catching up (jay)

It was the best few days I think we'd had since we first moved to America. I'd always liked this country but being here with my family…that was something I never really expected. While I did enjoy seeing my brother and sister again, I spent most of the time with the little ones: Running around with the boys.

"If you have to play around," Sky called out to us, the first morning they were here. "Do it in the training courtyard!"

"The where?" Tiana asked, only for Thia to take her by the arm and lead her away.

"Oh, come on, I'll show you. It's my favourite place!"

"Th-that…" Sky stammered, watching them run off "wasn't quite what I meant." But his voice trailed off and he looked away as they disappeared down the corridor;

There was a time they'd let us play in the apartment. We'd decided to let Tiana get to know Sam and Noaba a bit more while playing with the boys which left us to watch over the girls. When Thia had come out of her room, holding her Odo teddy in her arms, Liz had instantly spotted the stuffed toy and reached out for it, giggling.

"Oh. Oh, you wanna play with mister Odo, do you?" She said, grinning and coming to kneel down in front of the little toddler. "Here you go, then."

I was lying on my back, holding Nay-Nay up in front of me while the delightful little squirt wriggled and giggled with joy and excitement, when Tina and Noaba came back into the room still deep in conversation. "—well off course deep space nine is her favourite. That's the one on the space station where the commander has a kid…"

"Yeah, a teenage boy and they aren't even her favourite characters." She glanced at Thia, still playing with Odo and Liz in her lap. "I'm surprised Mr O'Brien isn't her favourite. He's the one with the wife and daughter."

At that, Thia looked up with a raised eyebrow. Only those who knew her well enough would know that look. Don't make fun of my dad.

Tina sat on the arm of the sofa and looked at us playing. "Whatever. I didn't get many chances to watch films and the like this year. We mostly looked at animations in class."

I stared at her, almost dropping Narcissa. "You got to watch movies in class!"

"Not exactly. It's part of a theatre and drama course. This year we were supposed to study different kinds of animations and anima, analysing how its changed and improved over the years."

"Sounds like fun." I said, trying to hide the bitterness in my voice. I would've given anything to just sit around and watch T.V in school.

Thought Thia was smiling. "You still wanna be an actress?" she said to her sister.

"That's me. Tiana Quato, forever a Drama queen."

I nodded my head slowly. "Tiana…Quato." But Thia explained it for me.

"That was mum's maiden name, wasn't it?"

She nodded. "Mm-hhm. Aunt Rose has it too." Then she turned back to me. "It's not as fun as you might think. The first ones we looked at were super old and not that well animated but that was kind of the point. Besides, when you're watching a show just to analyse it doesn't leave a lot of room to actually enjoy it."

"Well then watch it again, after analysing, so you can enjoy it the second time." Thia pointed out, but then she added. "Actually, let's watch it now, here, while we're together."

I wasn't too keen on that idea. Watching old shows that were badly animated with poor quality…but the sisters seemed down with it. Tina had already started listing the anime's she had looked at over the past year.

I hmphed. "You girls do as you please. I'm gonna go find the boys." I said, hoping I would get their attention and maybe get them to change their mind and come play with us rather than sit in here and watch T.V.

"Ok. Have fun."

I looked back at them, darkly, feeling a bit more anger than I'd perhaps intended.

"It'll likely still be here later if you change your mind." Tiana called before I left the room.

Noaba followed me out. "You do understand that the purpose of this was so that you could all catch up with family."

I sighed. "Yeah, I get that."

She caught up and started walking beside me "Thia's been hanging around us and a few others for nearly a year. She should spend some time with her sister while you spend some time with your…"

"I know!"

"Then what was the issue back there?"

"I…I don't know." I stopped and shrugged. "I guess…I was hoping we could all catch up together."

"Well, you still can. You heard Tiana, it's an open invitation."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "You really wanna spend this time watching 'Avatar: the last air bender' and the like?"

She folded her arms. "Maybe not but if we're doing it together."

I sighed again.

It didn't take long to find the boys. Of course they were in the courtyard. It was the only safe place inside that they could run around and play with little restrictions.

Once it was decided they were worn out enough, we went back to the apartment and just as Tiana had said, they were still watching. I considered going into my room and waiting it out but then decided it wouldn't exactly be fair, while everyone else was out here, for me to shut myself away. So, I decided to suck it up and give it a watch, for my family's sake.

It actually wasn't as bad as I was expecting. The animation wasn't as poor as I thought it would be and I supposed the story was pretty solid. Some of the fight scenes were pretty epic as well.