2nd update in 2 days, and 6 reviews in those 2 days, AHH! :) considering how small this fandom is, and how not-long I've been around, this makes me quite happy.
This chapter's long, and well, I loved writing it! One part near the end really made me melt... :)
So, how bout YOU guys!:)
Mo it's all good, I love you too :D I don't swing that way either, xD I know exactly what you mean. I love your faithful reviews! You've been around since like the early days of MSD! And I love the Marcus-Thomas banter too. Oh those two :) Thanks so much! :D
Trekkin'Through Yes, I agree ;) It would be something, I'll see what I can do xD. thankssomuch!
ReptilePrincess I pm'd you already regarding the Lost reference, but yeah he's a stalker in a little science geek way ;) thanks!
ColdCaseIsMyLife I actually liked that part quite a bit myself.. Poor Bruce indeed! xD and nice Anna, yeah it cannot be good :O thanks!:D
Ithileon Taken that into consideration, yep xD Thanks so much, hope you write something sometime, you won't regret it! :)
Christina YESS! I love distracting people from school shit! Your feedback made me grin :) ILOVEMARCUSTOO, obv. Thanks a bazillion! :)
That's all for now I think.
Don't own anything, blah blah blah.
Oh, and Tyler's sleeping quarters is directly paying tribute to Harry Potter. Just sayin'. If you get it, you get it. I had a lot of fun organizing the rooms... it took longer than I thought it would! But I think the results will provide optimal fun. I also loved putting the Vs into human clothes! Heh.
PS, has anyone noticed how much fun I've had, basically using Thomas as a punching bag in this story? I'm just lovin' this - finally getting back at the little prick. NO ONE REPLACES MY MARCUS. When Marcus re-replaced Thomas I was like HELL YEAH THAT'S MY BOY, KISS IT TURTLENECK MAN!
Anywaaay haha, enjoy :)
As it turned out, the Mooseview Chalet had 1 extra-large master bedroom, 4 normal bedrooms. For 12 people. It seemed - big suprise - that everyone wanted a room to themself and would do anything to obtain it. In the end, Erica was forced to take charge of the situation, however the Queen of the Vs proved eager to help. Erica wanted to diversify the room scheme, put humans with visitors so that they couldn't freely discuss V business and the like. Anna agreed - because it would help her people become more tolerant of the beautiful human race. Erica smiled, forced a laugh, and said she had the same opinion.
They divised a list, which they read out:
Cupboard under the stairs - Tyler
Master Bedroom - Marcus, Joshua, Hobbes, Jack
Bedroom 1 - Anna
Bedroom 2 - Erica
Bedroom 3 - Ryan, Samuel
Bedroom 4 - Lisa
Downstairs pullout couch - Chad
Downstairs normal couch - Thomas
Sid opened his mouth to speak, but Hobbes immediately overshadowed him:
"Does anyone else see something wrong with the Master Bedroom arrangements?"
"4 in a room, that's pushing it a bit." said Joshua with as much politeness as he could muster.
Marcus looked at Anna, and said flatly: "No."
Jack was clearly searching his brain for an optimistic statement, but didn't come up with anything. He looked imploringly at Erica.
"The only other guys' room is Ry and Sam, and they don't have any extra space, that room's the smallest. The couches are full, and there's nowhere else. Come on, it's a big room. There's 2 beds!"
"But there are four of us." Marcus protested.
"I AM NOT SHARING A BED." Hobbes wailed.
"No one said you have to! Big tough guy like you, the floor will be fine. They have a nice bear rug in there." Erica urged.
"I brought a sleeping bag, you three can take turns with the beds." Jack offered.
The four roomies exchanged doubtful looks, but lugged their suitcases off to the Master bedroom.
"COOL I GET MY VERY OWN ROOM!" Tyler yelled, flinging open the closet door and leaping inside. He then pulled the door almost shut and peered out of the crack, pretending to be a monster.
"This couch had better be made of orthopedic memory foam." Thomas grumbled.
"Last time I slept on a pullout, it folded up on me and I was stuck for two hours and my arm got dislocated." Chad mentioned.
"Leave it to you." Ryan muttered at him. "C'mon, Sam. Let's go check out our new pad."
