Open Adventuring further

[Thalia Pourroulis]

Thalia wasn’t exactly sure what it was, but something had definitely made her want to explore more that day. It wasn’t unusual for her to want to venture out of the house and get to know the areas that she had been living in the past few years. She hadn’t gotten the chance to see much yet, for some reason, but with permission from her oldest sister Octavia the girl had prepped for the day, bringing her twin along. Actually, it was the other way around, Thalia was more of a follower whilst Teodora was the leader out of the two of them. She only ever felt truly comfortable to those she felt particularly close to. And well, Tee was her other half. She shared everything with her sister, there were no lies between them. Thalia could never, which was the reason as to why she gave her most honest opinion on things. This included what she thought was best they should do that day, and what she wanted to avoid - like strange alleys or dark corners of odd streets. The brunette had packed a backpack with snacks and water in case they got hungry and needed some urgent food. Of course, Octavia, as their guardian in this country with her parents back home in Europe, had given them some money. But it was always better to be safe than sorry. Upon reaching a park, Thalia’s eyes lit up and she pulled at her twin’s sleeve, her eyes begging her to have a break. They had walked for hours. "Can we just eat something here? Please?" she asked, already opening her bag to show what snacks she had brought along. She even had a deck of cards! ​

 

[Teodora Pourroulis]

Teodora was eager to explore other parts of the village with her sister today. She had seen plenty of the village itself but never dared to venture its surroundings, as her oldest sister had made it pretty clear that most of the buildings and streets beyond the village was forbidden territory for them. But today Octavia had given them permission to explore a bit more. She felt her sister pull on her sleeve and turned to her. She knew that it was probably best if they would take a break, they had been walking for hours after all, but there was so much more to see and they didn't have all day. Teodora thought about it for a few seconds before giving in. ''Fine, let's take a break here,'' she replied, thinking that if they wouldn't, Octavia would scold her later for not letting Thalia choose something to do on their day out. She wanted to continue exploring the village and its surroundings, especially the manor up ahead because it was supposed to be haunted. It would be difficult to convince Thalia to come along with her, however, but they wouldn't necessarily have to go into the manor to feel its sinister vibe. While she had been out here before, always carefully observing the house from a distance, something today made her want to see it from a closer angle. Tee glanced down in the backpack to see what her sister had brought along and frowned upon seeing the deck of cards. ''Planning on playing cards with the elderly at the village?'' she asked with a grin on her face.

 

[Emori Pourroulis]

Emori had no idea what made her so energetic that day, but something had, and the young girl wanted to use it as much as she could before her oldest adoptive sister told her that she had to get back. And she knew very well that the time would come. She even knew exactly at what hour she needed to be back but it wasn’t fair, because Thalia and Teodora never got a curfew. Sure, they were older, but only by one year! Almost two, but how were they any different? She was also aware that she seemed to be a magnet to trouble. And that she had run away on a number of occasions with her previous foster families. Once even in this family when she had seen how many girls were in the house. It was simply insane and Emori had a hard time adjusting to new environments half the time. Especially ones like new homes. Every family was different. The girl ventured into the park, already bored. She wanted to do something fun, but she didn’t know anyone her age yet. When she spotted a familiar pair of twin heads, the nine year old bounced towards them. "Is that food?" she asked, her way of greeting them. "So, can I have some? And oh, are those board games? I bet you can’t beat me," she said smugly as she spotted snakes and ladders and chess, folding her arms and looking expectantly at Thalia and Tee as she said this.

 

[Thalia Pourroulis]

Thalia was relieved - and happy - that her twin agreed with her, though technically as her twin, she half expected Tee to have the same mind she did. She smiled at her as she pulled her sleeve once more to sit down with her. She rolled her eyes playfully at Teodora when she asked if she thought of playing with the elderly. "Maybeeee," she said, sticking her tongue out at her sister. "Seriously though, what’s wrong with cards? They’re so much fun," she said enthusiastically. Thalia almost didn’t expect to see another girl join them and she glanced at her twin before turning her gaze again towards Emori. "Hey Em," she greeted, her demeanour changing completely as she became quieter. It happened, with strangers or acquaintances, and though Emori had been part of the family for a few months now, it hadn’t been long enough yet for Thalia to be comfortable around her entirely. "Oh, sure, you can have some food," she said with a shy smile, gesturing towards the snacks she had placed on the blanket she had brought and was now on the ground next to her. ​

