(Untitled)

[wingerguarantee]

Really, the day had been hellish from the start. It was the kind of day he should have known it was probably to give up on, to just roll over in his bed and sleep through it. The sad part was, it didn't even take him long to regret his decision to do otherwise. He'd just finished cleaning himself up in the bathroom area when he started to notice

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[o_tea_p]

Iroh had been relaxing in the Rec Room with a nice cup of black tea, watching the magic box. At some point it had turned on to a young man, singing slightly out of tune but with great enthusiasm.

His feet began to tap. He began to sway in place. And, when his tea was done, he stood up and started dancing.

And then a young man ran in, seemingly desperate to turn it off. "Why would you want to do that?" he asked. "It's a very catchy tune!" and he wiggled a little more to the beat.

[wingerguarantee]

Jeff did not care that the man was elderly. He'd had enough of Leonard to know behind the wrinkles could be something evil. At that moment, all he could see was that he was clearly being mocked, and that combined with the fact it wasn't shutting off, he turned his head long enough to shoot him a withering look.

"What, you think this is funny?" he demanded. Was he dancing along with it? Maybe he was just insane. "Do you know how to turn this off or not?"

[o_tea_p]

Touchy touchy! But such was the nature of youth. All sorts of passions ran hot. Iroh just smiled at him.

"I'm afraid not," he said cheerfully. Taking a closer look at the other man, he suddenly understood why he was so tetchy about the song. "You're the singer!" he exclaimed.

[wingerguarantee]

In his haste to shut the damn thing off, Jeff hadn't stopped and considered the other way he could have dealt with this - namely, he could have pretended he had absolutely no idea what it was beyond the fact it had someone who looked like him in it. It wasn't an option for him now, even though he had a sneaking suspicion the guy might be senile. It took him that long to connect the two?

"I was like, nineteen. Were you the one that put this on?" he asked instead, his attention returning to the projector where he turned it off. Of course it'd nearly taken every button, but it was over. "Finally."

[formerfratboy]

Nick was just minding his own business in the rec room, stretched out on one of the couches and reading a book. He was taking a break from the lab for a little while, and this was as good as it got. Except for the fact that there was one clip on the projector playing over and over again, and, suddenly, one dude freaking out about it.

Nick closed his book, then went over to the projector. He'd had his own moments of panic of trying to shut the thing off; he felt the dude's pain. "Here," he said, moving past the guy and reaching for the controls of the projector to shut it down.

[wingerguarantee]

It was that simple. Jeff probably would've even figured it out had he not been so frantic to get it off. Who knew how long it'd been playing, over and over again? Who knew how many people had seen this? He was never going to be able to show his face around here again.

"How long has this been going?" he asked, eying the person who had just turned it off.

[formerfratboy]

Nick even wound the roll of film back up and took it off the projector for the guy.

"Just a couple of loops through before you came ... flailing in." He handed the roll of film over to the guy. "Gotta say, I've never seen it loop all on its own like that before, It must really have it out for you."

[wingerguarantee]

"Lucky me," he muttered, though took the offered film. He was going to enjoy destroying it, though what if it wasn't the end of it? Jeff would have to worry about that later. "Do you think these things burn well?"

He was only half-joking. He'd need to get rid of it completely somehow, after all.

[cpt_invincible]

When Nathan walks into the rec room, he intends to ask whoever's playing George Michael to keep it down. There's always shit music coming out of the jukebox, and the last thing anyone needs it someone contributing to it. Come to think of it, this intervention will be for the good of the island population.

But instead of someone enjoying what he'd assumed was coming out of the jukebox, Nathan sees some bloke frantically trying to stop the projector from playing, and all it takes is a quick glance at what's playing on the screen for him to realize it's the same guy. His expression immediately brightens.

"Is that you up there?" he asks, laughing, "What the fuck's that on your head?"

[wingerguarantee]

Jeff swore he felt his eye twitch at the laughter. It was exactly - exactly - why he'd been so intent to turn it off in the first place. This footage shouldn't exist anymore. How it got here, why it was on - at that point, it didn't really matter. All that mattered was he had to shut it off, which finally happened a few moments later.

Not before the punk behind him had seen basically the entire thing. He turned his head to look at him, a positively surly expression on his face. "It's hair, what do you think?"

