I Have to Return Some Videotapes

[Grand Moff Hissa]

"Hey, Thomas."

Cool, it was someone Gemini liked, even. She settled back into her chair and glanced back at the screen, where things were happening.

Actually, wasn't this sort of early for dog-stomping? In fact, this whole sequence really wasn't all that bad, at least as far as onscreen murders went. This wasn't even as bloody as the first murder in Scream. Gemini had been expecting, well, quite a bit worse. Graphic mutilation, maybe. Eyeballs bisected, like Un Chien Andalou. Throw in some hate speech. Dwell on the whole thing for a while. Make it painful to watch, even for a slasher veteran.

Thomas was asking what she was holding, so she turned, beginning to unzip the case to show him.

"It's just my cam—"

Another jump cut: Fraiser right there, smoothie in hand, heading for the desk.

He must have tailed Thomas in, but Gemini had already turned away by that point so she hadn't realized. Now, caught entirely off guard, she jerked backwards. The motion was abrupt, and it carried her far enough that her butt slid off the seat; her right leg flailed for purchase just enough to entangle itself in the legs of the desk, and an instant later she was falling to the side in a slow-motion collapse, curling her body and cradling the camera case to her chest to protect it, the desk toppling over on top of her with a resounding clatter.

[Deblod100]

The movie was going towards the Christmas party scene. Patrick Bateman is surrounded by people he hates and is disgusted by. There was also the dinner scene with Paul Allen, to which the menu in that restaurant mentions a "mud soup", though for some random tex-mex joint that it looks like in the movie, it could be anything.

Though, from Mortimer's analysis, Patrick Bateman seemed to want to kill Paul, because he had a tanning bed in his apartment.

Mortimer was currently absorbed with the film, ignoring that Wade was greeting Thomas. Thomas went over to say something to Gemini, but then Mortimer heard what sounded like a desk being knocked over. Mortimer turned around to see that somehow Gemini managed to tumble out of her seat and have the desk over her.

Was Gemini being a klutz or did something fall over onto her?

Mr. Fraiser was already heading over from his desk to help Gemini out, though Mortimer didn't say anything at first at Gemini's situation.

[EllisWilson]

Wade couldn’t help chuckling at Thomas’ assessment of Patrick Bateman. He was a kind man wasn’t he? Kind enough to give a dog free chiropractic treatment, in any case. He didn’t say that one out loud. Even in his current company, Wade found that you could never quite know how far you could push it, so he had to rein it in sometimes.

CRASH!

Wade jumped at the massive clatter that rang out, and he looked over to see Gemini had, some fucking how, managed to flip herself upside down with her desk on top of her. He blinked twice, trying to get his bearings because…

How the FUCK—

Wade got up and went over to help her. “You good, Gemini?”

[Survival Chances]

It happened in the blink of an eye. Literally.

One moment, Gemini was happily telling Thomas what was in her hands, and then Thomas blinked. Once he reopened their eyes, Gemini was on the ground. Thomas Immediately rushed to help, trying to raise up Gemini with a genuine, "You OK?" Thomas looked to see him, Wade and Mr. Fraiser were to the rescue, with Mr. Fraiser asking, "Did you have a gravity problem?"

Eventually, Gemini was standing upright, and Thomas asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "What happened?"

[Grand Moff Hissa]

"I'm fine."

Gemini was saying that almost as soon as she'd landed. Before disentangling herself, or dealing with the desk, or anything else she instead fully unzipped the camera case. Then she slid the camera out, powered it on, saw that the lens still deployed as it was supposed to, powered it back off, and zipped it away safe and sound again. Then she finally let herself inhale.

By this point, other people had reached her. Also, now that she was assured that the camera was undamaged, other things were registering again. Her hip and shoulder were a little sore, having taken the impact, but since she'd only fallen about three feet—and slowly at that—she was pretty sure she wasn't seriously injured.

Of course, much less neatly, there was now no chance whatsoever that she could slither behind a cabinet and become invisible. Fraiser was right there, smoothie deposited on his desk en route, his attitude sitting somewhere between concern and amusement. It would be impossible for Gemini to pretend she wasn't here.

"Fine," she repeated, pushing the desk off herself and accepting Thomas' hand as he helped her to her feet. She hoped she sounded fine. "No problems. With gravity, I mean, uh..."

She felt flushed, overheated, and if Fraiser hadn't been a teacher that conversation would've looked very different. But this was a situation that required very careful handling, and she just had to keep it together for a few moments, so that maybe she could be totally screwed over by someone else's decisions instead of her own.

