Outside!

Outside! ~ Part 6, The Game

Kazuichi, Banjo and Alejandra (Both Aphelocoma wollweberi, homonids) sat on the floor in a circle holding on to each other's fingers, a crudely made game board resembling a strange version of Monopoly sat in the centre of the circle. Banjo had decided to create a game based on one he saw in a shop about a day prior. The game he saw looked interesting but it was forty dollars so he decided to make his own instead.
"Yeah that's right! And then Kazuichi, you roll the dice, and whatever number you get, you move your piece that many spaces!" Banjo said excitedly. Kazuichi looked at him quizzically and cocked his head to the side, Banjo gestured toward the four sided dice sitting in the middle of the home-made board. Kazuichi let go of Alejandra's finger and Banjo let go of his. He then picked up the dice, shook it in his hand and tossed it back to the middle of the board.
"Uh, what number is that?" Kazuichi asked sheepishly, still somewhat unfamiliar with Arabic numerals.
"That's a three darling, so you'd move three spaces from start." Alejandra told him, pointing towards his game piece, a bottle cap with a crude pig drawn on it in sharpie. Everyone else's game pieces had a similar design. Kazuichi picked up the game piece and moved it three squares, tapping it on each passing space. Alejandra smiled at him and Kazuichi looked intrigued by this game. Kazuichi lifted his piece to read the text on his square, he squinted and read aloud, sounding it out.
"ch-a-n-ce... what does that mean?" He asked.
"That means you pick up one of these chance cards." Banjo answered, pointing at the small pile of torn papers with "chance" on the back. "You pick up one of those, and whatever it says applies to you, so if you pick one up and read it to me I'll help you with it." Banjo continued with a smile. Kazuichi gave a side smile and picked up a 'card' and squinted at it for a minute, deciphering the words.
"uhhhh... cross arms for one turn...?" Kazuichi read.
"Ah, ok, so that means you cross your arms over each other and hold onto my finger instead, and Alejandra will hold onto yours, however this means you skip one turn." Banjo explained. Kazuichi snorted grumpily however he obliged.
"'Aaaada a boy!" Banjo cheered.

This went on for a few cycles until some of the others got curious and joined in. Alex sat down next to Kazuichi and rested his head on his shoulder affectionately, the two had gotten quite close in all that had happened, they came to rely on each other.
"So what's the story with this? A little cult ritual?" Alex asked.
"Nah nah, it's this funky game thing Banjo made, I'll ask him to explain it again so you can play, it's actually really fun!" Kazuichi spoke energetically, Alex smiled at him and nodded his head. Brooklyn and Jesse quietly came and sat in the circle shortly afterwards and listened to the explanation of the rules, intrigued. Frank happened to be standing in the doorway while the explanation was being given and meandered over to criticise.
"What the fuck, why are there so many rules?" Frank asked in a pompous tone.
"Because that's how games work" Alex answered.
"Why do you follow the rules? What's stopping you from just saying fuck the rules and cheating?" Frank continued.
"Well, nothing, but that kinda defeats the purpose, it's just more fun if you do it the right way." Alex once again answered.
"Whatever, you guys are boring. I'll play your stupid game, humour you and obey your silly rules." Frank said, as if his opinion really mattered and if anyone really cared that much if he played or not. The group collectively decided not to voice that however, too focused on the game to be petty.
A few hours went by, everyone played the game by the rules and had fun, even Harry joined in eventually and began to enjoy it.
"Oh my god look at the time you guys it like, nine thirty already! holy shit, how long have we been doing this?" Banjo said, looking over to a digital clock on the coffee table. Everyone else voiced their shared surprise and laughed.
"Well I think that's probably a good que for us to go to bed, whaddya say? I'm obviously winning anyway" Alejandra said sarcastically with a chuckle, she had just lost all her tokens, and the circle had shrunk again to just her, Brooklyn and Harry, everyone else sat outside the circle spectating as they had gone "bankrupt" earlier in the game. Harry chuckled quietly and sighed contently,
"Yes, I think that's a wonderful idea Alejandra." He said. Brooklyn clicked her tongue in an agitated yet playful way and smiled.
"Just because I was the one actually winning." Brooklyn had acquired over sixteen tokens and about four asset cards, and had just inconvenienced Alejandra, who would've then lost, and because you can't really play the game with only two people, Harry would've lost by default and Brooklyn would have won.
"Let's just say you did win, how about that? Let's go to bed, I'm sure we all must be very tired by now, I know I am." Harry spoke softly with a warm smile. Brooklyn chuckled.
"Fiiinnneee. For the record I totally destroyed you loosers at that game." She said playfully as she began collecting up all her tokens and assets and organising them into separate piles. Harry and Alejandra helped her pack up the rest of the game as everyone who was already out got up and left to go get ready for bed.
And for the first time in days, Harry went to poke his head into everyone's rooms once they had all gone to bed to wish them goodnight.
"Harry?" Brooklyn spoke, just as Harry went to leave her and Jesse's shared room after saying goodnight.
"Yes Brooklyn?" Harry answered quietly.
"...can I say goodnight to everyone tomorrow night?" Brooklyn asked in a small voice. "... oh and, can we all play the game again tomorrow? It was really fun, and I'm glad you're hanging out with us again..." She continued, almost a whisper. Harry paused for a moment in awe, mouth slightly agape, it was very rare that he ever heard something so kind from Brooklyn of all hybrids.
"Of course Brooklyn. I rather enjoyed playing the game too, and you're absolutely welcome to say goodnight, whenever you like."