Samuel looked beyond shocked and delighted to be included in an adventure, and he eagerly followed Ryan into the room, yakking about how he hadn't had a slumber party in months, and how much fun this week was going to be.
Lisa, Anna, and Erica each retreated into their rooms, while Chad and Thomas went back downstairs to test out their respective couches. Thomas muttered mutinously about stupid girls with cooties not having to share rooms.
That left Sid. He picked up the discarded list, and read it over 13 times to be sure. His name was not on it, anywhere. He even flipped it over to the back, just in case. He had not been assigned a bed.
Well, the bathtub looked rather spacious...
###
In an hour, everyone had taken a brief nap, further explored the house, or freshened up after the exhausting drive. However, a common hunger drew them into the kitchen.
Erica had gotten there first, she almost didn't recognize the Vs as they trickled in one-by-one.
Marcus and Joshua had traded their suits for jeans and t-shirts. Thomas...was still wearing a turtleneck. Samuel was ready for anything in some very heavy-duty cargo shorts, a camo shirt, and a vest to match the pants. The whole ensemble was topped off with a fisherman hat. Anna was prehaps the biggest shocker - no one had ever seen her wear pants, but here she was sporting casual denim capris, flip flops, and a t-shirt. Ryan had a white tank top and had borrowed a pair of Samuel's cargo shorts because he liked the pockets. He looked ready for some serious relaxing. Chad was rockin' a WNT: Prime Focus t-shirt that fell to his knees - scribbled on it was something that looked suspiciously like his own autograph. Tyler seemed to feel very at home, because he wandered into the kitchen wearing nothing but boxers and started drinking milk straight out of the carton. Everyone else looked more or less identical to how they always did.
Eventually the housemates were fully gathered around the dining table, apparently waiting for something.
"I'll just say what everyone's thinking, where's the grub?" Hobbes barked.
"I don't know about grubs, but I'd really like some food." said Samuel.
"I think we have to get our own food." Erica clarified.
"What the hell? Is this a vacation or not?" Hobbes snapped.
"Is there no room service?" Marcus demanded, sounding rather alarmed.
"We got room service when we went to Geneva!" Chad whined. "And that wasn't even a holiday!"
"Chad, this is camping." Jack explained patiently. "You have to live off the land - I bet we could find some really great herbs if we went for a hike, maybe even edible mushrooms!"
"This isn't camping, Padre. See the indoor plumbing? And who do you think you're kidding? Herbs and mushrooms?"
"It was worth a shot." Jack sighed.
"The only food we have is whatever the last renters left here - which is half a carton of chocolate milk, one box of Cheerios, half a box of Froot Loops, and three carrots." Erica summarized after scanning the fridge and cupboards.
"We can ration that out for a week! I took a survival course when I was 9. I can divide everything perfectly." Sid offered.
"One box of cereal and three carrots to get us through one makes herbs and mushrooms sound appealing." Ryan chipped in.
"Don't forget, we have plenty of lake water too!" said Jack.
"And we can go fishing!" Samuel hollered excitedly. "And use immolation pills as bait so we don't have to touch worms!"
"I'm no expert, but I believe that would defeat the purpose." Joshua mused.
"I might be able to re-configure the pills so they roast the meat from the inside without disintegrating the entire body." said Thomas with a look of self-importance.
"I can make tree bark stew!" Jack shot out, beside himself with excitement.
"Combine that with my rations, and we'll be all set!" Sid added over the commotion.
"OR we could just order pizza!" Erica yelled, deciding it would not be safe for anyone if the lizards remained hungry for too long, lest they put human flesh on the menu.
"That could work too." said Joshua. "Wait, what's pizza again? The thing where you put the long cylinder of meat between the breads?"
"That would be a hot dog. Pizza's the flat thing with all the little thingies on top." Chad corrected.
"Let's see. Pizza or nature... yeah, I think I'd rather eat the pizza." Ryan confirmed
"I WANT A HAPPY MEAL!" Tyler demanded.
"What is this...pizza?" Anna inquired suspiciously.
"It's whatever you want it to be." Chad explained with a whimsical expression. He could see Anna's mind working furiously, trying to link Pizza to world domination. Maybe his explanation wasn't that great after all.
"Okay...but we get to forage for herbs tomorrow, right?" Jack inquired, looking rather put-out.
