a meet up Closed

“Thank you, Lifesaver.”, was Charlotte’s response as she took the water bottle and drank from it.

Holly took the high-five offering of Abbey of course and celebrated happily. But she was relieved that she did hurt her friend. She explained to Abbey, “I just didn’t think she had that much energy left. I really thought the boys had the chance to take enough of her power. I was wrong. Sorry, for screaming into your ear.”, “Do you know our mother? She is a beast!”, Alfred interfered, he seemed to forget that his mother could hear him very well, “A beast that can and will give you a time out. If you don't think about what you just said.”, her son swallowed, “Loveliest… beast?”, “Close enough.”, she said and took a sip from her bottle. She knew her son, after all, he was incorrigible.

Meanwhile, Liam finally also made it to the group and sat down next to his wife, “Congrats Kids!”, he said, but added, “If we play again, I'll definitely be on Holly's team. Otherwise, I fear I will lose my mind.”

But Holly said, “Who says my plans will be so easy next time? Especially, since I can no longer use owl noise.”, but just added quietly for herself, so nobody could hear her, except for an incomprehensible murmuring, “Maybe I am able to imitate a deer. Or maybe a squirrel.”

Her mother pulled her out of her thoughts, when she said, “Don't worry, sweetheart, your plans will continue to work.”, she added a bit helplessly, “We already have trouble finding you at home, so you're a pro when it comes to hiding.”, she ended her statement with, “And here we haven't figured out what you were up to.”

“I couldn't have done it without Abbey and the boys.”, Holly smiled and Alfred took it for granted for his amusement, “Thank you, thank you. I know: I am the best.”, “Says the boy who was caught twice by his mother.”, “MOM!”

Holly
Alfred "Al"
Charlotte
William "Liam"

@Abbey Thompson

Abbey wasn’t mad or anything she just smiled and said it was no problem and that it was all good. “It’s alright no big deal. My ears still work!” she paused and listened to what Alfred and Charlotte was saying to each other. It was funny to her so she had to hold in a little laugh. When they finished she leaned closer to whisper something to Holly to continue her sentence. “And, I also thought the boys would do a better job distracting and making Charlotte tired.” she was surprised how fast and sporty Charlotte was. That was a side of her she hadn’t seen before or known about.

Julian agreed with William. ”Same!” He said loudly making sure everyone heard him so that if they did end up playing another round he could say that he asked first. He knew Holly was one of the best in capturing the flag among the two families.

Steven and Jane was still standing further away from the group. “Should we walk over to the others? Maybe they’re planing the next activity or game?” Steven asked Jane who was taking a sip of her water bottle. “Sure. I just needed a little time for myself getting my energy back.” she started walking towards the group. Steven followed after. “That’s understandable. Those kids can be a lot sometimes!” He laughed a little. Jane nodded with a smile agreeing 100%.

Abbey
Jane
Steven
Julian

@Holly Adams

“Sure! We can play another round. I had fun! How do we do the groups this time?”, asked Charlotte, sounding like she had her energy back and seemed pumped. Oh boy.

She quickly takes the floor before a big fuss comes, mostly from her family’s side. “Okay, let’s make it a bit easy. Shall we?”, Charlotte said, “We made adults vs kids. So now we have three other options left: Girls vs Boys, Family vs Family, and random like Cynthia had the Idea.”

“Let’s try Girls vs Boys!”, said Holly immediately, before her brother, her father or anyone else could say anything.

But that didn’t stop the arguing. “It's not fair, then Mom and you are on the same team!”, “But I want to be with Abbey on a Team!”, countered Holly.

Nor did it prevent the bribery, “My angel, my sweetheart, my dearest daughter of mine, if you choose a team where we are together, you will also get chocolate pudding for dessert for at least... a month.” “Dad, I'll be back at Hogwarts soon. This plan doesn't work at all.”, Holly seemed annoyed by that, “And don't forget that Mom's pudding is the best and you shouldn't even think about being in the kitchen at all.”, just thinking about what he once tried to cook shook her.

When Charlotte noticed what they tried to do, her decision was firm, “Girls vs boys it is.”

