entranceway | Astral Destruction

Entry tags:

Astral Destruction

[ Clementine and Mae appear on the screen. It’s a little girl and a cat girl. They’re standing in a room on the first floor. Clem has a crowbar in her hand, slung over her shoulder. Mae has her trusty baseball bat and a very cat-that-got-the-canary grin on her face.]

Hey, so… Mae told me about how she breaks shit sometimes and how it’s… cathartic? [ that’s the word she used, right? ] And I tried it with a light bulb. It felt pretty damn awesome so we thought it might be cool to have an official place where people could break stuff whenever they needed to deal with bullshit.

[Mae immediately picks up the thread, grinning wide.]

So we are super effing pleased to introduce…The Destruction Room.

[She pans the camera over to the sign on the door. It’s generic and straight to the point. Then she pans the camera around to take in the room. There’s rows of shelves filled with china plates, vases, glass figurines and other fragile-looking items. Along the walls are dozens of light fixtures and free-standing lamps, as well as just a metric ton of lightbulbs, both fluorescent and incandescent. All of it is very precariously displayed and it looks like it wouldn’t take much to just knock some of these shelves right over.]

Isn’t it amazing? We stocked it with everything that could possibly go smash.

[Clementine gestures then to have Mae pan the camera toward the wall on the side which has a giant weapon rack with every blunt weapon imaginable from bats to maces to hammers and more. ]

Over on this wall, we’ve got every blunt weapon you can think of so you can really make the breakables crack into a hundred awesome pieces. Also, it’s on the first floor, room 4 so if you hit yourself in the foot or get glass stuck in your arm or something, the clinic’s right next door.

Yeah, we pretty much thought of everything. Because we’re awesome.

[Mae holds out her hand to Clementine for a high-five. Clementine leans over, high fiving her back, with a smile. Totally awesome. ]

Anyway, yeah, come on down and get your smash on. Work out some of that pre-event anxiety or whatever.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I don't know, ma'am. There's never been anything that was okay to smash. And they don't like it when I get angry like that.

[With how much focus they put on appearances and being polite, they would probably not be fine with it at all.]

It's okay. They're not actually here, so...

[Maybe he worries too much. Well, yes, he definitely worries too much.]

Ma'm? I'm eleven. You don't have to ma'm me.

( She's actually probably closer to twelve given her time spent in Wonderland. It's really hard to figure all that out so she doesn't. Clementine frowns a bit. )

If they're not here, they can't get mad at you, and it'd be kind of bullshit for them to get mad at you for smashing stuff in a room for smashing while you're stuck in Wonderland. This place gives all of us plenty of reasons to destroy things.

I'm just addressing you politely.

[Why do his fellow eleven-year-olds have such a problem with this... He doesn't get other kids.

If his parents ever do show up in Wonderland, he hopes this girl doesn't say that to them. He grimaces.]

Wonderland doesn't make me mad. Mostly I get excited, or sad, or scared. But not mad. I like Wonderland.

I mean, as long as you don't point a gun at my face or call me an asshole, you're addressing me politely.

( This is one of those examples where Clementine's world differences really effects how she- how she views the world and how much that differs from other people. )

I really like Wonderland too. I don't want to go back to where I'm from.

Doesn't mean it can't fuck stuff up. You can like something and still get angry at it sometimes. ( Wonderland makes a mess all the time. Of course, she still has plenty of anger left in her from the world she's from. It carved her into this angry, fucked up person who has blood on her hands. )

Not calling someone an asshole is the absolute bare minimum of being polite to them.

[Seriously. It's like he's the only one in the mansion who's been taught any manners. Though he's used to sticking out like a sore thumb in that respect. He never exactly fit in with other kids at home, either.

Not much he can do about that. He was taught to behave a certain way, and it's tough to unlearn now.]

That... makes sense. I don't know. Most of the things that frustrate me, um, aren't here. Even that scary event with all the zombies...

