~life's not a game...

[Peter Pevensie]

...but let's play.

ooc: As long as we don't break a window and hide in the wardrobe, we're good. Whoever replies - feel free to turn this away from cricket and make them go on an adventure or something. I don't care. I just wanted to throw out a thread for everyone to reply to since no one else was going to, and someone needs to RP around here!

With a languid hand, Peter tossed the round brown cricket ball up and down, watching it fall into his palm with a soft satisfying plop, the small smoothness of it secure in his closing fingers. If only he could keep his siblings as safe as this ball, sheltered from the outside. Well, not, of course, the outside like this outside - it was a beautiful day, and the sky was free of clouds for the first time in what seemed to be ages. It was not what was outside that they had to be afraid of, but rather what was inside... and no, Peter didn't mean Mrs. MacReady, or even the elusive Professor they had not yet seen (just as the MacReady had commanded). So, Peter had called his (somewhat reluctant) siblings outside for a rousing game of cricket. He knew some of them would enjoy it more than others, but they were going to have fun even if he had to force them into it. Lucy was so sunny, she needed to be in the rays of light for a while, and had hated being cooped up inside during the thunderstorm of the past few days. Susan had volunteered that they could use the fresh air. And Ed.... Well, Ed was just as sullen as usual, but Peter wasn't going to let that stop the rest of them from enjoying themselves.

They were going to play cricket, and they had better well like it. He was going to have to try very hard to make this happen, as he had expected. He shielded his eyes with his hand so he could look around him at the grassy field and its occupants. He saw his brother standing there, the dark-haired boys' arms crossed in obvious boredom, and a smirk came to his face as he got an idea. Lazily, he wound up and threw the ball - probably harder than he should have - at Ed, whose arm the ball was about to graze if he didn't jump out of the way in time. Well, that's what he got for not paying attention. And for being a beast all of the time, really. "Wake up, Dolly Daydream," Peter shouted mockingly, grinning. He dared to glance at his sisters, neither of whom he was expecting to have much fun playing cricket with him and Ed, but he knew it would be enough for them just to be outside, and not to be in a row... at least for the moment, anyway. He sighed softly. Some of them could use the sunshine, he thought, glancing back at his brother with a look of clear annoyance.

[Lucy Pevensie]

Lucy fiddled with the worn paper pages of her newest novel. She'd read it twice already, but she asumed her sister or brothers didn't know that. So it was a mighty good excuse for not playing cricket with the three of them. Peter said they needed to get outside after being cooped up inside for three days while it stormed outside. Lucy disagreed. She would much ather try going into the wardrobe again to visit the snowey winter wonderland of Narnia, and see Mr. Tumnus again. The little girl refused to beleive she had dreamed up the whole thing, even though her siblings all seemed to insit she had. Lucy Pevsnie had not imagined a whoe world in a few mere minutes.

She sighed, looking up from where she sat reading her bbook, which was under a large oak tree, sheilding her from the harsh rays of the sun. She happened to glance up just in time to see Peter smile to himself and pelt the cricket ball at Edmund. Another reason she'd rather not play. Violent. Not that Peter or Susan would ever hurt her on purpose, but there was Edmund. Her brother must really hate her, he'd been so cruel to her he last few days, asking her if she'd imagined any new world or visited a faun latley. It irked her to no end, but at least Peter had tried to make him stop.

Not that it ever worked. Nothing did but their father on Ed anyways. And he was at war. He didn't even listen to her mum, which bothered Peter too. Everything bothered Peter too much though. She glanced over at the hills just off to her left, and back at the faied game of cricket. She put her novel down on the grass and stood up, swiping grass off her navy blue drass. It fell just above her knees. She walked over to Peter who was talking about daydreaming. An excuse for hitting Ed no doubt. She tugged on his sleeve, waiting for him to finish whatever insults he was throwing at her other brother. "Peter could we go exploring? Up in those hills over there? Please Peter..." she begged. It was something that might remind her of Narnia, and maybe she could bring it up again once they were out there.

