♡ Caboose, in his lifetime, has played a lot of games. A lot a lot!! He had a lot of sisters!! They played with him 'cause everybody else called him mean names. He hasn't seen his sisters in a long time, though. Or his mom. .. It makes him sad, when he remembers. But he doesn't usually remember anyways. Besides, he played a lot of games with Church!! And Tucker, sometimes, even if he was stupid. .. They weren't as fun as the games with his sisters, though. .. Oh, right! There wasn't any time to think about his sisters!! Even if he did get into sad moods sometimes.
He's kinda sorta late to this game, though. Caboose hadn't heard it being announced, but he's not worried. Truth .. or ... dare. Truth or dare!!! His sisters played that a lot!! It was really really really fun!! He hasn't played it in a long long long time though, and never without his sisters. Caboose, a little concerned, frowns. And then he forgets that he's concerned. Or just forgets in general because Church is there! And the scary orange lady who he was supposed to listen to. He's not worried, though! Tail wagging, Caboose quickly trots over, then dives onto the ground somewhat chaotically next to the Border Collie. "I used to play this with my sisters!" Caboose says, maybe a little smugly. It's pretty clear that he's playing, though, laying his head on his paws and tail wagging as he watches the already started game with bright eyes.

Games had been what he ended up playing the most when he was younger. That was because almost like Caboose, he himself had two sisters that he was the older brother of. He wanted to take care of them and make sure that nothing would ever happen to them. Even if they complained that they shouldn't hover over them all of the time he didn't really give them a choice. They were family after all, and all they had was their mother after their father's death during the Great War. And because of that, while his mother was usually busy, it was his job to keep his sisters happy. He would basically do any game that they wanted within reason and as long as they weren't going to end up torturing him at the same time. Which was a bit difficult since he was the only boy in the house, but he managed because he knew somewhat of what his mother was going through. At least, he thought he could tell when she started to stop smiling. It was a rough time for the entire family, but they had the resources that they needed in order to keep the majority of them happy as well.

Washington didn't remember the last time that he didn't end up playing a game that was actually a drill in disguise. During basic training, they would give the exercises that they were doing weird names, and they would just be that, exercises. There would be soldiers that would try to play some card games or anything that would project into holograms, but with the way that the war had been going around, that time morale wasn't exactly high either. When he joined Project Freelancer, there were even fewer games that they were done. At least they didn't try to disguise something as some sort of fun game. Everything else though was hidden under wraps and was the reason why he felt betrayed by such group. Washington hadn't played a game in years, and with what was happening inside of his head constantly it meant that he wasn't about to start playing a game like that anytime soon. The Freelancer had jobs to do, although that didn't mean he couldn't spectate while he ate during his lunch break either. The armored smilodon usually kept track of where Carolina was, and because of that, he knew exactly how much she was working herself.

Eventually, she would have to see that she was basically killing herself before a threat could even likely approach them. Washington wouldn't expect any Civilians to try and protect the likes of them, as that wouldn't make any sort of sense either. The armored smilodon had a bag of jerky that he had put into the storage portion of his chest plate. He flicked one of his ears in his helmet as he heard and saw a lot of groups of animals that were gathering with each other. The Freelancer made his way over when he noticed that everyone that he knew was basically here. Except those that were from a different outpost of course. Washington looked toward Church and Caboose that seemed to want to get into whatever game they were planning on doing. Made his way over once he saw that Carolina was there, for some strange reason. He had been about to open his mouth to speak to her and asked if she was having fun when he realized that the leopard's eyes were closed. Oh. Well, she technically needed to get more rest, but sleeping straight up seemed to be a trait that carried over from human to leopard.

