Fun Times Ahead

Igor was stuck with having to wear some brightly colored promotional T-Shirt for some kids movie about a giant fat panda and other animals. Go figure. At least he had a different shirt he could change into once this evening shift was done. And he had cut his hair a little shorter for good measure. The only part he did not like was the fact that he couldn't get away with wearing his usual pair of gloves, to hide his injured fingers of his right hand. That already got him a few glances and mutterings. If only they knew he could hear what they were saying.

He took up this usher job for the sheer fact that he was in this Warragul place, he couldn't find any decent work in Melbourne concerning gardening (not that he would ever tell a soul about his love of gardening and taking care of flowers), and with his sensitive hearing, it wouldn't be hard to listen in to the movie soundtracks as they played. He always found that some soundtracks would surprise him with either how amazing or absolutely unimpressive aka lackluster they were. The whole concept of even working was so that he wouldn't be so perpetually bored, and besides, when the scary movies came out, he could at least try and scare little pansy children who thought they could sneak in to watch... or whatever the case actually would be. Igor had never dealt with this sort of thing... in this setting before.

Right now though, Igor was taking care of tickets as people came to watch the movies playing. Honestly, a movie called 'Bridesmaids'? He'd rather sit through the movie about the panda.

Did he mention he had to wear a nametag? He sorely wished he could have gotten away with putting that his name was 'Satan' or something equally as amusing.

For now he would just perform as usual and then maybe when he was done he would look again for Olivia. He was bound to find her at some point. But with the way time seemed to be going by so slowly, he was now hoping something interesting would happen while he was still on the job.

Cara would not have believed it if she had not seen it for herself. Every time an ad appeared for the new Kung Fu Panda movie, Ebby just about went bonkers. Not in a destructive way but in that way that a child does when they want to see THAT MOVIE! No not the other movie but THAT MOVIE! Ebby would point at the poster they were passing or at the commercial on television and he'd begun waiting for her to turn on Cee lo Green's YouTube video of Kung Fu Fighting whenever Cara was on line.

It seemed there would be only one solution to Ebby's actions and that was....

Take him to see the movie.

Sounded simple? Would have been had it not been for the fact Ebby was not a child (or at least not a typical human child). Ebby was a koala. This left Cara with some planning and plotting to do but she managed to come up with an idea and so it was that Cara showed up at the Warragul Cinema with a large baby wearing his favorite costume who seemed to be alseep, his face tucked against 'mummy's neck while she paid for their tickets and got him a container of popcorn. Once inside, she found the darkest corner available and settle them in it, making sure to keep him shielded from view until the house lights went down.

You could hear them coming.. birds chattering in fear from the sight as the minibus pulled up in the quiet street, all the shops closed and quiet except for the fast food restaurants and the cheerful lights leading into the thin covered alley that once empty was soon thick with the bouncing voices of.. the hoard. Unsurprising it was that at the front, powered on sugar and excitement of being on her first ever big girl guide camp there was none other then Abigail Wright. A name that those previously accustomed to a assault by the hyperactive sugar fulled seven year old would be soon to dread had it not been for that fact that this time Abby was just one of many young girls aged 5 to 9 who had chosen to go to the movies this night. Yep, that's right. It was a horde of girls, young girls, young girls wearing pink and talking excitedly about popcorn and what movie they where going to see (they'd taken a vote on the bus and Kung Fu Panda had easily beaten out Cars 2 on account of being 'funny' and having a panda). Somewhere at the back the leaders where probably pulling their hair out and trying to organize but as the girls raced along the bricks and up all the steps to the cinema there didn't seem much organization at all that could be possible.. it was like herding chickens only these ones could talk, ask questions, poke stuff, argue and generally cause more of a nuisance then any amount of farm animals (well except maybe for goats).

