We're Milling Through The Grinder, Grinding Through The Mill

The George Hunter High playing fields are made up of a standard high school sized football field with a track around the outside, and a smaller baseball field. There are two sets of three bleachers along either side of the football field with the middle bleacher being much larger than the two on either side. This gives the stadium a rough capacity of around 2,500 when it is fully set up for a game. Students are freely allowed to go on the bleachers before, during breaks, and after school.
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MurderWeasel
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We're Milling Through The Grinder, Grinding Through The Mill

#1

Post by MurderWeasel »

((Alton Gerow continued from Five Crooked Lines))

Cacophony and pandemonium were the order of the day. The ringing of the alarms was inescapable, a harsh rattling of metal on metal rolling from one side of the school to the other. As was typical for English class, the desks were arranged in a circle, all the better to facilitate Socratic discussion of the book more than half of them hadn't read, and that made for a troubled start to the evacuation, as a quiet girl near the back of the room who seemed almost buried in her sweater tripped while trying to squeeze between the desks and pulled them to the floor along with her. Ms. Prescott had looked like she'd bit into an apple only to discover it was made of wax when first the alarms started, and at the girl's spill that expression transformed further, as if contained within the wax was rotting meat.

Alton found it all rather exciting.

He was at the girl's side in two long strides, extending his left hand to help her up, giving her a pat on the shoulder and helping her settle her backpack back into position. She was almost cute, he thought, kind of mousy, black hair in a braid with some strands loose like she hadn't done it quite right, dark baggy eyes behind round glasses, sweater hiding probably an extra fifteen pounds. Flip a coin, he thought, heads she's a prude and tails she's a secret freak. Alton had always liked tails better, in part because most people called heads by default.

He couldn't remember the girl's name. Was it just the noise breaking his focus? He was sure he'd seen her around class all year, but nothing was coming. That was somewhat troubling. He looked her over again, like he was making sure she was uninjured, but actually he was scouring for something to spark his recollection and coming up short. He didn't want to be around her anymore, he decided, so with a smile he brushed off her thanks and let her get ahead of him to disappear in the cluster of students crowding towards the door.

"Please be careful," Ms. Prescott was calling. "Leave your things. Single file, please. I know it's just a drill, but I want you to take this seriously. Follow me."

She took off like the Pied Piper, and along went the class, trailing behind her. Alton brought up the rear, watching the others, imaging them briefly as drowning rats. The only ones taking it seriously at all were the teacher's pets. They'd all been through fire drills dozens of times in their school careers, and by the final stretch of senior year the novelty was comparatively minor. It was a shame it hadn't landed during a quiz, really; teachers were informed in advance, but sometimes such things slipped their minds. Had that been the case for Ms. Prescott, Alton wondered, or was she just so hellbent on getting the discussion she wanted that she'd judged the circle of desks an acceptable risk?

Alton's steps were calm, unhurried, his pace and posture relaxed and casual. Lines of students from other classes fell into rows alongside them. Someone hooted. Others chattered back and forth or searched for friends among the throng. Soon they were passing through the broad doors beneath the glowing green exit sign and into the bright midday Tennessee sunshine, snaking their way through the campus until they came to the athletic fields, where they clumped up in groups so that the teachers could get head counts. If there were an actual emergency, this sort of procedure would probably be important, and Alton supposed he was glad that they spent the time to get it right, but a life-endangering incident seemed impossibly distant from the stifling mundanity of high school. The biggest real threat was that someone on a free period would take the opportunity to slip into the empty classrooms to lift wallets from abandoned purses. Alton kept his wallet in his hip pocket at all times. He sort of wished he'd been on a free period or in the bathroom, not so he could steal, but so he could experience the whole affair from a more distanced, less restricted perspective.

Ms. Prescott moved past Alton, checking his name off on a sheet of paper, so he was accounted for and not burned to death in the imaginary conflagration. As she continued down the line, Alton took a more leisurely and considered look around, at the others from English class and at the clumps nearby representing the domains of other teachers. Another thing he'd learned about fire drills: they tended to take a while before the all-clear was given, and as such he might as well find some interesting way to pass the time.
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Frozen Smoke
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#2

Post by Frozen Smoke »

((>tracert ParkerGreen.Pregame
3 | 128 ms 156 ms 137 ms Exodia Destroys- Wait, this isn't right█))

Oddly enough, the shrill, nauseatingly incessant blaring of the alarm had come as a relief to Parker. He liked History, loved it even - From Oblique Order to the failure of the Ancien regime, there were always lessons to be learnt in every chapter in history, even if their applicability was suspect. But McClellan found a way to drain the life out of history in a uniquely boarish fashion, insisting on rembering dates, numbers and statistics and not the underpinning reasons or consequences. He supposed that in some way he was just coaching them for the exams, which likely would focus on such inane details, but he couldn't help but want to suckstart a shotgun as the old man rambled about shit everyone knew wasn't going to be on the test. So, he'd finished the little printoff worksheet they'd been given, and tried his best to look like he hadn't finished as he snuck glances at his phone under the table. Mr. McClellan had been mostly fine about it before, but recently they'd had a conversation asking for more work if he finished, and that it was disrespectful to ignore his teacher in class, which he'd nodded along to. That meant that he needed to at least attempt to hide what he was doing, in order to not risk being made an example of.

