Together Forever and Ever, But Only for Now 7
"So, I was thinking we could all play a game together. Like a family."
Six poked out her lower lips at those words from Adel, Seven's Cepan. She was always a believer in that "home is where the heart is" stuff, which meant she was always trying to bond everybody. Brandon- that Four boy's Cepan- was always telling her not too do that. But she out a board game, so apparently she still wasn't listening.
"Adel..." Brandon sighed, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Come on...please?" Adel's soft brown eyes were pleading and her lip was quivering.
Now Six sighed herself. She didn't like to see Adel-or anyone, for that matter- all sad over something. Besides, she knew that Brandon could be a real meanie butt. Walking over quickly, she took the game from the Cepan's hands and put it on the ground. Now Brandon was looking at her all weird; she stuck out her tongue. Slowly, Four walked out from behind his Cepan's back, joining the olive skinned little girl on the ground.
"How do we play?" he asked softly, not looking completely sure of himself.
"It's called Chutes and Latters," Adel explained just as softly, breaking her gaze from Brandon and joining the two little Garde on the ground, "you roll this dye, and whatever number you land on, you move your piece that many times on the board. If you get a latter, you get to go up. If you get a chute, you have to go down."
"Is it...fun?" Six asked suspiciously.
Adel chuckled, "Yes, I think so."
The sixth number wasted no time flinging off the lid of the box, then exclaiming, "HEY! There's only six pieces!"
Four stuck out his lower lip, looking discouraged, "But...there's...one, two, three..." he squinted, frowning after number eight, "um...a lot of us!"
"Who all wants to play first?" Seven's Cepan offered, looking only slighty more nervous than before.
"Me!" Six stuck her hand in the air first, grabbing Four's and thrusting it up as well, "so does he!"
"I'll play," Five crawled out from her sleeping Cepan's lap, plopping on Six's other side and grabbing one of the pieces eagerly, "that makes...three of us!"
"I'll be Number Four!" Nine turned around, running over and practically running over all the pieces and the board in his haste to sit beside Five; both girls scowled.
"But me Number Four!" Four protested, looking confused as he stuck out his lower lip.
"Mind if I join in?" Sandor voiced from where he was standing with Nine, scooping the spirited young boy off of the ground and sitting himself down in the same spot, adjusting the child in his lap.
"Anyone else?" the shier Cepan offered; Seven just pressed herself further in the corner with Two and Jacques, who were reading a book, as One argued about having a snack with Hessu, Three took a nap, and Eight occupied himself with two little toy cars.
"I guess you're in too, Adel," Sandor smiled from the ground; she blushed.
Six made a face at that. Both of them were getting all mushy around each other; it was gross. People in love had cooties- that's what all the boys in her old nieghboorhood said- so she had to stay away, or she'd have cooties just like all the other girls on the street. The little stubborn child certainly didn't want that at all. At that thought, she scooted a little closer to Four and further from Nine and Sandor.
Icky lovebirds.
Soon, all six players were engrossed in the game. Sandor, it turnedout, had a real knack for board games. Nine, it also turned out, had a real knack for not playing board games. The more times he kept getting chutes, the angrier he kept getting. Finally, he stood up and made a lunge, as if to knock all the pieces away. Six, however, tackled him before he could.
"Don't be a sore loser!" she demanded loudly, digging her small, bony knees into his stomach.
"Well, get offa me!" he demanded just as loudly and forcefully, wriggling under her wieght, "Sandor, make her stopp!"
"Sorry, buddy," Sandor just chuckled, putting an arm around Adel 'casually', "but you got yourself into this one. You're on your own."
"NO FAIR!" he squealed in return.
"So? Are you gonna not be a sore loser?" the olive-skinned girl pinned him down by the shoulders now, happy that she was goin' be stopped by those dummy adults for once.
"Maybe," he grunted, jerking up sharply by his right and rolling her off, "HA! I'm stronger than YOUUU!"
"You are not!" she growled, grabbing him around the waist and yanking him down as well, "do you want to say that differently?"
"Ahhhh! Sorry!" the slightly smaller boy yelped, still scowling.
"Alright, you two," Brandon finally decided to intervene by slowly beginning to pry the little girl off of the young menace, "break it up before you have to have some cool down time in your rooms."
"But it's not fair!" came a whine from Nine.
"Whatever," the other Garde just shrugged, scowling at both of them a bit before calling over to her friend, "Five, I need back-up!"
