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Floaties of Folly
Players: Ice Queen, Trinityblue
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Ker looked down at the newly grown Jordan, her eyes narrowing on the blatant look of innocence on the girl's face. They were walking down the street towards Rayne's house, where Jordan, Carmel, and Rayne would be having their weekly party while the free sets of parents went out for a date, or in Ker and Axle's case, stayed in for a drinking party with the boys.

"You're going to behave yourself," Ker said.

"I'm not a baby anymore, Mom," Jordi said, not actually answering that comment.

"Mmmhmm," Ker said as they reached the door and she reached up to push the doorbell.

"Welcome!" Rory said, first looking out, then down for their guests. It was a new habit she was forming when answering the door. "We've been-- Ohmygosh! Jordie! Look how tall you've gotten!"

Never mind the tall teenager still crouched down to see if better. But she wasn't -as- tiny any more.

"I'm two feet and three inches," Jordan bragged. "The perfect height for a dwarf."

"Actually it's still short for a dwarf," Ker said. "You need another two feet before you're the right height. I can't say how much we are grateful for this, Rory, regardless of what the boys say. She's still not old enough to join the drinking parties," she added with a pointed look at Jordan.

"It tasted like strawberry," Jordan said evilly.

"That's the problem," Ker said with a sigh.

"We're here!" Missy announced from behind them, carrying Carmel in her arms.

"Oh, it's not a problem," Rory said, having to bite back a laugh at the strawberry problem comment when Missy called. She couldn't help but glance for Chris, but he wasn't around. He was probably off working.

"Hello, Mrs Missy!" the teenager greeted them. Okay, so now only Rayne and Carmel were small-- take that back: Jordie was the same height as the other two girls now.

"She got bigger," Carmel said irritably as she caught sight of Jordi. "Means bigger boogers."

Jordan gave her an evil look, that quickly turned to a smirk. "I'm older than you now, I win," she bragged.

"Well I brought her swimsuit," Ker said quickly before the two could start. "And some clean clothes for after swimming. I hope you've got plenty of floaties, she's never swum in a pool as big as yours before. If there's any problems just call and we'll send Boki or Mortar over to pick her up--"

"Carmel," Missy said. "What did we tell you about being nice to Jordan?"

"She's the disgusting one," Carmel muttered, glowering at the older girl.

"Jordie!" Rayne called, having spotted her first: she was now eye level while Carmel was up in her mother's arms. She was in a red, flower printed swimsuit, with her two tails swinging behind her. "You grew!"

That seemed to be the topic today.

Rory took the swimsuit and things. "Okay, but we'll look after them. We have a big floaty thing too, if she just wants to float," she said reassuringly.

"Okay, then I need to get going," Ker said. "We can walk back together if you want, Missy," she added a bit shyly.

"That sounds great!" Missy said happily, handing Carmel over to Rory along with a bag of her things. "She's wearing her swimsuit under her clothes and there's clean ones in the bag. Bye bye, sweetie!" she added before she and Ker took off.

Jordi smirked up at the chocolate scented girl, still gloating in her more advanced age. Then she looked up at Rayne. "Hi."

"You come swim?" Rayne invited, reaching out and taking the now older's hand, leading her back in. "Carmel swim too?" she asked, looking up.

Rory set the other girl down with the girls, going to put up thing.

"Yep, we're gonna swim," Jordan said. "Carmel might not want to get her hair wet, though."

"I swim better than you," Carmel said as she reluctantly walked on her own. She grabbed Rayne's offered hand, not wanting to get stuck holding hands with Jordan. Who knew what that girl did with it!

"I got a pool," Rayne said logically, leading the two away.

"Jordie, you wanna get changed into your swim suit?" Rory asked.

"Yeah," Jordan said. "I can change myself, though," she added, holding up her hands for the suit in question. It was a strange set of boy swim trunks and girl swimming top, but looked as if it would work for the dwarf girl. It was in brown and black, and came with bronze colored goggles.

"Dad picked out the top," she added, flushing slightly because there was a black bow on the back.