The orderly line that had briefly formed in front of McClellan dispersed the second he was done going through the drilled motions of the fire drill, barely looking up to see if anyone responded as he called names from the register, before seemingly resigning himself to the situation as students began to wander off, himself included. His head was tilted down as he looked at his phone, the left side of his mouth bunching up in poorly suppressed annoyance as his negotiations continued over Discord. They'd had this little spot under siege for a while, and the owner was refusing to realise he'd lost and sell the damn thing to him. Sure, it was blatant war profiteering, but it wasn't like there was any law against that in EVE. Beyond that, it was almost like he didn't appreciate the courtesy in at least offering him a way out. That irked him. He was trying to settle this on terms that were a reasonable reflection of the power the both of them had over the situation, and yet nothing approaching reason was forthcoming from the other side.

He sighed, and locked his phone with a tap of his index finger, leaving him looking at his reflection cast in the black glass for a moment before he looked up and around, blinking twice as his eyes adjusted from trying to read the dim screen to the glare of the Tennessee sun. It seemed that much like the lesson he'd just been in, that was going to be a lot of talking with very little substance behind it as well, which he'd rather sidestep. Sometimes he wished life came with a skip cut-scene button.
[+] V7
Relationship Thread!

ImageFaith Clementine Marshal-Mackenzie
[+] Pregame
Memories: Making old enemies
Present Day: Making new friends - Playing childish games - Acting like an adult
Oneshots: Tidying up - Coming home
ImageParker Green
[+] Pregame
Memories: Cheaters never prosper - Except when they do - Keeping promises
Present Day: Getting informed - Playing nice - Keeping up appearances - Playing Games - Talking too much
Oneshots: Preparing for battle
Luca Thomas
[+] Pregame
Present Day: Being a team player
Prom: Trying her best
Memories:
Criticism or thoughts on my writing are welcome and appreciated - always looking to improve! Feel free to poke me on Discord or via PM.
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MurderWeasel
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#3

Post by MurderWeasel »

The other classes nearby were involved in their own checks and counts, teachers bustling to and fro. Thinking about it, Alton realized that fire drills were likely a much higher-stakes occurrence for the teachers and administration than for any individual student. Should a fire break out, the course of action for him or anyone else with a functional brain was clear: exit the building and escape the danger with all possible haste. For a staff member, though, there was the added responsibility of accounting for all their charges, and the consequences for failure to do so could be dire. If, say, Nathan Coleman was using the bathroom unattended and was somehow missed in an actual evacuation and got immolated, that would be a serious lawsuit. Could someone be sent to jail over that? Alton wasn't sure; he'd have to look it up later.

It was bright out. The alarms were still audible, but faintly and far away, only really noticeable if he engaged his mind consciously searching for them. Traffic rumbled past, though not much at this time of day, mostly SUVs manned by stay-at-home moms and pickups and vans belonging to businesses and contractors. It was a shame he couldn't just slip out of line and head for the parking lot and take off, but there was definitely no way to make that subtle and there was probably going to be another head count when they got back inside, and messing with a drill was the sort of trouble Alton saw no reason to get into, at least without a more serious reward than an afternoon goofing around.

Mr. McClellan's class was parked next to Ms. Prescott's, and most of them looked similarly dazed by the combination of official procedure (and if Ms. Prescott was the Pied Piper, Mr. McClellan was a disinterested line director at the DMV) and a warm afternoon. Alton scanned the faces, searching for something to catch his interest, a cute girl to check out if nothing else. It was that time of year where the skirts started getting shorter on all but the most conservative ones.

What he found was Parker Green, looking up from his phone and seeming almost to come out of another world. Good enough. Parker was someone who intrigued Alton for reasons he couldn't quite put his finger on. It was like a flash of recognition, but one he'd never taken the time to fully explore. Maybe part of it was the boy's striking eyes. The glasses could distract, but Alton paid attention to details when it suited him and he made sure to look behind the veil where he could. The mix of grey and blue was more interesting even than the birthmark or the signs of fatigue.

Alton took three steps out of the line, which was becoming more of a cluster anyways as his classmates also fell into conversation with each other and their peers, and nodded at Parker, though he wasn't sure the boy would catch it.

"Glad you made it, Parker," Alton said. "I'll always remember the friends we left to burn."
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Frozen Smoke
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#4

Post by Frozen Smoke »

Parker's initial reaction was surprise, as the Jersey tinged tone of Alton's voice carried over the rest of the crowds murmuring, the use of his name to catch his attention dragging an instinctual reaction out of him, as he turned to face the source of the voice addressing him. He tried not to let the surprise show though, as he smiled easily at his little quip and responded in kind.

"Hey, at least they died warm." he replied, mouth moving in time with his thoughts as he reached for the first humorous response he could muster up, only to criticise it as the sounds began to leave his mouth. He didn't miss a beat though, stumbling over your words made you look worse than dropping a brick of a joke, so he forced himself to keep going, punctuating the end of it with a dark chuckle to show that he wasn't being serious.

Of all the people to find a distraction in, Alton was certainly an interesting one to offer up the opportunity. They'd both moved into the school part-way through 8th grade, a similarity which had proven to be one of the few they'd shared in their paths through the school. Whereas he'd tried his best to stay out of the limelight, Alton had done his best to soak up as much of it as he could, becoming just as well known as the other social nexuses, but without the enemies that the others had managed to collate. He had to imagine there was at least one bitter ex in there, but he'd never heard anything about that. Or anything specific about Alton, really, now that he thought about it. It was almost like he was known for being known.

The question that underpinned the soft break as he decided what to say next was relatively simple though - What was Alton expecting from him? He hadn't done anything to him or his, so this was out of the blue. Perhaps he was simply looking for a distraction too? That made sense, but Alton surely had better options than him for that, given that there He tried to stay under the social radar of the echelon that Alton played with. Not that he was scared of them, he simply didn't see the benefit in it for him, after all, the playboy lifestyle wasn't exactly something he was built for.

