The Forgotten Zodiac

"I agree wholeheartedly," Hannah said, stepping back with Tasumi. "Trin, that was gross!" she said, shaking her head with a bit of a smile on her face. "Poor Sage. He's already paranoid. Don't assault him," she said, snickering a little.

Sage, despite everyone's sympathy, hadn't actually been licked. After having that many siblings, his immediate reaction to being touched was to punch the person away, followed by figuring out why they were touching him. When Trin had tried to lick him, he'd caught her forehead and should, pushing her back and spinning her slightly while he stepped away. "How 'bout not that? Ever. I'm allowed to hit girls, and I don't have any moral problems with it."

((Nice save, Perce. XD))

((I felt bad as you all felt bad for me, because there's no way anyone licked me.))

((Trin obviously didn't feel bad for you.))

Trin rolled her eyes, threatening with a fist and saying "I'll get you someday, boyyy! Someday! Like...when you're asleep." She chose to lick the wall instead (that is actually something I would do. You have no idea how in-character this Trin is), deciding that it looked lonely, then went over and glomped Bun instead, with an 'I-know-you-won't-push-me-away-ha-ha' look on her face. Which was more suited to a cat smiling. -w-

Bun giggled, grinning. "Alright, alright. I have to get back home. My family is leaving on vacation; my brother won a trip to Hawaii off a cereal box. He was allowed to bring himself and four people. He picked mom, dad, and the two babies. Kind of moronic on his part, but that means the other kids are going to spend the weekend at their friend's houses. Which leaves me at home, pretty much alone. Hey!" She exclaimed suddenly. "Wanna have a sleepover?"

Instantly looking over at Sage when Bun suddenly and loudly suggested they have a sleep over, Tasumi blinked several times. "Uh..." She blinked once more and looked back over at Bun. "Are you sure that's the greatest idea?..." Tasumi said, fiddling with a ring on her right-hand ring finger behind her back while she spoke. The ring had been a replacement Christmas present from her aunt. Originally she had received a bottle lemony lotion, but then her aunt remembered that Tasumi couldn't smell. She felt bad and gave her the ring instead. Tasumi wore it constantly, almost literally needing something to fiddle with near constantly.

"A sleepover?" Hannah asked, smiling a bit at the idea. "I love it! And I totally would, but Molly just had her wisdom teeth out, and I'm kind of needed at home. You know, she took care of me when I had mine out, and she's not letting me forget that I have to return the favor," she said. "So I'll have to pass this time, but I definately want to!"

"Wisdom teeth?" Sage brightened slightly, not at the idea of someone else's pain, but at the idea of Hannah's sister on drugs. "Sounds painful. We should hang out somewhere public with her as well, until we have to go inside somewhere. Then you could leave with her. She wouldn't have to say anything, and I would have an excuse to buy ice cream." He turned around, absent-mindedly spinning the bracelet his sister had made for him. "Let's go. The dark is starting to get old."

Trin stared at Sage for a moment, then said "I AM FOR THIS SLEEPOVER. It will be my..." She counted on her fingers for a moment, then said "...first ever in my life." She smiled - :3 - then said "I don't like the dark. There's all kinds of creepy bugs and stuff lurkin' around and MINE!" Her eyes, having since adjusted to the darkness, spotted a small, harmless snake crawling across the ground. She lunged for it and picked it up by the back of its head, saying "Awwwwwww, he's so cuuuute!"

Bun took one look at the snake and made a sound consisting of half whimper, half cry of alarm. She ran as fast as she dared, around the corner and about halfway up the tunnel before tripping and falling. Bun realized how stupid that must have looked and sat up, brushing herself off. She straightened the white rabbit ears on her head, noting that they were pretty dirty already. Then she curled her knees up to her chest to wait on the others.

Among many things, snakes were one of Bun's worst fears.

Tasumi grinned, excited at the sight of the snake, but when she saw Bun's reaction, she sighed. Hurrying off after Bun so she wouldn't be alone, Tasumi put aside wanting to play with the snake Trin had found, knowing that she wouldn't want to be left alone if she were the one afraid instead of Bun.

"You know, harmless or not, it's not a good idea to grab at those like that," Hannah said, smiling a little. "They still have teeth, you know!" she said to Trin, before looking off down the tunnel where the other two had gone. She looked over and smiled at Sage, saying, "I'm sure Molly wouldn't mind ice cream. It may seem kind of strange, but you remind me a LOT of her. It's uncanny."

Sage looked at Trin, then he turned around and walked after Bun. He hated snakes with a burning passion, and the nightmares he'd had as a child hadn't helped. As he passed Tasumi, he pointed back toward the others. "You can go back if you'd like. I hate snakes. Funny that we share that, huh, Bun?"

Trin danced around in circles with the snake for a moment, then put it down and wiped her hands on her shirt. "He's gone," she reported, trekking up after the others. She sat down next to Bun and put her arms around the other girl, saying "I won't hold anymore snakes if you don't want me to. I'm nice like that." She let go and stood up, poking Sage's shoulder. "That goes for you too, my Sage-mage. I will hold no snakes."

"No, you can pick them up, just don't bring them near me," Bun giggled a bit. "I shouldn't have run away like that, you just scared me." She stood, then brushed herself off. "Okay, it's someone else's turn to lead the way. I don't really care where we go; I was given a bit of money for the weekend, so I'm even okay if we decide to go somewhere for lunch. Or dinner. What time is it?" She frowned, looking down at her wristwatch. Which was analog, and had no backlight. "Huh. Shadow past a ticky sound." She grinned at her own joke, looking up at the others.

Tasumi just kept walking towards Bun. There were other snakes in the world; it wasn't like she wouldn't ever have another chance to see one. Besides, the others would follow soon enough anyway. Being correct and watching Trin and Hannah's shadowy figures coming soon after hearing Sage, Tasumi stopped. They were soon all congregated near each other, listening while Bun explained the obvious, that she was scared of snakes. "It's just past four. Four eleven." Tasumi said, sticking her not-a-phone back in her pocket, grinning slightly at Bun. Her joke was a little more original than most wristwatch jokes.

"It's time to get a watch!" Hannah was quick to fire after Bun's question - she, of course, having been on the recieving end of that answer, it soft of just... came out, now. Of course, if she had a nickel for everytime someone said that to her, she'd have enough money to BUY a watch, so she really had no room to talk. She grinned, then looked around. "I'll go out first. It's just a straight shot out, right? If we get lost, I'd like to make sure everybody remembers - Bun let me lead," she said, then set off in the direction they had come.

((To keep my family out of this, perhaps I'm staying with one of my older brothers, who will have moved somewhere and gotten an apartment.))

Sage looked down at his watch, pressing the button to backlight the digital face. "Four twelve, Tasumi." He spun on his heel and followed on Hannah's tail, combat boots banging noisily on the hardened ground. "Anyone need to call their parents? I do have a cellphone. My mother wanted to be able to contact me whenever she felt like it."