Malcolm — Gameplay

Travis (14) - Connor (13) - Malcolm (13)

August

Post 'The Sea of Monsters'

Curse Hermes for being so fast.

And curse him for having such fast children.

And curse him for giving birth to Luke and pushing them all into a state of war and—

Sorry, he's joking. He loves Hermes and all the messenger god has provided for the world.

But really.

Curse him for having such ridiculously fast children.

It's unfair to him and everyone.

Egyptian War is typically dominated by the fastest players but it shouldn't have been dominated like this.

He and Annabeth couldn't even get one slap in. Their only method of attaining cards have been the face cards and the blessings of the gods for returning them number cards.

In a matter of minutes, he was out. And Annabeth was out too a few seconds later. Travis and Connor continue playing like they were never in the game. Their eyes are trained on the game, cards flipping down faster than Malcolm can read and hands slapping on the rug carpet confidently.

Annabeth hasn't given up. She stares at the center intently, fingers twitching, but she's always a second too late. But he has given up. There's no way for him to get back in the game and he tucks his chin over his knees, watching the cards fly back and forth. The deck of cards in the brother's hands only growing and shrinking slightly.

It's interesting.

There's little tics about their playing that's just a little bit different.

Travis is undoubtedly faster, but he makes a lot more mistakes.

And while Connor is slower… a lot slower, he uncannily seems to know when the face cards will come in. It's like he's almost memori—

Slap. And then a slight snicker.

Travis smirks, pulling the center pile to his deck. "Too slow, Anniebeth."

Annabeth growls and chews on her cheeks as her 23rd attempt to slap in is thwarted by Travis.

"I'm going to win," she declares confidently despite having no cards in her hands.

Connor rolls his eyes. "I'm sure you will."

"I definitely will."

"Uh huh."

"I will," she says with finality. She side eyes him and Malcolm did not like that gleam he sees in her eyes. "Malcolm, help me win. Give me your cards when you tap in. You're faster than I am."

"I… uh… don't think we can win like that," Malcolm admits but Annabeth wasn't paying attention. There's fire burning in her gray eyes and Malcolm can see all she's thinking about is winning. He doesn't have a choice, does he? He sighs in defeat and unfolds his legs, scooting closer to the center.

Connor smiles lopsidedly. "So we're going to do a 2v2? Me and Travis versus you two? Alright! Losers do winner's chores until next summer. Go big or go home."

Oh.

It's going to be them versus Travis and Connor. Now they really can't win. But Annabeth sits all the straighter, eyes brightening from the challenge.

"We can win," she says assuredly and Malcolm wishes some of that boundless confidence can seep over to him.

"We can do it," she says again.

"Believe in yourself."

.

He did believe in himself.

.

And they still lost.

(I love slice of life though I am pretty sure it bores most people. It's great to me, because they're just little kids who got thrust into a war when they were just teenagers and I want them to be happy.

Me back when I wrote Chapter 1: I can remember the dates of the books and how old the characters are in each book. No worries. I can do it.

Me now: what?

Now for me keeping track of the years, each chapter is going to state which book it is after/before/during)