"I got watermelon suit," Carmel bragged. "Mommy say it make me the cutest one EVAR, but Rayne can be as cute as me," she added graciously. "Jordi can't," she went on, sticking her tongue out at the dwarf.

Rayne gave a sigh. "Well, I think it'll look nice," she told the dwarf girl, trying to relieve any hurt Carmel might cause. Then she turned to the chocolate girl. "Can I see your suit while Jordie changes?" she asked.

Rory handed off the swim suit things and goggles to Jordie. The girl knew where the bathroom was, if she wanted to change there.

Jordi shrugged. "I don't wanna be cute," she said honestly. "Seems a pain in the butt." Then headed for the bathroom to change. She wasn't like these two others, and they all knew it. But that didn't mean she wasn't gonna torture Carmel for that comment shamelessly.

Tormenting Carmel was one of life's little pleasures.

Carmel smiled up at Rory. "Okay! You can help me put it on!"

"Arms up," Rory said, having to smirk at that. It was like changing her was a pleasure one should have, rather than a chore.

Rayne watched Jordie go. Now she felt a bit guilty, but still bet it would look nice. Not that she was going to say anything. Instead, she waited for both girls to be ready.

Carmel deemed herself ready once she was changed, admiring herself in the swimsuit for a moment before looking to Rayne. "We go now?" she asked, her hips twitching ever so slightly to make the skirt of her swimsuit sway.

Jordi came in then, wearing her swimsuit. In all honesty, it looked adorable on her, even with the shorts. But she didn't seem to notice. "I'm ready," she said, tugging her swimming goggles down with a grin. "Let's swim!"

"We swim!" Rayne said now that all were finally ready. She took her friends by the hands and lead them out to the back.

"Don't forget your floaties," Rory said, following the three. "Mom's got extra's out back, for you, Carmel."

Carmel nodded, looking over the floaties as they got outside, then promptly heading for the one that looked like a chair. "I borrow this?" she asked Rory, already picking it up. Obviously her idea of swimming consisted of napping on the floaty as everyone else did the work.

"I want..." Jordi drawled out, eyeing the floating devices. "This," she decided, heading for the pile of noodles.

"Okay, but I still want you wearing the arm floats," Rory said. At least until all of them were kids and she was sure of their swimming abilities.

Rayne was already putting on a set. She knew the rules, even if the others might think them silly.

Jordi sighed and grabbed the green set, pulling them on. Her only other choice was pink, after all, and she hated the color pink. "Okay, okay," she said. "But I'm not a baby anymore, got it?" It seemed imperative that everyone understood that fact.

"You're not bigger than us!" Carmel told her. "You no big deal!"

"You think I'm not?" Jordi demanded, moving so she was eye to eye with the younger girl.

"Yeah!"

"But Jordie is eye level now!" Rayne said quickly, as if that was the most important thing in the world.

"Alright girls, remember what your mom's said about being nice and stuff like that," Rory reminded them.

"Rayne's always nice," Jordi said, giving Carmel a dark look.

Carmel smirked at her. "That make one of us," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Rayne handed the pink floaties to Carmel. "Can we swim now?" she asked the two girls. Obviously that was all she wanted right now.

They looked away from one another, forcing a smile for the little fox girl. "We swim!" Carmel announced.

"Yeah, we can swim," Jordi agreed, heading for the pool. It was even more obvious that they wanted to make Rayne happy, no matter how much they might dislike one another.

Rayne stopped for a moment, then smiled as the two just dropped their argument to swim. That... that made her happy! "Yes!" she said, heading for the water and jumping in.

Jordan followed suit, jumping into the pool without a second of hesitation. Carmel, on the other hand, picked up her floaty chair and sauntered to the side of the pool, taking a second to delicately poke a toe into the water before she put the seat in.

Then, with a look of vast concentration she got into the floating chair, lounging for all the world like a queen in her throne. If she had had pink heart shaped sunglasses it would have been perfect. And a martini.

Rayne came up, shaking her head, happily soaked. She had also forgotten that her glasses were on and now everything was spotty with water droplets. The fox girl paddled over to the edge. "Sissy!" she called, holding out the black frames.

