Put On Your Game Face

[Aiden]

By the looks of things in Keystone, they were far too serious. Not just about hunting, but about everything in general. They had the pseudo faction leader who actually worked the bar, the kid brother that was obsessed with reading and soccer, and then there was the adopted son slash nephew that spent all day slaving in front of the computer doing who knew what. Yeah, Keystone needed to liven up the party, and with Portland there on their mini-vacation of sorts, Aiden had taken it upon himself to give both Keystone and Portland the much needed relaxation and fun that they all needed. Not to mention the temperature outside was nearly negative, so being confined inside all day? Yeah, you get the picture.

The Camaro had its introductory visit into the city of Keystone, and its first and only stop was the store. With a variety of objects purchased, Aiden carefully--yes, that implied enforced speed limits and chains on his tires while driving in the snow--returned to the Wesson, and nodded to the friend that Deacon begrudgingly allowed to cover for him while they all convened in another part of the Wesson.

Once everything was set up, he had them all gathered at one of the larger tables in the Wesson. He stood above them, and placed both hands flat on the table. "Alright, here's the deal: we all have no life. That's right, I said it. Don't try and argue it, because you all know its true, and you all think that of another person here. Admit it. So, in order to alleviate this travesty, I've come up with a series of challenges that will be deemed 'social time.' Just don't get too awkward on us, Art," Aiden said jokingly, though in a serious manner. Next to him sat a few bags, from which he extracted two bags of large marshmallows, cards which he placed face down on the table, Uno, and finally, he placed Miles' laptop on the table, much to his dismay.

On the screen the display window for the webcam was running, though it wasn't recording. "Okay, so here is how this works. Yuki and Teagan have played this only because I forced them," he said, with an evil glint in his eye, "and no one is getting out of this, or Teagan has agreed to make the night, you might say, unforgettable. We each take turns putting these," he said, raising the bags of marshmallows into the air, "into our mouths and holding it there. Then you say 'chubby bunny'. You go around and hold more and more until you see who can last the longest and get the most. And Miles, if you delete this off your laptop, you're dead," Aiden said, sitting down and hitting the record button. He took a marshmallow out of the bag, and placed the bag in the center of the table. "Chubby bunny."

[Teagan]

When Aiden approached her earlier with his idea, Teagan couldn't help but find it completely entertaining. After all, the residents of Keystone were a little too uptight, in her opinion. Way too serious. Especially Deacon, who had this annoying habit of ruining perfectly good pranks. Who wouldn't find it funny if all the patrons of the bar started burping uncontrollably? Deacon, apparently. And then there was that prank she and Miles had collaborated on with the projector. Teagan didn't quite know the full story of what had transpired, but it had something to do with Art and in the end failed. And then there was Miles.

Miles she had grown fond of, starting to see him like a little brother. A taller, little brother, of course, but she enjoyed conversations with him and had learned a thing or two about different ways to manipulate electronics that she hadn't been aware of. Everyone knew about it, he had assured her. Yeah, if everyone meant people capable of hacking into the government database. The poor kid was coped up doing homework and school stuff all day, so he needed some outlet of fun. Teagan agreed wholeheartedly with Aiden.

She almost hoped someone tried to get out of the games. Just so she could get the opportunity to unleash, in what was in her opinion, her best pranks ever. Completely set up in the morning time while Art and Miles were jogging, she spent the rest of the day innocently hanging with Rook brother number two and Rook nephew. Art -acting as the resident Deacon while he ran the bar- didn't let her instruct Miles in weapons training. Teagan thought that every hunter should be able to effectively fire a handheld but was eventually persuaded down to hand-to-hand combat. She enjoyed sparring against people who weren't devoted to finding ways to flip her.

They had freshened up and were hanging in Mile's room when Aiden called them to the table. She took a seat between Art and Yuki. Her faction leader hadn't explained everything he planned on doing that night, so when he produced a bag of mash mellows Teagan couldn't help but let out an audible groan. Not this again. Yes, she agreed to make sure others didn't leave the game, but who was keeping her accountable? Only someone with a death wish.

