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

From:

afraid_of_marshmallows

Yeah, that seemed like a good topic to zoom right by. The orphan wasn't really interested in lingering over blood families, either.

"Oh yeah," she said. "Family is a huge part of the franchise. I guess people play a drinking game where they take a drink every time someone says family in the movies and they end up hammered."

From:

hasaknightjob

"Best not do that then," Steven said. Because to him Arden was of legal age for drinking so that wasn't the issue. "I'd rather be able to remember the film if possible."

From:

afraid_of_marshmallows

"So far in my life I've had a single bottle of hard cider, so I definitely don't think I'm ready for the big leagues yet," she said with a small laugh.

From:

hasaknightjob

Steven looked thoughtful. "I don't think I've ever had that? Was it good? Should I at some point?"

From:

afraid_of_marshmallows

"It was pretty sweet, so I liked it," Arden said. "And apple-y. I don't know much about alcohol to see how it stacks up, but the one I had was tasty!"

From:

hasaknightjob

"I'll give it a go sometime, see how I like it," Steven decided. Then, if she was curious, "I usually do a pint if I'm at the pub. Guinness. Different from cider, sounds like."

From:

afraid_of_marshmallows

"That's a beer, right?" A thick and kinda chewy one, if what she'd heard was correct. "The only time I've ever been inside of a pub or anything was Caritas for the Three Minute Date thing and I was too nervous to have much of anything."

From:

hasaknightjob

"Did you?" Steven quickly tried to remember the last time there had been Three Minute Dates, briefly worrying there'd been a recent one he'd forgotten. "That was... last year, yes? Fall, I want to say?"

From:

afraid_of_marshmallows

Arden nodded. "Yup! Just a few weeks after I arrived. I--" had been bullied into going by birds. "--thought it might be a nice way to meet a few people, since I was new and all."

The evening had not ended as successfully for her as it had for, say, Liliana, but she'd definitely laid the groundwork for a few of her friendships and that was important!

From:

hasaknightjob

"It is nice for meeting people," Steven said. He thought again, because timelines were always difficult for him. "Llewellyn and I accidentally got signed up when we were only just dating? I believe? We were on a date at least. So not looking to find other romantic partners. But fortunately people seemed to understand it could simply be finding a friend. That's all right."

From:

afraid_of_marshmallows

"Oh, the first person I got matched up with was Gray, who told me from the jump that he was entirely gay and nothing was gonna happen with that," she said with a laugh. "And I told him I didn't know anything about anybody and so friendship was just about my speed."

From:

hasaknightjob

"I remember meeting that doctor who's in charge of the clinic," Steven said. "He seemed nice."

Funny how Steven otherwise never spent too much time with that guy. So weird.

"I can't remember the others," Steven admitted. "But that's me. Memory and all that. I'm sure they were nice as well."

Edited Date: 2024-05-29 09:51 pm (UTC)

From:

afraid_of_marshmallows

"Most people here tend to be that way," Arden said. "Especially if you're nice first, which you always are."

From:

hasaknightjob

"Try to be," Steven said. A brief look of uncertainty crossed his face. "Doesn't always work. But we can only do our best, right? Even if it's frustrating when that doesn't go as well as we'd like."

From:

afraid_of_marshmallows

"And some folks make it hard anyway," Arden sighed. "But yeah. You try, sometimes you fail, then you try again. It's how we do anything, really."

From:

hasaknightjob

"Precisely," Steven said. "And sometimes you meet people at the wrong place in their lives. They're not interested in making connections with other people and there's nothing that can be done about it."

That had been a hard lesson for Steven to learn, granted.

From:

afraid_of_marshmallows

"It's hard," Arden said, eyes falling to the floor, "when you're trying so hard to connect, but that's...just not what the other person wants. Maybe at all, or maybe not that type, or maybe just not with you. Telling yourself that it's them, not you. Even though that's harder and harder and harder to believe, every time it happens. If you ever get to that point at all, I guess."

From:

hasaknightjob

"It is hard," Steven agreed, looking at Arden with sympathy. "Or you make mistakes you didn't mean to and they won't let you explain yourself. Or they get angry with you for asking for an explanation because you were meant to have known somehow."

From:

afraid_of_marshmallows

"And somehow trying to be perfect doesn't work, either," she said, shrugging her shoulders with a very OH WELL kind of air to it. "Or you just never get to where you're perfect enough."

She wished she were talking about Cal. Or, rather, she wished she were talking about just Cal.

From:

hasaknightjob

Steven could understand that. "At least that means that when you find the right one it's that much better? Someone who is your friend, or your partner, not in spite but because?"

From:

afraid_of_marshmallows

"That's the working theory so far," Arden said, giving him a thumbs up. "Seems to be doing okay, too."

From:

hasaknightjob

"The island is good for that," Steven said. "I think it helps that everyone is from different backgrounds. Increases the odds someone can empathize from where you're coming from."