Rory crouched down and took them without question, letting Rayne go back to her water playing. She wondered when someone would get it in there head to tip Carmel from her 'queen' position.

Jordan was not the world's best swimmer under any means. It was a really good thing she was wearing the waterwings, because she would have sunk like a stone the moment she jumped in. As it was her arms were keeping her head over water.

And it took her a few moments to orientate herself enough to notice what Carmel was doing. But when she did she started working hard at her swimming. She was gonna dunk the little brat the moment she could get close enough.

"Jordie, noodle," Rayne called to her, seeing the trouble she was having. "You hold on like this, and kick with your feet," she said, demonstrating with her own swimming noodle.

She had no idea what Jordie was planning.

Jordi nodded, using the noodle as a floaty and kicking her way straight for the now sleeping Carmel. An evil grin crossed her face as she took in the peaceful expression on Carmel's face. She was pretty, Jordi admitted silently. Pretty arrogant, pretty annoying, pretty pushy. And-- she thought with an evil laugh as she knocked over the floaty, pretty wet.

Carmel came up spluttering, a look of shock on her face.

Rayne started to laugh, unable to help herself. Carmel's expression was just tooo funny! The fox-girl pulled herself up on the noodle, using it as a seat in the water rather than a floatie.

"You--you--" Carmel spluttered before throwing herself at Jordi. Soon a war had broken out, each trying to drown the other, the water wings keeping it from happening. Even Rayne wouldn't be able to stop this one.

Good thing she wasn't trying! Instead, she was laughing at it all from her perched on her noodle. Of course, she couldn't see the looks on their faces very well, or she'd see how serious it was.

It was a water fight!

Carmel gave up first. She was far weaker than the other girl and was never one to exert herself without reason. She bobbed to the surface, pouting hugely as Jordan surfaced next to her.

"I no like you," she said sullenly. It wasn't the same mood as their shouted "I hate you!" moments, and it made Jordan blink as she wiped the water off of her face.

"Oh, come on, Carmel," Jordi said.

"I no like you!" Carmel repeated urgently. "I no like you and I never ever ever will!"

Rayne blinked at this, the joy of watching the water fight gone now with the tone of Carmel's voice. She paddled over with her noodle, still sitting on it. "Caarrrmeeellll," she called. "It's okay. I can join the water fight this time!" she said, as if that was the problem.

Carmel turned her back on them, only to yelp as Jordi pulled her into a hug from behind. "I'm sorry," Jordi said, even as Carmel tried to squirm free. "I shouldn't have done that." Then, following her father's example, she kissed the other girl on the cheek.

"Ewwww!!" Carmel said, shocked out of her pout. "She kissed me!"

Rayne, cheered up once again with Jorden's apology, started to giggle once more. "But she apologized!!" she said happily. A kiss from another girl meant nothing to her. Her sister and mother kissed her on the cheeks all the time!

"That my big brother cheek!" Carmel complained. "Chris kiss me there! You ruin Chris kiss spot!"

"Brother lover," Jordan said, letting go of the other girl and shaking her head. Then she grabbed Carmel's floaty chair, hauling herself into it and promptly overturning it.

Carmel started laughing.

Rayne paddled over to the chair too. "Poor Jordie!" she said, and promptly turned the chair back over to crawl on it too. Her double tails were soaking and no longer fluffy.

Jordi grunted and started pulling herself up into the seat as well. Carmel, never to be left behind, joined in, the water fight forgotten.

Maybe the kiss had worked better than she would ever willingly admit, because she treated the other girl nicer for the rest of the day.

Lights
Players: Ice Queen, Trinityblue
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Aurora stood at the edge of the park, rubbing her hands together under one of the street laps. The sun was going down, and soon it be the perfect time. Now, all she needed was for him to show up. It was cold!

But hell, she was finally getting some time alone with him. That hadn't happened for a long time. Of course, Chris was the one who said he wanted time, or something like that. Then their little sisters came.

"Hey," he said from behind her, having moved silently on leather gloved hands. He had actually been there for a few seconds, just watching her. It was pathetic, really, how hard his heart beat every time he first saw her. Like it wanted to climb out of his chest.

