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It was a quiet afternoon at the “mid-century modern” base. Quiet, as in, no war or death occurring nearby. “Quiet” as in meaning the house was peacefully silent? No, not at all.
Jimmy had gotten back that morning after scouting the lands for a place to call home, and since then, had been gawking at the size of Joel being tiny, proclaiming his cuteness. Joel of course, absolutely hated this, and made it known by nearly throwing a tantrum (as well as throwing some polished rocks over at the teaser. With a quick reminder from Etho that only when they were red-names he could throw rocks as he liked, Joel stopped.)
On the calmer side of things was Tango, who did not throw rocks at people though also vehemently agreed that they were not “cute”. Granted, once on the older side of things, one wasn’t as cute, so his debate was fair (fairer, at least). Another aspect of being older was not finding wonder and easy entertainment in anything, which meant long periods of boredom in a world without tvs or game consoles.
“There’s nothing to dooooo.” Tango was lying down with his head pointed at the stone ceiling, his arms outstretched across the floor.
Joel, seeing the opportunity, jumped on top of him.
“Hey. What do you take me for?” Tango rolled over, Joel tumbling over with him. Seconds later, he had the smaller pinned to the ground. Joel pouted up at him. “You started it.” Tango flattened himself against Joel, outstretched his arms again, proclaiming his boredom and Joel’s annoyances.
“Get off of me,” Joel said, very muffled underneath Tango. “You’re heavy.”
“Not my fault you’re so short.”
“You’re also a stinky yellow-name. You’re short too!”
The argument was weak, but Tango got off of Joel, unamused with their game. He moved over to the table, where everyone else who was normal-sized was. “I’m bored.”
“Hey bored,” Etho said, as Jimmy ruffled Tango’s hair.
Tango rolled his eyes, groaning quietly. “You’re supposed to be my soulmate. Play with me.” Tango locked eyes with Jimmy, keeping a hard stare.
Jimmy had to think about it for a moment, all while keeping eye contact. “Okay. I’m planning our base. You can help me with it.”
“But that’s not fun.”
“It’s going to be a farm. Tons of animals, like horses and cows and goats.”
“Wardens?” he asked curiously.
“Well, they’re more of a dangerous mob and stuff, but… if you want to get a warden, that’s up to you, I guess.”
The group sitting there tried not to laugh at the idea, but it was even funnier with the delighted look on Tango’s face. “I’m going to design a trap for him!” He ran off to a corner of his base, ideas already presenting themselves.
For at least another hour, the house was at peace. Joel found an interest in wandering outside, taking long walks while followed closely by at least one adult. Jimmy had taken to him easily, and despite feeling out of his element before, he was having fun essentially babysitting him. They went through wooded area, found flowers, picked at weeds, and imagined up different bases.
“So what’s your house going to be like?” Jimmy asked him.
“I’m going to be a pirate. And my ship is going to sit right next to those pillagers, and we will live like them, plundering everyone’s bases when everyone goes to sleep!” Joel proclaimed. “But you can’t tell anybody, because that would spoil the secret.”
Jimmy nodded seriously. “So what’s this ship going to look like?”
“Really big. Big brown ship! With large sails! And it’ll be called… the uh… the…” He paused for quite a few seconds. The name had to be perfect. “THE RELATION!”
Jimmy laughed and Joel smiled with pride. “Man, that sounds amazing. All I’ve got is a ranch.”
“And what’s the ranch’s name?”
“THE RANCH.”
Joel smiled and said through giggles. “That’s a silly name.”
Chaos occurred when the two tiny people were together. Sometimes it was because of Joel’s pestering. He never got tired of looking over Tango’s shoulder and asking, “What’re you doing?”
It never failed to get Tango riled up. “It’s not your business.”
“I’m just curious.”
“It’s a secret. And you’d give it away if you knew.” Tango turned away, pulling his scribbled out plans up to his chest.
“I wouldn’t! I’d be good!”
And from there, the two squabbled until the blueprints were put up and a new activity was chosen. Oftentimes that activity was eating, because there was far less arguments when one was too busy scarfing down their snack. (Unless they were complaining that the snack was soup or meat, which they had “a million times” already.)
The noise of fighting eventually got to an unreasonable point. “If you’re going to yell, you need to go outside,” Impulse said, pulling Tango along outside. Joel followed complacently, entertained far more by the outdoors than Tango.
“But it’s hot.”
“And you’ve been inside too much. You’ll be fine.” Impulse threw him a water bottle, following it up a few seconds later with one for Joel, who was about to complain that Tango got something he didn’t.
With great worry of a second death by the soulmates of said children, both Jimmy and Etho came outside to watch from a distance, each forced eventually to join in whatever chaos was set before them.
Joel had decided to craft up some more boats and was rowing along the grass. Tango was unamused and would not help him make ground, so Joel forced Etho on board to get the on-land ship to move forward.
Tango sat beside Jimmy, watching the two row across grass and get stuck in front of a misplaced block or some tall grass. It was amusing, just seeing them stupidly circle the area outside. While watching the two idiots, he and Jimmy got into a deep discussion of their future farm. While Tango had his hesitations towards the amount of work, Jimmy so passionately spoke of chickens and cows and goats and even the prospect of a pet warden, that Tango couldn’t resist the thought.
The two had their plans drawn up, which happened to drain Tango of his last energies. By the time everyone was called in for dinner, Tango and Joel both looked ready to crash, much to the pleasure of all who had to watch over them.
A shame this process would be rinse and repeat for at least another week. None of them were ready for it.