Players:
Summary: Heather and Chloe decide to go check out the area around the asylum.
Date: October 8, 2010.
Log Title: Digging Your Own Grave
Rating: PG
Tegu-Haaz - Xavier's Insane Asylum for Adolescents (Graveyard)
Crosses, angels, simple rectangles, monuments and more make up the various graves in this once sacred ground. In the center is a mausoleum that reads 'Summers' with plenty of familiar names. Frost, McCoy, Drake, Monroe, Worthington and Pryde are another one of the large monuments along with several other familiar names from McMillan, Fegenbush , Vallon, Brown, Blake, VonReginleif, Danvers, Larkin, Pervinca and Palmer and more on the smaller graves. An 'X' with a circle surrounding it can be seen at the top of several of the graves. There are no first names or dates on the grave stones, just last names. Flowers long since dried and wilted sit on top of the graves. All around the grave yard is a three foot tall wrought iron fence with pointed tops along with a small gate that serves as it's only entrance. At the end of the graveyard the burned remains of a chapel can be seen.
Heather was forbidden from visiting the asylum, quite directly. But, she reasons, she's not actually entering the asylum when she came here with Chloe today, she's just checking out the area. And at least she took a companion! Her wax box is thrown over her shoulder with a makeshift strap formed from fabrics. She doesn't really need it what with being here with Chloe. "Graveyard. Spooky," this is said in the least spooked voice /ever/. She pauses for a moment and looks at some of the names, tilting her head. "Chloe, come here, look at these."
"You really do pick the most charming places to go on walks Heather," Chloe muses, idly wandering along with her cybernetic arm bound up and de-activated for the moment. Although still attached to the stump of her left arm. "I worry about what terrors will occur when you finally decide to begin dating! Taking boys to a mortuary or a funeral home perhaps? Or is it only best friends who get the dead thing treatment?"
"Dating? No, I'll probably choose the same places as always. These places always feel so abandoned, like there's so many secrets that just need figuring out. Isn't that appealing to people?" replies Heather, tilting her head slightly. She kneels down next to one of the headstones and says, "This one right here is mine." She trails her fingers along the stone. "Interesting."
Chloe winces. "I don't even know where to begin with that. But you should consider some practise dates before you try the real thing," she admits shaking her head. "There's ones for most of us. Plus some for people I guess came from the school but from before we got there. Bit of a lame way to scare us! 'Coz if this is an asylum and we're all meant to be mad why would there be a full on mausoleum? Anyone with the money and a mad relative would bury them somewhere better."
"I don't know. It's a different time and setting than we're used to. I just think it's strange that we are dead when we should be suffering, too," says Heather, standing and adjusting her peasant robes. "How do you do practice dates? Like if I just went and did things with friends, like you or Connor? I don't think I'm meant for romance, anyways."
"Connor's name sprang to mind awefully fast," Chloe teases, ducking down to tidy up her own grave. "This is probably a big mind fuck. Cloud was talking about this mage having turned up before we all ended up here. So this is probably a magical fake place which never had anyone living in it at all. Oh! I bet it's a monster that feeds upon fear and doubt." She springs to her feet and makes a rude hand gesture at the woods. "The key is probably finding the mage himself, if he's still alive, because he'll know the most."
"I have two friends. I'm really quick at listing them all off," says Heather, raising her eyebrow slightly at Chloe's comment. She nods along to the rest, though, and says, "Yes, I think it's pretty clear that it's a magical place. I don't know much about magic, except that it's strange. But it has to have predictable rules, or else it would not be a tool worth using. Besides, if this is a magical effect, the mage is probably alive an sustaining it. You can't power it without a source, right?"
Chloe frowns. "I don't think it's the mages magical effect, unless he's a complete jerk and runs to ask for help and then captures everyone. I think it's more likley whatever was chasing him doing it and that 'thing' would have plenty of reasons for him to drop dead," she suggests with a shrug. "And just because something has logical rules doesn't mean they're logical rules for us. Ancient Egyptian probably has logical rules to it, but I doubt it's something we could figure out without spending /forever/ learning.
"But you can still understand how symbols connect without knowing what they mean, and see repeated instances," argues Heather, just for the sake of arguing, "You don't need to know the underlying meaning to understand the rules you're playing by. Honestly, though, I know little about the mage. The accounts I've received have been shoddy at best. Kisha seemed to think he was worth stabbing."
"You're assuming you'll even be able to see the symbols," Chloe counters, sticking her tongue out. "And what if the rules change with every move? Or they follow one pattern which changes to another pattern, like the main verse of a song using a different tempo to the chorus." She begins idly wandering around, tidying up other graves every now and again. "I'd make a comment about her being an unreliable source, but it seems rude to speak ill of the doubly dead."
