Bound in Dust(IC)

[Ari]

GM

Samaritan Theater, January 8th, 7.00 P.M.

The New Year's B-Movie Bash at the venerable green and red Samaritan Theater, a once-glittering philanthropic enterprise devoted to conveying news and the crème de la crème of the film industry to those who otherwise would have little recourse to legal entertainment, now a gradually decaying convention center for film buffs of varying stripes. The irony wasn't lost on the venue's caretaker. Its halls were still brightly lit, however, and the marble of its walls hadn't suffered any hurts.

This month, a staggering collection of sub-par, poorly-made, ill-planned, or otherwise second-rate movies had been gathered by their enthusiasts for the delight of the crowds that loved to poke fun at them, narrate the mind-boggling events, and generally carry on. This night a small group of Claremont students were among the participants. Several members of the student body had gotten tickets to the event, and had arranged for some of the newer students to attend it as a group, to provide a good socialization and introductory venue removed from the super-school's hallowed halls.

The students had just gotten to the first theater on the programme's list of serials, and were about to take their red velvet-upholstered seats in preparation for the first movie of the "monster marathon": The Vast Talon!...

[Derin]

Outside the theatre, Chloe frowned at the programme for a moment, trying to decipher the point of the production. Entertainment, she knew, a reason to interact and socialise with other theater-goers; she just wished that she understood how that worked. With a shrug (she was getting better at this body language thing), she scanned the crowd for Claremont uniforms or faces she recognised. She'd made sure to learn the faces of the other participans in advance, to make finding them easier, but it was hard to make out anybody in the crowd. Was she looking for a group, or would they all be wandering around separately?

Oh. Wait. They'd be seated together. Of course. She pulled out her ticket and headed for the door.

[Airon]

Luke wandered towards the theater a bit nervous, his hands tucked in the pockets of his black jacket: it was his first attempt to bond with other Claremontians outside the campus, and he was very much “the awkward new guyâ€. However some of the cheesiest movie posters exposed above the entrance managed to make him smile a bit, and his mood got better as he entered the large building. The place was swarmed with teens and college students, most of them wearing T-shirts depicting the most improbable monsters.

As he inched his way through the seats row, in the shifting light of the pre-movie commercials, he saw the first familiar face of the evening: he had seen her in a couple of classes and noticed her perfectly composed, almost unnatural posture.

“Hey.†he gave her a nod, trying to be as casual as possible. “You’re from Claremont, right? We have Chemistry on Tuesdays and Fridays. I’m Luke, I just moved to Freedom City a couple of weeks ago.â€

[Scuffles]

Kristin walked into the theater and pushed the hood of her jacket back, then rubbed her arms briskly to warm them up a little bit. She still wasn't quite adjusted to the cold even after a few months in Freedom City.

"Hey Chloe!" she called as she caught sight of her new roommate. "Wait up!"

I'm so glad she decided to come. Maybe a little fun will help her settle in. she thought as she jogged over and gave Chloe a little slap on the shoulder. "Oh hey!" she said as she saw Luke, then stuck out her hand towards him. "I've seen you around school right? I'm Kristin"

[Ari]

Subito Sondo, the Hispanic teen paragon-in-training, had made his way to the theater with all speed after getting off the bus; leaping crosswalks in two bounds, weaving at great speed through pedestrian crowds, and skidding to a halt before the mighty doors of the place. He wasn't a B-movie enthusiast normally, his tastes running to the more well-made and carefully thought-out sorts of films that gave him endless ponderings about what the filmmakers had meant for him to take away from them, but tonight was different: he had been asked, as a newer student himself, to be one of the welcome party for the newly arrived students, a duty he took with the utmost gravity.

Slowing his pace once at the doors, he got his ticket punched by the venerable old lady who had done so for around thirty years, and walked rapidly to the theater where the fun was to begin. Poking his tousled head through the door, he spotted Kristin instantly and jogged up to her and the two newest additions to Claremont's roster. Offering his hand he introduced himself eagerly "Hi! You must be Chloe and Luke. I'm Subito, pleased to meet you guys!" once names were exchanged, he took his seat, eyes alight or the good cheer to come.