It was ridiculous he was being indignant about something he could (maybe) agree was awful, but it wasn't at the time. That was the point.

[cpt_invincible]

"I dunno," Nathan says, casting his eyes toward the ceiling as if he's actually considering the question, "It could be someone's sort of fucked up cat, maybe. Or a really, really bad toupee. You know, the kind that's actually supposed to be in the bin but they end up selling anyway?"

While there are loads of shit things about the island in general, things like his happening are pretty much gold.

"Are you some kind of George Michael impersonator or something?"

[wingerguarantee]

"My hair has always been real," he replied, sharply. It was bad enough he had to deal with however this thing ended up on the island (what if there were more? Many, many more?), but this kid was pushing buttons that shouldn't be pushed on a normal day.

"It was for a contest," he muttered, turning to work at getting the thing out of the projector now. At least he didn't care if he ripped the film, because he was pretty sure he was going to be burning it as soon as possible. "Why do you care, anyway?"

[little_moons]

This is... a really fuckin' familiar scene, by now. Maybe not the specifics of it, but I've seen this. The panic, the horror, the embarrassment, all over something ridiculous. These are always easier than those times you stumble in on something genuinely painful, the guilt you can't help but feel for witnessing something that should've been private.

For this, I don't feel any guilt. It's obvious the guy video taped this on purpose. It's his own damn fault if people see.

Without a word, I step up beside him, looking up at him with a smirk and an arched brow as I reach past him and calmly flick the off switch.

[wingerguarantee]

He had hoped to turn it off before anyone wandered in to see any decent chunk of what was playing. That apparently was too much to ask for here, as glad as he was to see it shut off. He looked over at the person who shut it off for him (and noting, like half the crazy ass island, that it was someone with a celebrity face) after it was obvious the projector had come to a stop.

"What? What are you looking at?" he asked, irritated, upon noticing the expression. It could be said he was taking his foul mood out on someone who technically just did help him, but Jeff was beyond caring at that point.

[little_moons]

"Relax, man. It's not that bad," I say, rolling my eyes, even though it was pretty fuckin' hilarious, and probably would've been even funnier, if I actually knew the guy.

Pressing another button, the projector hums quietly as the film rewinds itself back onto the reel so it can be popped off and put back in the can. Something tells me he doesn't want this thing sitting around for other people to see.

[wingerguarantee]

Easy for this guy to say, the one who didn't have something from his past displayed up prominently a minute ago. Still, he was being nicer than Jeff probably would have been to a complete stranger (he was an ass, what could he say?), so he did try to rein in his anger and focus it on someone who deserved it.

Like the island. The entire, fucked up island.

"Thanks," he mumbled, taking the offered reel. He was going to enjoy destroying it. Enjoy it. "Any chance what you just saw can stay between us?

It was a lot to ask a complete stranger, but he was kind of desperate, and he had no idea who they knew in common.

[fakejaded]

"I don't think I want to tell you that," Britta said, delight flooding her expression as she began to process what was happening on the screen. She'd had a very nice morning so far, in fact, though it had barely begun, a peaceful shower followed by a delicious breakfast, a muffin still in hand as she'd wandered into the rec room to see what Jeff was yelping about. It wasn't often she got to feel she had the upper hand over him, and she couldn't feel bad about that for a second.

[wingerguarantee]

He was now officially in Hell. There was absolutely no doubt about it, because only there would the one person on the island he didn't want to walk in on this show up. And him, still, without a way to turn it off. He turned his head to glare at her.

"Did you do this?" he demanded, because wasn't it funny she apparently knew how to use this stupid, outdated machine and have such decent timing.

[fakejaded]

"What? No!" Britta didn't even have it in her to be properly offended by the implication today, though, not when Jeff was singing and playing the guitar and make a general ass of himself on the screen. She hadn't even known he played guitar at all, and she'd almost entirely forgotten the Real World even existed. "This is - I just never pictured you as the reality TV type."

[wingerguarantee]

"I was nineteen!" he practically shouted, the volume of his voice lowered only because he was mindful it'd draw people's attention even more. Another couple of seconds and he finally turned the goddamn thing off, but the damage was already very much done. He was never going to live this down. Already attempting to now extract the film can so he could burn it or bury it or throw it into the ocean, he added, for good measure, "I hate this place!"