"I wonder if Miss Emma will let us have ice cream.. oh and popcorn.. Mum gave me pocket money so I think it would be okay if we got popcorn and we could share?" Abby said chatting away as she naturally gravitated towards the front counter where the sweets where kept. Emma of course knew that Abby wasn't allowed fizzy drinks or too much sugar on account of her hyperactivity but of course Abigail Wright didn't know that. "OH HI!" Abby spied a new face behind the counter, before Auntie Mel had gotten too big bellied to go to the movies with her Abby had gotten to know most of the staff on babysitting night so it was always a big exciting thing to meet a new face. The world of course to Abby was a constant meet and greet of everyone who crossed her path and so it was with no thought whatsoever that her attention locked on to Igor as she stood on tippy-toes, putting her hands against the counter to better see over to her prey? "HI MISTER MISTER!!" (there was a chorus of other voices piping in) "MISTER! HI I'M ABBY AND WE'RE HERE TO SEE THE PANDA FILM!" there was a brief moment of discussion between the girls on if it had been Kung Fu panda or Cars 2.. there was still a matter of debate that no doubt only the stepping in of a leader was going to be the end of. "MR IGER DO YOU LIKE PANDAS?" (Abby was of the belief that if you couldn't see someone and there was lots of other people around it meant that nobody would hear you unless you shouted. Which considering the amount of kids and general chaos.. was probably about right.

Emma had found the past week or two to be hectic but wonderful. Ethan and Mel had the baby and she was just adorable. Emma would have closed her shop for a few days to be able to visit with the new family and help Mel out with watching the baby while Mel slept a bit till the baby's sleeping schedule settled in but as it turned out, there were enough grandparents floating about the first few days to take care of all that. Which was rather good as it turned out that Emma was closing the shop for a few days to attend 'the Biggest Guiding Birthday Party of the Century' as leader of Patrol 6. Actually it was as leader of Brunswick Patrol 6 who were currently on a trip to see Kung Fu Panda 2 at the Warragul Cinema -- along with Warragul Patrol 6 and Drouin Patrol 6. Yes, folks, all of these lovely girl guides were from Patrol 6, 6 and 6........

So wasn't it rather a coincidence that the first girl guide of this group was Brunswick patrol's own Abby Wright?

Emma was one of the leaders who ended up bringing up the rear and heading hte girls toward the theatre. Fortunately, they were all excited enough to not to want to stray. "Stay in line, don't push, no running," she rattled off, one after the other and then repeated the mantra as two other leaders took to the sides to keep distracted guides from wandering. "Popcorn is a yes, Abby, but no to ice cream as they're having the 'Make Your Own Sundae' time after we get back to camp," Emma replied hearing Abby's spoken question. As Abby was being very polite, if not loud, addressing the ticket seller, Emma did not intervene but just reminded Abby that others behind her would be waiting their turn to purchase tickets as well.

For a moment Igor wanted to raise an eyebrow at the woman carrying what looked like a large sleeping baby with her (not that the kid would be asleep much longer with the noise), but he wasn't able to pay too much attention to it. Why is that, you may ask? Because with his hearing he could hear their voices from far off, and they were coming closer and closer... and closer. Eventually, he saw them.

Little girls.

Lots of little girls.

Wearing pink.

And extremely hyper.

Igor would have shook his head and starting going out on a psycho rampage, but he thought better of it. No sense in blood shed on ones first week on the job. He only hoped that their voices would come somewhat when they got closer. His vampiric hearing was going to hate him if that were not the case... which is exactly what happened as the kids were debating loudly and Igor was just about to cover up his ears to try and shield them from the sound of hyperactive girls.

Soon enough he noticed one little kid peering over the counter at him, and he raised his eyebrow slightly, and trying to hold back a cringe from the way she was shouting. He would deal with it though... he hoped anyway. The kid gave her name, and then asked if he liked pandas. Now to decide: did he give her the cute fluffy bunny type lie about pandas or the bloody truth about how they could possibly make a good blood substitute for a human? At this point, might be better not to scar the kid this early in life...

"Um... I guess, yes. I'm guessing you want the ticket for Kung Fu Panda 2 ki-.. eh, Abby?" Igor asked, looking behind the kid and seeing the multitude of others in line waiting. Awkward situation dealing with kids was awkward. He got the ticket ready and being right handed, gave it to her with that hand and said, "Here you go. Enjoy," was Igor's reply. Keep it simple and maybe she would get going and the rest of the chaos would pass.

It was quiet in the theatre and once settled, she simply let Ebby snack on the popcorn, which he did lightly. He was more interested in the movie starting and would point at the screen and look back at Cara. "Have to wait till it's time. You know that," Cara told him softly. "Once others have arrived and gotten settled, they'll start with the coming movies," she explained, as the koala nodded, not happy with having to wait to see his kung fu bear but understanding he really had no choice.

