afraid_of_marshmallows | Midnight Manor Boarding House's Living Room, Wednesday Night

Okay, sure. Arden didn't know much more than what TV said about throwing movie nights, but surely she had the gist. Many ~~moddable~~ pizzas and sodas had been ordered from Pizza Planet - look, Arden loved sweet tea, but even she knew soda was necessary for movie nights. A truly disturbing number of bags of popcorn had been popped and put into bowls and a quick stop at T&C had been made to grab a couple of different popcorn seasonings in case people wanted to experiment with popcorn flavors.

All that was left was to wait for people to show up. She'd texted both Kamala and Cal in full capslock mode about the glory of this movie, and then had ~~handwavily~~ tried to contact as many other residents as possible to tell them about the movie night - texts, email, sign on the door, whatever. Sure, nobody had to come, but she at least wanted to make sure everyone knew they were welcome. She'd also invited Steven and Watts (while double checking that, yes, it really was okay to move furniture around the living room and also eat in there) and had made sure to get a few bags of unbuttered popcorn just for them. Did she think the butter flavoring had any actual dairy in it? No. But she was gonna be careful all the same.

Now she was just pushing the furniture around to make sure that every possible seat had a good view of the incredibly large TV and was in reaching distance of a bowl of popcorn and places to put their cups of soda and plates of pizza down. Midnight Movie Night was about to begin, showcasing the absolute work of art and cultural tour de force that 2 Fast and 2 Family 4 Oceans, the fifteenth 2 Fast 2 Family sequel that was also a prequel to the Oceans Edge series.

This was gonna be great.

[Open to all Midnight Manor Boarding House residents!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Hi, Mr. Grant!" Kamala said with a friendly wave. "I seriously think Arden got everything covered. She seems pretty jazzed about the movie."

"Kamala, hello!" Steven said. "Steven's fine, truly. Is this a new film for you as well? I've not seen it before."

Steven? Feels weird. Kamala will go with it though.

"Nope! But it's apparently easier to get into than that super hero franchise with 30 something movies and TV shows so you have to watch it all for it to make sense," Kamala said with a nod. "Completely mindless which is right up my alley."

Steven relaxed, because Mr Grant made him uncomfortable in ways that so far he'd only been able to articulate to Llewellyn.

"I know what you mean," Steven said. "I don't mind an intelligent film but sometimes it's nice to watch something utterly ridiculous. You've been doing all right? Classes going well?"

"Classes are weird but going well," Kamala said with a smile. "But it's at least a good kind of weird."

Hey, she could have ended up in class with Navaan!

"And other than some of the weird stuff that happened to everyone last week, everything is going fine. I love it here."

"You turned into a few things, didn't you?" Steven asked, to be sure he had it right. "At least radio mentioned it. But I've found only some of the broadcasters are - "

Steven was about to say are worth listening to but he didn't want to be rude to everyone who worked at the station. So he went with, " - are more accurate than others."

“Oh, it was all true,” Kamala said with a shrug. “But the one girl just wanted to solve mysteries which wasn’t so bad. And I also got turned into a cool pony. Honestly that was pretty awesome.”

"Mysteries can be a great deal of fun to solve," Steven said. "I enjoy a good puzzle myself. Clues, codes, all that sort of thing."

On the odd chance Kamala hadn't yet picked up that Steven was a bit of a nerd.

"Shame I couldn't see you as a pony," Steven said. "Do you know I missed it entirely last time? I was on the island but didn't see a single one. I think because I was working when it happened. I'm told they looked colorful."

"Oh I totally have a picture of that!" Kamala said bringing up her phone and displaying said photo of Kamala in her full Ms. Marvel regalia. But as a pony. "Also, Midnight was so helpful! They turned my doorknob from a regular knob to a lever thingy so I'd have an easier time getting in and out of my room. I love this house."

Steven patted himself down to get his glasses so he could properly appreciate the picture. "Look at you! Very nice. Lovely mane and tail as well. And glad to hear Midnight took good care of you. It likes having you about as well. Very happy when it can be a home for people."

"I love living here. The people are so nice and helpful," she said looking at everyone in the room before her eyes came to Arden and Cal.

Hmm.

"Just out of curiosity, if there were two people-"

Note the emphasis head-bob toward Arden and Cal

"-who say... have feelings for each other-"

Again. Emphasizes headbob toward Arden and Cal

"-and have a hard time admitting it to each other. Ahem. Hypothetically speaking, do you think Midnight would be helpful in say... helping them along?"

Steven needed until the second bob to realize it was something Kamala was doing on purpose. Once he did, he nodded to show they were on the same page.

"Possibly?" Steven said, lowering his voice so it was harder for the subjects of those head bobs to hear him. "We've not done anything like that before, but that doesn't mean it's impossible. Did you have something in mind?"

"Well. Nothing harmful. Or illegal," Kamala said to ensure that Steven didn't think she was some nefarious villain. "Buuuuuuuut maybe just keeping them in an enclosed area for an extended time until they work things out."

Nothing wrong with that!

"Oh!" Steven said, then remembered to lower his voice again. "Like trapping them in the lift?"

Who knew Steven's need to research TV Tropes for an island event would come in handy yet again?

"Yes! Excellent example. Or perhaps their doors now lead to a merged room of their own but there is only one bed," Kamala said with a slow nod in appreciation of Steven's trope studies.

"Oh, I like that!" Steven said. "Especially as I think that'd be less confusing for Midnight. It knows it's not normally supposed to trap people, so the nuances ~~ahem~~ of the lift scenario might be difficult for it to wrap its head around.

"And of course it's the sort of thing we'd make clear if these two - er - hypothetical - " Steven gave Kamala a large wink " - people were truly unhappy about it that it all should stop. But luckily there it's able to read their minds to know what they truly want."

Since the two people in question had given Midnight permission to read their minds as needed. Midnight wouldn't go digging around on it own.

"Oh, so if we were to strongly suggest the matter to Midnight they may be willing to go along with this scenario," Kamala said winking back. "All in theory of course."

"Precisely," Steven said. He made a motion of pushing his hands gently together. "Not forcing anything. Providing the opportunity for a nudge."

This was absolutely what happened when Steven had a lot of energy regarding wanting to interfere in someone's life to help them do things that would make them happy, only he couldn't channel any of it in Marc's direction.

(Well, Steven could but he was trying to behave himself and not.)

"Riiiight. Just forming or strengthening their hypothetical connection," Kamala agreed. "Thank you, Steven. This has been very productive."

"It was an interesting thought exercise with no real world applications whatsoever," Steven said, giving her another large nod and a wink.

Midnight Manor Boarding House's Living Room, Wednesday Night

Re: Arrive and Mingle

Re: Arrive and Mingle

Re: Arrive and Mingle

Re: Arrive and Mingle

Re: Arrive and Mingle

Re: Arrive and Mingle

Re: Arrive and Mingle

Re: Arrive and Mingle

Re: Arrive and Mingle

Re: Arrive and Mingle

Re: Arrive and Mingle

Re: Arrive and Mingle

Re: Arrive and Mingle

Re: Arrive and Mingle

Re: Arrive and Mingle

Re: Arrive and Mingle

Re: Arrive and Mingle

Re: Arrive and Mingle

Re: Arrive and Mingle

Re: Arrive and Mingle