"Hmm..."

Gloved hands brought the book they were latched onto to rest on a T-shirt clad stomach. A face that had been previously obscured scrunched its nose and blinked up at the ceiling. "What is a pillow fight Verdi?" More importantly, why did it always seem to come up in the middle of this series of books? She blinked again, before marking her page and closing her romance novel in disguise. No need for her roommate and Captain to know she was addicted to the genre...

The Greek sat up in her bed and turned to poke a finger at her own pillow, wondering why on earth someone would want to beat another with something that did little to no damage... It was most confusing for the sheltered girl. As her poking and prodding continued, she turned a quizzical glance her roommates way, wondering if the girl had already fallen asleep, or if she had spoken loud enough to be heard in the first place. She could hear a slight, soft muttering... and then the dark haired girl wriggled under her blanket and turned under the covers. With a shrug, Andrea continued on.

"Veeeeeeerdi?"

Blink blink. Her lips pursed, and she glanced back to the pillow laying innocently under her hand. Perhaps.... the best way to begin to understand such a childish game, would be to start up a round of it. As quietly and stealthily as she could (which isn't very quiet or stealthy at all) she snatched up her pillow and stood on her bed in order to gain a height advantage. Then, with a little eyeballing for distance, she lobbed the pillow across the room at her roommate, and waited to see what kind of reaction she would receive...

She really needed to find something heavy to subconsciously put on the shoebox where she was putting memories and thoughts of Slate, to be considered later, when the mere thought of them didn’t make her ears flush a brilliant red. Slate was her boss he was off limits. He was the face of responsibility, stability, authority, sometimes the time was devoted to fun things, like swimming. But that was supposed to be innocent, teaching the young man the benefits of a childhood. Fighting with the possibilities her mind was offering her- distant possibilities, with candles and her in a dress of all things- she once again was tossing and turning.

This was a taboo area. She must not think about it. Much less entertain the thought. The young boss was a mind reader, she wasn’t sure to what extent, and the images shoved in the box were confusing enough to her own mind, much less to his.

The outside world was calling to her, dragging her back through the dimness of her sleepy mind. She tried to shrug it off. As forbidden as it was, it was nice to have the lid off the box.

~~“Veeeeeeeeeeerdi?”

Struggling with it for a moment more, ensuring the lid was firmly on the shoebox and would not come off mid conversation with Slate she grumbled her way into consciousness.

“Mmmnnm?”

Her eyes were closed but she was awake now, she just had to find the willpower to open her eyes. Andy needed her. Andy was here, and safe, and non-taboo, and- tossing a pillow at her?

Verdy’s eye’s popped open and she scuffled back on the bed and up the backboard ‘till she was standing, groggy eyed, hunting for the mouse that was apparently sharing her bed. For why else would one toss a pillow at a sleeping comrade. She glanced at the curious but slightly cheeky face of her roommate. Did she just?

Ooooh-hoho, that’s how it was, was it? Her dreamings were encroaching onto other’s sleep as well as her own? She picked up Andy’s pillow, looked at it, looked at the green girl, then back at the pillow.

“Loose something?”

She tossed it back at her friend, aiming for the head, and leapt from her bed at the green-skinned girl, her own pillow clutched in her hands. Landing unsteadily on the other bed she wobbled for a moment, before bapping her friend across the back of the head with a cackle.

From the way the dark haired girl had acted, a devilish grin spread across Andreas lips before she could really stop it. Not that she wanted to. So, this was what a pillow fight was like, then? Kind of.... exhilarating, really. She wasn't all that prepared for the return attack though. Especially when Verdi adopted the same wily look she herself probably wore, and launched her own pillow back across the room. Andrea managed to snatch it from the air before it hit her, but stumbled back on her bed in the process. She Turned, readying her fluffy weapon to attack again, and realized too late that her roommate was already behind her- The pillow met wriggling hair and she tumbled from the bed.

"Haha!" She shouted, turning mid fall to whap Verdi good in the face before her back hit the floor and she rolled backwards a good distance. She was instantly to her feet, feeling adrenaline coursing though her body. Her arms were shaking just a little, legs felt a little wobbly... but she felt ALIVE for the first time in ages. The Greek jumped onto her roommates bed and contemplated doing a short victory dance there. No, she hadn't won yet.