Gemini set about righting the desk too, scooting her backpack back into place, and this offered something to work with at least.

"I tried to get up to show you the camera and, and my backpack was around my leg and, and the chair leg too, and I wiped out," she explained as sheepishly as she could. Her left hand reached up and tugged at her earlobe without her realizing until she felt it. Luckily this was all actually really embarrassing so she didn't have to try to fake it.

[Deblod100]

Mortimer didn't care that Wade went up from the desk to help Gemini, though in fairness, Thomas was next to her, so he could've helped her up.

Getting a desk over herself looked like a first.

She was lucky that she didn't smash her camera, when she tried to show it off. Cameras don't tend to be cheap. A lot of students like to use high-end ones to get better photos in the photography class. Mortimer never bothered to do that elective, since taking pictures wasn't in his taste, despite how easy it could've been for him.

"Are we all settled? The best scene is coming up!" Mortimer said to the group at Gemini's position, since one of the most ironic scenes is happening on the screen. Who can forget one of the best Batman in cinematic DC killing off the worst Joker? Batman even did it with ad-libbed dancing before going in for the kill.

Mortimer watched Patrick Bateman going at it with the axe, screaming about that Dorsia reservation. Then, Bateman calmed down and had a cigarette. Classic sigma male behavior right there.

To which, it reminded Mortimer of something. (WARNING: LOUD).

[EllisWilson]

Ok, good, Gemini didn’t break her neck or something. All up on her own and setting her desk upright without seeming to need any assistance. That was fine by Wade, since, you know, movie. He gave a quick thumbs up to her general direction before backpedaling toward his desk. For a bit of extra flourish, he did his best (which was poor) to mimic Christian Bales moonwalk before sitting back down.

Wade had his eyes on the screen. It was one of those scenes that bring people on just from word of mouth; a guy axe murdering someone else set to a rock song the viewer might’ve heard before. There was probably some kind of social aspect to that sort of things appeal, but Wade wouldn’t be able to tell you that on account of his mind blanking out in the face of the bloody, bloody violence.

So what he did, while our old buddy Patrick was flipping shit, was grin and let out a quiet, airy chuckle. He was aware of Gemini trying to explain her spill to Fraiser but, honestly, she seemed fine. Maybe she was a bit embarrassed and was hoping to not have people fawning over her.

By that logic, Wade was entirely in the right to just go back to the movie, regardless of whether he felt a bit bad about brushing it off or not. No use lingering on stuff that embarrasses you, probably.

[Ryuki]

(Simon Smith- Pregame Start)

Simon was rushing to get to the classroom. It had been a while since he’d seen his friends in the Horror Club. He had a bunch of new ideas for his web series he wanted to share, plus some movies he’d seen lately. Simon met Mr. Frasier in the hall. He gave him a slight wave and entered the classroom.

He could see Mortimer, Gemini, Wade, and Thomas inside. Simon smiled. These were his people. It was like he’d reunited with his group after getting separated in the zombie apocalypse.

“Hey guys,” said Simon quietly, “What’s up?”

[Survival Chances]

Thomas made sure that Gemini was ok. After hearing her explanation, Thomas told her, "Glad you're fine, plus the... camera..." Thomas trailed off. Mortimer's call out of the next scene caught his attention. Before long, Thomas glued his eyes to what he felt was the piece of resistance for this film.

Bateman was going ham on that one guy (Thomas couldn't remember his name) and Thomas felt entranced. He didn't even notice Simon had popped, or what anyone else was doing. Throughout the scene, all Thomas thought, to borrow a much-used phrase,

This is Cinema

[Grand Moff Hissa]

"Hey," Gemini said, giving Simon a wave and a glance. "Movie time."

She did not mention the fall. Fraiser had, thank goodness, started back towards his desk again without giving her any more grief. Funny, because forty-five seconds ago Gemini would've given just about anything to have his attention anywhere but on the screen, and now she found... she didn't care?

Flashback: Two weeks ago...

The truth was, while Gemini had never seen this movie before, she had very recently read the book. She figured that, if the film was even a third—a fifth—as graphic, it would be among the most intense things she'd ever watched. So of course she'd been curious, had been meaning to check it out. Just not at school. Not in a room with a teacher sitting right there, ready to bring down the hammer and suspend her or give her detention for life or call her parents or otherwise ruin her entire life. So that was why she had been waiting with such mingled excitement and anxiety, and why the return of Fraiser had knocked her out out of her seat.

