Clashing Kingdoms

[Diana Hollis]

Diana Holland was glad to be the oldest at home now. Both Rose and Phoebe were at Hogwarts for most of the year. If it were up to her, she would have liked for them to stay for the holidays too. Okay, maybe just Phoebe.

But for now she was the one in charge, and as they were playing in the park today it meant that she got to decide what she and her sister were going to play. No stupid adventures or 'Experiments', no. Today they were going to play pretend. Properly. "Okay Alice." She told her younger sister sternly. "We're going to play princess and servant and I'm the princess." She smiled. "We can switch later, I promise." Diana said, her fingers crossed behind her back. Alice was easily distracted, when Diana was done with the game she would just suggest something else and she knew her sister would probably go along with it. "So you have to do what I say, okay? Find me a pretty flower!"

 

[Alice Briar]

Alice missed playing with her oldest sisters, but she liked that Diana had a lot more time for her now that Rose and Phoebe were at Hogwarts. The two played a lot together! Which was fun. Today they were at the park, and Alice was eager to go look around and see if she could find anything fun or interesting. Or maybe meet some nice people! But Diana wanted to play a game, and Alice liked games as well. She giggled when her sister declared what they were going to do. Diana didn't know it, but she was predictable. Alice knew that she wouldn't really let her switch, but she didn't mind. In this game it was more fun to be the servant anyway! They got to do stuff, the princess just had to sit and wait. "Okay!" She said with a bright smile. "I'll find the prettiest flower, you wait here your highness!" She bowed to Diana and then skipped off to find a flower. She might make Diana wait for a bit, see how long she enjoyed being pretend royalty when there was no one to be bossy to.

 

[Sophia Night]

Sophia usually enjoyed accompanying her father on trips to Brightstone, but today she was only here because her riding lesson had been cancelled and she was still a bit sore about the change of plans. She hadn't complained, of course, but Dad had noticed something was off and so had dealt with it in the only way he knew how - thus the leftover rubbish of an ice cream folded neatly in her hand. Sophia supposed she should go back and join her father inside one of the stores now that there was no more messy food to contend with, and with a small sigh stood up from where she had been sitting on the swing. Spotting a rubbish bin near the entrance to the park, Sophia headed towards it. Dad probably expected her to play here for a little while, but there was hardly any reason to - she hadn't even swung on the swing while she'd been sitting there, instead just sneaking looks at the place where her sister had almost crashed into the side of the swing-set a couple of years ago. Outside games were very much Rory's domain, and Sophia had long since accepted that her sister was the more creative between them.

With her rubbish finally released into the bin, she let out another little sigh and was about to leave the park entirely when her eyes suddenly lit upon a girl sitting very still on a bench, her hands in her lap and her back straighter than looked comfortable. Sophia was initially puzzled - she thought she was the only person her age silly enough to sit so still in a park of all places. While she was considering the other girl, a memory from when she had been about six suddenly rose unbidden in her mind - her sister laughing as she shoved her towards a group of children running about and shouting. Just say 'hello,' scaredy-cat, it's easy! See, like this! Well, it may have been easy for Rory, but Sophia hadn't quite managed to say anything that day. The other children had just been so different, so much more like Rory. This girl, however... Sophia started in surprise. Oh no, she had noticed her staring. Well, now she would have to say something, it was only polite. Picking her way over to the bench, Sophia paused for only a moment before deciding to sit down next to the other girl. "Hello." It was only once the word was out of her mouth that she realised Rory had never told her what to say next.

 

[Diana Hollis]

Diana watched her younger sister skip off and immediaely regretted her command. Not only was it impossible to watch her like she was supposed to if she ran off, but Alice tended to get distracted by the smallest thing. It could take her ages to return, and Diana was already starting to grow bored sitting here alone. She sighed and fiddled with one of her braids. She looked around, wondering what she could do while she waited for her silly baby sister to come back. Of course she could go after her, and probably should, but she didn't really feel like it. Alice was smart, smarter than most people gave her credit for. Surely she wouldn't get in trouble being alone for five minutes? She was pulled from her thoughts when a blond girl approached her, she looked ot be about Diana's age and Diana figured talking to her would be more interesting than just sitting here alone. The girl didn't say much, just a greeting, so Diana didn't say much in return. "Hello." She said slowly when it became apparent the other girl didn't have a follow-up to her greeting. "Are you here alone?" It seemed obvious that the other girl was here on her own, and Diana wasn't. Even though Alice was somewhere in the bushes by now, it still counted. "My sister's looking for a flower for me." She told her with a nod to the place Alice had disappeared to. "We are playing a game."

 

[Sophia Night]

Sophia was beginning to feel very awkward as she sat next to the strange girl. She desperately wanted to fiddle with her hands as she tried to think of something else to say, but instead she tamped down the urge, continuing to sit as still as a board. Thankfully, while she was going through her little inner struggle the girl replied to her - and she'd had no trouble with thinking of a follow up to her greeting, unlike herself. Sophia leapt at the prompt to speak, though her attempt at talking in a normal fashion didn't quite manage to cover up the initial eagerness and relief of her response. "Yes - well, no, but... in the park I am. I think my father's looking in one of the shops." As the other girl shared the information that she was here with her sister, Sophia felt a little tendril of similarity bloom within her, and the thought of Rory crossed her mind again briefly. "Oh, what kind of flower... I could help, I mean... am I allowed to help? What kind of game is it?" She'd never heard of a game that involved flowers, and Sophia was slightly worried that the other girl might think she was stupid for assuming she could just join in. What if she thought she was stupid for not knowing what game it was? Sophia's hands tightened their grip on each other in her lap.

