picknicking

[dark_light]

There's something unutterably pleasant about landing in a bit of woods in the middle of Nowhere, Manitoba, removing a sandwich and an apple from her backpack and having a picnic before she's ready to move on. She could eat in midair, but it makes it too likely that she'll drop something and find it unrecoverable.

Path's on her knee, and her cloudpine is propped up against the tree next to her.

Comments

[prodigal_miser]

"Thank you," he says with a smile. "I've grown fond of the style."

Adarin is fascinated by just about everything in the movie theater. While Isabella's busy getting them permission to see a movie via spell payment, he wanders around the lobby looking at posters, looking utterly charmed. Tickets are gotten, and he grins at her as they go.

"Makes sense. Magic has wonderful, wonderful benefits; I feel spoiled already."

[dark_light]

"I'm so glad you approve. Now, before the movie starts, they play some boring crap advertisements that you will probably find intensely fascinating, and then they play enticing snippets of movies that haven't come out yet to get us interested in seeing them when they do, and then we get our movie. You can talk a little during the commercials and the previews if you need to ask questions but it's rude during the main event. You could, however, write down anything you want to ask me about later."

[prodigal_miser]

"Sure, I have no doubt I'll be fascinated by everything. I'd like to avoid being rude, but I don't think I'll write down my questions. If I did that, it could be hours of just me asking curious questions. Then asking questions about the answers to the previous questions - a thing best settled when we go to the library."

[dark_light]

"Up to you."

They find seats. There is a commercial for Coke playing.

"This company made the cups we are drinking out of, as you can see," Isabella remarks, "but this isn't Coke I got us, it's Mountain Dew."

[prodigal_miser]

"Oooo," he says. "Is that just the name, oooor...?"

[dark_light]

She laughs. "It's the name! Our mountains do not accumulate dew in this flavor, sugar concentration, or bubbliness."

[prodigal_miser]

"Pity. I would have wanted to visit."

[dark_light]

"Sorry. You like the soda, though?"

[prodigal_miser]

"I do! I haven't had anything like it before, and it's... sugary and bubbly and kind of amazing. I'm tempted to just call it 'magic' but I doubt it's that, considering how things are, here."

[dark_light]

"It is not remotely magic! It is heavily artificial, though. There's kinds and kinds of soda, we can get you samples of more sorts on the way out." She opens her box of Milk Duds. "And candy if you like."

[prodigal_miser]

A sample of Milk Duds is taken and one is eaten. The other samples soon follow at a very fast pace. Then, Adarin snickers, and says, "I'll just take that second box now, please, this is amazing. Better than the soda."

[dark_light]

"Hey, I got two because I wanted one. Here," she snorts, "I'll go wave my voucher at concessions and get one of everything, why not, you can deal with the consequences of the sugar crash."

[prodigal_miser]

Teasingly, he replies, "I was going to leave you the first. Most of it. Thank you! This is going to make me sick from eating a lot, isn't it? I might just save some and try them as time goes on. For the sake of increasing my knowledge of the world."

[dark_light]

"Increasing your knowledge of the world. Sure. Best excuse to eat a pile of candy I've ever heard."

She puts their popcorn in his lap and goes to get one of all the candies.

[prodigal_miser]

He tries some of the popcorn, too, because he can. Nom, nom. Popcorn. He is approving of everything here, this is the best plane ever. Of all time. Maybe there's a statistically unlikely incredibly helpful utopia, but he doubts that utopia has Milk Duds. Way, way better choice.

(He doesn't mean that, but he is having so much fun.)

[dark_light]

She is back soon with licorice, peanut butter cups, M&Ms, a peppermint patty, sour gummy worms, and a Snickers bar. "Here you are."

[prodigal_miser]

"Thank you!"

Popcorn is returned (before he eats it all, he does want her to have some, too) and various forms of candy is acquired.

"The movie hasn't started yet and I approve so much," he says brightly.

[dark_light]

Isabella snickers.

The commercial playing is now for an SUV.

[prodigal_miser]

He looks at this with absolute fascination, but he mentally pronounces it to not be as cool as Isabella's cloud pine. The vehicle very obviously doesn't fly. So, not superior.

[dark_light]

And then it's a local dentist, and then it's trailer time! Here is a forthcoming movie with lots of gun violence!

Isabella consumes popcorn.

[prodigal_miser]

Things are watched with interest! Then when the movie with gun violence trailer is over, he leans over and asks, "Was that imaginary 'what if' technology, or...?"

Adarin's going to end up so fascinated by movies that he'll probably forget to eat popcorn. But during the lull of trailers and commercials, he'll have some! He will get to the candy, but cool things on the screen takes priority.

[dark_light]

"The stunts were exceptional, but guns are real."

The next trailer is for a computer animated kids' cartoon.

[prodigal_miser]

"Aha. Thank you."

When the next trailer comes on, he begins fascinated staring at animated cartoons. This is literally like nothing he's seen before! Stare stare stare what is this candy you speak of there's cool things he's never seen before up there. Stare.

"I will have so many questions by the end of this," he says softly, amazed.

[dark_light]

"I forgot to mention that not all movies have live actors. Animation started out as drawings going by so fast that they looked like they were moving, but now they do it on computers."

[prodigal_miser]

"Oooooooooo. Thank you, again," says Adarin, grinning. "This was the best idea."