Episode II: Attack of the Tiny Toddlers [Luca]

While Luca was led out towards the middle of the room by the kids, Surai had to detangle herself from her group to help the other staff get blankets and pillows. Most of the floor had already been covered by a good amount of fluffy cloth; they'd gotten plenty of "donations" from the kids all coming to watch. Plus the orphanage was in no short supply of blankets period. So by the time Surai got back she was currently carrying a mini mountain of soft material to hand out to the kids with another coworker in tow. However she did manage to poke her head out from the large pillowy mass to answer him.

"Oh it's a really old one. Here you go." The woman took a second to plop down some of the pillows and blankets to one group of kids (who immediately started debating over who got what) "It's from our boss'- whoops!" There was a pause as she tried to reign in some of the cloth spilling out. "- own collection. His father was a big fan of collecting old movies and whatnot, as was his father before him and... Okay well from what I gathered it's sort of a family tra- ah ah ah! No stealing!" She chided as a little hand reached up to try grabbing at a blanket. It wisely retracted as Surai stared down at the child. But her stern expression smoothed over as she handed them the blanket anyways. "We do not grab; we ask politely, remember? Where was I again?" It took her a few more seconds of moving about to pick up again.

"Oh right! yes, so apparently it's some tradition of their family. When he decided to take over running the orphanage, he decided to use the collection- or at least the kid's movies- for movie nights. The quality might not be as great as the ones we have now but... honestly I think I like some of the old ones better." As Surai's handful dwindled away, she eventually came to plop herself down by Luca and his gaggle of kids. The last of her blankets and pillows were handed of to the magi and the kids with them.

"This one is... Which one again?"

"Atlantis!" One of her coworkers called out, fiddling away at the front of the room where a large projector screen was set up.

"Right, right. It's about some lost ancient city under the sea that a group of adventures goes to try and find. It's actually pretty good in my opinion. I like the animation style; very pretty. Plus the characters are all funny." Oh the irony about cities under the sea. This was not lost on Surai one bit, but she didn't react to it. Outwardly at least (inside she was snickering). The pillows and blanket she'd been given were arranged so Surai and the few kids who chose to sit with her could sit comfortably. A small, content smile played upon her lips the whole time. "I hope you like it too. The kids all enjoy it."

"Do you like movies, Mr. Luca?"

"Yeah, which one's your favorite?"

"I really like the scene where Milo and Kida-"

"Hey! No spoilers!" Surai called out before the last one could finish their sentence. "Mr. Luca hasn't seen this before! ...I think." Surai added on in a slightly lower voice. Blue eyes looked over at Luca. "Have you seen this before?"

by sixsmith.

Well Luca, I think you know exactly the sort of response that kind of reply was going to get.

Numerous shocked gasps! came from the kids surrounding Luca. That quickly changed into exclaimed questions and protested that ran over each other, rendering it into basically a lot of loud sounds coming from a decently large amount of children. While normally Surai would try to quiet them down, she was kind of shocked at the moment. Luca hadn’t seen movies before? Ever? Back in Pentos Surai didn’t really get much of an opportunity to watch many movies either. Besides, why watch movies when you could step outside and basically find yourself in an action scene out of almost any action film ever? Only the props weren’t, well, props and Surai didn’t exactly have a stunt double to take the dangerous scenes over for her. But Ethea wasn’t that ba-

…Well ok it wasn’t that bad all the time at least.
(Oh the horrible irony)

After the noise kept going on and other kids started joining in without knowing why, Surai eventually shook herself back to the present. ”Alright everybody simmer down! Inside voices!" The woman called out. It only took a few more times (with increasing sternness) before the kids settled once again. Once the sound had faded once more, Surai finally could speak to Luca. ”Well… if you had to pick anywhere to start, then I guess there’s no better place than the classics." She wasn’t about to beat him up for not seeing movies prior to this. One; why would she do that? I mean come on, she’s not that scary. Promise. Second; she’d been there before. So she could understand and help a kindred spirit in need of some guidance through the great (sometimes corny, sappy, edgy, or filled with way too many explosions to logically make sense) world of cinema. ”And if you do like this one, I can think of a few other ones to recommend you. Or even if you don’t like this one, there’s plenty of other genres. Action, mystery, horror, romance, comedy," Each one was ticked off her fingers before she shrugged, ”Frankly there’s way too many, but I think we’ll find something you’d enjoy."

They would find something Luca liked, mark her words. The poor man deserved to find something fun and enjoyable to watch after all he’d gone through.

by sixsmith.

He was smiling again. Oh thank Irilys. The poor man had looked so panicked for a moment there. The surajan woman couldn't help but been concerned with him. He'd looked far too similar to how he'd looked the first time she met him. That timid look of someone retreating internally... no, she certainly didn't want Luca to revert to that ever again. Not if she could help it.

