Stars Under the Stars

[thepurpleone]

WHO: Y'all
WHERE: By the not-spider warehouse in the southeastern quarter of Temba
WHAT: Movie night!
WHEN: The night after this announcement
WARNINGS: N/A
NOTES: We're all chill here, feel free to backtag or whatev


Maybe it was a lot of effort put into but Donnie never does anything without reason. The recent free display of memories thanks to the last storm had gotten him thinking. What's the point of it all if they just keep getting railroaded by bad experiences and memories here? No one's stopping them from enjoying themselves in an otherwise dilapidated city, and if they keep on focusing on the negative and being stuck for an indeterminate amount of time then that's just more fuel the Atroma or whoever's out there has to use against them.

So Donnie's got the designated space all set. He's made as much use of convenient rubble as he could find within the area for some makeshift seating. He's found some kind of old cushions and blankets to pad them. Since Steve's offered to handle prepping the popcorn, Donnie's happy to leave that business to him and Leo.

The movie selections for the night are definitely things appreciated by a certain audience and might in some universe be considered cult classics, and once it gets dark enough for optimal projection clarity, it's show time!

Teriyaki Shakedown is a martial arts action movie starring the great (as so proclaimed by Leo and Donnie) Lou Jitsu, who's trademark seems to be a pompadour and a flare-legged spandex onesie.

"Where's our free grub, noodle man?"

"Okay- How ‘bout some . . . hot soup? Too spicy for you? Hahaha- Everyone’s a critic."

It's very cheesy and definitely reminiscent of what you'd expect of martial arts movies made in the seventies and eighties.

Jupiter Jim's Last Trip to the Moon turns out not to really be his last trip considering it's the second time it's apparently happened, but what's continuity? It's a sci-fi flick, dated effects and melodramatic, and perhaps one might wonder how anyone can watch more than sixty movies of this?

Comments

[thepurpleone]

"To be fair it's not really something we name drop a whole lot," Donnie admits. Not like they even used their full names most of the time either. "And we only recently learned about a whole lot of that side of things because father doesn't really tend to talk about his past very much. But yeah, I think he did?"

[butterfly_kiss]

"Some expatriots do prefer not to speak too much of home. Everyone has their own reasons."

Depending on age some of those reasons have to do with rather complicated relationships with the history of their nation. Which Tae could take or leave. All she cares about is healing people really. And music.

"Well, if there is anything you ever wish to learn about Japanese culture that you did not learn from him or these videos, which are flawed I can tell you that now, please let me know."

[thepurpleone]

For his father, it had boiled down to family responsibilities and the loss of a loved one. Not that Donnie knows the latter yet.

"Heh, well, pretty much anything I know of Japanese culture is what I've read off the internet and what little bits father cared to insert with the formal training he did care to impart with us."

[butterfly_kiss]

Yeah, that was less than stellar, but she could understand not getting deep into it when it wasn't relevant.

"Well, you are American. Knowing the culture is by no means required or expected."

[thepurpleone]

"It isn't, but I am never opposed to learning about other cultures, or anything for that matter," Donnie says, sighing wistfully. "If we were able to I'd love to travel and see places firsthand but...that's not exactly something you can do when you technically don't exist on government records."

[butterfly_kiss]

"That is an unfortunately good point," Tae agrees with a sigh. "Though there are places in Tokyo where people would not flinch at your appearance."

Cosplayers are like that.

[thepurpleone]

"Getting there is most of the problem, really. Maybe I should work on building a jet."

He supposes Leo could theoretically portal them like the time he'd accidentally portaled his brothers to Tahiti but usually Leo needs to really know where he's opening a portal to.

Donnie laughs then. "Oh, I know- cosplaying is usually how we pass ourselves off whenever we'll get caught in public without our street clothes." Because weirdly enough, no one seems to think too much of a bunch of green-skinned teens so long as they're wearing hoodies or something.

[butterfly_kiss]

"Your own jet sounds like a good way to get shot down," Tae points out. That sounds highly unsafe. "Boat might be a better choice."

