Third floor common room [Saturday afternoon]

[makemyownway]

It was the last weekend before finals, so Cade, studious lad that he was, had slept in until one and was now lounging on the sofa with a box of Cocoa Puffs and the remote control, searching in vain for something to watch

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[craftyladyparts]

"This, my friend, is the sport of kings," Jessica said while walking in, as if she were a character on SportsNight. "You have to show respect."

[I am slow for a couple hours, but I had to get in on the bowling action.]

[makemyownway]

"Those are kings playing?" Cade asked, tilting his head skeptically. "In really ugly shirts?"

[craftyladyparts]

"Kings of small countries with bizarre senses of fashion," Jessica declared.

[makemyownway]

"Is this how they make money or something?" Cade replied.

[craftyladyparts]

"The whole knights jousting thing is pretty passé these days, so this is how they do friendly battle," Jessica explained helpfully.

[makemyownway]

"It doesn't seem that hard," Cade decided.

[craftyladyparts]

"Well, it's no if you're really good at it," Jessica said. "But most people don't have the time or patience to get that good, because it's pretty dumb."

[makemyownway]

"It's throwing a rock at another bunch of rocks, right?" Cade checked. "I'm not missing out on some subtle karking nuances?"

[craftyladyparts]

"Technically, it's rolling a rock over a narrow path for a long distance at other rocks," Jessica said. "There's a bowling alley in town if you want to see how easy it is."

[makemyownway]

"Is this something two people can play or do I just need an ugly shirt and a camera crew to do this?" Cade asked.

[craftyladyparts]

"Just two people can oh crap I basically just volunteered myself, didn't I?" Jessica said, changing her response midstream.

[makemyownway]

Cade grinned at her. "Yes, you did."

[craftyladyparts]

"Fine. I'll teach you how to play and laugh at you when you end up being bad at it, just like I am," Jessica said. "But you should know that I was lying earlier. This has nothing to do with royalty. Those guys just have nothing better to do."

[makemyownway]

"Well good. The only royalty I know is Sia and she's not exactly made of fun," Cade replied. "I don't want to invite her."

[craftyladyparts]

Jessica's confused look might have let on that she didn't know anything about Sia and royalty, but she was going to save any questions about that for Sia. She wasn't one for discussing other people's secrets with other people who weren't those first other people.

"Are you sure? Because sometimes it's a good idea for somebody else to be there to ensure that it's a nice, clean game." By which she meant 'by the rules.' Sure she did.

[makemyownway]

"Well, that would leave Atton out of it too," Cade mused. "Or Sparkle."

Cade had such wholesome friends.