[Susan Pevensie]

Susan sat straighter when Lu mentioned exploring. She wished that Lu and her imagination would take a holiday at times. They needed the fresh air but she didn't want to encourage any more past events. The family had almost scraped away all of that tension and now they might as well just bring it up again.

She turned her attention toward a random space on the wall "Sounds good Lu. But if anyone has a better idea I think we should do that first. My feet aren't quite up for exploring everywhere today." She did have sore feet, kind of. It was a cheesy excuse and she knew it but throwing out this rope was the best she could do. Peter and Ed had better take hold of it or else, Sue thought. This simple idea could turn into a disaster. She tried to avoid eye contact with Lu. But every passing second made it harder and harder. Sue knew that Edmund rarely listened and right now she needed him to play along. He had taken a fancy for bothering Lu lately.

Everything was much easier at home. It was times like these that Susan needed her mother. She had tried to remain brave and string, but Right tn ow she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to do it. She turned toward Lucy and smiled. She knew Lucy probably wasn't stupid and that she knew what Susan was trying to do. But still, it was worth a shot, wasn't it?

[Peter Pevensie]

Exploring? Peter hesitated as he looked into his baby sister's big blue eyes. If she put out her bottom lip like she always did when she wanted to persuade him to do something (it always worked), he would be done for. "I don't think so, Lu," he said gently. "It might not be safe. You never know what you might find in a wood." The forest around here was a very small one, the smallest possible, for there was not much in the way of that sort of thing left anyplace in the English countryside. It could become something grand, he was sure, with a bit of imagination, but he didn't think imagining was a very good idea after the events of the past few days. To soften the blow, he added, "I'm sorry," and then he looked away to avoid the pleading look in Lucy's eyes which was sure to follow.

He wished she wouldn't get so caught up in things. It couldn't be good for her to spend her time immersed in imaginary worlds. Why, even know she had her nose in a book! True, it was a good escape from how horrible her real life was, what with the war and the evacuation, but was her life so terrible with her siblings by her side? Maybe Ed wasn't so great, but Peter and Susan were determined to try to make things better. It might even be said that they were a bit jealous of Lucy's childishness, the fact that she could manage to escape from all of this and use her youth as an excuse. But one of them had to grow up, to take care of the others. As hard as it was to face reality, they had to do it - and eventually, so would Lucy. It didn't have to be now, he knew; he didn't want it to be now. But times were already hard enough without a daily struggle to bring Lucy out of her dreamworld just so she could eat breakfast.

He and Susan were both making up reasons not to go exploring - all horrible and senseless reasons, of course. It was too bad that Lucy was childish enough to make up a world inside a wardrobe and yet grown-up enough to be able to tell when they were lying. It made things quite hard when they were trying to convince her to do something, which they really couldn't, anymore, as hard as Peter tried. And the more he felt like he was losing control, the more he felt like he needed it. He had made a promise to his mum to keep his siblings safe. Even if they hated him for it, he had to do it, because he loved them and because he had made a promise. "Maybe we could go back inside and play chess," he offered, in defeat. It would only occupy two of them. But if he and Lucy played, he would let her win. Susan could go look at the house, or something, and Ed could go mope, or do whatever it was that he did.

[Lucy Pevensie]

Lucy's excitment and happy face spiraled downwards at Susans words. How could she! She turned to face her older sister, hurt in her eyes. Her feet weren't up for it? Or was Susan just making up petty excuses not to go out into the woods? Or maybe they were because she knew what Lucy was secretly thinking....about Narnia. Maybe Susan truly thought that she was insane and wanted to 'make up' more worlds. But it hadn't been made up...and Lucy would not budge on the fact. It had all been too real. And she would find her way back to Narnia...soon. She looked up at Peter...tears forming. Did no one want to play with her today at all? Her little heart felt like shattering. Usually Peter and Su always wanted to do things with her. But not since they had been sent away from home in the war. SHe felt distant form her whole family.