"No." said Hobbes.
"But I've already rationed the Cheerios!" Sid moaned. Sure enough, there was now 12 mini-Ziploc bags or tiny O's on the counter.
"Put those in the basement in case we get bombed or something. Oh, and take the carrots with you!" Hobbes called.
"No! Leave them!" Jack begged, snatching up the orange veggies.
"We're putting it to a vote." said Erica with exasperation. "All those in favour of living off rations and nature?"
Sid, Jack, and Samuel
"All for pizza?"
Everyone else. Samuel voted twice, but the decsion was obvious. Erica picked up her phone, and the problems began.
"...I don't know the number for any pizza joints around here."
So the house was then turned upside down in search of a good old-fashioned phone book. Marcus eventually located it - hiding under the carpet, causing a lump - Samuel had kept tripping over it. Problem # 2, the book was from 1993. But there were no others to be found, so they picked the first pizza place on the list, and hoped for the best. That's when they encountered problem # 3. Erica's phone had absolutely no service, nor did anyone else's.
They were completely isolated from the rest of the world.
"Think of this as an opportunity to get in touch with your soul! One whole week with no distractions other than good friends and natural beauty!" Jack encouraged.
"That's real sweet, Padre. But we still need to find some food before some of us turn cannibalistic, if ya know what I mean." Hobbes subtley gestured at Anna.
"We could drive into town and find a restaurant." Joshua put forth.
"It's late, nothing will be open. Plus it's dark and we have no idea where civilization is." Erica disagreed.
"We could hit an all-night convenience store. A box of Twinkies would beat the hell outta carrots and Cheerios." said Ryan.
"I beg to differ." Jack muttered under his breath.
"Hey...guys!" Samuel suddenly interrupted. "What's this? Is this edible?" he held up two items, one appeared to be a box of burgers, the other a bag of marshmallows. Both were frozen.
"Where did you get that?" Anna demanded.
"In the snow-box." Samuel specified, pointing at the freezer.
Erica took charge from there.
"Kyle, go outside and start a fire. Sid, get the Cheerios. Jack, grab those carrots. Samuel, hold onto that stuff. Folks, we're having all four food groups tonight."
###
"We're not gonna eat tonight. Because there won't be a fire." Hobbes thundered 10 minutes later as he bolted into the house and slammed the door. "Because Genius here-" He was referring to Samuel. "-used my emergency matches for toothpicks!"
"You shouldn't have left them lying around! He's like a baby, everything he finds goes in his mouth!" Joshua protested.
"Not EVERYTHING!" Samuel pouted.
"I did NOT leave them lying around, they were in my coat pocket!" said Hobbes angrily.
"Which you left on the table, where the toothpicks normally are!" Samuel whined.
"BUT THEY'RE NOT DENTAL TOOLS, THEY'RE FIRE STARTING DEVICES!" Hobbes probably would have ripped Samuel's head clean off, had a new idea not struck him as he advanced violently. "Padre, you keep an emergency jerry can in the back of the van, right?"
"Yeah, I - wait, Kyle. I know what you're thinking. This is a bad idea! Gasoline and fire don't play well together!"
"Save it for Sunday school, I know how this stuff works! Look, I have one more match left. It's not enough to start a fire...without help."
"No."
"Give me the keys, or enjoy your Cheerios and frozen burgers."
"Give him the keys, Jack." Erica sighed defeatedly, staring at the picture on the side of the burger box - mmmmmm! A hot, juicy burger would definitley be worth a bit of danger.
"Fine! But I'm supervising this, and you are NOT using the entire can." Jack relented, heading for the door with Hobbes in hot pursuit.
"Marcus, Joshua. Go assist them." Anna directed.
"We really don't need-" Hobbes began.
"It's no trouble for us-" Jack tried.
"No, no. They insist!" Anna pressed.
"We insist? Marcus, do you recall insisting to go outside with complete strangers and experiment with gasoline?" said Joshua.
"I do not." said Marcus.
Anna rolled her eyes. "Go. That's an order. I am still your queen!"
"ME TOO ME TOO!" Tyler yelled, making a rampage to follow them. Erica grabbed him by the collar.
"Oh no you don't. No gasoline and matches for you."
