Hermits United~ An RP of Pete's world awesomeness!

david went for the plastic spagetti, instantly trying to eat it since he recognized the stuff. it didn't taste good. sister is a bad cook, he noted to his brother, tossing it aside and grabbing a potato to teethe on. maggie, meanwhile, was sorting through her cleaning supplies and found a dustbin lid and her little mop and started to approach the boys like a hoplite with a shield and spear. "shoo, shoo!"

Matthew grunted in agreement, staring disappointedly down at the pizza he still held.  'I know!  It's hard as a rock!' he grumbled.

John listened and observed with amusement, giggling a little at their conversation.  As Maggie stepped toward the boys with her mop and dustbin lid, he leaned forward a bit more.  "Maggie, be careful..." he warned.

Matthew spotted their sister approaching with the long stick-thing and gave a small shout, crawling speedily off again, though he kept hold of the pizza with one hand.

David looked up with the potato in his mouth and quickly spat out the toy with a yell of alarm before scampering after his brother. look out! look out! he yelped, crawling quickly toward his father.

"rats," maggie said, straightening up and treating her mop like a spear, puffing out her chest like a roman soldier (or, honestly, a bit like lucian when he had to stand in front of the council).

Matthew gave another shriek and turned to follow his brother, practically diving into his mother's lap and grabbing hold of one of her arms.

John snorted amusedly, holding out his arms for David and giggling just a little at the pose Maggie displayed, thinking of Lucian.  "Did that mean ol' soldier getcha?" he asked the boys, giggling slightly once more.

david whimpered a bit as he clung to his father, looking back at his scary older sister, who was still standing with her chest puffed out. rose scooped up her little son and cooed to him, giggling a little. "oh, it's okay, mummy will save you from the soldier!"

maggie deflated a little when she realized her parents were making fun of her.

"Aww, it's alright - she's not gonna get ya," John soothed David, hugging him and patting his back gently.  "Mummy and I will protect you, don't worry."  He grinned at Maggie as she deflated slightly, his eyes twinkling with amusement.  Matthew mumbled something about their sister's scary stick, turning his head as far as he could to look back at Maggie with a pouty face.

(Apparently "aww" and "pouty" are no longer words according to my Spellcheck, too. -headdesk-)

rose cuddled her little son closer, letting him turn to look at his sister. "you leave my food alone!" maggie scolded her brothers, brandishing her toy mop again with a slightly fierce expression. david hid his face in his father's chest and started to cry loudly in fake distress.

"Ohh, come now, there's no need to put up a fuss," John told David as he began to cry, able to tell that he wasn't truly in distress - he was just making a scene.  Seemed they'd had a lot of that today...  Matthew, for his part, gave an angry shout as Maggie yelled and David began crying, raising his slice of pizza imperiously as he glared at his sister.

Rose sighed and shook her head, holding matthew back to stay apart from his big sister, who glared a challenge back. david hit a higher pitch and volume, intent on throwing a huge tantrum because he could. maggie threw her mop on the ground and seemed to be prepared to throw a fit too.

John took all this in with a growing expression of exasperation.  Finally, he lifted David into the air in an attempt to surprise him long enough to distract him from his fit, and cried to all three children, "Alright, alright, that's quite enough!  No one needs to get all worked up over a little play food, alright?  Let's find something else to play with."  He set David on the floor, took the pizza from Matthew, resulting in a indignant shout from the boy, dropped it back into the mini shopping trolley, and started digging around in the toybox for something more 'appropriate' for the boys to play with.

After a few moments, he drew out some toy keys and a small tinker set with shaped blocks and holes.  The latter was really meant for children a bit older than they were, but perhaps they'd find it interesting anyway.  He set the box on the floor in front of David and handed Matthew the keys, which the baby then looked at in intrigue, examining the colors.

david abruptly stopped crying in surprise and grabbed for the toys, laughing happily. matthew was let down by his mother so he could jingle the keys more freely, and maggie was still pouting. rose sighed and motioned her over, commenting, "good thing you bought that wine...I'm gonna want a drink after a day like this."

John gave faint sigh of relief that the boys were now satisfactorily occupied, plopping back down on the floor against the couch,  though he frowned a little as he looked over at Maggie.  "Yeah... tell me about it..." he grumbled in response to Rose.  "There's been far too much tension in the house today..."  It was just about time they should eat, he figured, though he thought they'd let the boys play for a few more minutes and allow Maggie to unwind a little before heading in to dinner.

maggie quickly calmed down as her toys were no longer being threatened. "daddy," she said, coming over to him and making a wordless gesture asking to sit on his lap, "what's a soljah?"

Rose breathed a deep sigh of relief as all the children had calmed quickly. david couldn't find which hole the triangle peg went in and so he'd decided to teethe on the offending peg in perhaps some vain attempt to get it to fit.

John smiled slightly, reaching forward and lifting Maggie up, sitting her on his lap.  "A soldier is a person who fights for a particular cause - usually for their country," he told her, his eyes flickering with a bit of a haunted look as he spoke, though his voice didn't betray his feelings.  "I was a soldier once... a long time ago..."