"If only we could get a few days off for all those invisible kids who died to the invisible fire, right?" he settled on, after just a second of hesitation. Ragging on school was one of the few things with a 99% approval rate, and he got the impression Alton wasn't anywhere close to the 1% in that equation.
[+] V7
Relationship Thread!

ImageFaith Clementine Marshal-Mackenzie
[+] Pregame
Memories: Making old enemies
Present Day: Making new friends - Playing childish games - Acting like an adult
Oneshots: Tidying up - Coming home
ImageParker Green
[+] Pregame
Memories: Cheaters never prosper - Except when they do - Keeping promises
Present Day: Getting informed - Playing nice - Keeping up appearances - Playing Games - Talking too much
Oneshots: Preparing for battle
Luca Thomas
[+] Pregame
Present Day: Being a team player
Prom: Trying her best
Memories:
Criticism or thoughts on my writing are welcome and appreciated - always looking to improve! Feel free to poke me on Discord or via PM.
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Shiola
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#5

Post by Shiola »

"It doesn't hurt to be prepared. Hurts to burn to death though."

She looked at the building, imagining what it'd look like wreathed in flame. All of the paper and plastic furniture - it would probably be mostly thick black smoke. Glass would crack and shatter from the heat. Even if no one was caught inside, it would be a sad image - a place of learning reduced to ash and blasted brick. It wouldn't happen, of course. There wasn't much to start a fire there, and the school was replete with fire suppression systems. At worst, they'd have to replace everything that got soaked by the sprinklers. Caroline still couldn't help but bristle at Alton and Parkers' cavalier attitude, though. In planes, she'd always been afraid of burning to death in a crash. The fear helped her stay on her toes behind the control stick. Real fear could be useful in small quantities. Not like that fake fear she'd been addled with lately. That wasn't useful.

((Caroline Ford continued from Differential Diagnosis))


Standing out in the field, she couldn't help but overhear Parker and Alton's conversation. She had worked with both of them at least once in different classes, the few times she'd mercifully not been left to do the lion's share of work in group projects. This would leave her with a decent impression of both of them if not for Alton's proclivities. Other than their studies she wouldn't have much to say to either of them, if not for the present situation.

I could be in worse company. Fuckboy. Creep.

Though it had been uncomfortable to get up and leave in the middle of class and trudge into the field, she was somewhat glad that it had interrupted English class. It was too nice of a day to spend cooped up inside, and she'd already read through most of the material anyhow. It was often tedious, sitting around and waiting for everyone else to catch up. It was hard to put up her hand to join in on discussions where she felt like she was the only one who'd actually done the work. Still, she had tried. It was important to try and maintain some semblance of normality these days.

So at least I get a break from that. Finally. it'd be fun to burn. let's try it sometime.

Some of her symptoms were becoming more bearable, though they hadn't gone away. Some colour had returned to the world, and her moods weren't quite so volatile. Dr. Paulson hadn't screwed up completely. It would be some time before the Geodon took effect though, and until then she still had to listen to the sound of a fire raging when there wasn't one there, and ignoring the voices she heard from people and things that didn't exist. At least she could put a name to it now, though she still hadn't said it out loud.

Paranoid Schizophrenia.Schizo. Crazy Caroline. Possessed. Always knew the mormon girl was crazy. Not sure how to break that one to my future prom date. Or anyone.

She reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a tiny plastic bag, popping a pill out and swallowing it. Twice a day, she was told. This was the second one. It was nonchalant enough that people probably wouldn't notice, and if they did she'd find an excuse. Of course they were watching, they were always watching her.

It didn't matter. The conversation going on was enough of a distraction until they all had to go back inside. Caroline turned to the two of them, wearing a blank expression that probably looked like boredom. Apparently the narrowing of her range of emotions was a symptom, too. At least today she looked decent. Getting sleep helped with that. She offered a deadpan reply to Parker's joke, even though it hadn't been meant for her. She was annoyed that people didn't take this seriously, but she had precious little energy to invest in an argument over fire regulations.

"But who liked those invisible kids, anyway? They were always up to no good."
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MurderWeasel
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#6

Post by MurderWeasel »

"Invisible people can be full of surprises," Alton said, smiling at Parker and especially at Caroline. "That's why it pays to learn how to notice them."

He laughed, then.

"But I'd never complain about some extra days off."

And here it was, a turn for the interesting, just like he'd hoped and from a quarter he hadn't expected to boot. Caroline Ford was a quiet girl, one of those shy introverts Alton made especially sure to notice but generally chose not to press. She was smart, he thought, good grades, though there was a moment of hesitation in leveling that assessment as he searched her face to make sure he wasn't just stereotyping. Certainly she looked the picture of an academic too uptight to earn the label of nerd. She was on the shorter end, didn't help that she didn't wear heels, but more than that even her conservative dress couldn't disguise how slight her figure was. Her hair was long and tied back, and her glasses added to the intellectual vibe, and Alton thought again of the girl in the classroom whose name he couldn't remember and then thought that Caroline could have that sexy librarian thing going if only she managed to put on ten or fifteen pounds in the right places and undid a button or two.

He would never have expected her to interject, and certainly not in the flat monotone she did. That made her decision fascinating. Was that sarcasm or a lack of sureness? He couldn't yet say. Why had she broken in? What did she want?

Parker, by contrast, danced with all the right steps, recognizing the small talk as immaterial but carrying the metaphor and offering his own spin, if not one Alton would've immediately expected. He took Alton's comment as callous (fair enough, it was) and brought that undercurrent to the surface and then dragged it into the light. He expanded upon the general theme that this whole process was something of a farce.