“NOOO!”, was the last thing Alfred and William could say. Why on earth does Charlotte have to have the pants on in this family? (Fictively of course, because Charlotte always wears long dresses or skirts.) The two did not stand a chance and quickly remained silent as the woman gave them an evil eye.

Holly
Alfred "Al"
Charlotte
William "Liam"
William and Alfred

@Abbey Thompson

Steven and Jane walked over to them just when Charlotte asked what the teams for the second round could be. Steven was for family versus family this time, meanwhile Jane wasn’t too excited for another round at all. She had more energy, but was still tired and quite done running after people.

Abbey quickly joined in the argument with Holly and Alfred. “and I want to be with Holly!” she said to Alfred, but wanted everyone to know it. The game wouldn’t be fun if she couldn’t be on the same team as Holly, she thought. Not only because Holly was one of the best players, but also because everything was a lot more fun when she was around.

“I still think we should just pick randomly!” Cynthia said just making it clear she was there too. “Shut up Cyn!” Julian annoyed commented before turning his attention back to the argument. “JULIAN!” Jane stared at her son with those eyes every angry mother had and didn’t stop before he said something. “Okey okey, I’m sorry” Julian said embarrassed he was getting yelled at in front of the Adams. Jane smiled like nothing had happened and seemed glad he didn’t argue back about it. “Good” she mumbled happily.

Jane was glad the decision of the next team’s were already over and that it didn’t turn into a big argument this time. She was still not sure about joining the second round, but when Charlotte said Girls vs Boys, her winning instinct kicked in. “Let’s do this girls!” she gave a high five to Charlotte and signed for the girls to follow her. She walked over to where the kids had their base in the first round. Cynthia followed holding Olive’s hand and Abbey was waiting for Holly.

“What’s the plan girls?” she was motivated and more ready then ever.

Jane
Cynthia
Abbey
Julian

@Holly Adams

With the girls
Charlotte took the high five and took the red flag with her. So, the boys can take the blue flag. She had already noticed that Julian liked the blue flag more than the red one, so she left it to him to have.

When they were a little further away, she answered Jane's question, “The plan is simple”, turning to Holly, “Sweetheart, make your mother proud. So, be evil, be treacherous, and most of all: be my sweet, little Angel of doom!”, while Holly already had an evil grin on her face, “Already on it, Mom.”

Once they were in the girl base, Holly started talking and explaining her plan: “So, if we want this plan to work, we need to work together.”, she turned herself to Jane, “Jane, I need you and Olive to take this fake flag, to hide it and protect it like it is the right flag.”, she gave her the fake flag, “Guard it with your life and don’t make it to obvious that you want them to get to you. Okay?”, Holly took the real flag and said, “I’ll hide it in another place, and I'll stay here after that, hide and catch anyone who tries to break into our base.”, she turned to her mother and Cynthia, “You two have now the task to get the flag.” Pointed at her mother, “Mom, you make a big rumpus on the open field, so they don’t notice Cynthia or are way too tired to care or run after her.”, she smiled.

“I swapped Cynthia’s and Jane’s tasks with each other. This way, Cynthia has her time to shine, and Jane has a bit of a break from the running.”, she explained proudly.

Now she turned to Abbey, she would never forget her of course, but she wanted to give her dear friend the best task of all, “Abbey you have a much more important task and above all a much funnier one.”, she smiled happily, “You go to the other base just like Cynthia, but instead of looking for the flag, you make sure no one knows where it is up and where is down. Make them crazy, make them mad, and especially make sure they lose their minds.” (An example or an explanation of what Abbey can do: like playing Marco Polo on land.) “Just like we did in the adult base, so Cynthia has little help. Okay?”

After that, she clapped her hands together, “Any Questions?”
(And yes, you couldn’t see it, like no smile or whatever, but Charlotte was now VERY proud of her daughter. You can just feel it.)


With the boys
William took the blue flag and said, “Okay, I'll hide the flag, Al you take care of your mother. And the rest of you… Keep your eyes and ears open. And be careful! My daughter most likely has a plan already. So, who knows what her plan turns out to be.”, and yeah, he is going crazy again.


“We are so doomed.”, said Al.