[Vahnyu]

Serge Explinker followed in a more slow pace behind Subito, as he also entered the viewing room. Taking his eyeglasses out, and putting them in his pocket, the young teen joined the rest of the group, who were introducing themselves to each other. "Yahaow!" he exclaimed with enthusiasm in a high-pitched voice. "And I'm Serge. Let me welcome you two to our esteemed Academy." he said, in a more subdued and normal voice, while lifting his hand in a greeting manner and flashing a wide smile at Luke and Chloe. "Let's have a great semester. If you have any questions... well, you should probably ask the seniors, really, as they are far more experienced in the matters of the campus, but in a pinch, we will do our best and provide you with the answers you may seek. Ain't that right?" he asked Subito and Kristin, as he cheerfully did his part in explaining things to Chloe and Luke.

[Airon]

In a moment Luke went from being alone with a stranger to be surrounded by strangers, however these were smiling and warm strangers. He replied to the greetings in a polite manner, then sat down in the five seat row they had for themselves, choosing rather cockily the middle seat. At least I’ll be forced to talk with someone.

"So you guys been going to the Academy for long?†he tried to start a casual conversation, maybe lacking in originality but making up in effort and will to be as social as possible. “Just one question†he asked in a half-whispered voice, so that only the five of them could hear “what is the policy about… you know… talking about powers and stuff?â€

[Ari]

"We're not supposed to use 'em or talk about 'em if there's a chance of us being overheard" Subito whispered to Luke "Once the movies start and people start screaming, laughing and talking over the movie, then we can talk 'shop' if you want" He grinned at Serge and called over "That we will! They won't have any questions left when we're done with them!"

Leaning back against his chair watching the black-and-white countdown projected onto the screen he answered Luke's first question "I've been at Claremont since last September. Flare-up at the place I worked at, my powers make training in secret the best choice. What about you? Random flare-up? Had them from birth?" he looked curiously at Luke,

[Derin]

Chloe knew who Luke was, of course, but she'd watched enough television and blundered through enough social interactions now to understand how first meetings worked. Sort of. "I'm Chloe." She tried a smile, which became slightly more genuine when Kristin showed up; two people were easier to deal with than one. Within minutes, there were four classmates surrounding her. Chloe took care not to stare or look aggressive while she observed them, remembering to smile. When she let her smile slip, people tended to ask her what was wrong, and any attemp to accurately answer that question quickly got out of hand.

They were talking about powers. She could do that. She didn't know much about their powers; she'd learned their faces but humans had certain rules about privacy and it was considered "rude" to go searching obsessively for information.

She should say something. Prolonged silence was usually perceived as being unfriendly. But she should not address Subito or Luke, for fear of derailing their conversation. Kristin was the safest bet as they had interacted before. And she should say something helpful, friendly and non-invasive. After some consideration, she tried, "How are you, Kristin? Have you injured yourself in any fights since we last met?" She lifted one hand slightly, an unspoken offer of her healing services.

[Scuffles]

After acknowledging Subito and Serge with smiles, Kristin grinned at Chloe. "You saw me like two hours ago! How often do you think I get beat up?" she asked with a little chuckle, then looked thoughtful for a moment. "Okay, I'll admit I do come home from the gym a bit battered most evenings. Maybe you're right! But no, I'm completely fine at the moment thanks. For once!"

She's so shy! She sure does seem to like being able to heal though!

As everyone took their seats Kristin planted herself next to Chloe and immediately dug a giant bag of 'maltesers' out of her jacket pocket. "Chocolate?" She asked as she offered the bag to her friend. "Pass them along. Can't watch movies without chocolate!"

[Ari]

GM

As the familiar-to-some black and white countdown screen reached its ornate '1', a flourish of trumpets and a clash of cymbals announced the actually very well-done title painting of the first movie on the 'monster marathon' list: 'The Vast Talon', a movie about the discovery and naturally the violent destruction of an otherwise extinct bird with a wingspan of several hundred feet, related to the rocs of Mesopotamian myth. It was all things considered a very bog-standard 50's monster movie, except for the prop used to portray the beast(often described as 'majestic' by the actors as they looked up at the shadow cast by a bird-shaped kite), which was patently obvious as a paper-mache construction that looked nothing like the paintings made for the movie by the only artist they could find. That it was moved around with a stick nailed to its body in front of a cardboard-cutout miniature city placed in a desert after repeated establishing shots of a lush pastoral environment didn't help.

By the first fifteen minutes the theater was filled with hysterics, as the actors on the screen from all those years ago strove to keep straight faces while intoning gravely on random Egyptian religious practices that supposedly involved throwing their dead to the giant birds.

