2010-05-20 - A Day at the Movies

Johnny Domino has been feeling a mite sad the past two days. It started when Rei kissed him and tried to have sex with him. He told her no. Then the next day Asuka tried to have sex with him and he kissed her, because no still meant no.

It makes perfect sense shut up.

Amazingly enough, despite being a young male in his early twenties, Johnny's reaction to the fact that two young girls tried roping him into sexual adventures that would make one's skin crawl with sinful delight was not only to reject both their asses, but also feel bad about it happening at all. And somewhere, somehow, Leo Stenbuck fucks a waitress.

While there's something to be said about allowing oneself to be distracted by work, Johnny Domino was never quite the workaholic sort. His work ethics may have improved wonders, but when it comes to seeking an escape, Domino still resorts to more enjoyable escapades rather than drowning himself silly in paperwork. Genuine escapist endeavors, such as reading a book, listening to music, watching a movie...

PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CELLPHONE FOR THE DURATION OF THE PRESENTATION

Johnny Domino sits in a dimly lit movie theater, dressed in his A-LAWS garb (tickets are 10% off for soldiers), staring ahead. The movie hasn't started yet. The previews haven't started yet. The commercials before the previews haven't started yet. It's been fifteen minutes already since the Agent got his ticket and took his seat. Going to the movies really is a great escape, especially if you want to escape the movies themselves, apparently. Not like Domino really knows anything about the movie he's about to watch, anyway.

With both seats to the right and left of Domino vacant -- in fact, half the theater appears to be vacant -- Johnny expects this experience to pass with minimal pain. There are no screaming children in sight, no couples messily making out, no fat people making too much noise as they eat half the snack bar... yeah, it looks like this time around, Johnny Domino may actually NOT REGRET not waiting for the DVD rip to appear on Neo Pirate Colony Dot Com.

And then--

And then.

It starts as just the faintest tickle in the Agent's nostril but quickly grows into the confirmation that someone is indeed smoking. Nothing illegal or anything like that, but still a muscular odor -- in fact, as it thickens in the air, it becomes clear that no only is someone smoking, someone is smoking a cigar. The smell comes from behind Johnny Domino, where his worst nightmare sits, enjoying a lazy day -- as if she had anything but.

C.C. puffs on her outsized Neo Cuban with her feet up on the seat in front of her. She has an industrial size tub of popcorn that she has also seen fit to half-fill with gummi bears, and then melted butter on top of that. She is not eating it. That is because the tub belongs to Cheese-kun, seated to one side of her.

FIVE MINUTES AGO

C.C. presents the despondent, squeaky-voiced teenager working admissions with three tickets.

The teen looks at the three tickets, then at C.C. and her entourage, then down at the tickets again, as if doing the math in his head (the math is called 'counting'). He looks up again. "But... there are only two of you."

C.C.'s eyes widen in outrage and she is nearly ejected for saying some very nasty things while waving her stuffed toy around.

NOW

C.C. herself is eating a little personal pan pizza thing because movie theaters sell every god-damned thing now and in the future there's probably just a 7-11 in the lobby or whatever. Feet up, stinky gummy butter mess, smoking a cigar, loudly eating pizza. In between dabbing at her lips with a napkin, her one nod to courtesy, C.C. notes to her companion, rather loudly, "I heard at the end it turns out that they were never /legally/ married after all, it was just a /ruse/ so he could get close to her, but then she agrees to /really/ marry him anyway. Which I think is rather silly."

A number of people immediately cry out in rage when C.C. speaks. They throw their tickets and snacks down to the floor in disgust and march out of the cinema, their afternoon thoroughly ruined.

Outside in the parking lot, WD-M01 Called 'Turn A' Gundam takes up like way too many spaces. Goddamn sixteen year old drivers.

Inside, the very well-dressed and extra-dimensional pilot Laura Rolla sits next to C.C., one hand pulling her dress up slightly so the hem does not touch the filthy floor, and the other holding a lacy handkerchief to her mouth and nose. Her eyes are wide. "So, this is what movies are like?" Sure, Laura was technically in a movie that is currently in production hell, but it's still strange to see! "We didn't have them in on the moon, not even in Genganam! And of course they didn't have anything like that in Ameria."

The handkerchief does not seem to be fully protecting the younger girl from the cigar smoke or rapidly congealing butter. She gags.

A few moments after a number of people got up to leave following C.C.'s spoiling of the ending, another group of upstanding citizens get up, murmuring in annoyance as they filter through the exit. While these few brave souls were not initially deterred by spoilers, the cigar smoke was too much for them to handle.