"really?" maggie said, fascinated. "were you brave?" she thought for a moment, then added, "is uncle theta or uncle loo-shun soldjers?" Rose glanced over while still keeping an eye on her sons, making sure matthew didn't make a mess with the keys, or cut a tooth or something on them, then glanced to david with a tiny laugh at his continued attempts to make a triangular peg round.

"Uncle Theta is Lord President, but he was never a soldier before that," John told her quietly.  "Uncle Lucian isn't exactly a soldier, either, though he does protect the Lord President when necessary, and he has fought before."  He refrained from answering her first question, not really wanting to think about it.  Many probably would consider his actions during the war to be brave... but he still held a deep disgust, almost bordering on hatred, toward himself for what he'd done.  He'd done his best to move past it, yes... but destroying his Gallifrey wasn't something he could ever forgive himself for, even if he had done it to save the rest of the universe.

After a few moments of silence, brewing on those thoughts, he inhaled sharply and picked Maggie up, standing and setting her down on her feet.  "But never mind that - it's time for dinner," he announced with false cheeriness, scooping David up from the floor and carrying him into the other room, leaving the gate open so Maggie could follow.  Matthew looked up as his father departed, giving a questioning "AaaaAAAH?", still dangling the keys in one hand.

Rose offered a small, reassuring smile, scooping matthew up and getting him to leave the keys behind so she could put him in his high chair. "ooh, what's dinner?" maggie asked, already having forgotten she had asked before. "can I have the soda now daddy?" she added, "please please please?"

"should we make some puree for the boys? I don't want them choking on the noodles, and they're bound to make a horrendous mess..."

Looking up, John gave Rose a small smile in return as he put David in his highchair, looking to Maggie at her questions.  "Lasagna - it's the first time I've made it in a long while," he answered first, then added with a slight laugh,  "I really don't think you'd like the soda, but if you really want to try it, I'll give you a little sip."  Just a small sip certainly wouldn't hurt her.

He then turned to Rose, nodding in agreement.  "That's probably for the best, yeah."  With David secure, he headed into the kitchen, getting out the blender.

rose got the other twin squared away. david immediately started hitting his palms against his tray and loudly complaining for food, making matthew start in a moment later. "all right, all right, keep you're hair on!" rose said with a little laugh, "s'not like you've got much to begin with!"

maggie sat at her usual spot as rose brought over the lasagna and a salad they had thrown together when they'd put it out to cool off, getting ready to serve them. at maggie's insistence, she pulled out a bottle of ginger beer and gave her a sip. the tot instantly started coughing with her eyes running. "it burns! it burns!" she wailed, gladly taking her cup of water and spilling a bit on herself in her haste to put the fire in her throat out. "well, I warned you..."

John, as he was making the puree for the twins, glanced over his shoulder as Rose gave Maggie the ginger beer.  He couldn't help but giggle at her reaction, clamping his jaw tight to avoid bursting out laughing, though he did feel a bit bad for her at the same time.

After the puree was finished - and John had composed himself - he brought the wine and two wine glasses to the table, pouring some for himself and Rose with a grin, before returning to the kitchen to fetch the two little bowls for the boys.  He quickly served himself, taking a sip of the wine and a bite of salad, then started feeding David, leaving Rose to take care of Matthew, who was looking expectantly between his bowl and his mother.

"ooh! ooh! daddy, daddy, I want some of that!" maggie yelled eagerly at the sight of the pretty glasses of juice her parents had. rose immediately said "no, this is only for grown-ups!" and maggie pouted, stabbing her salad and starting to munch.

Rose quickly started feeding matthew. the boy didn't seem to care what flavor the mush was, and just chowed down.

John gave a sigh as Maggie yelled enthusiastically for some of the wine.  Apparently, she hadn't learned her lesson.  "Trust me - you definitely wouldn't like that, either," he told her, continuing to feed David.  "Wine is... definitely an acquired taste."  He raised an eyebrow as he glanced to the liquid, giving David another spoonful before taking a second bite of his own food.

"aww..." maggie whined, pouting even more until she took a bite of lasagna, cheering up and stuffing her mouth with as big a bite as she could manage to chew. Rose glanced to her and laughed a little, accidentally missing matthew's mouth with the spoon because she wasn't looking. he gave her an accusatory look, puree all over his nose now.

John turned his raised-eyebrow look on Maggie as she stuffed a huge bite of lasagna in her mouth, torn between amusement and bemusement.  However, he quickly decided amusement was the more appropriate choice when Rose missed Matthew's mouth, getting puree all over his nose.  He gave a loud snort, followed by a bit of high-pitched giggling, before managing to clamp his jaw to muffle the noise, looking sheepish.

Rose glanced at her husband at his squeaking noises, then spluttered and burst into laughter herself, making the boys join in after a few seconds, even though they didn't know what was so funny. she managed to compose herself and wiped her little son clean before trying to feed him again, having much more success.