"Before we begin," Charlie clapped her hands together. "Angel, I just want to say how much I love how you stepped forth to propose a Hotel Movie Night!"

Nearly all residents of the Hotel had gathered in the parlor, many of them rested themselves seated themselves on furniture or open floor. They had all gathered around Vaggie who was fiddling around with the strange picture box and the DVD Jack had purchased.

"In fact," Charlie tapped her chin. "I'm beginning to wonder why we haven't tried this before."

"Eh, don't beat yourself up too much," said Movie Night proprietor shrugged as he lounged across the main couch, taking up the entire seat. Many objected to this, none could surpass their apathy to argue.

"To be fair, I'm pretty sure this would've been shot down any other week before today," Angel rested his head against his hands. "The only stuff worth-watching down here is porn."

"Hey!" Charlie pouted. "That's not true. We've got real movies."

"Yeah, except you only have sequels!" Angel rolled his eyes. "And ONLY the bad ones!"

"Curious," Samurai Jack rubbed his chin, sitting in front of the couch with crossed limbs. "Who exactly determines the quality of these… sequels?"

"Uh… I'm not sure." Charlie shrugged. "They just kinda… show up."

"And disappear just as randomly," Angel sneered. "I can never keep track of which of those 'Die Hard' movies I can actually watch. Although, I've never really tried to get into the Star Wars scene-"

"DON'T!" Husk practically sprayed out a mouthful of booze across the entire parlor as he suddenly screamed from his chair. Many heads slowly turned to the suddenly crazed cat.

Husk didn't even flinch at their stares, alcohol still dripping from his chin as his claws dug into the arms of the chair. He took a deep breath before wiping the dribble from his mouth. He looked at Angel with a dead stare. "Just… don't. Just fucking don't."

"Okay…" Angel slowly turned his attention away, deciding it was best to just banish that interaction to the back of his mind. He turned to the Hotel's most recent resident. "So, Jacky, are you ready for your first experience with the silver screen?"

"Do not worry about me." Jack waved off. "I believe I understand the concept, now. It is basically a stage play, but projected to us through this… box."

"Yesss!" Sir Pentious piped up, his large lower half spilling out of the chair. "And do not worry, the box does NOT contain any sssoulss. Nor can it take your sssouol, unless it hasss a bow tie."

Jack blinked. He retraced the sentence over and over in his head, trying to find any part that contained a hint of logic. "Does the box require the neckwear, or my soul?"

Before the snake could expand on his logic, the spider demon suddenly yelled "Oi! Vags, how long is it supposed to take to get a freaking movie going?"

"Well, excuse me," Vaggie growled as she whirled around, revealing the television's screen full of nothing of grey and white static. "You try to get this absolute fossil to work right. I swear that radio asshole pours blood in the circuitry when we're not looking."

"Oh, come on Vaggie, I'm sure he wouldn't do that." Charlie scratched her cheek. "At least… not without bragging about it."

Jack blinked. This was the first he had heard of a 'radio' anything. Let alone one that likes to pour blood into machines. "Um… who is-?"

"No one you need to worry about," Angel shrugged. "Well, not yet anyway."

"Trust me, you'll want it to stay that way." Husk gestured towards Jack with a bottle before raising it towards his lips. "Not that any asshole is that lucky."

Jack's throat suddenly felt very dry. In the corner of his eye, it almost looked like a shadow leered at him before darting away. Jack's hand hovered a bit closer to the handle of his sword.

"Come on… work, dammit!" Vaggie broke Jack out of his musings with her growl. She had resorted to futilely just turning the machine off and on again.

"Oh for the love of porn!" Angel rubbed his two largest eyes. "Just give it a good smack already! That'll fix it!"

"There's no way that works," Vaggie scoffed.

"Might as well try it," the hotel bartender shrugged. "Hell, if it helps, you can imagine it's this smug asshole's face." he gestured a bottle towards Angel Dust.

