6/10 Instance: Deafening Silence

[tears~fall~like~glass]

timeline: after Sacrifices Must be Made


Paige: "Down.... set... HUT!" Paige grabbed the ball from her brother and made a run for the opposing team's 'goal line.' She shrieked as she passed by another brother, end goal in sight!

Rachel: Rachel had absolutely no idea how she'd been convinced a game of football would be a good idea, but it likely had to with a brief, almost pouty look she'd gotten from Paige. Cutting around one of the guys, she went for the tackle, torn between feeling bad for tackling Paige and relieved because it meant some contact with Paige, which had been carefully avoided since they'd gotten here.

Rachel: Well, and it meant her team wasn't scored on. Again. For the moment.

Paige: With a mighty shriek, Paige went down. She was secretly glad for the chance to touch her girlfriend, but still irritated at getting caught. "Hi!" She laughed, trying not to look too pleased at being caught.

Rachel: Despite going down awkwardly on her arm, as she'd hooked Paige around the waist, Rachel gave a smile in return and managed to control the urge to kiss her, instead softly muttering back, "Hey."

Rachel: Realizing there was a chance of her having a ridiculously stupid grin on her face that could look suspicious, she shifted to get up and readjusting her shirt before offering Paige a hand up, commenting, "I didn't think you'd be this good at football."

Paige: "I have brothers... I learned to be fast!" She laughed again, taking the hand up, brushing herself off once she was back on her feet.

Rachel: She also had to resist the urge to help her brush off. "Well, you don't need brothers for that, but I'm sure it helps," she commenting, sighing when she realized they were going to have to stop chatting to line up again. As much fun as this was turning out to be, it was difficult to keep a distance from Paige, and the family closeness was slightly unsettling to her, making her feel even more out of place.

Paige: Paige reluctantly moved from Rachel to go take up her spot on the line. "It's getting dark," she whined. "We're going to have to stop soon."

Rachel: "So, next score wins," Rachel suggested. Then, there'd be awkwardly sitting around the bonfire. At least while playing football she didn't have to do any talking.

Paige: "Get ready to lose!" One of the oldest brothers warned her.

Paige: "Down... set.... hut!"

Paige: Paige snatched the ball and ran for it again, more careful of Rachel this time.

Rachel: There wasn't really any need for her to be more careful because Rachel didn't really try as hard as she could've to stop her, pretty much letting her score the touchdown to end the game.

Paige: "YAY!!!!" Paige squealed as she won, tackling her brothers in a big group hug.

Paige: "Alright, Paigey!" One of them picked her up, squeezing her.

Paige: "Can't. Breathe!"

Rachel: Rachel watched with a slight grin, despite the defeat, and blew out a breath, turning to make her way over to the fire before she was caught staring. Plopping down on the ground, she laid back to stare up at the darkening sky. It was too bad Paige couldn't curl up next to her.

Paige: Plopping down beside Rachel, Paige smiled happily at her. "Sorry you lost... but are you having fun regardless?"

Rachel: "It's okay... I mean, football isn't really my thing," she replied, making sure to say that last part more quietly to avoid any comments about that, shaking her head. Looking over to her, she answered, "Yeah, it's..." Weird. Family time was weird to her, but... "Nice." Well, it was for the moment.

Paige: Paige laughed again at her, sighing just a little afterward. "Well, at least Tech won today. Texas Biiiiiites!" She called out, getting a loud cheer from her family.

Rachel: Slowly shaking her head, she mumbled with a slight smirk, "As bad as Yankees fans."

Paige: She shoved her girlfriend a bit. "No way!"

Rachel: "True... I suppose no one can be that bad..." Rachel paused for a moment, giving a slight shrug before adding, "Besides Red Sox fans."

Paige: "See there you go. We aren't so bad." Paige sighed a bit, leaning back to look up at the stars that were beginning to come out. "You can't see stars like this at school."

Rachel: Rachel was fairly glad she seemed to go unnoticed and only had to socialize with Paige at the moment. Looking up to the sky, she let out a sigh as she confessed, "I've never seen stars like this."

Paige: Indulging herself a bit, Paige watched Rachel for just a moment. She only looked as long as she dared, then averted her gaze back up to the sky. "No matter how great the city is... it can't compare to this."

