Tristan settled into one of the oversized recliners, waiting on me to join him. Kami and Brandon took over one of the couches, sitting on opposite ends. Mat and Cedric stretched out together on the other couch. Mat had the remote, pulling up the streaming services, “Alright, the current options are “IT”, both parts or “Spirited Away” from Studio Ghibli.” Mat said, looking at the rest of us.
A chorus of voices rang out, everyone but me giving an opinion. I hadn’t really ever seen many movies given the circumstances I grew up in, the few I had seen Mat had picked out, or Faith had insisted I watch.
“Aly, you don’t have an opinion?” Kami asked, looking at me curiously.
“I’m pretty sheltered when it comes to movies, I’ve only ever seen a few and I don’t know what most of them are.” I gave a small, sheepish smile.
“Animated or Horror.” Mat asked, making it simpler for me.
“Oh, animated.” I grinned at him.
“Spirited Away it is. This studio’s movies are amazing. The best ones.” Cedric grabbed the remote from Mat, starting the movie before he could argue about it.
I grabbed a couple drinks from the snack cart as well as some red vines and plopped into the chair with Tristan, curling up against him, my head on his shoulder as I handed him one of the drinks and glued my eyes to the TV, excited to see the movie.
As the movie progressed a few other pack members wandered into the room, grabbing spots on the bean bag chairs in the room. By the time we were halfway through the movie, there were almost no spots to be had. Apparently we weren’t the only ones who were feeling a lazy day and that was fine so long as they didn’t cause a ruckus or talk through the movie.
The Omegas were kind enough to keep our snack cart restocked as more people started to pilfer items from it. I was content to munch on my red vines, occasionally sharing with Tristan, who had wrapped his arms around my waist, holding me close as we watched the movie.
“I love the soot sprites, they’re so cute!” I whispered to him in excitement. I was like a little kid, experiencing things for the first time that most had experienced in childhood.
He grinned at me and kissed the top of my head, “Not as cute as you.” He murmured in my ear, causing me to blush a little.
The morning was spent going through several movies, all of which were new and fascinating to me. The others all seemed to get a kick out of my reactions.
“For someone so tough and well versed in certain aspects of life, she’s like a child with the simpler stuff.” Kami snickered as we chatted a bit after the last movie.
“My sheltering in life was a bit backwards and reversed from most people’s I suppose.” I grinned sheepishly at her, “Jake and Faith did their best to make sure my childhood was as normal as possible given the restrictions placed upon me by Andrew and my past, but there were some things that were priority over movies and just hanging out. It was a luxury I was seldom afforded.”
“We were a little more focused on making sure you could take care of yourself when we couldn’t, than exposing you to movies and parties.” Mat gave me a sad smile.
“I know, and I’ll be eternally grateful for that. I truly doubt I would have come out the other side of all this with any semblance of myself without the skills that you all taught me.”
“It’s a harsh group of lessons to have to start learning so young though.” Tristan murmured softly, pulling me further into his side.
“Yes, however, if I managed to keep even one other person from having to learn such things by learning them myself early in life, then it was worth it.” My voice softened as I spoke, pushing away memories of some of the lessons I learned the hard way, “But enough of this topic. Who gets to pick the next movie?”
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“Meeeeee!” Kami hollered, diving for the remote that was currently in Cedric’s hand.
Cedric, by default, raised the remote up over his head, which ended up with Kami sprawled across Mat and Cedric trying to get it. Cedric was trying to scramble away from the crazy woman and Mat was trying to free himself enough to shove her off, but he was pinned between Cedric and Kami.
“Kami! Get your boney self off me! Ow! Hey, watch your elbows!” Mat was grumbling and Kami was squirming,trying to crawl off or further up the pair. It was hard to say which.
Brandon was laughing at the scene, as were several of the other wolves that had wandered in over the course of the morning. With a surprised grunt from Tristan, I jumped out of the chair we were curled in and ran over to snag the remote from Cedric, “Not if I have the remote!” I snickered at Kami.
Kami’s eyes narrowed on me as she rolled off the couch, landing on all fours with a determined look in her eye, “We’ll see about that.”
“Oh shit…” I didn’t waste any time, taking off running around the room, dodging other wolves, even sometimes jumping over them as Kami chased me for the prize I had in my possession.
Mat and Cedric instantly sat up, watching the two of us, Mat cheering me on and Cedric rooting for Kami. Brandon was also team Kami at this point.
“I can feel allllll the love in this room for your Luna! And I won’t forget it!” I hollered at them as we made another lap around the room, “Tristan! Get your sister!” I laughed as I made a bee-line for the exit.
“She’s your sister too now! I have faith in you, Aly!”
“At least someone is on my side!” I disappeared out of the movie room, running down the hall with Kami on my heels.
“Give me the remote, Alyce!” Kami growled.
“Ask nicely! Say please!” I laughed, running around the island in the kitchen.
“Remote, now, please!”
“So close, but I don’t feel honesty in that statement!” Back down the hall we went, running back into the movie room, wolves clearing the way as they had gathered to watch our antics. I ran straight back in, diving behind Mat on the couch, “Save me!”
Mat laughed, shifting on the couch so he was covering more of me with his body as I curled into a ball behind him. Tristan snickered and stood, coming to join us at the couch, sitting next to Mat, giving me more cover. Kami came to a screeching halt in front of them, “Alright you two, hand over Aly, and no one gets hurt.”
“Sorry sis, no can do. You know my mate is my priority, even in a battle of playful banter.”
“Gotta protect my sister.” Mat gave a shrug, refusing to budge.
“I’m your family too, Mat! Besides, we all know Aly doesn’t need protection. She’s tough.”
“True, but she asked for it, and so she gets it, no matter how silly the cause.”
“Hey!” I popped my head up, “It’s not a silly cause!”
“It’s kind of silly.” Mat retorted.
“All I asked her to do was ask nicely and say please.”
Kami made a play to dive between the boys, after me and the remote. I squealed, tossing it to Brandon on the other couch. He caught it out of reflex, eyes widening as Kami turned on him and jumped towards him, “Gimme the remote, Brandon!”
“Okay! Okay! Take it! Psychotic little demon!” Brandon shoved it towards her and she took it, jumping up and down in her own little victory dance.
“Weaksauce Brandon, weaksauce…” I sighed and leaned into Tristan.
Kami grinned at us, Brandon hanging his head in dramatic shame. “Next up, ‘The Princess Bride’.” There was a scattering of groans and a lot more cheers as Kami settled back onto the couch and started the movie.
We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying movies and company, finally winding it all up in time to straighten up and head to the dining area for dinner.