[OPEN] and then it just kept getting worse

[chronomancer]

characters: (jade!) Eridan Ampora and anyone willing to be subjected to movies, self-pity and shrugging.
setting: floor 14 - the media room
format: starting with action, but I'll match your preference
summary: Eridan has found heaven, aka, somewhere to watch movies and forget his life sucks quite as much as it does.
warnings: pity-party? Will add more as necessary.

[After making himself scarce for a bit, trying to get a hold of everything going on and finally finish untangling his goddamn reels, Eridan's wandering around the Tower landed him somewhere he almost dare hope wouldn't suck too much. He wasn't sure he wanted to tempt fate and ask how it could suck: there were movies he had never watched there. So after making sure he wasn't going to run into someone he didn't want to, he curled up in a beanbag chair and set up to demolish a pile of movies until he either felt better, the world stopped sucking, or he forgot he felt like shit because the world sucked.

If you enter the media room, you'll find his horns the most recognizable part of his silhouette against the screen where something vaguely violent but definitely adventurous is going on. He's folded his knees to his chest, resting his chin on his knees, and seems completely absorbed by the narrative trying hard to be heard over the explosions and Really Fucking Cool Shit going on in the movie.

Pester?]

Comments

[mutab1e]

[Yes. His nickname is secretly Ekky now.]

[Equius looks down at the reels, frowning. They're not as delicate as he initially thought, which is good; even if he does have a total lack of STRENGTH, he was worried that he would rip something and... probably unwind the fabric of reality or something. He can't be responsible for that.]

[It's slow work, though, definitely. Mostly weaving things through other things. Fortunately, Equius is a patient troll, and he's always found untangling wires and things somehow calming... so this is a good setup for him, really.]

What are you watching?

[chronomancer]

[Eridan is slowly reaching that relaxed state again, all but devouring the movie with his eyes. Equius question gets him back to reality and he looks at his friend for a moment, before shrugging and resting his cheek on his knees.]

Human movvies. They're not as bad as I feared they'd be. Actually, some of them are pretty good.

[mutab1e]

[He never really did like movies. Never could afford them, and when he somehow did, they never wound up being good enough that they were worth it.] They did take influence from us.

[chronomancer]

They really did.

[Eridan snorts, somewhat amused.]

They could'vve taken after us on titles too, though. Movvie's nearly ovver an I'm still not entirely sure wwhat an Ultimator is supposed to be, much less wwhy that qualifies as a title.

[mutab1e]

...'Ultimator'? That's it?

[Okay, even he knows enough about movies to see that there's something wrong here.]

[chronomancer]

Exactly!

[Eridan rolls his eyes and waves a hand at the screen.]

And it's not even the name of the protagonist, but rather the vvillain. Wwhy wwould you title your movvie wwith just your vvillain name? It's not like he's the focus of the movvie either. It's ridiculous.

[He deflates a bit, shaking his head.]

At least the movvie itself is not bad, just vvery poorly titled.

[mutab1e]

No? [Equius finally looks up from the reels -- which look slightly smaller -- but is only able to catch the beginning of the credits. Son of a gun.]Hm.

If you're watching another one, would you mind turning the volume down?

...You know.

If you can hear it.

[WOW. Numbskull Zahhak is numbskull. SERIOUSLY, MAN, SERIOUSLY... Yeah, he's just going to look back at the reels now. Curses.]

[chronomancer]

[Eridan blinks.]

Oh, sorry. I'm just used to wwatching wwith the sound all the wway up.

[While the credits roll, Eridan reaches to the other side of the beanbag and grabs a bunch of boxes, offering them to Equius.]

Here, you pick the next one.

[mutab1e]

[Uh, what. Him? He doesn't know the first thing about movies, so he looks them over and picks one at random, handing it back to Eridan while the rest of the pile gets a new home behind both of them.]

[It's Con Air.]

[chronomancer]

[Eridan nods.]

I havven't wwatched this one either. Let's see howw it goes...