But it could have been worse, she reflected. Usually Hobbes had military-grade explosives in his pockets, rather than innocent matches that could be mistaken for toothpicks.
"Thiiis is booooring." Tyler grumped, shoving away the baggie of Cheerios his mother handed to him, and returning to the TV where he was trying valiantly to install the Wii system he'd brought from home.
Ryan lay down on the couch to get comfortable, but was interrupted by a loud squawk from Thomas:
"What do you think you're doing! That's MY bed!"
"Right now it's my couch." Ryan stated calmly.
"Sit on Chad's bed!"
"I like this one."
"But-but-but... ANNA!" Thomas wailed. "Ryan's on my couch and won't get off!"
"Did you say please?" asked the V Queen.
"Yeah!"
"No you didn't, Thomas. We're all in the same room here." Anna replied.
Thomas kicked Ryan's couch, then went to sit miserably to sit on Chad's couch. Chad himself was in a worn-out La-Z-Boy chair.
"See how nicely Chad is sharing his couch? He's letting you have it all to yourself." said Anna.
Thomas crossed his arms and stared at the wall.
"They're just impossible sometimes." Anna muttered under her breath as she turned back to face Erica. Both were sitting at opposite ends of the dining table.
"Are they your children?" Erica inquired innocently. Of course she knew the answer, but decided to play dumb out of curiosity.
"No." Anna said with a chuckle. "Lisa is my only biological child, but I think of all my people as my children. The mothership is like one big, happy family." she then cracked a smile so sweet that Erica had a momentary wave of nausea.
Just a week...it's only for a week... she kept telling herslef. But even five minutes with the V Queen felt like an eternity.
###
Meanwhile, upstairs, a Dr. Sidney Miller was putting the finishing touches on his...room. He didn't want to be a bother and ask why he hadn't been assigned a bed - or a couch, or a closet for that matter - so he decided to solve his problems like the big boy he was.
He could write a book about this. How to turn a bathroom into a bedroom in 5 easy steps. 1 - line the bathrub with towels - for comfy padding. 2 - throw in his trusty orange sleeping bag he'd had since grade 7. 3 - use the closed toilet seat as nighstand. 4 - draw the shower curtains around the tub for privacy. 5 - lock the door.
His momma always told him he was an innovative child.
###
Deep in the nearby forest...
"TP, get me more firewood." Hobbes demanded.
"If you call me that one more time, this is going up your nose!" Marcus gestured rather violently with the branch he was holding. "What does TP even mean?"
'TP' stood for Target Practice. Hobbes had been mentally referring to Marcus as such ever since the Concordia episode. However, he had no intention of letting Marcus find out.
"I'll tell you when you bring me back more than twigs!" Hobbes lied. At this point, Marcus made good on his threat and lobbed the branch at Hobbes' face. Hobbes retaliated, and a full-on branch fight ensued.
Meanwhile, Jack and Joshua peacefully gathered sticks, politely ignoring each other.
Eventually, Marcus lost Hobbes by shoving him down a small ravine. Then he linked up with Joshua and they went deeper into the foliage, so they could make use of their long-forgotten tails and tear down some more substantial branches.
All four of them returned to the yard within five minutes of each other, Hobbes was battered and bruised, but no worse for wear. They piled the wood beside the house, then moved the driest of the branches into the fire pit, where Jack - boy-scout style - carefully arranged a pyramid shape.
"Now time to make big boom?" Hobbes sighed, only half-sarcastic.
"You can use one drop of gas, nothing more." Jack reminded him.
"Yeah yeah yeah." Hobbes yakked, sprinting to the van with the energy of a little boy, and returning with the jerry can, which he quickly made use of -
"KYLE THAT'S WAY TOO MUCH GAS, ARE YOU TYING TO BLOW US UP?"
Joshua and Marcus moved forward in anticipation, eager to see what the Earthlings were making such a fuss about. Now that the wood was safely saturated in gas, Hobbes was moving in for the big boom.
"Don't you DARE light that match!" Jack yelped. "Don't drop it...no...no...NO! EVERYONE GET DOWN!" the priest roared, diving backwards and shoving Marcus and Joshua to the ground.
Boom.
###
"Did you see that flash?" Lisa shrieked suddenly, dropping her ration of Cheerios in alarm.
