Day 26: Counting
You as the [Player], go stargazing with Penny for a while. Unfortunately, you don't seem to be paying much attention to Penny and her infodumping on constellations. And of course...Penny's gonna have to change that!
This one is on time! Success! Hope you enjoy!
[Player] and Penny were sitting outside her mom’s trailer, checking out the stars in the sky. It was a really nice night out, with almost zero clouds in the sky. Not only that, but it was warm out considering the time of night it was. This made it the perfect night to go stargazing. Maru had let [Player] borrow the telescope, so they could stargaze further. [Player] was looking at the stars through the telescope, happy to see the half-lit moon outside with its craters and darker holes.
Meanwhile, Penny was looking at the sky with her naked eye, just happy to be looking and mapping out the constellations. “That one in the middle is Orion. It roughly…” Penny looked up at the sky, and mapped the stars on her notebook. Afterwards, she joined the dots together to make the constellation. “-Looks like that.” She said to herself. She looked beside the Orion, to find more constellations that were supposed to be there. She pulled out her map of the Star chart of the Southern Hemisphere in the summer, and looked at the map with a flashlight.
You observed the other parts of the sky, looking at the stars that were somewhat visible where you were.
“Are you done looking in the telescope?” She asked super close to your ear.
You smile a bit and shake your head. “Nope. Not yet.” You tell her.
“What’s so interesting up there?” She asked you. “Everything…” You admit.
“I see…” She replied. You could hear her footsteps move away from you as you observed some brighter clusters of stars in the sky. You began to assume that she sat herself down and resumed her charting of the stars. You felt like you could look at the universe forever…
But everything pauses the moment you feel a pair of hands squeezing your sides. You pull yourself away and grab your sides, surprised by the squeezes. “BAHAhAhaha!” You cackle, shaking your head.
“I said…are you done yet?” you hear Penny tease as she pokes your squishy sides. You feel yourself doubling over more as you attempt to get Penny to let go or stop tickling you. The touches felt familiar, but foreign all at once. You hadn’t really been tickled in a long while, so the feeling was a little hard to get used to.
“Ihi- Ihihi guehehess.” You reply, not fully wanting to appease her quite yet. “Oh? Just ‘I guess’?” She teased back, squeezing your sides a few more times. “I wonder if you’ve been listening to me for the past while…” She wondered aloud. “Let’s do a little test. I want you to tell me if you remember how many constellations I mentioned to you. And if we have time…” You felt her lean closer into your ear. “You can tell me what constellations those were.” She told you.
You giggled and loosely covered your mouth. “Yohohohou mehentioned ohorion!” You tell her.
“Well yeah, that’s one. But I mentioned other constellations earlier.” She reminded you. “But that’s not the first question I asked you, now is it?” She teased in your ear. Ooooh my gosh Penny is being SO MEAN! How are you supposed to remember how many constellations she said?! There are so many constellations, you can’t even remember what half of them are called, let alone how many she mentioned!
“Ihihihi dohohon’t knohohow!” You tell her.
“Well [Player]...I’ll give you a little hint:” She told you. “It’s a number between 1 and 20.” She told you. W-What?! That’s such a large range! There’s no way she talked about 20 constellations in an hour! There’s no way!
…Right?
You try to pull every number out of your ass. “Uhuhuhuh…fihive?” You guess. She made a button buzzing sound. “Wrong.” She said, before going for your belly.
You squeak and cackle right away. Your belly is one of your worst spots that only your close family and your grandfather knew about! So the fact that she had found it so quickly, spoke volumes as to how wise and clever she is.
“Awww, what’s wrong, [Player]?” She teased. “Did I find a special sweet spot on you?” She asked.
You shake your head, hoping she stops sometime soon. But, you quickly realize you may have just answered her with a lie.
You hear her gasp. “Did you just lie to me?!” She asked you.
“Mahahahaybehe?” You reply.
“I’m gonna make you regret that.” She warned you. “But first…Do you have another guess for me?” She asked.
You think for a moment. What if she was referring to the double digits?! You quickly spout a number. “Twehehehelve?!” You guess.
“Getting a little closer, but not quite.” She replied.
You squeak as you feel her fingers going up the ribs to your armpits. “WAHAHAIT- BAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!” You scream, almost falling onto the ground. Though this wasn’t the worst spot on your person, it was still bad enough! You feel as your body instinctively squeezes her fingers into your armpits. But your arms weren’t the only body part you couldn’t control…You quickly find that you can't really control any of your movements anymore. All of your movements from here on out were completely instinctual. Even your words are growing uncontrollable! “PEHEHENNYHYHYHYHYYYY! P-PLEHEHEHEheheheeheeheease!” You plead helplessly.