Johnny Domino, for his part, remains seated, eyebrow quirked in a mixture of amusement and discontent. Seeing the movie theater become 50% more empty is certainly entertaining, but Domino paid ten percent off to watch what's'her'name eventually agree to marry what's'name, and he isn't too keen on the experience being ruined for him. Well... ruined for him more than it already seems to be ruined.

Tipping his head back, the Agent speaks up, voice carried across the room to reach C.C.'s ears a few seats behind him. "Excuse me. You do realize we're in a movie theater here, right?"

C.C. is given pause by Johnny's words. She stops dead in her tracks, as it were -- her face scrunches into a look of thought much different from the /usual/ thoughtful expression C.C. occasionally bears (usually a harbinger of 'Laura nearly being arrested for something that's C.C.'s fault'). "My word... is that...?"

C.C. squints. "It is--! Oh, Laura, come, you've got to meet the strangest little man." Her kinda-Teutonic accent skips upward in tempo and pitch with clearly manifested excitement. She drops the cigar into the mess of butter, which consumes its embers and renders the whole mess even more of a Superfund Site in a Bucket. The pizza gets dumped in there, too, and before Laura can say anything, C.C. has Cheese-kun and is climbing /over/ the rows of seats to get to Johnny, the buckles on her flared white outfit clacking and slapping noisily from the mini-obstacle course.

C.C. plants herself in the seat to one side of Johnny, squeezing Cheese-kun to her chest as she chirps loudly, "Johnny Domino! I didn't know that /you/ liked /movies/! Although you seem to have done it all wrong, my dear boy. Did you not know that it's customary to bring at least a /friend/ with you? Oh, you poor thing, first trying to go on the Tunnel of Love alone, and now this. It's like you were raised by wolves. Pity."

"Agh, agh, agh!"

Laura drops her handkerchief, trying to grab the other side of the horrifying bucket to stop it from spilling onto her. She shrinks back from the greasy, waxy exterior of the tub, but does not shirk from her duties in keeping the place clean! "Miss C.C., please be careful!"

Then C.C. is clambering down rows of chairs. Laura tenderly moves the gestalt cigar-pizza-butter-gummi bucket to another chair, standing and taking a few tentative steps away across the dirty floor. She looks about for her lost handkerchief, and finds it soiled in a puddle of what is hopefully Neo Mountain Dew. The platinum-blonde pilot cringes. "Ahhh, Miss Sochie will kill me! I'll have to buy her a new one."

IN THE FUTURE

Sochie Heim grabs Laura by the shoulders, shaking her. "Loran, you dumbass! What do I need with girly things like that? I'm a pilot! I..." she looks melodramatic, leaning in close. "...I kill people! It's such a terrible burden!" Sochie remains entirely too close to Laura. She half-way closes her eyes and puckers her lips.

Laura bites her lip. "Are you okay, Miss Sochie? You look tired. Do you need me to prepare your bed?"

"LORAN I HATE YOU SO MUCH."

NOW

Laura hurries down the aisle, trying to navigate her way in her big floofy dress.

Johnny Domino waits for a reaction, his dull eyes surveying the ceiling in an idle, unseeing sweep. The offending party at the back of the theater appears to have been rendered silent by his words. Good, good, very good. Honestly, some people are just--

Wait, what's that noise? All that clickety-clacking and metallic slapping and the disgruntled grunting of whoever is still left sitting in the cinema, what's going on? What's happening? The Agent blinks a few times in rapid succession -- he is brought /this/ close to standing up and turning around in order to face whatever hell-beast was advancing on him. He doesn't get the opportunity, though, because that's when the hell-beast proceeds to plop in the seat next to him.

"..."

Johnny Domino looks at C.C.

Johnny Domino looks at C.C. some more.

Johnny Domino twists around, draping his arm across the back of his seat, head straining to look at Laura in her oh-so-very floofy dress.

Johnny Domino turns back to look at C.C.

Johnny Domino turns to look at Laura again, watching her attempting to surmount a pile of honey-glazed deep-fried popcorn nachos that has spilled to the floor.

Johnny Domino turns back to look at C.C.

For a time, the Agent remains a tomb of mystery, expression and body language neutral. Then he finally opens his mouth. "You smell like a fridge on fire." That cuban smoke is going to take ages to get out of his hair.

"And your taste in both cologne and shoulder pads is absolutely dreadful," C.C. notes, flicking one of the shoulders of Johnny's A-LAWS uniform with the back of her hand. She, too, looks over to Laura, making a slightly grumpy expression as if the Moonrace...ian... Moonracer... Mooninite should have just done like her and climbed.

