new topic that will be sitting here uselessly for a week. hmm.... what a lonely existance it has...

I had lost sight of the daughter after I had run to the front yard. At first I didnt see anyone there. *Are they all in the backyard?*
"Stop it!" I heard a little boy yell. *Nope...*
I looked towards the road to see four of them standing right in the middle of it.
"Hey!" I ran up to them as fast as I could, out of breath by the time I reached them...my yard is bigger than it looks. "What are all of you doing?"
"Eroll wont play with us!" Sidra pouted and pointed down at a little boy who was sitting on the road looking rather bored.
"Why, Eroll?" I asked him but he didnt look up at me or say anything.
"He's mad." I turned towards Locke who was frowning down at Eroll.
"Why is that?"
"Ask Sidra." Said a little girl who looked much like Sidra except her eyes were a brighter green and her hair was slightly less wavy. *Sapphir, obviously..*
"What did you do?" I turned to Sidra and frowned at her guilty face.
"I pulled his hair." She looked away.
"Because he wouldnt play?" I tilted my head.
"He's being no fun!" She stomped her foot.
"Look out!" Locke yelled...at first I thought a car was coming but when I followed his eyes, I saw Pharris running towards us.
"Alright, all of you run, but run in that general direction." I motioned towards my frontyard. They all nodded and took off, except for Eroll.

"You do know that you need a coffee pot to achieve that, right?" I asked as Dolan began pouring water into the coffee cups, possibly putting more on the counter than in the cups.
"Then I don't know how!" He sighed and let his arms flop beside him. "I give up." He began to crawl off the stool.
"Wait a second," I went to the cabinet and pulled out two coffee singles. "You either need a coffee pot, or have to be magic like me. Wanna see?"
His eyes lit up as he smiled. I proceeded to fix the coffee in the microwave, handing him one small cup. *what's the harm in that, I guess... it definitely won't stunt his growth or anything...*
'I want coffee!" Shand came into the kitchen throwing a fit.
"Here," I lowered my cup to let him get a sip, still wondering why I was letting alittle kid drink out of my cup...
"BLECH!!" Shand spat the stuff out, then started pulling at his tongue with his fingers. "TATHES DIS-CUSTHIN'!"
I shrugged. 'Looks like it's you and me, buddy," I grinned at Dolan, who smiled shyly back. *he is a right cute little thing....*

I watched them all run from Pharris before I looked back down at Eroll, "So what do you want to do?"
He tilted his head, "Will you play king with me?"
"King? What's that?"
"I pretend the couch is my castle and I'm the king." He smiled. I almost wanted to facepalm but I refrained.
"Well, how can I play that with you? There cant be two 'kings', plus, I'm a girl so I cant be a king." He frowned to himself, stood up and walked to the front yard, "Where are you going?"
"I'm thinking." He said with his back to me, "You can be a queen." He looked back at me and stopped walking.
"Just a random queen?" I tilted my head.
"Well, you can be the queen in my kingdom." He shrugged.
I laughed...if he were to have magically heard this at his normal age, he would flip, "Well, that means we'd have to be married, Eroll."
He tilted his head, "Married? What does that mean?"
I laughed again, "You know, like a mommy and daddy are married?"
After a few seconds, his eyes grew wide, "EWWWWWWW! Never mind!" He stuck out his tongue.
"You offered." I smiled.
"You can be queen of a kingdom that's fighting mine!" He smiled at the new thought. *Much more violent than the other option.*
I sighed, "If you want me to be."
"Yes!" He smiled and ran towards the house.

Despite the lovely coffee moment Dolan and I were sharing, I noticed that the others were getting restless....and what's the best thing to do when little kids get restless?....park 'em in front of the TV.
I grabbed the remotes and turned the TV on, and the noise immediately died down and they all got still.
"Why is the box talking?' Aleric asked with a fearful look.
"Oh, nonono, its TV, it's supposed to do that... it's like...watching other people play pretend." I struggled with the wording.
"Oh, I like pretend!!" Vered smiled widely at the TV. *well no wonder you turn out to be a con-man...*
I put the remote down and turned to walk away when-
"DON'T LOOK!! THAT'S BAD!!!"
I turned around to see everyone shielding their eyes, except for Searc, who was shielding Lunath's eyes instead and staring openly at the screen, which was of course, now plastered with obscene things.
'Good grief, what channel is this?" I switched it quickly, realizing that it was probably the channel one of them had left on from yesterday. *how the world does change so quickly...*