“Poor, poor [Player]. So ticklish, yet nowhere to flee. Whatever will you do?” She asked you in her playful little voice.
“IHIHI’LL GEHEHET YOHOHOU BAHAHACK!” You yell back. “How about you focus on answering one of my questions…Then we’ll discuss plans for revenge.” Penny offered.
I…What?! Did she just…invite you to discuss her own demise after your guesses?! That’s…a little unusual…but I mean…no complaints here. Maybe the discussions will show you her flustered, bashful side.
For now, you decide to guess again. “Uhuhuhuhuh…seventeeheheheeen?” You ask.
“Oooooh! So close! I’ll give it to you.” She said. “It was 16.” She told you. You start to take in heaps of breath the moment you feel her stop her fingers. Though, you could feel your lungs still filling with giggles every time you let a breath out. So most of the time, your breath comes out in breathless giggles instead.
“Can you remember what a couple of them were?” She asked you.
You widen your eyes as you draw a blank. Uh oh…All you remember is Orion!
“Name 5, and I may be merciful~.” She teased you, leaning in closer to your face.
You think as much as you can. The only one you can remember is Orion. But…what were the other ones she mentioned?! Think [Player], think! five out of seventeen constellations isn’t all that bad, right?! Surely you can name 4 more constellations.
“Gemini?” You ask hesitantly, letting your body take over.
She smiles brightly and puts up two fingers. “That’s two! Three more.” She said.
You smile a bit as you think a bit more. What’s another one? Ursa Major? No…That one doesn’t come out this time a year. And Ursa Major is technically in the Northern hemisphere, right? You’re not entirely sure if you’re correct or not. So, you go for another zodiac sign you can remember from chatting to Emily. “Phoenix?” You guess next.
“Nope…Try again.” She replied.
Damn…You thought you remembered her mentioning a constellation that started with a P. But your mind is completely blank!
Wait…You remember one of the zodiacs. “T-Taurus?” You ask.
“That’s correct! Two more to go.” She replied.
You sigh with relief. That was another one down. Success! You think for a bit longer in an attempt to win her game. You go back to your knowledge on zodiacs, as that seems to be giving you more success than expected. “Hmm…Oh! Pisces!” You say aloud, the P constellation suddenly revealing itself in your head.
“Indeed! One more!” She declared. “And can you try guessing something that’s not a zodiac?” She asked with a smirk.
You widen your eyes. Damn…she knows your secret to success…You were hoping to impress her with your knowledge on the constellations. But the only thing you showed you were knowledgeable on…was guessing the zodiac signs. And while you’re not wrong, you now have to choose something lesser-known.
You flip through your brain before pleading to yourself that this is a good guess. “Hercules?” You ask.
She laughs. “Not quite. Hercules appears in the winter.” She told you.
Dammit…This is tough. You try to wrack your brain for something…anything! You try to remember her words…or at least, her mumbles.
You remember there being a constellation named after an animal? She mentioned something about it being cat-like. Your mind races as it remembers what animals look like cats in the animal kingdom. Panther, lion, tiger, leopard, lynx, jaguar, ocelet- Wait…One of the L cats rang a bell.
“Leop-Waitno! Lynx!” You reply.
She smiled brightly and put out her thumb, before giving you a big hug. “You got them all!” She reacted. You hug her back, appreciating her patience and comforting touch. “Congratulations, [Player]!” She said.
You close your eyes for a moment as you two hug. “As a gift, you get to look at the telescope.” You tell her.
Penny giggles and gently moves you out of the way to look through the telescope. “Let’s see what’s up there.” She said as she peeked her left eye into the telescope. “Wow…” She muttered. You immediately sensed her enthusiasm. “The moon is so crisp and clear through this telescope!” She reacted. “I gotta ask Maru where she got it.” She admitted aloud.
You smile at her before looking at the notebook that was laying in the grass. You look at the different pages of charted stars, getting an idea of what she had said earlier. You start to remember the words as you read them. Sextans, Canis Major, Lepus, Leo Minor- Aw man…you could’ve shortened the word ‘leopard’ to Leo! And that would’ve worked as your last guess!
Oh well. What’s done is done. You won, and now it’s time to plan your eventual revenge on Penny.