"Johnny, when she gets /over/ here, I shall introduce you to Laura. You will be sweet and kind to her, because she will be sweet and kind to you. Do not attempt to get fresh with her. She is /my/ friend. Not yours." This is delivered as a stage whisper, before C.C. leans up and waves at Laura, trying to hurry her up.

On the screen, a commercial for Haro v8 bounces along obnoxiously. Amuro Ray is only seen from behind in it, and the voice is fairly clearly a soundalike. It's a very strange ad.

"Laura! This is my good friend Mister John Domino. He's part of the A-LAWS, which we won't hold against him even if it means he'd probably kill us on the battlefield without a second thought." C.C. looks to Johnny. "Isn't that right, Johnny?"

Laura very daintily makes her way around toward the new seating arrangement. She is wearing heels because they make an awful lot of noise. When she finally slides down the aisle, trying to keep her skirt as intact as possible, the dark-skinned pilot tucks in and sits next to C.C.

"Oh, uh?"

Laura immediately stands back up, awkwardly curtseying in the cramped space between chairs. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Domino, my name is Laura Rolla!"

She pretty much acting as old as C.C. actually is but isn't it darling.

Johnny's face remains neutral. On the inside - he frowns. Domino isn't wearing any cologne. Screw you, C.C..

Johnny leans ever so slightly away from the girl when she moves closer to dispense the stage whisper, but that's the most the Agent gets to expressing any of his personal thoughts on what all is transpiring around him. He doesn't glare at C.C., or stare at her in shock, or fumble over words or make any attempts to object or complain or pull on his hair or even make an attempt to leave. He simply sits there, allowing C.C. to run the show.

How oddly calm of him.

When Laura FINALLY gets there, Johnny Domino stands up.

Someone at the back calls out, "DOWN IN FRONT!"

Johnny ignores them. The movie hasn't even started yet, after all. There are still commericals going. This next one is for a new set of White Base toys, now in green, red and blue colors.

"Pleased to meet you, Laura," the Agent responds, giving a gentlemanly bow. "C.C. told me I should be sweet and kind to you."

"Oh, please, Laura, call him Johnny, he's too young to be Mister anything, look at him." Granted, Johnny is clearly older than Laura, but granted, C.C. is pretty much a colossal jerk to everyone, friends included, 'friends' especially. And Johnny Domino is a friend with scare quotes, for sure.

"Now, Johnny, Laura here is quite a special young woman." C.C. bids them both sit, as if they required her permission. One of her arms comes to rest on Cheese-kun as if he were a little pillow (he is). She has the demeanor of a queen holding court. "For you see, Laura is the pilot of the White Doll. Without going into all the /technical/ rigamarole, the White Doll is one of the most astonishingly powerful..."

C.C. pauses for a moment, but only just.

".../Gundams/ on your bizarre little world. You should be impressed! However, you're also going to absolute ferocity and tantamount importance of my young friend here a secret locked deep within your oh-so-convincingly sweet and kind heart. Not just as a favor to /her/, but because I say so." C.C. coolly looks over at Johnny, her lips pursing into an unimpressed little frown.

"Just because."

Laura looks down at C.C., unsure of who to disrespect in this situation. Why can't everyone be nice to each other, forever?!

The younger girl sits down, one hand on her leg, the other linked with C.C.'s free arm at the elbow. Where Laura comes from this expresses that C.C. is acting as her escort in a sisterly manner, but in this screwed-up reality they were dumped in it's mostly just weird.

"Miss C.C.!" Laura hisses, as much as she can hiss. "I'm not sure we should be speaking about the White Doll like that!"

OUTSIDE

People are taking pictures of the weird mustache gundam.

INSIDE

Laura covers her face with her free hand, looking embarrassed.

Johnny Domino pauses for a second longer after Laura seats herself, blue eyes observing the two girls from his tall vantage point.

He COULD make a dash for the exit right about now. He has the advantage here. HE is the one standing, THEY'RE the ones sitting. He could be halfway down the escalators by the time they finally scramble after him. In fact, he could be halfway around the earth by the time Laura will be able to get out of the entire cinemaplex, what with her floofy dress and high-heels. Seriously, who dresses like that?

Then the Agent's eyes focus on Laura's arm as it links with C.C.'s. His ears perk up when C.C. says Laura is a special young woman.

What the.

Johnny Domino sits down. Please, tell him more.

And C.C. indeed tells him more.

Domino's neutral facade cracks. Or rather, it sort of melts around the edges. For as the green-haired girl goes on and on about the White Doll, the Agent's eyebrows rise, the blue eyes underneath widening by the tiniest of margins. Is this for real? And, wait, now C.C. wants him to keep it a secret?

