Here's a little extra chapter as some content for while I'm away :>

Enjoy fluff-filled shenanigans!

—————————————————————————————————————

[3rd Person POV]

The forest was quiet in the early night, only the sounds of waking nocturnal woodland creatures and the occasional babbling river interrupting the natural music of the wind rustling the leaves of the trees and bushes.

An owl rests peacefully on the branch of a large spruce tree, which is acting as a support for a little treehouse. The smallest amount of warm light peeked through the edges of a cave entrance covered by a piece of wood. A faint noise of a crackling fire came from inside. The owl slowly starts to nod off to sleep, until-

A figure hidden in a dark green cloak skids and slides on their feet through the damp grass, zooming towards the cave.

"GUUEEEEESSS WHOOOOO!" He shouts, laughing as he clumsily slips to a stop, almost hitting the rocks that make up the outside of the cave.

As he steps back a little, the piece of wood covering the cave entrance almost explodes off its secure spot, four more figures happily laughing and rushing out of the cave. They rush to the cloaked figure, trapping him in a hug, before all slipping on the grass in a heap of joy and gracelessness.

"Greeeen! Hi!" A colorful figure says cheerfully.

"Good to see you too!" The cloaked figure says, continuing to laugh.

"Hey, careful, we've got Mr. Glass Cannon here!" One of the figures jokingly says, brushing his black hair out of his eyes.

"Shut up, Dark." A detached voice says, giggling like a fool.

"Alright, alright, let's stop crushing Green." A figure says, picking up his mask from where he was laid on the ground.

All five people get up, still snickering till their sides hurt, being careful not to slip in the wet grass again. The cloaked figure removes his hood, revealing a beaming green face and vibrantly colorful hair.

"C'mon guys, let's head inside before whatever we probably alerted because of our yelling gets here." Time says, smiling a little as he puts his mask back on.

"We're super happy you could stay the night,Green!" Rainbow says, excitedly grabbing Sabre's hand so he can lead him around, and hopping up next to his fellow colorful Steve. "And it's like a proper sleepover this time too! We have games, and Time made a bunch of snacks, and Sabre said that he'll tell us some stories from his world!"

"And no deeply traumatizing experience happened before this to make it awkward." Sabre says, chuckling.

"Saaabrreeeee." Rainbow groans.

"What? Am I wrong?"

"Technically, he isn't." Dark adds with a teasing grin.

Rainbow starts to look annoyed, when Green laughs and places a hand on his shoulder.

"It's fine, Rainbow. We all know they're just teasing." Green says.

"Them and their strange humor." Time says, looking at Sabre and Dark, who both are looking at each other as if trying not to laugh. Sabre even has a smile on his face.

"So, Rainbow," Green says as the group walks towards the cave. "Mind explaining all the activities you planned?"

—————————————————————————————————————

A series of playing cards and five sets of dice are in front of each other the group, with a piece of paper labeled 'Scores' at the top in the middle. On the floor next to it is a small chalkboard with each Vengeful's names on it, some newly written, a few tally marks under Time and Rainbow's names. In the very center of the group is the rest of the deck of cards.

"So... what is this game?" Sabre asks, sounding confused as he looks at the setup in front of him.

"Have you never played King's Hand before, Sabre?" Green asks, looking at his cards already.

"Nope, never even heard of it." Sabre answers.

"I haven't either..." Dark says shyly. "I never really got the chance to play anything before... y'know."

"You saw me playing it with visitors in the Rainbow Hub before, Sabre." Rainbow says as he happily finishes writing all of their names on the scorecard. "You were always just doing something else!"

"I was taught how during the first Age of Darkness, after a bunch of refugees were bored and one suggested this game." Time says, also observing his cards.

"I've been playing since childhood, like Rainbow!" Green smiles. "My village actually holds game nights once a week, and this is a common choice. If you ever visit, it'd be fun to do that as an icebreaker. It's really fun!"

"How do you play?" Sabre asks, now intrigued.