Holly
Alfred "Al"
Charlotte
William "Liam"

@Abbey Thompson

With the girls
Jane took the fake flag from Holly and grabbed Olive’s hand. “We can do that.” Jane answered Holly before asking Olive. “Right Olive?” she said in a soft tone looking down at her daughter. “Yea momma.” Olive answer with her exited smile and small happy jumps on the grass.

Cynthia nodded. ”Thats nice of you Holly” she said glad she got a chance to help more this round.

Abbey laughed exited to hear the task that would be the funniest one of them all. “Okey okey.” she mumbled while she was listening to what Holly was saying. “So some sort of distraction, right?” she asked, but more tried to clarify it. She was quite sure that was what Holly meant by what she had said. “That’s going to be fun” she smirked looking a bit to much forward to make her brothers and dad lose their minds.

Jane looked at her three daughters and waited for a moment before speaking “No, don’t think so! Should we just begin?” she smiled and waited for someone to answer. Both Cynthia and Abbey were ready to start and just nodded as a answer.

With the boys
Julian had for some reason expected William to explain a whole plan he had made to them and was a bit disappointed when “keep your eyes and ears open” was the only plan. It was that moment he understood that they had already lost this round. He walked over to Alfred who also seemed to know they were going to lose. “should we work together again like we did in the first round?” they did a okey job the first time so why wouldn’t they this one?

Olive
Cynthia
Jane
Abbey
Julian

@Holly Adams

With the girls
Holly was glad everyone agreed with her plan. Everyone seemed satisfied with their task. That means her plan will certainly work and will be a success. But most importantly: Everyone will have a blast of fun! (At least her team.)

When Abbey wanted a clarification, she gave it to her, “You got it right on the money, Abbey!”, and when Jane asked if they should just begin, she said, “Let’s do it!”

With the boys
“Obviously, it's hardly fun without you.”, answered Alfred and said, “I have a plan for both of us if you want?”, he started with, “We will lose anyway. Especially since we play against my mom AND my sister.”, but immediately explained afterwards, “You can’t go against the flow. So, how about, we go with it? Who says losing won’t be fun? Let's be the most annoying Dramaqueens my mother ever saw!”

So, Julian and Alfred would allow themselves some fun, but what about the fathers and the other boys?

William had hidden the flag in a bush near the entrance to an abandoned rabbit hole the children found last year. And now?
Well, he lost his mind so…
“Steven, Emmet, Oscar, George, and me, that should be enough to stop Holly. Right?”


With the girls _(again)
Charlotte headed straight to the open field to start the distraction so the others could do their part.

Meanwhile, Holly went off with the real flag to hide it. She found the perfect hiding place. At a tree stump, there was a pile of earth. she buried the flag where it could not be seen with the naked eye that someone had dug there. The Earth was a good cover. Then she hid in the bushes and became completely silent.

Holly
Alfred "Al"
William "Liam"

@Abbey Thompson

With the girls
Abbey smiled and began right away with making a plan for what to do and how to do it. She knew she wanted to run around and not just sit at the same place hiding the whole round. She thought it would work doing the same thing she and Holly did the first round, throwing things into bushes and onto trees to make them think they were in another direction. So therefore she added that into her plan. Running back and forth in the boys base while throwing things in the other direction then where Cynthia was (of course) sounded like fun and Abbey was looking forward for this round.

With the boys
Julian was a bit confused by Alfred’s plan. Go with the flow and let them win? He wasn’t sure what that would mean they would be doing, but he decided to go with the plan and make this round as fun as possible for them. The being a drama queen part sounded interesting so he was excited for that part of the plan! “Good plan! Sounds like real fun to lose!” He was being sarcastic at the end and said it with a laugh.

“It should be enough” Oscar responded unhappy knowing as much as Julian and Alfred did that the boys would lose this round. Emmet laughed in the background while George was as unhappy and grumpy as Oscar. Him also not exited to lose.

With the girls (again)
Abbey slowly began sneaking into the other team’s base. She couldn’t start doing her part in the game if she didn’t make it successful over to the other base, so being quiet was also important.