She does not, though, think that a hoodie alone should do it.

"Research some anime before you come across. No doubt a costume suited to the situation should be easy to put together."

[thepurpleone]

Donnie wrinkles his nose at that. "I guess that's true. Ooh! Or I can work on adding stealth capabilities..!"

"Scoff! No one has questioned our excellent and accurate cosplay of alien turtles from the Jupiter Jim franchise! -they don't show in the movie we'll see next, but you will definitely know them when you see them."

Although Tae might have to wonder about the perceptions of people in New York if she ever sees their idea of cosplay.

[butterfly_kiss]

"That sounds a lot less safe," Tae sighs. Even stealth planes are noticeable when they're low down, right? But she could very easily be wrong.

She would definitely judge their ideas of cosplay though.

"If that' an option back home, that sounds wise."

[thepurpleone]

That wasn't necessarily a no...

Don't break their hearts, Tae.

"Well, it's all theoretical anyway. Who knows if we'll ever get to go anywhere outside of the States. Or when. I mean...alien planets are cool and all but this isn't exactly what any of us would have had in mind for space exploration."

[butterfly_kiss]

Yes, it was not exactly what many people would have imagined.

"I never aspired to it, you know. Space travel."

[thepurpleone]

"Honestly I don't know how serious we were about it either. It was always more of a 'wouldn't it be cool if we could travel around the galaxy like Jupiter Jim?'"

Donnie hugs his knees as he sighs wistfully. "The spaceport was kind of cool at least. For a while, it really felt like we were on a space adventure."

[butterfly_kiss]

Yes, that sounds like childhood in a very familiar way to Tae, who smiles softly.

"We were on a space adventure."

[thepurpleone]

"Well, yeah, but it's not that much of a space adventure if you spend most of it on one planet," Donnie explains. "Freely traveling between worlds, with nothing but a backdrop of stars, now that's a space adventure."

[butterfly_kiss]

Is that really his metric? They saw many new species and could interact with them, and it wasn't enough?

"We are not here for the exploration to the best of my knowledge. Limitation therefore makes sense."

[thepurpleone]

Aliens just aren't the same when they could be considered mutants or yōkai.

"Laaaaaaame."

[butterfly_kiss]

Tae chuckles to herself. Made sense to her that the young man would be frustrated.

"Sometimes you have to take the mundane with the interesting."

[thepurpleone]

"That doesn't mean the mundane can't be made interesting, so someone clearly needs to step things up," Donnie huffs. But then that's kind of why the movie night, he thinks, eyes drifting back towards the projection.

[butterfly_kiss]

"I think I'd much rather it stay as close to mundane as possible. When things get 'interesting' then people get hurt. And a doctor that is bored is better for all of us."

Especially as she's the doctor with the medical degree that sees people most. She respects what Steve and Billy do of course. They're beyond all measure wonderful aids. But in an emergency if they lost their datapoints, it's on Tae.

[thepurpleone]

"....I guess when you put it that way..." Donnie reluctantly concedes.

[butterfly_kiss]

"I understand," she says, her voice soft. "The desire for excitement and adventure has always been a powerful force among the young. And I can respect your longing for it. I've just been through enough now to enjoy the quiet moments."

[thepurpleone]

"Maybe that's why dad opts to stay at home sitting in front of the TV all day... But you're not old like him." Sometimes it's too easy to overlook the fact that your father is the famous martial artist and actor they've idolized as turtle tots until he's kicking your shell in training.

[butterfly_kiss]

"No, but I'm a doctor," she reminds him. "And I worked as a specialist with an illness that hurts children a lot more than adults. That ages you in a different way."

[thepurpleone]

Donnie blinks at that. It does occur to him that he really doesn't know a whole lot about people here after all.

"What kind of illness is that?" he asks, because that sounds kind of scary, actually. The worst he and his brothers ever get sick with is the rat flu and that's seven stages of strangeness that would likely not make sense to anyone outside of their family.