leave me alone [christine]

It had been a stressful few days. The rents were all uptight about the whole crazy uncle situation, and life at home was becoming slightly unbearable. Quinn II was taking this opportunity to get out of the house and enjoy being alone.

He lit a cigarette and took a long drag--another one of the perks of getting out of the house was getting to smoke. He would be in a lot of trouble if his mom and dad ever caught him.

He was laying on his back at the edge of the lake. While he enjoyed being away from the fam, he wouldn't have minded maybe having a friend or someone to talk to. Oh well. It still beat being at home right now.

Christine had followed her older brother all the way to the ruins. Telling her dad that she was going with him was the only way he actually let her go, because if she told him she was going alone he wouldn't let her. She wasn't totally lying to him, she was still with her brother after all.

Christine didn't understand why the rules got so strict and different all the sudden, nobody would tell her! They were paying attention to Julie a lot lately too, which made her totally jealous. Even though she had two younger brothers, she was still the baby of the household!

Rupert was in the form of a vervet monkey because they were both trying to climb a tree to see were Quinn got off to.

I see him Christine! And he's smoking!

Christine pushed some leaves out of the way and there he was, her big brother with a cigarette in his mouth. She dropped out of the tree making an 'oof' noise when she landed and her and Rupert took off to find him.

"Quinn," she shouted to her brother when she found him. "Mom and dad will kill you!"

The peace and quiet was shattered by a shrill, irritating voice that Quinn II recognized as his sister. And it wasn't his cool older sister, it was his annoying little one. Christine. Ugh.

He quickly put his cig out and flicked it away, but it was too late. She was already shrieking accusations at him. SHE WAS SO ANNOYING. Quinn II let out an irritated sigh and sat up.

"No, they're not going to kill me, because they're not going to find out," he said angrily. "What are you doing here anyways?"

"I was bored so I followed you," Christine told him. "Why are you smoking? That's so gross!"

She wrinkled her nose at the cigarette her brother flicked onto the ground. Rupert took the form of a fancy rat and sat upon Christine's shoulder.

"I'm not explaining myself to you," Quinn II said disdainfully. Once this girl started talking she never shut up. "Can't you go home and bother Keegan or something?"

Annoyed as he seemed, Quinn II did have a soft spot for his little sister, and probably wouldn't mind her being here as much if she hadn't just caught him smoking. He actually kind of envied her, how she could be all bold and obnoxious and not care what anyone thought of her.

"Keegan isn't home," Christine replied. "He's helping mom grocery shop."

She walked closer to her brother so she was now next to him, "Julie is taking a nap, and dad is busy playing with Cedric and Dorian."

Christine crossed her arms and sighed irritatedly while blowing her bangs up into the air.

"Now that you've got that nasty cigarette out of your mouth," she said. "We should play a game!"

Quinn II was kind of at an awkward time in his life where he was torn between wanting to be respected as an adult, or wanting to be able to play like a kid. So when Christine asked him to play again he couldn't help but be interested.

"...What kind of game?" he asked after a long pause.

"We should play hide an seek!" Christine exclaimed while throwing her hands into the air. "There's plenty of hiding places!"

She grinned broadly up at her big brother.

Quinn II made a face. "Eh, I dunno Christine, that's kind of a kid's game," he said with uncertainty. He didn't know if he could actually enjoy playing hide and seek because it would feel kind of undignified.

He sat there thoughtfully for a moment. "We should play tag," he decided, as if tag was somehow less immature than hide and seek.

"Okay," Christine chirped while tapping her brother on the arm. "Tag you're it!"

She turned and ran off, laughing a fake evil laugh.

Quinn II smirked and took off after her. He knew he could catch her easily because he was faster, but he figured he'd have more fun instead. Like she said, there were plenty of hiding places in the Ruins. He veered off in another direction and circled back so that he'd be in front of her, and then hid behind a piece of ruin, waiting for her to run past.

Christine kept running in the same direction, and didn't look back until she was in the area where Quinn II had hidden. She stopped, she didn't see him anywhere. Where did he go?

Once she was in range, Quinn II jumped out of his hiding place and tackled Christine while yelling some kind of weird battle cry. Once he knocked her over he smiled, flicked her nose and said, "You're it!" and ran off, imitating her laugh.

Christine layed there in shock. She sat up and watched her brother run off. She smirked and stood up. Rupert took the form of a velociraptor and Christine hopped onto his back. He then took off running after Quinn II, and as the two passed him up, Christine reached out and tapped Quinn II's shoulder.

Quinn II blinked as he felt the hand touch his shoulder. He looked over and saw Christine riding her daemon in the form of a raptor. Hah! That little cheater! Well if she was allowed to do that....

He manipulated a little chain he had concealed (being Dian he had tons of concealed little metal thingies) and made it fly after Christine, and wrap around her and pull her off Rupert's back.

Once they were both stopped, the chain recoiled and Quinn II casually walked up to Christine who was on the ground again. "Tag," he said, nudging her with his foot. "I win."

Christine sat up crossed her arms over her chest and pouted, looking up at her brother, "You big jerk."

She got up off of the ground, stood there for a second, then with a roar she jumped on her brother.

"Waugh!" Quinn II yelled in surprise, trying to shove her away. She wouldn't relent and he didn't want to hurt her, so, laughing, he exclaimed, "Okay, okay! I give up. You win, Christine!" Still laughing he fell to the ground.

Christine giggled and squeezed her brother into a large hug. She kissed him on the cheek and said, "I love you Qween!"

She giggled again.

"I'll say I love you too if you never call me that again," Quinn II said, as if she was going to stop now that she knew he didn't like it.

Christine kept giggling, "Qween! Qween! The King of the Tween...ssss!"

She climbed off of her brother and stood back up. She stuck out her tongue then ran to her daemon.

"Hey, where are you going?" Quinn II asked, sitting up. He thought she was getting ready to leave. "You're not allowed to leave without me!"

"I'm not leaving," Christine replied. "I'm just getting away from my evil brother!"

She stuck her tongue back out at him.

"Hey, why am I evil?" Quinn II asked, feigning being hurt and offended.

"Because," Christine started to say, making a face. "I dunno."

She smiled, "Let's go home now Qween."

As the two were heading back home Christine said, "By the way, I'm holding those cigarettes agaisnt you!"

END