Train Orphans: 2nd Family restart for Robehouse

[Ishigreensa]

Tom reached down, suddenly, and lifted his little sister up and held her a few seconds before letting her slide back down to her feet because he wasn't that big after all.

"Let's go play our game," he told her.

Then they started to walk back to the cabin.

On the way, they saw another little boy who was about Erica's age.

[robehouse]

Penny walked back with them as they went to their cabin. 

Erica noticed the boy but didn't think too much of it. She got in her chair ready to start playing again.

Penny went back to her tablet.

[Ishigreensa]

For the next couple of hours, Tom went on patiently teaching his younger sister how to play Dinowars, and before they knew it, she understood enough to set up and get started, thought it would take a lot longer to really understand the strategy in order to really challenge him in a real game.

As they played, the woman they met before came in and checked on them.

"You three getting on okay?" she asked.  She was their escort until they reached their destination, thought she tried to stay out of the way most of the time.

[robehouse]

Penny tired of playing on the tablet and plugged it in to recharge. She got a book and started reading.

Penny looked up and smiled at the woman.

"Yes ma'am. We're doing okay. Right Tom?" Penny said.

[Ishigreensa]

Tom smiled.

"Penny is a really good big sister and baby sitter," he told the woman.  "And we know we need to listen to her so we don't cause you any trouble, so I'm trying to keep my little sister distracted as much as I can.  Sorry about the wet beds earlier.  We little kids just can't help it, you know?"

He looked up at her hoping she bought the story that it was just the younger kids that peed in the sleep the night before.

[robehouse]

The woman smiled and nodded. 

"Accidents happen. They put plastic sheets on both beds just in case."

The woman left the compartment.

[Ishigreensa]

Tom looked up at Penny hoping she appreciated what he implied to the woman so as to save her face.  He didn't want Penny to be embarrassed in front of the woman.

He then turned his attention back to his little sister.

"Don't worry, Erica.  You'll catch on to the game soon.  You are very smart, and it does take some getting used to to understand how it all works."

[robehouse]

Penny smiled at Tom and went back to reading her book.

"I hope so. Let's play another round." Erica said.

[Ishigreensa]

Tom nodded and smiled as he shuffled the cards up and then redealt them out.  This time, he told Erica to keep hers covered unless she had a question about one or two cards in particular.  To try to narrow her next card to play to one of two choices before she ask his opinion, that way he won't see her whole hand.  He would do the same and show her two of his choice cards before playing the card he chose.

"That way, it be fair because we will both know as much about the other's hand as each other, and I can still help you when you have a hard choice to make."

He smiled at her.

[robehouse]

Erica listened to Tom and shuffled the deck. She passed out the cards and looked at hers.

"Who goes first?" Erica asked.

[Ishigreensa]

"You can," Tom said.  "It really doesn't matter."

He waited for her to play a card and to discard before taking his turn.

"Remember, you can only play a champion at the start, and you must discard a card if you can't play one."

[robehouse]

Erica nodded. She looked over her cards and furrowed her eyebrows. She pulled a card out her deck and laid it down on the table.

Erica looked at Tom to see what he would say.

[Ishigreensa]

Tom smiled.

"Very well done," he said looking at the dinosaur champion.  "That is the most dangerous dinosaur in the deck.  I will have to be very careful about attacking you for a while, and I'll need a heavy defender if I play a dinosaur!"

He ended up just discarding a card after showing her he had a human champion and a weaker dinosaur.  

"With your card out, there is no way I'll expose either of these without more defenses.  You'll just stomp on them on your next turn if I do."

Erica #2 o

[robehouse]

Erica nodded and smiled as Tom praised her for urging that card. She watched what Tom did.

Erica looked through her cards and pulled out an armor card and a human champion.

"I play the armor, right?" Erica asked.

She was too engrossed in the game to realise she needed to pee.

[Ishigreensa]

Tom smiled.