In the house, Eroll jumped on the couch then pointed to a chair on the opposite side of the room, "That's your castle!"
I sat on the chair, "What happens now?"
"Well, our armies fight, of course!" He smiled.
"We dont have armies." I eyed him.
"Yes we do!" He jumped off the couch, ran to the back door, opened it and yelled out of it, "Hey! It's time to play king!" He ran back to the couch and sat on it.
"So...what did that do?" I tilted my head. The door opened and in poored all the little kids.
"The armies are here!" Eroll smiled.
"Them?" I asked.
"Alright, we need to armies!" He looked at all of them.
"Why two?" Chantelle tilted her head.
"Cuz, I'm a king and she's a queen." He pointed over at me, "And we're fighting."
"Ohhhhhhh." Rhain said as he thought about it, "I wanna be on her side!" He ran over to my 'kingdom'.
"Everyone pick queen or king!" Eroll yelled, smiling.

I slammed the remote down and rubbed my forehead, wondering how much longer I'd be able to stand this.
As I was wallowing in my misery, I felt a hand pull at my leg.
"It's ok. I don't like kids either." Shand looked up at me seriously. I gasped, because, all over his face and arms, were some sort of designs drawn on with marker.
'Shand, what is that?!?"
"Oh, this?" Shand smiled proudly. "It's pretty, isnt it? I did it myself! And it won't come off for a long time!"
I sighed yet again as he skipped off. No wonder he turned out to be ink obsessed.... this was just getting worse as time went on.... I figured it was time to call in the reinforcements, in other words, somebody who was actually alright with kids...

"Attack!" Yelled Eroll from where he stood behind his little army...literally. Sidra, Vrangr, Torrin, Pharris and Aeren had decided to join his army giving me Locke, Sapphir, Chantelle, Rhain and the daughter. Eroll's little army charged causing mine to charge without an order causing the battle to begin...
Feathers flew everywhere, I cringed at the thought of having to clean all of them up...what were they fighting with? Pillows...I wasnt going to let them fight with real weapons!
It had to be the most intense pillow fight between children I had ever seen; every now and then you'd hear a battle cry...well, the best one a little kid could do.
They were all quite entertained, which was the goal of all of this...I was able to sit back and just watch which was ideal...this could've made the best youtube video ever and I was watching it in 'real life'.

"Hey, do you guys want me to call Samantha and see if she can come over?" I asked tentatively, not sure if they'd even understand what I said.
"Yes!!! Tell her to bring Xyle!!" a cute little kid with long blondish hair nearly attacked my leg, and I wasn't prepared for the kid to be so strong. Trying to keep myself from falling in the floor, I said, "Ok, ok, Daric, just don't have an aneurism or anything...."
Shand motioned to me from across the room to come here, and I curiously went over to where he sat on the sofa and knelt beside him.
"Mhmm?" I asked. Shand pulled my head over to him so that my ear was right next to his mouth as he whispered.
"I think Samantha's pretty..."
When I looked up at him, both hands were covering his mouth and he was both smiling and blushing.
"I think she likes you too," I grinned.
Almost unable to cope with the overwhelmingly wonderful news, Shand fell back onto the sofa and pressed a pillow over himself while he rolled around in excitement.
Shaking my head, I reached for the phone. *so many weird things go on around here...this feels so much like deja vu...*

"Alright, alright!" I had to break up the pillow fight at the sound of crying. They all stopped and looked at me with wide eyes. In the middle of the group, Pharris was sitting on the ground holding his face in his hands. I bent down and picked him up, "What's wrong?"
He sniffled a few times before answering, "Someone hit me in the face..."
"It's a pillow fight, Pharris...Pillows cant hurt but so much." I tried to move his hands away from his face but he shook his head. "Let me see, Pharris." Finally, he took his hand away to reveal a large red spot on his cheek, "Oh....that couldn't have been a pillow." I frowned.
"I'm sorry." Said a timid voice down by my side...I looked at Locke who had his head bowed.
"Locke, why did you hit Pharris?" I frowned.
"I didnt mean to, promise...we were jumping on the couch while fighting and...and..." Next thing I knew, Locke was crying.
"Nononono, shhhh, dont cry! There's no reason for you to be crying."
"But..I...I hit him!" He broke into sobs, "Dont be mad!" I bent down and gave him a hug.
"I'm not mad, Locke! Shhhhhh, it's ok!" Chantelle walked over and patted him on the back while everyone else dropped their pillows and gathered around. This was crazy! How was I going to take care of all these little kids for who knows how long if they kept crying?!