It wasn't like home where he could just watch the dvr'd episodes of his favorite shows, like Cherry Clinger. Not that Ebenezer Koala was becoming a couch potato or anything like that, nope not at all. Nor was he addicted to Cherry Clinger's program. He found it entertaining and insightful. That's the koala's story and he's sticking to it!

For now, however, he was sitting quietly, good little Kung Fu Panda Koala that he was waiting for the movie to begin.

Lisa couldn't run like the other kids, but she didn't mind, not today because she was on Camp! Just like a normal girl and that was the best thing even if it meant you had to wait at the back.. but she'd already given her pocket money to Miss Emma so she knew it would all be okay. "Miss Emma.. do you think I could have a Sundae?" Lisa asked, while she was a year older then Abby the girl was smaller and the medical bracelet on her wrist a constant reminder that she was 'fragile'

..

"LISA! COME HERE AND MEET IGER!" Abby called out, bouncing on the tips of her toes she was excited "Two tickets.. one for me and for Lisa.. or was it Three.. cause Miss Emma would want one.. she's a Adult.. and then there's Miss Jane and "Casey and Willow and Suzy and Mazie and Cindy and Claire and Buffy and Jessica and Annie and Patty and Debbie.. she's a adult too oh and Mr Sprinkle.. only he wasn't allowed to come on camp cause he's a Dog.. He's the best doggie in the whole wide WORLD!" Yep, Igor had breached the cardinal rule of escaping Abigail Wright.. he'd spoken to her.. that made them friends.. he'd never escape that now! Taking the ticket Abby did the big adult responsible thing and shoved it in her pocket before looking in her pocket for her loose change... forgetting what she was doing as she looked up to see that Miss Emma had joined them "SUNDAES! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" That was a full arms in the air hurray moment.. Mummy never let her make Sundae's at home! Cause they where unhealthy which of course meant that Abby wanted them all the more.

"After the movie would be before bedtime.. we'll have time to brush our teeth right Miss Emma?" Lisa asked, believe it or not but at five she'd decided that there was nothing she wanted more in life then to be a dentist... already she'd tried to campaign her friend Abby to brush at lunchtime but that had failed within two days. "It's very important isn't it Mister Iger?" Lisa asked giving the man behind the counter a curious glance.. puzzling that he had very strange teeth. Maybe he didn't brush them enough when he was a child?

"Lalala!... Mr Iger doesn't wanna know about some silly teeth.. don'tcha Mr Iger?" Yep, now the two girls where getting into a argument, right in front of the counter over what the poor Man did or didn't want to know about. Lisa felt a bit annoyed, she was only trying to make a point that it was important "Mum says that it's a sign of a healthy mind to take pride in your appearance" Lisa rattled off (no surprise her Mum was a psychiatrist after all) "I'm going to find our seats" Lisa said starting to unbutton her jacket (against everyones orders for her to stay warm) and gravitate towards the movie theater looking rather confused at the odd looking woman and baby sitting in there. "Um Hi.. is it okay to sit near you?" Lisa asked in a meek whisper before looking back to see if anyone else was coming.

"Of course you can have a sundae tonight when we go back to camp, Lisa. It's part of the fun," Emma assured the girl, glad she was able to say yes to her because of the many times they had to say no for her health. "Buffy! What have we told you about keeping sticks in your pockets! You could impale someone with those!" Emma commented to one of the girls in the patrol. Buffy was a good girl but for some reason, she would not go anywhere without carrying a couple of sticks. One would think she had them as weapons rather than just collecting various sticks.

However, in a moment, Emma stood there, managing to look calm and interested in what the girls were doing, keeping her face free of what she was thinking. However, she heard the words. Oh he did not just do what she thought he did? Oh yes he did.

He.Spoke.To.Abby.

Did the man at the ticket window not know who it was that had opened fire conversation with him? Did he not know the consquences joys of replying to the girl? Well, the answer was rather obvious, Emma realized since the man did reply. Of course, the patrol, or Abby herself, having not spent much time in Warragul yet, it would mean that there was no way the cinema employee could know what doom eternal friendship resulted in replying to the child. Unfortunately, there was now no way Emma could save him from this so the poor guy was on his own.

As Abby called to her friend to come meet 'Mr. Iger', Emma made her way up and managed to tell the man, "Six adults and thirty-two youth," she told him, passing him three checks from each of the patrols for the fees. "And yes, Lisa. After the movie, we go back to the camp, have our 'make your own sundaes' and brush our teeth when we change for lights out."