The five Claremonters went largely unnoticed in the swell of glee.

[Ari]

In the din, Subito said loudly enough to be heard bu the other four "So Luke, Chloe, where are you guys from? What were your old school's like?" settling deeper into the fold-out chair he volunteered "I was born in Peurto Rico, on the hillier parts of the island. Don't recall much of it, my family moved to here when I wasn't even ten. I went to a school near Lincoln, Joseph Clark High until last summer. There were" he scowled for a moment before continuing "problems, at that place. Quite a few of the students I met turned out to have at least a slight difficulty understanding that they were there for a reason besides meeting up with friends, and there were always these older guys hanging out near the street corner that some of my schoolmates seemed to know pretty well" his face brightened "But, being at a place suspected of having a super-hero in the student body makes people a little less likely to try and cause serious trouble" shifting a bit in the chair he concluded "Powers flared up, and they aren't exactly subtle, so my parents were offered the chance to have me go to Claremont to train by Mr. Summers"

A missed cue caused a pregnant silence between the two actors playing the scientists studying the giant bird's egg by electrocuting it, raising a ripple of stifled laughter around the theater as they looked awkwardly at one another before resuming their incomprehensible dialogue.

[Derin]

"Thank you." Chloe carefully selected a single malteser from the packet and passed it along. She'd tried chocolate once before, as an experiment, and found the experience to be overwhelming and confusing. Taste and pleasure were still things that she was trying to figure out. This time, though, she knew what to expect, so she braced herself, crushed the treat between her molars few times and swallowed quickly.

"I do not recall my old school," Chloe said. "I dropped out immediately after the car accident that killed me, to recover. Amnesia was one of the permanent effects of that accident. I have met some of my old friends, though, and they seemed like nice people. I was healed by my parents' nanite medical chamber, which is now permanently integrated into my system. My psychologist recommended training here to most effectivey operate as a healer. He told my parents that I needed distance from my old life, and proper guidance to recover." Was that the right amount of information? Too much? Too little? She glanced at Luke. She still knew almost nothing about him or Serge.

[Airon]

Luke’s gaze wandered off, beyond the screen where the giant bird was mangling a very, very immobile mannequin dressed up like one of the co-protagonists.

“My old school was… so long ago.†he was starting to realize that “It was in Boston, the “Larry Kavanagh Highâ€. It was huge, we had more than a thousand students – with a lot of foreign exchange programs. It was great, and to be honest, I kind of miss it. But here in Claremont is a good place to do what I have to with… you know†he stretched his hands open in front of him, mimicking the gesture he did when projecting energy. “Also, what other school lets you visit and apply for internship at The Lab?†he picked up a chocolate, the darkest of the box. I will find you guys, I promise he thought to himself.

[Ari]

Subito was stunned into silence by Chloe's story, not having heard about the car crash. He had gathered that the nanite-controller was bonded to a girl, and that some accident had necessitated this to save her life..but he was totally unprepared for something as plain and simple as the fact that the girl a few seats away had died, most likely in terrible pain, and was effectively a platform for the nanite conglomerate to operate from. Swallowing a gulp of the water from the bottle had brought with him(the Samaritan Theater was similar in at least one respect to more commercial avenues), he thanked Heaven that there was a somewhat more familiar history to focus on.

To Luke he said as mildly and unshakily as he could "Dunno Luke, I bet it's not many though!" he watched as the mannequin flailed in a disconcertingly human fashion as it was shaken to its component pieces in the outrageous beak of the avian fiend.

[Scuffles]

Kristin had a little bit of a chuckle, although it was hard to tell whether the movie or Subitos discomfort was the more amusing to her. After crunching briefly on another Malteser she leaned over towards Chloe a little and spoke in a conspiratorial sounding whisper.

"You might want to ease into the bit about having died just a little slower than that the first time you tell people. Even here that one is going to make people uncomfortable to start with. But don't worry, they'll get used to it."

She leaned across her roommate for a moment so that she could talk to Luke without being too loud.

"If you want a sneak-peak at the lab you can maybe volunteer to let them study what you can do. I've been over there for that. It's pretty awesome!"

[Derin]

Chloe might not know much about casual socialising, but she had a lot of memories about reading and calming distressed patients. She felt Subito's reaction, although she wasn't sure what she'd done wrong until Kristin spoke up.

