Aw… Quatre and his sisters are so cute… Enjoy part one of this little two-shot!
Mandatory Memorization
One sunny and fateful day, the Gundam pilots were over at Quatre's mansion. Why their presence was requested, you ask? Well, according to the only male child of the Winner family, his sister Corona's birthday was in two days. They had been called to help.
No, no. Not to help get things ready. The Winners had a whole staff to take care of that. The pilots were called upon to help Quatre keep his sanity.
"What? It's just a birthday party, Quat," Duo said, once Quatre explained why they were there. Quatre shook his head.
"Duo, it's not as simple as that. At any one of our birthdays, all the siblings show up."
"Soooo…?" Duo prompted.
"So," Quatre then proceeded to hand him a very, very long list. The other pilots leaned over to investigate its contents over 02's shoulder.
"Jesus… Quatre, how have you survived so many years?!"
Heero extracted the list from Duo's hand, and read it briefly. It contained each and every one of Quatre's sisters' full names, age, favourite book, colour, and what instruments they played. But that wasn't it. It also listed the exact shade of whatever colour their eyes were, most recent length of hair, and how they each liked their eggs. I'd go on, but ain't nobody got time for that.
"Are you stalking your own sisters?" Wufei said incredulously.
"Of course not," Quatre replied with an eye-roll, "I need to memorize this before the party."
"Why, exactly?" Trowa queried. Quat gave a long-suffering sigh.
"Because. I don't see all of my sisters that often. Most of them are older than me by more than a decade! I don't want to hurt any of their feelings, so every time there's a get-together, I take it upon myself to revisit basic information on all of them.
"Basic?!" Duo exclaimed, "Dude, you listed how many square meters their kitchens are! And their pet names for their kids, if they have any!"
"You never know what may come up in a conversation," Quatre defended himself.
"Besides," he continued, "I want to be prepared for anything. Last time I forgot that Samantha's parrot died, and she cried about it when I brought it up. Then Casana, who is super close and protective of Sammy almost killed me."
"And you're sure that all of them are your sisters? That one sounds rather vicious to me…" Wufei muttered.
"Shh!" Quatre exploded, "Reema might hear you! She'll tell all the others for sure!"
"Um, Quatre? We're the only ones here," Trowa stated.
"You never know…"
Heero nodded his approval at Quatre's cautiousness. Typical.
"Anyway, will you guys help me memorize the list?" Quat asked, utilizing his puppy-dog eyes.
One they all grudgingly agreed, a strategy was formulated. Since the poor little bro of 29 sisters still remembered a bit from the last memory session, they would not need to start from scratch. So, first, the pilots asked Quatre about all of his sisters, using the list, and the questions answered wrong were all written down, revised, and asked again at random intervals. Next, the pilots pretended to be one of his sisters, and made a mock-conversation with him. This segment was rather amusing.
"Hello, Quatre," Trowa said, trying to be Solani Winner.
"Hey Sola! (Nick-names were a part of the test.) I like yourhijab(1)!" Trowa promptly face-palmed.
"What did I do now?" Quatre asked, exasperated.
"Solani doesn't wear a hijab," Heero said, "Only Ernia, Rueba, Summan, and the triplets do. Wait, no… Hera does too… and- okay, the point is, Solani doesn't."
"Okay, me next," Wufei said, "I'm Violet."
"Okay," Quat took a deep breath.
"Hi Violet! How's little Lily? And Tala? Oh, and-" Quatre then when into a long string of Arabic. (He was asking about their cat. It was still alive…unlike a certain tear-inducing parrot. Rest in peace, Gonzalos.)
"Um… Quat?" Duo started, "You're babbling in Arabic."
"I was most certainly not, habibi(2)!"
"Proof, right there."
Quatre thought about what he just said, and his head drooped in defeat.
"I can't even tell English and Arabi(3) apart anymore!" He seemed to be near tears.
"Well, that would've been okay with Minan. She prefers Arabic to most other languages," Heero said.
"I think we're getting to know your sis's better you," Duo said, hoping to drag his Arab friend out of the emotional black hole that was sucking him in.
"Let's keep practicing," Trowa suggested.
With now dampened enthusiasm, (there was not much to start with…) the boys continued their somewhat self-induced pain.
"Phew! How do your sisters do this?" Duo asked.
"That's the thing," Quat said, "They don't seem to need to. Not even Trica! And she lives all by herself waaay up North! More Northern than Norway!"
"WHAT KIND OF UNJUST SORCERY IS THAT?!" Wufei bellowed, no longer able to hold in his inner "Justice Rant".
The other pilots actually learned quite a bit about the Winner girls. Apparently, there were two sets of twins, and one set of triplets, as said before. Also, about... eighteen? Yes, eighteen of them had children, and as far as Quatre knew, he was "Uncle Quatty" to about forty children. They were between the ages of a newborn, and twenty.
"Whoa… Someone older than you has to call you uncle?" Duo asked, eyes wide.
"Yeah. Omar, Ibrahim, and Naya are all older than me. And Sara and Rahman are the same age as me," Quatre said, briefly smiling at the thought of his nephews and nieces.
"Oooh! I hope Michelle brings Harman! She's my only neice that hasn't drooled on me so far… She's almost two now, I think."
While Quatre swooned about Harman, the pilots whispered to each other.
"You think that we should tell him that Harman is Micale's daughter? Y'know, Michelle's twin?" Duo asked.
"Naw… the poor guy's got enough to freak out about as it is," Trowa said.
The boys continued to test Quatre until the only things he answered wrong was Siminia's least favourite animal, and Teressa's husband's name.
"Remember," Heero said, "Simi really doesn't like dogs. Allergies."
"Yeah," Wufei chipped in, "And Teressa's husband is Mr. Moheb Ather."
Quat sighed.
"Thanks, guys. For everything. I think we should just see how it goes in two days."
The others agreed. That was enough for now.
"Oh," Quatre added as they were about to go, "Feel free to come to the party."
The pilots felt impending doom as they walked out the door.
Part two with the actual part will posted soon! I actually made a list about Quat's sisters… I need a social life…
1- A hijab is a scarf worn by women who believe in Islam and one can chose to wear it or not.
2- Habibi is a kind of pet name for a guy. In the context, Quatre is saying it in a chiding and sarcastic way.
3- Arabi means Arabic in Arabic. Kinda self-explanatory…
Sorry, I don't actually know Arabic. I know someone who's trying to learn it, and I hope the mistakes weren't that bad, if they exist…
Thanks for reading! Review?