(no subject)

[jarodrussel.livejournal.com]

Date: June 3rd, morning
Location: Road before manor
Status: Public)
Summary: Jarod discovers a new game


For a while, Jarod had been standing by and on the street that ran past the manor grounds. Someone had taken great care to chalk a grid of lines onto the pavement. They hadn't been there the last time he'd passed this place.

He walked around them slowly, looking at them from all angles, head tilted sideways in thought.

Comments

[halosphere.livejournal.com]

Raphael looked over from where he was perched in his little tree. Hopping gracefully from the branch he was nestled in he padded over to where the Son was. "Penny for your thoughts?" he asked.

[jarodrussel.livejournal.com]

Jarod looked up and smiled at Raphael. "I wonder what this thing is," he admitted. "Someone drew it in the street. Some sigil? Part of a ritual maybe? I think I might look it up in the library, but I'm not sure what to look for."

[halosphere.livejournal.com]

"Oh! It's a game," Raphael smiled. "It's called hopscotch! Here..." He picked up a small stone and stood on one side. Then he tossed it. It landed on square number five. "You do this..." He hopped on one foot, but stumbled trying to hop from four to six. The angel laughed, dropping onto two feet again. "Want to try it?"

[jarodrussel.livejournal.com]

A game?

"Sure!" he agreed. "What are the rules? You take a stone..." he did so, "toss it onto the five," he did so, duplicating Raphael's move from earlier, "and then you hop on it? What for? How do you win?"

[halosphere.livejournal.com]

"It doesn't have to be five," Raphael explained. "You toss it and wherever it lands is what you hop around while trying to stay on the grid. You win when you make it to that top square without losing your balance."

[jarodrussel.livejournal.com]

"Oh," Jarod said. "And if one misses the grid with the stone?"

[halosphere.livejournal.com]

"Then you just hop on all the squares." Raphael's smile was bright. "It's a game. For fun. And can be quite challenging, especially if you use more than one stone at once." He nodded at the grid. "Go ahead, have a little fun."

[jarodrussel.livejournal.com]

"Fun is good!" Jarod declared. He took another stone without taking hte first one off of the five, and tossed it randomly. It hit the seven.

Jarod went into position at the beginning of the grid.

Skipping on one leg was not something he was used to, and he stumbled before he even reached the first stone.

"Seems I need to work on my technique," he said.

[halosphere.livejournal.com]

Raphael grinned. "Hey, that's part of the fun!" He picked up the stones and tossed one to land at two and another at eight. Then he hopped, but stumbled trying to hop to the top bar. He laughed. "See? Fun."

[jarodrussel.livejournal.com]

Grinning, Jarod scooped up the stones and tossed. He hit three and five.

He was a hair more secure in his hopping this time, but he still missed the square between three and five, stepping instead on the line of the lower one.

"I guess I'm out again, eh?" he said, balancing on one leg where he stood, just in case.

[halosphere.livejournal.com]

Raphael nodded. "Yup. You win when you reach the top grid. If you stumble or miss, you're out." This was fun, his aura was already shining.

[jarodrussel.livejournal.com]

"Ah well," Jarod said, stepping out of the grid and to the side.

[halosphere.livejournal.com]

Raphael threw the two stones. One missed the grid while the other landed on eleven. He started hopping on one foot, wings deciding right then to flail wildly since no one had paid attention to them in the last two minutes and thus, cause him to stumble over.

[old-and-wise.livejournal.com]

Methos was just coming back from an early-morning visit to the town.

In front of the manor, a strange scene played out as he arrived.

Methos ambled over and leaned against the manor's fence casually. "What's that?" he asked. "A new dance?"

[jarodrussel.livejournal.com]

"A game," Jarod said. "Raphael here is teaching me. Why don't you come play, too?"

[halosphere.livejournal.com]

Oh boy! More players! The childish side of Raphael was definately showing. "Here, take the pebbles and toss them randomly at two of the squares. If they miss the grid it's okay. Then you hop on one foot but skipping the squares with the pebbles. You win if you can make it to the top grid without stumbling or missing."

He offered the small stones to Methos with a hopeful smile.

[old-and-wise.livejournal.com]

Methos' mouth twitched. He scooped up two stones, though, and tossed them, very randomly. Both fell clear of the grid.

"Now what?" he said.

[halosphere.livejournal.com]

"Here, let me show you." He hopped on one foot, careful to skip around the squares with stones. The angel stumbled, however. "And I'm out. Here, you try!"

[old-and-wise.livejournal.com]

Well, it wasn't as if he had anything better to do.

His balance good from millenia of martial arts, and the grid clear of stones because he had conveniently tossed them past the lines, Methos easily skipped up the device on the road and out on the other side.

[halosphere.livejournal.com]

"That was perfect!" Raphael squee'd. He picked up the two pebbles. "My turn." He tossed them both at once and they landed at three and eleven. Taking a deep breath he nearly made it to the top...

...but his wings began prematurely flapping in glee and he lost his balance. Laughing, he picked himself up and handed the pebbles to Jarod. "So that's zero for both of us and one for him," he smiled.

