Chapter Text
They hated chore day.
They didn't hate it because it was chores and chores were boring (although that was also true). They hated it because they were always stuck doing the stupidest, most annoying tasks possible while everyone else got the easy stuff.
They knew that keeping the base nice and tidy was important, but did they really have to clean out the dusty old storage closet? They couldn't remember the last time anyone had even touched it, let alone stored anything in it. They would much rather be watering plants with Medic or changing smoke detector batteries with Engie. In a perfect world, they wouldn't be doing chores at all and would instead play with Balloonicorn or make a big, tall rainbow in the backyard (away from Sniper's van this time!).
But alas, it was not a perfect world and Spy would get on their you-know-what if they didn't do their part. So Pyro went off to clean, rag and spray bottle in hand.
They trudged down the hallway until they got to the closet, where they used their free hand to pull open the door (using a bit more force than necessary thanks to their frustration). Once the door was open, they yanked on the chord attached to the tiny, unprotected lightbulb on the ceiling. The light flickered to life in a way that some may have seen as eerie, but Pyro just thought of it as another quirk of their base. Shelves littered with forgotten ammo boxes, board games, and other odds and ends greeted them, all covered in layer upon layer of dust.
Pyro let out a long sigh. This was going to take for-freaking-ever.
…
And take forever it did.
It was nearly time for dinner when Pyro finally reached the end. They just had one more shelf left to dust off and they could go back to not worrying about this anymore. Yay!
They stood up on their tiptoes to reach the top shelf, where a lone box of Connect Four sat abandoned. They gripped the edges and began gently guiding it off, aiming to dust and reorganize it like they had with every other item in this closet. Whoever had put it back last must have done it upside down, however, because the bottom fell out as soon as Pyro slid it off of the shelf and suddenly every single piece was on the ground.
Not yay.
Pyro sighed, annoyed, before setting the lid down and dropping to their knees to pick up the pieces. The actual stand itself wasn't an issue, but the red and yellow chips had scattered all over the place, some of them even rolling out into the hallway!
Pyro crawled about, grabbing as many chips as they could find. They glanced around for any remaining stragglers and squinted their eyes at the ground, trying to will the little lightbulb to grow brighter so they could see better.
It was upon doing this that they finally noticed the box in the furthest corner of the closet.
It was a wooden box. A rectangle, maybe about the size of one of Medic's big medical books. It had been nestled on the floor in the very back, almost invisible; No wonder Pyro had missed it when they'd started cleaning. It looked like it hadn't been touched in years - there was so much dust covering it, Pyro couldn't even tell what it looked like. The top of the box wasn't flat though, it had texture. Like there was something carved into it.
“Hmph hmm…?”
(What the…?)
Curious, Pyro set the chips on the ground next to their rightful box and crawled to the back of the closet. They kneeled before the box and picked it up carefully. Dust caked the surface and Pyro instinctually blew on it to try and get it off before remembering that their mask wouldn't allow it. So they held it up with one hand and wiped the dust away with the other.
Once the dust was clear, the title and pictures became visible. An intricate carving of a large jungle was behind the title in the center, with lots of trees and plants. Tribal-looking patterns created a boarder around the jungle, lines and shapes connecting to four more pictures at the top and bottom corners of the box. They were each framed in a large circle - A carving of a man with a funny mustache and hat was at the top left corner. What looked like a hippo with a unicorn horn (was was it called again? Rhinestoneasaurus or something like that?) was in the bottom left. A monkey sat at the top right while an elephant took up the bottom right.
The whole thing looked hand-made, complete with colorful paints detailing the illustrations and everything. In the middle of it all, a wooden spear pierced through the title, which was in big white letters that were easy to make out. However, it was a word Pyro had never seen before. They brought the box up to their face and squinted at it.
“Jhh… Jhhmhngi?”
(Juh… Joo-Man-Gee?)
Pyro had no idea what that was or what it meant, but it sounded funny. It sounded like a name for one of Spy's expensive grape juice bottles that Pyro wasn't allowed to have.
They gently shook the box. Something could be heard rattling inside. Now even more curious, Pyro set the box on their lap. They noticed that the spear seemed to hide a line that went horizontal across the box - putting their finger in it showed that it was an indentation that separated the top of the box into two. Carefully, they hooked their fingers on either side and pulled. Immediately, the box opened, revealing the contents inside.
A big board sat before them, six hand-painted paths made of squares headed towards a glass sphere in the center. Six different animal statuettes were scattered aimlessly across the board, reminding them of Monopoly pieces. A pair of simple white dice sat amongst them. The inner flaps has words written on them, but Pyro paid them no mind.
”Hhhhhhhhmm!”
(Oooooooo!)
It was a board game!
Excitement now coursing through their veins, they shut the box to make sure all the pieces stayed put and rushed out of the closet. The carried the mysterious board game with them, leaving Connect Four to be picked up later as they made their way to their favorite friends' workshop.