When Charlotte began with the distractions Cynthia did the same as Abbey. She sneaked over to the other base quietly, but a lot quicker then Abbey did.

Oscar
Julian

@Holly Adams

On the open field
Charlotte started chasing after Julian and Alfred. At first, it was all very ordinary... until Charlotte caught Alfred.

“NO! Mother how could you! I am your only son! Do you not love me?”, Alfred said in an overly dramatic voice and way too much theatrical in his poses. Like a dying swan. Scratch that. He was a dying swan.
Charlotte just stood there and didn’t understand the world. Or better, She couldn't move because Alfred was clinging to her dress and legs, meanwhile, that woman didn't know whether to be shocked, crying, or laughing.

But over time she became annoyed and angry. He did not stop talking such nonsense and performing a whole drama by himself.

“What the hell are you even saying? Let go. I said let go! ALFRED!”
She didn’t pay attention to Julian anymore, as she was more concerned with getting Alfred off of her. While Alfred exaggeratedly continued to go on his mother’s nerves.

If he had known that he could distract his mother like this, he could have proposed a better plan to Julian. Well, now he has to improvise. As she tried to shake him off and didn't look for a moment, he signaled to Julian to use his chance to invade the girl's base and maybe find the flag.


With the boys
“What the hell are they doing?”, William asked as he watched the whole thing. The last time he saw anything like this was when Alfred was in the phase of defiance, but there he was around two years old. But this was no tantrum. Right? What should he do now? Go and help his wife? Or does that just make the situation worse? Should he help at all? Should he wait until his wife has a fit of rage? Or does that just make his wife angrier?

When he noticed the sign Alfred gave Julian when Charlotte wasn't looking. He gave up because his dear wife was going to turn his neck one way or another anyway. So why not make it worse?

He turned around, “Steven, you and I stay here.”, and grinned when he looked to the three younger boys, “Okay, if you're quick you can still make it to the other side and try to find the flag.”, he seemed to see the chance to win, “Maybe we are not completely lost.”


With the girls
“What the hell?”, was the only thing Holly could say. She was in her hiding place, so all she could hear was what her brother was saying. But how embarrassing was that? Did he intentionally embarrass himself in front of everyone? She knew he would do anything to win, but that? Seriously?
Shame had taken on a whole new meaning for Holly.


Holly
Alfred “Al”
Charlotte
William “Liam”

@Abbey Thompson

On the open field
Julian paused kinda shocked just like Charlotte seemed to be. He hadn’t expected such a dramatic act from Alfred when he was caught! He held in a laugh as he stood on the grass watching Alfred dramatically cling onto his mother’s dress. He could notice Charlotte getting more and more frustrated and annoyed for every second Alfred was clinging onto her for.

When Alfred signed for Julian to take the chance and try to find the flag, he understood what Alfred wanted him to do the second he began signing it. Charlotte was still not paying attention to him as he began jogging over to the girl’s base.

With the boys
Oscar, George and Emmet looked up at William. They all had different facial expressions. Oscar was still grumpy and sure that they would lose, George was confused and Emmet was smiling wide. “So the plan now is that we follow Julian?” George asked William confused by what the plan really was. He thought they were supposed to stop Holly from entering their base? “Didn’t you hear him?” Oscar asked annoyed. Before his brother could answer he continued. “We have to hurry if we are going to make it over to the other base!” he grabbed both his brothers hands and began running to the open field. The three boys snuck quietly into the base and began looking for Julian.

With the girls
Abbey watched the whole thing hiding in a bush in between both the bases. She was confused and looked over at where Cynthia was hiding. She wasn’t too far away, so Abbey could whisper something and she would still hear it. “What the hell is going on?!” Abbey whispered to her older sister. Cynthia was as confused as her and she just stood there in the bush she was hiding in watching with shock and confusion.

When Cynthia noticed Julian heading towards their base she quickly turned to Abbey. “We have to go help Holly!” she ran out of the bush and toward her own base. “Hurry up!” she in some way both yelled and whispered to Abbey who was still standing there behind a bush. “Alright! Alright!” Abbey followed Cynthia and they were now both running the way they had came from.

Abbey
Cynthia
George
Oscar

@Holly Adams