He remembered her doing it when he had just joined the project, and no one had dared to approach her for fear of getting knocked on their ass when they woke up. He debated several moments on if he should wake her up or simply carry her back to the room that they were currently sharing so that she could get more rest without arguing against it. Instead, he did what probably wasn't considered the greatest idea, raising one of his paws and aiming to gently tap Carolina's shoulder. If that worked, he would make sure to quickly draw back his paw in case she did lash out for him touching her. He had to admit though, her fur was pretty soft even if she wasn't taking all that great care in her health right now. "Carolina... you're sleeping sitting up again." Washington would whisper under his breath to the fellow Freelancer. Hopefully, she would be able to catch his words as he leaned his head down enough so that she would be able to hear him through his helmet, but far away enough that she wouldn't be able to slap him across the face. When Washington did speak, he almost sounded nervous. He didn't want to create a scene with all these different civilians around, as they already didn't have all that much great of an image on their side. "speech"

SUITE
HEART

The older femme offered Gordon a reassuring smile as she thought of a dare. When Gordon bestowed the task upon her, Suite had to pause for a moment to restrain from laughing. After composing herself, she painted a neutral look on her features and then, cleared her throat. She tilted her head back just a tad and then hollered the first word that had popped into her head: "FUCK!"

Of course that's what it had been. Classy, classy Suiteheart. Would anyone have guessed differently?

She cleared her throat once again, and then allowed a fit of laughter to rack her body. She laughed at most anything; it was kind of sad. After shaking her head minutely, she placed a smile on her lips and then peered at the faces gathered. A fictional brow quirked upward as she noticed Carolina was sleeping. Honestly? Mood. The white feline then turned towards the Snowbounders. "Alright, Atbash, truth or dare?"

© [color=black]MADI

ATBASH CIPHER

i should've said what i hear
i should have let myself fear

bio | female | hailcaller [leader] of snowbound

The shouting had certainly taken Washington off guard and had spooked him a little bit. He hadn't anticipated such a loud noise, even if he was accustomed to them in the first place. Washington had been around explosions and several other things in his lifetime. Meaning that something as someone shouting usually shouldn't affect him, but here it did because of the fact that he was tired and his reaction time wasn't as great as it used to be. Washington still had a lot of work to do before he could consider himself back in shape anyway. The Freelancer had been used to the aspect of cursing a long time ago so the word itself didn't exactly bother him. Washington's attention was mostly on Carolina, as he knew that if someone else tried to wake her up they were probably going to have to deal with the consequences of such happening.

The Freelancer didn't like being woken up either, as he usually had weapons underneath his pillow just in case. His time with the UNSC taught him that being in the army didn't exactly make him safe when they had their bases raided during the middle of the night. There were assassinations that were done all over the place against them and that was the last thing he wanted to happen in a place like this. He hadn't managed to hold a knife though, but any small nose was quick to wake him up. Luckily, he was used to sleeping in one position and not moving the entire night, unless he was having a nightmare, and Carolina didn't seem to move a lot in her sleep, at least not that it was really noticeable to him anyway. Washington wasn't even put on edge when Carolina lashed out at him like he had expected her to, moving quick enough just to get a scratch on the armor that surrounded the majority of his arms.

He gave her time to adjust to what she was seeing before she looked at him. A small grin would be on his face, but it wouldn't be like Carolina would be able to see it. Washington hummed at her question when he shrugged his shoulders toward her. "I just got here actually. I don't even know what's going on, I just came to see what was happening when I noticed ya." The Freelancer said calmly. Familiarity. That was what usually drew him to Carolina. Something that he was probably never going to admit, it was comforting even if he didn't trust her completely. He wanted to. God, he wanted someone around that he could actually trust. "What's the game that everyone is playing anyway?"

Washington questioned the leopard, hoping that he would be able to keep her awake by doing such, and if he didn't then he would be quick to tell her that she should get some rest and he would take over her shifts. It would be easier that way, as he couldn't afford to have Carolina destroy herself with whatever schedule she had going on. They only saw each other a couple of minutes every day, unless they were working together on something, which didn't quite happen all that much as Washington preferred to work alone on his own projects. The armored smilodon sat himself down, his gaze traveling over those that were currently there, wondering what in the hell was happening. The entire conversation Washington kept his voice hushed as a means to keep their conversation more private and not to interrupt those in front of them. "speech"