"You can play either the champion or the armor card," he told her.  "But yeah, if it were me, I'd play the armor one first to make the dinosaur more difficult to take down.  You don't need the human to hit until you see what my champion will be since I won't be attacked or able to be attacked until I put my first champion out."

He smiled at her.

Erica #1 oo

[robehouse]

Erica nodded and laid the armor card next to the dinosaur and put the human champion back in her hand.

Erica shifted in her chair.

[Ishigreensa]

Tommy drew a kind powerful dinosaur that was well armored and finally played that down.  It was an "anky" as he called it because he couldn't pronounce that long name it had.  It was just a mouthful.  But it had a weapon in the tail, and was very difficult for the powerful Rex that Erica had played to get flipped over.

He showed her the anky and the previous dinosaur.

"The other one I didn't want to play against your Rex was also a meat eater and a strong attacker, however, by itself, against a Rex, you'd win with one bite.  With this one, it will not eat your Rex, but you cannot easily get at it by your self, so it is safe to play at this time, and with this one defending, I can play my other dino later knowing the Rex has to get through anky first."

He explained exactly why he played in the order he did so she could start to develop strategy.

Erica #1 ooo

[robehouse]

Erica looked at the dinosaur that Tom had laid down, wiggling in her seat. She listened to his explanation and nodded. 

Erica looked at her cards and showed Tom another dinosaur and a human.

"I play the human champion, right?" Erica asked.

[Ishigreensa]

He considered the cards carefully.

"Well, actually, that is a tough one even for me.  Each has its advantages.  If you play the human on the Rex, your Rex will have a lot more control on his attacks.  On the other hand, if you play your other dinosaur first, and play the human on it, it will increase that dinosaur's abilities, where as the Rex already had high abilities, so you would have two better attackers rather than just one really awesome one and one not so good."

He thought she was just getting antsy because she was nervous about which card would be best.  They just took her potty not too long ago after all, she didn't need to go then.

Erica #1 ooo o  #2 o

[robehouse]

"But that would be two turns, right? Play the dinosaur and then the human?" Erica asked.

She shifted  again.

[Ishigreensa]

"Well, you have to play one at a time, so yeah, that's why it's a tough choice.  Your other dinosaur will be weaker until you put the rider with it, but you have the Rex to protect it until then."

He smiled.

"It's up to you.  Put the human with the Rex for the most power monster on the field or save the human for after you play the other Raptor.  It's not an easy choice, I know."

He thought her over excitement at not knowing which would be better was really cute, as he took her squirming to still mean she was excited about the game.

Erica #1 ooo oo #2 oo

[robehouse]

Erica nodded and looked at the cards. She put the dinosaur next to the other one and put the human back in her hand.

Erica slipped one of her hands down on her lap and held it there.

[Ishigreensa]

Tom then drew another card and he smiled showing it to Erica.

"See?  This is why you don't just power up only one dinosaur.  I can play this anytime, and it will wipe out all the dinosaurs in play."

It was the comet card.  

"Of course, it will wipe out my dinosaurs, too, so I'll save the card for when you decide to use your powerful Rex, and I have no other options left."

He put a rider on his Anky.

"So, now it's your turn."

He didn't notice her move her hand to her lap.

Erica #1 ooo ooo # 2 ooo (Still has three more for #1 before it comes out against her will but with a lot of dancing around).

[robehouse]

Erica looked at the comet card and nodded. It definitely was the most powerful card in the game.

Erica nodded and played the human card on her dinosaur that needed it.

Erica shifted in her seat again.

[Ishigreensa]

Tommy smiled at her shifting.

"This card is no fair, isn't it?" he agreed with her once again misunderstanding what was causing her to shift about.  "How about I give you a chance to get rid of it?  I'll lay my cards out in a fan, and you pick one.  Which ever card you pick, I have to discard that card, and draw one to replace it.  And I'll show you which one I had to discard so you know if you got rid of the comet or not?"

He didn't care if she won this time because he was just teaching her the game.

Erica #1 ooo ooo oo #2 ooo ooo o