Rinsing In The Sun

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

He stifled a giggle at the lone point that Jude had received. It seemed like he wasn’t so happy about that, of course, when he had pouted. Quite a funny sight to behold, the boy couldn’t help but laugh at the way the twins were acting toward each other. It was a nice feeling, a nice thing to see, among the children themselves. He sighed lightly, and then turned his attention to Joan, willing to watch her long enough to see her do her own trick. When she had come back into the water and asked how she did, he shrugged but he was rather impressed. “I would say a two or four.” He grinned. “Depends on what Jude says.” With a slight shrug, he had gone underwater for a moment or so, moving quietly toward Jude’s legs.

He would then position himself just behind Jude’s legs, digging his feet into the mud while trying to get himself set to launch. He had his hands ready to grab the teenager, for he was going to attempt a tackle. His eyes weren’t bothered much by the water, it was fresh water even though it was dark and one couldn’t see the very bottom of it. With a smirk, he would then heave himself across the water in Jude’s direction, attempting to wrap his arms around Jude’s waist so he could pick him up and then throw him to the side, hopefully executing a perfect tackle. If he had succeeded, he would laugh, and if he hadn’t, he would pout. Either way, he wanted to play pranks on them now, at least on Jude for the time being. He wanted to earn Joan’s trust first before he would attempt to pull a prank on her, of course.

Either way, he would have a question to ask, and so he asked, no matter what they were doing at the moment. "So... if I said yes to being your little brother, Joan," said the boy coolly but there was a little hint of nervousness in his voice, "Would that mean Jude would be my big brother? I mean, I never had a big brother before so I wouldn't really know what to do or what to think of him." He smiled kindly, though, not wanting to ruin anyone's mood. They were having fun, but the boy was certainly concerned at the same time, and asking questions were a good thing, or could be as long as he didn't ask too many questions. "Does it also mean I have to live with you guys?" That was something he was quite reluctant about, as he couldn't imagine moving in a house and getting used to it overnight. Truth be told, he would get homesick. That was the main reason he stayed close to the creek, even sleeping outside on the sand.

[Sly Cooper]

“I think it deserves a—“ Jude paused for dramatic effect.

“Out with it!” Joan snapped, with her hands out as though threatening to strangle him if he didn’t answer. But just as he was about to answer, something had struck him. No, literally struck him. He had been tackled down by Feng. “Jude?” She looked around. “Seriously, if you’re doing this just to be a pain, I’m going to throttle you!” She had a very vague and disguised look of horror.

After he was done flopping around like a moron, he got a huge grin. It was a grin of pride. “Nope, nope, the kid tackled me down. What a ‘cute’ little bugger.” He used his sister word, ’cute’. “In any case, that was totally a two.”

“Seriously! That was way better than your move.” She crossed her arms.

Jude got a smug look, “Nope, definitely not.”

She simply shook her head when she heard a small voice. “Well,” she started. “He is my brother, which means he’d be your brother then too. Really the only requirements of being family, is being around when you’re needed. Jude and I generally sleep over there,” She pointed to a spot where the grass looked to be patted down. “So it’s not like we really have much of anywhere for you to stay with us.”

Besides that would cut into our alone time Jude thought to himself. “Never had a little brother,” he said casually. “It could be neat. I could do things. Brother things. Things you can’t do with sisters because girls are girls. You know boy things—like—“ He couldn’t pump out any examples.

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

He was giggling madly when he had succeeded, watching Jude flail around in the water, apparently having lost his senses. He had then blushed, though, upon the mention of the term, “cute”. He let his mouth become crooked by pushing his lips to the side and making it appear more like a slash across his visage, while folding his arms. He didn’t care if his face was red from the blushing, he was going to tell Jude that being called that bothered him. “Please don’t call me that anymore, I’m not cute.” He giggled, though, as the twins started arguing back and forth once more. He simply rolled his eyes and had started asking those questions which were soon answered.

It would probably be cool to have a bigger brother as well as a big sister, but he didn’t know how his actual family would feel about that. He couldn’t just replace them with people he had just met. He glanced over where she was pointing, able to see patted grass. He stifled a giggle, the shape seemed to resemble the twins so much, but of course it was more likely just a coincidence. After all, one couldn’t always stay still in the exact same spot in their sleep during the night. That would just be creepy, although it did happen quite a few times with various people. He had shrugged, though, not sure if he would be comfortable being so close to the twins during the night. Nor anyone, for that matter. He had slept by himself for so long he was rather comfortable with it. How he would feel sharing a makeshift bed, he wouldn’t know, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to even know.

