WILDGULCH JUNIORS MOVIE NIGHT

[bratsquatch]

Who: Wildgulch juniors
When: The night of January 2nd (*this is backdated to yesterday*)
Where: Wildgulch junior girls' room
What: They watch a mystery VHS
Warnings: Language probably

It's their first night back from break, which means two things: it's time to reassemble Big Bed™ and it's time to watch Felicity's mystery VHS. She stands at the door in her leopard onesie and swings her arm in a large exaggerated circle, waving everyone in like a third base coach. Come in! Find a spot on the large make-shift bed! Get comfortable! Once everyone is settled, she walks to the front, and stands beside a TV and VHS player she "borrowed" from a distracted Muggle Tech Studies TA.

She addresses them dramatically. "Ladies and gentlemen. Familiars and friends. Tonight we have a very special treat." She slips the unlabeled VHS out its Ghostbusters 2 box and holds it before them. "A film of mysterious origins. Full of unknown content. Will it be spooooky?" She rattles the VHS in her hand. "Or scandalous?" She fans herself with the VHS. "We find out, together."

And with that, she pops the VHS into the player, presses play, and jumps into the pile of bodies and blankets.

And this is what they see:

The frames of the unlabeled VHS tape pull a bit at first, distorted, but the image is clear: it's the volleyball scene from Top Gun, fifteen or so seconds of muffled and grainy footage, as though recorded from a television broadcast. Then, abruptly, the scene cuts to a man in a tweed suit sitting at a desk in a yellow-walled room. The camerawork is simple, not quite amateur, but certainly no better than a local commercial.

Frames tear again before the man behind the desk starts to move, and we catch up to him mid-sentence, "...not the great vastness of space, but here, just hiding, beyond the veil." The man, middle-aged and white-haired, smiles the smile of a minister, warm and welcoming. He is excited to share what he knows with you, the viewer. "In him, there is more knowledge, more power, than the sum total of humanity. In him, we may come to—" the film chops and stutters. "—t-t-t to know i-i-i-infinity."

A flicker, and then the screen goes black. Black, but not still. Something in that darkness writhes, barely visible with all the grain, and faintly, a sound. A song. Is that... Bob Dylan? Twenty seconds of dark slithering and song play, cut by bursts of static, before the tape ends.

Comments

[negligently]

"Holy shit it's gay porn," Uriah says about Top Gun approximately five seconds into the volleyball scene.

Wildgulch Juniors

[infamously]

Presley pinches the bridge of his nose. Of course it's gay porn. "I cannot believe you all talked me into this."

(He brought his sheep onesie, as commanded. But he is not wearing it.)

Wildgulch Juniors

[crowhop]

"Wait, WAIT!" Mary Grace shouts as she scrambles to yank her onesie over her head. She keeps getting it on backwards somehow and she's starting to suspect it's cursed. "I'm NOT missing the good parts!!"

Wildgulch Juniors

[shoulderdevil]

"All you're missing are some bad nipples and some non-compelling sports," Patrice complains.

Wildgulch Juniors

[opsia]

"Nothin' good's happening," Desmond adds, placating. "Everyone's real -" He fumbles with the words for a second, mouth twitching to the side. "Slick, though."

Wildgulch Juniors

[negligently]

"Real shiny," Uriah confirms. He's also wearing his snuggly sheep uniform, which is not a very good outfit for watching sweaty bodies. "But no one's getting' naked or touchin'. Wait, maybe it's actually Baywatch?" He's also never seen Baywatch.

Wildgulch Juniors

[zadielovelace]

Zadie, dressed obligingly in her leopard onesie, had been anxiously braiding and unbraiding her hair when the (probably cursed) movie started playing. Now she's just staring dumbly and nods uncertainty at Uriah's comment. Maybe it is Baywatch. Whatever it is, she's starting to wish she'd brought a book.

Wildgulch Juniors

[quodpotted]

Wyatt in his onesie is looking at, but not directly looking at, the screen. "Where'd you get this movie again?" He doesn't want to miss anything important, in case this becomes a point of reference for them, but he doesn't want to look like he's paying too much attention if it's porn. Is this porn?

Wildgulch Juniors

[crowhop]

Mary Grace finally yanks her head through the neckhole and scowls at the screen.

"I ain't watching this guy bang, y'all," she says as the older man appears on the TV set. "Unless..."

Wildgulch Juniors

[quodpotted]

"Unless what?"

Wildgulch Juniors

[crowhop]

She shrugs.

"It awakens something in me."

Wildgulch Juniors

[opsia]

Des tips his head, narrows his eyes at the screen. "Which one you objecting to?"

Wildgulch Juniors

[negligently]

Uriah points at Mary Grace. "I knew you were a freak for old guys like Bobson."

Wildgulch Juniors

[infamously]

Presley frowns as he watches the middle-aged man talk. He doesn't appear to be on the verge of taking his clothes off. "Deverill, this has thus far been neither scandalous nor spooky."