"If we can't perceive any of the symbols being manipulated, then the underlying rules for those mechanics are irrelevant. If we can't perceive them or their effects, then they have no bearing on us," says Heather, "And if the rules change with each move, then those rule changes are part of the complex patterns that make up the game. My father's illusions were rather unpredictable, but eventually, I found patterns there too. Patterns are inevitable." She looks down at the various headstones and comments, "I wonder what's under these. Corpses? They'd be ours, if there were…"
Chloe rolls her eyes. "Just because you can see something doesn't mean it's irrelevant," she points out. "I mean if an invisible dog comes along now it'll still hurt if it bites you." She glances back down at her own grave, then smirks. "We should find out. No-one has said don't dig in any graveyards! And what if it /is/ going by rules but they're totally disconnected to Human thought? You'd never get a handle on them because you're a person and it isn't."
"I said perceive. You still perceive the invisible dog, especially if you get bitten. I'm about as reliant on my hearing as I am on my sight, though it all blurs together," says Heather, "And if it's not human, then it will become apparent by the alienness of the patterns." She tilts her head slightly as she kneels down by her own grave again, swinging her hand quickly to break slightly into the soil, "This place, though, you can tell it's important, can't you? There's a sense where it's the most important place we have, despite being so repulsive."
"It's like the worlds biggest duck call," Chloe agrees, beginning to wander around the mausoleum itself. "Luring us into whatever trap awaits. I wonder if the basement levels are recreated? That would probably be where the heart of the mystery is lurking." She giggles. "All we need is a camcorder and we could make an awesome horror film!"
"I am half expecting someone to hop out from there, once we make our way through the maddening corridors and untap all the secrets that no mortal was meant to know, and says, 'surprise, you're on candid camera'. As many setting changes as I've experienced, this one is the most… formulaic," says Heather. Satisfied that the dirt is possible to pierce she says, "It's interesting, though."
Chloe tilts her head. "It is? The lack of toilets, showers and food are interesting?" she asks, not sounding especially convinced. "If they do it'll go really poorly for them. I mean jumping out infront of a wound up bunch of mutants? Short lifespan alert!"
"I've been in a setting with no toilets, showers or much food before," says Heather, raising her eyebrow slightly, "When I first slipped into fast-world, I spent months in a nightmare as hours passed. I ran out of food. I thought I was going to starve to death, and as terrifying as everything should have been, it was all crystalized. I became used to it. This place has some food. There are ways to clean ourselves. Places to relieve ourselves. Comparatively, it's interesting. And I dunno. Maybe it's a super powerful alien playing the joke?" She shrugs and stands, "We'll need to come back with a shovel later."
"I'm pretty sure super powerful aliens have better things to do than bug schoolkids," Chloe points out, tidying up the last of the graves. Of the people she knows and likes that is. "Plus I'm pretty sure there stories about the teachers punching a fair few super powerful alien faces in. It's probably one of the requirements for a key to the staff lounge."
"I'm sure really people have better things to do than reality TV," points out Heather in return. She raises her fist and swings it, "Maybe I'll punch him in the face, and I'll get to be one staff? Not that Dr. Parker-Mayfair would allow it." She sighs and crosses her arms in an annoyed gesture.
Chloe nods. "You should totally go for it. I'd suggest using a weapon, but I'm not sure if the things we use from this place will be more or less effective agains the monsters. I mean if it's real it's fine, but if everything is fake then surely it won't do anything against equally fake monsters."
"The swamp monster I fought would fit in here. But I used a real piece of wood to beat it into a dead melted puddle of goo," says Heather. She pauses, explaining herself, "It /kicked/ a /kitten/." She shrugs and says, "I might modify the wax case to weaponize it. If I'm going to carry it around, it may as well be useful for more things than one."
"Awh. That's kind of harsh. Unless it was trying to pet it and wasn't very bright and then it's just tragic," Chloe laments, pouting. "How do you weaponize a box filled with wax? Without making it /really/ awkward to write with? Wouldn't you be better just using it as a carry case for a ton of small sharp knives?"
"Well, I need something to write with, so I'll likely craft a small blade for that," explains Heather, looking down to the box. "I might also plate it with metal so I can strap it to my arm as a shield. That could break up the wax and disable my communication, but that's not a bit deal. Fighting monsters, I don't expect to use it to communicate, anyhow."
Chloe peers at the box for a moment. "Don't they usually make shields from wood not metal? I'm sure I saw it in a movie once where they were all made from wood because it was lighter and weapons got stuck in it. Rather than just sliding off and hitting you somewhere else," she muses. "Maybe a layer of metal and a leather covering so it's quiet and isn't so easy to spot?"