Jude had started to speak, and the young boy had listened intently. Of course, being able to do brother things with a brother sounded fun, but it seemed that the teenager couldn’t come up with any excuses. He simply shrugged at Jude, not really sure at this moment what to say. When he realized it was getting a bit quiet, and honestly, he didn’t always like the silence when it involved other people, so he waited for a moment or so, taking the time to look around. Then, innocently but mischievously, he punched the surface of the water with his arm directing the splash at Joan, then pulled another punch, this time directed at Jude. He burst out laughing, just for the heck of it.

[Sly Cooper]

It’s true the twins were rather creepy in many senses of the word. They were always right there next to each other, so closely, they were more like siamese twins. It didn’t really occur how having another person in their group might change anything, and in some ways it bothered Jude more than Joan. He was thinking about it when he got splashed in the face, “Why you—“ he playfully splashed him back, trying to make the splash even bigger than the boy’s.

Joan rolled her eyes, but she did it with a smile. “Boys, boys, calm yourselves. Then again boys will be boys. Although, something tells me you act like less of a child then Jude does.”

Jude shrugged. “Why grow up if you don’t have to. There aren’t any more adults telling you to grow up. Or in my case, man up. And get a job.” He got a bit of a down look on his face.

Joan came and pecked him on the neck, then looked at him in the eyes. “Yeah well most of our family were losers as you recall, so no point in letting it get to you now. Besides they’re dead.”

“Hey, they were meaner to you than me. Calling you a slut and such. How do you just forget about that?” Jude has always had an over protect part to him, that he would only show when someone was mistreating his sister. Once again, how would a new person entering the scene come in on all this?

“So Feng—“ Joan quickly changed the subject. “What was your family like? I’ll bet they were nice.”

“Not some run down hicks going nowhere in life,” Jude continued to mumble to himself.

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

After being splashed in the face, giggling and sputtering all the while, Joan had said something that made Feng become all the more tense. He was sure what she had just said was only a figure of speech, but if he was being considered as older and more mature than Jude, then it wouldn’t be a good thing for him. He didn’t want to grow up, ever. He had seen that Peter Pan cartoon that the Disney company had made, and he was pretty much like Peter Pan, only in the sense that he was not so childish or bratty like the character. He just knew he never wanted to grow up. It seemed like being young for eternity would always be fun, and besides, growing up meant certain death upon reaching that dreadful age. It was kind of strange, that one could only live quite a few years until they had to die, and frightening, too. Life was short, but it wasn’t supposed to be that short, nor was it supposed to end that way. Feng shook his head to shake the thoughts away, but they only retreated to the back of his mind, taunting him.

Jude was right, though. And wrong. The kids did have jobs that Isaac and Malachai had appointed them, none of them would be lounging around. Even the little kids were doing something. Only the babies weren’t affected by such a trivial thing. It was probably a good thing that the kids around here were working, but for what? They weren’t making any money, of course, and because the town had been so quiet the past few years not many people had gone through the place. What exactly were they working for, then? To live a life that would be cut short by a knife to the heart? He couldn’t question that out loud, and once again, the boy simply shook his head and then dove underwater, disappearing for a moment once more. The twins would be snapping at each other again, so he wouldn’t be aware of that since their speech would’ve been muffled by the water. He also wouldn’t have heard Joan asking him about his family as he had swum around them, hoping to pull another prank if he could just find something.

Finally, he had seen it, and quickly, moving ever so quietly hoping not to get caught, he headed toward the tree. It was a bit tall, it had plenty of leaves that were starting to turn, and a thick branch hovering over the twins. Whatever he was thinking, it would be obvious he wasn’t actually even thinking. He wanted to pull a prank that would scare the crap out of the twins, and so he was going to do it, regardless. By the time he had reached the tree, he was already starting to climb up quickly. At least the tree was rough enough to climb at a reasonable pace, and he was making sure he was well out of the twins’ sight by being on the opposite side. He quickly dragged himself, carefully, across said branch, and then carefully, slowly, stood up. He looked down with a mischievous grin at Jude, whom he was directly above. He swung his arms, but suddenly, he slipped. His rear was barely scratched when his hand landed in a very bad position upon the surface of the branch, a loud cracking noise echoing through the atmosphere as the boy fumbled backwards in the water. His heart was racing when he had surfaced, sobbing hysterically as he held his broken wrist to his chest.

[Sly Cooper]

Both of the twins being scared out of their wits, Jude began to swear loudly, especially when he saw the boy favoring his one wrist. "Damn kid! Of all the stupid--"

Joan came closer, "Jude's right you could've hurt yourself worse than you did."

Jude got out of the water and started putting his articles of clothing on. "Com'mon we better take him to a healer."