The moment the girl in front of his counter called out for some other kid named Lisa to meet ‘Iger’, Igor knew that this wasn’t going to end very well. When one hyper child called over another child, chances were the child in question was also hyper. When Abby started to name out other people who needed tickets, Igor blinked for a moment, listening as then the kid said something about a dog not being able to come to the cinema. At least the kid took the ticket he gave her, and it did amuse him a bit to see her shove it in her pocket. Hopefully now she would run along and he could get on with his night…

Or not, as some woman came up to the counter, and said something about sundaes… which made Abby shout for joy, and Igor half cringed. It certainly hurt his hearing, that was for sure. Ignoring the girl for now, Igor focused on the woman who came to the counter, wanting… thirty-eight tickets? Huh, would you look at that? Well, Igor just nodded his head saying, ”Alright,” taking the checks and making sure everything was correct before he set out getting all of the tickets in order.

While that was going on, some girl was talking to the woman who had handed him the checks, saying something about brushing teeth. Ugh, the memories of being lectured about brushing teeth when he was a little boy. He wasn’t expecting the kid to talk to him though, and her curious look made him stare back at her, wondering why on earth she was looking at him like that. Before he could answer, Abby interrupted and at this point, Igor wanted to pinch the bridge of his nose and possibly scare the kids off. But that might not go well, not so much with his boss, but with the adults watching the kids in question. He had no idea what they were after all, magical or Muggle.

”Teeth are important,” was all Igor said, trying his best to hold back a grin, so the people didn’t see his fangs. That would cause some questions that Igor couldn’t be bothered to answer at the moment. But teeth were very important, he needed his fangs to get him some dinner after all.. as well as open up bottles with his teeth when he was too lazy to open them the conventional way.

When all of the tickets were ready, Igor handed them to the woman standing at the counter, he caught her name as Emma apparently. ”Six adult tickets and thirty-two youth. Enjoy the movie,” Igor told her, saying what he had been saying for pretty much the whole night. Good, now that everything was done, the hyper children could go. Chances of him dealing with that particular kid again was small… But knowing his luck, he doubted that.

For now, Cara was blissfully unaware of the torment the poor cinema employee was undergoing at the hands of people she knew, namely Emma, Abby and Abby's friend Lisa who she had met at a Girl Guides meeting when she did a presentation on plants and helped the patrol start their own plants as work towards one of their badges. Since she had only met Lisa at that one meeting, she didn't recognize her at first as a quiet girl approached and asked if she could sit with them. An entire empty theatre and she wanted to sit with a strange lady and her koala child? But being she had asked rather politely, Cara smiled and nodded, waiting for the girl to settle in her seat before introducing herself. "My name is Cara and this is my... Little one, Ebby. Are you here with your family or friends?" she asked her, completely unaware of the attacking horde currently doing 'battle' at the ticket window and concession stand (which one would hope was not also the domain of the poor beleagered Mr. Iger.

It had begun quietly enough but then the onslaught arrived in their battle vehicles -- the dreaded minivans. But that was fine because Polly was expecting them thanks to the cinema policy of advanced warning for large groups. She was ready for the attack with her defensive weapons of large supplies of popcorn and drinks at the concessions stands, well running projections systems, and one rather hilarious Kung Fu Panda sequel. Add to that her well trained......

..... Polly blinked. He had been here a moment ago. But now the girls were all inside with their tickets in hand and taking care of their nutritional (read that stocking up on popcorn) needs or finding seats in the theatre itself and the ticket window office was empty. He had not been due for a break yet but had he needed one? Sending the young high school boy that swept out the theatres between showings off to check the men's room, Polly went over to the window and, since the patrols had filled the theatre, locked up the ticket window for now and prepared to assist as needed for the evening.

While Abby and Lisa had rambled over the tickets and Lisa had gone to find a set the other girls where busy getting their own tickets and generally doing what kids did best - talk loudly, argued and made a mess. Abby's attention could turn in the blink of the eye and so while one moment she'd been musing over the teeth of the man behind the counter the next her attention had gone from Miss Emma to realizing Lisa was gone and right to seeing Miss Polly. "HI MISS POLLY!" Abby shouted remembering her from when she'd last come to the movies with Auntie Mel to see Hop. "Are you coming to see Kung Fu Panda too? Wow you must be making lots of popcorn tonight.." Abby asked, willfully ignoring the others asking her to move along and hurry up because the movie was going to start.