But so far the movie hadn't been a fifth as graphic as the book. It hadn't been especially graphic at all, actually, and Fraiser didn't seem particularly fazed. There were permission slips for R-rated movies, obviously, though Gemini was an adult now and so no longer had to bug her mom (never her stepdad) about that stuff, but she was pretty sure that, permission or no, anybody who screened Cannibal Holocaust would just be done, and the club probably disbanded to boot.

Between everyone coming and going all the time, and her arriving late, and the story's arc of escalation, it was only now at this murder that she finally was figuring out that she should have had a little more faith in Mort.

And, like, of course. Of course something that was in memes all over the internet was going to be approachable to a general audience. There was probably, like, a little bit of gore and some nipples or something, and that's it. Nobody made memes of A Serbian Film (and, okay, Gemini had not seen either Cannibal Holocaust or A Serbian Film herself, but she knew them by reputation, knew the gist). Mort liked stuff that horror club could show at school. He had at least some sense of self-preservation.

So, finally letting her breath out and letting go of tension she hadn't even realized was there until it began to melt away, she finally gave the movie proper attention.

She was definitely going to have to re-watch this later.

[Deblod100]

There we go. Patrick Bateman killed Paul Allen. Huey Lewis killed Weird Al. Mr. Fraiser went back to his desk to chill with his sacred Jamba Juice, though he didn't know which flavored juice he got. Patrick gets into Paul's apartment to envy at the view of the park. Then Mortimer's beloved anti-christ came in the form of Simon Smith.

Though, it was a pity that Mortimer didn't notice Wade's little moonwalk back to the desk next to Mort's seat.

"If it isn't the Vegas Vigilante himself." Mortimer shed a sly smile and welcoming fist bump to Simon. Mortimer kept his voice to a possible minimum, but the most interesting scene was already out of the way. "Hope winter break didn't kill their next victim first. Let me know when you need me to start submitting ideas again."

Oh Simon Smith... A gamer and the creator of Vegas Vigilante, which was an analog horror series that Mortimer was lucky to be a writer in. Sure, Mortimer had to deal with a fifth columnist being one of the editors, but he got to work with his other friends who wanted in on the action.

Mortimer went to being focused on the film, while Gemini greeted Simon. On screen, William Dafoe would appear and do what he does best. Being William Dafoe.

The film was moving on to where Patrick was now picking up two hookers and bringing them back to Paul's apartment in a manner of doing rough sadistic sex.

Mortimer glanced at Mr. Fraiser when he knew what scene was coming up. Mr. Fraiser didn't seem focused on the film, since he was checking his computer at his desk, but the teacher's eyes went to the screen every now and then.

The horror club was still up and recognized as an official school club, since while the club does do some off-campus meetings every now and then for assorted reasons, there still needs to be a censor on things to prevent things from going overboard. Mortimer remembered a story he held back from freshman year from Gary, when he was still leading the edgelords back then before he graduated. Gary mentioned how despite Cannibal Holocaust being one of his favorite movies, one that gave Mort a torrent of, he mentioned how trying to use the film as scholastic material for clubs, projects, or even homework was like going full Russian roulette at getting the school to yell at you, thinking you got problems. The worst that Mortimer heard a kid getting in trouble for trying to talk about and show Cannibal Holocaust was a suspension. Though, in fairness Vice Principal Misel had some good excuses to have it away from the school.

[+] CW for mentions of animal cruelty

Ironic part was, the school allowed Apocalypse Now, since it was a classic that was still being in film class. Though, for the film-themed English class that Mortimer was taking this semester for his senior year, they were still allowing films by Roman Polanski to be shown, which is...

Well, you kinda get the idea with him and what shit he's known for, besides his films.

Still, they allowed Apocalypse Now that had a real water buffalo getting chopped up near the end. Some kid back in junior year was giving a presentation on it, due to its links to Heart of Darkness and had the video playing to show an example of savagery. ..Only for Principal Winegarden and some other random adults in suits to pay a visit to showcase the class to what might have been members from the school district. At the worst time, too. It could've been in the middle of the Blade Runner presentation, but when the animal death was happening, they didn't react. Winegarden and the others didn't say a word. ((OOC: Based on a true story)).

Then again, Francis Ford Coppola was important back then in terms of filmmaking, even though his last interesting film was Bram Stoker's Dracula, which Mortimer thought of Ford's last golden film. There was the Rainmaker, but that unfortunately crashed for the director, even if he gave his heart into it. One would think that Tetro would have Ford learn on what he should improve and do differently, since he retired from being a professional film director (which is important, seeing how Mortimer found the movie Jack to be too depressing to be a comedy and being a bad film overall).

