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“One, two, three, four, five” I watch as Willow surreptitiously moves her peg one more unaccounted for step, skipping past the bad one that would have taken her back to the start.
“Six!” She finishes off her counting with a flourish, not so secretly actually taking seven, “I landed on a mystery square!” She announces excitedly to us picking up one of the special cards.
“What’s it say mama?” She asks me expectingly as she holds it out for me to read.
I chuckle, amused by Willow’s cheating. “It says you get to move five more places”
Willow does a quick little happy dance as she counts another five steps, correctly; not that it matters this time.
“Your turn daddy!” She turns to Peeta handing him the dice to roll.
He shares a similar amused expression with me before taking his turn, rolling a four.
“Count with me Willow?” He asks before taking hold of his peg.
“Okay” Willow quickly agrees with a smile.
“one, two, three, four” they recite together as Peeta slowly moves his peg.
“Uh oh” he sighs dramatically once he finishes.
“you’s hit the bad square” Willow giggles playfully.
Peeta nods, “I did didn’t I? What do I do now?”
“You’s gotta move back to the start” Willow teases in a sing-song voice.
He sighs again playfully, doing as he’s told before handing the dice over to me to roll.
I shake the dice around in my palm for a moment before tossing it onto the table.
“Woah that’s a big number” I exclaim once I catch a glance at what I’ve rolled.
Willow glances over, “what is it mama?”
I smile encouragingly, “I don’t know, how many do you see?”
I watch as she begins to count the little dots on the dice, happy to be of help.
“Ten!” She exclaims excitedly.
I laugh “it’s not ten silly goose, you missed one”
I count them out loud for her, finishing off with “eleven!”
Willow pouts but nods, watching me move my peg eleven times.
“Safe” I smile happily, “your turn bug” I hand the dice back over to Willow.
She throws the dice, pouting as she rolls a measly two.
It still lands her on a safe square, though she doesn’t seem to be too pleased by making such a short move.
“You’re still ahead of both of us” I remind her as she hands the dice off to her dad again.
Both Peeta and I have been sent back to the start at least once each, but surprisingly (not so surprisingly) Willow hasn’t yet.
She nods meekly.
“And daddy’s all the way back at the start again” I remind, pointing over to him as he pouts playfully.
This makes her chuckle.
He rolls a seven but is promptly taken back three places having landed on a red square.
Then he hands the dice back over to me, where I roll an eight. I land on a red square as well which also takes me back three, but ultimately I’m making my way up the board.
Willow pouts as I hand her the dice again, having realised this means I’m catching up to her.
She tosses the dice soon after I’ve handed them over, counting them quickly before exclaiming “seven!”
She begins to move her peg again but I see her smile slowly fade as she realises what square she’s headed towards, I glance up at Peeta when I realise this and we share a look as Willow secretly counts one of her steps without actually taking it.
“Safe” Willow sighs, unaware that both of us are well aware of what she’s up to.
“That was lucky” Peeta comments nonchalantly, sharing another testing glance with me as if to see whether I’m going to bring it up or not, I shrug, it’s her game I’m not going to ruin it for her.
It’s Peeta’s turn after that and I can’t help but physically laugh out loud when he hits another red square taking him back even further than he already was.
“Daddy’s not very good at this game” Willow comments playfully, joining in my laughter.
Peeta scoffs, “it’s a game of luck and nothing else”
“Yeah and you’re not very lucky so it seems” I laugh, taking the dice from him so I can take my turn.
He frowns over at me, but I can tell he’s trying to hide a smile, “I’d like to counter that actually, I’d say I’m a pretty lucky guy” he nonchalantly wraps an arm around Willow, his gaze flitting between her and me.
Slowly my laughter drops and I share a loving smile back with him.
“Wells you not winning” Willow interrupts, unaware of any other moment happening.
This of course causes both of us to laugh.
Willow looks between the two of us confused, before shrugging and picking up the dice from where I had just thrown them.
“You’re so close to the end Wills” I comment excitedly after she throws a five, landing safely on a green square.
“I am!” She exclaims quickly, “only, one, two, three, four, five, six! Spaces till the end”
“Only six?” Peeta plays along as he rolls the dice for his turn, earning a whopping two Willow and I can’t help but chuckle at.
His two does however land him on a special square.