[And once the disc is popped in, the credits begin to roll and... Con Air.]

[mutab1e]

[Just... Con Air.]

[Ninety consecutive minutes of PAIN Con Air.]

[Let's do this.]

[...Or not, because it seems Equius has returned his attention to the time reels, and is only occasionally looking up at the movie proper. John would be so disappointed in him.]

[chronomancer]

[Eridan keeps shifting about. And spluttering. But mostly shifting around. As if he needed to find the right posture, to make Con Air stop being Con Air.

I give him forty minutes in before he falls of his chair with all that squirming.]

[mutab1e]

[Fortunately, Equius is mostly immune to the QUALITY ENTERTAINMENT that is Con Air, due to not actually giving a shit flying fuck ...fish. Flying fish. So when he next looks up, Eridan seems to be squirming around like a lunatic.]

Eridan? Is something wrong?

[chronomancer]

...ah. No.

[He shifts about again, frowning.]

It's nothin, I'm just tryin to--

[Eridan's jaw dropped. And then he snapped at the screen, throwing his arms up in the air.]

Wwhat the fuck, not even Tavv has that much good luck!

...We should make them watch The Breakfast Club.

[mutab1e]

[And his eyebrows go waaaaaay up at Eridan's nice little random outburst. And then he leaves the reels a second time, reaching back and flipping once again through the stack of terrible old Earth movies. It seems that he made a bad choice; this one is making Eridan a little... upset.]

...you have the best ideas. >3

[chronomancer]

[Eridan blinked when he realized he was standing on the beanbag, mostly on account of the fact he nearly fell off.]

Um.

[He cleared his throat, trying in vain to play it cool as he stepped down and sat back.]

...sorry about that.

Was watching it last night, and all I could think of was how awkward they would be. xD

[mutab1e]

...Would you mind if I put something else on? [Even though he is doing it for Eridan's own good, force of habit demands that Equius ask first. A line is a terrible thing to step over.]

...let's do this, because they're clearly not awkward enough already, on their own or together.

[chronomancer]

[Eridan shrugged, sinking into the debts of his seat.]

Oh. A course not, pick anythin you wwant.

Clearly.

[mutab1e]

[He doesn't know what this movie is either, but whatever it is, it looks very different from Con Air... so hopefully it will make Eridan rage just a bit less.]

[...Wow, is everyone in this movie dressed like a lunatic?]

...oh, and there go Eridan's fashionista sensibilities being offended.

[chronomancer]

[Eridan's head starts to slowly tilt itself to the side with each new... "outfit" that appears on screen. He doesn't look mad, though. Just vaguely horrified.

...those colors don't match, holy shit.]

oooo gurl

[mutab1e]

[Equius attempts to busy himself with the time reels, to get his attention away from the screen. It fails. And almost without realizing it, he is suddenly a lot closer to the beanbag chair, leaving the film reels in a smaller -- but not unsorted -- lump on the floor. You can't... look... away...]

he considers it community service, really.

[chronomancer]

[This is so mesmerizing. You really can't. Look. Away. Gotta watch everything. Everything.

Dear god.]

[mutab1e]

[The mun figures this will be useful.]

[Meanwhile, the muse is blinking rapidly.] ...Do... do humans actually dress like this?

[chronomancer]

N--

[Oh, right. David. Eridan groans and falls into the beanbag, sounding tortured.]

Yes. Yes they do. At least until I grab a hold a an alchemizer an make it all better. I just. Nevver kneww it wwas this bad.

[mutab1e]

[He's just going to glance down at his outfit, and then over at Eridan's, to make sure that they haven't suddenly been revealed to be as crappy as these human ones. But fortunately, they weren't. ...He doesn't remember his humans dressing like this. Except for the one...]

Would you expect any less?

[His voice sounds oddly dead as the introductions end and we get our first shots of the charming... person who is apparently these human teenagers' custodian for the day. At least his outfit is gray. Jeez.]