Love Bites
"It seems to me," Felix looked around at the group of Adepts, many of them sour faced. "That there's a little dispute in the group. Let's see..." He held up his hands and counted off his fingers. "Hair dye, bucket of water, deformed doll, Mimic, little notes. And I have a problem with Picard. He is annoying me."
"Oh dear," Picard smirked. "Are you jealous of me having so many fangirls or something?"
"Shut up," Felix growled, shooting a death glare at the Lemurian. "I don't care about your stupid fangirls."
"You just called the majority of girls living in your village stupid," said Isaac quietly. "Now that's loyalty."
Felix only scowled and did not respond.
"Sheba committed a heinous crime," Jenna declared, pointing at the younger Jupiter Adept. "She dared to touch my sacred hair, and I am not letting her get away with that. Or the mimic."
"Yeah!" Garet glared at Ivan. "That mimic bit my kid brother!"
"Mimics don't have teeth," Mia told him as kindly as she could. "So it was more like clamping."
"Aw, shut up." Garet sulked.
"He was fine, anyway!" Ivan insisted. "No harm was caused. You can't even come up with decent comebacks... did you expect me to be insulted by a note saying that I smelled of poo? If you really wanted to insult me, you would have called me a short midget or something! You're hopeless."
"I am not!" Garet wailed. "Take that back... mop head!"
"Mop head? That's smart coming from a guy who looks like his head exploded," Ivan taunted wickedly. "Have you ever used your hair in battle? It sure looks like a dangerous weapon to me."
"Be quiet!" Mia thundered, hitting both boys on the head with her Nebula Wand. "How many times must I break up your stupid disputes? Now, you two, say sorry to each other."
"No!" Garet and Ivan both flatly refused, turning their backs to each other. Mia sighed.
"This looks like a problem situation," Isaac said despairingly. "Garet and Jenna are warring with Ivan and Sheba. Felix is being antsy and Picard is winding him up. What are we going to do?"
"Potato head!" Jenna yelled at Sheba. "You look like you've got a salad bowl on your fat head!"
"It's not possible to have a fat head, it goes against the human anatomy rules," Sheba smiled serenely. "And at least I'm not so desperate, I go out with foolish oafs."
"Desperate?" Jenna fumed. "Garet is witty, charming, loyal, adorable... besides, you don't even have a boyfriend yet! Hah! So there!" She pulled down her bottom eyelid and stuck her tongue out at Sheba.
"Childish tactics..." said Sheba huffily. Jenna growled ominously.
"Having a nice little war, aren't we?" Picard commented. "Look at how much energy they are wasting on their comebacks. They should be wasting it on blowing up Kraden's cottage."
"It's not funny!" Felix yelled. "Isaac blew it up but I still had to help! It wasn't fair!"
"Adept War..." Isaac said thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. His words had a profound effect on the bickering group and everybody turned to look at him, eyes wide. "What did I say?"
"Adept War!" Jenna exclaimed. "Good idea!"
"Huh?" Garet blinked and then he grinned. "I want to go to war on Ivan!"
"Oh yeah?" Ivan chuckled. "You and whose army?"
"Isaac..." Mia hissed through gritted teeth. "You're starting everybody off again."
"We should split into armies," Felix grinned. "There's eight of us, so we should split into two teams of four."
"I'm with Ivan," Sheba quickly latched herself onto the arm of her fellow Wind Adept. "Obviously."
"We're going to burn you two off the face of Weyard," Jenna threatened, standing next to Garet. "Who's with us?" She demanded, giving the others threatening looks.
"I'm... with you and Garet." Felix said finally. He didn't really want to team up with two freaky Jupiter Adepts.
"Then I'm with Ivan and Sheba," Picard took his place next to the two Wind Adepts.
Isaac and Mia were the only ones left. They turned to look at each other in speechless silence. Because of the arrangements of the teams, they would have to be rivalling each other, even though they did not really want that.
"Well?" Jenna asked. "Pick a side already!"
"Come on, Isaac!" Garet exclaimed. "You should be with me, Jenna and Felix... and we'll be the Valean team!"
"Mia..." Isaac spoke in an apologetic tone. "I..."
"It's okay, Isaac," Mia smiled. "It's just a little bit of fun. I don't mind." She took a deep breath and walked over to join Picard, Ivan and Sheba. As Isaac grouped with Felix, Jenna and Garet, she threw him a longing look which nobody saw.