It very quickly became a tradition for the house to all come and play The Game together at the end of the day, and the winner of the game would be the one to say goodnight to everyone. Harry much enjoyed the way that everyone had come to respect each other thanks to this strange social event. Over time everyone began to realise that in order to play the game it was best if the loungeroom was clean, and everyone had space to sit down on the couch and put the board on the coffee table, so they began to maintain the loungeroom and keep it clean (aside from Alex, Kazuichi and Frank's beds on the couch of course). The components of The Game however, such as reading, doing maths, socialising, strategizing, cooperating and managing money and assets, taught everyone a lot of things. After playing The Game together every day, they all began to evolve, bit by bit. They started to keep the house clean and wear and wash their clothes, they started to use each room as designated, they started to get along with each other, the ones that had been fired from previous jobs were starting to find employment again, Banjo and Alejandra were starting to follow in Harry and Rose's footsteps and explore the human world and learn new things, although it took them some getting used to. Harry instead became an artist and a writer, preferring to do his work from the privacy of home or out in the nature where he used to hunt, and Kazuichi and Alex became Zoto's first opposing species couple. Alex felt he owed Rose a final respect and decided to pull himself out of the criminal underworld to work towards graduating high school. Bhavani (Ailurus fulgens, homonid), the girl Alex escaped the shopping complex with was now studying to become a psychologist. Brooklyn was also attending school more often than before. Banjo moved up to an office job as a financial advisor. Alejandra became a cooking teacher at a local high school, instead of her previous job as a professional chef. Frank continued his work as a used car salesman. Kazuichi took up a job as a mechanic after dropping out of high school. And finally, Jesse got a promotion working in real estate. At the end of each day those who got home before evening set in would sit at the kitchen table and converse about the days achievements and discoveries, a relatively new practice. Banjo and Alejandra in particular having a lot to share due to their professions and contact with many other individuals each day, they looked forward to getting home and telling each other about what they learned and experienced. It went on like this for several months, even years. Eventually they had all evolved to a sustainable level and the ZRP was coming to a close, it was almost time to open the gates and reintegrate the city of Zoto with human society. The city would remain unchanged however the travel ban between Zoto and all other cities would be lifted, Zoto inhabitants would be encouraged to travel and humans would be encouraged to visit the now upstanding city of Zoto. All would go as planned...

...The train hurtled toward the bend at top speed. There was nothing he could do now but accept his fate...

[Authors note - I have a detailed diagram and description of "The Game" in "extra details" if anyone is interested :) ]