“What’s it say daddy?” Willow asks curiously as he picks up his card.
An evil grin takes over his face as he reads, “you may move one player of your choosing back ten spaces”
Willow looks horrified, “not me, not me” she cries.
Peeta only smiles, “I choose…” oh god don’t do it, we are on for tantrum hell if you choose her.
“Mommy” he glances over at me, his evil grin remaining.
I act out my part accordingly, though silently I’m thankful; not that I really thought he’d do that to Willow anyway.
After moving my peg back ten spaces it’s my turn to roll the dice again, I smile when I roll a seven but it’s gone quickly when I realise I’m headed for a red square.
“You gotta go back six spaces” Willow exclaims.
“What? Six? But that’ll practically take me back where I started” I exclaim back playfully.
The red squares get more damaging the closer you get to the end.
Willow giggles as I take my peg back six spaces again.
She then quickly takes the dice from the table and tosses them for her own turn, promptly pouting as she rolls a three.
It’s obviously not enough to take her to the end but it does luckily for her, land her on a green square, so, so long as she doesn’t roll a two next round she’s won. Well I guess looking at the board I could beat her but I’d have to have two very lucky rolls, and that’s only if she rolls a two next round.
“Uh oh daddy” I turn to Peeta playfully, “I think we’ve almost been beaten”
Peeta, who’s still pretty much at the beginning and has no chance of winning, rolls the dice with a playful smile, “not if I can help it”
He rolls a nine, and while it is a large number, it’s not all that great when it lands him on yet another red square, taking him back four spaces.
“Which you can’t” I finish off his last statement cheekily.
I take the dice back off of him and exclaim excitedly when I roll a twelve, “yes! I’m coming for you Willow!”
Willow giggles, “you not going to get me!” She pokes her tongue out at me as she picks up the dice and rolls… a two.
“No! That’s not fair! I roll again” she cries.
I share a look with Peeta, silently questioning how we should deal with this.
I’m honestly surprised she didn’t try to cheat by lying about how many she got, she must think us smart enough to count to two.
Thankfully Peeta takes the lead, comforting Willow softly, “you’re still really close to the end bug”
Willow sniffles “but the red square is going to take me back”
She’s right, two spots away is a red square that’ll no doubt take her back six or so places.
“Yeah and you’ll still be ahead of both of us” he continues.
“Mama’s still eleven squares away” I add, “that’s a big number to roll”
Willow nods glumly, moving her peg back the six spaces she’s told, neither Peeta or I bringing up how she miscounted them again.
Peeta takes his turn next, rolling the dice with a hopeful smile.
“Yes!” He exclaims when he finally gets a twelve, “maybe there is hope”
His playfulness makes me laugh, because there isn’t really. Though then again, Willow and I could both keep landing just before the finish line and continually be taken back, so maybe I shouldn’t count him out just yet.
“My turn” I smile as I pick the dice up, giving them a nice long shake as I roll this time.
“Ugh ten” I groan playfully as I land on the same square Willow did earlier, taking me back the same six places.
“We’re on the same spot sister” I hand her the dice back encouragingly.
She shares a shy smile before taking them from me and shaking them hopefully in her hands.
“Blow on them mama” she holds out her still shaking hands to me, I do as I’m told and blow softly onto her enclosed hands.
“It tickles” she laughs before turning to Peeta, “daddy blow”
“You sure you want my luck on it?” He questions back playfully.
Willow thinks about this for a moment before nodding quickly, and so Peeta does the same.
She lets out a little sigh before finally tossing them.
It’s a large number, that’s hopeful.
“One” Willow quickly begins to count, “two, three, four, five, six”
Her smile widens, “seven!”
She picks up her peg repeating as she moves, “one, two, three, four, five, six, seven!”
And just like that she has hit the finish line.
“I did it! I did it!” She jumps up from her seat jumping and twirling around the room in excitement.
“You did” I smile
“Good job bug!” Peeta exclaims shortly after, “very lucky girl indeed”
“Is I the best at the game?” Willow asks smugly.
“The very best” Peeta and I quickly agree practically in unison.
“I’m gonna go call Appa” she informs us before hastily racing off towards our phone to punch in haymitch’s phone number.
When she’s gone I turn to look at Peeta, and we share a knowing look.
“She thinks she’s so sly”