Wildgulch Juniors

[bratsquatch]

“Bring back Tom!” Felicity yells at the kind, old man on the screen. One, because she was pretty into the shirtless volleyball. And two, because this old sweetie is embarrassing her. She agrees with Presley’s assessment of the film, but she won’t admit that. “Oh!” she exclaims, remembering some details about Known Squib Tom Cruise’s personal life. “Do you think this guy is talking about Scientology? Because that would be both spooky and scandalous.”

Wildgulch Juniors

[opsia]

"Like some cult shit?" Des asks, leaning forward to listen to the cordial enthusiasm, narrowing his eyes further. He lets out a huff of air, discontented and skeptical. "Don't like his face."

Ain't nobody that smiles like that for real.

Wildgulch Juniors

[quodpotted]

"Could be!" Wyatt agrees enthusiastically, mostly because he has no idea what they're talking about anymore.

Wildgulch Juniors

[zadielovelace]

Zadie resumes her anxious braiding and unbraiding as the film switches from volleyball to the yellow room, but stops again as the screen goes black and visibly jumps as something begins moving in the darkness. She leans closer to whoever's sitting closest to her and murmurs quietly to no one in particular, "...is this the cursed part?"

This definitely feels like the cursed part. Even with that old song playing.

Wildgulch Juniors

[quodpotted]

Wyatt squints into that darkness, but he can't make out what's there, so he turns his head halfway away. "Maybe?" It's kind of freaking him out. "Who put this crap on tape, anyhow?"

Wildgulch Juniors

[bratsquatch]

"Yeah what is this?" Felicity pops off the bed and hits the side of the TV. "I don't like it." There's a hint of nerves in her voice, though she tries to disguise her discomfort as disappointment.

Wildgulch Juniors

[infamously]

"Deverill, don't—" Touch it, he means to say, but that sounds ridiculously paranoid, and Presley just closes his mouth. He refuses to be scared by a silly prank. "Where did you get this VHS, anyway?"

Wildgulch Juniors

[bratsquatch]

"Someone left it at Zippy's and never claimed it."

She doesn't hit the TV again and instead retreats back to the bed.

Wildgulch Juniors

[quodpotted]

"This is the worst porn I have ever seen," Wyatt announces.

Wildgulch Juniors

[crowhop]

"This is like watching porn starring Doug," Mary Grace complains. "BRING BACK THE NIPS," she starts to chant, pounding her fists on her thighs.

Wildgulch Juniors

[quodpotted]

Wyatt stuffs his mouth full of Skittles, jostling Zadie beside him in the process. "Nips was the best part so far," he agrees, unable to quite look at the weird black writhing. "Did any of this awaken anything in you, O'Malley?"

Wildgulch Juniors

[crowhop]

Mary Grace knocks on her chest.

"Nah." Shrug. "Still dead inside."

Wildgulch Juniors

[quodpotted]

Wyatt nods approvingly and offers her the Skittles bag. "Don't change for nobody."

Wildgulch Juniors

[infamously]

Presley sighs loudly. Nothing's jumped out of the TV, so he's fine. It's fine. "I wish I could change knowing any of you."

Wildgulch Juniors

[quodpotted]

Wyatt pouts for a moment, but the expression quickly melts into a grin. "You don't mean that, Pres." Now he offers him the Skittles bag. There are a disproportionate amount of lemon candies, but that seems appropriate for Presley.

Wildgulch Juniors

[bratsquatch]

"Yeah, Pres," Felicity turns away from the screen toward her friends. "Without us, who would you cuddle with?" Her tone suggests Presley clearly didn't think this through.

She starts wiggling her arms like the black writhing on the screen and gives Presley a devilish grin before repeating, "Who would you cuddle with, Pres?"

Wildgulch Juniors

[zadielovelace]

Typically, Zadie tries not to get involved when it comes to teasing Presley, but when Felicity begins wiggling her arms around and emphasizing the horrors of a cuddle-free life, she can't help but start to giggle and she has to hide it behind her hand.

Wildgulch Juniors

[opsia]

"Sad," Desmond mumbles, mouth quirked up at the corners. "But he'd probably get more done."

Wildgulch Juniors

[quodpotted]

"Don't give him justification!" Wyatt squawks.

Wildgulch Juniors

[infamously]

"No, Savage has a point." Presley starts rising to his feet, because the movie is over and therefore he has no reason to stick around. "I could be studying right now instead of getting mocked by you delinquents."

Wildgulch Juniors

[zadielovelace]

This halts Zadie's laughter immediately and she drops her hands, looking stricken. "We're sorry, Presley!" she insists, not hesitating to speak for the group to convey her apology or to make the offer that accompanies it, "The movie's over, anyway. Why don't we all go study together?" She gives the others a hopeful but uncertain smile. Right, guys? Don't you all want to go study?