peckishpeople: (qualls 1)
peckishpeople ([personal profile] peckishpeople) wrote in [community profile] peckenpaugh2019-11-07 11:59 am

In the computer lab today...

There’s no lecture today, no immediate calamity from which Mr. Qualls needs to be rescued, and if Lionel checked his star charts, he’d see today is a great day for touching base with your loved ones. Yes, today is the day to ask Mr. Qualls if he has a brother. What could possibly go wrong?

The computer lab is mostly empty, save for a few students studying or browsing the web in the back of the room, when Lionel approaches his ghostly instructor with his question. “Do you have a brother?” is simple enough, but Mr. Qualls doesn’t have an immediate answer. He thinks, and thinks, and the more he thinks the harder his pale blue face screws up.

“Brother?” he asks. “Brothers. Brothers, brothers.” Mr. Qualls stares up at the buzzing fluorescent lights. “There were brothers!”

Realization, recollection, dawns on his features. He opens his mouth to say more, and then stops. Mr. Qualls makes a strange, strained noise and then begins to jitter. “My—” The muggle studies teacher seems to be malfunctioning, again, his very form tearing and hitching. Spliced between trying to speak and, somehow, seeming to be in excruciating pain. Color fills his form in flashes, vibrant and dull, living and dead.

The computer monitors at the front of the room begin to smoke. The lights overhead flicker. Mr. Qualls looks at his TA. Past his TA.

“Lionel?” He says, and there’s a great flash as the lights above blow and the power goes out. For a second, everything is silent and dark. No glitching instructor, no glow from computer monitors. The room fills with the smell of burning plastic.

Then Mr. Qualls blinks, shakes his head, and most of the overhead lights and back rows of computers come back on. “Brother? Hm? No. Always wanted one, but my parents decided I was enough, I guess. Oh! James, it looks like those damn Windows updates have mucked up the computers again. Could you have a look?”

Mr. Qualls returns to his desk as though nothing is wrong. Beneath the spot where he’d been floating, right in the middle of the floor, Lionel finds a shiny black stone, shaped like a cicada’s shell.

For the rest of the day, Peckenpaugh’s already limited internet goes down. It should be back up tomorrow, though! The front row of computers ⁠— four PCs ⁠— appear to have been bricked by an electrical surge and will need to be replaced.

UP TO EIGHT STUDENTS may have been present in the computer lab, to witness this event. One per player max. The power throughout the old victorian flickered and the acrid smell from the burnt out computers filled the building, so students anywhere else in the library would've noticed quickly, too.


lionellovelace: (👨🏻‍💻- 012)

REACTIONS: Lionel Lovelace

[personal profile] lionellovelace 2019-11-07 08:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Lionel walks slowly around the room, looking over people's shoulders, keeping tabs on everybody's work. He doesn't offer help; he waits for people to ask. Truth be told, sometimes he has a hard time knowing if someone needs assistance. Are they confused or are they really trying to google where to find turtles? Better to let them ask than for him to assume incorrectly.

Seeing as everyone seems to be fine, Lionel takes this opportunity to approach Mr. Qualls. He's been meaning to ask about the photo Xenia uncovered. The one of a younger Mr. Qualls with a man who resembles him. "Do you have a brother?" he asks. You'd think it'd be easy to answer. It's a yes or no question after all. Yet Qualls seems stumped.

Lionel worries he maybe didn't annunciate clearly enough. Perhaps Qualls heard 'another' or 'a buzzer' or 'a buffer'. But then his teacher repeats 'brother' a couple of times and it's clear that it's not the word that's stumped him, it's his ability to answer the question. Is the answer lost? Repressed? Deleted? Seeing the strain on his teacher's face, Lionel is about to tell him not to worry. It doesn't matter. They can talk about something else.

For before Lionel can speak, Qualls is glitching out. His form tearing. Lionel lets out a yelp, lost under the sound of Quall's own pain. "No! No!" Lionel cries. His hands quickly find the distorting edges of his teacher, and he tries to hold his form in place. A futile but instinctive action. "Stop stop stop stop," he pleads quietly, "I'm so sorry."

Helpless, Lionel blows in Qualls' ear like a Nintendo cartridge and frantically whispers, "Control alt delete" over and over again. It has, predictably, no effect. It's Qualls who saves himself this time. "Lionel?" he asks and the lights flash and the power goes out. In the dark, Lionel's voice comes back cautiously. "Yes. Lionel." It's the first time Qualls has gotten his name right before.

The power comes back, Qualls returns to normal, and Lionel remains motionless as Qualls gives an entirely calm (and almost certainly incorrect) answer about not having a brother. When the teacher floats back to his desk, Lionel bends and picks up the cicada shell. He considers asking Qualls if he dropped it, but thinks better of it. No more questions for his teacher today. He wordlessly places it on his own desk and sets about examining the computers. Many will have to be replaced.

