street signs | a zodiac story

vii | flowers on the wall

chapter 7, flowers on the wall

Virgo laid out the suspect cards waiting for everyone to get a good look and a general idea of the characters they were up against.

They were in the dining room, it was separated from the kitchen by a small counter, where you would put food after it was cooked so that people could easily access it from the table. It was rather spacious, and the dining table barely fit the whole group. The floors were white tile with an irony grey lining them, the walls were a tan brick which accentuated the solid, grey, granite countertop, held by the birch cupboards. On this particular occasion, they all hung around the head of the table, closest to the kitchen and the cards were portrayed on the substantial countertop.

"I don't think William Cook did it," Taurus explained, crossing her arms and huffing away a crimson strand of her hair, "my money's on Woods"

"I like the thought of Cook being the criminal," Aquarius mumbled, hunching her shoulders a bit, "it just doesn't sound right and would be hard to find evidence"

"It doesn't matter who we want to be the culprit," Virgo placed her hands on her hips, "it's down to who is and who isn't,"

"Our guy might not even be a suspect right now," Leo argued, he rubbed his eyes while suppressing a yawn

"Anyways," Gemini cleared his throat, "there are 12 of us and 4 of them, so if we divide into 4 groups of three then we should be able to follow up leads as quickly as possible,"

"That makes enough sense," Aries agreed, tapping his fingers on the granite counter, "how do we divide?"

"One person from every initial mafia?" Sagittarius suggested, "We could end up forming some useful relationships,"

"Okay," everyone seemed to nod in agreement.

So it was settled, there would be four groups of three and one person from each family.

group a) aries, leo, sagittarius
group b) taurus, virgo, capricorn
group c) gemini, libra, aquarius
group d) cancer, scorpio, pisces

Pisces scribbled on a napkin, picking random people out of the crowd to make groups. He wish he had put himself with Aquarius, there was something about her that he couldn't deny drew him towards her, that being said, he tended to feel that way really easily but he didn't want to jump to conclusions. Everyone here would be useful to him in someway, some in more conventional senses.

-

Upon discussing groups, the group had moved to the living room which was situated at the end of a two step staircase found at the farthest end of the bar. A banister would let you look at the area from the dining room. A large television adorned the wall and 3 mini sofas surrounded each side of the larger couch parked in the middle of the room, with little pillows dotting the floor just in case there was no where else to sit. The tv played Once upon a time in America, as everyone sat around.

"I think today should be a day of rest- for all of us," Libra smiled warmly, "we can conduct investigations in the following weeks to come, but for now let's try and enjoy ourselves,"

"You're preaching to the choir," Taurus yawned, kicking her feet up on the arm rests

"I'm bored," Aries complained, "can we play a board game or something?"

Libra chuckled, remembering him in poker just weeks prior.

"I'm not going to," Taurus responded, her eyes closed, "but you guys can,"

"I will destroy you all," Leo boasted,

"Not a chance old man," Sagittarius scoffed

"You guys will NEVER see the light of day again," Aries hissed back

and with that, the fire signs convinced everyone to join their monopoly party.

They played with teams due to lack of pieces, but the fire signs were determined to outlast the other fire signs, the air signs just wanted to finish the game, the earth signs were determined to make the most capital and grow their property spanning and the water signs just wanted to stop fighting.

The teams were, as follows
Aries & Libra
Taurus & Scorpio
Gemini & Sagittarius
Cancer & Capricorn
Leo & Aquarius
Virgo & Pisces

"You have 5 minutes to discuss a game plan with your team and then we all re-enter the thunderdome," Leo boomed

"You bitch!" Aries cried "You can't rename my living room!"

"Winner gets to name every room in this house!"

"Deal," Aries sneered at the fearless boy.

-

"Okay," Aries grabbed Libras shoulders making her flush red, he of course didn't notice, "we both know you're better at talking and poker face so I decide the moves we make and you just make them,"

"Understood," Libra smiled, "do we take offence or defence?"

"Offence," Aries smirked, "eat up all the properties, trade only for money."

-

"Do you care at all?" Taurus asked nonchalantly

"No," Scorpio shrugged

"Do you still wanna cave their puny little bitch faces in?"

"Oh god yes,"

-

"We don't need a team name," Gemini persuaded

"You don't want one?" Sagittarius' head pulled back slightly

"Hey," Gemini our his hand up in a 'hold it' motion, "don't put words in my mouth,"

-

"I don't want to win," Cancer scratched his arm

"Me neither, really" Virgo responded, her lips pursed

"Just skip around the board?"

"Just skip around the board."

-

"I want boardwalk and park place," Leo demanded,

"We have to get them," Aquarius' eyes shifted, "or what's the point?"

"Exactly," Leo validated her response

-

After hours of crying, screaming, physical fighting that was stopped by Libra, and whatever else, someone finally won.
To the others my dismay, the one team who didn't want to win, did.
Cancer and Virgo decided that the best name for all of the rooms in the Ambrosino's household were no names because then Cancer might get attached because he is, as Aries put, "a pussy bitch".

very cool chapter over, vote comment and follow <33 thanks guys