"But Peter...it's a small wood. Surely nothing too bad might be up there? You said yourself we should stay outside... I thought you wanted to play with me..." she trailed off, not trying to sound whiney or beggey. Or that she was shooting back Peters own words at him. No, Lucy was simply confused, and she felt very alone in those few seconds. She wished her father and m other were here to hold her. Her blue eyes filled with tears as she imagined a picture of her parents standing together. How she missed them. So badley. Her lower lip started to quiver slowly, out of pure sorrow. Not becuase she wanted to be a pushover or because she wanted attention. No. Lucy just felt very alone.

She sniffed, as quietly as she could becuase she would rather the others not hear her. She was young yes, but not a baby andwould rather not be treated like one. Susan always treated her as if she was too young to do anything alone. Ever. She shared a close but tensionfilled relationsip with her sister. But Peter was different. Lucy would always feel like his baby sister, but not as a baby. She dared not turn around lest he see her now.

[Peter Pevensie]

Oh, no. Don’t cry. Don’t cry, Peter begged his younger sister silently, looking with her horror at her upturned face, whose eyes were now filling with tears. Lucy knew that he couldn’t bear it when she cried, especially when it was his fault, which he usually believed that it was even if it wasn’t. He was just worried about encouraging her, that was all. It wasn’t healthy for her to indulge fantasies like this. It was true that she was only a little girl, and it made sense that she would want something unreal to turn to when the real world was filled with so much sadness, but she had to grow up sometime. Even if Peter didn’t want her to, her other siblings did, and Peter only had so much power. He couldn’t keep babying Lucy, no matter how much he wanted to do so, because she had to learn to stand up for herself. This was a rough world, one from which she would not be able to escape.

He took his sister’s hands insistently – now he felt like he was the one who had to beg: beg her not to cry, not to be sad, not to make him feel bad about himself for being such a terrible big brother. “I know it’s small,” he agreed tentatively, “but it’s big for a little girl to go into, even with her brother there to protect her.” He wasn’t really scared – he just didn’t want to get lost. And he knew they’d get into trouble if Mrs. MacReady found out they’d been exploring. She probably wouldn’t mind getting rid of them, but she would know that the professor would be upset. The mysterious professor… They hadn’t seen him at all. Maybe he wouldn’t care if they got lost, either. Peter tried to focus on the situation at hand, especially since Lucy was still looking like she was about to cry.

“I do want to play with you,” he promised, speaking more rapidly than was probably necessary in hopes of keeping her lip from quivering. Whenever that happened it meant that tears were imminent. She turned away from him, and quickly, he caught up to her and pulled her into a hug, lifting her into his arms. “Come on, then. What shall we play? We’ll do whatever you like, Lu.” Just don’t cry, he added silently. Anything but that. He hoped she wouldn’t find his quick turn around in mood strange – well, she was astute enough that she probably would notice it, he knew. But hopefully she wouldn’t mind it and would just play with him like she had asked to do, without asking questions. Ha! There was little hope of that. She always asked him questions. She was such a smart little girl. He supposed it would be his downfall, her inquisitiveness. But he still loved her, and he couldn’t bear it if she cried: it hurt him more than it did her, he was certain.

[Susan Pevensie]

Susan felt her heart get heavy. Peter was handling the entire situation in a brilliant way. She bit her bottom lip, Lucy did have a way with pouting. There was something about the way her bottom lip stuck out that made anyone agree to her wishes. Susan closed her eyes. Why was this so hard, she loved Lu. But this wasn't going to make anything better. She gritted her teeth and slowly tenured to face her little sister.

"Alright, I'll go exploring with you. But you have to promise that you won't let your imagination get away with you. Okay, that is my one condition." She felt her face tense up as she finished speaking. She hoped that Peter wouldn't view this as a betrayal. She kept her gaze on Lucy who she knew would eventually break out into a wide grin. She swallowed and relaxed. Things would be okay, they were going to get through this.

[Lucy Pevensie]

Lucy sniffed as quietly as she could. She wasn't pouting to get her way, it was just natrual for and eight year old to want to go exploring. She turned towards Peter as he spoke, her big blue eyes brimming with tears. They did not fall from her dark long lashes, but they were there. She dared not cry.She didn't need Ed making some sort of comment about her being a cry baby or any kind of baby at all really. She just stared at Peter, her bottomg lip jutting out. "Peter please. It's not that big and you could protect me against anything!" she pleaded with him, looking at Susan with the same pitiful expression on her face. Lucy Pevensie truly beleived this one thing. Susan and especially Peter could do anything. They were the strongest people in worl besides her mum and dad. They could protect her against anything!

