+Anima the Roleplay part 2 (Because part 1 was burried alive.)

"Don't look so surprised that I have part of a soul!" Carter said indignantly when his mom walked out of the room. He could be nice when he felt like it... he just usually didn't feel like it.

"I'm sorry for attacking you."

"Hm... fine. Apology accepted... mostly."

Carter turned and pulled a deck of cards out of a dresser drawer. "So what will it be? Go fish? Coins? Slapjack? Solitaire? Kings in the Corner? Golf? Speed?" Carter was naming off most of the card games he knew, even though Amanda probably wouldn't know some of them, such as 'coins', 'speed', and 'golf'. He was pretty sure those were unique to his family and their close friends because most people he had met had never even heard of them.

"I'm sorry. I guess you gained part of a soul right there. Until you destroyed it," Amanda replied. She walked over to Carter as he pulled a deck of cards from one of his dresser drawes. She recognized four out of the seven card games Carter named off. Amanda shrugged.

"You pick. I only know of four of the games you named off, and I generally suck at all of them."

Carter thought for a moment. He could teach her one of his family card games, but that took patience, and he didn't have very much of that. They could play solitaire, but that would involve him getting another deck, which he didn't feel like doing, so that was out. Go fish was... eh. It was more for little kids, so that one was out. Kings in the Corner was okay, but that got really boring with only two people. So that left slapjack. Or... he had forgotten about War.

"Do you know how to play War?" he asked, hoping she did, because that was the better one out of that and slapjack.

Amanda searched her mind for what to do in the game War.

"Sorry that I'm such a failure at this stuff, but, that's the one where you have to top the other person's card number with your own, and whoever has the highest gets to take the cards... right?"

She felt even more inept after saying this. And then she heard the clicks of the door upstairs, and someone entering.

"Oh, hello honey..." she heard Mrs. Landon speak upstairs.

"Yes. That's the one. And, if we both lay, say, three's, then we both have to lay our top three cards face down. After that, we draw another one which determines who wins. If I have a higher number, then I keep my cards and take all that you laid out," Carter said, already splitting the deck between them. "Oh, and we're playing with jokers, which means that they top everything. Aces are second highest, kings after them, queens after that, and so forth."

He put his cards into a neat pile and flipped his top card up to reveal a three.

He had heard his mom say hello to his dad, but ignored that. No doubt his dad would be down soon to check out Carter's company and what they were doing.

A moment later, footsteps were walking down the stairs.

Amanda nodded at Carter's explanation. It made sense; and it wasn't an easy game to lose by sucking on her own. It was all in the hand she was dealt. Ironically, Carter pulled out a three. Amanda felt almost hopeful, when she also, somehow, pulled a three of the top of the deck.

Footsteps were coming down the stairs.

"If you give him that stupid 'we have sex' story, I will kill you," she said, as the steps grew closer.

Mr. Landon nervously knocked on his son's bedroom door. After the brief talk with wife about Carter and his... girlfriend, Mr. Landon was feeling a bit like father who hadn't been doing a very good job.

He entered without waiting for Carter to reply and stood in the doorway.

"Don't worry, Dad; Mom said she'll get us protection," Carter said, seeming to thoroughly enjoy himself as he said it.

Carter watched as the color drained from his father's face. He looked over at Amanda's card, saw it was a three, and pulled three cards from the top of the deck. He waited for a brief moment to put the last card on face up.

He looked back at his dad.

"The door stays open," Mr. Landon said, looking very worn out. He slowly walked back upstairs to talk to his wife.

Amanda glared at Carter, about ready to slap him again as his father retreated wearily up the stairs. She released her anger, sighing, as she lifted her third card face up. It was a 10 to Carter's 5. She smirked to herself as she pulled all of the cards into her pile. With this, she lifted another card off the deck. A joker. For once, it seemed she was good at a card game... no, more surprising than that, she seemed to be having good luck at it.

After a little while, the game was finished, with Amanda winning by a landslide.

Carter's face went from red to white several different times during the game. He couldn't believe how crappy he had dealt! Amanda had won almost every battle! Carter planned to stack the deck if he ever played War with her again. Actually, he planned to stack the deck for every card game he played with her again.

Carter hastily put the cards in their box, standing up and shoving the box back in its drawer.