 

[Diana Hollis]

Diana wondered why the girl was acting so weird, she almost seemed nervous. Did she look that scary? She didn't think so. Besides, the blonde seemed to be slightly older than Diana, if she had to guess. The girl was alone with her father, maybe she didn't have any brothers or sisters so she didn't know how to play and talk to others? Diana couldn't imagine a life without all her sisters, though sometimes she did imagine it without Phoebe. The girl seemed eager to play too but if she went after Alice Diana would be bored again so she shook her head. "It's just a silly game I play to keep her busy." She said with a shrug, conveniently forgetting that playing pretend was her own favorite thing to do. "We play princess and servant and I'm the princess and tell her to do things for me and she does them." She glanced at Sophia. "She'll be back soon anyway. Maybe we can play something else when she returns now that you're here too. Do you know any games?"

 

[Sophia Night]

Sophia took in the information the girl gave her with curiousity. "Oh." She'd never played a game like that before - certainly not with Rory, and there was surprisingly little one could do by themselves. Sophia had held a lot of teddy-bear tea parties in her time. It might be fun to play a princess, she thought, but if the game was about to change she didn't think it would help to tell the other girl so. Instead she tried to think of things she'd done in the past with other children, wishing she wasn't as boring as her sister always seemed to say she was. "Well, there's hide-and-seek, and hopscotch. Um, tag..." These were all very action-based, Sophia realised, she was sure that was Rory's influence. "I Spy?" she offered. Perhaps this girl would think she had very silly ideas and not want to play with her. "I'm not very creative, sorry. But I'll play anything you like." Sophia was sure she could handle whatever suggestion the other girl might make, she didn't look too boisterous.

 

[Alice Briar]

Alice was finally tired of running around on her own and leaving Diana to stew on her bench, so she returned to the part of the park her sister was at. To her surprise, she saw another girl sit with her. A blond girl that seemed to be Diana's age. Alice grinned, a new friend! She skipped over to them. "Diana! Look!" She brandished the flower she had found, though it was nothing special, and then bowed deep. "Your highness, here is the flower you asked for." She said dramatically before dropping the daisy on Diana's lap. She perked up and looked at the newcomer. "Hi! Who are you? I'm Alice! Are you going to play with us?" She beamed. "We should do something else! Want to still play pretend but be something else? We could be warriors or pirates or aliens!"

 

[Diana Hollis]

Diana was just about to tell the girl her games were sort of boring, but maybe hide-and-seek would be okay when Alice came running back. She sighed as she looked at the crumpled daisy she had gotten, Alice really wasn't the most careful girl. "This is Sophia." She told her sister with a jerk of her head to the blond girl. "And aliens is a stupid idea." She added. "Let's do princess and dragon and knight, there's three of us." She glanced at Sophia. "Unless you have something better?" She asked her skeptically, it didn't seem to Diana like this girl was bursting with ideas.

 

[Sophia Night]

Sophia watched as the other girl thought over the game suggestions she had made. It didn't look like she particularly wanted to play them, which wasn't that suprising. What she didn't know, however, was how the girl was going to respond to her now - would she make a big deal out of her disinterest, or would she be nice and pretend that she didn't care what games Sophia had picked? It seemed like she would never know the answer though, because at that moment they were interrupted by a younger girl running up to them. The sister, Sophia supposed, as if it hadn't been obvious by the way the girls talked to each other. Alice seemed nice and Sophia liked her immediately, hesitantly nodding at the younger girl's suggestion to play a different kind of pretend. Seeing her made Sophia suddenly realise how abrupt the older girl, Diana, was, and she subconsciously raised her hands in defence a little as she responded to her. "Oh, no, that's a good idea, I like it. But, um..." she paused slightly, wondering if this would be too much to ask. "Could I be please be the princess?" She looked back and forth between the two girls, hoping that she hadn't messed up the usual roles they took when playing this game.

 

[Alice Briar]

Alice was glad Diana accepted her proposal for their next game, as she was tired today of just doing what her sister wanted and said. She willfully ignored her comment about the aliens being a stupid idea. Clearly, she hadn't thought of all the cool things you could do while pretending to be an alien. The possibilities were endless! But sticking with the traditional games where Diana could feel important and pretend to be a princess was the safest bet, so it didn't surprise her that her sister suggested that. The new girl asked if she could be the princess and Alice answered at once. "Sure!" She said with a grin. She had the beautiful blond hair of a princess, and Alice knew that Diana had been hoping for that role in their game but she was always trying that. It was only fair Sophia would get it. "That's great! I'll be the dragon, and Diana can save you!" It would be pushing it to claim Diana as the mean monster, and Alice knew that she would probably quit playing with them and pout if she tried.

 

[Diana Hollis]

Diana was pleased when the girl agreed with her idea of playing princess, dragon, and knight. But her delight faded quickly when she asked if she could be the princess. Alice's quick agreement nearly made her scowl, why was no one doing what she wanted? At least the knight wasn't the worst role, though she wished they had a boy to play that. "Fine." she said shortly. She got up from the bench and scanned the ground, finding a stick that would do. "You should run over there together and I'll come find you and fight Alice. And I will win because I'm the hero." She told them, her tone bossy and clear. If they didn't do as she said, she would go do something better by herself, she decided.