What the f--!!

The Agent stares at the two girls. He thinks about it, considers it, mulls over it, and eventually concludes, "Nope. No can do." Then Domino proceeds to grossly disregard the cinema's policy of NO CELLPHONES by reaching for his specially issued A-LAWS aPhone. It wouldn't be a stretch to assume that he plans to tattle.

A specially issued A-LAWS aPhone that is suddenly not in Johnny's hand anymore.

C.C. has one arm linked with Laura's, but the other now holds an aPhone, and she surveys it thoughtfully. "You know, I far preferred rotary phones," C.C. idly says to Laura, before giving her a bit of a nudge to try and comfort her or at least stop her protests. C.C. then begins to open up the contacts list and skim through it.

"Johnny, I told you that secret for a reason, and I expected that you wouldn't be able to resist keeping it. You strike me as the ambitious type, and really, that information /would/ probably get you positive attention from your superiors. 'Rocbell?' Is that a real name? Really?" C.C. scoffs gently, and then finds her way back to her train of thought.

Yellow eyes level on Johnny, gaze non-plussed -- there's no aggression to be found in the green-haired witch, but there's something strangely ominous about her right now. Threatening, even. Maybe that's because she's threatening him. "But there are two things that can be learned here, and they both depend on your choice. You can choose to keep a secret, and you can learn how much there is to be /gained/ from having a friend like me. Why, just ask Laura! But you can also choose to /break my trust/, and then you can find out how swiftly and decisively I can crush your entire existence under my heel as if you were the most insignificant little insect. Now. Make your choice, and perhaps I'll give your phone back."

Laura is conspicuously quiet. C.C. feels the other girl's muscles tighten. Though she's holding her tongue, the pilot of the White Doll does not or cannot hold back her expression. She stares daggers at Domino.

Yoink, there goes the phone.

'Hm', thinks Domino. 'What an interesting reaction'. Making an attempt to call C.C.'s bluff (or possibly non-bluff, because, wow, Laura is glaring daggers at him) seems to have worked out rather nicely. Except for the part where C.C. kinda has his aPhone now -- which, on its own, wouldn't be too much of an issue, but the girl has to be NOSY about it by flipping through his contact list.

His brain scrambles to remember what his contact list even looks like. It would be highly unfortunate if C.C. were to get her paws on certain numbers.

Then the same brain is derailed when the green-haired hell-beast makes a comment about Rocbell. "Yes," answers the Agent, actually goaded enough to speak up on the matter. "It's a real name."

However, despite the subject of a one, 'Rocbell', seeming to have incited an honest-to-god reaction out of Domino, the young man does not lose his cool. Not even when something about C.C. shifts and becomes decidedly insidious. Instead, the Agent sits there and listens, observing C.C. and Laura all the while. And when C.C. finishes talking, Johnny continues sitting there, calm, cool, collected...

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

"Is this some sort of elaborate recruitment campaign? Is Katharon trying to subtly bleed out A-LAWS soldiers and add them to their own ranks? -- were you assigned to me? Is this Laura here some sort of... hired booth babe you've brought along for the task?"

Johnny Domino looks marginally agitated as he speaks, voice low and deliberate.

"Well, C.C., assuming that is, indeed, your real name. I have no interest in Katharon. I don't plan on abandoning A-LAWS, I don't plan on joining your little friends, and unless your resume includes 'giving people superhuman powers' right under 'being an obnoxious little troll', all I want from you is to have my phone back."

And within the darkened cinema, Johnny is met with loud shushing noises from all around. The movie previews are starting.

"Oh, /Johnny/," C.C. says with a weary sigh. "You're ruining everyone's good time with your /willful/ misinterpretation. As such, no phone for you." C.C. tugs open her very wide collar -- and drops the phone inside. If Johnny wants his phone back, he will have to go digging in a manner that is legally quite frowned upon. Luckily, aPhones are not huge, and rather slim and flat, so there's not a weird tumor bulge under C.C.'s outfit from its shape or anything.

"But if you insist on having it spelled out for you, you slow boy, no, this is not an elaborate recruitment campaign, no, I am not trying to goad you into joining Katharon -- they have enough problems, to be frank -- no, I was not 'assigned' to you, whatever that means, and no, Laura is not a 'booth babe,' a term for which I can imagine a multitude of definitions, none of them flattering to either my dear friend Laura or to the image of you as a gentleman." C.C. rolls her eyes, and flops back into her seat in a huff, leaning against Laura somewhat and squeezing the girl's hand.

"That said, Johnny, giving people superhuman powers is only the /beginning/ of my curriculum vitae. As you would perhaps find out, if you decided to be my friend." C.C. sounds weary with the prospect, as if she's already given up on the possibility.

