This is Sport? [Open]

[Henry Charmant]

"The last target," Henry repeated, looking at the ticket. "But none of these others seem to be called 'The First Target.'" He didn't have much time to worry about that, though, since it was already time to move inside. Kori seemed confident about the whole thing, so he decided to let her lead. Perhaps everything would make sense once he was inside.

It didn't make sense once he was inside. There were chairs, and there was a large white wall in the front, and a couple people were sitting and eating popcorn. No one looked like they were ready to shoot at targets, and there was definitely nothing to shoot with or to shoot at. What Henry did know was that they were in a dead end, and he was standing in a dark room holding hands with a girl. While holding hands might have been acceptable earlier, when they were trying to stay together, it hardly seemed appropriate now.

"Um. Kori. My hand." He looked around the room again. "Are we supposed to sit down? Or should we just leave? This doesn't look like the sort of thing we were looking for." But then he remembered that she had already paid for whatever this was. It would be rude to just walk out after she had already paid (and he would have to pay her back at a later point, since everyone knew that the lady never pays unless it's for a dress). "What do you want to do, Kori?"

And that was when the screen lit up, and Henry stood completely shocked and terrified, watching the giant people come to life in front of him. He was frozen in terror, overpowered by the bright lights and strange images in front of him. "What. Is. This," he finally managed to squeak out.

[Kori Ander]

Kori heard Henry. She turned to look at him, her face wrinkling in confusion. Why was it such a big deal that they were holding hands? Oh wait, this was one of those silly Earth things, where touching was a sign of affection or something. Kori still didn't think it was that big of a deal, but Henry looked uncomfortable enough as it was without having Kori add to his troubles. She released his hand, raising her now freed one to tuck back some hair that was threatening to fall into her eyes. While said eyes swept the area, Kori tried to work out where they were. She did have slightly more experience, after all; at least enough to realize that this was not likely a shooting range, despite what they'd been told.

"We should take a seat and be most quiet," said Kori. This last was said as various people began turning and looking at them. There were expressions of annoyance, though it was that resigned annoyance, the type of expression borne by people at family reunions when their second cousin's baby started howling. Kori tried a smile and a wave, which did make a few turn around, at the least. From there, she began working her way through the seats.

Just as she was entering, the screen lit up. Kori's head shot up, her muscles tensing for a moment. As the words and images began to display, however, Kori figured out where they were. Her expression turned into another smile, one that didn't even dim as Henry squeaked. She whirled, her hair practically becoming a whip with her speed, and beamed that smile up at Henry.

"It is the moving pictures!" she declared, pointing back behind at the pictures. She worked back to Henry, moving to push him toward a seat. "They will be showing a spectacle upon the screen! It is all acted and not real, but most enjoyable. Come, take a seat! This will be quite pleasant!"

Sure, not what they were here for, but fun, nonetheless.

[Henry Charmant]

Henry cautiously followed Kori through the seats, freezing partway down a row of chairs. Kori's initial tension didn't help his own anxiety any. It didn't, though, help him unfreeze, which brought him momentary shame. If people were in danger, shouldn't he step forward to help the lady? But he hardly had time to focus on his embarrassment since he was still caught in terror. He continued staring at the screen even as Kori was smiling and reassuring him.

"Moving...pictures?" he said, this time in slightly less of a squeak. He allowed Kori to push him into a seat. "But if it's a picture, how can it not be real?" He considered the actors he knew, who went on stage and performed a play. Was this like a play? But it looked so very different. He kept his eyes glued to the screen as the pictures moved. The sound came on, but it was incredibly loud. He felt blasted back in his seat, unable to move or even think. He gripped the arms of his chair tightly and stared at the screen with a blank look. "Are you sure this is supposed to be pleasant?"

The thought of a shooting range had completely left his mind. The sudden sensory overload was enough to deal with on its own, and Henry's brain had never been particularly good at multitasking.

[Kori Ander]

"Yes!" said Kori, nodding emphatically yet again. "They do the recording of the images onto special devices that do the recording. And then they do the special effects using science! My friend Beast Boy explained it all to us once. He is most knowledgeable about movie things. But do not worry! They are most enjoyable!"

Kori had already settled into her seat, though this seemed to be slightly difficult. It was almost like she was about to start floating again. Her eyes were already locked onto the screen, seeming to widen as the sounds and images began to come to life. As such, she didn't immediately notice Henry's stiffening, nor his discomfort. She didn't notice him at all until he spoke. When he did, she tore her gaze away from the seat, looking over to him. And the moment she saw him: stiff, nearly panicky, she couldn't help but giggle a little. She nudged him slightly, feeling that physical contact would be most reassuring in this circumstance.