"Please tell me this isn't happening," Isaac mumbled under his breath. "We're having a war..."
"It's war!" Jenna yelled.
"Yeah!" Garet agreed, punching the air. "We're gonna be the winning team!"
"That's what you think!" Ivan taunted.
"We're the best!" Sheba declared. "You're the losers!"
"We should name our teams," Picard advised. "What do you think?"
"We're Team Vale!" Felix spoke up. "No argument there!"
"Excuse me, did we nominate you as leader?" Isaac asked. A look from Felix promptly warned him that it would be advisable to shut up and he did so, wishing very much that he was at home or somewhere safer.
"Picard should be our leader," Sheba suggested. "He's the oldest."
"How old are you anyway, Picard?" Ivan asked, his mouth curling into a wicked smile.
"That information is classified," said Picard stiffly. "I'll be the leader. Hmm... we are a combination of Mercury and Jupiter Adepts. Wind and Water..."
"Vapour?" Mia suggested tentatively. "Or mist... fog... haze... steam..."
"I like Haze," Sheba said immediately. "It sounds nice... not just because I have a Djinni of the same name, honest."
"So, Team Haze it is then," Picard declared. "Team Vale and Team Haze."
"We need rules," Felix spoke decisively. "Any ideas?"
"How about the two teams can't speak to each other?" Jenna suggested. "Then Sheba can't talk to me or anything. She's very annoying when she opens that stupid mouth of hers."
"Notion seconded," Ivan gave Garet a meaningful look. Garet only looked confused as he wondered what the heck Ivan had said and what it had meant.
"But-!" Isaac protested. "You can't-!"
"That's not fair..." Mia protested. "Not everybody is fighting with each other so badly they have to cease conversation with each other!" She frowned. "Like me and Isaac."
"Tough," Garet shrugged. "Besides, I like the idea of Ivan not being able to say stupid things to me."
"Fine, rule number one is not to talk with each other," Felix waved his hand dismissively. "Any others?"
"Psst," Ivan grinned wickedly, poking Sheba to get her attention. "Garet oinks like a pig."
"I do not!" Garet raged at Ivan, looking ready to pounce on him and tear him apart.
"Oi!" Jenna diverted Garet's attention. "You are not allowed to speak to anybody on Team Haze, remember? We made that rule just a few seconds ago, remember?"
"But-" Garet protested, pointing at Ivan with a desperate look on his face. "The midget..."
"I know, Garet," Jenna smiled fondly. "Just ignore the midget. He's not worth it. Besides we're having a war now, we can get our own back on those annoying blondes."
"No more suggestions?" Picard asked, looking at his team. They all shook their heads. "Fine."
"This isn't fair..." Isaac muttered. "I never asked to be in the Adept war..."
"We should start tomorrow," said Felix. "The Adept War."
"After I've finished my chores of course," Garet said miserably. "I'm sick of stupid chores."
"And we still don't know why you're doing chores," Jenna spoke dangerously. "Don't forget, I still intend to find out." Garet gulped, a bead of sweat trickling down his head.
"Tomorrow," Picard said to Ivan, Sheba and Mia. Ivan and Sheba nodded eagerly. Mia could only nod her head slightly, a glum expression fixed on her face. She didn't like the idea of not being able to talk to Isaac.
And thus, Team Vale and Team Haze went their separate ways, going off to plot for tomorrow when the battle would begin. Most of them had firmly resolved not to talk to each other, but some had their doubts. Mia was now wearing a devious grin which nobody saw. She had found a loophole.
"Mom, can you please ask Mia to pass the salt?" Isaac asked over dinner. The dratted salt shaker just had to be out of his reach, it was only a few centimetres away from his finger. He didn't think casting Catch would go down very well with anybody at the table so that was out.
"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Dora asked of her son, giving him a strange look.
"We are... sort of having a dispute," Mia answered for him. "We aren't allowed to talk to each other."
"Why is that?" Kyle looked curious.
"It's an Adept War," Isaac explained. "It's kind of like Felix, Jenna, Garet and I are opposing Picard, Sheba, Ivan and Mia, and we're not allowed to talk to anybody on the opposing team. It's all Jenna's fault for suggesting it, and my fault just because I said 'Adept War' and Felix's fault for liking the idea, Ivan's for seconding the vote..."
