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

[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."

[dark_light]

"I have good ideas sometimes!"

Preview for a romantic comedy!

[prodigal_miser]

"More often than sometimes."

He tilts his head a little at the romantic comedy preview. After some consideration, he deems it 'cute' and smiles at it. He's a little embarrassed by public displays of affection, but it's obvious this isn't that. Adarin doesn't think it's his kind of thing, but he can deem it cute. Maybe if he saw it he'd like it, but just the preview doesn't appeal.

[dark_light]

"Chick flick," Isabella identifies. "At least by cultural stereotype."

Here's some Oscar-bait with a lot of dramatic shouting in the rain!

[prodigal_miser]

Adarin giggles at Isabella's identification. He looks at the Oscar-bait movie with amusement, identifying that it's really dramatic and shouty. That one very definitively doesn't appeal; he's been through a lot, himself, and he's never felt the need to shout in the rain.

Trying not to laugh, he asks, "Did everyone just wait until it was raining to shout? Is that a thing? That seems like a strange thing."

[dark_light]

"Ugh, it's a mood-setting narrative thing, people do not really wait until it is raining to shout at each other."

Here's another action movie, this one more military.

[prodigal_miser]

He snickers.

The military action movie actually makes him a bit uncomfortable. He suspects he's not the type of person this is aimed towards, considering that part of his home's history where a very, very large percentage of a world was killed or worse in an invasion. Adarin makes a bit of a displeased face, but otherwise doesn't react.

Distractions with candy! He tries the Snickers bar, because its name amuses him. He approves! It makes a nice distraction.

[dark_light]

And here is the opening sequence of Star Trek. All of the alien characters have their daemons made up or CGI-adjusted to look like alien creatures; the humans have Earth animals. These aliens are upset! This Federation ship is in trouble! There is a heroic sacrifice! A baby is born and his daemon appears in a swirl of golden light and he is named James Tiberius Kirk!