Mutualism

Scary movies and sacrificed seats, 2010

As one could guess, there was only so much you could do living on an isolated farm before you had to get creative. One such creative freedom that the teens took on was to host a movie night. Since they couldn't go out and enjoy a movie out on the town, it was up to them to create a similar experience at home.

They strung up a sheet over the stair banisters and used a projector that Poe had picked up secondhand, baking and cooking snacks throughout the day for their little event. It was a whole process and one they all looked forward to having at least every month if privileges weren't revoked.

It wasn't the best quality picture and sometimes the projector would crap out, but they tried their best and it brought them joy - not to mention that the counselors appreciated when there was a household activity that included everyone. "Friends are important in the path to greatness," is something that Maz could often be quoted as saying during their group sessions, smiling her closed lip smile whenever they mentioned a group activity like this.

Sometimes when the counselor on duty protested the event due to unfinished chores or homework, the teens would quote Maz and comment that it was "therapeutic", usually earning their right to take over the living room as long as no major offense was committed.

***

When it came to fighting, the group was usually pretty well-behaved except for the few unavoidable blow ups and outbursts. It was easy to escape conflict when you could run away and hide, or when you had a counselor around at all times casting a weary eye at any sudden raise of someone's voice. It helped that they all got along generally, too, something that wasn't always the case at Skywalker Acres but thankfully was the current reality of Rey's experience there.

One such occasion where there was always expected tension was when it came to picking the movies for the movie night. It got so bad at one point that Ahsoka took over the whole process, having all eight teens write down their names so that they could be drawn from a box until no names were left, starting the process again. The movie choice was such a coveted decision that Ahsoka took to hiding the box so that the names could not be tampered with and so no cheating could occur.

***

One thing they didn't have to fight about was the amount of choices offered to them. There was no pleading with Ahsoka for new movies or sucking up to Poe for the chance to get a few new DVDs. Much to everyone's pleasant surprise since the event began, there was always a large supply of new movies to watch thanks to an unlikely contributor.

Ben Solo, as it turns out, was not only a book nerd but quite the movie nerd, as well. He picked up various titles every time he swung by town, cheap discarded DVDs of every kind from the thrift store. Due to this, they had all sorts of movies to choose from for their event, each one in the house checking out the collection freshly displayed in the shelves downstairs when it came time for the drawing, mentally picking out some favorites and taking note of recent purchases in case their name happened to be next.

Those that had already chosen for that round looked at the titles with a sigh, exclaiming in agony at the unfair nature of it all when they saw something new they were interested in among the old titles. Sometimes, if you had the right bribe, you could convince the winner of the pick to choose your desired film, but it was not often that this happened considering there wasn't much to bargain with when you didn't own much and didn't make money.

Still, there were a few, like Mitaka, who could easily be swayed with the promise of their chores being done for a certain amount of time or other similar offers. It helped that Mitaka had no interest in movies, but it didn't mean he would bend over easily to give up his pick if the bribe was low. You had to be strategic and you had to strike fast.