"But if we do that, we could get in serious trouble. We're not supposed to be swimming when there are crops to be looking after." Joan snarled at her brother. "Besides, we could just pop the bone back into place and call it a day."

"And I suppose you want to be the one to do that? Hearing and feeling the bone popping back." Jude grunted then let out a heavy sigh. The truth was Fend need to get it fixed and he needed it soon, and although although all three of them could get in trouble, Feng being the least of a concern, neither of the twins had any healing experience.

"No-- but--" Joan started. Examining the child without actually touching him.

"We need to find someone that will fix up the kid without telling on us-- but-- ARG," Jude grew more and more frustrated.

"It's up to him more than us anyway Jude, so just calm down," Joan cooed as her brother was throwing things around in a fit. He always had a bit of an anger problem. "So what will it be?"

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

He would’ve pouted for being sworn at, but of course he had done a very foolish thing, and now he was facing the consequence for it by having a broken wrist. Of course, he was still sobbing because the pain was immensely horrible. The twins had then started arguing again, to Feng’s dismay. It seemed that the twins argued more than anything else, so he was starting to wonder if he had made the right decision in asking to think about their proposal. He wouldn’t want to get caught in the middle of their petty fights, of course. But right now a broken wrist would be more serious, so he was about to say something to cut out their arguing and hopefully get their attention back. He didn’t want to get the twins in trouble if that was what they were mainly worried about, but he had to get his hand fixed somehow.

Joan was examining him while Jude was having a little temper tantrum. He glanced at Joan, whimpering as he had now stopped crying, although a teardrop would roll down either cheek every second and then. Blinking, thus having a blurry vision for a moment, he simply stepped up to the girl and trusted her with his hand. If she knew what she was doing, and he hoped she would, granted that he didn’t know neither one of them weren’t really a healer, then no one could get in trouble. The only thing he would need in order to ensure that wrist didn’t break again would be a cast. “I-if y-you can’t d-do it, w-we c-can go see the healer. C-can tell her I fell and y-you t-two came in to save me.” He said all that between sniffles. It was a good idea, it was just that the lie had to be reasonably reasonable to believe in and to be easily fooled by. He knew either way it was most likely going to hurt like hell.

[Sly Cooper]

"Right," Joan gazed at Feng. "I'll take you. Jude you stay in the fields till this is passed." She jumped out quickly threw her clothes back on, not buttoning her dress up as high as she should. "Let's hurry."

"But why do i stay in the fields?" Just asked, beginning to calm down.

"It will keep you in the clear. Now please, Jude, if you love me, you will do as I say." He nodded without saying anything and ran back into the corn not to be seen. She walked along the creek, knowing it was the best way to get to the church or communal homes, where the healer is usually in or around. She never bothered to look back as her stride was quick and long, she just hoped that Feng was behind her as she went on. "I think we could figure out a way to get this all fixed up with no trouble." As the sun shone through her platinum hair, it dried quickly. "We'll just say you were doing your work when you felt and failed to catch yourself, and I found you. Or something like that."

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

While Joan was getting dressed, quickly, the boy had gone to pull his shorts on. He didn’t want anyone questioning why he would’ve been soaking wet and naked if he wasn’t really doing anything fun like he wasn’t supposed to. Granted, sometime they knew he was playing around, but most of the time they would trust him to be working. Although he had today off, basically, it was still a good idea to at least be halfway dressed for he would pretty much be going into a church to get his hand looked at. And if not, he was still needing to be respectful at least. He had kept his shirt off, of course, not willing to go through the pain or even getting stuck in it again.

Jude had disappeared into the field when Joan started rushing down alongside the creek. Feng would try to keep up, doing his best not to hurt his wrist any more than it already was. He was keeping it tight to his chest so that it wouldn’t bounce up and down, or worse, off. He didn’t understand the anatomy of the body, but he figured if his bones were broken, then his hand would slip off as if it was just attached by a piece of paper, hence the skin, and thus why he was being so careful. Besides, he had heard long ago that it was better not to move so much when one could’ve had a broken bone, but in this case he had no choice. Joan was running and she wasn’t certainly going to pick him up. Heaven knows how heavy the boy would’ve been for her. Besides, he would feel so much like a baby letting someone carry him around. He nodded briefly at Joan’s statement, but pointed out, “I was not supposed to work today, though.” All the while, he had sniffled and let out a tiny little sob, but he wasn't crying as much as he had earlier.

[Sly Cooper]

There Joan saw Grace, the healer, just walking out of the church, probably from patching someone up. "Hey. You." Joan went running after the poor girl, with almost a murderous look on her face. "Look the boy needs patched up. I think that he broke his wrist."