"Ahh, a little game," Dora nodded, smiling. "I see. Kids and their little games... but it's just a game, you know? It's not real, so don't take it too seriously okay?"
"It's not like we're happy with not being allowed to talk to each other," Mia reached out and pushed the salt shaker towards Isaac who gleefully picked it up and dusted his meal with salt. "But it's a rule."
"So... what do you do in this war thing?" Kyle asked.
"We're having a battle tomorrow," Isaac answered. "I'm not sure what we'll be doing though."
"Don't play too roughly," Dora lectured him. "It's just a silly game."
"Yeah..." Isaac chewed on his food, looking a little anxious.
Later, Isaac and Mia found themselves standing on the landing, preparing to go to their separate rooms. However, for some reason, they were standing there just staring at each other. There had been no rule stated that team rivals could not look at each other after all. Then Mia broke into a grin and withdrew a slip of paper from her pocket. Isaac looked confused, his mouth dropping open as Mia enfolded him in a hug, slipped the paper into his hand and then retired to her room, closing the door behind her.
Isaac frowned, unfolding the slip of paper and he intently read Mia's neat, curly handwriting.
'Isaac, guess what? I found a loophole in the rule that says we are not allowed to talk to each other. Get it? We're not allowed to TALK to each other. There's no rule saying we can't engage in bodily contact or write to each other! So if we have something to say to each other, just whip out the paper and pen and get scribbling!'
Isaac grinned and folded up the paper, putting it into his pocket and going into his own room. He and Mia were probably better off than nearly everybody else anyway. Felix had to share with Picard and Jenna had to share with Sheba after all. It was quite fortunate for Garet he didn't have to share with Ivan, not to mention that the consequences would be pretty disastrous anyway.
Now he just had to worry about the Adept War tomorrow.
Garet was also worrying, Jenna was asking more often why he was being blackmailed by his sister. If only he had hid his diary better... he supposed maybe it hadn't been a good idea to leave it lying on the floor, considering it was really a big notebook with 'Garet's Diary' scrawled on the cover in black marker.
"It seems to me," Felix looked around at the group of Adepts, many of them sour faced. "That there's a little dispute in the group. Let's see..." He held up his hands and counted off his fingers. "Hair dye, bucket of water, deformed doll, Mimic, little notes. And I have a problem with Picard. He is annoying me."
"Oh dear," Picard smirked. "Are you jealous of me having so many fangirls or something?"
"Shut up," Felix growled, shooting a death glare at the Lemurian. "I don't care about your stupid fangirls."
"You just called the majority of girls living in your village stupid," said Isaac quietly. "Now that's loyalty."
Felix only scowled and did not respond.
"Sheba committed a heinous crime," Jenna declared, pointing at the younger Jupiter Adept. "She dared to touch my sacred hair, and I am not letting her get away with that. Or the mimic."
"Yeah!" Garet glared at Ivan. "That mimic bit my kid brother!"
"Mimics don't have teeth," Mia told him as kindly as she could. "So it was more like clamping."
"Aw, shut up." Garet sulked.
"He was fine, anyway!" Ivan insisted. "No harm was caused. You can't even come up with decent comebacks... did you expect me to be insulted by a note saying that I smelled of poo? If you really wanted to insult me, you would have called me a short midget or something! You're hopeless."
"I am not!" Garet wailed. "Take that back... mop head!"
"Mop head? That's smart coming from a guy who looks like his head exploded," Ivan taunted wickedly. "Have you ever used your hair in battle? It sure looks like a dangerous weapon to me."
"Be quiet!" Mia thundered, hitting both boys on the head with her Nebula Wand. "How many times must I break up your stupid disputes? Now, you two, say sorry to each other."
"No!" Garet and Ivan both flatly refused, turning their backs to each other. Mia sighed.
"This looks like a problem situation," Isaac said despairingly. "Garet and Jenna are warring with Ivan and Sheba. Felix is being antsy and Picard is winding him up. What are we going to do?"
"Potato head!" Jenna yelled at Sheba. "You look like you've got a salad bowl on your fat head!"
"It's not possible to have a fat head, it goes against the human anatomy rules," Sheba smiled serenely. "And at least I'm not so desperate, I go out with foolish oafs."