Turning back to Amanda, he muttered, "Beginners luck." It seemed that his luck was turning against him, which wasn't good. Carter wanted to milk that luck as much as possible so he could push Amanda's buttons as much as possible.

"You know what, Amanda?" Carter said suddenly. "You shouldn't even be here. I've been doing a very poor job of showing you what 'dating' me is supposed to be like. I shouldn't have been playing cards with you when I should have been showing you how to use the oven." Carter smirked, and covered his face before she could slap him again.

((Me: Yeah. He's gonna get shot. Somehow.

Amanda: *kills Carter... again...* ))

Amanda stared at Carter, livid. She shoved him, and pulled his arms from his face so she could slap him again.

"Carter, I will destroy you," she said, after she slapped him.

"Ginger," she added for effect, and hurried away from him so he couldn't react immediately.

((Me: Yep. Carter: *insert sexist comment here* All girls: *shoot him*))

Carter fought against Amanda, but ended up failing and being slapped by her again anyway.

"Amanda, you will not destroy me," he replied, glaring at her. He was just about to ask her if she wanted to know why she wouldn't destroy him when she said THE WORD.

"Ginger."

Now it was Carter's turn to be livid. His hands curled into fists as he resisted the urge to throttle Amanda. And then... then Carter looked calm again. Actually, he looked eerily calm, like he had one of his cruel jokes in mind.

He finally finished what he was going to say earlier.

"Amanda, you won't destroy me because my wedding clothes won't be meant to match the appliances," he said, referencing the fact that her wedding dress would (most likely) be white.

((Amanda: *takes on her fitting role of abusive girlfriend*))

Amanda felt a slight shock of fear as Carter's hands balled into fists, but knew it would simply be worse when his face took on a look of eerie calm. And that comment slipped out of his mouth. Soon enough, she was upon him again, and slapped him once more, harder. She accidentally kicked the door shut, and heard a strange "click" as she did so. She ignored it and slapped him again.

"You... are a sexist little... GINGER!" she shouted, just loud enough not to be heard outside the room, and not able to come up with a better comeback.

Carter held his face in his hands. That last slap felt harder than all the others put together. His face hurt enough that he didn't register the familiar little 'click' that his door made as Amanda kicked it shut.

He grimaced at Amanda, still nursing his very red cheek. "Hey, that's not my problem. Just think, you're the one that introduced yourself as my girlfriend. This mess is partially your fault. I would have just said that we were... 'friends'... a certain type of friends, maybe, but just friends."

Carter walked over to his door and tried turning the handle, but it wouldn't move. He turned back to Amanda. "Did my door click when it shut?"

Please, no. Say no. I don't want to be locked in here with Amanda for who-knows-how-long!

Amanda glared at him, as Carter stood and walked over to his door. Yeah, sure, 'friends'. She would rather be a girlfriend than a... that. She watched as he tried to turn the knob of his door. Her mind went back to that click. And she realized that this meant something very, very, horrible.

"Yes," she mumbled, staring at the floor. This was not good. Now, she was stuck with him in there. For who knew how long! The door looked pretty difficult to open... maybe not even from the outside. Mr. Landon still appeared to be upstairs with his wife... oh gosh...

Amanda looked over at Carter's window. They were in the basement... the rain continued pouring down. This was not good at all.

Carter kept trying to turn the door handle, but it wouldn't budge. He sighed, hating the crappy lock on his door. If it was closed too hard, the handle would lock and freeze up. So far, Carter still hadn't found a way to pick it open, hence his always-unlocked window. His gaze followed Amanda's toward the window that showed the pouring rain.

He groaned, giving up on the door. Running a hand through his hair, Carter walked up to Amanda.

"Okay. Since we're going to be stuck in here for a while-- and because I really don't want to be slapped again, I'm... look, your buttons are just so much fun to push that I can't resist." Carter sighed. That was the closest he was coming to an apology.

Amanda took a deep breath. She supposed that was the closest to an apology that she was going to get from Carter.

I guess I'll have to take it... not to mention I've been being a complete violent jerk myself lately... what is wrong with me?

She sighed.

"Alright, I'm sorry for attacking you again. And... uh, good to know. So, yeah, I won't slap you again if... you don't make another sexist comment."

