Movie Night!

[myblueskies]

Who: Romeo, Tidus and YOU (You may mingle!)
Where: Cinema carriage
When: Grasshopper day 2, evening
What: Sports anime movie night with popcorn!
Warnings: There shouldn't be! But I will add if anything comes up

POP, POPPOPPOP...

As announced by Romeo earlier that day, the cinema car has been prepared for a night of anime sports. There isn't much different at first glance, but by first whiff, those who recognise the smell of freshly popped popcorn may detect the new addition to the carriage before they see it set up on a table by the back wall.

There's a soft whirring with the faint pop, poppoppop of the corn kernels, which thankfully isn't that intrusive to the ears as most popcorn machines. Salt and sugar shakers sit next to bowls for people to take and dish out their own popcorn, as well as bottles of cinnamon and mixed (sweet) spice. Also, there's even paprika and hot chilli bottles right next to each other. Who put those there? Please shake sparingly. Or don't. It's your tastebuds on the line.

Jugs of juice from the kitchen have been set out with plastic cups for those looking for a drink, as well as a simple collection of chocolate chip cookies. There may or may not be enough for all, but probably not.

The entertainment won't start right away, so take this time to chat with one another!

BORN TO REVIEW

For this 'sports night', 4 episodes of an anime called Born To Blitz are being played, a comedy movie called Swing-It Like Seccam, and to finish it off, a sports-themed mystery of the beloved franchise Magical Detective Heartlines!

Born To Blitz is your standard sports highschool anime, but with a diverse extraterrestrial species and set on a 'coastal city' where all the buildings are domes. It's quick to lay out the story of its hero, Fax Qincan, who is trying out for the school's competitive blitzball team so that he can get a reputation and one day be a real blitzball professional. He gets a spot by the second episode (unfortunately, beating out his best friend for a place on the team), and now he must start his vigorous training before the school competitions start!

The live-action Swing-It Like Seccam is a similar deal, if less intense and offering more laughs! Follow Arla as she inspires to become a professional ping-pong player like her hero Seccam, but also as she has to deal with a disapproving family who don't take her dreams seriously. Touching towards the end, it can be confusing now and then due to a lot of pop culture references popular in Miyoon in the year 6k20nb.

And last but not least is Magical Detective Heartlines: Goal In Life, an anime movie of the beloved Heartlines as she solves her latest case in all her 80s style anime glory! Famous hoverball player--a sports played on hoverbikes that also bash around the animated balls into goals--Missie is being threatened to throw in their biggest game yet, or risk the life of their snatched beloved! It's up to Heartlines to find the culprit--but can she do it before the end of the match?

Of course she does, but not without suspense and the game being stretched out at the risk of Misse's life as well! And with a bop of a soundtrack, and plenty of glittery sequences. And let's not forget the magical girl transformation scenes. Romeo will show you the moves.

END OF FILM REEL...

And with that, the Sports Night is over with, and what you do is ultimately up to you. Talk about the selection? Something else? Are you the sort of person who can't imagine leaving a mess, or are you rushing off with familiar faces?

Or maybe it'll be nice to go for a watch to stretch your legs, even get a drink. It's late, but the coffee and tea machines are what, only twenty-five carriages away, surely.

Just remember not to stay up too late! Got to avoid the void sickness.

( OOC: It's a fun little mingle! Have your characters bring their own food and snacks, cause some mischief, complain or be too loud. :) There will be small breaks between each showing and the blitz anime will be the same length as the movies altogether (so about 20 mins a piece).

Also full disclaimer, Ree wrote this! All credit goes to her!)

Comments

[maxwellsdaemon]

For the briefest of moments a look of confused hurt crossed Duo's expression. What had he done? What look? He didn't understand... But as quick as the hurt was there, Duo quickly shut it down. His smile went away, closing himself off some he made himself sit up a bit straighter so he wasn't nearly leaning against Alice. Then he turned to face the screen, there was a movie he should have been watching after all.

