[OPEN] Movie night, and again, movie night!

[groupiedrifter]

CHARACTERS: Everyone! Mingle!
LOCATION: The Mess Hall
DATE: After the mission, somewhere in the tail-end of November.
CONTENT: A movie night! Typical business, enjoy relaxing.
WARNINGS: None! But feel free to add them if you need to, to your threads.



This isn't much of a 'Thanksgiving' celebration. In fact, the only thing that really seems to constitute 'thanksgiving' is the pie and wine that is available — everything else, not so much. This month, the mess hall is arranged with the usual sort of system: a table for food and drinks, a table for Activities (tm), and a comfortable, blanket and pillow-fueled space where movies are projected on a sheet — because what better way to watch a movie than to rig up someone's old sheets?



The options for food had been, once again, stolen from the old 'survey' Newt had posted months beforehand, so some of you may find your favorite foods here. Firstly, and most importantly, there are pies. Pies of many assortments, as far as the ol' eye can see (exaggerations may apply). Alongside it, a mishmash of cultures — szechuan-themed noodles, onion gratin soup, black beans and rice... though most oddly, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

What? Someone had them on their favorite foods list. Sometimes we love a good outcast.

The other desert of choice to top off the night: white chocolate. Yzak's favorite, of course, and served in a few ways.



But drinks! Drinks are important, too, and you tea-lovers are in for a treat: a section solely dedicated to tea leaves. That's right, a Tea Bar, with all the mixtures to steep to your heart's content! Jasmine tea, seiros tea, your basic sweet teas and even more casual green teas — it's all here, served right next to the wine and champagne, in case you feel like getting a little — as the kid's these days don't say anymore — turnt.

Also yes, the glowy weird 'please only cybertronians consume this' Energon is there as well.



The activities this time are less involved, mostly because they come from boxes that merely have to be opened up to be enjoyed. A stack straight out of Walmart's kid science section, just for the crew of the Ximilia to enjoy. If you're thinking 'wow, this has Newton written all over it', you'd be very correct: geode breaking kits, fossil digging kits, rocket and gundam-building kits — you name it, it's there, straight from his childhood years and into your hearts.

The best selection is, obviously, the kit that makes gummy candy bugs.

Mmmm. Bug-shaped food.



And per usual, movie options are selected, and play in the following order through the night: Moana, Lord of the Rings (the first movie only, sorry, we're cutting you off at movie one), and Honey I Shrunk the Kids!

... And, when the night is at its end, another movie is snuck on when people are falling asleep or scattering to their rooms:



Oh dear.

Happy holidays, or something!

Comments

[chrysology]

I mean. Stuff like that is just in books or whatever. Otherwise, you know. We have science like alchemy or alkahestry.

[Ed can try turn off for a bit while reading or watching something, but sometimes his curiosity or cynicism gets the better of him as he thinks on things. He takes another bite of his pie as he watches, gazing between Rosinate and the screen in watching the movie.]

[callada]

Sure, and the same is true for mine. But the legends inspire books and theater, and on Earth, movies. And this - if this is from Earth, I don't think it's real, but must be some type of art of theirs. We're lucky, here, we get to learn the mythology of other worlds.

[And that's pretty cool, isn't it? A lot of it is so much more vibrant than the stories he was told as a kid. Imagine growing up in a world where a girl with fishman powers travels from island to island, guided by powerful figures who help her on her journey? Sure, some islands at home probably have tales like this too, good stories about growth and adventure and integrity, but those weren't the ones that passed through his family.

His parents would have liked stories like this, though, he thinks. Would have preferred myths like these to tell to him and his brother, all those years ago.]

[chrysology]

I guess. Yeah. There's myths and stories back home too. Like about Xerxes.

[Which. Well. Had turned out to be way closer to home than Ed could ever have imagined given Hohenheim's past. Still, he gives a shrug, eating more of the pie as he watches the movie and chats with Rosinate. He probably has quite different stories he grew up with compared to the ones Rosinate or others among them at the station have done though.]

[callada]

What's that one about, then?

[Come on, guy, can't just drop the name of some myth and not follow up!]

[chrysology]

Xerxes? Ah, about this city that was wiped out in a single night. One from there went East and the other went West. Founding Alchemy. Founding Alkahestry.

[But that is. Kinda straying quite close to bringing up Father. Hohenheim's past. Which is kinda a sore topic with his father but also in that he had agreed not to mention the homunculus or Father back home. So he isn't so sure on opening up about them here, whether it would still count. Given there was the chance that Father or the homunculi might show up here.]

[callada]

One, what, ruler? Common person? How was the city wiped out in a night?

[Come on, he wants a real story here! Ed must not be much of a storyteller - which may be just how he is, but may also be because, as Rosinante has gathered, Ed is largely on the move, always doing new things. Hasn't spent months at sea on a ship where the crew has to entertain itself with songs, stories, and too much drinking - the latter of which definitely enhances some of the songs and stories.

Now, the thought of an entire city being destroyed in one night is pretty horrible, but presumably this is some ancient tale that may not even have much basis in truth, like a lot of old legends are. So he doesn't feel too bad about pressing for details with a smile on his face.]

[chrysology]

It's -- well. I thought it was just a legend. A story. It was said to have happened so long ago. But yeah. He was a common person, back then. Initially a slave. My father. The Xerxes people had gold hair and eyes. Like him. Like me and Al. There was....an accident. They were trying to do something and didn't realize the consequences. There was one other that survived and went East. To Xing, I guess.

[Trying to make a Stone. They had made the Philosopher's Stones. That was what happened to the rest of the Xerxes people. The Homunculus, Father, had figured keeping Hohenheim safe. Sharing some of the souls. That had been how he had survived all this time.

Ed isn't really one used to telling stories so much. Occasionally might tell one to Al, chatting together before bed but not in the same way Rosinate probably was used to on the ship. Stuck together on the ship for however long. Ed and Al were always busy, always on the move. Ed didn't like sitting around feeling restless, not seeming to make progress on his goal.]

[callada]

[All right, he'll hold back on the pressing for details thing, because this is starting to look less like Ed is having a hard time recalling the details and more like it's personal. And that, well. He gets that. There are old stories he doesn't tell here, or anywhere, for the same reason, logical or not.

So he nods, satisfied, and finishes a slice of pie.]

I see. A founding story, of sorts. Not of a city, but of ideas. Lots of old stories like that one persist a long time when there's a little truth to them.

[chrysology]

Something like that. It's...complicated. I just grew up hearing that Xerxes was this one city or town or whatever that disappeared overnight. I didn't know the details until more recently.

[Ed has been learning to question a lot of what he thought he knew and took for granted. It's been a lot the last few years. He has been learning and growing a lot, let alone with this time here on top of that. He glances between the film and Rosinate as he finishes his pie, licking at his lips.]

I heard Xing have their own version of it as well, from Ling.

[callada]

[He nods slowly as Ed reveals a little more about it all.]

Maybe if you compared both versions you might learn more about the truth, hm? The parts held in common.

[The movie is cute, and the visuals are impressive, but more and more his mind pulls away from it. A childhood fairytale from a world he'll never see - interesting, sure, but what Ed mentions is real for him, and reminds Rosinante more and more of those branching stories in his own world, told by different voices that the government continues to try and snuff out.]

Are those details something the people in power in your world try to hide? I've seen that from time to time, too. Old truths sometimes make people afraid.