Dake laughed again, "Oh I don't doubt.  Here's the thing though.  You got your whole life to read big books - but yer only a kid once.  You ever climbed a tree?  Or ran so fast you thought you'd start flyin'?  Or did anything for no other reason then it might be fun?"

Lei's look said it all.

"I didn't think so.  So you may be the expert on -" he looked at the book, "- the Genome Project.  But I'm the expert on how to have a good time.  Whattaya say we learn from each other?"

Lei looked at him skeptically, but there was definitely interest sparkling in her eyes, "What do you have in mind?" she asked after a long pause, in a quite voice.

Dake grinned, he hadn't won her over yet - but he was making headway.  He bit his lip and thought for a second.  Something fun ... something fun ... a sparkle hit his eye and he stood up.

"You guys gotta infirmary, right?" Lei nodded, "Alright, ya know those plastic glove things them docs where, I want you to grab me a box of those.  Hell, make it two."

Dake was already moving about the dining hall looking through cabinets.

Lei wrinkled her nose, "You want surgical gloves?" she asked.  Dake just grinned and nodded at her.  She hesitated a moment.  She had no idea what Dake had in mind.  Somehow Lei didn't think dealing with wounds or disecting something was exactly what Dake had in mind.  But something told her to just go with it.  He was right after all ... when was the last time she had fun?

[To Destiny: Cargo Bay]

Once Lei had left Dake began opening cabinets and digging through things in search of buckets.  Having never been on this ship before he had no idea where they kept stuff.  But he wasn't the type of guy to be deterred by a little thing like that.

"Ah, there ya are." he said with a smile, finding two buckets in a  long closet along with a mop and a broom.  A slightly wistful expression crossed his face for a moment.  They were old wooden buckets - just like the ones he, Nate and Kale used to use back home on Santo.  Back when the world wasn't all upside down and backwards.  Back when the only thing that mattered was having fun.  Staying out till all hours doing whatever they felt like ... when did things get so gorram complicated?

[From Destiny: Infirmary]

Lei stepped back into the dining hall with the boxes held in one arm.  Dake was standing at the sink with two buckets that the crew used to mop up.  Lei was confused, "Are we going to clean?" she asked.  She wasn't against cleaning but it certainly wasn't one of the most fun things to do.  She'd far prefer to have her book back.

Dake turned back to Lei with a exaggerated look of repulsion, "No we are not.  Since when was cleanin' any fun?  Nope, we're gonna do somethin' much better.  Toss me the gloves." he said holding out a hand to catch them.

Lei looked down at the boxes of gloves, smiled and then threw them across the room before crossing it herself to go and stand beside Dake.

"So what are we going to do?" she asked curiously, her guard obviously lowering as she peered up at Dake.

Dake caught the gloves and tore one of the boxes open.  He grinned, These should do the trick. He pulled on one to stretch it out then turned on the faucet and held the glove over it, filling it up with water as he spoke.

"You ever had a water-balloon fight?  Ya know, when you fill up balloons with water and toss them at one another?"

Lei cocked her head to the side, "Why would you do that?  Wouldn't you get all wet?  It doesn't seem like a very efficient use of water."

Dake laughed, "Man, did you grow up in a cardboard box or somethin'?  The point is its fun.  I get a bucket and you get a bucket an' we just go at it." Dake was making some good headway on the 'balloons' and almost had one bucket full.

"An' with arms like those I bet you throw one mean balloon." Dake said with a wink.

Lei laughed too and started handing Dake the gloves.  She was getting excited.  She didn't understand the point of the whole thing but it seemed like ... well it seemed like fun.

Soon Dake had both buckets full.  He handed Lei hers and she struggled to lift it, "It's heavy." she laughed as she tried to stagger around the room with it.

Dake reached out an arm and easily grabbed the bucket from Lei.  He set it on one side of the dining hall, "That's your side."

He moved to the other side of the table and set his own bucket down, "Let the battle begin." he said with a grin and tossed the first balloon.  It hit Lei squarely in the shoulder and exploded.