'You need to relax, friend Henry," insisted Kori. She moved to pet him a little. "The images on the screen are not the real. That is, they are not real unless someone does some magic or uses the control to make them real, and that is not likely to--"

"Shhhhh!"

The shushing came from somewhere behind them. Kori turned abruptly, seeing a man a few seats back lowering his finger from his mouth. She smiled apologetically before turning to settle back into her seat, her face practically shining as she looked up at the screen.

[Henry Charmant]

"I'll try," he whispered in response. And he really did try to relax. He told himself repeatedly that it wasn't real. But his brain wasn't buying it. He was watching it, so it must be real, right? But it was so...large! So loud and so bright, and everything was moving so quickly...

He closed his eyes to cut out some of what was going on. And that helped. With just the sound he could pretend that it was just people speaking very loudly. Or very closely. And he kept repeating to himself that none of it was real, it was all actors on a stage. Just like a play. Eventually he was able to release his death grip on the chair and relax against the seat. In fact, against all reason, he fell asleep. He began snoring lightly, a bit of drool dripping from the corner of his mouth.

It had been a long day for Henry, full of strange and upsetting things. His brain was exhausted from trying to process all the new information. Just a short nap, that was all he needed...

He wasn't sure what woke him up, but when his eyes did flick open he hastily wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth and blinked his eyes rapidly. "What did I miss?" he said a little too loudly.

[Kori Ander]

Kori nodded, then turned her attentions back to the screen. The film that unfolded there was somewhat interesting, though not, perhaps, something that Kori would have selected if given a choice. The lead actor did seem to be fairly attractive, in that sort of dark, mysterious way (which Kori would admit to being somewhat partial to). There was a lot of the action unfolding on the screen, and Kori was enraptured. Of course, Kori could have just as easily been enraptured by a butterfly floating about before her, but that's neither here nor there.

As such, Kori hadn't noticed that Henry had, in fact, fallen asleep. She'd quite nearly forgotten that he was there entirely, till he started awake and asked her what he missed.

This was his mistake.

"There is the man, his name is Jackson Smythe, and he is the agent of the many secrets. He has been assigned to target, meaning to do the assassination, of someone. For he is an assassin type agent. But he has found out that the target he is to do the assassinating of is a cute little girl who is most likely Asian. He does not wish to do the assassination of the little girl, so he swears that this will be the last target they demand of him. But they have not been happy with his decision to be protecting the girl, since she is the daughter of someone who is very not nice. The very not nice man is after Smythe too, for he is very not nice, and I think Smythe is flirting with the woman who is his lover or secretary or perhaps both.

"So Smythe is now doing the running from the other assassins that the men have sent after him and that the not nice man has sent to get his little girl back. There was a big burly Russian man who spoke in a very thick accent and tried to kill them with the alcohol breath. It was most disturbing. But he is dead now. Smythe did the chopping of the throat and then hung him out of the window by his tie till he grew most purple and did the dying. It was most cool. But now they are heading for a friend of Smythe who lives in this place," she pointed at the screen. "For they are needing the help. But there is another man who is doing the hunting. He looks not nice."

and somehow she managed all that without being shushed by the people behind her.

[Henry Charmant]

Henry stared at Kori through her explanation. In all that time, he found that all he could do was stare and blink. At the end of it all, he blinked a few more times, still staring at her.

"That much, huh?" he said. He, however, was shushed by the people behind him, and he dropped his voice again. "It sounds pretty...gruesome." And she seemed so excited by the whole thing. There were people dying all the time and running around, and the main guy was flirting with people and probably doing all sorts of completely indecent things, and Kori was...excited. Henry was the first to admit that he didn't like seeing tragedies, but even those had deaths that took place off-stage. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to have it shown to people, especially as entertainment. Surely not even the people at home could enjoy that.

"Do you think there will be a lot more killing?" The whole idea made him somewhat queasy. He'd heard stories of soldiers coming back from war. It didn't happen often, but it did happen. And then there were people sometimes, in the kingdom, and he'd even had to listen in on several of their cases. Murder was never something that he could think of as entertainment, or at least he didn't think he could. Besides, watching people die, it...it...