"I understand," she whispered back. "Thank you." Humans were very afraid of death. She just didn't realise that they were so afraid of it that they'd react so negatively even when it temporarily affected somebody they hadn't known at the time. And yet they were fine with the violence onstage in front of them. Unless the talking was to distract them from the performance? Was the whole thing some sort of... game of emotional Chicken? That puzzle could wait. For now, she noted Kristin's advice and incorporated it into her standard explanation. It seemed that a lot of things upset people; too many more concessions and she'd begin to sacrifice accuracy. But the conversation had moved on.

"What do you do, Luke?" Chloe asked once Kristin had finished talking to him.

[Vahnyu]

"...Heh, yeah, even talking about death can be a bit unsettling." Serge replied, as the movie went on. "It is the hopelessness and the helplessness of the thing, that it's something about which you can't do much. It's a trully humbling experience, having someone you know and cherished die, knowing you'll never see them smile or laugh, never share experiences with them, and knowing that there's absolutely nothing you can do to save them..." Serge trailed a bit, as if lost in thought. Coming back to it, he says "Subito and Kristin already know this but... I wasn't really interested in doing anything with my... special talents, really. In fact I was content with just getting by. Then, I witnessed a robbery first hand, and... I froze. I couln't move, I couldn't act, hell, I couldn't even run away like a half-decent coward. It was at that time that I saw up close another human die, actually die, for the first time in my life... Needless to say, I try not to give it much thought... with varying results, of course."

Turning towards Luke, Serge said "That's weird; joining the Lab never even crossed my mind. Huh. Perhaps I should further meditate upon it."

[Airon]

“Well, I don’t know about joining†replied Luke to Serge’s idea “I know my way around a computer and I know a bit about space, but those guys… they’re bona fide geniuses. I just want to meet them and see it.†he openly smiled at Kristin’s information “Hey, thanks! I’ll have to ask the headmaster if I can apply for that experiment! I was taking as many science classes as possible, but you might just have saved me a lot of time… oh COME ON!†he pointed at the screen with an exasperated smile “are those supposed to be the beast’s little chicks? They're smaller than his eye! You can find more realistically-looking rubber chickens in a toy store!†the entire room momentarily filled up with laughter at the very ridiculous sight of the little rubber monsters.

When the loudness diminished, he answered to Chloe “You know… ok maybe you don’t know – anyway, a big part of the known Universe is under the Lor Republic –those guys always fighting the Grue. They’re usually very cool people, trying to protect the planets from world-devourers and such… ok basically back in Boston, I tapped in one of their artifacts and now I can survive in space and do crazy stuff with energy. I know it sounds a bit like Derrick Dash vs the horrors from Alpha Centauri†the flier he had in hand put this masterpiece almost at the end of the marathon “but really, that’s what happenedâ€. Or at least, that’s as much as I’m going to tell you he thought.

[Ari]

The initial shock of Chloe's revelation had worn off, and as he could now glance over at her without seeing a bloody car crash, he spoke up much more calmly in response to Luke. "You've been to outer space?" he asked eagerly "What's it like, can you tell me?" he had heard about the space-faring beings that inhabited the stars, but like a lot of Freedonians he had never really seen many except in the Grue invasion a few years back. Which brought to mind another question..."Also, if these Lore guys are supposed to keep the Grue from attacking us and stuff, how'd they get here in the first place? And how did the Grue even find us all the way out here?" that last was off-handed and not entirely seriously meant, mainly because he didn't expect Luke could really answer it, and additionally because the part of the movie where the American Air Force(called that throughout the film) had shown up to begin a series of mind-boggling battles against a giant, slow-moving bird.

As the stock footage of the Corsairs roared across the screen towards the stock footage landing strip, he said to Chloe "Sorry about..you know..that..uh..I wasn't-I didn't know that had happened, and it was a heckuva thing to just hear about out of the blue. It's not somthin' people hear everyday, you know?"

He settled back to watch the airborned

[Derin]

Chloe hadn't heard of Derrick Dash outside of studying the flier, but she nodded as if she understood. Most of the time, she was learning, people didn't ask follow-up questions, and it seemed forgivable to sacrifice some level of accuracy for conversational flow. She remained silent, making a half-hearted attempt to deduce what was happening onscreen, until she was addressed again. (She'd been confused about mixing social interaction with visual/auditory entertainment at first -- surely each would detract from the other -- but she was beginning to see how the entertainment provided a ready emergency source of distraction and conversation material.) "My apologies," she said to Subito, "It was not all that long ago, and I still have trouble explaining it. I didn't mean to shock you."

