Horror 101, Monday

[chosehumanity]

"I'm not going to show you any films this week," Mitchell announced, a little wary, but still full of that pumped-up, somewhat faked enthusiasm he'd started on last Thursday. "Sorry for missing out on class last week. I had to help a friend move flats." He clapped his hands once. "There's food, if anyone wants it, and coffee - just take whatever you'd like. I got that," point at the cake, "From JGoB's. There's plenty more where it came from."

He leaned back. "We've had a weekend," he started, which was enough to darken his mood back down to Earth a little. "Now normally I'd be going into some genre or monster, but I think you've all suffered enough horror. That is one of the bases of it, not just the films or the books but the reality of it. Losing yourself, losing track of where you stand, losing your boundaries. The fringes are terrifying, and many of you were tipped over these past few days."

He rubbed at his fingers. "The search for what we are, for what humanity is, is one of the primal forces in fiction, in fear. We try to wrap our minds around all the things humanity can do, the horrors that are worse than any monster could dream up, the triumphs better than anyone could aspire to from the shadows. But first we have to define what it is we are, who we are. Which one of you already knows? Who here has a sense of identity strong enough to shake off the intrusion of another?"

He surveyed the class thoughtfully. "Because trust me, you can throw away lifetimes trying to figure out who you are, what the essence is of what you can do and what you want to be. Maybe right now you're frightened. Maybe you're in denial. Maybe you're having trouble adjusting to the realities around you." Not that his eyes went looking for Kate, or anything. "All of this is human. Even if you made it through the fire and shrugged it off like it was nothing. Does it belong to you? Do you own it? And who do you need to sustain it? People are always looking for a tribe, it's what keeps them from spinning off into the dark. Have you found it?"

Finally, he leaned back. "You can't really start to live until you know who you are," he said. "See this weekend as a test, if you have to see it at all. You lived through that brand of horror and came out on the other end. How do you define yourself now?"

There wasn't any further lecture incoming. That, it would seem, was that.

[[ and have at ]]

Comments

Sign In

[chosehumanity]

Like yourself.

Re: Sign In

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

Effy Stonem

Re: Sign In

[awakestheghosts]

Chloe Saunders

Re: Sign In

[vanillajello]

Kate Gregson

Listen to the Lecture

[chosehumanity]

Partake of cake, tea, coffee, and other food items. Om nom.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

The major feeling Effy was left with after the weekend was ache. Sleeping in abandoned warehouses might be normal for Tasha, but it was not normal for her and she wouldn't recommend it.

Glad for a class with comfortable chairs where she could curl up and scowl as she listened to the lecture.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[vanillajello]

Kate was really rather interested in her piece of cake and her cup of coffee through this lecture, thanks. Just... way too much to deal with.

But at least she was here. And contemplating talking to Mitchell.

Even if there was a whole world of things wrong.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

Apparently, he'd missed the island going batshit. Too bad, it probably would have been funny if it'd left him normal. Instead, he was a few hours removed from getting off a bus, still moderately sore, still laden with new issues and still scowling at the writing on his hands and wrists.

But hey, he hadn't been subject to the island's weird mood swings. That was a plus.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[icecoldfrost]

<<You look like shit.>> Emma wasn't in the mood for tact. <<Look at that scowl. What, did you turn into a pretty ballerina princess or something this weekend?>>

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[icecoldfrost]

Emma was going to take up an entire couch if she could manage it, cling to her coffee, and give anyone that tried to join her or talk to her a Death Glare.

Emma Did Not Like It when she was not herself. She had enough voices in her head on a regular basis, and the loss of control of changing into another person entirely did not make for a happy telepath.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

Jennifer found today's particular lecture very interesting. She was taking notes, not with her usual academic speed and joy, but she was still taking them down.

Oh, and there was definitely no ignoring the fact that she wasn't green today. It was sort of sad how she didn't feel 'up' to being the She-Hulk.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[bitten_notshy]

Jack took coffee and a bit of cake and sat near the back of the classroom, trying to blend into the furniture as best as he could. Mitchell was a problem to contemplate bit later.

His other self had been nice enough, and that whole true love thing he'd felt was ... sweet. New. Easy in a way Jack normally never found things easy. He glanced to Emma as he took in the lecture, wondering if he'd find it easier to be himself if being himself wasn't so complicated all the time.

Discuss

[chosehumanity]

Do you know who you are? Can you tell us, in a few sentences, what you feel is you? Or talk about the weekend; Mitchell doesn't care, as long as it's vaguely relevant.

Re: Discuss

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"I'm awesome." Even if he didn't look or feel it today, he was still going to talk himself up. Much easier than sharing what he really thought about himself. "I wasn't around this weekend so I missed whatever happened but I'm pretty sure I'm awesome."

Re: Discuss

[bitten_notshy]

"I spent the weekend as an American trying to get home on a boat in 1912," Jack said shortly. If he knew the significance of the boat Jack Dawson had been on, he wasn't sharing it with the class, any more than he was explaining who he was. "He was an artist and he loved someone. There are worse things to be."

The last sentence was just an observation and not directed at the teacher at all. Honest.

Re: Discuss

[chosehumanity]

There were reasons and ways in which Mitchell felt apologetic, or at least appropriately shamed where it came to Jack.

This wasn't one of them.

"Really," he said, taking note of said observation. "Think you could've coped being him for a few more months, then?"

Re: Discuss

[icecoldfrost]

"I'm me," Emma practically snapped. "I have a rather well-established personality, thankfully, but I have enough problems with voices in my head on a regular basis. I'm already familiar with shrugging off 'intrusions' of that sort."

There had been the few months during her initial manifestation when she'd honestly thought she was going mad, but Emma was much better at managing the clamor in her mind now than when she'd been fourteen. It was the losing control that she despised.

Re: Discuss

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell's eyebrows went up a quarter of an inch, but he didn't take the bait of her temper. "You've been tested," he observed. Which meant 'losing control' was pretty high up on Mitchell's list in terms of what Emma would be terrified about, and he didn't even have to be a telepath. "A lot of people would kill for that kind of backbone."

Talk to the TAs

[chosehumanity]

When they ping in!

Re: Talk to the TAs

[awakestheghosts]

Chloe was here.

Re: Talk to the TAs

[stylin-wizard.livejournal.com]

Alex was there, thankful she'd stayed herself over the weekend.

Talk to Mitchell

[chosehumanity]

Who isn't sneaking looks around for Kate and Jack, or anything.

Re: Talk to Mitchell

[vanillajello]

Kate didn't particularly feel like talking about the weekend in class. She also didn't particularly feel like talking to Mitchell, either, but...

"So did you ever find your hat?"

... Yeah. She couldn't help wanting to check up on him. Without seeming too friendly.

Re: Talk to Mitchell

[chosehumanity]

"I think it was a lost cause," said Mitchell, who was mostly making a good bid at not flinching too much. "Sorry about that."

Cowed by a teenage girl. How the mighty had fallen.

OOC

[chosehumanity]

It took me so frickin' long to tack this up. Thanks, computer.