It reminded him of his mother. And suddenly, seeing Kori with her bright red hair and remembering his own mother with a huge smile and that bright red hair and thinking about death and dying...well, it was all making him a little sick to his stomach. And he didn't want to look weak in front of Kori, but he really didn't feel good.

"Excuse me, I need to...I need to go for a minute." He stood up and went toward the exit. He didn't want to do something even more embarrassing here, and he didn't want to interrupt everyone else who was so clearly enjoying the movie. "I'm sorry." And he practically ran outside, already feeling a tear beginning to run down his cheek for no good reason whatsoever.

[Kori Ander]

Kori was soon displaying perhaps one of her greatest talents: the Fine Art of Not Quite Getting It. She nodded at his assertion of more killing, perhaps a shade too excitedly. "Yes, there will be more of the killing of the bad peoples. Do not worry, it is all the fake. They are all the actors that will go to their homes and kiss their wives or mistresses."

Which was, in fact, the only reason Kori could be so blase about the whole thing. The first time she'd actually seen a movie, she'd insisted that the Titans go out and find the evildoers who were doing the evil. She'd even suggested they go after a titan sized monster once. After Beast Boy was done laughing (and being glared at by Robin), he'd actually explained the whole thing to Kori. Since then, she'd more or less brainwashed herself to get super enthralled by films, even if their subject matters were rather dark. That, and, while Kori was kindhearted, there was still some part of her that was a warlike Tamaranean.

She was already turning back to the screen, again forgetting Henry and getting enraptured in the film. On the screen, it appeared as though Smythe was approaching the home of the man he was hoping to help, while the man hunting him appeared to be getting ahead. It looked as though it would become most bloody and dramatic in a few seconds, and Kori was moving toward the edge of her seat. however, she heard Henry beside her, heard him mumble something and leave. She turned to with him luck, and possibly to suggest he buy the soda, when she caught his expression. This caused Kori to bound from her seat, hurrying to try and catch up with him.

Kori wouldn't get close till they were out of the theater, where, hopefully, he would have stopped. Light on her feet though Kori was, she didn't have that overwhelming desire to escape the theater at all cost. "What is the matter, friend Henry? Do you not find the film to be thrilling? It is rather violent..."

But boys liked the violence... right?

[Henry Charmant]

He paused at a bench resting outside the theater, first leaning against the wall and then sinking to the bench, his face cradled in his hands. He took a few shaky breaths while he tried to steady his heartbeat. That was when he heard Kori next to him.

Looking up at her, he tried to smile. "I'm fine," he said, a squeak in his voice betraying the lie. His smile trembled and he put a hand over his mouth to keep from making any more noise.

"I am sorry," he said when he'd regained some control of himself. "It's not your fault. You should be enjoying..." he gulped, "enjoying the movie." He took another deep breath and leaned back against the wall. "Something about it just...it just made me remember something sad. Something terribly sad. And I don't even remember what it was. But I suddenly was remembering my mother, and I couldn't stay and watch a movie where everyone was dying."

He smiled at Kori again, this time maintaining it slightly better. "You should go watch. It looked like you were enjoying it. I just...I can't go back in there. But really. You should go watch."

[Kori Ander]

Kori caught the squeak, but she wasn't the type to take advantage of it. To her credit, she didn't even  crack a smile. Quite the contrary, every inch of her spoke of her concern for Henry. You could see the urge to hug forcing her limbs to twitch. She waited patiently while he repeated himself, nodding at his assertions. No problem for her to accept his apology; that was what friends did. At the mention of the film, Kori turned to look back toward the theater. You could still hear the various sound effects echoing. Easy enough to ignore, however, and Kori was soon settling in near Henry.

Kori listened intently, her intense green eyes locked on Henry while he stumbled through an explanation. She nodded as he finished, again waiting till every last word had been spoken. "My mother and father died from the grief after my sister did the trading of myself in order for there to be peace in our homeland. When last I saw my sister, we fought most terribly and I banished her from our planet for her crimes. My friends are all somewhere else which is not here, and I am not sure if I will ever see them again. We quite often did the fighting for our lives."

She paused, considered, blinked, and nodded. "I understand not wanting to see the images of the dying. Perhaps we can sneak into another film? There is likely something with the talking animals. I like those movies better anyway."

[Henry Charmant]

Henry stared at Kori with some amazement. She had been through so much; how did she manage to stay so happy? He'd always been so close to his family, and whatever might be happening with his mother, he still had a loving father and the promise of a bright future. He'd begun to make friends here, and there was a promise of returning home to his kingdom. Did Kori have any of that? Suddenly he felt the need to be comforting her, even if she didn't look so upset.

