Before The Game
Julien, Maurice, Mort and Clover all sat on the floor in different places in front of the board game that had just been set up before them, with Julien sitting at the front behind the pilot's seat, Maurice and Mort on either side of him, with Maurice currently reading the rulebook that had been provided along with the game, and Clover at the back. The game set up in front of them was titled 'Gimme Gimme Gimme: The Game', which Mort had found in the Cove of Wonders while trying to find something to help Julien cure his unhappiness, apparently caused by the unhappiness of the other lemurs. After having read what the idea of the game was about, Julien decided that they should play it for themselves, which was how the four had gotten to where they were now, with the game fully set up and the small group ready to start playing.
"So, who's ready to start gaining happiness?" Julien eagerly asked, a smile of excitement to get this game underway showing on his face. If there was anyone who was looking forward to this amongst the small group, it was going to be him, of course. Mort quickly showed a big smile upon seeing his king's excitement and jumped up on his feet while the latter watched him in surprise.
"I am, King Julien! Your happiness makes me happy!" Mort cheered. Julien could only back away a little in uneasiness, wondering if there was something wrong with Mort that he didn't know about. As Julien kept an uneasy gaze on the small mouse lemur, Maurice turned his head up to them from having been reading the rulebook.
"I don't know… this game's got a lot of rules." Maurice nervously commented. This simple statement seemed to perk Clover up, since while she knew that she had better things to do aside from playing a simple board game, such as actually doing her job of keeping the kingdom safe, the simple fact that there were a lot of rules was enough to keep her satisfied for the time being.
"Great! Because I hate games, but I love rules!" Clover stated. She then reached over to grab the rulebook from Maurice to read it for herself. "Let me see that." Maurice simply stared in surprise for a few moments at the sudden snatch from him before it was replaced with a blank expression, as he had a feeling that he probably should have seen this coming. "Blah-blah, rules, rules…" Judging from her quick glancing over of the rulebook, it was all too clear that Clover wasn't taking too much interest in learning how to actually play the game, and in all honesty, it wasn't hard to blame her; this just looked like one of those games the group could figure out by themselves. Flipping the page over, Clover continued reading. "First person to have everything wins." she said, turning her head up to the others.
The rest of the group quickly showed bright smiles upon hearing this. "That sounds easy enough." Maurice commented. So with this, Clover closed the rulebook before placing it down on the floor next to her, while Maurice turned his head to Julien as they were ready to start. "Well, since we're all set up, I guess that means you go first, King Julien." Maurice said. However, as he was about to reach over and spin the arrow on the centre of the wheel to start the game, Julien quickly held a hand out to stop him.
"Hold on, Momo! Before we begin, there's just one more thing we have to do." Julien stated, adjusting his sitting position so that he was now sitting cross-legged and placing one hand in his lap and the other on top of it once he was in his new sitting position. The others turned their heads to him in surprise, wondering what else they had to do.
"Yeah? What's that?" Clover asked, while Maurice and Mort simply kept their attention on Julien as they were starting to wonder what he was doing. As silence filled the room around them, Julien closed his eyes and quietly took a deep breath before letting it out, and then he opened his eyes to look at the others, with a surprising expression of quiet firmness on his face.
"Hands, everyone." Julien simply said, opening both of his hands and holding them out for Maurice and Mort to take. Mort showed no hesitance on his end as he grabbed Julien's hand while Maurice stared in stunned silence for a few moments before he let out a groan of dismay, since he could tell exactly where this was going: Julien was going to lead them in a prayer to the Sky Gods before the game started. As Maurice turned his head to notice that Clover was already reaching over to take Mort's other hand, he felt an expression of dismay cross his face before leaning over to Clover.
"Is this really necessary?" Maurice quietly asked, doing his best to make sure his voice was quiet enough so Julien wouldn't hear him. Mort and Clover both turned their heads to him in shock at this question before Clover showed a glare that nearly made Maurice jump from alarm from how vicious it seemed to look.
"Show some respect, Maurice! Nothing upsets the gods more than disrespect. Everyone knows that." Clover firmly stated. Mort then nodded in agreement with an expression of annoyance.
"Yeah, Maurice. Everyone knows that." Mort agreed. Maurice stared in surprise at this comment before he let out another groan to himself, realising that he was basically outnumbered in this argument. However, this talk was interrupted when Julien spoke again, prompting the others to turn their attention to him.
"Thank you, Clover. Now, Maurice, would you mind joining in?" Julien asked. Maurice remained silent for a few moments before letting out a sigh; judging from that tone in Julien's voice, it seemed that he didn't really have a choice in the matter. So with this, he scooted over to get closer into the square before reaching over to grab both Julien and Clover's hand. Now that the square was now complete, the group of four closed their eyes and bowed their heads slightly, with silence filling the room for a few moments before Julien was the one to lead the prayer.
"Sky Gods, we thank you for providing us with this game with which to cure my unhappiness. Please watch over us as we play and ensure, as Clover would say, that we play by the rules. And please, offer me the strength to resist any and all temptation to rub my victory in the other players' faces. Amena." Julien prayed. Once all of this was said, the group of four let go of each other's hands and opened their eyes before Julien showed an eager smile and clapped his hands together.
"All right, good moment's over. Let the game begin!" Julien stated. So with this, he reached over and flicked the arrow in the centre of the wheel to send it spinning and begin his turn. As he watched the arrow, Julien pointed to it with his smile growing in excitement. "It's clicking! It's clicking!" Julien cheered; he was starting to love this game already and they hadn't even started.
Maurice simply rolled his eyes with a smile of amusement as he was watching Julien's excitement. This was certainly going to be a fun morning for the four of them.