Grasping the remote, Doug turned on the 'telly', before being greeted with a black screen with the word 'HDMI 1' on the upper corner and little else.

Doug clicked randomly on the remote for a moment, before looking at Andy.

"What." Doug asked point blank, his smile unshaken as he tilted his head.

Doug had never used a smart TV. The TV in his childhood home had barely had color, and their economical circumstances had only gotten worse before arriving to Hoenn.

He had no idea what he was supposed to do- for that matter, he hadn't been too sure of what Andy had meant by 'movie streaming'; he had heard and seen the term before, but there was no practical knowledge associated with it.

"Should have gone for the burgers, huh?" He said with a laugh as Andy's stomach rumbled. He had tried to be fancy and impress the other youth, but at the rate things were going, if Andy's injuries didn't kill him, the hunger would.

"How about you work this weird thin' out while I go check up on 'em?" He said with a chuckle as he stood up, setting down the remote before making his way to the pot, removing the lid and glancing inside. "Yer right that I don't know yer tastes, so... Pick whichever ya like, Mr. Cultured."

Washing his knife, he casually poked the meat.

Soft.

"Good enough." Doug said as he grabbed the pot, before casually dumping all of the water onto the sink; he laid the soft meat atop a grill mesh before throwing it inside the preheated toaster oven, slamming it closed. "Anytime now!"

---

TAG: Andy Blackadder

"Depends on the movie." Said Doug, happy to ignore the TV debacle as he crossed a leg over the other and leaned back his elbows upon the counter. "Doubt that thing has kaiju or tokusatsu as a genre."

Then again, he knew about as much of the streaming service as he did the TV.

"Does it let'cha type? Just type k-a-i-j-u." He said, scratching at his chin.

He liked to think the genre was at least culturally significant enough these bloody internet based services would know about them.

And if not... Well, there was always 'Citizen Jenny', Popplio Fiction... Eh, whatever classic stuff Andy might be into.

Pushing off the counter, Doug crouched in front of the mini-fridge and swung it open once again, looking through the contents for drinks.

"Where's the juice?" He said, pushing aside the instant meals and packs of meat and candy. "I'll take soda, too."

---

TAG: Andy Blackadder

"Right, what was I thinking?" Doug said dryly as he turned his gaze to the inward side of the fridge and saw rows upon rows of bloody tea. "'n here I was, tryin' not to fall onto stereotypes."

He grabbed two cans of tea, not really caring for which flavour because he knew about the same for all of them (That is to say, jackall) before calling out to the other youth.

"Head's up." He said, going to throw the can at the other youth- before stopping short.

Best not to try it.

"Never mind." He said, standing up and kicking the fridge door closed gently before covering what little distance there was between him and Andy with broad steps, handing him the can. "What were ya askin' about before, by the way?"

Movie selection, as it turned out.

"Oh, yeah, they are!" He said while hooking a finger into can's ring and casually yanking it open. "Actually, I haven't even seen of these."

The Local Cinema at the town had a lot of old-but-good'ies, but it was hardly an expansive collection. It was looking like he would need to get some of these 'streaming' services. There was so much here!

And so much better looking stuff too!

"I've never seen that Gojira movie. Shin-Gojira?." Doug said, tilting his head as he pointed out a much more... recent looking movie.

"Let's go with that one." He said after a moment, glancing at Andy.

It looked much more the other boy's speed.

In the sense that it hadn't been made 60 years ago.

---

TAG: Andy Blackadder

"Oi, I'll be darned if I ain't the biggest kaiju fan in Hoenn! .... This thing's new, though." Doug said dryly, Andy's annoyance washing off him harmlessly. "And I wasn't exactly payin' attention to films and cinema the past three years, ya know."

Slateport's cinema was way more expensive than the one back home anyway. He couldn't really justify begging his parents money for a movie when they were struggling to make ends meet as it were.

And once they were gone, well... Money didn't come out of thin air. Not that Andy needed to know about his family state.

At Andy's question, Doug grinned.

"Gojira's the kaiju icon to end all icons. The original giant monster!" He said, dropping his bum onto the bed and leaning back atop it, bringing his hands together behind his head. "He was an allegory for the dangers of pokemon experimentation and their implementation on military matters across the globe, back 'fore hurting people with pokemon became, well... common enough."

It had been a warning by the director, who had seen the signs before they came to head. Pity the warning had gone unheeded. Not that anyone could have foreseen the danger it spoke off coming over 70 years later.

"These days it's all just 'bout telling a very light story 'bout giant monsters with cool visuals though." The youth admitted next with a laugh, tilting his head as he checked the tags on the movie. 'Horror' was one of them. Surprisingly rare for the genre. "I don't think this one might fit that mold though... call it a hunch."

---

TAG: Andy Blackadder

"Sue me, lofty ideals alone don't save lives, and war ain't just a tool o' supremacy and destruction. Sometimes, it's the only means of defense." He said, rubbing his neck before casually dropping onto his side on the bed, propping his head up on his palm. "Just gotta make sure it don't make ya a monster."

A good number of the soldiers he worked with could be classified as 'anti-war' as well. But they also happened to be pragmatic people.

"Hoenn's fairly peaceful and diplomatic in its handling of o'international relations to begin with. Problem is, War keeps bangin' at its door regardless of what it does." He advocated for diplomacy first, but one Kanto was one too many.

... But yeah, how's 'em ribs at? Swinging his legs off the bed, the youth leapt to his feet before making his way to the cooking meat, opening up the toaster with a pair of gloves before pulling out the platter and placing it atop a suitable counter, and then casually spearing a single piece of meat with the fork, popping it into his maw.

It was scalding hot.

Pretty good, though.

"... Yesh, thash pretty goodsh." He said with a burned tongue, turning off the oven and dividing the meat evently between two plates before making his way back to Andy. "Foodsh's ready."

---

TAG: Andy Blackadder

"No, I'm hungry." Doug said with a laugh, dropping on his apparently designated spot with little grace and leaning against the pillows Andy had fluffed, simply chuckling as the boy scooted up closer towards him in turn. "Comfy!"

Despite his earlier words, he took a page out of Andy's book and laid his food to cool down besides him as well, grabbing his own can of cool tea and taking a heavy gulp out of it.

It somehow tasted way better with burnt up taste buds.

"Well, ya weren't wrong. Don't let it get to yer head. Now..." Doug said, an eager grin stretchign over his lips as he threw an arm atop the 'couch' of pillows. "Let's see if this movie's anythin' like the OG. Hit it, Andy!"

The lack of popcorn while watching a movie was borderline criminal, but whatever. There was always next time.

TAG: Andy Blackadder