Just a short chapter this time :)
Crimson-88 asked in a review about where this story would end. I think I'll probably be ending this one around about the sort of time the game starts, but I'm not completely sure. I've some ideas for another chapter, and that will probably be where it ends, but as I've not finished writing it yet I'd not like to say for definite :)
Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Tales of Symphonia. I think it's absolutely wonderful, but it belongs to Namco as far as I'm aware.
Colette sighed, absolutely content, as she slurped at a bowl of noodles. She loved staying over at Lloyds. At her house she felt like she was being smothered all the time, like she was being wrapped in cotton wool. She was hardly allowed to do anything, even something as simple as boiling a kettle earned her worried looks until she'd completed the task.
Dirk, however, understood the importance of letting them have their space and, as long as he was happy that she, Lloyd and Genis were safe, he left them to themselves. He was always nearby in case they needed him, but he was never intrusive.
Colette giggled. Her mother would probably have a fit if she saw her now. She and Lloyd had cooked their dinner themselves (sharp knives and hot water, gasp!) and now she was sitting eating it on the balcony with her legs dangling through the railings. But she knew she was safe, she'd done this plenty of times before.
"Hello!" Lloyd, who was sat beside her, called down to Genis who was making his way up the path.
"I'll be right up!" the small mage called back. "Any of whatever you're having left?"
"By the stove, help yourself," Colette smiled.
The small half-elf soon appeared with a bowl of noodles and plonked himself down next to Lloyd.
"So, whatcha up to?" he asked.
"Nothing much, did some homework, cooked dinner" Lloyd said. "Actually, I'm a bit stuck on one of the questions, maybe you could help me with it later? Colette's not too sure about it herself."
Genis groaned inwardly but found himself saying alright anyway.
Even the first time he'd met Lloyd, the very first time he'd met Lloyd and Colette, he'd ended up helping the older boy with homework, math notes spread across the bed Colette had been resting in. He couldn't remember quite how they'd ended up working on homework. He had wondered whether the two were trying to take advantage of the fact that he was a teacher's smart little brother, but they weren't like that. And they helped him when they could too. Lloyd's shoulders were a great vantage point when he couldn't see over crowds for example.
"Sorry to be a bother," Colette apologised.
Genis noticed that Colette seemed to say sorry an awful lot. It appeared that she hated to think she was being a bother to anyone. He'd also noticed a lot of the time she didn't seem happy being treated differently because she was the Chosen. Genis had talked to Raine who, as a teacher, was guilty of treating Colette differently, but it hadn't changed his sister's behaviour, the older half-elf still stuck up for Colette whenever she could. Although admittedly this was unusual behaviour for a teacher, mostly it was the other way around.
It wasn't that Colette didn't appreciate the help, it was just, as far as Genis could see, that she didn't like receiving special treatment just because of who she'd been born as.
Then again, he supposed, it was because of who she'd been born as that she needed extra help.
He slurped up the last of the noodles.
"So," he said. "What's giving you some hassle?"
"The one about all the angles and shapes and stuff," Lloyd frowned as he stood up and went into the house. He returned with some of his and Colette's school books and settled down again. Genis attempted to explain the problem in the simplest way he could.It took a while, but eventually they got it.
"Thanks Genis," Lloyd and Colette said as they put their homework away."That's alright," he said. "Fancy a game of cards?" he asked as he grabbed a deck from Lloyd's desk.
"Why not?" Colette smiled as they returned to the balcony and Genis shuffled the cards. Lloyd had grabbed a packet of hard boiled sweets and he passed them out evenly. It never mattered who won, but playing for sweets added a little extra excitement to the game.
Trouble was, he thought after a few rounds of pontoon, that the sweets were just too yummy for their own good. Unable to resist any longer he grabbed one from his pile, unwrapped it and popped it into his mouth happily.
"Lloyd!" Genis frowned. "Don't eat the chips!""Sorry," Lloyd smiled and sweatdropped. Then he had an idea and a grin spread across his face. He took a sweet each from Genis and Colette's pile and put them into his mouth as well.
"There," he grinned. "Now it's even again."
"Lloyd!" Genis and Colette said in exasperated tones, rolling their eyes. But then the game continued, antics like those were too fun to be a serious interruption.