Both girls rushed over to Brandon, both barely a blurr as they connected with waist. Being a couple of years shy of forty, Brandon didn't have nearly the resistance to their youthful power he would've about a decade earlier; he crashed to the ground. Both Adel and Sandor gasped in unison, rising to help him back on his feet. Exchanging only a brief look, Five and Six both tackled Nine back the ground before rushing into their room, giggling all the way.
Well, that was more fun I thought it was gonna be!
"Whatcha lookin at?" One looked over the younger girl's shoulder, pressing her nose to the cool glass curiously.
"What's it look like I'm lookin at?" the younger retorted, not breaking her gaze from the trillions upon trillion of stars while the older rolled her eyes.
"Let me rephrase that," she shot back, "why?"
"Kentra saided that if I look real super close, I could see it when we passed through a new galaxy thing!" the dark-haired child replied, pressing her nose against it further.
"Well, I want to see too!" One did the same despite herself.
As the two girls stood together, squinting through the emptiness of space, their Cepans could only smile to each other. It was nice to see, at least. For a time in life, two of the remaining Garde were getting along and happy together. For one time in life, things were perfect again.
Kentra is such a liar...Six pouted out her lower lip, I don't see nothin!
There was only so must you could do on a spaceship before you started getting bored.
Now the normally excitable, determined girl was sprawled out on her belly, staring at her hands against the cool tile. Pre-combat training wasn't supposed to start for the next hour or so- mainly because most of everybody else was still asleep- so she was bored out of her skull. The ship was almost total except, for the faint glow on the stars on the window directly above where she was laying. Absently, she rolled one of the tiny toy cars back and forth.
"You're awake early," that's about the time Eight plopped down beside her.
"So are you," she looked over at him in alarm, "why are you up?"
"Reynolds and I always get up before everybody else," he flopped down so that his head was even with her knees from where they both were laying, "he said it's good for the mind...or somethin' like that."
"That weird..." Six decided, rolling over onto her side, "I couldn't sleep. It sucks."
"Well, that's not a very nice word," Reynolds commented from where he was sitting down to watch the two young Garde, "how about you say it a little bit different?"
"Um...okay, it...it's a pain in the a-"
"That's not what I meant," the Cepan cut her off, frowning a bit, "that's even worse, Six."
"Then how am I supposed to say it?!" she demanded with a scowl, crossing her small, slightly chubby arms angerily at being corrected twice.
"How about you say it bites?" Eight suggested casually, folding his hands behind his head and allowing his short shirt to ride up his stomach a couple of inches; he was growing fast, and those were the only clothes he had.
"Atta boy, Eight," Reynolds commended, reaching out and lifting the still-pouting little girl into his lap, "what's with the frowny face, kiddo?"
"I hate being wrong," she pouted further, turning her face away from the Cepan.
He's a meanie...
"Sorry, Six..." Eight sat up now, crawling over to her and pressing his nose to hers gently, "forgive us?"
He fluttered his eyelids for emphasize; she giggled. He was being real silly, and she liked that. It gave her something to do so she wasn't so freaking bored on the lousy spaceship. He reached behind her, starting to tickle her tootsies; she giggled again, harder now. He really was a silly-billy. Trying to make him giggle, too, she reached up and tickled his bellybutton lightly, which was all open 'cause of his shirt. As soon as she did it, he squealed with giggles.
"Tickle Monster's goin' get you!" she sing-sang, moving to tickle further while Reynolds laughed at the two of them quietly.
Squeaking in alarm, he rolled to his feet and took off into the seat. For as long as either of them could tell, they raced around, squealing with giggles when they managed to tickle the other briefly. Of course their fun got cut short when Brandon finally opened the door, just about the time Kentra did and Sandor poked his head out.
"What are you two doing?" Kentra yawned out first, standing in front of her Garde.
"Playin'..." Six replied innocently as Brandon stood in front of Eight.
"Well, go to your rooms," Brandon grumbled a bit, rubbing his bleary eyes and turning back for the doors, "the rest of us need some sleep."
"But Reynolds let us play!" Eight protested in perfect concidental sync with Six; the two shared a smile at each other.
"Then just keep it down..." Sandor ducked his head back in. Six saw a glimspe of Adel in his bed and made a gag in her throat of disgust.
Well, now that room has cooties!
"Come on, Six," Eight took her hand, starting to lead her back into the main area, "we can play monster trucks 'stead!"
"Okay!" she grinned, accepting. She felt all nice and warm with him, and...
Eww, now I have cooties!