"Ouch, kitty, you wound me," Angel flinched back in a manner that was far too dramatic to be taken seriously. "But I approve your strategy. Not sure if it's the right motivation. If I were Vags, I'd picture something a bit different, like the princess fat as-"

Vaggie suddenly smacked the television set right upside its metaphorical head, the set nearly tipping over from the force. Once it resettled on all four legs, it shuddered like it was hit by an aftershock, and the white and gray static flashed away to reveal a very pink menu.

"Huh, what do you know?" The hotel's guardian sounded less pleased and more soul-crushingly disappointed. "It worked."

"Wait, seriously?" Angel sat up. "Hold on, what did you visualize? My face or Charlie's toosh? Because now I kinda wanna know."

"Maybe we should just start the movie?" Charlie cleared her throat, the red spots on her cheeks glowing a bit more red than usual.

Vaggie clicked the "play" button on the machine before walking back to join the others. "How do you even know about this movie?" She asked Angel as she took a seat next on the arm of Charlie's lounge chair. "Isn't it a bit past your time?"

"Only by a few decades," Angel shrugged. "And some of the guys at work reference it to death. They keep saying it's 'totally my scene.' I'll be the judge of that!"

Jack shook his head. Honestly, he wondered if he should even be doing this- frivolously wasting time on leisure activities when Aku was still out there. But all his recent leads had dried up, and he didn't know where else to go.

Besides, he was staying under Princess Charlie's hospitality. It would be rude if he didn't engage in some of the social events of the hotel.

So Samurai Jack leaned back, and began to watch his first movie: Mean Girls. What an odd title.

The credits of all people who worked on the film began to scroll up against the screen. The hotel residents sat in place, taking in the silence.

"Damn," Angel hissed. "Am I that easy to read?"

"I gotta admit, if I didn't know you," Vaggie shrugged. "I probably would've assumed you took your… everything from Regina George."

The porn star sat in his chair, staring at nothing, before he shrugged. "Screw it, I'll own that."

"I mean…" Husk shrugged. "You both are about as fake."

"You motherfu-"

"So, Jack!" Charlie piped up, clearly trying to drown out an argument. "What did you think?"

Jack crossed his arms. His scratched his chin for a few moments. "It was a very unique experience. Most insightful as well, though I will say I prefer the more traditional plays of my homeland."

Charlie nodded. "Fair enough. Everyone can have such different and beautiful opinions."

"Unless those opinions are boring as watching paint dry," Angel Dust muttered under his breath.

Jack rolled his eyes. It did not matter if Angel could not appreciate the fine arts. What mattered is that Jack did, and he will be able to partake in such leisures once his mission was complete.

Jack pushed himself to his feet, ready to return to his quarters. "It was a fine story to be told though, if a bit unrealistic."

The demons all stared at the samurai, confusion marred their faces. "Uh, what about it was so unrealistic?" Vaggie asked.

"This 'high school' they spoke of," Jack chuckled. "Such a silly depiction. Even the strictest of my tutors valued our mental strength. And to see so many talented young minds limit themselves to arbitrary rules. It is absurd."

Jack continued to lightly chuckle as he walked out of the parlor, his hotel neighbors staring after him in concern.

Angel Dust raised a finger. "Um…"

Husk reached over and lowered the finger before anything more could be said. "Just… just let him have this."

I'll admit. Not the strongest chapter. But I dunno, just thought it'd be fun. And if you don't think that's enough, I don't think you understand the point of these shorts.

There will rarely be any big climatic battles or major character development in these chapters. That's for the main story. Sometimes I just wanna make something silly and pointless.

And if you're bothered by the Husk and Angel interaction, try to remember that this takes place before episode 4 in case it wasn't obvious. That's also why Jack still doesn't know who Alastor is. Though that could change soon.

Keep your ear to the ground. And don't worry, I'm reading all of your lovely suggestions and they are sparking ideas. It's just hard to write those ideas alongside the main story while also keeping up with school work.