"What have they done?" Erica groaned, moving towards the window.
"Do people always get incinerated on vacation?" Anna gasped in restrained suprise.
Everyone leapt up from wherever they were sitting or lying and filed out the front door to see what the damage was.
A merry, medium-sized fire was crackilng happily in the pit - surrounded by a 7-foot radius of scorched grass... and a very shellshocked Kyle Hobbes, whose eyebrows were slightly singed.
Jack, Marcus, and Joshua were lying scattered several feet away. They slowly got up and looked around. The two lizards seemed unsure as to what had just happened. Jack, however, looked half-frustrated and half-amused. He advanced on Hobbes in a mildly threatening manner with a wagging finger.
"Kyle! What did I tell you?"
"Well, you should know I never listen to you." Hobbes lipped. "But everyone else said they were hungry, repeatedly, so I did something about it, and now we can cook burgers. Does anyone have a complaint?"
"You made nature smell like gasoline." said Thomas primly. Hobbes threw a stick at him.
"Everyone, let's eat!" Erica suggested before anyone got really hurt.
###
Erica decided she really had to hand it to Hobbes - no burger had ever tasted this good. Ryan, Samuel, Tyler and Chad had embarked into the basement where they dug up a grill, and 11 lawn chairs which were now assembled in a messy circle around the blaze and the roasting burgers. Sid had unfortunately missed the distribution of the chairs, and ended up sitting in the dirt, caught in the crossfire between Hobbes, Marcus, and Thomas as they murderously flicked burning marshmallows at each other. The three of them had very strong feelings against each other - Hobbes and Marcus shared a mutual dislike ever since pre-Red Sky. Marcus despised Thomas on principle - no one has ever liked their occupational replacement. Hobbes and Thomas simply thought each other was annoying and worth throwing things at.
Sid eventually smartened up and relocated so that he was sitting beside Erica - he was safe now.
"So... this is camping." Anna smiled appreciatively and looked around.
"Sort of. Usually everyone looks a lot less tired and angry." Erica admitted.
"Traditionally, people sing songs and tell stories - usually scary ones." Sid explained. "But that's just generic stuff."
"I have a scary story!" Tyler blurted out. "It's so scary, I told Brandon... and he pooped himself."
"Try me!" Hobbes immediately ceased pelting the Vs with mushrooms to accept a challenge.
"Dude, we're eating. One time I covered a story about how an lady was eating a sandwich, and then she looked outside and saw a person so ugly, she puked and died. Gross combined with food, ecpecially gross food, is dangerous. Actually we're in enough danger as it is because this place is populated by black bears and their tongues can strip human flesh from bones. I know we're not all humans here but black bears have been known to be omnivores because they eat vegetables too but I personally think we probably taste better than vegetables, I mean that's kind of a given. Anyway my point is, I think bears would also most likely probably eat Vs too, because I mean the bears wouldn't know the difference till they actually start eating, and even then maybe not, or maybe they would. Idunno, Idunno how Vs taste...cuz I've never tried one. And vice-versa! Haha...right? You've never eaten a human? Right? RIGHT? I've never wanted to eat one of you...and I hope you don't want to eat us either...let's just make a pact that we won't eat each other this week, no matter what!" said Chad - all in one breath. After mere hours of relapse, he'd caved and broken back into his stash of energy drinks.
"Chad! I told you, 7 Monsters in one day is enough! You have a low tolerance as it is!" Jack chided paternally, snatching his Monster can and pouring it on the ground. Chad lunged for him, but his chair shot backwards and he kissed dirt.
"What is IN those?" Anna asked earnestly, picking up the empty Monster can and reading the ingredients. "If we replaced water with this substance...production could substantially increase! I have discovered a cure for unproductivity!"
"That theory's been tested on Earth plenty of times." Ryan smirked. "Decker's living proof that it's a bad idea - it's all fun and games 'till the caffeine crash. That's brutal."
"WHAT ABOUT MY SCARY STORY?" Tyler demanded.
"Go ahead, sweetie." Erica encouraged. Then added, "Get it over with." in a hushed mutter.
"Okay, so. Is everyone listening?"
There was a chorus of assent.