[jarodrussel.livejournal.com]

Jarod tossed, then copied Methos' technique to take him up to the top.

He loosed back on the grid. "I think I stepped on the line between three and four," he said, swinting at it slightly. "Does that count?"

[rhaphael.livejournal.com]

Raphael pouted. "You can't step on any lines," he said. Darn!

[old-and-wise.livejournal.com]

Methos chuckled. "I'm good, eh?" he said. "Come on, guys, I know oyu can catch up with me."

He slouched comfortably against the manor's fence and watched the two others.

[jarodrussel.livejournal.com]

"Next round we will!" Jarod promised.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_silverfox/]

Coming out of the building, Kirby had been observing the three men at their game for a moment.

Now she walked over to them.

"Hey there, boys," she greeted them. "Can a girl play, too?"

Jarod looked Kirby up and down.

"Sure," he said, then remembered that maybe it wasn't precisely his decision to make. He looked at the other two.

"Right? You don't mind?"

"I don't mind," Methos said, glancing at Rapahel. "Do you?"

"Anyone can play," Raphael smiled. He could feel his cheeks burning and he subconsciously raked his fingers through his hair.

Kirby gave the red-head her brightest smile and stooped to pick up some stones. "How many are you playing with?" she asked.

"Two," Jarod said, noticing with slight amusement how Raphael got flustered at the sight of Kirby.

Raphael had managed to rake his hair into a crimson mess. Coppercurls... The nickname still made him blush. Sometime he would have to figure out what was with having a human corporation that caused such trouble! "So you throw the pebbles, see, and you hop on one foot to the top. But you can't hop on the squares that the stones fall on. Do you... wnat to try...?"

"Sure," Kirby said, discarding some of the stones she had scooped up. "Though," she grinned at the men in turn, "I guess I should use more stones than you do. I used to be pretty damn good at this a few years ago."

Jarod didn't doubt that one bit. "Be my guest," he said. "Take as many as you want to."

Kirby considered, then took four stones.

"Bet you I'll manage to get through it anyway?" she challenged.

"I'm not in the habit of betting when I don't know the odds," Jarod laughed.

"I second that," Methos said. He slouched against the fence, watching Kirby.

"Suit yourself," Kirby said, and tossed the stones. Two hit 3 and 4, the other two landed on 6.

She laughed. "That makes things easier!"

With the ease of long practice at things requiring supreme balance and accuracy, she went over the squares, giving the others a deep bow as she reached the other end.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_silverfox/]

Methos clapped his hands twice.

"Very nicely done," he conceded.

"Anytime," Kirby said. "Whose turn is it? Coppercurls?"

"I think so," Methos said as he sat on the fence and settled there to enjoy the view.

Jarod leaned on the fence next to Methos to watch. He was enjoying this crowd very thouroughly, in spite of some people's insistence at treating him like he was some saviour.

Raphael snapped out of his daze, realizing his mouth had dropped open while watching Kirby hop around on the grid. "Uh..." He cleared his throat, cheeks burning to the color of his hair. He must be getting ill, that had to be it. His whole corporation was hot. "I uh, I think I'll sit this turn out, I'm uh... Tired." Yeah. Tired.

"Tired, eh?" Methos said, grinning widely at the redhead. "I bet you're tired, because admiring beauty is such a tiring effort."

He chuckled and scooped up some stones.

"What's there to admire?" Kirby teased.

She stepped back to give Methos free access to the game grid.

A lot, Raphael thought, cheeks still burning as he flopped onto the grass to watch the game, though his eyes kept drifting to Kirby. She was beautiful, especially when she smiled. It was the kind of smile that made his mind slam to a halt and made his corporation feel as if it had the consistency of Jell-o.

But he was coming down with a fever. That's all it was. Too much sun.

Jarod looked at Raphael with a mixture of concern and interest. Something seemed to be wrong with him.

"What happened?" he asked. "Does the sun not agree with you?"

Methos tossed carelessly and started skipping, hitting hte line at the second hop on purpose so he could stop and continue to enjoy the scene playing itself out between Kirby and Raphael.

"Y-yes. That's it." That had to be it. The sun.

He quirked an eyebrow when he noticed Methos hitting the line. Didn't he just show them all up before? Maybe he was sick too. For being the Healer of God, Raphael should know what's going on!

...what if the angel was contagious?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_silverfox/]

That must be it, Methos must have caught whatever Raphael had. "I should... I should go inside." Yet his eyes trailed back to Kirby and he blushed. She looked so beautiful when she smiled...

Methos nearly doubled over with laughter as he watched the angel. He could only imagine now much Kirby enjoyed the situation.

Well, he wans't going to spoil it for her.

Raphael blinked, totally oblivious. "What's so funny?"

Kirby had not neglected to notice the angel's infatuation.

She turned her eyes on Methos. "Yes," she said. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Methos said. "Nothing at all. Really."

Raphael's cheeks blushed further. He mumbled something inaudible and waved to Jarod and the others before shuffling back up the steps and into the manor.

For some reason, he had the urge to take a cold shower.

Kirby looked after Raphael, grinning widely. This was going to be a game she would thoroughly enjoy - and that was not referring to hoscotch.