Amanda was beginning to feel a little sore from falling down the stairs. And it was ridiculously hot in Carter's room. She eyed the ceiling fan above her head, the two little metal strings dangling from it, tempting her to turn it on.

((Ooh, another pageclaim!))

Carter stared at Amanda like she had eight heads.

"I can make no promises about the sexist comments. They're a part of who I am; I can't just give them up," he said, trying to look innocent.

Carter stretched and sat down on his bed, oblivious to Amanda eying the metal strings to turn his fan on. He enjoyed the warmth of his room and rarely turned on his pesky fan. Besides, it blew the papers and other crap lying around his room all over so he couldn't find them when he needed them.

Amanda glared half-heartedly, then sighed. She looked up at the strings again and pulled one of them. Immediately, the fan started humming to life, blowing around random papers and loose articles around Carter's room. But the air was moving, and it felt so much better than the stagnant heat of his room beforehand. She flopped herself down in a chair by a desk, as gently as possible given her current condition, and watched as the fan spun around. She stole a glance at Carter, who didn't appear to be too pleased with the fact that she'd turned on the fan...

Carter watched as Amanda reached up and turned on his fan, mouth set into a tight line again. He stood up and pulled the string to turn the fan off before sitting back down on his bed. Sure a little breeze felt kind of nice, but Carter hated the fact that things always blew around because he as too lazy to secure them.

Looking at Amanda, he said, "The fan stays off." He knew she wouldn't listen, being the stubborn person she was, but Carter had to try.

Amanda stood and defiantly pulled down the string again, the fan starting up once more. She looked back at Carter.

"Since we're both stuck here, you could at least let me turn on the fan. I mean, your room is..." Amanda stopped herself before she could say something related to ovens, not wanting another reason to get pissed at Carter again. "Really hot."

Still, stupid thing to say. But she stood by the fan, determined to defend her position.

"Since we're stuck here, I'll remain in control of the temperature of my room," Carter replied, trying not to get too angry at her for turning on his fan. He would only give her so many chances.

"Your room is... really hot."

"Well of course my room is hot," he replied, smirking. "I mean, I occupy it every day, so clearly it's gonna be hot in here."

Carter stood up and walked over the Amanda because she was standing under the fan. He leaned in really close and whispered in her ear, "My room, my choice." As Carter did so, he reached up and pulled the chain so it would turn the fan off again.

Amanda glared at him, mostly for the first comment. And as he stepped over to her and whispered in her ear, she stared up at him, smirking. Challenging him again, she reached up and pulled the chain again, turning the fan back on. He glared back at her, and turned it off once more. The two went back and forth at least six times, before Amanda tried to shove Carter away. With this, she tripped, holding onto the wrong chain, and yanking it from the fan; the light in Carter's room went out, and she fell forward. And of course, Carter was standing right there...

Carter was getting severely frustrated by Amanda turning his fan on continually and had to grit his teeth to keep from saying or doing something completely regrettable. He was about to move the strings to drape over a fan blade when Amanda shoved him. He was caught off guard and took a step back before he realized that Amanda had pulled the wrong chain (it was mostly the lights going out that notified him) and was falling toward him. He didn't even have a second to put his arms out to catch her, so Carter got knocked down.

He looked up, blinking dizzily, seeing dark images on his ceiling. It took Carter a moment to process what had just happened.

Amanda was suddenly apologetic after all of her earlier violent behavior.

"Oh my gosh, Carter, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry... I... I didn't mean to pull out t-the chain, o-or turn off the lights, or anything, I'm sorry..."

She bit her lip, moving herself to the floor next to him, probably not feeling the impact of the fall as much as he did. Even though he hadn't been able to catch her with his arms, he did a good job of catching her regardless.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly, after pausing. She hoped she hadn't hurt him again, and that he wasn't angry at her... though, there was a minimal chance of both of those.

Carter looked up, trying to focus on Amanda's face. He blinked a few more times before sitting up slowly. His back and head really hurt from the fall, so he groaned when he sat up. Next time Amanda started falling, he wasn't going to catch her.

"Are you okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine." Carter rubbed his head, trying to ignore the dull ache that had erupted on the back of his head.

He wasn't too angry at her, as he was still too confused to process it fully.

Slowly, Carter got to his feet, going over to sit on his much more comfortable bed.