Dancing would have to wait...

"prepare yersef fer th' swashbuckle o' yer life!" She winced inwardly, not at the pirate talk as one would think... but at the rather Greekish way she pulled off the sentence. As if she could have said it in Greek and gotten the same outcome. With no time for sighing, Andrea leapt back into action, jumping from one bed to the other with a mighty- somewhat awkward- leap, to aim another feathery blow at her friends shoulder.

How many years had it been since she had been in a pillow fight? Four? Five? Had it been when she was fifteen, a year before she left? Her fourth year away from home was drawing near, and the absence of fun in that time had been far too great. Sure, nicking a shirt from a store gave you a rush, but it wasn’t a good one. No-one ever took the “I needed it” for an excuse.

The solid pillow thwap to the face cut short her memory-moment and with a cry that may just have been ‘mutaneering cur’ she swung at the reeling first mate. Missed. The first mate was testing out her bed, for a moment it almost looked like she was going to- no- she wouldn’t dare… There would be no victory dance for this green pirate. She squinted at the girl in a threatening way.

“Bring it on you villainous cockroach!”

She brung it. The green girl bounced onto her own bed, Verdy swayed for a moment at the change of footing and caught the swing skilfully, yes skilfully, with her shoulder, opening her friend’s unprotected side for biffing.

“Ahaahaargh”

She took the pillow to the side like a real swashbuckler, realistic groaning and all, and grasped at the spot where she had been fluffled. "Argh!" Andrea recoiled, dramatically flailing her arms as she recited sad poetry in her head to grasp the role as perfectly as she could.

"I have been hit!..." She wailed, dropping to her knees by Verdi's bed with one arm reaching for the heavens. "...Going down!" She turned and slumped to the floor, one hand clutched to her pillow, the other clutched to her chest in mock death.

If all her plans were to go smoothly, she'd be able to get in a good whack or two before having to scramble back to her feet, and possibly across the room... really, she felt more than a little cheated for not having know what fun this kind of game could be. Though, honestly she wouldn't have been able to pillow fight herself, er... well, at least not without losing her sanity. She also knew for a fact that trying to pillow fight her cat would have only gotten her mauled. Andrea cracked an eye open quickly, peeking up to see if her ruse was working, before she slipped it closed again and poked her tongue out of the corner of her mouth.

... Yes, the very picture of death....

The dramatic flails were not lost on the green-tipped captain and she could almost hear the crescendo of music halt as the slow-motion falling to the knees occurred. The clutching of the chest was a bonus.

Verdy leant over the prone figure, raised her pillow, saw the tiny movement of the tongue- surprisingly pink against her green skin tinged with the faint brown that on a skin-coloured person would have been the colour of excited bloodflow- and paused. The tongue’s distraction provided the moment the green girl apparently needed and she swiftly dealt the startled captain with a double whammy blow before dashing away.

Verdy leapt after her, pillow clutched firmly in hand, swinging wildly after the escaping mate.

“Turn and face me yer lily-livered codfish!”

For nothing quite equals the challenge including ‘codfish’ as Peter Pan knew so well.

With a triumphant cackle, the gorgon scrambled over to the room door and threw it open. "Catch me if ye can ya lily livered swabbie!" She shouted, waving her pillow about as she thundered out into the hallway and took off for the game room- where she knew one particular pillow of massive size lurked, just waiting for the right hands to wield it in glorious battle. So intent on escaping was she that she barely even recalled the fact that she was wearing nothing more than a pair of rather short pj shorts and a t-shirt. Her self conscious side would remember and kick her later...

The echo of her bare feet padding quickly down the hallway was soon joined by another, and the Greek shrieked and quickened her pace. She didn't want to get caught from behind by another well aimed pillow swat, and thus turned halfway down the hall way to wield her fluffy sword like a baseball bat, grin still in place. "There can be only one Queen of pillow fighting...." She could almost hear old western music start up, and from the corner of her eyes she saw a tumble weed go rolling on by. Hefting her pillow higher, she imagined loading it like a gun, with a soft Chck chck that only she would hear...

“That’s right, you’d better run!”