If nothing worked out, perhaps she could make a deal with Miles. He deleted the footage, and to avoid him getting in trouble, replace it with the footage from her cameras that were currently recording the entire session. With some modifications, of course.

"Good luck there, guys," Teagan crossed her arms and sent a grin to the Keystone folk. "Try and beat Aiden's record of 18 marshmallows."

[Yuki]

Aiden's idea of "social time" was so stupid. Absolutely skewed. She hated this game. Loathed it, even. The only reason she didn't protest was, not because of Teagan's pranks (for the girl would suffer if any pranks were pulled on her) , but because she recognized it as a challenge, a way to retaliate for her loss the last time she had battled against their faction leader in this foolish...event. If she did back out, argued to not participate, they would think she was weak, a coward. Of which, she was most certainly strog enough to contain a good amount of those sticky masses of sugar, but she could not bneat, as Teagan had pointed out, Aiden's record of 18. Unfortunately, genetics played a certain role in that. With her slim figure and face, her mouth could not contain the same amount of marshmallows as Aiden's could. It was physically impossible. Last time (granted, after numerous protests about the childish game, which led to Aiden calling her out, in a sense, and her own subsequent acceptance of the match), Yuki had only reached a mere 15 marshmallows.

She shuddered at the memory. The game was messy, completely barbaric. Particles of marshmallows had flown here and there, and their idiot of a faction leader had insisted on recording the entire thing. To top it off, cleaning up was equally messy. She had refused to spit out the wad of sugar in her mouth, and had thus conceded to swallowing. Yuki found herself drinking glass after glass of water for the rest of that day, in a futile attempt to wash out the flavor that now stained her mouth. She had hoped that would be the last time she played that stupid "game."

Clearly, it wasn't. As Aiden finished his speech, and then proceeded to stuff a marshmallow into his mouth, she glared at him with her arms crossed. Baka yaro! She wasn't satisfied with losing a match against him, but a part of her preferred losing than participating in such an immature, pointless, good-for-nothing game.

Yuki closed her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. Looking up, she swiped the bag of marshmallows, stuffed her hand inside the bag, and pulled out one marshmallow. She placed the marshmallow inside her mouth, but not before giving Aiden another icy death glare.

Somehow, Yuki knew she was going to regret this.

"...Chubby bunny."

[Casey]

Deacon sat patiently at the table, tapping his finger’s gently. He felt a mighty urge argue with the “too serious” bit. If anything he was anything but serious, the main complaint he got was that he wasn’t serious enough. Then again Art was serious enough for the whole Rook family. Art was just special like that Deacon figured.

“I’ll try my best,” Art responded dryly. If Deacon hadn’t known him he would have thought it wasn’t sarcasm. It was also how he was able to catch the looks his brother kept throwing the marshmallows. Kid was probably figuring they were going to be used as chips. That made the facial expression when Aidan popped one in his mouth even more priceless. Art seemed to lose all muscle support and his head hit the table.

“God hates me,” he muttered into the wood, “FML.” He started raising his head just high enough so he could let it fall back onto the table. Deacon let him get away with it about five times before he grabbed the back of Art’s head by the hair. After holding it for a few seconds he let go and his face hit the table again. Art let out a muffled, “ow” and Deacon ruffled the back of his hair.

Smiling Deacon picked up a marshmallow. “You’ll probably wanna skip him,” he said before popping it in his mouth, “Chubby Bunny.”

[Miles]

Portland was....an interesting group, to say the least. Their arrival had been slightly frightening, what with holding a gun to Deacon because they didn't know of Teagan's problem with guns. How they behaved was leagues away from how Keystone behaved. Where Portland was playful, argumentative, and their personalities were all contrasting, Keystone was tame. It was a totally different atmosphere with them there, and now the faction in Austin (which Miles had only just heard of) was coming too.

