"Lloyd…put that down," Kratos started, in what seemed to be becoming the standard mantra whenever he was addressing his son. "Lloyd…" the older man sighed and tried to reach for the blonde doll that the boy was currently preoccupied with. "That's not yours, it's Colette's."
"Mine!" Lloyd announced and clutched the doll protectively to his chest. Kratos groaned at that. The boy has suddenly become very attached to the old thing, and while Colette didn't seem to mind at all, it was beginning to get a little disturbing for him.
"But wouldn't you rather play with…this!" Kratos smiled as he pulled out his trump card, a little something that he had picked up at the market yesterday, just incase a situation like this should arise. "It's Turbo Action Man 2000, isn't he cool?" Kratos tried to persuade the boy, making use of the toy's kung fu action grip for show. Lloyd eyed the toy skeptically for a moment before he returned to combing out the doll's slightly knotted hair.
"He's stoopid…" Lloyd declared his final verdict and Kratos lowered the action figure dejectedly.
"Oh, hi guys." Colette was a bit surprised to find Kratos and Lloyd in her room, but was cheerful as always. "Aw, Lloyd, do you like Betsy?" The blonde smiled and sat down next to the boy on the bed.
"Yeah!" Lloyd beamed and hugged the doll tighter.
"Oh, we should have a tea party with her! Would you like that?" Colette suggested brightly and Lloyd nodded his head rapidly. Kratos shook his head as he watched the girl set up everything on the table, and got up to leave, figuring he was fighting a losing battle by now anyway.
XxX
Downstairs, Sheena and Zelos had come back from patrol. Zelos was currently whining about some injuries, trying to get sympathy from Raine. "Come on! You're the healer here! Help a guy out!"
"Shut up, that last time I agreed to help you tried to grab my…"
"You touched mine first!"
"Because you were hurt! You idiot…" Raine huffed and went back to reading whatever oversized book she had in front of her.
"Can we keep the yelling to a minimum please? My head his killing me," Sheena whimpered and searched trough the freezer for an ice pack, but was silently thankful for not being the one subjected to Zelos' raging hormones for a moment. She pushed back a few things in her search, yelping as something heavy slid out of the freezer and landed on the floor with a thud. Genis perked his head up at the sound, looking down at the kitchen floor to see a large package of meat that had split open and gotten all dirty.
"Sheena…" Genis moaned out, "That was supposed to be dinner."
"Sorry, it was an accident…" Sheena bit her lip as the boy came over to survey the damage.
"Well, you should be more careful next time." Genis scolded and began cleaning up the mess, sending the woman little glares whenever he got a chance.
"I said I was sorry!" Sheena huffed as she picked up on the annoyance in Genis's voice.
"I heard you, you could at least help me clean up!" Genis shot back, finally allowing his aggravation to show.
"Hey, don't get so snippy!"
"I'm not being snippy, it's just that…" Kratos groaned as he listened to Genis and Sheena engage in the ridiculous argument. Meanwhile, Zelos was still whining about the pain to which Raine had finally lost her temper and popped him one on the head with a rolled up newspaper. This was a scene that Kratos was really beginning to regret walking in on.
"Hey!" he shouted, but wasn't heard over the voices of the four who were already carrying on like lunatics. "All of you, stop it!" he tried a bit forcefully this time, satisfied with the fact that they had all finally shut up and now had their attention focused on him. "Look at yourselves! You're all acting more immature than Lloyd! Zelos, suck it up and heal yourself if it's that bad! Sheena, take a goddamn aspirin! Genis, get over it already, we'll order pizza…and Raine…" Kratos turned to Raine who was looking up at him in an amused manner. "Read…some more." It was a lame ending, but whatever, he had ran out of steam.
"Um…are you feeling alright?" the woman asked, not used to seeing Kratos lose his temper like that.
"Just…a little stressed."
"I can see that." Raine closed the book she was reading, the rest of the group already gone silent in fear of a pissed off Kratos. "Why don't you go upstairs and rest? You look like you haven't slept for days."
"But Lloyd…"
"Don't worry about it, I'll look after him." Kratos wasn't exactly sure if he wanted to leave his son in the hands of a women who might half beat him to death if he acted up, but in the end his desire for sleep won out.
"Alright, just give me a few hours." And with that Kratos somehow made his way back up to his room, threw a pillow over his head, and passed out contently.
XxX
Downstairs, the rest of the group were looking just about as pathetic as the passed out Kratos. Sheena had long since declared that she had a horrible migraine and sought refuge on the couch, warning that anyone who came near her would suffer painful consequences. Zelos, who liked to push the women's buttons almost enough to call it a hobby, decided that it really wasn't worth it this time, and sat twiddling his fingers at the kitchen table. He had to restrain himself from breaking into hysterical laughter when Genis slipped on some water and fell to the ground, instead settling for a goofy lopsided grin as he watched Raine patch him up.
"It looks like you might have twisted your ankle…" Raine sighed as she surveyed the damage, wrapping up the limb properly before ordering the boy to go lay down and rest for a while. Genis whimpered and limped onto the loveseat opposite of Sheens'a couch. The smaller piece of furniture was just big enough to support his petite frame comfortably.
"We're dropping like flies…I knew I shouldn't have come here," Zelos sighed and glanced over his shoulder at the two incapacitated figures. He turned back to the woman sitting across from him and tired to use the most alluring tone he could muster. "Looks like it's just you and me. Shall we fornicate now?"
"Love to," Raine rolled her eyes sarcastically, "But it seems you have made a miscalculation." She gestured over to Lloyd, who was currently trying to ride Noishe around like a horse, before the animal shrugged him off and ran away to find a suitable hiding space.
"Dammit Lloyd, do you have to ruin everything?" Zelos groaned and Raine grinned as she began gathering up some books that were littering the kitchen table.
"Well, I'm off to do some researching. Be a dear and watch Lloyd for me?" Raine rushed out before she made her way to the basement in a flash, locking the door behind her before Zelos could protest.
"Hey!" He glared at the wooden door for a moment before sighing and looking down at his new burden. Lloyd blinked up at him for a moment from his spot at the kitchen floor before sticking out his tongue and giggling like a maniac. "Brat…ow!" Zelos hissed as the boy gave him a rather sharp kick to the shin and ran off a second later to find something else to do. "Well, this should be fun."