The healer looked at her, almost scared, then saw Feng not far behind her. "Alright let me see it." The healer kneeled down and took the boy's hand into her own, then felt the wrist. She watched his expressions to know what hurt and what didn't. "Yes. He does indeed have a broken wrist. This is going to hurt." She placed a hand firmly underneath then used the other hand to press the bone back into place. It made a loud crack, and then she pulled out gauze to wrap around it. The town of Gatlin did not have the proper tools for casting after all. Then she made a sling to put his arm in. "Try not to use it much, alright." The the girl took off as fast as she could.

"See no questions asked!" Joan was proud. "Alright, now to find my brother." She would get great anxiety when separated from Jude.

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

Indeed, they had found a healer in time, as she was just leaving the church. He noticed how she seemed so scared of Joan at once, but he was glad the teenager was there to help him. After the examination, which he had whined and winced through, not pleased with how she was checking his hand, moving it ever so slightly to check on the injury. He wasn’t very happy, of course, when she aimed to press the bone back, and he shuddered with a heavy gasp, his expression showing that he was indeed in a lot of pain. That wasn’t a pleasant feeling, and he vowed never to break any bones again, even if they weren’t his. He wasn’t willing to feel that kind of pain again, not for any reason, nor to hear that horrible cracking sound which he had heard twice now.

She had pulled out some kind of bandage, a gauze, and wrapped it tightly around his wrist, so tight he couldn’t move it much, but not too tight that the blood wouldn’t flow through to the hand. A few minutes later after she had done wrapping the gauze around, she had made a custom sling and helped him put his arm in. He would’ve pouted when she told him not to use it much, for he had wanted to get back to swimming again. He had been having so much fun, even though things were getting quiet. Maybe he could just soak in the water or something, but either way, after the girl was done with the treatment, she had stormed out of the church as if there was something running after her. The boy only blinked at the odd retreat before glancing over at Joan, who seemed quite happy but anxious all the same.

He wondered if that was his fault, so he muttered to her under his breath, “Sorry,” and left it at that before heading out of the church. He would follow Joan back to the creek, of course, and hopefully find Jude soon after. He wondered just what brothers would do together. He had seen several brothers around the town, they appeared quite as close as the twins, even if they weren’t twins themselves, but he never really knew what things brothers did together. Thinking about it on the way back, he found that it could be fun, but it could also be awkward and upsetting. His mind already confusing him, he decided he would just think some more about it later and simply focus on his wrist and maybe finding something fun to do with the twins. Maybe they could either soak in the water again, or better yet, for the boy at least, go and get those keys. If he still didn’t have to do anything to get them, he was okay with that, but oddly he felt he wanted to earn them at least.

[Sly Cooper]

Joan skipped semi-merrily, humming the tune she often hummed, before her brother would hum along. She would look behind her to see that Feng was still there, say something to him occasionally then go back to what she was doing.

“Joan without Jude—that’s like jelly without peanut butter. No—It’s like marmalade without toast. I do prefer marmalade toast over peanut butter sandwiches.” She began to mumble to herself as though she was mumbling to Feng. They were almost there by now, but she was going much slower than when she scurried off to find the healer. “You can have toast without marmalade though. Like just buttered toast. Or cinnamon toast.” She gasped, putting her hands over her mouth. “Do you think that means Jude has Cinnamon or Butter somewhere else in the field?” Suddenly she called out loudly, “Spices are nice!”

Joan stopped and waited, and after standing there waiting for about a minute, give or take, the corn began rustle. “But sugar is sweeter,” a voice came out quietly from the stalks. Joan leaped forward then pulled him out, with her arms wrapped around neck. “Yeah okay, okay sis. I missed you too.”

Joan squealed. “Okay, so Feng isn’t supposed to use his wrist much, but he still wants to go swimming—“

“Then swimming we shall, just no acrobatics for the kid.” Jude gave Feng a stern look to prove his point, the went back to being his content ol’ self. He picked his sister up and carried her the rest of the way to their spot.

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

He wasn’t really fond of the humming, nor was he glad that he basically had to jog a bit every now and then to keep up with Joan, but then again he was grateful that she was around. If it hadn’t been for her and her brother, he could’ve had that broken bone and not done anything about it. Of course, if it hadn’t been for the twins he wouldn’t have any broken bones, but he knew the blame was on himself, for having done such a dumb thing. Besides, the twins were fun, and he knew he was loving them more and more, even though they seemed very creepy to him. He was trying his best not to get too attached, of course. He didn’t know exactly how old they were, but knew that in a few years they could be gone just like that. If he had become too emotionally attached to them by then, he wouldn’t know what could happen to him then. He was glad that Joan was there to keep him company along the way, though. As for Jude, as silly as he might’ve seemed, the boy found himself starting to look up to the teenager.

