Midnight Manor Boarding House's Living Room, Wednesday Night

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

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!]

Comments

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[hasaknightjob]

Indeed Steven was there with Llewellyn. He looked out of sorts. "Are you sure there's no need to bring anything?"

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Are you okay, Steven?" Arden asked, puzzling over his slight frown. "And no, I think I pretty much got everything..."

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[hasaknightjob]

Steven had come empty handed, Arden. It felt unnatural to him. He was fine otherwise though.

"If you're certain," Steven said. He smiled. "It looks wonderful. All the food and the like."

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Sorry, Steven. You were just going to have to trust that people enjoyed your company even without bringing food.

"There are a couple of vegan pizzas and some unbuttered popcorn," Arden said, pointing those out. "I didn't check to see if any of the popcorn flavorings or vegan? So I would check the labels before you tried any of those, sorry."

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[hasaknightjob]

Without things? Crazy talk, Arden. Crazy talk!

"Oh that's kind of you," Steven said. "From the pizza place on the island? They do good vegan pizzas."

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

More likely than you'd think!

"Well, I didn't want you and Detective Watts to be hungry with nothing to eat," Arden said, because she was Black and Southern and that was a sin. "You invite folks over, you make sure you have food for them."

They might be a little low on beverages though. Arden was realizing she had no idea if either man drank soda.

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[hasaknightjob]

Steven helped himself to one of the sodas, effectively answering that question even though he didn't know the narrative had asked. "Kind of you all the same. I'm looking forward to the film. I've not seen it before."

It was a bit more macho than Steven's... well everything, really. But also usual movie fare. Which meant this was an exciting new experience for him!

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

A bit more macho than Arden's usual fare, too. But the ridiculous helped keep it from being too much - which was why she preferred the later movies to the earlier ones, back when they'd tried to keep the plot within the general bounds of 'plausible.'

"It's actually a movie that hasn't been released yet. Or maybe just not on this Earth? The school library has a bunch of books and movies that haven't been written or were never made."

So many Netflix series, y'all. Just like. So many.

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[hasaknightjob]

"That's even more fun then," Steven said as he took a seat. "I'm given to understand these films are about family as well? That's nice."

Steven was a big believer in family himself after all, even if it couldn't be the one you were born into.

(No, don't ask Steven to get too into the whole born concept as it related to himself. He'd rather not, thank you.)

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[slothbabyproductions]

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

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[hasaknightjob]

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

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[slothbabyproductions]

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."

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[hasaknightjob]

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?"

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[slothbabyproductions]

"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."

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[hasaknightjob]

"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."

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[slothbabyproductions]

“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.”

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[hasaknightjob]

"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."

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[moreofaponchoguy]

"I know it might be difficult, but I think the only thing we need is your company," Cal said, giving Steven a wave. "Thank you for letting everyone take over the living room."

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[hasaknightjob]

"Nonsense," Steven said, even as he waved back at Cal. "This is precisely the sort of thing this space is for. You're all meant to use it as you like."

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[moreofaponchoguy]

"I don't know if I'm going to like this movie, but we'll see," Cal teased. "But it'll be nice to hang out with everyone and eat more popcorn than is nutritionally healthy. That's the good pieces of a movie night, apparently?"

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[hasaknightjob]

"Oh yes," Steven said. "Sometimes the company alone is what makes it all worth it, never mind the film or the snacks."

No reason at all Steven glanced at Arden when saying that to Cal. Pure coincidence, really.

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[moreofaponchoguy]

Did Cal pick up what Steven was throwing down? No, because he was so painfully clueless that it was going to become a curse to all around him.

"Yeah, this will be a fun time to either enjoy the movie together, or enjoy laughing at the movie together," he said. "Hopefully the first one."

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[hasaknightjob]

Steven had needed Marc's help to acknowledge the mutual feelings building between Steven and Llewellyn back in the day. Steven couldn't really point fingers at anyone about cluelessness.

"And either way both are all of us enjoying ourselves, right?" Steven said. "Good time had by all?"

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[moreofaponchoguy]

"Exactly. And those of us who don't know a lot about this world's movies--" He pointed to himself, in case it wasn't clear. "--get to learn more about what you all consider entertainment."

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[hasaknightjob]

"That's true," Steven said, perking up. "I hadn't thought of that, you not being familiar. You should chat with Llewellyn about it. He's been learning a great deal about movies as well, since he's originally from when they were only just getting started."