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You return to John's house, this time clear of imps. The stairs are intact, and a giant box with a shiny bow on top stands in the middle of the block.
"oh hell no, that's here again?" he says, walking over to it.
"What is it?" you ask.
"my dad's birthday present to me." He pulls off the ribbon, rips open the outer covering to reveal a giant harlequin doll that seems nearly twice the size of either of you. "remember how i said my dad somehow got the idea that i like clowns?"
"Yeah." You chuckle as he drags it over to the couch. After positioning it, he looks back at you, and those empty eyes cause a pain in your blood pusher. You look away, pretending to take in the block's other details and decorations. "Soooooooo, what kinds of things do humans do on a d8?"
"uh... i don't really know. i've never gone on one before. go out to eat? maybe watch a movie?"
"Can we watch that one about the street tough renegade who did hard time 8ehind 8ars, and wants nothing more in the world than to reunite with his loving wife and daughter. 8ut he has to go on crazy and dangerous escapades through the sky with a motley assortment of rogues led by John Malkovich, who is wise to Cage's heroic nature and pure heart. They tether a grumpy police man's awesome car to the plane and smash it, and then l8ter they crash into some casinos. Cage gets out of the wreckage and hugs his family, and........" Your mouth closes and your teeth grit. You suppress a small shiver before turning to look back at John who looks back at you, surprise and a bit of confusion written on his face.
"that's con air," he says after a moment. "have you seen it before or something?"
You swallow nothing and look away again. "No, Jo- uh, you told me about it once."
A grin crosses his face. "just once? that was practically the whole plot."
"It wasn't that long ago. And troll titles are just like that." You smile warmly. "I think you were trying to be cute."
"heheh, was i?" Now John looks away, his face a bright pink.
Practically a whisper, you say, "Yeah. You were."
After a long pause, John clears his throat. "well, if we're gonna watch a movie, we gotta do it right. and that means popcorn!"
"Popcorn?"
"oh man, you're gonna love this!" Smiling, John rushes off into the next block. You follow behind to find him and watch as he puts a small pouch into a strange box. After pressing a couple of buttons, it lights up and starts to hum, eventually followed by a barrage of small popping sounds.
"Is that why it's called popcorn?"
"yep." The machine stops with a ding, and John opens the box again to pull out the bag which has grown considerably. With an "ouch, hot!" he drops it on the counter and opens one end, a puff of steam escaping as it reveals its bright yellow contents. He empties the popcorn into a large bowl before putting another pouch into the humming box and turning it on. With two pouches of popcorn in the bowl, he leads you back into the other block and hands you the bowl.
"go ahead and take a seat while i set this up."
You sit on the couch next to the harlequin doll, and curiously put one of the popcorns in your mouth. It tastes of salt and rich, fatty slime, with a delightful pillowy crunch to it. As John predicted, you do love it.
> ==>
Nicolas Cage stands before the legislacerators in the courtblock.
"They're going to execute him just for killing that one guy?" you ask incredulously.
"no, they're not going to execute him. he's going to prison." When he sees this does little to clear your confusion, John continues, "it's a place where people who break the law stay so they can't do it again."
"Why not just execute them and have it over with?"
"well, because then they couldn't learn their lesson and rejoin society."
"Rejoin-? Shit, you let them 8ack out? What if they 8r8k the law again?"
"then they go back, but the idea is that hopefully they don't do it again."
You stare at the prison cells on the screen, mouth slightly agape. "And there are people who don't?"
"yeah! lots!"
"I don't think that'd work on Alternia. Damn, you humans are such trusting idiots." You laugh and punch John's shoulder. "No wonder you kept falling for our tricks."
He lets out a quiet, nervous laugh and rubs his shoulder as you settle back into watching the movie.
> ==>
"Why couldn't you put the bunny back in the box?" Nic Cage asks the corpse.
"W8, this is like when you were carrying that bunny all around LOWAS!"
"heh, yeah. i even called that salamander i let hold her casey."
"Lol. You nerd." You smile and shift closer, placing your hand on the couch next to his. You think you detect a note of nervousness in his responding chuckle. You feel him lay a couple of his fingers over yours.
Cage returns to his seat and looks down at his shaking hands.
"Two went down, one came up," Garland Greene says.
"Wasn't my fault," Cage mumbles.
"Well, you don't have to tell me. Most murders are crimes of necessity rather than desire."
You stiffen. Which was it for you? You thought you knew before........ But you know you didn't need to. But the feeling you had after was anything but desire.
"Thank you," you say quietly, "for 8eing there for me."
"when?"
"After I, you know, killed........" Except he wasn't. This John doesn't know. Your throat closes up. Forget speaking, you feel like you can hardly breathe. It's not him. Your think pan scrambles for a way to explain Tavros all over again before his voice cuts in.
"...me?"
"What?" You stare at him.
"after you killed me?" He stares back, his finger slipping off of yours.
You swallow back tears and try to steady your voice. "Yeah. Um, sorry again. A8out that."
He gives you a small smile. "forget about it. i have. heheheh..."
You quickly look back to the movie and focus on not crying. You barely speak for the rest of the film, until...
> ==>
How do I get through one night without you?
The song starts as the camera zooms in to Nic Cage's gorgeous face. The flushed feelings he holds for his wife, and the affection for his daughter are written plainly across it. You would admire his incredible acting - the best you can imagine - if you weren't wracked with a pain in your chest. Many times worse than when Terezi's blade pierced it.
The screen blurs, and even though you practically know the lines by heart now, you can't hear anything but the music. You shouldn't be here. He shouldn't be here. Your vision clears as the tears spill down your cheeks in time to see Cage embrace Humminburr. A thing you'll never get to do now. You never even got to meet properly. You squeeze the hand next to you on the couch as if you can use it to pull yourself out of this nightmare, and desperately wish you could be anywhere other than here.