"Okay, so. Are you ready? This is gonna be so scary, your eyeballs might explode. Okay, so. Once upon a time, there was a plumber. He - oh wait, you're not supposed to know he's a plumber. Forget I said anything! So there's this guy, and he's not a plumber. Or maybe he is, we don't know. One day, he walked into a bar...uggh and there's a clown too, but I can't remember if they walk in together, or meet inside. Let's just say there's a plumber and a clown. DAMMIT HE'S NOT A PLUMBER! FORGET I SAID ANYTHING! It's just a non-plumber and a clown. And...and...MOM I BURNED MY FINGER!"
There was a moment of silence, but apparently that was all.
"That was SUCH a good story, Tyler!" Samuel gasped with genuine appreciation.
"I missed the 'scary' aspect." Thomas commented peevishly.
"I think the part about the burned finger is supposed to be some sort of gruesome punchline." Sid deducted.
"Nope, he just had an mishap with his marshmallow." Marcus clarified as a sobbing Tyler lurched over to his momma, holding out his burned finger.
"Fella, you're not supposed to put the fire out with your hands." Hobbes educated.
"Someone better have a Spiderman band-aid, or it'll be a long night." Erica grumbled as Tyler tried - and failed - to assume a fetal position in her lap. "Sweetie, you're too big to cuddle. Ty... Tyler... get off mommy's lap, you're a big boy - GODDAMMIT TYLER, GET OFF."
"One Spiderman band-aid...coming right up!" declared Samuel, producing a box of cartoon band-aids from his fanny pack.
"Do you have any Spongebob ones? The ground hit my lip." Chad snuffled, still spitting out dirt after his fall.
"Here you go!" said Samuel happily, handing him one.
"Do you have any Cars ones?" Hobbes demanded suddenly.
"Tons!"
"Cool! I mean - not like I need one, or anything. I can suck it up like a man, unlike the rest of you." Hobbes regained his composure and tried to look tough.
"I'll give you one anyway. Just in case you need it later." Samuel replied sweetly.
"Uhm...if you insist." said Hobbes, accepting the Disney Cars band-aid with a reluctant smile.
Meanwhile, Sid had come out with a revolutionary new invention: Cheerio S'mores. Since there were no graham crackers to be found, he gooified a marshmallow over the flames, then plunged it into the Cheerios to give it a crunchy coating.
"Tastes legit!" Sid declared. "Try one!"
The Vs had never sampled S'mores, but it didn't take them long to get the hang of roasting, dunking, and chowing down.
"It tastes like cereal with marshmallows." Tyler declared.
"You don't say!" Sid chuckled.
"Nothin' like the real thing." Hobbes grunted. "We need some actual cookies to make this shit." His accent combined with his rough demeanor made S'more-making sound like something much more serious.
"I like the Cheerio coating, it tastes healthier." Jack responded peacefully.
Hobbes rolled his eyes, but not without cracking a small smile. The carrots had been forgotten.
On the other side of the fire, Tyler had been hard at work.
"Lisa, I made you a special S'more." he informed the object of his affections, handing her a Cheerio S'more - with a carrot through the middle.
"I wanted to put a flower in it...but it's dark and I don't wanna touch poison ivy by accident, so I put in a carrot." he stated. "Carrots and flowers are the same thing, if ya really think about it."
Lisa managed to re-arrange her face from a look of revolted puzzlement to an affectionate grin.
"Thanks, sweetie! It looke very... very nice."
Tyler grinned proudly, then his face fell.
"You're gonna eat it, right? Right?"
Well, shit. Thought Lisa.
Then she was saved, because at that moment the sky opened up and dropped a load of rain which extinguished the fire in less than a second, bathing everyone in darkness - and, well, water. Thunder cracked, and lightning briefly illuminated the scene - Samuel scrambling to rescue the last uneaten burger, Sid gathering the remainder of the food, Tyler and Chad tripping over each other and hitting the dirt- once again, and everyone else making a mad dash for the house.
Once everyone was safely out of the storm, they gathered their wits and tried to determine what had just happened.
"Did we get attacked? That sounded like guns. And they had bombs! Marcus, run to the car and get the emergency supplies. " Anna shrieked furiously, eyes darting around wildly. Marcus nodded swiftly and headed for the door.