[He folds his arms, squeezing himself tightly. He doesn't like remembering that event. A lot of people got hurt really bad.]

I don't think Wonderland hurts us on purpose.

I know. I come from a world a lot different than this one.

( It's a world where people shoot first and ask questions later. No one can afford to trust anyone else to be polite.

She was taught a certain way through survival. She figures he was taught a certain way too especially if his parents got angry so easily. No wonder he worries. about stuff she'd never think to worry about. )

Yeah, there's a lot that's not here that pisses me off and upsets me too. That Event-- That's the world I'm from.

( Maybe it'll give context to why she's so hard, why she's not polite. )

I don't know why Wonderland does what it does except it wants our memories.

O-Oh.

[Oh. He didn't-- That was, in hindsight, very tactless. Of course it was the world she's from.]

I'm... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be insensitive.

[He wants to ask more about it, but... if he was that upset just being there for a few days, he can only imagine what she must have gone through being there her entire life.]

Um, that's, that's why I'm trying my best to figure out the mysteries of Wonderland. So we can do something about... the less nice parts of it.

You weren't.

My point is... I live that shit regularly. It's why politeness isn't a big thing where I'm from. I get it is for you though.

( She's not discrediting it either. If it helps him, he should keep it. It's just- It's different, and she wouldn't want anyone to live in her world to know what she means when she says different. )

There's a lot of mysteries. It's gonna take some serious digging, but you can do it.

Do you want to stay here too?

[Mm. Despite her intimidation factor, she seems... pretty nice, actually. She hasn't yelled at him once yet, even after he messed up.]

I understand.

[It puts a lot of stuff into perspective, actually meeting a person from that world. Someone who lived that every day. Politeness is just automatic at this point, but it's all he knows and... it really doesn't matter, does it?]

I want to stay here as long as it takes to get to the bottom of everything. I don't leave cases half-finished. But... I already did my running away, before Wonderland. I have unfinished business back at the B--

[He stops himself, before his words would've dissolved into static. He doesn't need to bring attention to that little quirk of the Bureau.]

--Back at... my current home.

( Clementine nods when he says he understands. She folds her arms loosely across her chest, glancing down at her feet. She lifts her head up again if only because she's curious- )

You have a real thing for mysteries, huh? ( He wants to stay to get to the bottom of things. He wants to help them find the bottom, and then leave to whatever he's got waiting back where he's from. She notices how he cuts himself off, but she lets him have that one.

People are allowed their secrets. ) I mean, you could just want to head back home to whatever's waiting you and leave us all here to deal with this shit on our own.

But you don't.

[He nods, and can't help the smile that creeps onto his face.]

Why would I want that? Wonderland is the most confusing and unknowable place I've ever been to! If I didn't at least try to crack it, I'd be a pretty piss poor "world's greatest detective".

Because most people want to get back to their own problems, their own shit, and they don't care about figuring stuff out for other people.

( It's not even really said meanly. It's what people have to do to survive. Clementine tilts her head to the side though. )

You're the world's greatest detective? How'd you earn that title?

I've been figuring stuff out for other people for a long time. Usually for money, though. But this isn't really for other people. I want to figure out Wonderland for myself.

[At the question, though, he beams wide, looking quite proud of himself. If he's lucky, she won't even tease him for being a nerd.]

I've cracked every case I've ever attempted, ma'am. I'm pretty famous in Rockport and Neverwinter!

Yeah? That's pretty impressive. What sort of cases have you solved so far like people searching for something or murder mysteries?

( It's pretty clear he loves solving mysteries too if he's trying to solve this Wonderland more because he really wants to figure it out for himself. )

Wonderland's one helluva case to tackle.

All kinds of things like that! Missing items, missing people, murders, serial killers... I just really like puzzles, I guess.

[He nods.]

Wonderland is definitely stranger and tougher to crack than anything else I've ever attempted before. It's posing quite the problem. And people have been here for years and years without ever, um, being able to really explain the biggest mysteries it holds. It gets kind of disheartening sometimes, but... I'm sure I just have to work harder.

