Chapter 6

The phone rang once; Dawn managed to hear it through the tune of Rocket Man. She threw done the pod and off the blankets and hurried out of her chair and room to the phone. She picked it up before the answering machine kicked in and saw it was from Dusk; holding the phone to her ear she asked who was calling.

"I am the Jackalknight! and I am here to reap your soul."

"Wouldn't you be the grim reaper then?"

"No, I reaped his soul, for you see I have all the goodness of Egypt and the feudal era plus a tasty nugget filling."

"I see, you do realize if you divide your name into three parts, and spell it differently it contains sexual innuendo and sounds Halloween-eqsue, in example jack-all-night."

"Well changing words can often have that effect, not the Halloween par though, at least not usually."

"True."

"So anyways if you're not busy the Jackalknight!, and the gang would like to reap your soul today, preferably over at your place, and over a card game perhaps, board games would also be acceptable, even video games if you would so fancy."

"Sure, I have no objections to getting my soul reaped. Any time good for you?"

"Well if you would come to your couch and look out the front window then I'm sure we could arrange a time."

"Ok Dusk, you can come in, I'll open the door." Dawn put down the phone and walked to the door, of which she promptly opened. Dusk was sitting on the bench with his usual lackadaisical expression, Iris was holding up Señor Patches, who had come to be the center of attention, Sable was also sitting and Tim was standing in the corner. It was funny, that even in such a small space as the patio it didn't feel cramped. She gestured for the cat; it was always reassuring to have that warm mass of black and white fur in her arms. She lightly turned his head towards hers to stare into the cat's eyes; they always seemed to suggest a different perspective that just couldn't be communicated across the mortal boundaries. Putting him down she welcomed her friends into her abode, when she thought about it, was adobe with the 'b' and 'd' switched. Ah, the coincidences in life one encountered.

To break the silence Dusk piped up, "So… anyone in the mood for a good game of Risk; I'm feeling risky, get it?"

"Yes, I think we all got it, despite your terrible punnery Risk isn't a bad suggestion. Dawn?"

"Sure Sable, I'll go get it. Iris, Tim, Risk ok with you?"

Dawn was greeted with an ok and a fine so she went into her room and brought out the Risk game. It had been a while, even with her parents she never played that much, they were too easily bored by sometimes day-long game. She chose gray of course, Dusk chose blue, Iris chose green, Sable chose red, and Tim chose black. Only her father had ever chosen yellow, the almost never favored color, as his soldiers. Dawn organized her pieces into the infantry, horsemen, and cannonry, it wasn't necessary but it helped her keep track of her soldiers. Risk was a game of skill and strategy, for example, one should never choose the Ukraine, the Ukraine is weak! Seinfeld, for those who are unaware, delivered one of the greatest Risk lessons ever.

Dawn's goal for world domination was in the Americas and Asia sometimes. It was a genius plan that more or less worked. Europe could be, and always was, attacked by the many surrounding countries, Africa the same, Asia, phhh, don't even need to state the reason for Asia's faults, Australia had only one way to take more territory and that was through Asia, which sucks anyways, yet the Americas couldn't be attacked by a large force, yet they can attack pretty much anywhere, including Asia and establish fronts from which to expand. North America in particular is the most useful, and that was how one wins Risk. Since one can only attack with large forces in one territory it is better to have few entrances out and in, but be able to use them effectively. Of course, America wasn't foolproof, and Dawn lost occasionally, occasionally also including this time. Somehow the dastardly forces of Sable had snuck up from Africa to capture some of her territories in South America and all of Tim's there, from there it was all downhill, she tried to make a stand in the Mexican area but it just wasn't fated to be so. Iris in Asia wasn't bothering Sable enough to stop his invasion into South America, Dawn suspected a non-aggression treaty cleverly hid by the occasional small aggression. Alas, it was over, and with the Americas in his control Sable then proceeded to wipe out Europe and Asia, then Australia for the win. It was fun even though it took most of the afternoon, actually all of it.

Noticing the short hand on the five Dusk posed the question of what to do for food. "So anyone want to hit a restaurant? Perhaps Bogey's anyone?"

Dawn politely refused, "No thanks Dusk, at least not tonight."

"'K then, another game of Risk at your house next Saturday ok with you Dawn, guys? I for one would like to show one James how he was just a lucky bastard and won't be able to conquer the world a second time."

"I've played the game more than once you know."

"I know; see you later Dawn."

Dusk and the rest of them left before she even had the chance to tell them it was ok. Aw well, it wasn't like she didn't enjoy today, to use a double negative. Exhausted after the heavy-duty session of Risk she sat down on at the table for a few minutes before going to peruse the cupboards. She grabbed a bag of Ritz cheese crackers and in her usual ravenous demeanor began to eat said. It was kinda nice to have friends over for the day; she just couldn't handle any more of them for today though.