[Airon]

“Hey, don’t worry.†Luke reassured Chloe. “I’m pretty sure that most of us have been through a traumatic experience to find ourselves here now. Yours is just… unheard of. You don’t have to apologize.†he wasn't ready to tell his, for sure, but he could at least try to make other comfortables.

“As for the space… well, space is one of the few things were using the word “awesome†isn’t an exaggeration. I find myself unable to describe it. It’s just… like when you are completely underwater, you close your eyes and let yourself be deprived of any sense… and then you open your eyes and everything seems detached, your limbs feel differently, the colors aren’t what they should be, and even if you can breathe, you don't, because it doesn't seem respectful, taking in some of that beauty… it’s like that, times a thousand.†His eyes gazed beyond the screen, imagining soaring through the stars.

Luke laughed a bit at the question about the Lors “Well, man, the Lor are an intergalactic government. They have police and armies and ships and defensive station but you know… if drug smugglers can get through State boundaries on a daily basis, can you imagine how hard can it be to patrol the distance between two solar systems?†he shrugged “Besides, Earth is hardly the Grue’s only target… you don’t want to know what they did on Laktia Tuul…†he paused for a bit “I think here we call it the Leonis System. Not happy place now, definitely not.†He quivered a bit, remembering the olopictures in the Hall of Memory.

[Vahnyu]

"Well... true, but I would asume that they would have sufficiently advanced equipment to easily patrol galactic borders. But then again, it's harder to form a blockade when you have to worry about two axes. And don't get me started on collision mechanics, where gravity... is not as much a referee as it is a long distance observer. A binoculars using observer at that. In the sense that sure, it still affects things happening, in a quantum, observation-affects-the-observed-object sort of way, but it's so miniscule that you may as well ignore it... for the sake of your sanity, that is." Serge mused. He found the whole perfomance underwhelming in the beginning, but the more he saw, the more he enjoyed himself. The movie was grossly inaccurate in it's science, even by the era's standard's, but BY GOD did it have fun with it's premise. Realising that he had veered off topic, Serge coughed uncomfortably. "Anyhoo..."

[Scuffles]

Kristin chuckled "Get carried away there a little bit Serge?" as her friend stopped talking and looked a little uncomfortable. "Be careful with that will you? Chloe is pretty good but I doubt she's going to be able to fix my brain if you make it explode with your Gravity collisions and Quantum whatsits."

Onscreen for some reason a giant bird was now demolishing and impressively cardboard-like city, and Kristin sat back to watch in amazement and amusement until her stomach growled loudly.

She leaned forwards so that she could look down the row of seats. "Which one of you guys has my chocolates down there? Pass them back down! I'm hungry!"

[Ari]

Luke laughed a bit at the question about the Lors “Well, man, the Lor are an intergalactic government. They have police and armies and ships and defensive station but you know… if drug smugglers can get through State boundaries on a daily basis, can you imagine how hard can it be to patrol the distance between two solar systems?†he shrugged “Besides, Earth is hardly the Grue’s only target… you don’t want to know what they did on Laktia Tuul…†he paused for a bit “I think here we call it the Leonis System. Not happy place now, definitely not.†He quivered a bit, remembering the olopictures in the Hall of Memory.

"I suppose that makes sense" Subito agreed, frowning at the new questions this opened up. He'd have to think this over tonight, this warranted serious consideration. "Sorry to hear about that planet attack Luke, didn't mean to stir up any bad memories" he added more than a little sheepishly.

He merrily joined in with Kristin's ribbing of Serge "Yeah man, save it for when the Lor hire you as their science guy, don't waste all your best material when they can't hear you"

At Kristin's call for her chocolates Subito deftly tossed the container to her(a rubber band securing the contents inside) "These are awesome Kris! What do you call these again? I bet my sis would love these things"

The bird was enraged at the spectacularly poor shooting of the American Air Force having killed the living daylights out of its entire nest, and he watched in awe as the puppet was waved around the miniature landing strip for just a few seconds too long, with foleyed-in shouts of "Our bullets aren't hurting it!" as stock gunfire noises raged in the background.