Siren: Good news, everyone! This is the first story we've written that has no mention of Kratos in it, except for the author's notes!
Muse: Please panic in an orderly fashion. Disclaimer!
(poof) Alphonse Elric: Huh? How'd I get here? Brother!
Siren: Oh, god...I hate your voice. It gives me a headache. Say the disclaimer.
Alphonse: No!
Muse: (pulls out kitten) How about now?
Alphonse: KITTYKITTYKITTY! Okay, Sirens & Muses don't own ToS, FMA, or this kitty. This kitty is mine. Mine, I tell you! (poof)
Siren: Review, please!
It began at dinner one night. Raine had made them her version of tacos, which for reasons unknown, included peanut butter, octopus, and chopped-up pasta mixed together with an unidentifiable paste. It was completely inedible.
Which was why Lloyd decided to throw his at Genis.
And miss.
"Ack! Lloyd!" Sheena scraped the gooey taco guts from her neck. "Gross!"
Zelos howled with laughter. "Nice one, bud!" He was treated to a slap across the face with Sheena's messy hand.
"Honestly!" Raine said angrily, "If you don't want to eat it, just say so!"
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't squish this thing in your hair!" Sheena snapped at Zelos. Without waiting for his reason, she slammed the disgusting food onto his head.
"Hey!" the Chosen sputtered. "Not nice! What are you laughing at, brat?" he snarled at Genis, who'd toppled over with laughter.
"You all are acting childish!" Raine shouted, trying to control the situation. She was too late, however, as Zelos had taken the opportunity to shove his taco down the back of Genis' shirt.
"Lloyd started it!" Genis accused, trying to wipe food off his back.
"Ah, hey, no!" Lloyd took off, running as Sheena, Zelos, Genis, and Colette all chased him.
"Colette! You didn't even get hit!" he yelled back.
"Oh, I know!" she said excitedly. "But I love food fights! They're so much fun!"
"What…is a food fight?" Presea asked.
The entire party fell silent. Everyone who'd been chasing Lloyd moments ago, as well as Raine and Regal, stopped to stare at the pink-haired girl.
"You mean to tell me," Lloyd asked slowly, "That you're at least twelve years old, and you've never had a food fight?"
Presea tilted her head. "No. My mother and father were very strict. I was raised to eat food, not throw it."
"Presea is absolutely correct," Raine said, though half-heartedly. She had never heard of a child who hadn't thrown food, either. "Maybe you guys will have more appreciation for food if I send you to bed without dinner."
"Thank Martel," Genis mumbled.
Lloyd, however, was not deterred. "You've seriously never had a food fight, Presea?"
"I'm afraid not. It doesn't look like I missed anything."
"You missed everything!" the swordsman said. "It's a ton of fun. Watch, just throw your taco at someone."
"Lloyd," Regal began, "I don't think you should teach her such childish-"
He was cut off as a peanut butter-octopus-pasta taco smacked the side of his face.
"…things," he finished, trying to clean his face.
"Uh, Presea," Lloyd said, eyes wide. "I didn't mean throw it at Regal."
"You did not specify."
"You're supposed to throw it at someone who'll throw it back," Colette explained cheerfully.
"…Why?" Presea questioned. "I don't want to get messy."
"But that's the whole point!" Lloyd said. "You do it to get sticky and gooey and messy and to do the same to your friends."
Presea was silent for moment before turning to Regal. "Are you finished with your taco?"
"…Yes," he said, standing and heading over to the other side of the clearing. Raine, with a resigned sigh, followed him.
Presea picked the taco up and looked around at the younger part of the group. "Lloyd."
"Yeah?"
"…You started it." The taco hit him squarely on the top of his head, sending goop down his face and through his hair.
"Yech!" Lloyd shook his head like a dog, sending slop all over his friends.
"Ew!" Sheena picked up another taco, sending it flying in Lloyd's direction. He caught it, dripping the insides all over his hand, then sent it flying in Presea's direction.
It hit her directly in the face. The entire group went silent again, waiting for her reaction. She gently touched her face, examining the substance, before a slight smile formed behind the curtain of food-turned-ammunition.
"Nice!" Zelos hooted. "My little hunny smiled again. That makes, what, four times?"
"This is…fun," Presea stated. Then she scraped off a handful of goop and threw it at Colette.
"I'm glad you're having fun!" The blonde girl playfully picked up her dinner and tossed it at Sheena, who scraped some off and threw it back.
"Ha! Come on, you guys, I bet you can't catch me!" Lloyd took off again, this time followed by Presea as well.
By the time the carnage ended, everyone was a mess. Lloyd, through the collaborated efforts of Zelos and Genis, ended up with three of the extra tacos Raine had made shoved down the front of his pants. In retaliation, Lloyd had called upon Colette to dump some more of the extra tacos from directly above. In the mix, she'd also gotten both Sheena and Presea, who took the rest of the tacos and simply threw them at anyone within range.
The battle ended only when there was no more food to be thrown. The group collapsed, laughing and talking, near Raine and Regal.
"Well," Raine said stiffly, "I'm glad to see my food was used for a good cause."
"Oh, don't worry, Professor!" Colette said brightly. "Just think, this is the first dinner you've made that we didn't have any leftovers."