As the pandemonium continued all around me, I sneaked away into the closet where I stood in the darkness with the phone... *please pick up, please pick up, please pick up-*
"This is my closet. Go find another one."
I jumped and flicked the light on to see that a little boy with dark, grayish hair was huddled in the corner, holding his knees to his chest, looking up at me with sad eyes.
"Well, this is my house, and my closet, but you can sit in here if you want I suppose," I watched him carefully as he sniffed once. "Seth?"
He burrowed back down into the coats and bags in the closet and pretty much disappeared from sight, except for the tops of his tiny, scuffed boots.
'Oh, come on," I poked him gently with my toe. "Hey, Seth...you're not ticklish, are you?"
Waiting for Samantha to pick up, I kept poking him and prodding him with my toe until he erupted with giggles.

As the pandemonium continued all around me, I sneaked away into the closet where I stood in the darkness with the phone... *please pick up, please pick up, please pick up-*
"This is my closet. Go find another one."
I jumped and flicked the light on to see that a little boy with dark, grayish hair was huddled in the corner, holding his knees to his chest, looking up at me with sad eyes.
"Well, this is my house, and my closet, but you can sit in here if you want I suppose," I watched him carefully as he sniffed once. "Seth?"
He burrowed back down into the coats and bags in the closet and pretty much disappeared from sight, except for the tops of his tiny, scuffed boots.
'Oh, come on," I poked him gently with my toe. "Hey, Seth...you're not ticklish, are you?"
Waiting for Samantha to pick up, I kept poking him and prodding him with my toe until he erupted with giggles.

Somehow, we had all ended up in a group hug for Locke and Pharris...one crying because he was hurt and the other crying because he was afraid I was mad...Anyways, during our loving little time, my phone went off causing alot of them to jump at the sound. I had to let go of Locke and Pharris, despite their crying and protest to pick it up. All of them looked up at me with curious wide eyes. "All of you have to be quiet while I'm on the phone, ok?" They nodded but I knew that was a long shot. "Hello?"

"Hello, I'm in a closet hiding from children. How is your day going so far?" I exhaled while trying to keep Seth from laughing too loudly.

I frowned,"You too, huh? Well, besides hiding and stuff..." I looked around,"I'm actually the middle of a group huge with a bunch of little kids right now."

"Are yours any less rambunctious than mine?" I stopped myself and rubbed my forehead, realizing how much I sounded like a mom right now.

"Ummm... Well, they have played hide and seek, more or less, tag and king... Don't ask about that one... Does that answer your question?"

"Well they certainly are more organized, at least," I pulled my foot aside to keep Seth from biting it playfully. "I've had to referee little kid stampedes and stay on my toes all morning...and it's not even lunch time yet!! I want to send them back!!"

"You can't send them back, sadly." I shook my head and noticed Locke and Pharris were still crying,"one sec... Come on, don't cry, it happens five minutes ago, its fine." I sighed when they didn't stop,"sorry about that... There's been ALOT of crying over here."

"Not so much crying over here as zany kids doing weird things-" I looked down to see Seth after my toes again. 'CUT IT OUT!! THOSE WONT TASTE GOOD, I PROMISE!!"

I tilted my head,"What won't taste good?"

"Sorry," I sighed. "I mean, you never told me that Seth was a cannibal when we 'adopted' him..."

I frowned,"I don't remember making him that way... Is it he trying to eat you?"

"Yeah, it's the thanks I get for pulling him out of a deep, dark depressive state of hiding in the closet crying," I turned around as the door to my hiding place swung open.
"Why are you in there with Seth? Nobody goes in there with Seth," Dolan said with a flat voice, shaking his head. "He'll try to eat you."
"Thanks for the warning," I mumbled, walking slowly away from Seth, who just folded his arms and sat down again.
"OWWWW!"
"Hold on," I moaned into the phone, and turned around to see Cinaed, a recognizable face, with a handful of Daric's ponytail in his hand.
"Let go of that!' I commanded. Cinaed just looked at me.
"But it's so soft!" He rubbed it against his face as Daric began to shed some serious tears. At the sound of him crying, Aleric broke down as well, and stumbled across the floor to me. On the way, he tripped over Searc, stubbing his toe. He started wailing.
"Haha, I have crying now as well," I held my breath. "And in a minute, I will be joining them."

I tried not to laugh "don't have a break down, it's just like babysitting your siblings but there's more of them." I looked my own crowd of kids,"alot more..."

"I can't stand babysitting my siblings! I park 'em in front of the TV unti they get bored, then tell them to go clean their room!" I tried not to hyperventilate as Alliy ran to get Daric and Aleric and Searc tissues. "And that doesn't work with these guys! It's like they're a hyper, superior mega-breed of kid! They don't slow down and they're not normal!" *ironic, my love for creating weird and unique characters has obviously caught up with me...*