brianna's eyebrows go up as soon as she hears "giant murderous alien." Damn, she missed that? ]

Sounds rough. Maybe you'll get another teacher, if they can find one.

[There was a sigh from the other end. The woman there was drinking from a teacup, her third eye staring off to the side as she did so. One of the students? She didn't see the point in attending school here, but some people were very ... insistent on it. Usually? She just ignored the fact that it happened.]

It is a place that is the dreams of a young woman, so I suppose she tries to see, to dream of the familiar instead of the horrific.

I'm afraid I can't answer the rest. Who is your teacher? One of the locals?

( that's...three eyes. Lydia definitely sees three eyes on her.

she's kind of envious. how does she get an eyeball in the middle of her forehead?

sorry, she's staring. partially because half of that flew right over her head. )

I don't know who my teacher is, on account of not having met him before, since he didn't show up today.

A friend of mine says he died last week though, so...I guess this means Deerington is a lot more forgiving about calling out of work than my dad's work was.

[Yep. One of them even winked at her. As for 'how?' Well, that was a little secret until she asked. She was used to the staring, though, so she barely noticed.]

Ah, unfortunate. That's been happening a lot. If he is one of us? He should be back to work in about two weeks from his death. I doubt he's up for it when he comes back from the dead right now.

And they... do seem to be forgiving about that at least.

I don't know, I don't mind the homework all that much. It's a nice touch of normalcy in spite of it all.

[ not to mention he missed so much school in the past year back home that attending her and now is almost... charming. ]

( finally, someone making some sense here. )

Honestly, the biggest problem with school is the people you have to put up with during it. I've always liked homework better than sitting in class with pompous jerks that want to crack jokes.

So this part really isn't so bad...I just, well. Don't have any homework assigned yet. ( unfortunate. )

[ alex appears to give her problem some real consideration for a moment before responding. ]

I think I still have some unfinished assignments from back home, if you'd like?

I just don't go to school. Fuck it, you know? Like, what are people gonna do? "Excuse me face-eating-monster, I need to go tell this kid that he has to hit the books real quick."

(Eddie's using a video here just to solidify the fact that he's definitely young enough where he should be in school. But you know- isn't.)

School's worse torture than most things here so I got outta there lickity split. People don't try that hard to get me to go back to school.

(Yes they do he just completely ignores them. Take advice from a thirteen year old Loser, Lydia. Great idea, clearly.)

I mean...has anyone tried that to get out of being monster-murdered? ( maybe she'll find out from her teacher, if she ever sees him. this entire place has weird rules, it almost feels logical at this point. )

If the rest of the classes stay about this empty, then it won't be half as bad as when I went to school in New York. All of my classmates were insufferable. I'm honestly considering just doing homeschooling at this point. ( Lydia would like to just sit in the back of a class and disappear from everyone's radar, but asshole class clowns don't let that happen. she would almost rather take all of her lessons by herself, at this point. )

I mean sure, if you put it that way. But they're not doing it for some kid skipping school's sake.

(Eddie shrugs loosely. He avoided school like the plague. Especially after the bathroom walls had screamed out how unwelcome he was in the first place.)

I mean that's basically what I do. I just learn from the people with PhDs around town and it's fine.

(Better than fine really. Core curriculum benefited pretty much no one, in his strong opinion.)

Yeah, like a good portion of the faculty died or got seriously injured so that's a thing. I guess they don't have substitutes here.

[He's still not sold on school, but he's been trying- mostly for Peter's sake. Still, he rolls his eyes and offers the screen a light smirk.]

Trust me, normal is super fucking relative. I think the best you can hope for here is getting through the day without having a psychotic breakdown. If you can do that, congrats! You've had a quote-unquote 'normal' day.

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