Apparently, though, according to the leader of the Portland faction, being sane and normal was wrong. He had nearly pried Miles off of his computer before threatening to turn it off in the middle of all of his coding, meaning that his hours of work and codes would be lost, and he'd have to start over. Miles reluctantly agreed, because what the code was going towards would be worth it in the end.

Teagan and Yuki appeared to have been coerced into the game before, a game that Miles had never even heard of. What was the entertainment of watching people shove marshmallows in their mouths just to say chubby bunny, the most random phrase ever? Little to none, at least in his mind. He could be playing an MMORPG, or messing around in photoshop, or multiple other things in front of--

Wait a second! That was his laptop! Miles reached forward to grab it, but fell short. Frowning and crossing his arms, he was going to opt out when Aiden mentioned Teagan pranking whoever did. His frown grew heavier, and he slid down in his chair, admitting defeat. After Deacon, Miles shoved a marshmallow as fast as he could, barely muttering the phrase, "Chubby bunny."

[Aiden]

Success. Despite having a history with the game, Yuki took the marshmallow and followed suit. Soon everyone else was taking a turn, but these guys stood no chance against Aiden; he was the reigning champ, and he wasn't about to lose that title. He watched with interest as everyone took a marshmallow and put it in their mouths, eying his competition. Yuki, maybe, and Deacon as well. The others? No problem.

Round two came around. "Why does Art get to skip out?" Aiden asked, keeping the marshmallow in his mouth, per game rules. Fortunately for the others, he was well-mannered enough to cover his mouth by holding his hand as a shield when he did so. He grabbed another marshmallow, making his count two. "Chubby bunny," he murmured, eying Art and looking to Deacon and Miles.

[Teagan]

Teagan watched with mild amusement as each of the members around the tables took turns placing marshmallows in their mouths. Idiots. They would all learn eventually, like she had learned the first time they had played the game. She wasn't sure what Aiden had done with the original tape, but Teagan had every playback device in the Tavern rigged to explode the moment she could guarantee that it was on the tape within it. This time, she wouldn't make the mistake of joining the game.

To her surprise, Art passed the marshmallows next to her, so she passed the bag back to Aiden, initiating the second round. This could take forever, she mused. Perhaps Art realized that too and that's why he skipped? Leaning back in her chair, she smiled at her friend. "Because he has sense, Aids, that's why. Bug off."

[Yuki]

Yuki stared in disbelief at Art, and then at Deacon, when he declared that they had "better skip him." Why did Art get to slip out of the game?! She forced herself to contain her anger. She had established a bit of her resistance in chiding Art due to the fact that she frequently saw him reading, and he appeared to own a collection of manga. It wasn't respect she held, so much as a mutual understanding. Her urge to snap at every potential stupidity was stopped by the fact that he was a bearable young man. He seemed intelligent and thoughtful, an adolescent quite unlike Teagan. Yuki had no problem berating her, on the other hand. It was practically second nature now. Indeed, it was hard to imagine a day of not chiding Teagan for something or another.

And this day was no exception. As Teagan skipped out on another marshmallow, her anger began to peak, and by the time Aiden had put the second one in his mouth, Yuki darted up from her seat and pointed accusingly at Teagan. "Hell no! I don't care if Art does not take part in this, but you have no right to skip out on this faction challenge, child! If I'm going through it, so are you!" she snapped, putting her hand in front of her mouth to shield the group from a rain of marshmallow particles. The one marshmallow in her mouth made it so that speech was difficult and slightly convoluted. Even so, she narrowed her eyes at Teagan with a glare that threatened physical harm if she did not participate in the stupid game. Yuki would not obtain another marshmallow until she did.

[Casey]

Deacon opened his mouth to answer Aiden but instead just laughed. When Teagan spoke he finally gained language again.

“Nothing to do with sense Little C,” He ran a hand through his hair, “I’m sure he’d love to attempt to fit into this display of humiliation. Unfortunately he was correct in that God hates him at this count.”

