"Colonel!"
Anise Tatlin, a zealous young firebrand of a girl, scampered nimbly up to Jade Curtiss with her enchanted doll Tokunaga flapping at her back and radiance dancing in her chocolate-colored eyes. She jumped to a halt in front of him and thrust her arms forward, bowing her head. The man averted his eyes from his book and cocked an eyebrow in a silent inquiry.
"Helicopter!" she commanded, flexing her gloved fingers.
"Oh, Anise," Jade groaned, marking his page and setting his book aside before gingerly pressing a hand to his back.
"Not now. I'm old and frail, as you know. I think I may have fractured something fighting those soldiers before…"
"Colonel, you're fine," she whined, making an effort to force him to his feet. He responded with another hyperbolic moan.
"Please, just once!" she insisted, wrapping her arms around his waist and puffing out her cheeks.
He groaned again and attempted to pry her off of him, but was unable to untangle her fingers from one another. "Ask Luke, I bet he'll do it," he offered.
"Nooo, Colonel, you do it so much better!" Anise refused, resting her chin on his chest as she stared up at him.
Luke quickly retaliated that he could do whatever it was she wanted much better than Jade could, to which Anise replied with an irritable "boo!"
Jade emitted a harsh, exaggerated sigh as the girl put on a pair of wide, beseeching eyes, tilted her head a fraction sideways, and pleadingly fluttered her lashes. "Just once," she reiterated.
"… Just once," Jade conceded, raising his arms in surrender. "But that's it, no more."
"Okay! Okay!" Anise beamed, obviously disregarding his words and instead shoving her hands toward him a second time. Her shoulders shook with elated giggles as she anticipated her oncoming thrill.
Jade's long fingers wound firmly around her wrists, and her much-smaller hands gripped his in return. He began to spin her in a circle, slowly at first, but gradually increased in speed; Moments later, her feet left the ground and flailed wildly in the air.
"Faster!" she urged. With a grunt of effort, Jade twirled her until her slender body was parallel with the ground. Her giddy laughs reverberated throughout the camp as her ebony pigtails whipped wildly around her face.
He began to spiral out of control, but gathered himself before he and the fon master guardian made contact with the grass.
The girl released her iron grip on him and proceeded to stagger about, her gait similar to that of an intoxicated man.
"T-that was so fun," she tittered, her pupils swimming in her unfocused eyes. Jade soundlessly sunk to the ground, rubbing her temples while his eyebrows knitted together.
"That looked so awesome!" Luke exclaimed. "Do me now!"
"You want me to swing you, a hulking, beastly ogre, around like a ninety-pound little girl?"
Red invaded Luke's nose, but before he could conjure a livid response, Natalia interjected.
"Please, Luke! Let Jade rest. If he's hurt he shouldn't exert himself like that. " The Kimlascan princess narrowed her eyes, oblivious to the fact that Jade was faking the injury.
Luke rolled his eyes and flicked a veil of brilliant red hair behind his shoulder with a toss of his head.
"Fine, whatever," he yielded, folding his toned arms over his chest. His giving in made Tear let out a relieved sigh.
Anise reeled for moments longer before she hit the ground with a muted thump, her head winding up on Jade's chest. She giggled incoherently and closed her eyes, her doe-like lashes casting shadows over her flushed, baby-doll face.
The colonel absently stroked her disheveled hair as he resumed his book.