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Avery cheered. "Ri, Sammy is going to play with us, is that okay?" he asked, though he obviously expected a positive answer.

Ritsu wavered a moment, but what harm could it do? "Ah... if you want to, I don't mind, Sammy-san."

Avery grinned. "That's my brother Ritsu, and my sister Sybil. Ri's real shy, but Sybil ain't."

Sybil stuck out her tongue at Avery as she finally made her way down the steps, and Ritsu just ducked his head slightly, bangs hiding his face in a bit of embarrassment.

Ritsu was in the process of typing in Sybil's name, and with the addition of Sammy, he nodded with a small smile at her as he added her name to the list.

Sybil was swinging her feet back and forth as she sat in her chair, staring at the shoes she had put on. They were still icky. But at least her's weren't that horrible yellow and red color, like Avery's. "Do you have a ball?" she abruptly asked the girl, having decided that Avery's were uglier, and so her's weren't so bad.

Avery got impatient, and reached past Ritsu to hit the button on the touch screen that started the game. At the end of the alley, the mechanism came down, leaving behind a nice triangle of pins.

"You're first, Ri! Go on! Get a strike!"

"Ah-- but, I..." Ritsu said ineffectually as he was shoved towards the ball rack. He picked up his ball and swallowed as he looked down the lane nervously. Then he paced forward, counting his steps quietly, and let the ball go on the forward swing of his arm.

It started out straight, but about halfway down it started to curve, and so he only got about half the pins on the right side.

"Yay for Ri! You got some!" Sybil cheered. She rarely got anything but gutter balls.

Ritsu ducked his head, embarrassed at the cheering. He'd not done too badly, but it wasn't really good enough to cheer about. He waited for his ball to return, then sent it down the lane again, only nicking a couple more. One other wobbled a bit, but didn't fall down.

He sat down, and carefully put in his score, then nodded at Avery.

"Yeah! My turn!" Avery cried, and picked up his ball, which was a gold swirly one borrowed from the lanes. He narrowed his eyes, looking very serious as he aimed, and then approached the lane.

The ball went flying down the lane, skidding halfway down it before it started to roll, he'd bowled it so hard. It took out four pins on the left, and he made a face.

"Oh, well, I'll try again! Come on, come on, come on..." he urged the ball return, doing a little dance of impatience.

When the ball came back, he sent it flying again, but he only got one of the pins as he sent it down in almost the exact same line as before.

"Aw, man! That sucks!"

"I'm going to tell Mom on you, Avery! You're not supposed to say that!" Sbyil stuck out her tongue as he scowled in her direction.

"I can say it if I wanna. There's nothing wrong with it."

Ritsu nodded at Sammy, saying, "I think it's your turn now, Sammy-san."

Avery shrugged. "Don't sweat it. There's lots of turns left! Okay, Syb! It's your turn, now!" He looked over at Sybil, who was at the ball return.

She picked out her ball, a black one with silver swirls, and carried it in both her arms almost to the edge of the lane. She knelt, and put it on the ground before giving it a good roll from between her knees.

It started out slow. Very slow. But as it made it's way down the lane, it gradually picked up speed. But it was also veering to the side. Just as it was about to get to the end of the lane, it tipped over the edge and into the gutter, the little half-breed looking dejected.

"It's okay, sis, you can try again. Here comes your ball!" Avery encouraged, and pointed at the ball return.

"Okay," Sybil agreed, and picked up the ball again. To the others, it looked like she was talking to it as she carried to the edge of the lane again.

This time it rolled straight and true, if still not very fast. It took out several pins in the middle, but didn't hit with enough force for them to knock the other pins down.

"That was very good, Sybil-san. You got five pins. Does that mean... it's my turn again?"

"You bet, Ri!" Avery said, barely waiting for his brother to leave the seat before he took it over again.

This time Ritsu took out three on one corner with the first ball, and all but one of the rest on his second ball. He looked a little bewieldered as to why he was doing so well when he came back.

Avery's turn went a little better this time, though the ball stuck to his fingers and dropped onto the lane with a loud crash. It made the lane manager glare at them, and Avery hunched his shoulders a little, though he stuck out his tongue when the man had turned his back. Avery ended up getting a gutter ball with that one, but the first one had gotten five of the pins.

"Okay, Sammy, your turn again! C'mon! No tripping this time," Avery teased.

Sybil just cheered, and then narrowed her eyes to watch intently. How were they doing that? She just couldn't figure it out... step, step, step, arm goes back, let go.... Well, she'd try that next time.