He was about to explain when the tiny spit fire let lose. Deacon tensed up on one side and cringed over dramatically. It was almost comical the vial she spit with a marshmallow in her mouth. Even he had problems talking but she was getting volume in too. Oh yeah, he’d have to clean the table. Unfortunately he didn’t see that Art had sat up during his amusement and placed both hands on the table, returning the glare in earnest.

“Sure,” Art hissed at the Asian hunter, “Let me just go grab my epipen. Or maybe you’d like to be the one to drive me to the hospital to when my throat swells up and they have to cut a hole in my throat so air can get into my lungs. Wouldn’t that be a gas?”

Deacon reached forward, calmly saying “easy” and his younger brother put up no resistance. Art’s outbursts were rare and random and typically got him in trouble. Or with Aiden it got him a smack down a nock in the respect department. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to pull Yuki and Art apart. Though he was curious to see who would do more damage now that Art was back in fighting shape and a few inches taller.

“What my darling brother is trying to say,” he said neutrally with an underling don’t kill Art, “Is that he is allergic to gelatin. Camping was significantly less fun for him growing up.”

[Teagan]

Teagan's eyes narrowed at Yuki during her outburst, thinking the girl completely out of place and childish to act in such a way. Especially since they were on the same page about their stance toward the pathetic game. Neither of the girls liked it, so why did Yuki react so harshly to Teagan opting out of the rounds?

She was just about to open her mouth and defend herself when she was stunned into silence by the reaction of the quiet boy next to her. Or rather, the now fuming, enraged boy next to her. Art...Art actually had a temper? She was impressed; maybe there was hope for the kid after all. Defensiveness was a part of his nature...but flat out retaliation was certainly not. But, as for his allergy?

That sucked. Plain and simple.

There was a slight pause in the conversation after Deacon wrapped up Art's explanation. "Alright," Teagan finally said, breaking the silence. "This probably isn't the best game to play. After all, we're trying to get these guys to have fun, right? Can't exactly do that with one being allergic to the game. We should move onto something else then. Anyone up for truth or dare?" The last bit of her proposition tumbled out fast. Aiden loved Chubby Bunny, and she had to make sure he had no time to protest.

"Good. I'll take that as a general consensus from everyone. Deacon. Truth or dare?"

[Yuki]

A moment of shock followed on Yuki's behalf after Art's little outburst at her. It was unexpected, to say the least, and Yuki's initial reaction included a couple of surprised blinks. Though she hadn't known the child for very long, she had thought him to be the reserved sort, not very much on the assertive side. The positive aspect of this was that he was quiet and did not fill up conversations with useless information, such as Teagan did with what seemed like non-stop ranting. However, he did not use force in his words, and therefore, she suspected that people would sometimes ignore him or disregard what he was saying. Weak. He would need to work on that if he wanted people to obey his commands. No one was going to listen to him with that submissive tone he carried.

At least, that was what she had initially thought. Perhaps the child wasn't so socially pathetic as she had at first assumed. However, the child needed to learn to pick his fights better. Yuki did not take remarks that could be construed as offensive to her in a light matter. She had directed her threat at Teagan, not Art. And yet the child reacted as if she had threatened him, with a statement that was basically a direct attack on her being, her name, her honor. It would not be tolerated.

She glared at him from a couple seats away, her hand still hovering inches from her mouth. "I was not addressing you, child. It would be wise of you to stay out a conversation that you are not a part of."

Luckily, Deacon interrupted, calming down his younger brother. Intelligent move, for if the child persisted, she would have likely dealt him a physical blow. Fellow hunter or not, allergies were an understandable excuse for not participating in the game, but they did not suffice for a reason to attempt to patronize her. Foolish child. That sort of attitude was going to get him into all kinds of trouble. Silence followed Deacon's explanation, then Teagan insisted that they play "truth or dare." Yuki thought of speaking up, but then bit her lip in hesitation. She did not particularly want to play. She would much rather be reading or analyzing the plant near the inn, but again...to back out of a challenge? What would they think of her if she did? It would be unacceptable. Her pride would be tarnished. And so, conceding to the suggesting and crossing her arms in her chair, she stared in a stoic manner at Deacon as Teagan commenced the so-called game.