Rachel: She lifted her head enough to tuck an arm under it, shaking her head once she'd settled back down, "I don't know about that..."

Paige: "But I do... it's peaceful out here. No cars... no sirens... no people except for ones you know."

Rachel: "It's unnerving for things to be this quiet," she said, biting down on her lip as she quietly added, "It's like my telepathy while wearing one of those power nullifying collars... Never really noticed there was that much white noise until it's not there."

Paige: "You like all that noise... don't you enjoy the quiet sometimes?"

Rachel: "Cars, sirens, people - That is quiet for me," she shrugged, "This quiet is... I didn't even really know things could be this quiet. It's weird, though not unpleasant, I guess."

Paige: I'm glad I brought you here. Paige smiled at Rachel.

Rachel: Rachel sure she briefly looked puzzled as she caught the thought that was definitely aimed at her, shifting her gaze from the stars in the sky to the fire, watching the flames flicker for a few moments as she debated a response. The only thing she could settle on was, Really?

Paige: This is like, perfect. I can't imagine being happier than I am right this moment. Paige sat up a bit to take a stick from her brother to roast a marshmallow on it.

Rachel: She could easily imagine being happier and immediately pushed the thought aside, shielding it from Paige, simply making sure her mental presence was steady. Things could be a lot nicer if she didn't know how likely it was for this trip to end badly. It'd also be nicer if they'd been able to say something when they first got here, and it went well because then she could be actually sitting with Paige.

Rachel: Shutting down the twinge of longing and pushing aside her guilt over everything, she neutrally commented, Yeah, it's nice.

Paige: Paige turned the marshmallow slowly near the fire, perking up when it turned golden brown. "Mmmmmmmmmmm smores!"

Paige: "Save some chocolate for the rest of us, Paige."

Paige: "Never!"

Rachel: Rachel snorted at the protesting, briefly grinning as she commented, "You may as well cut out the graham crackers and just sandwich it with chocolate." The entire family thing wasn't a complete foreign concept to her, but it wasn't something she'd ever had either. It was also sort of weird in a nice way, even if she felt out of place. After another debate with herself, she tried again, Y'know we don't have to tell them...

Paige: Are you sure you're ok with that? "Oh my gosh Rachel! You are a genius!" Paige threw the crackers into the fire and smushed the marshmallow between two pieces of chocolate.

Rachel: "Of course I am," she rolled her eyes, adding, "And, way to waste perfectly good crackers." Despite the amusement of the conversation happening around them, she found herself surprised Paige was even asking since she'd been insisting she was going to tell them. Of course.

Paige: I was beginning to chicken out... "Crackers are evil! Do not defend them."

Paige: One of the brothers grinned and tried to shove one into Paige's mouth.

Paige: "EWWWWW! No!"

Rachel: Then, chicken out? I'm really fine if you don't want to. It'd definitely spare them both some emotional torment, and, though she was pretty sure the limited contact was going to drive her insane, she was sure she could survive another day or so of it as long as the trip ended with Paige happy. "Hey, crackers are awesome, and I will defend them because of this," she stated, laughing at the attempt.

Paige: "Give them to Rachel! Give them to Rachel!!!" Paige shrieked, shielding her chocolatey mess from the crackers.

Rachel: Sighing, Rachel decided it wouldn't kill her to defend Paige from the dreaded graham crackers and pushed herself up to sit, intercepting them. "I will eat them all... Between the two of us, there'll only be marshmallows left."

Paige: Nicholas, Paige's youngest brother, mumbled a protest to that while shoving another marshmallow into his mouth.

Rachel: As she took a bite from one of the crackers, she resisted the urge to lean against Paige and bumped her protesting younger brother with her shoulder as she leaned to snag a marshmallow of her own instead. His was the only name she actually remembered because she just couldn't learn, like, nine other names in the time they'd already spent there.

Paige: Paige laughed at her brother and sighed happily. "Well, One thing is for sure... we will all have a sugar high tonight!"

Rachel: Rachel wasn't sure Paige had a setting that wasn't sugar high sometimes, but sugar highs could be good. They meant crashing, and crashing meant sleeping for her, which she otherwise wouldn't have done without her girlfriend. She decided she was determined to make this so as she snagged some chocolate from Paige. After this, the only problem would be surviving tomorrow...

[steyn]

This is so cute! Nice game gals!