A Night at the Movies - Impression Maker Reward (Patreon)
Content
“Ok, moment of truth.” Stopping in front of a row of movie posters inside the lobby of their favorite theater, Yang waved towards the wall with a grin. “You know you wanna see The Dust Chronicles with me.”
When Pyrrha laughed - that light, musical laugh - Yang pumped one fist in victory before heading towards the ticket counter. Unfortunately, she’d only made it one step before a gentle hand prevented her from walking any further.
“Actually...” Pyrrha began while pulling Yang back so they were both looking at the wall again. “I was hoping we could see Sunflower.”
Looking at the poster to the right of the action-packed one for The Dust Chronicles, Yang found a second poster she must’ve looked at and already written off without realizing it.
“That one?” she asked in surprise, pointing directly to it. “But it looks so...so...sleepy!”
“It’s supposed to be a very stirring romance.”
“Ugh, barf, Pyrrha. The last thing I need is to spend two hours watching two saps slowly fall in love.”
“You know you love a good romance -”
“Yeah, when it involves me! Not whoever these fools are!” Gesturing towards the two characters sitting suspiciously far apart on a single park bench, Yang grinned when Pyrrha laughed at the reaction. Shaking her head, Pyrrha gave Yang a cheerful expression.
“When you said you wanted to see a movie, I didn’t really prepare myself for guns and deafening explosions,” Pyrrha admitted, as usual seeming too earnest for her own good. Sensing the opportunity to change Pyrrha’s mind, Yang immediately sprang into action.
“See, that’s the best part! You don't have to be prepared. In fact, it’s better if you’re not prepared! Our heroes are never ready for the situations they’re thrown into - they just happen to be in the right place at the right time!” Pausing for a second, Yang grinned and added, “That’s why they’re called ‘here-o’s and not ‘there-o’s.”
Her grin only widened when Pyrrha laughed. It didn’t matter that Pyrrha always laughed at Yang’s jokes, it still made her feel pretty dang special! Just like how it would also make her feel special if they could watch the exciting movie instead of the boring one.
“Come on, Pyrrha,” she said, finally resorting to a whine in order to get her way. “That one’s probably going to put me to sleep!”
“And that one will probably destroy our eardrums,” Pyrrha replied with a smile, waving delicately towards The Dust Chronicles poster.
“Ok...so...that sounds about even!”
Again Pyrrha laughed, but shook her head at the same time. Obviously this tactic wasn’t working. Yang needed to resort to much more convincing measures. Scanning the theater around them - from the concession stand to the ticket counter to the small arcade to the hallways leading to the actual theater rooms - her eyes lit up when she thought of a brilliant idea.
“Ok,” she began, raising her hands in an amenable way. “How ‘bout this - we ask an impartial third party to decide for us.”
One of Pyrrha’s brows raised and Yang immediately knew she’d hooked a live one with the suggestion. Pyrrha was all about being fair, after all. And what was more fair than a neutral third party?
“That sounds fair,” Pyrrha replied, failing to notice Yang’s mini eye roll at the word. “But how will we find -”
Before Pyrrha could even finish the question, Yang turned to her left and waved towards the first person who was about to walk by them.
“Hey!” she called out, getting his attention and gesturing him over. Looking initially confused, he obligingly altered his course and walked over to the two of them. “Sorry to bother you,” Yang quickly said. “But we’re having a bit of a dilemma we were hoping you could help us out with.”
“Uh, ok.” Straightening his posture ever so slightly, he nodded for her to continue. “What is it?”
“Great!” Sending a grin Pyrrha’s way, Yang was about to launch into her impassioned plea to be spared from the depths of slowly building romance before realizing something. “Oh, I’m Yang, by the way,” she introduced herself, sticking out her hand for a handshake and making sure to throw on a winning smile - hopefully an action movie-winning smile.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Grant.”
“Grant! It’s nice to meet you too, Grant.” As the two of them shook hands, Yang heard the sound of someone conspicuously clearing their throat from beside her. “Oh, right. And this is Pyrrha.”
“Nice to meet you,” Pyrrha said warmly while shaking his hand - after which she gave Yang a look that said she knew exactly what Yang was trying to do. Which was totally fine! Just because Pyrrha knew what Yang was trying to do didn’t mean that she could stop her!
“Ok, so we came here to have a nice, fun time at the movies,” Yang explained, throwing a look at Pyrrha while placing extra emphasis on the word ‘fun.’ “And I think that this movie looks like a clear winner, don’t you? I mean, look at how much fun is happening on this poster!”
Waving her hand to the side, she felt vaguely like she was trying to sell the movie poster while Grant looked at it carefully - nodding his head up and down in agreement.
“See? There’s an explosion happening in the background, there’s a very expensive looking car right here, and a big boat, and the main character has fantastic hair even though it looks like she just jumped out of a burning building.” Squinting her eyes, Yang pointed towards a scene in the background. “That burning building, maybe.”
“It does look very action packed…”
Lifting her hands and preparing to claim her victory, Yang had only managed to open her mouth when Pyrrha stepped forward and cut in.