Verdy’s socked feet charged after Andy, ignoring the fact she was only in her sleeping shirt. An oversized T-shirt which brushed her mid-thigh. Just. The fleeing first mate must be captured, pummelled with pillowy goodness. Their state of dress had nothing to do with that fact. Neither did the time. Not late enough for it to be obnoxious, but late enough that the early bedders were… bedded.

Her feet, even socked, were not being stealthy, and Andy squealed and turned to face her. Skid to a stop, gear change aaaaaaand onto the next genre!

She tipped the huge brimmed hat (bigger hat, bigger man) at the opponent, and rearranged her chaps. Lifting her own pillow she almost glanced around for her horse. Cowhearted beast.

“This hall ‘aint big enough for the two of us”

Her western drawl put every cowboy movie to shame. May the best man win. She leapt forward and swung the pillow at her green friend, giving a wild cry.

“Yeeeeeeee-haaaaa!”

And Verdi came at her. Andrea set her bare feet against the floor, raised her pillow high and threw a blow right back, meeting Verdi's attack head on. "You shall not pass!" She ducked directly after, trying and failing to preform a move she had seen in a movie, and ended up rolling to the side and then backwards in an attempt to get out of her roommates swing reach. She got shakily to her feet once more with help from the wall, and staggered a few steps away, her mind whirling with what to do next. She looked to the dark haired girl, glanced down at her own pillow, and grinned.

"Thar she blows!"

She cried, raising a hand to point at Verdi. Then she raised her weapon and mimed pulling out a pin with her teeth. It was no longer merely a pillow, or a sword, or a gun for that matter. It was a Grenade... a Love filled, feather and thread encrusted bomb. Andrea hefted the fat pillow explosive at her roommate and dived for cover behind a table in the hallway, crawling along the wall for a moment before she stood and took to running for the game room again. That pillow would be hers, and with it she would be queen of all things pillowy...

Attack, defence, attack. As the green girl rolled on the floor Verdy thwapped her once, twice, missed on the third and was following the momentum of the swing around as Andy got to her feet and cried her warning. Verdy had a second to be offended by the whale implications before the ticking pillow landed in front of her chasing feet. She was suspended in midair for a moment, before landing on the pillow and skidding along the carpet on her belly.

Her black shirt against the white pillow made a stunning resemblance to a belly-skiing penguin as she slid after the fleeing green feet racing towards the game room. She continued along with the momentum as it carried her along. As the pillow slowed on the carpet (friction she dimly recalled in a far off place in her mind) she leapt off and scooped it up in her free hand. Nothing quite like being prepared, and as she approached the doorway of the games room she feared an ambush.

“Show yer-self yah cow-hearted hunk of salmon!”

She wasn’t quite sure where the salmon came from. It was definitely a step down from codfish.

Turning back to see the dark haired girl belly skiing after her nearly caused Andrea to fall over laughing. She really didn't want to get pummeled with both Verdi's pillow and her own though, so she made sure too keep running. The doorway closed in quickly, and she skidded around it as best she could, flailing her arms out in order to stop herself from toppling over. The Greek dove into the room and rolled once more, coming to a stop on her hands and knees with her butt facing the couch. She could hear Verdi up and running in the hall, and had only moments to stand and dive over the sofa...

When Verdi rounded the corner, Andrea stood with her weapon of choice hefted above her head like a mad woman. (which she was at the moment, mad with excitement!) She had to admit though, that the giant stuffed chair was heavier than she had expected, and seemed to be full of foam beans, rather than stuffing. Or at least that was what she assumed since some of them were now stuck to her face, arms and hair. "Blasted, this thing has a- Ah!" She swiveled to face her roommate, and grinned. "You found me!"

Sidling away from the danger of cracking her head open on the coffee table in front of the couch, she maneuvered herself out into a more open area of the room. "Come and get me, ye... er... blue bellied... herring?" Her slim pirate lingo database had apparently run dry, but no matter. She still had the biggest pillow of all... No one could defeat her now! [Insert maniacal laughter here]

A beanbag? The greatest pirate captain that ever had been was going to be taken on by a beanbag? This was impossible! An insult to pirate kind all over. Her face split into a wicked grin as the evil laughed poured from her foe. Perhaps the instant spent checking for objects that may have impeded on their fight- causing all sorts of non-pillowy harm- was a signal of her weakness. Attachment to one’s foe does not a ruthless pirate make.

