He shook his head emphatically. "Absolutely not. Unfortunately, I was going to use sly tactics to get that leaf from you, but I suppose I'll have to make do without it."
"Are you sure?" she inquired, nonchalantly inspecting her nails. "And even if I was ticklish, I would use my cat-like reflexes to avoid any attacks, I'm sure."
"Really?" She laughed nervously. "I think not." She pet the leaf, then poked at his side. "Then I'll have to test, too."
She tapped his nose with the leaf, then smirked. "Oh, I see. Everything must be sooo serious." She puffed out her chest and held her head high, mocking him with her complete 'seriousness'.
He watched her prance around with amusement, and he raised an eyebrow. "You are getting way too much joy out of this. Everyone knows that seriousness drains any sense of happiness." * * * "I hope you stay," Ellia said, rubbing some dirt between her thumb and her forefinger. "The ship would feel weird without you." She dusted off her hands, her nose wrinkled in disgust. "The soil smells sulfuric here. I wonder if we're near any volcanoes."
Avice stuck out her tongue and copied him in a low voice. "Seriousness drains any sense of happiness, bleh!" She teased him.
"I don't sound like that!" Jack said indignantly, with a happy grin spreading across his face. "I have much more class." He took the opportunity to make another swipe for the leaf.
Avice expertly dodged, jumping to the side. "Hah! Nice try, but my reflexes come through again!" She held it behind her back.
He approached her with his arms open in a comforting gesture. "Come now, Avice," he said soothingly. "Now I know that you are incredibly ticklish and it's not something you can just run from."
Avice moved towards him almost too compliantly. At the last second she attacked when he was open, poking at him.
Avice rolled her eyes, not noticing the closing distance. "Oh sure. That doesn't sound suspicious at all." She seemed a bit nervous.
