[ LET'S PLAY A GAME ] ; i'm just such a happy mess

[ungrieved]

        _______
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____|____

[That's it. That, and...a number of blank lines for people to guess letters. If they're interested in playing, that is. He apparently hasn't seen fit to explain the game, but if you stay tuned, you might catch the general gist of it.]

[[ooc: guessable words are in the comments. Please feel free to threadjack/make new words at your leisure!]]

Comments

[ungrieved]

[Gabe scoffs at that, albeit softly. How much damage could a cat do to something like him? He doesn't follow orders from felines. That's not how this works. He takes what he wants from the world as it is presented to him, and anyone who believes otherwise has it dead wrong.]

You have to?

[Color him skeptical. He doesn't have to do anything. Especially if it's a cat that wants him to do it.]

[catpiper]

[ESP kitty continues to scarf down the food, purring away, as she educates this scrub on the art of cat whispering. She fluffs up more of his fur to prove a point!! You can't pet cats that look like this. Normally.]

If you don't, they'll get mad and scratch you. That's what they do when they're scared.

[ungrieved]

People kinda tend to do that too.

[Maybe not literally. Not always literally. He certainly never did literally, but he did manage it in the decidedly metaphorical sense, which is where all those sorts of hits should land. Absolutely the kind of thing children talk about with other children.]

[catpiper]

[Okay friend. She's listens to what he says, rolling the words around in her mind, because they get mad. And that anger can turn to fear. That's true. She's seen that time and time again in the form of angry spirits whose emotions corrupted them beyond help. Sometimes with people on the island. It's not often, and she can't recall an instance where it's been directed at her, but they do.

But she's a girl that takes things literally and her mind wanders to instances where people have scratched each other in anger. As far as she knows, that hasn't happened yet.]

People don't have paws. They can't do that.

[She looks at her nails, for a moment, and holds up her hand-]

These aren't sharp.

[ungrieved]

But they can still bite.

[He grins, with teeth that are neither threatening nor pointy, and makes a stupid little fake-growl sound to accentuate his point. Immediately, he regrets it. Way to damage his too cool, standoffish persona.]

[Then again, he's petting a cat. He's talking to a little girl and petting a cat.]

[God he hopes no one else is watching this.]

[catpiper]

[It would be a threatening gesture, if the cat by her side had looked up from cleaning his face and reacted to that noise for even a second. Which he doesn't. At all. The fake growl was just that and Ren smiles ear to ear, mimicking the quiet growling noise in the back of her throat.]

I can do that kind of thing too.

[People don't fight that way, she's sure, but now she's having fun. The entire point of the conversation flying over her head and landing in another world. Time to play a game.]

Can you make other noises?

[ungrieved]

[Goddamnit, he's ruined his reputation already.]

[Now what's she playing at? Gabe's eyes narrow slightly as he stares at her, simultaneously expecting some kind of play while not actually knowing what to expect beyond that. She's just a kid. But then, so's he. Age isn't as big a factor as people seem to think it is, when it comes to innocence.]

...why?

[catpiper]

I think making noises like that-

[Growing up around the other kids gave her the opportunity to play with them, but she doesn't remember any games they were able to enjoy together. Their shared illness crept up and killed most of them early on.]

It's a fun game.

[ungrieved]

[He regards Ren suspiciously for several long, silent moments, then breaks away to scan his surroundings. No one seems to be watching. No one's here to taunt him for ruining his cool, cocky persona. It's fine.]

[What's the harm, anyway?]

...fine. Why not?

What's the game?

[catpiper]

[That's right! Play with her, new friend. Especially now that her cat is taking a little tiger snooze-they can't leave for awhile. She doesn't want to wake him up.

Even though the game she made up in the last ten seconds might do that.]

You make a noise and-

[She pauses, trying to figure out the rules to this fake game.]

You guess the animal. That's the game.

[ungrieved]

[That...that’s it? That’s the game? Gabe not only has no problems questioning that at all, but he also has no problems making it completely obvious that he thinks that might be the stupidest game idea he’s ever heard of. It’s so easy. There’s no challenge at all. What’s the point in a game like that?]

That’s it?

[Surely there has to be more?]

[catpiper]

Yes.

[And then there's another pause because, well, games have-]

And you get points.

[How many?? What for?? What happens if you win?? All questions she's not going to answer because it's dependent on her childish whims. Sorry, Gabe. This is what happens when you have a terrible girl instead of a rule book to guide a game.]

Do you want to make a noise first?