"Everyone starts out with ten cards and an eight-sided dice." Rainbow begins, pointing to each of the game's pieces as he explains. "When it's someone's turn, they roll their dice to get a category out of the eight categories of the cards, which are the seven Chromatic colors plus a Creation category (which I guess represents Origin since the guy on that category's King card looks like him). Then, they say the category they got and they and the rest of the players have to pick a card out of their hand that belongs to that category. Then, all players place the card they picked in the game's circle. If you don't have a card of the right category, you have to draw from the deck until you do."

Rainbow then points to the scorecard.

"The cards are numbered 1 through 10. Players look at the placed cards, and whoever placed the card with the highest number takes all the cards. They set those cards aside and get the card's numbers added to their score. This continues until someone reaches the game's winning score, which in this case is 200."

"200-?" Dark says, surprised.

"They game would be really short otherwise." Green says. "The winning score number is increased along with the number of players so the game isn't over in five minutes."

"Oh."

Rainbow continues explaining.

"There is, however, a special card." He says with a grin, holding up one of the cards with a person on it. "The King card. The King card has the highest value of all the cards (which is 12), so anyone that places it automatically gets all the cards placed in that turn. And there's more; the King card allows you to swap hands with whoever you want! That move is called 'King's Rule', aaand there's been a few rage incidents because some people think it's unfair."

Rainbow, Time, and Green laugh at the last part, all having had that experience with a sore loser.

"That's pretty much it. Ready to play?" Rainbow asks, an excited glint in his eyes.

"Sounds fun!" Dark smiles.

"Yeah, let's get started." Sabre says. "But don't look at my cards when you're helping me move my hands, Rainbow."

"I won't, I won't. I'm no cheater." Rainbow says, jokingly rolling his eyes.

"No teaming either." Time says as he adjusts the order of his cards.

"What, do you really think I'd stoop that low? I just said I don't cheat at games." Rainbow says.

"Rainbow, when we played chess you used to steal my pieces off the board when I wasn't looking-"

"Shush."

—————————————————————————————————————

I might actually draw the cards of King's Hand later- I had a lot of fun making that up-

—————————————————————————————————————

Rainbow stood up with his hands in the air in a victory pose, while Time buries his face in his hands, and the other three laugh hysterically.

"I was so close..." Time says, his voice muffled.

"Now that was some entertainment." Dark says, calming down as Rainbow starts to do a silly victory dance around the room.

"That has to sting." Green says as he places a hand on Time's back, comforting him.

"Time, you okay-" Sabre starts to ask, but Time suddenly sits upright and has an expression of anguish as he watches Rainbow hop up on the table and continues his gloating.

"I was TWO. POINTS. AWAY!" Time says, "and then suddenly, Rainbow pulls a King card out of NOWHERE and steals the game RIGHT IN MY FACE."

"SUCKS TO SUCK, CLOCK BOY!" Rainbow cackles as he does something similar to breakdancing on the table.

Time sighs loudly as the rest of the group starts howling with laughter again, but after a few minutes quiets down.

"...Get off the table, you dunderhead, you're going to fall and crack your skull open." Time says after a long silence, looking up at his silly friend.

"Wonderful choice of words, Time." Sabre says, still laughing.

Rainbow stops his shenanigans and doubles over laughing, while Time now has a completely done look on his face.

"You okay buddy?" Dark asks, holding back laughter.

"Let's just play something else now." Time facepalms.

Rainbow jumps down from the table and walks back to the group, giggling.

"Alright Time." He smiles. "Anyone have a suggestion?"

"Well... I have one from my world, but it's worse than King's Hand when it comes to rage playing." Sabre says.

"What is it?" Green asks.

"Have I ever told you guys about a game called Uno?"

—————————————————————————————————————

Dark tried his hardest not to throw his hand to the ground as he continually drew cards from the deck, the other four rolling on the floor laughing.

"JUST GIVE! ME! A GREEN! CARD!" Dark shouted in frustration as none of the cards he drew were what he needed. "COME! ON!"

