sadfreezingbrit_archive (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sadfreezingbrit_archive) wrote2011-08-21 02:52 am
sadfreezingbrit_archive) wrote2011-08-21 02:52 am
Entry tags:
One incredible feat of sleep-deprived bakery architecture. [23/??? artefacts collected]
[ It's the event's second night, around four o'clock in the morning.
The narration trusts that at this point everyone has found somebody to room with and is tucked into bed.
Fast asleep as opposed to completely deprived of the same ever since the event started.
And definitely not building a donut replica of Westminster Abbey in one of the conference rooms.
Nope.
Not happening anywhere at all. ]
[ ...For everyone who does not enjoy a little action at night, Philip will emerge from his building project in the morning and can subsequently be found
a.) making coffee in the coffee area
b.) drinking coffee in one of the cubicles and
c.) throwing coffee at the backstairs spiders
If you hear him humming a strange tune, well, that's just the melody his hot beverage gives off, because who needs a sense of smell when you can have a constant soundtrack instead? ]
The narration trusts that at this point everyone has found somebody to room with and is tucked into bed.
Fast asleep as opposed to completely deprived of the same ever since the event started.
And definitely not building a donut replica of Westminster Abbey in one of the conference rooms.
Nope.
Not happening anywhere at all. ]
[ ...For everyone who does not enjoy a little action at night, Philip will emerge from his building project in the morning and can subsequently be found
a.) making coffee in the coffee area
b.) drinking coffee in one of the cubicles and
c.) throwing coffee at the backstairs spiders
If you hear him humming a strange tune, well, that's just the melody his hot beverage gives off, because who needs a sense of smell when you can have a constant soundtrack instead? ]
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[ He can't bring himself to repeat the rest of the excuse. Suddenly all the exhaustion and sickness from this event's deprivations seem a whole lot more pronounced. ]
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Look, it's...it's fine.
[Their first awkward conversation. Hm. Hopefully there won't be too many more.
Wink wink nudge nudge.]...But you don't sound well. I had wanted to tell you something, but maybe it had better wait for another time.
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...And realises that he only barely made it because Evelyn can't see anything he does, be it an imaginary look at his comm unit or a genuine movement of his head. ]
...No, it's-- It's fine. I-- [ He actually reaches into his pocket where the device sits quietly. ] I turned it off now. I'm fine, I'm just... tired.
[ And again with the smile he didn't need to force on his face. But old habits die hard. ]
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First I just wanted to apologize for...getting...drunk, that was...very unprofessional of me. Secondly-
[Evie doesn't even know how to address this issue.]
...secondly, I found...someone wrote something on my mirror. I think it was meant for you.
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Wonderland is a reason to get drunk if there ever was one.
[ ...and falters when he realises that he should perhaps not make his liquid coping mechanism quite so obvious.
That and everything he hears after secondly. ]
A message on the mirror? For me?
[ Try as his sleep-deprived brain might, he can't think of a single scenario where this leads to anything good. ]
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[Evelyn actually left it up there so she wouldn't forget to tell Philip the next time she saw him.
And he's lucky that she's so preoccupied thinking about the writing that she can't completely concentrate on the fact that he's a raging alcoholic.]
It said something along the lines of "New score board, missed your chance to get some"...then there were four lines under the word "You," and none under the word "Me."
...does any of this sound familiar? What exactly were you supposed to be getting?
[Ah, future-slang. One day she'll learn some.]
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As it is she will simply have to do with the sound of a thankfully near empty coffee mug shattering on the floor. ]
F--angrymumbling.
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That sounds like my Mirror. He...
[... while picking up the shards?
There we go. ]
...does not have a very good sense of what does and does not constitute appropriate behaviour.
[ Having punctuated every single word in that sentence with a sharp edge of 'I will wring his neck the next time I see him' Philip sees himself capable of adding in a calmer tone: ]
I'm really sorry he bothered you, he's never written on anyone else's mirror before.
[ ...that Philip knows of. ]
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Your...mirror?
[They talked about this, didn't they? The mirrors? She has to have one, too, but it's not as though people get to interact with them all that often. She'd almost forgotten about them up until one wrote on her looking glass. Evelyn can only wonder what Philip's is like.]
I can't say that it was all that inappropriate, it was just a-
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He- ...h-he meant...oh.
[All the blushing. All of it.]
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But Evelyn found the answer on her own and now the embarrassment takes over and Philip lowers his head, silently and dedicatedly absorbed by the task of cleaning up an all too tiny spill all too thoroughly.
Silence.
So much awkward silence. ]
Again, I... apologise on his behalf. [ *mutter* ] Because he definitely won't.
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New place, and new people.
With a few people who apparently believe that copulation is the central element of life. There are other things out there, you know.]
It's...it's all right, just...not...exactly what I expected.
[The heat ebbing away from her cheeks, Evelyn tucks a lock of hair behind one ear and fidgets with her necklace.]
...so...does this mean that someone was watching us?
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Ah, but much as he's tempted to ask for clarification, getting as far away from the subject as fast as possible takes clear priority now... even if Evelyn's question won't exactly get him much closer to that goal. ]
I really wish I could say no, but...
[ Having finally finished his exaggerated shamecleaning Philip gets up from the floor and takes a seat. ]
It's... likely I'm afraid. They can watch us from the other side and... as far as I know most of them do. Not all the time, but...
[ He trails off, wondering if he should see to acquiring another mug. Ehh.... for now his hands are probably fine wringing each other awkwardly above his lap. ]
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And yours seems a bit...preoccupied.