"Desperate?" Jenna fumed. "Garet is witty, charming, loyal, adorable... besides, you don't even have a boyfriend yet! Hah! So there!" She pulled down her bottom eyelid and stuck her tongue out at Sheba.
"Childish tactics..." said Sheba huffily. Jenna growled ominously.
"Having a nice little war, aren't we?" Picard commented. "Look at how much energy they are wasting on their comebacks. They should be wasting it on blowing up Kraden's cottage."
"It's not funny!" Felix yelled. "Isaac blew it up but I still had to help! It wasn't fair!"
"Adept War..." Isaac said thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. His words had a profound effect on the bickering group and everybody turned to look at him, eyes wide. "What did I say?"
"Adept War!" Jenna exclaimed. "Good idea!"
"Huh?" Garet blinked and then he grinned. "I want to go to war on Ivan!"
"Oh yeah?" Ivan chuckled. "You and whose army?"
"Isaac..." Mia hissed through gritted teeth. "You're starting everybody off again."
"We should split into armies," Felix grinned. "There's eight of us, so we should split into two teams of four."
"I'm with Ivan," Sheba quickly latched herself onto the arm of her fellow Wind Adept. "Obviously."
"We're going to burn you two off the face of Weyard," Jenna threatened, standing next to Garet. "Who's with us?" She demanded, giving the others threatening looks.
"I'm... with you and Garet." Felix said finally. He didn't really want to team up with two freaky Jupiter Adepts.
"Then I'm with Ivan and Sheba," Picard took his place next to the two Wind Adepts.
Isaac and Mia were the only ones left. They turned to look at each other in speechless silence. Because of the arrangements of the teams, they would have to be rivalling each other, even though they did not really want that.
"Well?" Jenna asked. "Pick a side already!"
"Come on, Isaac!" Garet exclaimed. "You should be with me, Jenna and Felix... and we'll be the Valean team!"
"Mia..." Isaac spoke in an apologetic tone. "I..."
"It's okay, Isaac," Mia smiled. "It's just a little bit of fun. I don't mind." She took a deep breath and walked over to join Picard, Ivan and Sheba. As Isaac grouped with Felix, Jenna and Garet, she threw him a longing look which nobody saw.
"Please tell me this isn't happening," Isaac mumbled under his breath. "We're having a war..."
"It's war!" Jenna yelled.
"Yeah!" Garet agreed, punching the air. "We're gonna be the winning team!"
"That's what you think!" Ivan taunted.
"We're the best!" Sheba declared. "You're the losers!"
"We should name our teams," Picard advised. "What do you think?"
"We're Team Vale!" Felix spoke up. "No argument there!"
"Excuse me, did we nominate you as leader?" Isaac asked. A look from Felix promptly warned him that it would be advisable to shut up and he did so, wishing very much that he was at home or somewhere safer.
"Picard should be our leader," Sheba suggested. "He's the oldest."
"How old are you anyway, Picard?" Ivan asked, his mouth curling into a wicked smile.
"That information is classified," said Picard stiffly. "I'll be the leader. Hmm... we are a combination of Mercury and Jupiter Adepts. Wind and Water..."
"Vapour?" Mia suggested tentatively. "Or mist... fog... haze... steam..."
"I like Haze," Sheba said immediately. "It sounds nice... not just because I have a Djinni of the same name, honest."
"So, Team Haze it is then," Picard declared. "Team Vale and Team Haze."
"We need rules," Felix spoke decisively. "Any ideas?"
"How about the two teams can't speak to each other?" Jenna suggested. "Then Sheba can't talk to me or anything. She's very annoying when she opens that stupid mouth of hers."
"Notion seconded," Ivan gave Garet a meaningful look. Garet only looked confused as he wondered what the heck Ivan had said and what it had meant.
"But-!" Isaac protested. "You can't-!"
"That's not fair..." Mia protested. "Not everybody is fighting with each other so badly they have to cease conversation with each other!" She frowned. "Like me and Isaac."
"Tough," Garet shrugged. "Besides, I like the idea of Ivan not being able to say stupid things to me."
"Fine, rule number one is not to talk with each other," Felix waved his hand dismissively. "Any others?"
"Psst," Ivan grinned wickedly, poking Sheba to get her attention. "Garet oinks like a pig."