 

[Teodora Pourroulis]

Teodora shook her head in amusement, knowing full well why his sister had brought a bag filled with games with her. She didn't actually mind it, it was better than just staring around in silence while having lunch. She joined Thalia on the ground and got one of the sandwiches placed on the blanket. She was pleasantly surprised when Emori joined the two of them, and briefly wondered if maybe the girl had followed the two of them as she too had gotten permission from Octavia to explore the village. She liked the younger girl though, it was fun to have someone around who wouldn't just let people walk over her. She didn't know why Thalia acted so shy around people she knew. It annoyed her at times as it left her to do the talking usually. Emori was part of their family now so there was no reason for her to be shy whenever she was around. ''Hello Emori,'' she said with a wave and a smile. ''We've brought more than enough!'' she added to her sister's answer. Perhaps with their adoptive sister around, who was ten times more confident than her twin, Tee would be able to convince them to come along with her to the mansion at the end of the street. But that would have to wait for now. She grinned at Em's comment and said, ''I bet I can beat you in every single one of these,'' waggling her eyebrows playfully while doing so.

 

[Percival Dearborn]

Percival did not care what his parents told him, he was sick of constantly having to wait outside for them while they did their shopping. Why couldn't they just leave him back home where he would be able to do his own thing rather than sitting about and waiting for them to be finished. He decided that if he was to wait for his parents, he would at least make himself comfortable while doing so, and so made his way towards the park and the benches there. He wondered if his parents were buying something for him if he wasn't allowed in the shop but was pulled away from that thought when he overheard a pair of girls talking about beating one another at board games. Intrigued, Percival turned around to head their way instead. If the three of them would allow him to play along with whatever game they would be playing, he'd rather spend his time with them than alone on a bench. ''Games? Well, I bet that I can beat every one of you,'' he said as he approached them.

 

[Emori Pourroulis]

Emori didn’t mind too much attention towards Thalia, she had been told that she was the shy, quiet one, and so she hoped that was the case and not something else, like maybe the fact that the older girl didn’t like her. Emori has stopped trying to be liked by others ages ago. She’d had a tough upbringing after all. But, she did like all of her new sisters and that was a big deal for the nine year old. She huffed at Tee, then stuck her tongue out at her. "Challenge accepted," she said with a smirk, before she plopped down next to the pair and took a biscuit, munching on it and savouring the flavour. This was definitely a treat. She was about to ask the twins what they should play first when a boy approached them and had, apparently, been eavesdropping. Or at least he heard their conversation. Whatever. "Then prove it," she said, nodding towards the games. "You can choose what we’ll play first."

 

[Thalia Pourroulis]

cba with fonts

Thalia shook her head fondly at Teodora, she could definitely challenge someone and be up for a challenge herself a lot. She admired her twin, and as she glanced between her and Emori while they playfully bickered about who could beat whom, she couldn’t help but notice how alike they seemed. They were both outgoing and hopefully Thalia would be someday comfortable like they were around strangers. It wasn’t long before a boy joined them and Thalia couldn’t help the eyebrow raise. Where had he come from? Also, why would he go over to them and that was the first thing that he said to them, ever? Not that the girl was opposed to meeting new people, quite on the contrary. But it was really strange and random and she wasn’t used to it. "Hi," she said, giving the boy a small smile. "We have food too, if you want," she said shyly.

 

[Teodora Pourroulis]

She grinned when Emori accepted the challenge and thought that it probably wouldn't be that difficult to beat the girl. It were their games after all, and she used to play a lot of games with Octavia back when she still had time for them. She'd be surprised if she would lose in any of them today. She wasn't quite convinced that her sister would be up for the challenge, though looks could deceive, especially with Thalia who was just as, if not more, competitive as she was. They didn't know Emori all that well but from what she had seen and gathered throughout the past couple of months, she was even more competitive. She liked that about the girl. Teodora was about to choose the first game they should play when a boy approached them and said that he could beat any of them. She grinned even more and sat up straight, beaming at the boy. ''I'll have you eat your words,'' she said.