Duo heard her then. Her whispered words, and gave a low little laugh and a shake of his head. "Relax, Alice. I'm fine, really. Just a bit tired." He smiled again then, forcing a little more of his usual cheer into it. "You're a good friend, and it really means a lot you offerin. But... it's not as bad as it looks. I'm gettin some sleep."

[irrationally]

This would be so much easier if she was used to social interactions and situations, she thinks. If she would have had regular human friends back home, rather than all sorts of creatures born from her own mind. Without that experience it feels so hard to figure out what to do here. Does she just believe his word? It doesn't sound like it could be true. If Duo is looking this bad, it really has got to not be great. Her instinct is to push on, but that immediately makes a worry arise inside of her that she's never felt before she got onto this train. The fear that she'll push him away without meaning to, just because she doesn't know how to apply tact. The fear that she'll hurt him, because that's all she ever seems to do.

Someone really ought to have prepared her for this before dumping her onto a train with people she can't help but start to feel attached to.

"I'm not-- I'm not going to relax." The word sounds so weird, coming out of her mouth, but that effect is probably overshadowed by the fact that she actually sounds like she's pouting. Because she is. "Not until you are fine. You can't call me a good friend and then imply I shouldn't worry. That is not how it works."

.. She thinks, anyway. She's so new to this, but she's trying so darn hard.

"You need some proper rest before it kills you."

[maxwellsdaemon]

Wow. Now he felt like a dick. Alice was a good friend, she really was. He wished he could do what she asked, but he was just too afraid to. He didn't want to hurt her, or anyone else.

But... he sighed and rubbed at his tired eyes... He had no choice, did he? The only way to prove that he shouldn't sleep was to try and sleep for her and show her just why. He just hoped Alice wouldn't hate him too much. If he could sleep at all. Duo wasn't sure if he would be able.

"... Alright." Duo said with a nod. "I'll try... if you'll stick with me. I'll do my best to get a few hours. Is that good enough?" He looked at Alice then and smiled. "Best I can offer."

[irrationally]

Alice lets out the slightest breath.

"Even ten minutes would have been fine with me." It's the principle of the matter, mostly. Sure, it'd be better if Duo slept for a longer time, but if he felt like he couldn't do that, just a little while might be fine. As long as nothing awful would happen, maybe it'd be enough to make the other feel at least a bit more at ease about sleeping this way. "Then I wouldn't have to.."

She pauses. Her voice trails off, the end of that sentence just left hanging in the air. Alice's hands slowly forms fists as they lay on her lap, something more awkward and rigid about her posture. She's so bad at saying these things, but she also doesn't want Duo to get the wrong idea.

Ugh.

So she forces it out.

"Then I wouldn't have to worry as much about you."

In case it wasn't obvious yet that that is what she's doing!

[maxwellsdaemon]

He looked over at her and smiled before he reached over and softly patted Alice's forearm. "Don't worry about me, Alice. I'm tougher than I look." And while that was true, he knew that he should try and get some sleep... He'd been getting little bits here and there after all. If he'd been awake all of this time he'd probably be dead by now without getting some sleep now and again.

"Promise, just a few hours... Two... three tops. If you wake me up before I get too deep, it should be alright." He hoped so anyway. The time was different each time, but he hoped that would be the shortest amount of time he could sleep without getting into a deep REM sleep where he could potentially hurt someone. The last thing he ever wanted was to hurt Alice.

[irrationally]

"I know you're tough," she admits. Of course she does. Duo told him so much of what he's been through. No one could go to hell and back like that and actually make it out on the other side without being tough. Sure, you'd probably have to end up a little screwed up for it too, but tough all the same.

"But it's exactly the toughest people who need someone to look out for them." Because they tend to think they can just do everything by themselves! Look, Alice gets it. She's like that too. That's exactly why she knows how this works and isn't about to let Duo get away with it. She likes to hope he'd do the same if she were to attempt to do something stupid. "So I will wake you up in time. Do you have any prefered way for me to do it?"