"Marcus, don't go outside - you'll get electrocuted and die. Anna, this isn't an attack, it's just a little storm." said Jack, wiping rain out of his eyes.
"We've had storms since you've been on Earth." said Erica in puzzlement.
"Our ship is soundproof... and I thought the flashing was people taking pictures." Anna explained, looking slightly embarrased.
"Even I knew what a thunderstorm wa-" Samuel blurted out. Joshua clamped a hand over his mouth. Anna glared.
"A simple misunderstanding." said Marcus camly. "Now we know - there's nothing to be afraid of."
He looked directly at Anna as he said this, and his eyes softened. Erica took immediate notice - as women tend to do - and looked at Jack and Hobbes. But judging by their expressions, they hadn't noticed anything - as men tend to do.
But she didn't have time to dwell upon it, everyone was shivering rather hypothermically after being drenched, so she decided it was time to gear down for the night.
"Okay everyone, no one likes getting a cold on vacation, so don't fall asleep till you're good and dry. I know it's been a long day, and we have lots to do tomorrow..."
As she talked, she walked into the bathroom and came out holding two towels.
"...there should be more upstairs..."
There were four upstairs. And for some reason, they were all arranged in the bathtub. Why was there a sleeping bag in the tub? And why was there an alarm clock and a glass of water on the toilet lid? Oh well. She took the towels and brought them downstairs.
"I know we're all adults here, so we shouldn't have a problem with sharing towels." she instructed threateningly, handing out a towel to every other person.
Jack and Chad, Tyler and Lisa, Samuel and Joshua, Thomas and Ryan, herself and Hobbes, Sid had found a dish towel in the drawer and was making use of that, and Anna and Marcus.
"You can have it to yourself. I'm fine." Marcus told Anna, handing her the fluffy pink towel and stepping away. But for all her flaws, Anna didn't miss the fact that her Second-In-Command was shivering violently. With a smile that was almost affectionate, she draped one side of the towel over her shoulders, and raised the other sympathetically. Marcus assumed an expression of disbelief, but he looked pleased nonetheless as he joined her, wrapped tightly in their warm, cozy towel. Oddly, both of them looked more content than anyone had ever seen them
But not everyone looked so comfortable - Tyler was wrapped entirely in his towel, and in turn he was wrapped entirely around Lisa, whose expression read "Kill me". They were both squashed rather awkwardly into an armchair. Chad and Jack were standing as far apart as their towel would allow. Thomas and Ryan were quickly taking turns. Joshua had 90 percent of the towel, while Samuel made do with 10. Erica herself had no complaints - she felt warm and safe with Hobbes using her shoulder as an elbow rest and their big blue towel encircling both of them.
The minutes turned into hours, and everyone slowly wandered off to their respective sleeping locations until only Erica and Hobbes remained.
The ancient heater had finally started to work, and the rainwater in their hair evaporated to nothing more than slight dampness. The kitchen smelled like wet dog - or would that be wet lizard? But either way, there was no dampening this moment.
Wait...was that the roof leaking?
Yehh... I said there wasn't gonna be romance in this fic, but iunno. It DEFINITLEY will not be romance-centric, because I just don't write that shit xD other people do, and I like reading it but I just...suck at romance in every aspect. Anyway, I was debating whether to throw in some Jerica or Hobbsica... all I knew for sure was that I needed a hint of Anncus (Marcnna?) just to keep myself happy. BUT IT'S NOT A ROMANCE FIC, MKAY?
But where was I? Oh yeah. I finally decided I'm Team Hobbes. Because Jack and Erica are really more like siblings/besties at this point, I'd hate to see that get messed up. Also, Hobbes is extremely delicious. Not that Jack isn't cute, but that Aussie accent really gets me - reminiscent of Hugh Jackmannnn :) Hah, today I walked by the TV and then did a huge double-take cuz I thought I saw Chris Shyer, but it turned out to be Arnold Schwartzenegger. There is SO a resemblance there. I see it!
Ramble ramble ramble...
Oh, if you don't know, I have a facebook page - link on profile. I plan on adding some more edited V pics soon. I wanna try to make a banner or something for this fic... I wish this site let you upload pics to go with stories!
Ramble ramble ramb - gooodnight :)
RXP