Even Sabre was curling up, his hands on his sides as he tried to stop laughing, but being connected with Rainbow wouldn't allow it; Rainbow was wheeze-laughing too much to stop. Green had fallen over on his back at the seventh draw, unable to keep himself upright. Time was laid on his side laughing, shakily holding his cards as he tried to calm down and get ready for his turn.

The edges of Dark's cards had started turning darker, as he inadvertently used his shadowy power out of pure rage. Dark finally find the card he needed, and placed it on top of the pile in the center of the group. He took a breath and started to calm down while the others were still cackling till they couldn't breathe. Now, it was Time's turn.

Time got a mischievous grin on his face as he picked his card, still laughing and laying on his side. He quickly shows his card to Rainbow and Sabre, who start laughing even harder.

"Bro don't do it-" Sabre says between wheezing laughter, but it's too late.

Time places a green reverse card on the pile. The four other Vengeful lose it as Dark sits in silence for a minute, his cards almost starting to smoke.

His silence shatters as a yell rings out,

"I DON'T HAVE A GREEN!"

Followed by Dark's pile of cards hitting Time in the face.

—————————————————————————————————————

"Dark, please-"

"No."

Dark is grumpily sitting in his hammock while the rest of the Vengeful try to coax him down, although they're still snickering.

"Dark, c'mon, it's just a card game." Time says, awkwardly smiling as he regains his composure. "You know it wasn't personal or anything-"

"You're MEAN." Dark glares from behind a pillow.

"Okay, I get it. Please come down now." Time says.

"No."

The rest of the Vengeful get a look from Time as they start laughing again. Time then looks back to Dark.

"Please? No more card games, I promise."

Dark stays still.

"Aaand we're about to grab all the snacks. I made those double chocolate chip cookies you like."

Dark thinks for a minute, then climbs down from the hammock and the scaffolding leading to the upper bunks, and rejoins the group. Time gives him a hug.

"That better?"

"Yeah... Sorry for throwing my cards in your face."

"Eh, I kinda deserved it."

Rainbow, Sabre, and Green all laugh again, this time also prompting the other two to laugh.

After a little bit, the group starts discussing what to do next after they pick out their snacks.

"So no more card games, are there any other kinds of games we can play?" Rainbow asks while trying to decide between cookies or candied watermelon slices.

"I dunno, do you guys have board games?" Green asks, selecting a slice of pie.

"Nope, those are harder to get than cards." Sabre says. "Even then, Rainbow brought his cards from a long time ago, and I just happened to have that deck of Uno when I got here."

"Rats."

"We could move on to stories?" Dark suggests, already opening a bag of cookies.

"That sounds nice, it's starting to get late anyway." Time says, nodding as he picks out one of the other candied fruits he made. "Stories are a nice way to end off the night."

"True!" Rainbow smiles.

"You guys want me to go ahead and tell stories from my world?" Sabre asks.

"Yes! I've been wondering what stories from your world are like." Green says.

The others say another form of agreement, and once it's decided, the Vengeful gather near the bunks on the ground. As the others wrap blankets around themselves and fluff pillows, Sabre (with Rainbow's help) places a lantern in the middle of the circle.

"Now, there's a lot of different kinds of stories where I'm from, so the question is..." Sabre starts.

"Do you want to hear something more lighthearted... or something scary?"

"Pft, knowing you, scary stories from your world can't be that bad." Rainbow says, waving his hand. "Our world has a lot more scarier stuff."

"I kinda have to agree with Rainbow here." Green says, setting up his sleeping bag for when it's lights out. "You're the goofiest person I know, your people and their stories can't be much different, right?"

"You both forget how Sabre tells us that his people are more... complicated than ours." Time says, suddenly holding a teacup and stirring the tea inside it with a little spoon.

"I'm sure it'll be fiiine..." Dark says, then looks at Sabre. "Right?"

Sabre looks at him with a grin.