The sun was bright and it was warm out and the breeze was faint and interrupted the still air only intermittently. For a moment Alton squinted and let the blur of his eyelashes become a haze of smoke over the school buildings and the heat of the sun become the roar of the inferno, still felt at such a remove as if he was sitting right in front of a fireplace. Then his eyes opened fully again and the illusion was dispelled. The only part of the fantasy not to fade was the unending clamor of the bells.

"At least we get to enjoy the weather a little," he said. "How are you guys today?"
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Frozen Smoke
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#7

Post by Frozen Smoke »

Parker was even more surprised by the next face that came trudging out of the crowd to make a loose triangle between them as they stood on the court, sliding into confrence out of boredom. Caroline looked especially bored, her expression and tone seeming drained, as though it was taking far too much effort. That was very different to the Caroline he’d shared a project with. She hadn’t been the easiest to work with, for sure, but there had been mania there, a rush to get everything done. It wasn’t exactly the best work, and he’d had to edit it a bit, but it was enough to save him time overall, which was better than most.

His thoughts were then interrupted as she wordlessly pulled out a small plastic bag - notably not a pill case - and took a pill from it. She made no effort to explain what it was, so that meant she didn’t want to talk about it. That was what stopped him from asking the question that was instantly spurred by the connection between his two observations;

Bitch, did you just pop a Xanax?

He sure looked like he was about to ask a question though, his lips briefly parting before Alton carried their metaphor further, turning it right back around onto the two of them. The pieces began to fall into place with that top, as it gave away a lot of what Alton saw them as - Invisible. It was a good way of putting it, he supposed, hiding in plain sight. Not doing enough to attract the attention of someone as high and mighty in the social hierarchy of GHHS, but doing enough to not be the bottom of the barrel social failures to the point he wouldn’t interact with them, like Lucas Brady.

That meant that his goal was most likely to form a simple, surface level connection with the possibility of expanding it in the future if he felt it would be useful. That was interesting, but if it was something he did habitually, it made his rise up the ladder make a lot of sense. Having friends everywhere was a good way to make sure people always had one or two sources of information that would tell the story from your side, and make other connections. And, given their relative statuses, he probably assumed that he would be mutually interested in that arrangement. There was a subtle arrogance in that, but poking at it wouldn’t be a good idea, when he could just play along and refuse if Alton tried to leverage a relationship that wasn’t there. Best to keep things surface level in response, then.

“Not bad, you?”
[+] V7
Relationship Thread!

ImageFaith Clementine Marshal-Mackenzie
[+] Pregame
Memories: Making old enemies
Present Day: Making new friends - Playing childish games - Acting like an adult
Oneshots: Tidying up - Coming home
ImageParker Green
[+] Pregame
Memories: Cheaters never prosper - Except when they do - Keeping promises
Present Day: Getting informed - Playing nice - Keeping up appearances - Playing Games - Talking too much
Oneshots: Preparing for battle
Luca Thomas
[+] Pregame
Present Day: Being a team player
Prom: Trying her best
Memories:
Criticism or thoughts on my writing are welcome and appreciated - always looking to improve! Feel free to poke me on Discord or via PM.
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Shiola
Posts: 769
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 9:29 pm

#8

Post by Shiola »

They were friendly. This was good. They would carry on a relatively benign conversation until they had to go back in. Alton thought invisible people were real, did he? That didn’t make any sense. No, he must’ve been joking. Was he really joking, or did he see things too? Doubtful. It was doubtful that Alton would even pay attention if he did see anything like that. Everything she’d heard about Alton made it clear he was very specific in his attentions, not so disorganized. Parker was much the same. So very specific, so clear and cold. The kind of person that depended a lot on cold logic and facts and science. A cold person, in his own way. They were both kind of cold people. Still, it was hot outside so they were probably not as cold as they could be, they had to socialize so they needed to warm up a bit. That comforted Caroline, that people could warm up. She didn’t need to warm up, she was wearing a nice cardigan. What did they say again? How was she, what was she up to? No, how was she? Well she was, and she is. That’s what she wanted to say, but she couldn’t quite figure out how to say it in such a way that it wouldn’t seem that she was saying what she didn’t want to say. She wanted to say what she wanted to say and nothing that she didn’t want to say. That was what she thought, at least she believed. It was hard to believe that this line of thinking was what was going through her head, but then again the level of stimuli going on around her was a bit overwhelming. Not in the emotionally or physically overwhelming sense, more in the psychologically overwhelming kind of way where she had to figure out what emotions even belonged and what didn’t, and how she needed to feed those into a social situation like a vending machine full of friends and enemies. Was that what she wanted to tell Parker and Alton? No, couldn’t be. They wouldn’t understand the metaphor, at least Parker wouldn’t, Parker liked numbers and not language though he did know how to speak language, and at least that was worthy of consideration. She would use language, yes, but what kind of language? It’d get there, she’d find it out here in the field. Fields were pleasant, open spaces. Lots of room to run and fly and fly planes. Could she still fly like this? Probably not, only if people didn’t think she was crazy, and to do that she’d have to find the language that worked properly. How did he put it? Not bad? She wasn’t bad, not really. She’d been worse.

Caroline piped up after an unusually long pause.

“I’m doing okay Alton and Parker, today’s been pretty swell all things considered. I was going to have a bad day, but then all of this happened and I decided it’s going pretty great, pretty swell indeed. Unless there’s an actual fire, in which case it’d probably go back to a worse day again.”