“Ahhhhhh-raaaaaaah!”

All pirate lingo aside, nothing quite made the point like a battle-cry as she leapt towards the green one. A pillow flailing from each hand she twisted and turned, avoiding the fine ‘puff’ of polystyrene balls. She would not be contaminated by the horrid little white dots.

Which were apparently charged with static electricity.

And zipping towards her with the power of attraction.

“Eeeeeeeeeee! The black spot! Marked for death!”

She began beating herself off gently with one of her pillows, loosening the beads and trying to convince them to stay off.

In came the fearsome leader, wielding her dual pillows as she charged forward like twin blades. Andrea screeched and moved to throw her bean bag bomb at the girl, but the weight of it sent her careening to the side, legs kicking. She landed on her stomach after receiving quite a few solid whaps of doom from Verdi's deadly pillows to the midsection, and had but only a moment to wonder where her Captain had learned such ninja moves before the bag landed on top of her. The fake red velvet split down a seam, ripped wide open, and sent a few bucket loads of little foam dots washing over her head.

"Agh!" She pushed herself to her knees quickly, and took a look at her arms. Verdi was right, the mark of death it was! Giggling overtook her as she tried in vain to wipe the balls away. She caught sight of Verdi whapping away at herself, and the giggling turned to hysterical laughter. She collapsed back, her arms wrapped around her stomach, and temporarily forgot about the fact that she looked ridiculous- until she accidentally inhaled one of the foam balls and began a mixture of choking and laughing...

All of her arm flailing and leg kicking caused the mass of white balls to spread about the room- including in verdi's direction. Andrea finally managed to cough up the dot, and get a hold of her laughing... and simply went limp on the floor while she caught her breath. "Verdi..." She gasped, unable to wipe the grin from her face, "... you win..." She was not too proud to admit that her ultimate weapon had been foiled...

The captain Verdy, on the sight of the guts of the whale-pillow, gave a dignified and haughty squeal. The flowing blubbery whiteness poured towards her and she leapt onto the coffee table, re-enforced to deal with mutant children of all kinds. It held up beneath her and she escaped the main flow of the balls, a few attracted by her electric charge from running around on the carpet in socks.

She was triumphant on beating off the little white balls and was looking to the green first mate for acknowledgement of her success and to check on her own fate. Laughter had turned to choking, flailing, writhing. Balls were swirling out in waves but she had eyes only for her squirming green friend.

She had three seconds to breathe before Verdy would leap off and start trying to save her.

Two, her eyes were wide and almost bulging.

One, Verdy prepared herself to land near enough to the green friend that she wouldn’t have to walk through the squeaky horrible polystyrene.

She was, in fact, almost in the air, her legs tensed and her body braced to touch the tickly white plastic when Andy gave an almighty cough and the dot was out of her airway. Gasping and re-oxygenating followed and Verdy, still perched on the table, watched in relief. Winning was simply a bonus to the fact her friend hadn’t choked to death.

“Are you alright… mate?”

Her coughing subsided, and the Gorgon sat up. "Aye aye, Captain. First mate is alright." With a wheeze of a cough, she struggled to her feet and started to pat away at herself in a vain attempt at removing the blasted white dots. Her roommate, perched atop her table like a watching waiting eagle, sat untouched by the vile beans. Andrea stuck her tongue out at her, and gave up on the one sided fight. She shuffled through the mess, plopped down onto the couch behind the coffee table and sighed contently.

"I'm so very happy that you are my roommate. Anyone else would have petitioned for a room switch weeks ago." She grinned, zapped of energy, and tossed one of the couch pillows at the girl. In a way, it was like she had always been there. Verdi had woven her way into Andrea's heart, and the Greek had no intention of removing her. She felt like she had a sibling all of the sudden, while her eyes danced about the room. The chaos the bean bag had caused would probably still be present even after she cleaned it up.... fickle little white beans.

"Say, how old are you Verdi?" She tilted her head, plopping it down on the couches arm at a painful looking angle as she hooked her legs up behind her on the seat. She felt safe in assuming the girl was her age, if not a little older. She looked youthful, but Andrea knew that could be deceiving. "I do not think I have ever asked you that..." She paused, pursing her lips and furrowing her brows. "..Have I?"