Misery, Company and Returning Fire

Virgil was out of bed and moving towards the door before his eyes were even fully open, his brain catching up with his body moments later to inform him that he was upright and running because of a muffled Scott-yelp of fright, some body-part-verses-the-wall thuds and the distinctive thump of a body hitting the floor. He burst out of his room, flung open Scott's door…and paused, his pre-caffeinated brain having trouble making sense of what exactly he was seeing.

Scott was standing on his bed with the air of a startled cat, his back against the wall and bedding tossed everywhere after some kind of mad scramble, eyes still wide and breathing fast with surprise. He was staring at Jill, one of their full body training manikins, sprawled on the floor beside his bed- evidently the source of the thump when Scott had kicked or pushed her out of his bed.

The eldest brother finally registered Virgil's presence and blurted out "Kayo put Jill in my bed!"

Virgil blinked once, twice, shook his head and uttered a string of noises that meant "I don't have enough coffee for this" as he slowly reached out, pulled Scott's door shut as the eldest hollered "Kayo! That was just mean!" before turning to shuffle back to his bed.

0o0o0

Two days later, Alan and Gordon had to flee the patio and hide in the villa lest their urge to laugh got them accidentally-on-purpose murdered in their next sparring sessions.

Kayo stalked back into the house, green slime dripping off her clothes and her running shoes squelching with every step. If she had to be honest, she was a little bit torn over what had just happened- on the one hand, Scott had gotten the drop on her with a bucket full of slime thrown at her from behind a tree while she was out for a run. Surprising her was no mean feat and she'd been raised to recognise when someone had done well, even if they got one over on you in the process. On the other hand, Scott had gotten the drop on her and she was the security specialist. Gordon especially would never let her live it down if she gave Scott even half a chance to gloat.

Although she had been able to smuggle Jill into Scott's bed the other night without waking him, which hadn't been easy considering the manikin was 74 kg and Scott was a notoriously light sleeper, evidently she'd have to reassess the eldest and his sneakiness. "I keep forgetting he's had to survive Gordon longer than I have." She ruefully admitted as she left her shoes and socks outside to deal with later, scrubbed the worst of the slime off with a handful of paper towels in the kitchen, then made her way upstairs to her room to wash off the last of it. "At least this slime is detergent-based." Kayo mused to herself as she got to her room. "It should be pretty easy to get off."

The only warning she got was the slight resistance when she pushed open the door. Something creaked, she caught sight of a string going from the back of her door to some point above her, then her world filled with flecks of colour as a bucket full of finely cut confetti was dumped on her.

Just as Scott had hoped, the shreds of tissue paper stuck to the slime like they'd been glued there.

"Scott! I'm going to murder you and no one will find your body!"