Lei squealed as the balloon hit her and she got soaked with water, "Hey!  I wasn't ready yet!  I didn't know we started!" she shouted across the room but already she was tossing one back at Dake.

Dake ducked down and Lei's balloon soared over his head and exploded on the floor behind him.  He popped back up, "Missed me!" he shouted smugly, just as another balloon came soaring through the air hitting him squarely in the chest.  Dake blinked slowly, twice with a look of mock surprise.

Lei laughed and pointed at Dake as he stood there blinking, dripping wet, "No I didn't." she let out a fit of giggles.  A real, genuine laugh.  A laugh that no one on the crew had ever heard escape from the small girls lips.  For the first time - Lei was being a kid.  She was having fun.

Dake laughed at Lei's giggle fit and grabbed another balloon, "Oh its on, little one!" he shouted and tossed his balloon.

(From Kyoko's Shuttle)

Kyoko had walked towards the Dining Hall slowly. Some sort of commotion was going on, but she wasn't quite sure what. It sounded like splashing and...something. She sighed and walked in from the corridor.

"What is going on in here?"

Lei ducked Dake's balloon, quickly learning from his example.  But the balloon didn't crash uselessly on the floor behind her like the one Dake had dodged did.  She heard Kyoko's voice right before she heard the splash.  Her eyes grew wide and she glanced at Dake who also had a shocked expression on his face.

As Kyoko entered the room, she saw what was going on, but before she could say anything further, Lei ducked to the side, and the makeshift water balloon connectedly squarely with her face, soaking the front of her outfit and hair as well.

Dake's eyes grew wide as he stared at the companion.  He glanced down at Lei who was also staring at him.  For a few moments it was silent.  Then he saw the corners of Lei's lips move up into a smile, his did as well, and a few seconds later he couldn't hold it in anymore.  He started laughing outright.  He couldn't help himself, it was hilarious.

Through fits of laughter he managed to get out, "So - so sorry <laughter> I  - <laughter> didn't mean to <laughter> Gotta admit that was a good shot though." he started laughing again, of all the people to show up it had to be the hoity toity companion.

Lei tried to conceal her laughter but once Dake had started she couldn't help herself.  She turned around to look at Kyoko and then looked away.  She kinda looked like a wet dog.  Her hair that normally looked immaculate was dripping down the side of her face.  She didn't look happy though, which for some reason made it even harder to stop laughing.  She looked back at Dake and mouthed "Oops".
This message was last edited by the player at 20:42, Wed 17 Oct 2007.

Kyoko stood there for a moment, sputtering. This was beyond undignified, it was downright humiliating! Then both of them started laughing. Kyoko could forgive Lei...but that gorram idiot of a pilot. Before she quite knew what she was doing, Kyoko found herself hauling off and slapping Dake hard across the face.

That was a good shot...

She made for the exit. It would be another hour before she could make herself presentable again. She and Kale would be having words about this!

Now it was Dake's turn to stand there sputtering.  Hadn't expect that now had you, 'ol boy. That was one hell of a slap.  His ears were ringing as she stormed off.  He looked at Lei again who was still laughing.  He raised a brow at her, "You think that was funny, do you?" he looked back at Kyoko's retreating back, "Watch this."

He tossed another balloon at Kyoko which hit her square in the back.  Then he grabbed his bucket and darted for the doorway to the cargo bay, "Run, Lei, run!" he said while laughing, although one hand was rubbing his cheek where it still stung.

[To Destiny: Cargo Bay]

Lei watched in awe as Kyoko went right over to Dake and slapped him across the face.  It wasn't funny.  Really it wasn't ... but Lei couldn't stop laughing.  And when Dake looked at her she laughed even more.  Then he threw another balloon and told her to run.  Lei tried to lift her bucket but couldn't so she grabbed as many balloons as she could in her arms and took off after him.  They were going to get in so much trouble ... and for the first time Lei didn't care.  She was having a ball.

[To Destiny: Cargo Bay]