"I note that in addition to your bull-headed --" C.C. stops and looks over her shoulder at someone, "-- oh, /you/ shush! As I was /saying/, not only are you unable to suppress these paranoid delusions about Katharon and who knows what, you can't even follow the simplest command." C.C. pauses. "I /told/ you to ask Laura. But you must have simply forgot. So. Laura, darling. Tell him how the benefits of my friendship are truly /superb/."

"I--" Laura says. She squeezes C.C.'s hand because it's totally Not Gay and leans in closer. "--should you really be talking to someone like this, he seems very angry and antagonistic!"

Laura keeps her eyes firmly on Domino. She seems a little more fierce than her absolutely adorable dress would imply. This goes on while C.C. is making the rest of her pitch, and stops at the beckoning for some positive references to C.C.'s status as a sugardaddy. This honestly seems to take Laura aback.

"Miss C.C.! What are you asking? We're friends because we're friends!"

Smooth.

His-- his PHONE.

Johnny Domino watches it disappear within the recesses of C.C.'s bosom. For a brief moment, the young man has half a mind to leap on the girl and reclaim his precious communication device with his bare hands, and the hell with how legally frowned upon it may be. But no. A few weeks ago, perhaps, but the man Johnny Domino is right now isn't the same man he was before.

Reining in his emotions -- doing his best to keep from snapping -- Domino simply purses his lips. A subtle, quiet expression of displeasure that masterfully hides the dark storm brewing within.

The comment about giving people superhuman powers goes right over the Agent's head.

"..Laura," he turns to the floofy dressed companion. Then he pauses, wondering how the hell to proceed from here. "I have a very important question. Can you please reach into C.C.'s shirt and retrieve my phone? Certainly, this wouldn't be a problem for you if you two are so good of friends."

Laura's shock doesn't seem to affect C.C. in the slightest. "Ex/act/ly, Laura. Our friendship is given to one another freely, and because of this, we are an absolutely /wonderful/ pair." There's another Very Not Gay squeeze and a bit of what could, in the wrong light, seem like a cuddle.

"...but, of course, some people neglect to see the big picture that way." Yellow eyes trail back to a certain annoyed Agent. "And /Johnny/. I told you to be sweet and kind, not to try and make Laura act out your perverted desires. I'm sure the movie will provide you with enough ill-conceived fantasies to last you an evening; don't take your frustrated desires out on /us/."

C.C. stands, which separates her arm from Laura's. Cheese-kun remains in a grip so firm as to anticipate retaliation. She turns away from Johnny a bit, too, to help. "It's clear you heard me, my boy, but you plainly weren't /listening/. So when your little memory inside your adorable little head sparks to life and you realize what I just told you, well, we'll talk further." C.C. begins to walk off. "Come along, Laura."

C.C. makes it to the aisle before glancing over her shoulder: "Don't call me, Johnny. I'll call you."

But... she has his phone.

"But, you have his phone!"

Laura stands up, raising her skirts slightly (OH GOD THE FLOOR IS FILTHY) as she hurries. There's enough time for her to look over her shoulder and give Domino another sour look. Asking her to feel C.C. up was probably not the best thing for Domino to do in this situation.

As they're leaving, Laura huddles near C.C. (and Cheese-kun, he is darling). "Why did we even have to meet that horrible man? He wanted to call his friends to come steal the White Doll! We should leave quickly, we're probably in danger!"

"But you have my phone!"

Johnny Domino finally snaps, his voice rising. He watches C.C. and Laura retreat with very wide, very furious eyes.

"Hey! HEY!"

The Agent is shushed in a manner most aggressive. An aggressiveness that gives way to people throwing various snacks and empty cups at the Agent when he stands up and attempts to chase after the two girls.

By the time he finishes telling people to quit it and finally emerges out of the theater, C.C. and Laura will no doubt be gone.

Indeed, C.C. and Laura are already strolling out the front door, toward the many parking tickets painstakingly taped to the White Doll's boots. "Oh, I agree, Laura, he's quite horrible," C.C. says with some good humor in her tone, squeezing her little knit doll.

"But you don't get to my age -- whatever my age is at this rate -- without learning to recognize potential. So, indeed, he's absolutely beastly, a total ninnyhammer, in point of fact." One thin green brow arches. "But one day, my darling..."

"...he may be exactly what I need, exactly when I need it." A broad smile crosses the witch's face, as if to say 'don't worry, it's all cool, everything's going according to plan.' "After all, I /also/ didn't get to this age without ensuring I knew what to expect from the future."