While Raine tried to accept the fact that she was a terrible chef, Lloyd turned to Presea. "So, did you like your first food fight?"
She smiled. "Yes, very much."
"What else haven't you done, my tiny flower?" Zelos asked. "I would be glad to give you lessons anytime you like, on anything." Sheena smacked him.
Presea gave him a blank look. "If I've never done it, how would I know what it was?"
"Good point," Sheena said. "Let's see…have you ever had a snowball fight?"
"Ozette doesn't get much snow," Presea said.
"How about dodgeball?" Lloyd suggested. "Or kickball?"
She shook her head.
"Ooh, I know! Have you ever built a fort?" Colette asked excitedly. "When we were little, we used to make forts out of pillows and blankets!"
"No."
"You had to have climbed trees, right?" Zelos said. "Ozette's full of them!"
"…Once. To pick some fruit."
"Uh-huh." Zelos raised his eyebrows. "You didn't have much of a childhood, did you?"
"There were many chores to be done. We had to clean and weed the garden, then we had to get water from the well. After that, I had to go babysit our neighbors. Then my mother died," Presea said quietly, "And I had to take her place in our house. There was little time for games."
"Hey!" Genis said suddenly. "I-I have an idea!"
"Speak up, brat," Zelos said. "We don't have all day."
"Stop calling me that!" the half-elf snapped. "We should do all those things. For Presea, so she can make up for her lost time!"
"That's a great idea, Genis!" Colette said. "We can have another quest!"
"Sounds good to me," Sheena said.
"Actually," Zelos admitted. "It's not a half-bad idea. We'll make my sweet little hunny smile some more!"
"It's settled, then!" Lloyd said, grinning. "We'll go on a quest for all the fun things Presea hasn't done."
Raine rolled her eyes. "Honestly, we're on a journey to save the world. Do you really think we have time for such immature things?"
"It won't be a big deal!" Colette said. "Just things to do that are fun! Don't you want us to have fun, Professor?"
"Of course I do, but..." Raine sighed in defeat. "Fine. But remember, the seals come first. And if it gets too out of hand, I'll make sure the only fun thing you do is study."
"We should make a list," Sheena suggested. "So that we have a goal of what we want to do."
"Good idea!" Lloyd said. He rummaged through his pack and pulled out a pencil and crumpled up piece of paper.
"Isn't that last weeks math assignment?" Genis asked. Lloyd ignored him and jotted down the things they'd already mentioned before turning to Presea.
"Okay, first thing's first. Presea, is there anything you want to do really badly?"
"…At the beach in Altamira," she said, "I saw a group of children building a house of sand. I would…like to try that once."
"House of sand…? Oh! Sand castles!" Lloyd snapped his fingers. "Right, 'build sand castles' at the top of the list. Anything else?"
"I cannot think of anything. What are everyone else's ideas?"
"Well," Zelos said, winking. "You totally can't go through childhood without skinny dipping. I know for a fact that our voluptuous ninja has gone on a couple of midnight swims herself."
"You creep!" Sheena blushed a deep red and slapped him, while Lloyd scribbled down 'skinny dipping'. She glared at him. "Lloyd! Do you even know what skinny dipping is?"
He shrugged. "Nope. But if Zelos thinks it's fun, we should try it, right?"
"No…no! Lloyd, skinny dipping is…oh, never mind. Just ignore anything he suggests, alright?"
"Ooh!" Colette raised her hand. "I know! Presea, have you ever flown a kite?" The younger girl shook her head.
"Good idea!" Lloyd wrote it down. "Do you know what I used to do when I was younger? I'd sneak out my window and just walk around town."
"Bud, I hate to tell you, but that's boring," Zelos said. "Oh, well, I guess country bumpkins with nothing to do-"
"Don't call us bumpkins!" Lloyd interjected. "It's actually a lot of fun. It's really cool to know that you're the only one awake, and that you're seeing stuff no one else is."
"…I think I would enjoy a late night walk," Presea said. Lloyd gave her a thumbs-up and wrote it down.
"In Mizuho," Sheena said, "Some of the little kids would get together and roll down the hill on their backs, like they were logs."
"'Roll down hill,'" Lloyd repeated, writing it down. "Cool. Genis, what about you?"
"Back in Iselia," he said, "We used to play a game called Ghost In The Graveyard. Do you remember that, Lloyd?"
"Oh, yeah! I loved that game."
"Ghost In The Graveyard?" Sheena frowned. "Never heard of it."
"It's kind of like hide and seek," Lloyd explained. "The person who's the ghost goes out and hides, and the rest of the people start to walk around. The ghost has to jump out and tag the people, who become ghosts, too. Whoever gets tagged last wins."
"Sounds like fun," Zelos said. Presea nodded, so Lloyd jotted it down.
"Excuse me," Raine said loudly. "I hate to break up your important meeting, but you need to get to bed. We have an early start tomorrow."
Lloyd folded the paper and stuffed it in his pocket. "Okay, guys, we'll finish this tomorrow."
While they all started to pull out their sleep pads, Presea hesitated.
"What's wrong, Presea?" Genis asked. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Thank you all…for what you are doing."
Colette clapped her hands together. "Don't mention it! We're friends, after all."
"Ye-yeah!" Genis said. "Presea, you're a-"
"Get to bed!" Raine screamed. "Now!"
No one spoke another word.
