#reblog pls otherwise this post is prolly gonna die ;w;

[diamondsableye]

“Hey!  Guess what I just found in a box of my dad’s old things!”  Grimm huffed with an air of satisfaction, grunting from under the heft of his miniature backpack.  The pastel red material surged with a noticeable heavy bulge, as the harsh outlines of a semi rectangular object stretched the slightly dingy cloth along its edges.

His young companions turned their attention to the child strutting proudly into the room, knowing precisely who it was from the somewhat worn, dark hued graphic tee and the torn denim pants.  The first to reach the smug juvenile was Radiance, her cream colored sundress fluttering with every hurried step she took towards the trotting bug, her eagerness fading the closer she got to inspect whatever Grimm was so proud to show off.

“Awe Grimmy I thought you had something cool, like one of those super old brick phones.  We could’ve at least called someplace and had some fun!  If this is another boring old book I’m so not playing with you after this.”  The small moth huffed, more fuzz than fury.  She was still salty that the last time her playmate had insisted he had something fun to do, it turned out his idea of entertainment was nothing more than looking at an old dictionary for naughty words.  It had been tear jerkingly funny for all of 15 minutes before they got bored and hung up over how little there was to be found.

“Raddy trust me, this is way better than any other book.  This is a super magic book!”  Grimm beamed with excitement, already scrambling to take off the overburdened pack, hurrying to undo the sticky zippers which always caught on themselves whenever he worked himself into an energized frenzy.

“A magic book?  Is it like a spell book or a portal to a mis-ter-us world?”  Asked the petite juniper in a soft and sweet voice, saturated with innocent glee.  Her luminous branches flickered with life as a single small hand fiddled with the button to her denim overalls.

“No Lady, those books don’t exist, at least I don’t think so.  And it’s My-steer-ee-us, not mis-ter-us.”  Piped up another, crisper chime.  The voice had come from a young lad, his head adorned with a ring of stubby horns, as clean as the white button up and sleek grey trousers he so commonly donned.

The last two to approach the growing circle of friends was none other than Pale and Lady, who at least to Lady’s greatest ability, managed to keep each other conjoined at the hip.  Radiance let out a huff as the two approached, blowing the duo a timidly contemptuous raspberry once they were within teasing distance.  Pale stuck out his tongue and drew back his lower eyelid in response, the only mean gesture he was brave enough to send her, since the first and only time he ever threw her the middle, he lost dessert privileges for an entire week.  Oh how he wished he could've tattled on her back.

“Welll.... it’s sorta magic.  Apparently when my dad was in college, he played this Castles and Keepers game with his old school friends.  I was looking through the attic to find one of my favorite kites when I knocked over some stuff and found this book!  Apparently it’s a rule book for how you play the game.”  Grimm beamed with a dark smile, brandishing the newly uncovered hardback with the pride of a mighty sorcerer showing off their most accursed tomes.

“Seriously?  Old people games?  Ugh I’ve watched my family play stupid board games before, they’re always so rulesy and don’t have any excitement at all.”   Radiance almost immediately sighed in boredom, feeling let down by the surprise already.

“I mean I dunno Raddy, my mamma told me it’s a really scary game, and if you play it you turn evil.” Lady cooed with a lul of concern, regarding the book like a priestess to a haunted artifact.

“You don’t seriously believe that do you?  Remember when your mom said that you shouldn’t jump in puddles because one day you might jump inside a super deep one and you’d never come out?  Your mom tells you way too many stories I think.”  Pale chimed in with a curt cut of his voice, begrudging the sapling's timidness.  Even so, it was clear that the kiddie bug was apprehensive to join in on whatever his friend had planned.

“Cmon guys please?  I even brought in these things called character sheets!  I stayed up real late reading all about this and I got the perfect idea for.... for a.. I think the book called it a camp-pain?”  Grimm enthused, desperate to grab his friends’ weaning attention.  He fished up some spare pencils and a few slightly crumpled sheets of paper, ready to be filled out by waiting minds.

“How late did you stay up to do all this?”  Radiance asked, cautious but intrigued.

“You won’t believe this, but 9 P-M-!”  He beamed.

“Wow that really is late-!  You must be really serious about this then.”  Pale noted, taking a look over the sheet and offering one to Lady.  The youngin snatched it eagerly, pouring over the detailed contents.

“What is... Char-ris-maa?”  She asked, her head tilting in confusion to all the new words she perplexingly had never heard of before.

“Don’t worry guys I’ll explain all of it to you, but only if you decide to play the game with me!”  Grimm offered, the tempting offer hanging in the air decisively.  The rest of the gang looked to one another, mulling over their options.  It was enticing sure, but would it be worth it?

“Fine I’ll play, but this better not suck Grimmy, or else!”  Radiance huffed, but even through her begrudging tone, it was clear that she was barely containing her ample excitement at its seams.

“I don’t have anything better to do, I don’t like Miss Seeker’s craft ideas anyway.  She probably won’t notice if we’re off playing this instead.”  Pale offered, not quite captivated, but also not put off enough to turn the offer down.  The three looked to the last to join in, waiting for her response.

“Cmon don’t be a scaredy Lady, join us or else we’ll tell Herrah how big a scaredy you are!” Radiance teased, poking fun at the meek and shy sapling.  She stiffened at this, her rounded cheeks brightening with a frustrated blush as the moth’s threat did its work to rile her up.

“Nuh uh you wouldn’t!  You’re such a meanie Raddy!”  Lady shot back, so easily wrung in and agitated by the slightest tormenting.

“Well then prove it!  We all know you still sleep with a night light and that you once cried for an hour because you though someone took your favorite plushie!  Nya nya nya!  Lady is a big ol scaredy!” Radiance sung over and over in a crude mocking voice, her childish squeals flat and annoyingly toneless.  With a final huff and a determined wail, Lady broke through her fervent taunts.

“You’re wrong!! Fine!  I’ll play it!  But if mamma gets angry I’ll tell her it was all your faults for making me play!”  She squealed, asserting her all too certain threats to the group as a whole.  With that, Radiance let out a victorious sigh.

“Finally you decide to be some fun for once!”  She gloated, confident for now that she had swayed over the timid lass to her side for now.  With that, the trio stared back at Grimm, eyes brimming with curiosity and impatience.

“So...  What do we do now?  You said you knew how to play this game, but I don’t see a game board or cards or anything.”  Pale broke the silence first, inquisitively looking over the smirking bug with a hint of scrutiny.  After all, what kind of game had no pieces?

“Well, let’s take a seat, and I’ll explain everything!”  Grimm smugly cooed, taking out a pouch of various sided dice of all different colors.  Lady immediately was drawn to the unfamiliar objects, mulling them over as if she was surveying a new type of candy.

“Woah!  I’ve never seen dice with so many sides!  I never knew they could have that many!”  She exclaimed, watching them with unbridled captivation as Grimm rolled them around in his small palm.

“We’ll get to use them later but first, you guys get to make your characters!”