....UNFORTUNATELY, SOMEHOW THIS LED TO A FILM THAT EVEN MORTIMER SCHAUB WANTED TO SAY WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK TO.

AKA, the film in which Adam Driver speaks like a Reddit mod.

Where was I again?

Oh right, we're on the topic of films that can or can not be shown in school.

For Mortimer, he can still be a bit of a sneak. If the worst comes to worse at Mr. Fraiser seeing the screwed up sex in American Psycho (which was happening right now on full display), Mortimer can just say the "elevated horror" card and say that the film is important in a way that relates to the themes in the book.

Also, the director of the film is a woman and the author of the original book was supposed to be gay, so doesn't that make the movie politically correct for viewership?

Still, students get more authority against them when it comes to presenting films at school. It would be like the era of video nasties again, except the censorship was happening to high school students. Teachers on the other hand...



Some teachers just have very poor taste in films to show to class. Mortimer is not joking.

[EllisWilson]

Wade was happy to see Simon, as demonstrated by the thumbs-up he gave him. Nothing else to it, Simon was just a good guy.

Wade was less happy when the sex appeared, as demonstrated by how conspicuously he was looking down.

It wasn’t that he was very sex negative— frankly, his camera roll said the opposite— but it was school, and his science teacher was in the fucking room with them.

The Room of Fucking.

Shut up.

Wade turned toward the general direction of the others more to avoid looking at the sex scene than anything else. H of course, when you did such a thing, you had to at least try to come up with a valid reason. Otherwise you’re just staring at people, and… you’re not supposed to stare at people.

“Hard to believe we’re allowed to watch stuff like this in school sometimes.” He said, not really to anyone in particular. He didn’t really need to. Shooting the shit was a group activity unless you were out of your mind.

[SOTF_Help]

Jason Fraiser was sitting at his desk with his headphones on, diligently trying to grade papers from his second-period science class. He'd briefly run over to help Gemini when he'd seen movement out of the corner of his eye, but rushed back to his grading and locked in to his work with laser-like focus.

He'd taken on more than was probably wise with the different club advisor positions, but each one came with a stipend and his daughter just had to have the Titanic Lego creator set. He tapped away at the keys, taking a sip of Orange Dream Machine® Jamba Juice smoothie now and then.

"Frey, would you have a minute to look at the chaperone schedule for —" Principal Winegarden as she opened his classroom door.

She stopped and would have turned sheet-white if her complexion hadn't already been naturally ghostly. Her pleasant smile dropped like an anvil.

"𝖂𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖎𝖘 𝖌𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖔𝖓 𝖎𝖓 𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖊?"

Mr. Fraiser jumped and his headphones clattered to the desk.

"I - I - uh - um - "

He was newly hired this year and couldn't afford to lose his job, but he could only sputter in response.

Principal Winegarden flicked the projector off and rounded on whoever remained.

"Everyone leave. I'm going to have a serious talk with Mr. Fraiser about this club," she said with an icy tone.

[Survival Chances]

Oh god, oh god, OH GOD!

Thomas thought this once he heard the PRINCIPAL HERSELF ENTER THE ROOM! And during the sex scene no less.

Thomas wasn't watching the scenes, he never liked them and was spending his time looking downward. When the Principal made her presence known Thomas snapped his head back, and felt white-hot terror.

Not terror for himself, oh no. He and his parents had made a simple decision long ago where, should a sex scene (or other promiscuities) come up, he would simply look downward, which was what he could easily use to defend himself, even if it was not the soundest defense.

No, Thomas was instead terrified for Mr. Fraiser. This could easily result in a firing or even a disbanding of the whole club. Maybe even both, which made Thomas feel slightly queasy.

Thomas thought about saying something, anything!

Tell her this isn't the only thing we were watching. Tell her that in the future Mr. Fraiser can just skip ahead. Tell her that he simply missed the scene and didn't realize until it was too late. Tell her my friends in film school watch these sorts of things all the time, all that is needed is a paper to sign.

Wait? Did we sign a paper? Oh, wait... We didn't. That argument fails... Tell her we should do that in the future! Say it's my fault. SAY SOMETHING!

Alas, Thomas didn't say or do anything. He just stood in the middle of the room and only moved his head to watch what was unfolding, with tons of thoughts entering his mind, and none exiting.

[SOTF_Help]

"Everyone please leave for the day," she repeated, with a slight hint of warmth returning to her voice.

Mr. Fraiser moved to get up from his desk until she glared at him. He sank back down.




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