“What she’s not mentioning is that she said she wanted a fun and relaxing evening,” Pyrrha pointed out, using Yang’s words against her. “I don’t see anything relaxing in that poster. This one, however…” Stepping over to the wall, Pyrrha tapped the poster for Sunflower before turning back to them with a winning smile. “This one seems very calm and relaxing, don’t you think? It’s a nice, calm day with zero explosions and the characters haven’t had to escape any fires recently.”
Glancing to the side, Yang found that their impartial third-party observer was doing just a little too good a job of staying impartial. Again, he was nodding along with Pyrrha’s explanation while giving the poster a very thoughtful look.
“It’s just too relaxing,” Yang added, feeling her lead slipping away. “If I’d wanted to take a nap, I would’ve just stayed at home.”
“And if I’d wanted my heart to be racing, I would’ve jumped on the treadmill,” Pyrrha responded easily, still smiling regardless of how seriously Yang was taking this endeavor.
“I think I have an idea.”
Turning towards their moderator, Yang motioned for him to explain further. After giving each of them one glance, he said, “Compromise.”
“Right!” Yang immediately followed up, giving Pyrrha a nod. “So we’ll go to mine this time, and yours the next time.”
Laughing at the idea, Pyrrha shook her head. “That’s what you said the last time! How about we see my choice first and yours next time?”
“I was actually suggesting that neither of you see what you want.”
Yang and Pyrrha shared a mutual look of surprise before looking at Grant in confusion.
“So...we pick a movie that we both don’t want to see?” Pyrrha asked.
“Yup. How about that one?”
When he pointed out the next poster in the row, Yang’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Super Zombie Slayers 6?” she read aloud. After leaning a little closer to take a better look at the artwork, she straightened her back and cleared her throat. “Uh...well...what do you think, Pyrrha?”
“I think that sounds like a great idea.”
“You do??” Turning around in disbelief, Yang caught a pleased smile and nod from Pyrrha.
“I do.” Looking away from Yang, Pyrrha wore that same warm smile as she said, “Thank you, Grant. That’s a wonderful suggestion.”
“Uh, yeah. Thanks,” Yang managed to respond as he nodded and headed off towards the line for concessions. Turning her attention back to the poster, she suddenly found herself wondering how this evening had gone so incredibly off the rails.
“Is that soldier guy using a zombie’s head as a basketball?” she asked when noticing that gem of a detail hidden within the mountain of guns and zombie body parts.
“I believe he is,” Pyrrha answered, taking a closer look before waving towards the ticket counter. “Shall we?”
Chuckling lightly, Yang playfully shook her head. “You’re not serious, are you?” she asked. “I mean...this looks even louder than the one I wanted to see.”
Not to mention more gruesome, terrifying, and just in general far creepier.
“But this is a fair solution.” As soon as Pyrrha said the words, she smiled and began walking towards the ticket booth - forcing Yang to jog several steps to catch up and fall into place beside her. “Besides...you’re not scared of zombies, are you?”
“Course not!” Laughing off the idea that she would be scared of some dumb old, maniac, undead zombies that never, ever stopped craving human flesh, Yang added, “I mean, I just don’t want you to be scared is all.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be just fine.” Again, Pyrrha sent Yang a reassuring smile as they reached the ticket counter together.
There was one little thing to know about Pyrrha...and that’s how impossible it is to read any of her feelings through her smile. No matter what, it always stayed the same. Someone stealing her lunch, finding money on the sidewalk, getting jump-scared for two hours - all the same freaking smile. So there was absolutely no way for Yang to know if Pyrrha was bluffing or not. Would she actually go through with this? Or was she just waiting for Yang to chicken out first?
“How can I help you?” the theater employee asked them, looking at Yang while expectantly awaiting the name of the movie they’d like to see. Sending another glance at Pyrrha and receiving a quick nod, Yang turned back and said, “Uh, two for Super Zombie Slayers, I guess.”
Practically sweating as the theater worker began clicking buttons on the screen, Yang could feel Pyrrha’s smile aimed her way.
She really didn’t want to watch a zombie movie! That’s not at all what she’d wanted to do today. Or any day. They were scary and she’d have nightmares for the next week, most likely.
The boring movie was beginning to look pretty good in comparison.
“Dammit, Pyrrha,” she sighed out loud, looking to the side and catching that same grin before hastily turning back to the window and saying, “On second thought, scratch that. Two for Sunflower instead.”
Hearing Pyrrha’s delighted laugh, Yang tried and failed to act annoyed while paying for the tickets and then making Pyrrha hold them as they walked back towards the hall leading towards the theater rooms.
“I can’t believe you’d let us watch a zombie movie,” Yang muttered to herself as they went.
“I can’t believe you nearly paid for the tickets before chickening out.”
Scoffing at the (true) statement, Yang flipped her hair to one side and sent Pyrrha a grin - happy with how the evening had turned out regardless of the outcome in movie choices. Because really, there were worse options than Sunflower...
“I’m totally blaming you if I like this movie,” she quipped, holding open the right door and letting Pyrrha walk in first. Before following, Yang paused when she spotted a familiar face walking down the hall towards her.
Now holding a drink and box of popcorn, Grant grinned and raised the cup in her direction before heading into the theater across the hall. Curiously stepping to the side so she could see what film was playing in that theater, Yang laughed and shook her head in disbelief.
At least someone was going to see Super Zombie Slayers 6.