"I do want to play with you Lucy!" Peter spoke.

She tried to smile through her sadness. Maybe she would just have to give up the idea of exploring. Her siblings always pleased her every want and need and maybe she should try the same for them. She was about to speak until Susan spoke.

"Alright I'll go ex[ploring with you." she sighed.

After listening to the conditions Lucy's small heart fell juust a little. She lved pretending and that had been the point of the trip! She wouldn't push it though. She laughed as Peter scooped her up in his strong arms, ones that would never ever drop her. Ones that would always ptotect her. She giggled, cupping his face between her small hands. "Ok then we'll go exploring! Thank you Peter. You to Susan." she laughed cheerilly. She made no commitment about not pretending or saying anything foolish. She wiggled free of Peters arms and landed on the ground.

With that, the small girl grabbed Peters hand and pulled him off towards the forest.

[Peter Pevensie]

Peter winced a little, wondering if Susan was going to say something harsh, but she actually handled things quite nicely – or at least, more nicely than she could have done, if she had really wanted to put Lucy into her place. But it appeared as though the sisters were at peace for the moment, and it was quite a nice thing. He knew that he could protect her – he would very well make sure of that – and saying why they shouldn’t go into the wood was really just an excuse, as Lucy probably knew. It was Susan who really ought to be in charge of the situation, because she always seemed to know how to handle things. Admittedly, she was sometimes more harsh than she needed to be, but he was the same way, so he couldn’t complain. When Lucy tried to smile, he put a hand on her hair to stroke it lovingly, as if to reassure her that it would be all right.

He wondered why his sister was thanking them – for it seemed she was quite used to getting her way, as much of a pushover as he was when it came to her – and allowed her out of his grasp so she might scamper ahead of them if she wished to do so. Grinning, Peter couldn’t help but shake his head in wonder at his younger sister’s capability to convince them to do nearly any of her biddings with only the slightest outward jut of her bottom lip. She could even make Susan change her mind – and that, Peter had found in his own experience of arguing with his eldest sister, was no small feat. As she took his hand, he allowed himself to be pulled along to wherever it was Lucy was taking them, and only hoped that their good moods would continue.

This appeared to be a good enough solution. A compromise, of sorts. Everyone was happy. Right? Well, he wasn’t about to ask them, in case they decided to change their minds. They continued on towards the woods. He was unsure what to say, since he couldn’t pretend. Normally, when he and Lu played games, that’s what they did. But they hadn’t played games for a long time. Peter had grown up a lot just in the past year, since Dad had left for the war. He’d become man of the house. He didn’t usually have times for games. But if it was what made Lucy happy, he supposed he didn’t really have much of a choice, did he? He could hardly refuse her. Knowing he couldn’t pretend, as they continued into the forest, he offered lamely, “Well, what shall we play, then? I Spy?”

[Susan Pevensie]

Susan began to doubt her decision. Lucy could still turn her and Peter's frantic peace attempts back words on them. She concentrated on being a closed book. She glanced at Peter as she suggested playing eye spy. Was he being serious? This was a potential risky move, even for her brave older brother. "Yes, that sounds like a wonderful game," she said. She carefully ducked her head under a tree branch.

She wished that there was no tension, but it was already to late for that. She moved closer to Ed, Lucy had Peter, it seemed only fair. She knew that he was in a sullen mood, but she thought that perhaps she could cheer him up.

They headed in, deeper and deeper. the woods smelled nice, and Susan began to remember the good times she had shared with her family. Before, the war naturally. How they used to play, and how she didn't have to play the role of mom. Why did this all have to happen anyway? She missed the next branch and banged on into it. "Ouch," she mumbled. Her hand raced to the point of impact. It would bruise, of that she was sure. I really hate exploring, she thought to herself. "Who wants to go first?" she asked casually.