That, he told himself in disgust, was downright pathetic.

She jumped slightly, looking at him in surprise. Then she smiled, grateful it was him. It was odd that she was actually worried for a moment. "I was afraid you got lost," she teased, placing her hands in her pockets.

"I was afraid I'd froze," he replied, then started digging in his pockets. "I ah... figure it's best to get this part out of the way, first," he said, handing her a small box.

"Already?" she replied, hands out for the gift. After standing out in the cold so long, it was difficult to tell if she was blushing, or just windblown. But she grinned even more now. "Um, yours is at the house. It's kinda big," she admitted sheepishly.

"Oh, uh, it doesn't matter," he said, shrugging. "Open it now." Inside the gift was a delicate gold bracelet with almost life like gold ladybugs climbing on it. "I seem stuck on a theme," he admitted.

"If you think I'm bothered by that, you have another thing coming," she told him, already taking it out of the box to put it on. "This is -beautiful-!" she almost squealed, then wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you!"

"Ah, I forced my mom to wrap it," he admitted. "It was way too small for me to do. But I'm glad you like it." One huge hand came up, gently patting her on the back out of awkwardness.

She kissed him on the cheek for good measure, then pulled away, still grinning. "That's fine. Heck, even if you put it in a bag to give to me, I'd be happy with it, you know," she told him, looking again at the bracelet.

Rory was stuck on her own theme of gifts for Chris: holiday goodies. There was a large tin waiting for him, and it was the reason she left it home. He was to big to just be lugged around the hole time.

He flushed and rubbed the back of his neck, feeling, once again, like a foolish kid with his first crush. But that was what he was, wasn't he? "I got a gift from Ash," he said as he started walking again. "Did they send you something too?"

"Yes, actually, they did," she replied, walking along side of him. "Course, I felt guilty, because I'm not sure how to give them a gift in return. They travel around and all."

"We could ask Mr. Shade," Chris said. "I figure I'll make them cookies or something. He sent me this basket of food from all over the universe. I ate it already," he added a bit guiltily. "It was good stuff!"

Rory started to laugh about that. "And you didn't save me any? How rude!" she teased him with a grin. "Uh, I got leather," she told him. "Leather jacket, pants, the most awesome boots... and a leather corset. Seren picked them out," she told him, having enjoyed it greatly. Now it just needed to get a little warmer for her to wear them!

He choked. "She did like her leather," he admitted, trying not to picture it. "Don't wear it to work, it'll chafe when you're running."

"It's supposed to be made special for running as well," she told him with a shrug. "At least, that's what Seren's letter said. Oh! And she send two of their latest cd's. One's for you."

"Yeah? Is it any good?" he asked teasingly. "You know how some guys get in their old age--"

"Of course it's good!" she replied, laughing. "Or are you just calling Ash old, hmmmmm? Well, if that's the case, maybe I'll keep the second one. Or give it to someone more deserving!"

"Oh no you don't!" he said. "Because you'd probably give it to Antony, and if anyone's LESS deserving, it's him!" He grinned at her, forgetting that it was freezing out. "I bet they sent it to you to keep it from smelling funny. Everything that came with my food smelled so strange that my dad made me pitch it. But it was soooo worth it."

"Antony? Oohhh, giving it to him would be a great idea! Thanks!" she replied evilly, enjoying this. "But I bet you're right. You going on about the food is making me jealous, even more. Ah well. I'll e-mail Seren to send me some next time!"

"You're gonna make me get you something, aren't you?" he asked dryly. "Not ice cream. Whatever it is, I refuse to get ice cream." They were getting into the shop section of town, where the lights were the prettiest.

She was silent a few minutes, looking up at the lights and admiring them as she thought it over. "Hot chocolate and funnel cakes, if we can find them! Both are warm. I so don't want ice cream right now, either. It's already cold enough!"

"I don't know about funnel cakes," he said. "But there's a Starbucks, if you want to get hot chocolate and cookies." He nodded forward to the sign on the corner in front of them. "How's that sound?"

"Hmmm, okay, at least the hot chocolate will be warm, if not the cookies. Unless we're lucky," she said, following him to the Starbucks.