012 Tea

Character: Emily

Emily set the stuffed black bear into its place at the table. She made sure he wasn't going to fall over and she moved back over to her bed, climbing up on the soft blue sheets, and grabbed the stuffed eagle that was sitting there. She turned to move back to the small table and stopped as she spotted her brother watching her. "What?" She hugged the eagle to her chest, frowning at her brother.

"Are you having a tea party?" From Jason's voice was skeptical, and Emily understood why. She wasn't really well known for doing classical girly things.

Emily moved over to the table and set the eagle down in his seat. "Of course not. We're having a war meeting. The rebellion in the system is getting out of hand and they're trying to decide how best to take care of it." Emily sat down at her seat at the table.

Jason shook his head, moving a bit into her room. "You know if you're doing something girly you don't have to lie to me about it? There's nothing wrong with it."

Emily glared at him. "I'm not having a tea party. Tea parties are stupid and pointless. They don't get anything done and no one as an adult has one." Emily shook her head. She would have thought Jason knew better. "You know what dad says: always try to be productive." She stumbled a bit on the last word. Her father had only just taught it to her and at the age of eight she still didn't exactly know what it meant.

"Yeah but you're just playing. When you're playing you don't need to be productive. You just play for the fun of it." Jason moved over to the table and looked down at the stuffed animals. "So what's going on in your not-a-tea-party?"

Emily tried not to roll her eyes at her brother's stupidity. "I told you we're talking about the rebel problem. This is Admiral Quick Strike." Emily motioned toward the eagle. "He's in charge of the anti-rebellion operations. That is Rear Admiral Sharp Claw." She motioned to the black bear. "He's head of the fleet that Admiral Quick Strike wants to send in to take care of it." She pointed to the black wolf that sat in the final seat. "That's Major Shadow Fang. He's head of a large division of ODST that Admiral Quick Strike wants to deploy to take care of the problems."

Jason looked over the table and then back to Emily. "Well then where do you fit into all of this?" Jason knelt down and looked closer at the stuffed animals.

"I'm Lord Emily Aldura, head of the UNSC forces. The Admiral is here to request the fleet as it is currently on patrol in another system." Emily sat up taller and reached over, grabbing the eagle. She held it up so that it was in Jason's face and spoke in a deeper voice. "Why else would we be here? Any forces being moved from their decided duties have to be approved by an officer with the authority to do so." She stumbled over a few words, but her meaning was clear enough. Emily put the eagle back down in his seat.

"Well excuse me for needing some information." Jason looked around and there was a sort of worried look on his face. "Are you sure you don't want to call one of your female classmates and see if they want to play?"

"None of them like the same things as me. They like dressing up dolls, flowers, and skipping rope. I don't like any of those things. I like playing rebels-vs-marines, scaring groups of moa, and trying to catch mortos down at the lake." Emily turned her gaze away from him.

"Well those sound like things that the boys in your classes might be into. Maybe we could call up one of them and you can play with them." Jason put on a smile and as Emily looked to him she could tell it was fake.

"They don't want to play with girls. They said I'm icky." Emily reached out and grabbed the eagle, holding it against her chest. "These are my best friends, they understand me."

The worried look returned to Jason's face but he didn't say anything. "Is there anyone that could come over and play with you?"

Emily thought about that for a bit. She shook her head. There was only one person she could think of but she didn't even know his name, where he lived, or how to contact him. He was just some boy she'd met who seemed friendly.

The door to their house opened and Emily stood up. "That's probably grandma. I'll help her with the groceries." She just really wanted to get away from her brother. She knew that he and her grandmother didn't approve of how few people Emily knew or how she played alone all the time but the kids at school just didn't get her. Maybe when she was older the boys would finally be willing to let her play with them and do the fun stuff.

Emily moved out to the living room but froze on the spot when she saw who had walked in the door. Before her, wearing military fatigues, freshly cut black hair, and a warm smile stood her father. He was clean shaven, scars along the right side of his face and every bit the strong soldier that Emily idolized him as. Emily let out a high pitched shout, nearly jumping up and down. "Daddy!" She ran forward and he knelt down to pull her into his arms in a tight hug. Jason, who had heard Emily's shout came running out. Her father opened one of his harms enough to pull his son into the hug as well. They stayed in the entry way for some time, just enjoying be a family all in the same place for the first time and a long while.