"I guess I don't know much about weapons," says Heather, "I've always just used things I've picked up. Rocks, my umbrella, a trashcan lid, a stick…" She shakes her head quickly and says, "Maybe it would just be fine with a strap, then? You should help me. You know more about fighting than I do."
"Weapons fighting and punching people are totally different things!" Chloe protests, holding her hand up in protest. "You're better off asking Connor. He's OCD enough to have read up on how to make a shield. I'm just going off what I saw in a movie ages ago. I could probably help you find a suitable stick and that's the limit of my expertise."
"Okay, I'll ask Connor, then. But I don't think any of his rituals involve reading about shields…" says Heather, tilting her head slightly in thought. She doesn't know what all of his rituals are, but they seem to be mostly based in organization. She scratches her head, detangling her hair, "I was diagnosed with OCD once, but then I was undiagnosed, because my doctors were /idiots/," she explains. Of course, to many observers, her hoarding rituals and pattern rituals evoke this diagnosis pretty quickly to a first-time observer.
"You don't think he's the kind of guy who'll randomly read up on stuff just because it's interesting?" Chloe asks cheerfully, wandering over to open and close the gate a few times. To see if it creaks in a traditional b-move fashion. "Or seen something in a film and looked up how something really should work."
"I was just saying I don't think he'd be interested in it because of OCD. I think that's more just how he is in terms of personality." Heather walks away from the graves and also pays attention to the gate.
Chloe shrugs, moving the gate back and forth some more. "Wow. It squeeks exactly like I'd expect it too," she says with amusement. "I think I'd have been more freaked by this place if it was closer to home. Only with little subtle changes to make me doubt myself. But I guess the whole being in hostile territory all day every day might just be here to slowly grind us down. After all it's so obvious we're going to be attacked that I know I can't help but expect it."
"This place is unlikely to get to me for at least a slow-world year," says Heather, glancing about to just make sure that her statement is accurate, "The farmhouse chess-board's blatant disregard for possible chess positions aside, anyways." She shrugs and says, "But I guess we're going to fight some kind of creatures. Eventually, one of us will figure out and solve the problems."
"Or one of two other situations will occur! Either they'll eat us all like crazy science girl /or/ we'll beat up all the monsters and the leader will emerge. Then get beaten up," Chloe jokes, leaving the gate unhooked. "I'm glad we're both here. If I had to keep speaking slow world all the time I think it'd get to me much more. How're you coping without the tape recorder? I can try translate around the farm whenever you need it if you'd like?"
"That would help my a lot. I have to speak choppy and slowly in order for them to understand me, and it's so frustrating when they don't. And listening to them is painful. I wish they'd rush their speech." Given that, even when talking in fast-world Heather rushes her speech, she really appreciates when others keep pace. "I feel like I could be using that time more productively. And it's hard to use note passing as a communication method between more people." She tilts her head and says, "And yes, your assessment of the monster situation is probable, given my experience at this school."
Chloe waves her hands in a what can you do manner. "It's pretty much applicable to /anything/ the school gets involved in. Field trip? Fight monsters. Students go out for icecream? Fight different monsters. I wonder if there's a pattern you can make out there, letting us predict what kind of monster is due next!"
"There probably is. I have some expectations and musings, you can read my journals if you want," says Heather, shrugging. "They're getting more accurate, but my guesses aren't always the best. I miss my journals now, though. It's hard to remember everything about this place without keeping notes."
"It's hard to /not/ read them sometimes," Chloe teases, wandering almost at random around poking and prodding various bits of the metal fence. "You leave them everywhere and never bother to close them when you're done writing. What's the next big thing in your studied opinion? Personally I'm betting on robots coming back in season."
"I'm worried about my parents, honestly," says Heather after a few moment's pause for thought. "I journalled a lot of things that I remembered about my future that I will never allow to happen. And that's something I saw." She shrugs, though, and says, "But will that be the next big thing for you? I don't know. I do think technological threat is coming, too. Anyways, it's not like my journals are private, not to other students, anyways. The parts that are are encoded. I'm sure you've seen those pages."
Chloe scratches her head. "Maybe? I honestly don't sit and read your journals," she replies earnestly. "I had enough trouble with my little sister peeking at my things that I wouldn't ever do the same to someone else. Robots are an easy bet really, given Magneto is always digging bits of them up."
"We should go get a shovel, see what we can dig up," says Heather, gesturing past the gates. "And I guess I never leave them opened to encoded pages. I imagine you'll also find them boring. You should look at my story journal when we get back. Those should at least not be dull." She adjusts the strap for the case.
"Sounds like a plan!" Chloe says, beginning to dash through the gate. "I'll race you back to the farm!" And with that she sprints off.
