Movie Night IV: Movie Harder

[unrecovered]

Who| Wash and anyone who wants to join
What| Movie night!
Where| The same lounge movie night is always in
When| A few days after Silent Horizon and No Sanity Clause
Warnings/Notes| They're watching Clue, because Tim Curry is the cure for everything.

It has been, to put none too fine a point on it, a shitty week. Everyone needs a place where they can relax and get their minds off what's happened; to that end, Wash figures it's about time for another movie night, and goes for a comedy this time. Sure, Clue is technically a murder mystery with a slow build, but he's pretty sure people will enjoy it as long as he's up front about it.

There's tables full of snacks and drinks set up, per usual. Extra blankets are piled on the arms and backs of chairs and sofas, because blankets make things better and therefore need to be available. There's a sign outside the door with the movie's title, MPAA rating, and a brief summary, along with a note at the bottom: Movie night is neutral territory. Might as well make it known up front.

Comments

Before the movie

[unrecovered]

After the movie

[unrecovered]

Wash

[unrecovered]

Wash is puttering around the room, putting stacks of plates on the snack tables and generally making sure things are ready to go. He'll get the movie started once more people show up.

[unrecovered]

Wash might be grinning, just a bit. He can't help it - there's something about Clue that just makes him happy every time he watches it. It's a rare expression for him to wear, but that doesn't make it any less bright.

[short_changed]

Connie gives the door frame a light knock as she steps in with a tray of something in her free hand. She missed the last time Wash had hosted a movie night but right about now she could use a little entertainment.

"Do you always organize these?"

[turntex]

Dave shows up a little early to claim himself a good nesting spot, the blankets and pillows from his room tucked under both arms. Pausing in the doorway, his eyebrows arch up over his shades at the blankets already draped over every surface.

"Goddamn, you're way ahead of me on the cozyparty prep." He nods sagely and drags his own contributions in to dump on the biggest and squishiest couch. "We might as well do the whole blanket fort thing too at this point. Having to dig our way out of the sea of fabric after the inevitable fort collapse would probably count as a team-building exercise."

[unrecovered]

Wash looks up at the knock and offers Connie a faint hint of a smile. "All four of them, yeah. Would you believe they started because Master Chief hadn't seen Alien?"

[short_changed]

"But it's a classic!" Connie snorts and steps up to the table set down the tray of sliced fruit she'd brought. Okay- sliced apples. She got bored, okay?.

"I've heard of the Chief but I haven't met them yet. Good friend?"

Must be for Wash to start the movie nights for him.

Dave

[turntex]

Dave is without his normal partner in movie-watching this time around. Which is a damn shame because, besides the obvious reasons why that sucks, Clue is a fucking gem of human cinema and explaining that it was based on a board game would have been hilarious.

So Dave has gotten very cozy by himself to make up for this. He got there a bit early and snagged the best spot on the plushest couch, right up against the arm so he can do a proper comfy lean. He's arranged against the couch arm and back to further accentuate the coziness, and thoroughly burrito'd himself within a blanket.

Unfortunately, it's only after he is thoroughly nested that he realizes he didn't grab snacks and drink first. Groaning, Dave sinks further into his lean over the arm of the couch and tilts his head backwards to look up at whoever happens to be walking by.

"Wanna be my best friend?"

Somehow, he manages to deadpan and whine a little at the same time, it's unreal.

[unrecovered]

"He was basically homeschooled," is the best Wash can come up with, because holy shit there is very little he can give in way of honest explanation regarding Chief's past. "He hasn't seen a lot of older movies. And yeah, he's a pretty good guy. There's no one else I'd rather have at my back in a firefight." Partially because he's the fucking Master Chief, and partially because yeah, he's a great friend.

Wash blinks at the tray. "You made bunny apples."

[unrecovered]

"Blankets fix everything," Wash says, watching Dave cart his load of blankets in and dump them on a couch. "Scientific fact." There's a reason he went around bringing blankets to people after they came back from the hellship."But we should probably wait until after the movie to do a fort."

[short_changed]

That's pretty vague but Connie trusts Wash's judgement. "Huh. Well if he's that good then maybe homeschooled is the way to go."

She glances down at the tray and then steadily back up at Wash, expression carefully blank. Maybe she over did it.

"Got bored."

[short_changed]

Connie's halfway to the snack table herself when she hears that voice come from just past her left elbow and she pauses mid-step. With a quirked brow she takes a moment to stare at the kid, then his cocoon of blankety comfort before it clicks. Anything that snuggly's gonna limit your reach, and the coffee table in front of his section of the sofa is empty, so...

"You forgot to get snacks, didn't you?"