Joan had mumbled to herself about toast, butter, peanut butter, jelly, and whatever else she was talking about. Apparently, Feng had become transparent for the time being until eventually upon nearing the spot when the girl had cried out loud yelling something about spices. He blinked in surprise and utter confusion at the sudden exclamation, but didn’t say anything. Instead, he simply watched as Joan reached into the cornfield, raising an eyebrow, and then heard another voice. The voice was familiar, and at once he smirked when he saw Joan’s arms around her brother’s neck. Once Joan had done explaining about his being unable to use his wrist but pointed out about him wanting to swim, and was interrupted by Jude. He had given the young boy a stern look that caused Feng to look away feeling a bit guilty but smirking all the same. He started walking forward as Jude scooped up his sister.

When they had reached the spot, Feng seemed to hesitate for a moment. He wasn’t sure just how safe it would be to stay in the water with the gauze, but then he figured as he started to try and unbutton his shorts that he could simply stay at a level where he could keep his arms well above the surface. He had a little difficulty with the button at first, but managed to tighten his abs and pressed the shorts against them, having succeeded in the end. He started to push them down with the good hand as he glanced at the twins casually before stepping out and then heading down to the water. “I’ve thought about it some more, you know, you wanting me to be your little brother.” Indeed, he had thought about it so much ever since they had asked him, it was next to impossible not to. He continued stepping down a bit further until the water reached up to his waist, and there, he would stop and turn around to face the twins. “If you really want me to, I guess I can be your little brother. But on two conditions…,” he held up a finger and continued, “You don’t call me cute and you don’t baby me.” He blushed a bit when he mentioned "baby". The idea of him being treated like one wasn't cool, and he was after all ten.

[Sly Cooper]

"Are you kidding. My sis calls me cute. She calls everything cute. She would call a face not even a mother could love cute." Jude teased.

Joan, after being set down, elboed her brother in the ribs. "That isn't true and you know it. So keep your mouth shut." She bent over a bit to be more eye level with Feng. "I can refrain from calling you cute. And, if you haven't noticed, my brother and I aren't good at babying."

"Yep that's right we like to do everything rough and rugged." the teenaged boy stood tall with his back as strait as it could get. "Like a tiger on the prowl." It's true, it was more of Joan's idea to adopt a little sibling, but Jude could live with the idea. After all the twins were a two packaged deal. He streached his arm out then put his hand in posisioning for a hand shake. "So how about it bud?"

Joan rolled her eyes at Jude's slightly obnoxious over-doing of welcoming the boy, that is if Feng agreed, then pushed him off. "What he's trying to say is, we will follow your terms. Although, don't give him any ideas. He takes everything to a whole new level of rough when you do." She looke dover to see her brother undressing to get in the water. "Lets just say, if you told him to walk up a hill, he will mountain climb."

"That's not true you're just a wuss." Jude ran off and cannon balled in the deepest part of the creek."

[Aquarius Aziel Feng]

He signed heavily at Jude’s statement, but then Joan had caused her brother to shut up, even if it was only temporary. He listened as they talked some more, smiling here and frowning there. He was pleased that they wouldn’t baby him, since apparently they weren’t good at it. He hoped they knew what he had meant, though, but he didn’t say anything of it. He raised an eyebrow, though, “Rough and rugged? How so?” He wondered if that meant they did a lot of things that could get them hurt or worse, or playful roughhousing, but of course, the boy kept his mouth shut as he pondered on it. He was jerked back to reality when Jude had extended his hand to him. Nervously, reluctantly, he hesitated to reach up and accept it, but he did it and he wrapped his hand firmly about Jude’s, having quite a grip, before shaking it ever so slightly. Then Jude had gone to undress.

“What was that for?” The boy asked with a raised eyebrow, but then Joan had started to speak again. He smiled lightly, “Good,” at their promising to follow his terms. He didn’t really need to be taken so seriously, but he supposed they really wanted him as part of their family if they were willing to accept that. He giggled and wondered if Joan was really telling the truth about her brother or just emphasizing his recklessness or determination, whatever one might call it. He put a finger to his lips, placing his chin in the belonging palm, apparently thinking from the way he was standing. Of course, he had almost moved his bad hand, but a quick wince made him think twice as he kept the sling pressed against his chest. But he didn’t have long to think before he was splashed vigorously in the face by a huge impact from a cannonball. Once the water had dropped of his face, with his hair already sticking to his forehead, he opened his eyes and looked for Jude so he could glare at him.