Lord I thank you for the answers I have already received. Heavenly Father, grant me the strength to bring myself to order once again. Good luck with that.

That wasn’t what she had wanted to say. It was very clear to her what she was actually saying, and what it sounded like. Caroline sighed, and shrugged nonchalantly. If she didn’t seem to overtly regard her speech patterns as strange, perhaps the others would just assume she was some kind of eccentric. Hoping to assure this possibility, she offered an eyeless smile.
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MurderWeasel
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Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 1:37 am

#9

Post by MurderWeasel »

"I'm doing just great," Alton said. He smiled.

There were other things he could say. He could prod Parker, because the boy had given an answer a lot less interesting than everything else that had passed in the conversation so far, and that wouldn't do when they'd been off to such a promising start. He could prod Caroline, because the answer she'd given was exactly the opposite, by far the most interesting thing that had yet manifested in this interaction, and perhaps it could lead to even more.

He was building a better picture of both of them. Parker was a little distant. Cautious, maybe. He didn't want to dance lead, and Alton wasn't quite sure why. It piqued his curiosity. Was that the boy's natural state of being, or was it something about Alton putting him on guard? It didn't really matter, except that he wanted to know which made it important after all. He could have tested his hypothesis by varying his stance and seeing the results, and then maybe conducting some external research later. He probably knew somebody who knew somebody who knew Parker.

Meanwhile, Caroline was off. That wasn't news, but the manner of off possibly was. She'd dug that baggie out of her pocket earlier, so casual it had sailed through the interaction as a normal occurrence, unquestioned. In much the same way, she spilled her response, the words perhaps technically correct but really all wrong. She'd used both their names. Wrong. Awkward, like someone trying to socialize by the book who'd only skimmed the SparkNotes. She'd said "swell." Wrong. Swell was a word for grannies and little kids in old movies who said things like "Aw, gosh, mister, jeez, shucks, thank you sir." She'd said she'd been going to have a bad day. Wrong. Alton wasn't the grammar police but you were having a bad day, not "going to have" a bad day unless there was a reason and it made no sense not to supply one if that was the case but she said it like she meant it. No, more than that, you were perhaps fearing you'd have a bad day or expecting to have a bad day. Going to? That was certainty. And yet, she'd changed her mind and decided it was pretty "swell" and insinuated it was due to "this," this being the fire drill or the conversation in progress. Wrong. This was not anybody's highlight yet. Maybe it would be, but it was too early. Nothing had happened so far. And that reference to there maybe being an actual fire? Wrong. It landed in between joke and earnest utterance, lacking the confidence of her earlier statements and humor.

Alton hooked his left thumb into his belt loop and let his head tilt to the left a few degrees. He could've said something to either bring the wrongness to light or shove it under the surface, to turn the spotlight on Caroline and make her sweat or turn it off her and grant her reprieve. He could've asked a question of both of them, to try to draw them into interaction with one another, or he could've put his focus on one or the other to various ends. He could've done all sorts of things.

Alton held his smile and didn't.
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Frozen Smoke
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#10

Post by Frozen Smoke »

Parker had to stop himself from tilting his head to the side and narrowing his eyes, like he would have done if those words were printed in digital ink, as opposed to carried to him via vocal cords. He liked to think he was good at noting the little stumbles in how people spoke, which told you a lot about their lines of thought, but this wasn’t a stumble.

It was a faceplant.

He kept his expression loose and friendly though, taking his eyes away from Caroline to look over at Alton for his response, which he realised rather quickly wasn’t coming. His body language was decidedly relaxed, slouching a little as he watched the two of them, rather than leaning forwards or opening his mouth to speak. He seemed content to observe, although there was a hint of mockery to that smile as he kept his focus on Caroline. Perhaps he wanted her to know he wasn’t impressed with her lack of social acumen, that she’d failed to pass the bar he deemed worthy of a response. Saying as much wouldn’t reflect well on him, that was the kind of snootiness that only Ivy seemed capable of getting away with, and it would clash with his image as the whole school’s friend. But he could sure write it in his actions.

He took just a moment to reflect on what she’d said exactly, before he stepped in to keep the conversation flowing.

She had started off by naming the two of them directly. People normally didn’t address others with that level of specificity that unless they were trying to hold the attention of two people in the context of a larger group, and whilst they were in a crowd, it wasn’t like anyone was close enough to butt in. That probably meant she was thinking about someone else, or felt like they were otherwise going to ignore her - not the most incorrect of assumptions, given Alton’s response.

“Was going to” was a curious way to phrase the concept too. It wasn’t that she had been having a bad day. It implied a level of routine, of certainty that most days would be bad, and as such exceptions were of note. She tried to cover it up with some blather about how it was going to be good now, but that was just that, covering it up. Trying to draw attention away from what she’d revealed there. She even kept going, identifying what would make the day bad again. It was an awkward explanation, and clearly an attempt to throw the conversation’s attention away from her. Most days did not involve their classmates burning to death. But most of her days were still bad.

He supposed maybe she was just awkward, and there was nothing deeper to that. Just coincidences and weird word choices fitting together to create an illusory pattern, a sudden attack of Apophenia on his part. But that assumption was a scab over the mental wound she’d inflicted on him, and he couldn’t help but feel compelled to pick at it.

He moved his eyes away from Alton, as his lips continued not to move, and placed them in contact with Caroline, widening his smile a little. He wanted to look non-confrontational. A friend. Trustworthy. Likeable. Honest. People were so quick to latch on to surface appearances and first impressions, rather than looking at the intent behind people’s actions.