[unrecovered]

Wash raises an eyebrow at her. "Needed to distract yourself from something 'got bored' or got bored 'got bored?'" Given that they're only a few days removed from horrifically traumatic missions, it's a legitimate question.

[short_changed]

"Both? I mean, it's good to keep busy, right?"

And by all accounts, Connie came away from that mission just fine compared to some of the others- and they all came back alive. She's got no room to whine.

"It's been nice, y'know. Making things, for once. Been a while since I last could."

[turntex]

Dave snorts his skepticism, busying himself with arranging his own supplies for maximum comfort. A pillow against each the back and the arm of the couch, one blanket swirled to provide extra cushioning for the seat. Coziness is an art form, Wash.

"Half this squad will ditch the moment the movie is over and you know it," he says, shrugging. "The promise of mindless entertainment and snacks are all that draw them to these group activities, and once those are gone they'll go right back to being lone wolves. Nah, you gotta set it up beforehand so they've got no choice but to accept their fate and crawl in if they wanna see the film."

[turntex]

"I forgot to get snacks," he answers with a nod, solemn as a church during a funeral. This blanket burrito can barely contain the levels of somberness he's radiating. "Heroes are supposed to help people. Help me."

[short_changed]

Oh, he's good. There's not many people that Connie knows that can look that serious while also looking like a blanket caterpillar. The corner of Connie's lips twitch with a grin as she glances back to the table of snacks.

"Anything in particular? Little bit of everything?"

[turntex]

"Hell yeah. Except none of that pineapple-on-pizza abomination. Take whatever you would have grabbed for me of that variety and put it on a plate, write for Grif on a napkin and draw a heart and leave it out. I wanna see if he just goes for it or gets paranoid and won't touch the shit."

Was that everything? Dave frowns faintly, thoughtful.

"Also if there is apple juice, I would do horrific things for a cup. Or the whole jug. Whatever."

[short_changed]

That actually makes her huff a soft laugh under her breath.

"No fruit out of context, huh? Alright. You sure you can eat it all from your...set up?"

[turntex]

Oh good, she's laughing. That means he can probably get away with anything. Dave sinks cozily into his burrito, confident in the fact that his coziness will definitely not be interrupted now.

"I'm a god, there is nothing I can't do." A pause, before he adds, "...Except gather snacks without dislodging myself from Blankettown. But in my defense, gods are always asking mortals and demigods to get their shit for them, like gods are capable of literally anything save a simple fetch quest."

[short_changed]

She was about to say as much before his addendum. Dave's lucky Connie's got a bit of a soft spot for kids who can deadpan like nobody's business. And also dorks. She knows one when she sees one. Also might be one herself.

"Alright, I get it. Give me a minute."

Shaking her head she walks away from the sofa to start assembling three plates of snacks. A quick note is written out for the plate laden with pineapple pizza, an apple bunny and whatever chocolates are around for Grif before she returns with two other plates of snacks balanced on one hand while holding a couple of juice boxes in the other. She offers the apple juice over first.

"Here. One of the plates is mine."

[turntex]

By the time she gets back, Dave is prepared. He's still thoroughly bundled, but one arm has managed to wiggle out the bottom side to be usable while still mostly covered by a loose end of the blanket. He nods his appreciation when she returns, snagging up that apple juice almost reverently. Fuck yeah.

"Alright, the title of Best Friend is yours. Use it wisely, don't abuse your power, etc." He scoots himself up a little, stabs the straw through the box, and takes a sip before moving to take the rest of the snacks and setting them on the small table beside the couch. He'd prepared for this little nest in every way possible, it seemed, except for the snacks part. "Some hearts will be broken when they hear the position is no longer up for grabs, but they'll have to deal, I guess."

Connecticut

[short_changed]

Connie's been careful to grab one of the fluffier blankets before she settled in for the movie with her plate of snacks tucked comfortably into the corner of one of the many sofas. Even though she brought more than enough sliced apples for everyone she's got another she's been idly carving thin slices out of with her pocket knife. It's enough to keep her hands busy and distracted as she takes the opportunity to not only watch the movie but watch the people who'd come to see it.

A couple minutes later probably

[whyarewehere]

Grif is never early to things. Dave and Connie's experiment is innocently awaiting him when he finally shows up, and he squints at it for a moment.

On the one hand, this is very suspicious. Why would someone leave food for him? He sure doesn't leave food for other people. And leaving why aside, who would?

But on the other hand, there's a convenient plate of food here. He doesn't even have to portion everything out. The chocolate is already there too. Time saver!

"Hey Connie, hey Dave," he says as he finds a place to sit and plops down, already halfway through the bunny apple. If someone wanted to poison this man it would take no effort at all.

"What's up?"

At least he's finally gotten Connie's name right. She can thank York for that.