[Translation: You are an upstanding citizen, good job for not being like that other fellow.
The tension is thrumming down his chair, into the floor, and under her feet. Leaning forward and reaching out, she rests a hand on two fidgety ones, stilling them.]
Philip.
[This is a serious blind-girl face now. Pay attention.]
I know you're embarrassed- [Because I can feel it.] -but you shouldn't be. It wasn't you.
You were very chivalrous.
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[ It wasn't you. In the near future somebody will have to give him a mug with that slogan. ]
Thank- thank you.
[ The again, for the sake of narrative accuracy it should be said that identifying with Phil has never been a problem Philip struggled with. His other's behaviour irks him where he believes nobody should act that way, especially not when just so incidentally looking like him.
"That was my obsessive Mirror who usually keeps track of our number of sexual encounters and currently takes issue with the fact that I didn't take advantage of you while you were drunk."
It doesn't require identification issues for Philip to be embarrassed about that, though... hearing Evelyn voicing the distinction so clearly does certainly lift the mood.
It's also at this point that Philip makes a decision, although its impact will not be revealed until a later, less sleep-deprived day. ]
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You've, um... never actually met any of the Mirrors before, have you? Or... talked to your own?
[ O brain activity that would allow for a better subject change, where art thou? ]
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He's not still trying to apologize for what someone else did, anyway.]
I haven't, no.
[Shaking her head and lacing her fingers together in her lap, Evie chews on her lower lip for a moment.]
I can't help wondering what mine is like, although I'm certain I won't approve if that appears to be the general consensus about mirror-selves. Are there many occasions to meet them?
[Because honestly, that sounds as though it could be both amusing and horrible, particularly if one mistook a mirror for the real version.*
*See Fig. A; Dean Smith]
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[ He says it in a voice that is absent-minded, because the brain-to-mouth filter felt like sharing his thoughts again.
At least they are less troubling this time. And seem to go unnoticed too, at least by Philip himself. ]
Um... they crossed a few times a while ago. I think-- [ Does he remember that correctly? ] I think normally there's something stopping us from being on one side with our own Mirror, but I remember one or two events where that didn't seem to matter.
[ Right, that doesn't actually answer much, does it? ]
...I honestly can't say, there doesn't seem to be any pattern, but
I've been here almost a year and I've met them--
[ Counting... counting... counting... ]
Um, three times, I think.
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[As much as Evelyn thinks it would be interesting to meet her opposite, she can't say that she's completely confident about whether or not the woman would be a decent person. Whether or not she might be some kind of...fornication-addled, homicidal maniac. Taking that risk makes her uncomfortable.
Although apparently she won't have a choice if they just show up due to some kind of event.]
What sort of things happened when they were over here? I imagine it was very confusing. Or...would you rather not talk about it, considering your...um...very outspoken mirror?
[Evelyn holds back a laugh, trying not to smile.]
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Let's... [ He clears his throat. ] Let's just say I used to live in a different room before- before he and [ Inhale. Exhale. ] his "partner" dropped by for a visit.
[ Philip is smiling, if a little lopsidedly. Call it old-fashioned, but he maintains that elaborating on his Mirror's (or anyone else's) love life has too awkward and inappropriate a ring to it, at least when alone with a lady from the 1920s.
Still, if she is not utterly taken aback by it then he can at least find it in himself to hint, considering that despite everything neither Phil nor Dean Smith were responsible for any of his top 5 most traumatising moments. ]
...That was the only time I met him, actually. The last time all the mirrors were on the same side was... in June, I think. During a chess tournament- well, game. Just one game.
[ Speaking of which... ] They've never crossed just like that, as far as I know. There has to be a reason, for instance-- One time there was something wrong with the mirrors. The objects, I mean. They were just gone and we could walk right through to the other side.
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[Oh, partner. As in...as in a lover, or...or something. A male lover. For a man. Well, times are changing, and things are rather progressive now, aren't they? Evie always did wonder about one of the young men she had been acquainted with in secondary school, and it isn't exactly a taboo subject since it's being referred to in popular songs...]
Oh.
[It's not surprised, but a quiet, thoughtful hum. She gets the hint now, but it isn't common where she's from. Not in 1926, anyway. Being a romantic, though, she's certainly an advocate for love no matter what form it comes in.]
I...suppose it must be nice for them, then. They must be people too, correct? At their cores? It would be a shame to deprive them of that much simply because they're on the other side.
[She rolls her shoulders in a little shrug.]
Well. Regardless, that's an interesting development. I wasn't aware that sort of thing could happen. Did you see the mirror side? What was it like?
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It's the same as here, only in reverse. And the grounds don't have colour. You step outside and everything around you is black and white... I've always wondered why that is.
Apart from that it doesn't seem much-- [ Hang on, hannnng on! ]
Actually, there's one more thing, but I can't confirm it. Fortunately, I should say. [ Ahem. ] When you die on the mirror side you actually die. No extra lives, just... whatever the consequence of dying here might be.
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How curious. And the- You actually die?
[HOLD UP.
The "dying" thing still unsettles her. Evelyn hasn't met anyone so far that died recently, but the entire concept, trivializing death...maybe this place really is some manner of afterlife-flavored limbo. A second chance. It doesn't necessarily make sense with her, since she was out doing things before she was thrown into Wonderland, but by this point, anything possible. Ruling something out just because it's improbable ]
Is this...wait, as in the mirrors themselves have no other lives, or if this if we happen to get stuck over there?
[Not that she wouldn't risk going over there, because she would. Adventure, and all that.]
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