"...I'm gonna regret saying that, aren't I?" Dark mumbles.

"Probably." Time replies, sipping his tea.

—————————————————————————————————————

The lights in the cave have dimmed by now, either from wind slipping into the cracks in the 'door' and blowing out the small flames, or the lanterns running out of fuel. The only lit lantern left is the one in the middle of the group circle, the flame inside dancing behind the lantern's glass as Sabre finishes telling a story.

"...And he was never seen again." Sabre concludes. "There are legends that say the entity is still out there, looking for more victims to join the first in his domain. The only thing that could warn you before it's too late, is the whistling from the entity's hole-covered throat."

His friends stare wide-eyed as Sabre ends his tale, either hiding behind their blankets or sitting frozen in place.

"...Well that was... something." Time says, placing his now empty teacup nearby.

"T-That wasn't a t-true story, r-right?" Dark asks, only his bright yellow and orange eyes peeking out from inside his blanket cocoon.

"'Course not. It's just some old story made to keep people out of the woods." Sabre says, and would probably shrug if he could. "It's completely fake."

"A-And even if it was real, that was in Sabre's world, so it wouldn't be here." Rainbow says, unwrapping his blanket from around him and trying to look brave. "That would be his people's problem."

"Yeah. Just a story." Green says, looking uneasy.

The sudden whistle of the wind rushing through the cracks in the cave's entry way makes all of the Vengeful jump. Time even almost fires lightning at the door, but he and everyone else calm down.

"I-It's just the door being loose. I'll fix it." Rainbow says, getting up.

Rainbow walks to the cave entrance and shoves the piece of wood acting as a door back into its secure and wind-proof spot in the rock. He notices some scratches and splintered edges on the wood, and turns around, walking back to the group.

"There's some broken edges on the door, that must be why it got loose." Rainbow says as he heads back to the group. "We must've done that when we all rushed out to meet Green-"

A loud, howl-like noise echoes in the woods. Rainbow quickly leaps back to the group, and in seconds the five friends have wrapped their blankets around themselves, and are now huddling together in a big pile. They all just stare at the door for a little bit.

"...I think that was a moose." Time says, breaking the silence.

"What the heck is a moose?" Dark asks.

"It's like a deer, but a lot... bigger." Green answers, not taking his eyes off the door. "Like, bigger than us big. And have larger antlers. And they're a lot more hostile."

"Sabre, did you scare yourself with your own story-?" Rainbow asks, looking up at his friend.

"Shut up, man." Sabre replies, sounding a bit annoyed.

The group spends a few minutes in silence before deciding to go to bed. Unsurprisingly, they all stay close together in sleeping bags on the floor rather than heading to their respective bunks.

—————————————————————————————————————

"...Psst. Dark. You awake?" Rainbow whispers.

"I am now, what?" Dark whispers back.

"Heheh, the moss on the ceiling kinda makes the shape of a duck holding a little knife. Look."

"Wha... Ohhhh. Hehehehehe, you're right."

"Told you."

"Do you two mind shutting up?" Time says, sitting up and glaring at the two. "It's 2AM. Some people are trying to sleep."

"I'm awake. And yeah, the moss looks like a duck with a knife." Green says.

"I woke up because Rainbow did." Sabre says.

"Oops. Sorry Sabre." Rainbow says, also sitting up and looking at him.

"It's fine."

"Hey, y'know what the patch next to that one looks like?" Dark asks with a snicker.

"What?" The other three ask, while Time lies back down and pulls his blanket over his face.

"A cat with a waffle in its mouth."

"Heh, nice."

"The one over here looks like a bunny."

"And the one over here looks like a bird dropping a rock on somebody."

"Like how you dropped a rock on that Colorless Guard earlier?"

"Are you calling me a chicken again-"

"If all of you don't quiet down, I'm not making breakfast in the morning." Time says.

Everyone shut up.

And the rest of the night was peaceful and quiet, as the five Vengeful got some rest to end a night of fun.