“Glad to hear that. You really hate English that much, huh?” He asked jovially, punctuating it with a little chuckle, to make it all less pointed. Her standing in the same line as Alton meant she had been in the same class, and he recognised Ms. Prescott at the head of it.

Offering her an option left her with a fork. He could agree with him, which meant that she was looking for a way to not discuss it - another point of data from which to extrapolate from - or she could come clean and tell him what was going on in that head of hers. Or she could lie, of course, and misdirect the two of them. Any of those options left him with more information than he’d had before, and her not answering seemed highly unlikely. After all, she had intruded on this conversation. She wanted to talk. Maybe not about herself, but that wasn’t really her choice at this point.
[+] V7
Relationship Thread!

ImageFaith Clementine Marshal-Mackenzie
[+] Pregame
Memories: Making old enemies
Present Day: Making new friends - Playing childish games - Acting like an adult
Oneshots: Tidying up - Coming home
ImageParker Green
[+] Pregame
Memories: Cheaters never prosper - Except when they do - Keeping promises
Present Day: Getting informed - Playing nice - Keeping up appearances - Playing Games - Talking too much
Oneshots: Preparing for battle
Luca Thomas
[+] Pregame
Present Day: Being a team player
Prom: Trying her best
Memories:
Criticism or thoughts on my writing are welcome and appreciated - always looking to improve! Feel free to poke me on Discord or via PM.
User avatar
Shiola
Posts: 769
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 9:29 pm

#11

Post by Shiola »

Alton continued staring at her as Parker kept the conversation going. They weren't the friendliest of people yet were making an effort to be friendly. He smiled. Why was he smiling? What was funny? Clearly the idea of the school burning down. Or maybe, he just felt like smiling. Parker asked about English, and how she apparently disliked it. She did, didn't she? Was she so defined by her dislikes? That wasn't a very good thing, maybe it wasn't best to expound on it. A person didn't want to be defined by their negative emotions, it didn't really build up strong bonds or relationships very well. Did she even care about these two? It was really just a way to pass the time, talking. Bonds. Oh, she had chemistry homework to do. She was glad she remembered that. It was due tomorrow, but she was almost done. Chemistry was a good one. It was elegant. So elegant.

"No, I prefer subjects where I don't have to suffer the slings and arrows of people's half baked opinions on literature they've barely read."

Caroline shot a sideways glance at a few of her classmates, who were caught up in a conversation of their own. She was being honest. Honesty was best, even if the things she had to say weren't the nicest. There was a time for humility. It didn't feel like now. At least not when she was trying to show that she was in fact competent, despite her less than stellar performance over the last few months.

Keep going. Everything is okay. For now.

"Meanwhile I've got dog-eared Dostoevsky, Dante, Dickens and Dumas sitting next to my Book of Mormon at home. Also other names with other letters, those are just the ones I thought of off the top of my head. It's worse when you care, I guess you could say I really like English, speaking it too. Not so much the class, it feels like I've always got to wait for people to catch up. Academically, numbers were always better to me. Math and science, it's a bit like unraveling the unspoken word of God when you get right down to it, no?"

She was still concerned that she seemed erratic, insane even. Maybe just inane? There was a logical consistency to what was said. She spoke of how she adored literature, but hated how English teachers typically butchered it with lesson plans best described as inane. Then she said that she enjoyed math and hard sciences, adding in a point about how it felt like discovering Creation as she learned more about how the world worked. It was pre-empting the typical questions about how she could reconcile faith and science, especially given that she spoke of Scripture next to some of her favorite authors. It all seemed to make sense to Caroline.

So why didn't it sound like it?
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MurderWeasel
Posts: 2565
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 1:37 am

#12

Post by MurderWeasel »

"I like that."

Alton slid back into the conversation with a nod, crossing his arms loosely as discussion turned neatly and of its own accord to his favorite school subject: math. Of course, he disagreed with Caroline's assessment. He didn't believe in a God and if there was one surely He had better things to do than communicate through the infinitely-complicated language of mathematics. What made math fascinating was that it had answers and objectivity, clarity in a world otherwise sketched entirely in nuance. Then again, maybe that was what Caroline was saying, maybe he was getting hung up on the religious angle and missing the message. Yes, he decided a moment later, that was exactly what he'd been doing; actually, they were in agreement.

Already he'd learned some interesting stuff about Caroline. Mormon, huh? That was a shame. Alton didn't know a ton about Mormons, just that they'd done away with polygamy a lot later than the rest of the Western world but had gotten there eventually and that they skewed quite fanatical and that they had this whole extra complicated set of beliefs rather like an appendix added to the Bible. They definitely struck him as uptight and repressed, which could be interesting in its way (Alton didn't much care for Billy Joel but would make an exception for "Only The Good Die Young") but was tough to navigate around and had a lot of potential for fallout.

Parker's presumption and Caroline's response also struck him. The disdain for for the slackers in class poorly fumbling their way through discussions was one Alton shared, but likely for different reasons. He didn't bother with books if they bored him, but he knew how to play it off and had never been caught out yet. The trick was to pick your moments, participate heavily in a few areas centering around the chunks you thoroughly skimmed, pull quotes directly from the text and sprinkle them into conversation, and make the most of the handful of points you had prepared to suggest a similar depth of understanding and thought was present for the entire work. It was really not that hard, and while others messing up made Alton look better by comparison he couldn't shake that tingle of judgement towards them because they didn't even bother to cheat well.

"You should come to the math club sometime," he added. "We nerds don't bite."

