Challenge #01265-C170: Old Friends

When you were much younger there was a book, a show, a series that was Magic! You loved it, it lit up your life. Years later you find it again and the magic has gone and it's bland. But if you're lucky, you find it again. Sit down and re-visit and the Magic is still there. -- Knitnan

"I found it! It wasn't a dream!"

Uh oh... Mel sighed. "Let me guess. This is the thing you used to love once upon a time?"

Del was already squealing and dancing with the DVD. If she wasn't so goshdarn cute when she did that, Mel might be embarrassed. As it was, she had to slow her down with a hug just so she could focus on the cover.

H.R. Puffinstuff.

Oh boy. "I missed out on all that Croft stuff." And then Mel said the fatal words. "Is it any good?"

Del was already in Hyper Mode and the following infodump came out at a high speed gabble that only practice and patience could understand. And lipreading helped. Of course H.R. filled Del's every childhood morning and she had once dreamed of going to Living Island. Her parents used to have a stack of VCR cassettes that Del had worn out during her early childhood.

So of course they got the entire set.

Del set up the Binge. Popcorn and way too much candy and far too many sweet treats and homemade smores. All lined up around the pillow fort like guardians to the gateway of youth. She was jumping around too much to reliably put the discs into the machine, so Mel did her that favour before she settled in.

Wow. This was what they did before CGI when cartooning was too expensive. They had some serious dedication to fabricate everything like that. Sure, some of it was on the hokey side, but that's what you got with kids' shows. And they actually hired talented people to do the singing and dancing.

Seen through the eyes of an adult, it was... silly. But one look at Del was all she needed. Her best-beloved was right back in that early-morning childhood pillow fort with too much sugary cereal and way too much enthusiasm. Singing along and dancing in her seat and otherwise being in the moment.

And it was rare to find media where the comedy held up without being problematic.

Mel started singing along with the intro.

(Muse food remaining: 20. Submit a Prompt! Ask a question! Buy my stories! Or comment below!)