Later, Lionel sits at his desk and opens a notebook. In his own coded language, he takes detailed notes on the day. Everything he can remember of Qualls' answer, how his ghostly body distorted, observations of this small black stone. And in the top right corner of the page, under the coded phrase "Days Without A Qualls Incident" he erases the number two and writes: 0.
lionellovelace: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] lionellovelace 2019-11-07 05:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Qualls!!!! Lionel’s senile dad fragile mentor! I don’t know if he’s more concerned by what happened to the computer lab or the fact that Qualls actually got Lionel’s name right for once. I’ll be back after I’ve had some coffee to write a proper reaction.
circuitree: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] circuitree 2019-11-07 05:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Lionel nearly kills another teacher. What a menace.
lionellovelace: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] lionellovelace 2019-11-07 05:16 pm (UTC)(link)
I stg, if the Quackenbushes are like, “I saw him muttering a curse disguised as an innocent question and then Qualls began glitching” Lionel will lose his mind 6 months early.
artistree: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] artistree 2019-11-07 05:17 pm (UTC)(link)
thank you for the inspo ben
circuitree: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] circuitree 2019-11-07 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
they're gonna start asking people if they have a brother to see what happens
sugarnspite: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] sugarnspite 2019-11-07 05:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Catch Uriah when he's not feeling well and he might faint on them. Rumor CONFIRMED.
circuitree: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] circuitree 2019-11-07 05:29 pm (UTC)(link)
They have to save the rest of the staff before Lionel's rampage claims another victim
lionellovelace: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] lionellovelace 2019-11-07 05:39 pm (UTC)(link)
i... i only have myself to blame i guess
artistree: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] artistree 2019-11-07 05:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Lionel needs to get his murderous urges under control
sugarnspite: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] sugarnspite 2019-11-07 05:14 pm (UTC)(link)
LIONEL WHAT DID YOU DO

Val was in the middle of updating her Instagram with photos of perfectly arranged crystals in a pentagram. :(
artistree: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] artistree 2019-11-07 05:15 pm (UTC)(link)
It was HALFWAY DONE UPLOADING :(((
lionellovelace: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] lionellovelace 2019-11-07 05:41 pm (UTC)(link)
He's a monster, sorry
ohwormhole: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] ohwormhole 2019-11-07 05:14 pm (UTC)(link)
👀👀👀

I'd love to say that Fred was witness to this incident??
artistree: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] artistree 2019-11-07 05:16 pm (UTC)(link)
ABSOLUTELY
ohwormhole: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] ohwormhole 2019-11-07 06:11 pm (UTC)(link)
She screamed when the power went out :(

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] teratophilia 2019-11-07 05:45 pm (UTC)(link)
oh i would love for armani to have been there please. he's just trying to browse den of angels you guys
peckishmods: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] peckishmods 2019-11-07 05:48 pm (UTC)(link)
God Den of Angels that's a website I haven't thought of in more than a decade. YOU GOT IT
dareyouto: (💅 068)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] dareyouto 2019-11-07 06:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Maisy was here and using one of the computers that bricked. Gremlins! Sorry Lionel!!!
Edited (she was trying to figure out where she can find turtles) 2019-11-07 18:14 (UTC)
peckishmods: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] peckishmods 2019-11-07 06:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Even saving your work won't help you now Maisy :(
quodpotted: by <user name="10billionghosts"> (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] quodpotted 2019-11-07 06:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Wyatt was here. He was finally googling Rocky (Horror). Almost figured out what his Halloween costume was.
peckishmods: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] peckishmods 2019-11-07 06:28 pm (UTC)(link)
So close but so far, Wy Guy
tristfully: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] tristfully 2019-11-07 06:48 pm (UTC)(link)
I'd really like Viola to have been here! What even ARE ghosts? Her head is spinning and she is breathing heavily now.
peckishmods: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] peckishmods 2019-11-07 08:03 pm (UTC)(link)
The best two days of Viola's life!
lionellovelace: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] lionellovelace 2019-11-07 08:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you for this, mods! It's very cool and fun and genuinely stressful!
circuitree: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] circuitree 2019-11-07 08:28 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm
Dying

I love stressing children out
artistree: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] artistree 2019-11-07 08:33 pm (UTC)(link)
I AM DELIGHTED and am glad you enjoyed it.
gold_digger: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] gold_digger 2019-11-08 01:24 am (UTC)(link)
Does Lionel feel bad for murdering computers, his true friends?
lionellovelace: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] lionellovelace 2019-11-08 01:44 am (UTC)(link)
It’s! Not! His! Fault!

[...] Right?
circuitree: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] circuitree 2019-11-08 01:49 am (UTC)(link)
he only manslaughtered them
lionellovelace: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] lionellovelace 2019-11-08 02:48 am (UTC)(link)
he's lawyering up
damnnearkilledem: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] damnnearkilledem 2019-11-08 02:53 am (UTC)(link)
turns out the quackenchildren are most interested in finding out if Lionel is predisposed to baldness
lionellovelace: (Default)

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[personal profile] lionellovelace 2019-11-08 03:10 am (UTC)(link)
😬 stay away from his dna 😬