He nodded again as he spoke, and raised his eyebrows up and down once, a quick bob. There was a little personal humor in what he'd said, and he wondered if they'd find it too; Alton wasn't a nerd by any standard definition, but he was in math club, which was boring even to a lot of the kids in school who really liked math. It was mostly taking tests for fun and as part of inter-school competitions, or else powering through homework together or puzzling over probability. Most of the population was exactly what might be expected, Poindexter sorts with a need to involve themselves in anything academic for its own sake or to pad their Ivy League applications, but they weren't bad. They were different from Alton's usual crowd, interesting and innocent in a way. Math club had some girls too, though fewer than the boys, and they weren't the sort of girl who normally caught Alton's attention. More Caroline's type, actually. He gave her a once-over again, but subtly, from the corner of his eye.

Alton couldn't quite find a spot to slip in "too sleep, perchance to dream," which was a shame because he actually was fond of Hamlet and found the character relatable in a way uncommon in fiction. But leave the English discussion to Parker, he supposed. It was, after all, Parker who had rolled the dice. Alton didn't think Caroline was someone who would do too well disagreeing with somebody, and she'd become somewhat flustered as-is when put on the spot. Was there something in Mormonism about not being stuck-up or negative? That felt right, but he really wasn't sure.
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Frozen Smoke
Posts: 533
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 3:50 pm
Location: Where I need to be

#13

Post by Frozen Smoke »

Oh, America.

The sudden interjection of the divine into such a meaningless conversation was one of those unique quirks of the south that he'd grown to accept, even if it was something he had a passing distaste for. He supposed it served as a way to search out for other believers in conversation, which probably worked in a vastly less secular country than where he'd grown up. There had been churches, sure, but no-one who mattered actually went to them. They were for the old and the desperate and the emotionally vulnerable, the make-do community centres of the village at best, nothing more.

In America, religion felt like an institution, rather than a relic of a bygone age.

He felt an urge to fight against what she was saying, against the false narrative it played of reality making sense, of having been designed. None of that mattered, there was no underlying pattern, or beauty to behold. It simply was. What mattered was understanding it, reverse engineering everything and exploiting what flaws you found, not searching for a message that wasn't there.

The urge dissipated as he kept his mouth shut. He had found that challenging people on their subjective realities to be both a pointless and ultimately troublesome endeavour. Better to let them live in the world they wanted to believe in and let them fail of their own volition than attempt to right their path. After all, in the long run, the more people who stayed wrong, the better he would do by virtue of not being weighed down with incorrect ideas like the power of prayer and divine intervention that would influence others actions.

The other books she mentioned were interesting though. Especially for a person of her bent. Crime and Punishment, Divine Comedy, Great Expectations, The Count of Monte Cristo - All of them shared a common theme; they all involved the story of someone downtrodden rising up to fight their overarching societal and economic superiors, who they deem to be morally inferior, despite using morally questionable techniques in their ascent.

...

Ok, that actually made a lot of sense for a person of her nature, upon reflection. They were just dark, grim books, which showed the downside of said struggles. The stories themselves made sense, but the tone was off. Then again, Mormonism was a sect he knew little about, with his only real information on it coming from side NPC conversations in Fallout: New Vegas, which didn't seem like a reliable source. Perhaps Mormonism was one of the more Fire and Brimstone, Sodom and Gomorrah style of Christian sects.

He wasn't about to ask.

Alton continued the conversation for him as he mulled over those thoughts, handling it with simple pleasantries that indicated this wasn't going to become a theological debate any time soon, which he was grateful for. The mention of math club was intriguing though. A few people had said that Alton went to that club, but he assumed that like most of the anywhere-approaching-popular kids who dropped in, he did it to make his way through homework without having to try. A respectable commitment to not getting an education and still passing, for sure, but nothing out of the ordinary.

The fact that he was encouraging someone to go there implied that he felt it was an experience worth sharing. Including himself in the category of nerd was awkward too, as Alton slipped out of that definition by a fair margin, at least in his estimation. Was he purposefully trying lower his standing in order to level with Caroline? Imply that they were part of the same ingroup, and therefore she should feel comfortable around him? Those seemed like valid options, though he didn't really have any idea if they were right. And beyond that, he wasn't sure what Alton had to gain by winning Caroline's trust.

"Impressive bookshelf." he noted by way of response, trying his best to look appreciative of her dabbling in the D section of high literature. He pondered for a moment whether he wanted to press her opinions there further, but decided against it. He also declined to let Alton know that some nerds did in fact bite, they just weren't the sort of nerd you'd find at the Math Club, the distinction being pointless to make here.

"I get you though. You don't get marks for trying to argue 2 plus 2 equals 5 in any other class, but somehow that's good enough in English." he said, before shrugging, trying to show he wasn't particularly bothered about the whole thing, and continuing. "Makes it easy enough to get your way to an A though, I suppose."
[+] V7
Relationship Thread!

ImageFaith Clementine Marshal-Mackenzie
[+] Pregame
Memories: Making old enemies
Present Day: Making new friends - Playing childish games - Acting like an adult
Oneshots: Tidying up - Coming home
ImageParker Green
[+] Pregame
Memories: Cheaters never prosper - Except when they do - Keeping promises
Present Day: Getting informed - Playing nice - Keeping up appearances - Playing Games - Talking too much
Oneshots: Preparing for battle
Luca Thomas
[+] Pregame
Present Day: Being a team player
Prom: Trying her best
Memories:
Criticism or thoughts on my writing are welcome and appreciated - always looking to improve! Feel free to poke me on Discord or via PM.
User avatar
Shiola
Posts: 769
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 9:29 pm

#14

Post by Shiola »

Things are going mathematically. Just positively arithmetical. It’ll be fine.
Alton had invited her to join the math club. In truth she’d avoided taking on any responsibilities this year as everything was somewhat difficult at the moment. Still, it was nice to hear the invitation, even if she had no intention of following it up. The words slipped out of her mouth before she had any time to think about them.

