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The earthling is at a point in his life where he can go to restaurants, but it works better for everyone if, after I give my order (often to BB to relay to the waiter), the earthling and I go wander around outside until BB texts me to say the food has come.

Obviously, this means we pick restaurants based in part on the outside having nice places to walk. Tonight, we ate in one that's near a theater. There is a lot of nice landscaping, and a pedestrian area, and also there are multiple fountains. This means it is Earthlingland, basically. So the earthling and I callously abandoned BB to do whatever it is she does while waiting for the food, and went to visit the fountains.

Except immediately we noticed that something was different. There were - people. All over. Like they were camping. After some study, I figured out that they were more or less in a line, and that the line ended near the movie theater. I texted BB this strange news, and while I waited for her response, I inspected them further.

They were almost all female.

They were mostly young. (Although there were a few middle-aged ladies out there, too. I salute you, middle-aged ladies! Own your love!)

They were - oh. They were wearing TEAM JACOB and TEAM EDWARD t-shirts.

I carefully inspected the theater marquee, and observed that these people were almost certainly in line - at four in the afternoon - for a 3:00 a.m. IMAX showing of Eclipse, which is, for those of you on Mars (which I kind of was, I guess; I had no idea this was coming out), the latest movie in the Twilight Saga.

And, you guys, it was so awesome. Because I cannot remember the last time that I saw a lineup like that, of pretty much all fangirls, all young, all just - being fans, out there in public, like they had a total right to do it. Usually that is a privilege reserved for teenaged and twenty-something boys and sports fans! And they were so cute, all happy and waiting to see their own true love. (Which, admittedly, is not one I know much about; I know that Edward is a sparkly vampire, Bella is a clumsy mortal, and Jacob is a werewolf. I mean, Jacob doesn't even get an adjective, that's how little I know about Twilight.) And wearing their t-shirts proclaiming their allegiance to Jacob or Edward. (I guess there is no Team Bella? Or is that not how that works?) I kind of felt like I had found my people, even though there was no one wearing a t-shirt reading TEAM EDWARD DOES JACOB, which is, let's be honest, probably what my actual people would be wearing.

And, remember, I was there with the earthling, which meant that my first and foremost thought was: I am glad these t-shirts are all text only. And the second I thought that, of course, I noticed three girls with identical shirts that said TEAM EDWARD on the back but had full color renditions of Edward's face (and let me tell you how amused I am that I, even though I cannot recognize any faces, have come to know the outline of Edward's hair so well I can mostly recognize his; this is the price I pay for having an earthling) on the front.

The earthling noticed this shortly after I did. His first reaction was to try to join the line, and after I hauled him away, he stopped directly in front of the girls with full-color Edward and went: *staaaaaare*. Such was the force of his laser-like stare that the girls actually noticed him after a while and stopped talking in those slightly-too-loud voices that fangirls use when they get together (although I did not hear the word "cock" once, which was strange for me). "He likes your shirts," I offered, and they gave the uncertain giggles you hear from girls who are not entirely sure they get the joke but are pretty sure they are the punch line - you know the giggle, the one that says, "I'm such a good sport that I'm willing to laugh along with you as you laugh at me." But, no, girls! I was entirely sincere! My son did like your shirts, and he was probably wishing that they made Edward shirts in 2T, because he is devoted and dedicated to his membership in Team Edward. (Or, as it apparently must be written, TEAM EDWARD.)

Eventually, I managed to tow the earthling away by reminding him that there was a fountain calling his name. (Sorry, Pattinson. Awesome you may be, but fountains are even better.) And I spent the rest of the evening just a little more happy than I would otherwise have been. Because, okay, they may not share my precise interests, but I still felt great kinship to those girls, out there caring enough about fictional characters to line up twelve hours in advance to see them, visibly blissed out on that potent neurotransmitter cocktail fans on the cusp of a major fannish event experience. They cared enough to wear t-shirts with their favorite fictional character's name on them. They cared enough to bring copies of their Twilight Saga books to read out loud to each other while they waited in line to see the Twilight Saga movie. They cared enough that when the extra security guards (yes, the theater had laid on extra security guards, possibly because they feared some sort of confrontation between TEAM EDWARD and TEAM JACOB, and those were some confused-looking security guards, let me just add) came over to try to move their line around a little, at least one of them tried to get a guard to declare an allegiance to Jacob. (He didn't feel it, apparently.)

It was just. It was wonderful and awesome and adorable. And as I sit here, with my sleeping earthling in the next room, I am thinking of those girls still in line waiting for Edward and Bella and Jacob, and I am thinking: you go, girls. I hope the movie is everything you want it to be.

Oh, and girls? Please don't laugh along with people you think are laughing at you. Nothing you're doing is stupid or embarrassing. You care about something. You love something. It's important to you, and that makes it valuable. If people think that's funny? Please, please: just tell them to go fuck themselves. (Unless they are following a little boy who is staring at you in great awe, because that would be me, and trust me, I'm not laughing. And neither is the earthling. He thinks you're wonderful. Unless you're on TEAM JACOB, of course.)