"I would love to sneak into another movie," he said with a smile. "Thank you for being willing to share. And thank you for listening. You really are a good friend. And you deserve to make many more good friends here."

He pointed at one of the other titles, The Blue Princess. "What do you think? Do you want to see something that has a princess in it? Or should we look for something else?"

[Kori Ander]

Kori nodded. She realized a compliment when she heard it, though it took all she had not to start beaming and glomp Henry with the most vigorous of glomps. Kori did remember what boundaries were all about, even if the information was a bit buried underneath lots of other information and stuff. She turned as Henry pointed, seeing the title displayed overhead.

"It may," she agreed, nodding. She turned to Henry, looking almost too determined now. "But we must be quite careful. There are the posters which display the movies. We should view one of these and use it to select the movie that will not contain the violence. They are over there."

She pointed, then turned to match her own finger, walking that way with an almost militaristic determination. Well, if a military had this near skip to their step; she still couldn't quite contain her joy at the compliment. If anything, she was quite clearly overcompensating. Her face wrinkled in the utmost of concentration as she worked to select a film, weighing the options as though she were being offered weapons in a duel to the death.

[Henry Charmant]

Henry smiled and gestured down the hallway. "Lead the way, then. We shall observe the posters and make our informed decision after that." He was glad to see that she was still doing well, even after he'd dredged up some of her bad memories. She was made of stronger stuff than many of the people he'd met, apparently himself included. "You will probably want to choose the movie, then, since you know more about this sort of thing than I do."

He followed her down the hallway, feeling better the further they got from the other theater. He also felt better watching Kori in all of her joy. It was impossible to be sad while watching someone who seemed to be composed almost entirely of happiness. He stood next to her, looking at all of the posters with her. He looked from her face to the posters, unsure exactly how serious they were supposed to be taking this decision. The main theme of each film seemed pretty apparent to him. But maybe there was more at stake than what he'd originally thought.

"Don't worry, Kori. I trust your decision. You don't have to be afraid of me being upset. At least this time I will know what I'm walking into. I think half of the problem last time was just being so surprised by what was happening." He gave a small laugh. "Do you have one in mind that you think would be better?"

[Kori Ander]

At this point, everyone, especially the people who worked at and ran the movie theatre, should be quite glad that Kori did not possess laser beams from her... oh wait, she did. They should be thankful that Kori couldn't use her laser vision at this point in time. Because there would likely be holes in several of the movie posters. Big, smoking ones. Which would look decidedly awkward in several, and cool in at least one (hint: it involved people who looked far too happy to be receiving sandwiches).

"It can be confusing," admitted Kori, her voice still oddly flat and serious, though you could hear the joy leaking through the cracks. "I was most perturbed upon my first viewing of the films," did she already mention that? She couldn't remember; her brain had done loops lately, what with the whole having to deal with Henry being upset and dredging up her own bad memories. Kori was definitely thinking of her sister now, thinking of how she'd had to fight and banish Blackfire.

"That one," she said suddenly, pointing at a film with several animals lined up in various costumes. "We should see that. For I do not wish to see the film involving the princess," especially a blue one. That and Kori thought that film was likely a little... odd. And she really wanted to see animals talk. Especially animals in funny costumes. There was truly no greater comedy than that. She turned and grabbed Henry's hand, having obviously taken to his suggestion that she lead, and proceeded to do precisely that.

[Henry Charmant]

Henry nodded. "Maybe you were confused at first, but you got better about it. I guess that means I probably will, too. Though it all stills very strange still. I suppose you had to get used to several things about your new world. I hope a lot of the changes were good ones. It sounds to me like they were. Do you know, I have gotten to find some things here that I really like."

He looked at the poster she chose and nodded. "All right. Sounds good to me." He let her lead him away. Somehow, her holding his hand when she was leading him somewhere and when they were out in the light felt very different from when they were standing together in the dark theater. He felt perfectly content just now. "If you like movies with talking animals, what other sorts of things did you learn to like? I discovered this incredible food called pizza, and I am determined to find the recipe to bring home."

Realizing that he was still in a theater and that people might still shush him for being too noisy, he dropped his voice. "Have you seen this movie before?" he asked quietly. "Or is it new? I gather you don't know all of the movies very well." He followed Kori into a theater where a movie had already started. "Where do you want to sit?" he asked her in a whisper, ignoring the shushing people around him for a moment.