[ungrieved]

[Points. All right, fine. Now that there's a competitive element, he can play that, easy. Just for the bragging rights of it, if nothing else. He straightens up in preparation to thoroughly best this child, absolutely trounce her in this stupid pretend game, because he is the heartless sort of gremlin who thinks it's funny to beat little children at their own game.]

Yeah. Sure.

[He considers which noise would be best for a long moment, then - ]




[...blows an outrageously loud raspberry.]

[catpiper]

[The problem with this terrible game is that she only knows a handful of animals to begin with. Not great? They probably should've requested Connect 4 instead. So when he makes that weird sound, she takes it far too seriously and says-]

A chicken!

[That's a weird animal??? It could be the answer?? She doesn't know!! It's fine.]

[ungrieved]

A chicken?

[He means for it to emerge as sharply condescending. But the answer is so unexpected and Ren's answer so enthusiastic that a grin bursts out of him regardless.]

Chickens cluck. Have you - do not know what chickens are?

[catpiper]

[Who says clucks aren't raspberry noises?? Let this fool live.]

They're birds?

[It takes her a second to recall and her tone makes it sound like a question more than anything. They have wings. They're on farms. They lay eggs, if she's remembering her weird animals right, it's definitely a bird.

Yeah.

And since that sound wasn't a chicken. Or a cat. Or a dog. Or a horse. Or a cow. Maybe-]

Was that a bear?

[Gabe is gonna end up with a million points at this rate. Amazing.]

[ungrieved]

[They’re birds? She really doesn’t know. Gabe’s expression lands somewhere between aghast and thrilled. Look at this just look at it. He hasn’t had any real life experience at all, and he’s still smarter than this baby. Suddenly, he feels like the smartest little shit on the block. He’s a genius. He could teach her anything and she’d believe it.]

[This is a terrible power for a boy like him to have.]

You’ve never seen a bear either, huh?

[catpiper]

[Okay, so that's a no. The problem with this game is becoming increasingly apparent as the point totals start accumulating in his favor. She's given herself a grand total of 1 for trying though.]

I've seen a bear. They were in a book. They like porridge-that's what they eat.

[Incredible.]

What animal makes that noise?

[ungrieved]

[The issue is that Gabe can’t even contest that, really. Bears eat porridge, she says, and that sounds vaguely familiar enough for him to feel like that’s a perfectly adequate assumption to make. He’s certainly not the ideal for teaching Animal Diets 101.]

[He also realizes that he may have fucked up, a teensy bit, as he wasn’t expecting her to give up and then ask for the answer instead. He hadn’t thought to prepare an answer beforehand, and admitting that it was a ploy would ruin the whole point.]

[So he says the first thing that comes to mind.]

A - heffalump. [...yes.]

[catpiper]

[Heffalump is not an animal she recognizes. It could be something specific to his world, to here and-

Finding out about new animals and creatures-that's exciting. It beats any dirty picture book she used to find laying on the ground and she's ready to get the full rundown on this mystery animal.]

Is it scary? Can you draw it?

[ungrieved]

[Not eager to be caught in the lie, Gabe keeps up the constant stream of utter bullshit, loud and proud.]

Real scary, [ he confides sagely.] Eats little kids for breakfast. Has these big tusks, like giant teeth, so it can rip you limb from limb.

[catpiper]

[She takes it back-don't draw this demon. She doesn't want to see it or hear that raspberry noise ever again she's terrified. Her whole body stiffens up and quietly asks-]

Are heffalumps here?

[ungrieved]

Probably.

[Stop him. For the love of god, someone stop him before he irrevocably traumatizes this well-intentioned child. He keeps talking like he's some kind of commended expert on the subject, and enjoying every awful second of it.]

You can't really hear them coming, see. That's the noise they make when they grab you. Bam! [He claps his hands together loudly, and grins.] Like that.

[catpiper]

[WELL.

SHE HATES HEFFALUMPS. This escalated. She wasn't prepared for the stakes this guy brought to the playing field and this game has turned into a nightmare. At least she knows to listen for these noises-the clap alone causing her to stand like she's gonna run right now immediately and makes her sleepy-eyed cat look up.]

Do they fly? Do they live in the ground?

[Tell her everything]

[ungrieved]

[On the contrary, Gabe seems to be enjoying himself. She's just eating this all up, isn't she? How long before she catches on? Will she? Is she just going to be stuck, terrified of these imaginary creatures forever?]

[That's amazing. He officially loves this.]

Both, [he decides with a firm nod.] Nowhere is safe from them. They could come at any time, and you'd be helpless against them.