[Aiden]

A mix of emotions created a hailstorm of reactions in the matter of a minute. As soon as Aiden asked why Art was skipping, everything seemed to move at double speed. He listened carefully, eyes darting between everyone. Yuki was angry, Teagan seemed interested, Art was irritated, and Deacon was trying to smooth everything over, all the while Miles and Aiden sat there in the midst of it all. As the creator of game night and the leader for Portland, he found it in his best interest to join Deacon in his efforts.

Swallowing the now gooey mess in his mouth, he jumped in when appropriate. "Hey, Yuki, shut it," he said quickly, giving her a warning glance. "Art, if you were allergic, why didn't you tell us when I pulled them out? I would have skipped the game entirely," he said, sincerity in his voice. Sure, Teagan and Yuki might argue that point, seeing as Chubby Bunny was one of the games that Aiden could win at, and thus he played it a lot, but in this case, he would actually take health into consideration. "No one wants you to go to the hospital, dude. Sorry four rousing such a sensitive spot," he said seriously, not trying to push buttons.

Miles sat quietly aside, following silently and trying not to say anything to further vex either side. He simply nodded at Teagan's idea, although the thought of truth or dare made him nervous; as honest and lighthearted as he was, he knew these people could come up with some embarrassing stuff.

"Yeah, truth or dare works," Aiden said after a second, looking at Deacon for the start of the game.

[[Sorry if the slight godmodding of Miles here is confusing, but I figured this would be better than double posting almost the same thing.]]

[Casey]

“Sorry I couldn’t hear who you were glaring at,” Art crossed his arms and leaned against the table, “I wasn’t exactly observing the room. Head on the table remember?”

He turned to Aiden, “Sorry didn’t want to sound like I was chickening out and give you more ammo to say how awkward and antisocial I am or say I was lying. Besides there was no reason everyone else couldn’t put themselves in a humiliating situation.”

“I’m all up for humiliating situations,” Deacon said raising his hand, marshmallow still in his mouth. Art raised an eyebrow at his brother, which was returned shoulder shrug.

“Eh,” Deacon scratched his head. Dare with Teagan wasn’t a good idea and no one ever had the guts for it so he said, “Truth.”

[Teagan]

Truth? A twinge of disappointment struck Teagan. No one cared about truth in Truth or Dare. The entire game focus on how insane and dangerous the prank was. And with her as one of the participants, it automatically meant that the game would not be boring...provided the challenger took the dare option.

Truth? Really? "Deacon, I expected better from you," she shook her head sadly. Fortunately, Teagan was well prepared for situations such as these. Every smart prankster had a secondhand plan up their sleeve, if not several more in their back pockets.

She closed her eyes for a minute, murmuring about what question she should ask. All for show really; the younger trickster knew the exact phrase to try and gain the upper hand. "Alright, here we go. What would be a question you'd be afraid to tell the truth on?"

Teagan folded her hands, waiting for a response. Yeah, this one would nail him; he was bound to tell the truth, but if he did, then that ensured he could never pick the truth option again for the game. If he did, the entire group would know which question to ask him. That defaulted his only possible answer to dare, of which would finally bring excitement to the night. She couldn't wait to hear this answer.

[Casey]

Deacon shrugged and kept a small smile on his face. She sounded disappointed but that was probably because she couldn’t get him to do anything ridiculous. Then she thought she was clever and ask the one thing he wouldn’t want to answer. Unfortunately like anything in this kind of situation where she messed up was the wording.

“The question I would never want to answer is,” he stretched and sighed. Then he scratched his beard further to stall, “Is anything the cop is asking while I’m in handcuffs. Especially if it has to do with the shifter incident.”

He smiled at Teagan before turning to face another member on the table, “How about you Yuki, Truth or Dare?”