You'd have to to solve mysteries like that. I get you were paid but... jesus.

( It's still a fucking lot to deal with regardless.)

You can work harder. You can work as hard as you can possibly try, and you still might not find anything. Wonderland's a mystery on top of another mystery. I know good detectives here. Figuring this place out isn't so easy.

[Angus sighs.]

Yes, the best I've been able to do for the most part now is come up with theories and wait for them to be proven wrong. There's not a lot that can be found unless Wonderland wants you to, and even saying that might be missing the mark if Wonderland has no will of its own as is heavily implied. And besides, I've read the books and... logic doesn't really have room to be applied to a place like this.

But... There's nothing to do but to try, even if it seems impossible. That's what my grandpa would say.

Seems like that's pretty amazing of you anyway.

Most people- They don't just wait around. They don't keep trying to poke through. You want to know the truth. You want to explore those mysteries wherever they lead you even if you don't- even if you don't have great leads on those mysteries.

It's amazing. ( She is not that kind of person. She is not good. She is not brave. She is not- ) I'm glad you're trying even when it seems impossible.

[Angus' eyes widen partway through, when he realizes she's actually... complimenting him for it.

He never does see that coming when it does.]

Oh, shucks, miss, I'm just, um, I'm just trying my best, like anyone. I wouldn't say I'm all that. You're, you're actually helping people feel better. With your Destruction Room.

Um... I just realized I don't know your name, haha. I'm Angus McDonald. It's, it's nice to meet you.

[He's stopping just short of hiding his face, here. Angus is Successfully Flustered.]

( Clementine lifts an eyebrow in confusion at his reaction, and then she smirks lightly. It's strange. She's been doing a lot of trying to help people lately, which is not something she does ever back where she's from. She can't afford to maybe, but a part of her thought the desire to help others in general might have been carved right out of her. )

Not everyone tries their best either. ( Some people don't try at all or they try to hurt others. ) Hopefully, the room helps. I'm not really used to helping people.

I'm Clementine. Nice to meet you too.

That's true, I guess.

[He's dealt with enough serial killers to understand that not everyone in the world is just trying to do right by others. Though it'd sure be easier if everyone were.]

You're doing a fine job, I think, Ms. Clementine. Um... Maybe I'll even try out your fancy breakable room. At some point. Maybe.

( Clementine's smile widens then. ) No one's ever called me Ms. Clementine before.

( She sounds amused but then pleased: )

Really? You should. You might find you really love it. We've all got pent up shit inside us, and no one would tell on you if your parents did ever end up here.

( It's so strange of her to think about that possibility. Getting in trouble, being tattled on, it's beyond her, but she can remember the basics. )

Maybe I can start small. Just... drop a glass. Knock a dish down.

[Thinking about it is making his heart quicken, both in fear of retribution for wanting to do something his parents would hate, and in a little rebellious thrill.]

Um. Thank you, Ms. Clementine. Unless, um, you'd rather just be Clementine?

If you want some company while you break stuff for the first time, let me know.

( Clementine is happy to offer support when it comes to helping other people destroy stuff. No one should have to hold themselves back for fear of getting in trouble especially in a room that's made for breaking stuff. )

You're welcome. Just Clementine is fine.

Okay, Ms. Just Clementine.

[Ahaha. He made a joke. He's a little nervous about it in the delivery, considering he still barely knows her, but Clementine seems really nice after all... He looks shyly at her.]

Um. I would like that.

[He's broken stuff before. Accidentally, of course, which is always the most horrifying experience when it happens. But also, sometimes he just... gets angry. And when you get angry, sometimes you lash out, and sometimes things break.

Actually, scratch that. When he breaks something on purpose... that's when it's the most horrifying.

He gulps.]

I will... let you know.

video.

shorthair - 2017-08-23 20:31 (UTC) - Expand

video.

fancylad - 2017-08-26 21:36 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only