That meant it was Sybil's turn now. The little girl had cheered when Sammy got almost all the pins, but now she wanted to try rolling the ball like everyone else was. She picked up her bowling ball, and fit her fingers into the holes carefully, ignoring Avery's interested look.

It was a little awkward, but she held it in front of her, then took the steps forward. Then she stopped. She'd forgotten to swing the ball back, she'd been so focused on her steps. And she was too far away anyway, she'd been too far back when she started.

She gave a little frustrated sigh, then crouched down and rolled the ball the same way she had before, only with a little more oomph this time. It rolled down the lane, striking the pins solidly and knocking down all but three.

I'll go closer, and swing the ball again, she thought.

She retreived her ball from the return, and got closer to the lane, then tried again. This time, her steps were closer to what they should be, and she'd swung her arm back, but she was pulled off balance by the weight, and she nearly fell backwards.

"It's okay, Syb, try again. Come back to where you were, and start again. You can do that, don't worry. Right, Ri, Sammy?" he asked, looking around at the other two. Ritsu nodded, and gently gestured for Sybil to go again.

((Thought maybe I should let you react to my kids posts, instead of doing them all at once... I might do Avery and Ritsu together still, though.))

Sybil nodded, watching the bear closely, then readied her ball.

"You put your pointer and middle fingers here, and your thumb there, but don't put them in too far, just a little bit. Like that, yeah," Avery directed from a few feet away, smiling and nodding as Sybil adjusted her fingers. That had been what kept her from letting go last time.

"Okay, so like this?" she asked, and walked slowly towards the lane. One, two, three, swing back on the fourth step, and let go as it came forward...

The ball hadn't been swung with a lot of force, and it was aimed all wrong to hit any of the pins that were left, but she'd done it! She turned around with a grin on her face.

"If there had been pins there, that would've been beautiful, Syb," Avery teased, then watched as Ritsu marked down Sybil's score.

"Okay, I will go now. Sammy-san, would you mind if I asked you to score?" Ritsu asked quietly. Avery gave him an offended look, but merely huffed from his seat, where he slouched momentarily before watching Ritsu get his ball, wind up and send the ball down the lane.

They all watched as the ball cleanly hit the first pin, and the effect was like domino's. Ritsu had gotten a strike! Avery leapt up and whooped, fist punching the air above him. Ritsu himself looked completely astonished, turning around blinking at the others.

"Way to go, Ri! How do I do that?" Sybil asked him, tugging at his wrist with her two smaller hands impetuously.

(( I've seen that happen a couple times. It is funny when it happens. ^_^ ))

Ritsu nodded at Sammy's question as he sat down, still a little stunned at the fact that he'd gotten a strike. He shook his head at Sybil, not knowing how to tell her what to do. He almost missed the wild throw of hers though he caught the tail end of it as it crashed into the other lane and made a strike, though in the wrong lane. Gulping worriedly, he looked over at the counter to see the Alley owner shaking his head with a sigh.

Ritsu hoped the lane hadn't been dented. He didn't want to get into trouble.

But then it was Avery's turn. He got up, narrowed his eyes in concentration, and sent his ball careening down the lane again, getting five of the pins. He came back for another round, and threw the ball towards the remaining pins, getting all but the one in the back center. "Oh, come on! How can I miss that one! Oh, well. Okay, Sybil, your turn again. Go ahead, try it like you did last time again." he urged, getting over his dissapointment quickly.

Ritsu marked Avery's score down as Sybil approached the lane with intense concentration. She bowled the ball, and amazingly, got four of the pins! On her next try, she didn't do as well, only getting two of the remaining pins. She was getting a little better at bowling the ball, though she still had no aim to speak of.

It was Ritsu's turn again, and due to his sheer shock and now nervousness about getting a strike, his first try was a gutterball.

"Don't sweat it, Ri. Just bowl, right?" Avery called, encouraging the older boy as he draped himself across one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs. He would be a natural at being boneless by the time the teenage years struck.

Sybil cheered, too, smiling at Sammy with bright eyes, having so much fun. She turned her attention back to the lane as Ritsu took his second ball.

He managed to not get a gutterball again, but he was still nervous, and he managed to get three on the corner. He sat down at the scoring table again with a sigh of releif. "Whew..." he muttered.

Avery urged Sammy up for her turn. "Don't throw it again, Sam!" he laughingly teased, still draping over his chair. Sybil watched intently.