But as she flashed him back a warm and genuine smile, the lights began to dim. With a blink she glanced over towards the brightening projector screen. Oh, guess they were starting already! Fortunately that meant all the kids truly quieted down in order to watch the movie. Something else that made the teacher smile to herself. No matter how many times they saw these movies, no matter how old the graphics might be, the children always got a kick out of them. That, more than anything, was what Surai loved about these little movie nights they had. the movies themselves were entertaining, sure. But letting all these kids have fun together? Getting to bond with everyone like an honest to gods family?

It was moments like these that reminded Surai why she was working there in the first place.

As she settled in amongst her little kids, her attention turned towards the movie with pure content in her expression. The movie itself really wasn't that bad. Perhaps not near the quality of what today's movies could be, but still. The storyline was interesting. The characters honestly funny. Plus there was something oddly nostalgic about the film that made it fun. The rest of the audience certainly was enthralled by it. Out of the corner of her eyes Surai could catch glimpses of her fellow coworkers in the sea of fascinated kids. Much like her they seemed completely content as they were now. Surai stole a glance at Luca. Was he having fun too? Hopefully so, especially if she wanted to introduce him to even more movies once they finally got home. Ah well, she could find out after. For now she popped some popcorn into her mouth and continued to watch.

All in all it was an enjoyable experience Surai was happy to be a part of each time they held it. As the credits rolled across the screen, Surai yawned and stretched. There was a few audible pops! as her joints creaked and groans. Some of the kids were doing so too, and a few others had actually fallen asleep. Would make getting them to bed easier, at least. Thankfully the other workers knew better than to flip on the overhead lights so soon. Instead the title screen provided enough light for them to start moving around. "Alright everyone; time for bed." Surai said, parroted by a few of the other now moving coworkers. A few kids protested, but most (that were awake) were already getting up to go. Surai herself managed to make it up onto her feet. More stretching ensued as she did of course. Her hips definitely popped, and loud enough that she had to wince. "Oh. Jeez, I sound like I'm going to fall apart at the seams here." Chuckled the teacher. Blue eyes turned towards Luca. "So? What do you think? Ah, and could you help us gather up some of the kids please? A few of them dozed off." Surai was already crouching down to carefully pick one of them up; a litle human girl curly up in some of the blankets. The sight brought a soft smile to Surai's face.

by sixsmith.

A chuckle left the teacher's lips. "Staying in one piece would be preferred, thank you. But don't worry, I haven't run out of duct tape just yet." With a joking wink the woman went about her business of herding a bunch of sleepy kids back to their beds.

Working together, however, they could make short work of it. Plus there was no way Surai could possibly complain about cleaning up afterwards when she saw that big ol' smile on Luca's face. The genuineness of the expression made Surai's heart swell with warmth. He was improving. Really, and truly improving. Oh Baba, I'm so glad you told me to do this. He's getting so much better. With that silent prayer sent up, Surai smiled. It was warm and genuine all on its own. "I'm glad you liked it, Luca. Least we know where to start once we get home." She had a few animated movies they could easily binge. Welcome to the glorious world of cinema Luca. There's no going back now.

As they put the last of the kids away (her fellow coworkers were also around to help corral the children to bed), Surai thought. "We typically have them at least once per month." The teacher informed him softly as she put another sleeping child into bed. As she put the blanket up other them, she continued. "Usually we try to do activities like these often. Though if we had a movie night each week we'd definitely run out of things to watch without the kids getting tired of them." With the little one tucked in, the teacher excited the room and headed back to the movie room. Time to clean up the extra popcorn and everything else.

"It's good for them to have this though. We try our best to make sure they feel like they're still part of a family." Surai didn't mean to get in too deep but, well, it was true. That was the whole reason she was there. To help give these kids what they should have. "And they are in a way. It's just one with lots of brothers and sisters. Which can make it pretty crazy around the holidays when we have dinner, let me tell you. Normal dinner is already a little slice of chaos all its own." With a chuckle Surai moved on. The cleanup process itself wasn't too bad. Sweep the floor; throw out the garbage; collect the leftover blankets and pillows; that sort of thing. Before very long they were finishing up and Surai was saying goodnight to her friends.

"I'm really happy you decided to come tonight, Luca." Surai said once they finally headed outside. The teacher turned her head to face the magi with a warm little smile on her face. "You definitely helped make the night for a lot of the kids. They're always excited to see you. Honestly if you wanted I'm sure you'd be welcome to come to any of the little events we have; including movie night." Her smile widened. "Especially since you seemed to enjoy it just as much as my little najmas do."

by sixsmith.