It was around then that she felt something pull at her hair "OWW BUFFY!" Abby cried out, turning around to find the girl in question looking rather guilty and hiding the sticks that she'd been 'practicing' with behind her back. "MISS EMMA BUFFY HIT ME!"
"DID NO!" Buffy called out
"DID TO!" Yes it was only a matter of time that with x number of young girls a fight was sure to break out.

---

Meanwhile in the Cinema Lisa was a little frightened of the dark, she didn't like to talk about it but sitting by herself was most certainly not a popular prospect and so even if she didn't know the woman (or at least didn't remember her off hand) Lisa was more comfortable asking then sitting alone where anything might happen. "Thankyou" Lisa said before sitting down, kicking her feet a little as she looked at the blank screen waiting for the others to arrive, while glancing over at the strange 'baby' "I'm Lisa and That's not a baby is it?" Lisa asked, her eyes narrowed at what most certainly was not a child. Though what it was Lisa couldn't figure out.. after all who's imagination automatically leap to the logic that of course it was a Koala that the woman was smuggling into the theater. "Oh I'm here with both.. My Mum's out in the lobby with the others and we're on a Girl Guide camp.. it's very fun" Lisa stated as a few more girl guides started to appear in the aisles looking for seats and chatting amongst themselves.

'Okay girls, get your snacks and head into the theatre," Emma called out to the group in front of her as the other leaders and chaperones corralled the sections they were responsible for. Keeping a eye on the patrol, she saw Lisa head on into the theatre as Abby corralled Miss Polly and Buffy accidentally walked into her fellow girl guide. Well sort of accidentally. Buffy had really not tried to stab Abby, she just had kept the sticks out after being told to put them away. What Emma couldn't figure out was why Buffy kept looking over her shoulder, like she expected someone to jump out at her. "It was an accident, Abby," Emma quickly explained as she gave a fast once over to make sure no injuries had occurred. "Buffy, put your collection back in .... No Buffy, no vampires or monsters tonight. Kung Fu Panda 2, remember? No... No... we'll be fine even though we didn't bring garlic and I'm sure tomorrow we can find more sticks for your collection." Though Emma did make herself a mental note to talk to Buffy privately about her pronunciation of some words. Oddly enough the child seemed to say sticks with a long 'a' sound rather than the short 'i' as well as somehow getting an 'h' at the beginning of bottled water.

For now, Emma put the pronunciation issues aside and went back to keeping track of the patrol. Abby seemed to have focused on Miss Polly so Emma concentrated on getting the others into the theatre knowing Miss Polly would make sure Abby made it as the manager seemed to be distracting the girl from her recent 'run in' with Buffy. "Find seats, girls. Lisa... Oh there you are! Well hi Cara!"

And the jig was up, as they used to say in the old gangster movies her dad used to watch. Lisa figured out rather quickly that Ebby was 'different' from most babies. "He's my 'baby'?" she asked the girl hopefully though fairly sure it would not be sufficient to dodge the question, "Although today he seems to be in preteen mode over Kung Fu Panda. He's totally a fan," Cara admitted, adding, "Hello Lisa." At the mention of Girl Guides, Cara thought for a moment. "You aren't in a patrol with a Miss Emma as a leader, are you?" Cara asked as Ebby turned around to take an interest in the new arrival and waved shyly at the girl. The noise of arriving Girl Guides began to fill the theatre as a wave of giggling began to make its way to the front of the room. Eventually, a familiar voice added its own answer to Cara's question. "Emma! Good to see you again," Cara waved to her friend.

"Well hello, Miss Abby!" Polly called brightly back to the girl, waving as she made her way through the horde of Girl Guides toward the concession stand. "Oh we've definitely made a lot of popcorn and yes, I hope to be able to watch some of it again tonight," she assured Abby as she arrived at the Concession Stand and began pitching in helping wait on the girls around the counter. "No, Buffy is it? I'm afraid we don't sell garlic but we do have bottled water," she answered the one girl's question, passing her the box of mints and the container of popcorn before taking the money and ringing up the change. "Oh watch out.... " but it was too late as Buffy had walked into Abby with the sticks still in her hand. "You okay Abby? Didn't spill anything, Buffy? Oh good. Okay Buffy you head in like your leader told you and Miss Abby, what can I get for you?"