"I do not!" Garet raged at Ivan, looking ready to pounce on him and tear him apart.
"Oi!" Jenna diverted Garet's attention. "You are not allowed to speak to anybody on Team Haze, remember? We made that rule just a few seconds ago, remember?"
"But-" Garet protested, pointing at Ivan with a desperate look on his face. "The midget..."
"I know, Garet," Jenna smiled fondly. "Just ignore the midget. He's not worth it. Besides we're having a war now, we can get our own back on those annoying blondes."
"No more suggestions?" Picard asked, looking at his team. They all shook their heads. "Fine."
"This isn't fair..." Isaac muttered. "I never asked to be in the Adept war..."
"We should start tomorrow," said Felix. "The Adept War."
"After I've finished my chores of course," Garet said miserably. "I'm sick of stupid chores."
"And we still don't know why you're doing chores," Jenna spoke dangerously. "Don't forget, I still intend to find out." Garet gulped, a bead of sweat trickling down his head.
"Tomorrow," Picard said to Ivan, Sheba and Mia. Ivan and Sheba nodded eagerly. Mia could only nod her head slightly, a glum expression fixed on her face. She didn't like the idea of not being able to talk to Isaac.
And thus, Team Vale and Team Haze went their separate ways, going off to plot for tomorrow when the battle would begin. Most of them had firmly resolved not to talk to each other, but some had their doubts. Mia was now wearing a devious grin which nobody saw. She had found a loophole.
"Mom, can you please ask Mia to pass the salt?" Isaac asked over dinner. The dratted salt shaker just had to be out of his reach, it was only a few centimetres away from his finger. He didn't think casting Catch would go down very well with anybody at the table so that was out.
"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Dora asked of her son, giving him a strange look.
"We are... sort of having a dispute," Mia answered for him. "We aren't allowed to talk to each other."
"Why is that?" Kyle looked curious.
"It's an Adept War," Isaac explained. "It's kind of like Felix, Jenna, Garet and I are opposing Picard, Sheba, Ivan and Mia, and we're not allowed to talk to anybody on the opposing team. It's all Jenna's fault for suggesting it, and my fault just because I said 'Adept War' and Felix's fault for liking the idea, Ivan's for seconding the vote..."
"Ahh, a little game," Dora nodded, smiling. "I see. Kids and their little games... but it's just a game, you know? It's not real, so don't take it too seriously okay?"
"It's not like we're happy with not being allowed to talk to each other," Mia reached out and pushed the salt shaker towards Isaac who gleefully picked it up and dusted his meal with salt. "But it's a rule."
"So... what do you do in this war thing?" Kyle asked.
"We're having a battle tomorrow," Isaac answered. "I'm not sure what we'll be doing though."
"Don't play too roughly," Dora lectured him. "It's just a silly game."
"Yeah..." Isaac chewed on his food, looking a little anxious.
Later, Isaac and Mia found themselves standing on the landing, preparing to go to their separate rooms. However, for some reason, they were standing there just staring at each other. There had been no rule stated that team rivals could not look at each other after all. Then Mia broke into a grin and withdrew a slip of paper from her pocket. Isaac looked confused, his mouth dropping open as Mia enfolded him in a hug, slipped the paper into his hand and then retired to her room, closing the door behind her.
Isaac frowned, unfolding the slip of paper and he intently read Mia's neat, curly handwriting.
'Isaac, guess what? I found a loophole in the rule that says we are not allowed to talk to each other. Get it? We're not allowed to TALK to each other. There's no rule saying we can't engage in bodily contact or write to each other! So if we have something to say to each other, just whip out the paper and pen and get scribbling!'
Isaac grinned and folded up the paper, putting it into his pocket and going into his own room. He and Mia were probably better off than nearly everybody else anyway. Felix had to share with Picard and Jenna had to share with Sheba after all. It was quite fortunate for Garet he didn't have to share with Ivan, not to mention that the consequences would be pretty disastrous anyway.
Now he just had to worry about the Adept War tomorrow.
Garet was also worrying, Jenna was asking more often why he was being blackmailed by his sister. If only he had hid his diary better... he supposed maybe it hadn't been a good idea to leave it lying on the floor, considering it was really a big notebook with 'Garet's Diary' scrawled on the cover in black marker.