“Ooh. I could use someone to look over my notes because I missed a few classes, and that’s also why I probably can’t take a swing at coming by. I’m only supposed to be in like… well, I really only can do a few extracurriculars. Doctors Without Borders since International Medicine is what I’m interested in. Then there’s my Church youth group on Fridays, which I head. We call it TGIF, which is kind of corny but it’s an old name. Hard to run when you’re beset by spirits, but we get by.”

Caroline only barely realized what she’d said after she said it. It wasn’t like it wasn’t true, though it probably was well past what they’d understand anyhow. They were likely nonbelievers and would make fun of her for it. So many people did, they wouldn’t be the first or the last. The LDS understanding of spirits was idiosyncratic, hard to explain. They weren’t supposed to be here, and they didn’t have any power unless she gave it to them. But then, she had to want to be giving them power, didn’t she? She had to want to stray from the Heavenly Father, at least some small amount. The guilt made her frequently queasy. She had to remember to eat today, that was still important. You couldn’t fend off the Third on an empty stomach.

Parker complimented her choices in reading, and then substantiated her claim that English class was hot garbage. That was nice, he seemed to have a good head on his shoulders. At least, his prowess in academia and level demeanour seemed to indicate as such.

“Oh and… thanks, I have more. Lots more. For me…”

Caroline stopped to cough. Her throat was dry, she hadn’t drank much water that day. Plus, there was the smoke from the fire. That would make anyone cough, she reasoned. She was surprised she was the only one who was feeling ill.

Wait, what smoke? There's no smoke? Why am I smoke?

“…sorry, the uhh - the smoke’s getting to me. It’s easy for me, easily done. I’m small, so it’s not like academia is really going to be terrible and not easy, you know. I always figure it out, rarely does it manifest in…”

Ugh, can’t I just? For one time, maybe a dozen? Two plus two does in fact, equal four.

“…whatever. What do you guys do when you’re not here? I’m going on here and there, I didn't mean to, my apologies.”

In the few moments when her racing thoughts seemed to slow down, Caroline desperately hoped that the bell would ring once more and they’d be beckoned back inside.
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MurderWeasel
Posts: 2565
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 1:37 am

#15

Post by MurderWeasel »

"Oh," Alton said, "I do a little of this, a little of that. I run. I organize criminal enterprises. I drive friends to parties."

He chuckled a little and half shrugged, half rolled his shoulders. He was watching the other classes mill, watching the teachers with their lists, watching the cars roll by on the street, but only loosely. He let his gaze drift easily, but his actual attention was fixed on his conversational partners, one offering him nothing and the other everything.

"And don't worry about talking; you're interesting."

Interesting Caroline was, very interesting indeed. Not, granted, for the reasons Alton implied; he could think of few things less enthralling than a youth group from a church. International medicine was barely better, unless she ended up in somewhere really out of the way and dangerous, and Alton found that staggeringly unlikely given what else he was learning about the girl. But then again, Mormons were about the missionary life, weren't they? Did they have mechanisms in place to prevent the obvious disaster that would be cutting Caroline loose in, say, Syria without a proper support network or a clue? Would she be on the news someday, first the bookish white Christian girl (because Mormons were Christian enough, Alton thought) gone missing in a foreign land on an errand of peace, then the corpse finally dredged out of a ravine or shallow grave, naked, head and hands cut off?

They'd talk with those who'd known her. Her church group mostly, probably; Alton was nobody to her so he wouldn't be interviewed, but if he was, what would he say? He'd be the one to break the narrative, he thought. Anyone could say that she was too pure, too naive, too innocent. Yes, innocent, that would be the word they used, how terrible that such a thing happened to one so innocent, but Alton would say that she'd been scattered, unsure, on the edge. He'd say he'd thought something like this might happen, as soon as he heard she was going. He'd tell the truth not out of any feeling it needed to be told, but from the novelty of it. It would be his testimony that introduced doubt, that complicated an otherwise clean and trite narrative.

Because, of course, what really made Caroline interesting, to Alton and, he suspected, in a grander universal sense, was her scattered, inappropriate nature. She was out of it, a rambling disaster. He'd stopped ticking off her gaffes on his mental list. There was just too much; her speech was not merely interrupted by constant mistakes, it was rather elemental mistake that was infrequently disrupted by normalcy and coherence.

Alton had a theory well under way by now. Caroline, he suspected, had a poor filter indeed. Was that the result of the mystery pill she'd swallowed, or was it just how she was? Either was possible. A staggering number of Alton's peers had made it almost two decades through life without learning how and when to button their lips. They were slaves to impulse and whim. Alton wasn't being hypocritical in judging them for that, because while he often indulged impulse and whim himself, it was always by choice. He could understand the concept of repercussions, and that was how and why he got away with those things he got away with that would make the more uptight of his classmates balk. In psychological theory, as he loosely understood it, many of the others were overly dominated by superego or id, while Alton kept both elements in balance. Or was perhaps Caroline something more, a case where both extremes were represented too strongly and fought without the translating medium of the ego to produce stability?

He wasn't sure he was applying the terms correctly, was indeed pretty sure that the theory originated with Freud or somebody else left behind by the march of scientific progress and understanding, but it made for a good mental model. Parker, he'd decided, was definitely superego.
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