ETTSON: Rewritten

Chapter 11: Filmspiel

Everybody tried to squeeze themselves on the sofa, except Jeff, Tony and Ninten who opted to sit on the floor. They all looked at Ness, who opened a big closet stuffed with cassette tapes and DVDs.

"Jesus Christ, dude!" Ninten yelped in surprise.

He looked at Ana, who was glaring at him.

"Sorry, it's a habit."

Ness looked at the two for a bit, concerned. He continued.

"Well, this is our full collection. Last I checked, we've got 168, so we have a LOT of choices."

"Have you got 'The Creature in The Vegetable Soup'? That's one of my favourites," Lloyd asked, still sipping on his ketchup-flavoured fizzy drink whilst Ninten gagged.

"Yeah! That's one of my favourites."

"What about the sequels?" Paula enquired further.

"Do you actually like the sequels?" Ana asked in disbelief.

"Duh, of course! They're an integral part of the Vegetable Soup lore!"

"Whatever, the vegetable soup one is on the list," Ness decided, plopping the DVD case on the floor, "Do any of you like My Secret Life, The Movie?"

"The first two instalments were weak, but the 3rd one was good. 'The Baby is a Demon Child!' It's the best one by far!" Ninten boldly claimed.

"No, that one sucks! It ends so anticlimactically! He gets caught lying and the wife cheats on him with the policeman!" Lloyd spat back.

"Hey, that sounded interesting!" Jeff interjected, annoyed, "You just ruined my first viewing experience, you daft git!" 

"Haha! I have no clue what that means, so I remain unaffected!" he stood triumphantly.

Jeff narrowed his eyes and shook his fist jokingly.

"I'll have my revenge on you one day!"

Rubbing his hands, Lloyd came back with the ultimate comeback. A comeback that could devastate entire businesses and kill people.

"I'd like to NOT see you try."

All the confidence Jeff previously mustered up was scattered and destroyed. Everybody was congratulating Lloyd as if he got a degree in helioseismology or some unspecified astrophysics subject, shaking his hand. (Or hands. If you're Ninten, who shook both hands at the same time.) All Jeff had left was Tony to reassure him.

Ness waited, checking his non-existent watch on his wrist.

"Alright, are you finished?"

"Yep!" Lloyd confidently flexed his muscles, which recieved a chuckle from Ninten and the girls.

"Okay, let's just watch the vegetable soup movie and we'll decide later," Ness announced, taking out the DVD and inserting it into the DVD player.

Everybody settled down as the National Movie Association's black-and-white logo flashed on screen for a few seconds.

Ness went to the next room while everybody else sat, eyes glued to the television.

While the other 5 were too busy watching, Tony was conflicted... While he did want to enjoy his time here with Jeff and his friends, he also wanted to go up to Ness ― their host ― and kick him in the teeth. He had no doubt that the boy was guilty of what Jeff was accused of, but he could not vent those suspicions or he could fear alienating his only real friend. Thus, despite his heart telling him not to, his brain decided to keep his hunch under wraps.

Tony tried his best to focus on the film.

A vegetable soup is plopped on a dinner table in a restaurant. An eye pops out of it. Disgusted, the man being served said vegetable soup tells the waitress to go back to the kitchen and get him a new one. She does so, taking the soup with her. And what happens as soon as the chef faces her? His eye's missing. DUN-DUN-DUUUUUUN!  But, wait! That's just the intro! After that, some more boring stuff happens after that.

That's the general gist of what happens... That was BORING AS HELL! Yeah, yeah, I, a narrator, am supposed to have no thoughts, being all stoic and shit. We narrators don't get paid enough to do this voice-box-tiring work around here, just for YOU to come up and just READ! Why dontcha pay me, Boss?! I only get $2 an hou-

I peer out my window and see my manager, verbally threatening to cut my already-meagre pay.

... I think I'll stop.

"That sucked ass," Ninten sighed, "Lloyd, you made it out to be better than it actually was!"

"The last time I watched it was when I was 7, so..." 

Ana got off the couch and looked at the DVD packaging.

"Lloyd, this is rated 15+, how and why did you watch this?"

"My dad kinda neglected me since he's been looking for that flower species for my mom. She's got a disease so he's been researching a way to extract a chemical or whatever from the flower; my mom's favourite flower," Lloyd explained emotionally, "My dad's a scientist, yunno? He can do that. He can make my mom better."

Everybody stayed silent, out of respect for his mother. Ness came back in.

"Woah, what's the silence for?"

The guests turned around, except Lloyd who was still facing down to the ground.

Ninten gave Ness a look and mouthed 'Dude, not now,' at him.

"Sorry..." Ness whispered, creeping back into the previous room.

Ninten took his focus back to Lloyd and tried his best to make him feel better.

"It's okay, man. Your dad's a professional scientist, right? Like you said, if he's professional, he can totally help your mom, correct?"

"Mm... I guess," affirmed Lloyd, trying his best not to tear up in front of his friends.

His face started contorting, almost pouting.

"Shh... sh. It's okay, it'll be okay," Ana held him by the shoulder and comforted him.

"Th-thanks, you guys. Man, I love you f-fellas."

"Let's just go to the other room," she told Ninten.

"Yeah," he responded, "Don't worry, Lloyd. My aunt's gonna cook you a yummy steak."

They passed Ness, who was looking at them remorsefully.

"Well, then... Er... what'll we do now?"

"Ness, let's do something... later."

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A/N - Hey, folks! Sorry for the late release! However, I have to tell you guys some bad news...

I've got COVID-19.

I found out this morning and for the entire day, I've been finishing this chapter, because I want to get it out as soon as possible. 

Anyway, this isn't really about me, is it?

The whole Lloyd stuff is based on information in the official MOTHER novelization so it is *technically* canon. 

If you know the references for the movie titles, you're a bloody legend. 

I know a single paragraph was actually about the films, but I am just waiting to get to the moment I've planned for a month and it's gonna take a bloody long time (since I'm lazy as hell).

Anyway, yeah. I'm gonna see you at Chapter 12!

PEACE!