 

[Percival Dearborn]

Percival was surprised to see that they were actually going to let him play with them, as he was sure that they would send them away when he approached them. He sat down on the blanket with them and smiled back at the one who greeted them and helped himself to a biscuit too. The other two seemed eager to beat one another in whichever game he would choose to play, which he liked. He looked at the many choices spread out across the blanket and picked up the box containing snakes and ladders, and said, ''Let's play this one, I'm sure I'll have more luck than any of you so this will be easy,'' with a grin. Percival opened the box and put its content in the middle of the blanket, throwing game pieces to the three of them. ''Who goes first?'' he then asked. ''Oh, and I am Percy, by the way,'' he added, almost forgetting to introduce himself to them.

 

[Emori Pourroulis]

Now that the party now comprised of four people, Emori was even more eager to win. She couldn't help but feel competitive, this was, after all, one of the rare moments she got to meet new people. So far, she had only really ever spent time with her new sisters, not that she minded, she was enjoying her time in the family. But it was also refreshing getting to know someone else, even if through playing board games. She smirked at Tee's reply towards the boy, liking her even more for that comment. She refrained from saying anything snarky as he sat down and she sent him a mischievous smile, rolling her eyes at his ego. "Sure, if you say so," she shrugged knowingly, pretending to hide something as if she knew something he didn't. "But you know what they say, be that confident and you'll jinx it," she grinned, proud of herself for having added that last bit. Emori grabbed the piece that the boy threw at her and threw it up and down as he introduced himself, stopping to say, "I'm Emori, and I'll go first." She took the dice and squinted at the numbers once she threw them. "Eight," she announced, and moved her game piece eight times, secretly relieved she had just missed the snake.

Out of Character:

since there are several different versions of the game, I found this one which looks easy to keep track of Also maybe we can use a random dice generator?

 

[Thalia Pourroulis]

Thalia admittedly felt slightly intimidated by how everyone seemed confident but her, but she pushed the feeling away, focusing on the conversation and the game at hand. They were to play snakes and ladders, apparently, and the boy asked who would go first before introducing himself as Percy. Thalia waited to see if anyone would, and sure enough, Em went. She smiled a little, enjoying the girl’s eagerness. It was true that even Thalia was beginning to enjoy this little gathering, and with her twin it was a lot easier to interact with others. She hesitated but after a minute she grabbed the dice, briefly making eye contact with Emori who had just played. "I’ll go next. I’m Thalia," she introduced herself, before she rolled the dice, totalling up to nine. She smiled, and moved the game pieces to where the second ladder was. After moving it to 13, Thalia felt pleased, so far, so good. She shrugged to Teodora with a smile.

 

[Teodora Pourroulis]

Teodora smirked slightly when the boy picked out snake and ladders. It was one of her favourite games to play and she actually considered herself to be quite good at it, even if it was just all pure luck. His comment would make it all the more fun if she would win this. She nodded when he introduced himself as Percy and grabbed the piece he threw towards her, watching at Emori went first. ''I'm Teodora and I guess I'll go next,'' she said once it was her turn, grabbing the dice and rolling them in her cupped hands before letting them fall on the blanket. As she added the two numbers together Tee realised she would not have luck on her side during this round. After moving her piece to 7 she slid it down to the bottom of the snake, which was the 4. Avoiding any eye contact, Teodora tossed the dice to Percy.

 

[Percival Dearborn]

He didn't expect the two of them to return the funny remarks but there he was, laughing at both comments. While he didn't know what to think of Thalia just yet, Emori and Teodora seemed quite fun to hang around with for now. He smiled at girls as they introduced themselves and caught the dice the girl called Teodora threw his way. After boasting that he'd do better than they would, he would need to throw a higher amount than any of them. So, without any hesitation, Percy rolled the dice and let out a little cheer. Like Thalia, the boy moves his piece to where the second ladder was and up to 13. Good. He grinned while he turned to face Emori and said, ''I'm sorry, but what did you say about jinxing it?'' referring to the fact that he was higher up the board than she was.