Since he seems so worried about the idea of flipping out when he wakes up and all. Even if he might not be too deep into sleep yet at that point, she'd like to minimize the risk, if not just to put him more at ease.

[maxwellsdaemon]

How many times had he said something similar to Heero and been brushed off? He almost laughed at the strange twist in his perceptions. But the difference was that he was giving in. If only a little.

When she asked her question, a very reasonable question, he had to think... He sighed and closed his eyes, head tipping back as he tried to think of a safe way for Alice to get through to him. In the end, he could only think of one thing, and he knew it would sound strange.

"Mr Black." He opened his eyes and tilted his head to look over at Alice. "Don't touch. Just call out for that. And it should get through... and wake me up."

[irrationally]

He's very much right about it sounding strange. Not that Alice has any problem with accepting this answer, since it's not like it's anything too embarrassing to do, but it still makes her a little curious.

So even though she nods, she can't help but ask--

".. Mr Black?"

She leaves the question a little vague on purpose, so it's easier for Duo to avoid having to answer anything he doesn't want to talk about.

[maxwellsdaemon]

He knew that, out of context, it probably sounded weird as hell. Duo could understand her confusion and her need to ask. He smiled at her and pointed to himself.

"Me... My call sign." He sighed softly and turned away to face the screen. "Back home, if we were on a mission we used call signs instead of our names. Either numbers, Zero Two, or the name... Mr Black."

"If a mission went sideways and we were stuck and needed extraction, we'd use call signs. There's be someone at base, they'd keep the comms open waiting for that call... Calling out to Lost Boy. So.. uh... if a name's gonna get through to me, it'll be that one."

[irrationally]

Honestly, all of this is new to Alice. It's not like she's ever been remotely involved in anything mission-like before ending up in this place. She's never even had the exposure to action movies the way some more modern people might have to know the trope.. So everything Duo tells her is new information to her. Even the missions here have never used anything like that - but she supposes it's maybe meant for more covert missions? Whatever you'd call the ones they do here, they're pretty much anything but covert.

So she slowly nods.

"I understand." Judging by her tone, Alice doesn't seem to think anything too strange of it with that explanation. "I will use that, then."

It's easy enough to remember.

"Then.. attempt to sleep. I will wake you up."

Wrap?

[maxwellsdaemon]

Duo let out a relieved sigh. Trust Alice not to make a big deal out of it. He knew she wasn't military trained so he understood it probably sounded weird as hell. But she accepted it and moved on and that's what he really liked about her. She didn't make him feel like a lunatic for the simplest of things.

And yet he was still nervous.

Knowing she'd say the word, knowing she would keep watch over him and make sure he didn't do anything stupid was all well and good. But he was still nervous.

Luckily he was more tired than nervous. And when he closed his eyes he realised just how heavy they were. Slumping down in his chair a bit, he crossed his arms over his chest and let his chin fall forward. Was it the most comfortable of places to sleep? No... But was he asleep in seconds... You bet he was.

Throwing all of his trust at Alice, the moment that Duo closed his eyes and let himself go, he fell straight asleep.

yes!

[irrationally]

At first she makes sure to keep a careful eye on him. Mostly to see whether or not he really is going to sleep. But there's no doubt about it - Duo really can't be fooling her. The way he slumps like that, the way his breathing slows a bit.. He really is asleep.

And while Alice knows that such a short period of sleep won't do much for his sleep deprivation, at the very least it's something. A start. Maybe he might feel just a tiny bit better waking up - either because he's actually slept some, or because he was able to sleep without anything disastrous happening. Because honestly, Alice isn't afraid at all that anything all that bad will happen when she wakes him up with that word. It'll be fine.

So all the girl does is settle in herself, waiting for the right time to wake him up. She'll have plenty of daydreaming to keep her occupied until then.