5th Floor Common Room, Monday Early Evening

[intraspective]

Really, she ought to be asleep despite the ridiculously early hour. A weekend spent with little sleep and using loads of energy meant by all rights that she should be dead to the world at the moment. Ino had spent about an hour after her last class staring up at the ceiling before giving that idea up for a lost cause and wandered out to the common room to see what she could find that was entertaining enough to keep her from getting bored.

Normally Ino wasn't much of one for movies, but poking around turned up The Continuous Tale and it looked interesting enough for her to stare at while she tried to convince herself to unwind enough to actually sleep. Score!

That decided on, she made popcorn (because if she was going to do this movie thing, she was going to do it right) and curled up on the couch, hitting play. And, okay, maybe snuggle into a blanket as well. That counted as part of the whole movie thing, right? Right?

It totally did. She could even be convinced to share, if asked nicely.

[Ooopen as a common room is, yes!]

Comments

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

She looked at him assessingly and nodded. "I see. And yes, I suppose it would."

She blushed a little. "I'm sorry. I should have introduced myself. I'm Helen."

[wwiii]

"Don't worry too much about introductions. I'm the one who breezed in here without a grand introduction at the doorway," Warren laughed. "Good to meet you, Helen. I'm Warren."

Worthington. The third. It was a mouthful, yes.

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

"It's nice to meet you, Warren," Helen said with a shy smile. "This movie? Is it a good one? Even if it is ancient?"

[wwiii]

"Well, I liked it when I was... Four?" He wrinkled his nose a little as he thought that one over. "Three? There's a wolf in the movie a little later on that scared the tar out of me, though."

Which was possibly why he'd watched it a few more times, even when it was older than him, and all.

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

"It's a movie for very young children, then?" She didn't mind. It's not as if she'd had much of a chance to be a child, and while she might scoff at children's things, they still drew her a bit.

[wwiii]

"Well, I wouldn't say that, either." Warren was now grinning as his mind caught up with what was playing on the screen. It had been ages. "It's family entertainment, I think. Anyone can watch it and enjoy it."

But he still wouldn't suggest showing it to anyone who wanted their kids to get a wink of sleep at night for the next month. That wolf.

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

"Hmm..." She considered that for a moment. "I must say I'm finding it enjoyable so far."

She hesitated, then looked up at him curiously. "Have you ever had popcorn with flavors?"

[wwiii]

"Flavors? Sure?" He blinked, and then gave his shoulders a shrug. "With that powder that they put on it after popping, you mean? There are plenty of different ones to choose from."

He liked salt and vinegar, for example. But he'd take cheddar in a pinch.

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

"Interesting," she said, looking down at her plain popcorn thoughtfully. "I didn't even know there were flavors until tonight. I suppose I should try some at some point."

[wwiii]

"Well, some are better than others," Warren noted, a little thoughtful, as well. On the subject of popcorn, which certainly beat the subject of gremlins, which he was not at all fond of, anymore. "And it's always nice to get back to the simple stuff now and then. A little butter and a little salt is pretty much a staple, you know?"

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

That was something she could agree with. "I enjoy it very much. I never had anything like it before I came, but I've become very fond of it."

Fond enough that thinking of adding flavors concerned her a bit. She was a bit of a purist, after all, despite her best intentions.

[wwiii]

"Welcome to the wide and wonderful world of junk food," Warren laughed. "Next, we can get you started on potato chips. All the salt and grease of your buttered popcorn, none of the health benefits."

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

"Aren't potatoes considered a healthy food?" she asked.

Actually, she'd probably had them at some of the gatherings and just not realized what they were.

[wwiii]

"Not when you deep-fry the hell out of them," Warren pointed out. "And then, on top of that, enough salt goes right ahead and nullifies any potential health benefits that a potato has."

A pause.

"Anyhow, I heard somewhere that the most healthy part of a potato was the skin. Or something like that."

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

She shuddered delicately. "I am not a big fan of the skin of potatoes," she admitted. "But I think I might like to try these chips of it. Can you find them at the store in town?"

She'd have to make a list of new things to try.

[wwiii]

"What, potato chips? Sure you can," Warren replied, blinking. And then, after another moment of consideration, he had to continue. "You know, there's a vending machine here in the dorms. I could probably run and grab you a small bag of them right now, if you really want to try them."

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

That brought definite interest to her eyes, but she quickly pulled herself together. "That would be quite nice, but it's really not something you need to do. I'm sure I can get some later."

Still, something about her eyes probably said how much she'd like to try them, no matter how polite she was trying to be.

[wwiii]

And for Warren, spending a buck on some potato chips was sort of like the equivalent of sorting out unwanted pennies from his pocket change. He wouldn't miss it. He wouldn't even notice it was gone.

And the same could be said if he'd been buying enough potato chips to sample out to every student in the dorms.

"It's not really a problem, you know. I mean, two minutes of my time to run to the vending machine. I even get the added excitement of getting to press a button all on my own." Okay, no, he wasn't really that easily amused. "Gets me some exercise."

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

"Well... if you're sure..."

She smiled up at him.

[wwiii]

There went Warren, raising his eyebrows, and then reaching into his pocket to pull out a few quarters. See, now he just had a point to prove.

"Two minutes. You can time me, if you want to."

See, there he went, on his merry way to the vending machine. He'd be back in a moment.

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

She wasn't certain why she should time him, but she did nod and watch as he went, noting the time a bit absently.

[wwiii]

Okay, so he took two minutes and seventeen seconds. He'd taken a moment to agonize over what flavor of chip to get.

She'd seemed like a simple sort of girl, though, so Warren had finally just settled on a bag of regular, which he was now lightly lobbing her way.

"Catch."

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

Helen caught it without thought and then considered the package carefully, looking at it from all angles and even sniffing at it, before opening it. She smelled the contents, eyes widening, then tried one.

"They're quite good," she said, allowing the flavor to settle in her mouth so she could get the full sense of it. "Very good indeed."

[wwiii]

"Welcome to the modern miracle of popular snack-foods," Warren laughed, finding his way to a seat and making a reach for the popcorn. "Next, you'll have to try them with dip, I suppose. But they don't generally stock that in vending machines."

Alas.

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

Helen offered him the bag of chips. "Dip," she said. "Hmmm... I can see that I am going to have to get a wide variety of items at the store to try."