Hide and go Peek.

[Symbri]

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.”
― Dalai Lama XIV,

716th arc 20th of Vhalar.

Their is something to be said for the resilience of humans, especially that of children. Leaving her home the dancer had already decided that today was going to be a good day, it wasn't one yet but that was something that with a little effort could be changed. Today was going to be a day for relaxation and play, the day prior after one of her performances Sumbri had been asked by some of the local children if she would play with them in the evening after school let out for the day, and while she had initially told them no, but when a small group of children surrounds you and stares at you with sad faces... well it's terribly hard to say no, so summoning her courage and valor, Symbri struck a pose to scold the children.... only to break down and agree to play with them.

Thus the dancer found herself in the apple orchard of golden trees under a cloudless blue sky trying to hide how excited she was to cut loose and not be an adult for a little while... or at least stop pretending to be an adult for a little while.

Sitting cross legged amidst the children while they debated what game to play Symbri enjoyed the atmosphere. The parents in the city were kind to Symbri, perhaps because she was able to get their children out of their hair for a little while. Not terribly far away one of the fathers was pitching hay while keeping an eye on the group of children and Symbri. It truly was nice, no matter where they went or wandered a pair of eyes watched the children of Ne'hear, the farmers protected their own and those close to them no shadow monster would get close to these children without twenty men with pitchforks crawling out of the woodworks ready to protect them, and of course Symbri herself would protect these children.

One girl sat behind Symbri and had begun the process of braiding her long locks of brown hair while the boys finally decided what game was to be played by drawing straws. finally the decision was decided that the game was to be hide and seek, and Symbri as the "new kid" who didn't know all the good spots was seeker by default.

"Oooook, I'll seek, Buuuuuuut~~ This one is gonna be my assistant."

Pointing a thumb over her shoulder at the young girl behind her, Symbri confirmed that she wasn't gonna be seeking without a trump card, and the boys not wanting to look after some slow girl looked to each other before shrugging and agreeing, they'd let Symbri have her, since she probably wouldn't be able to find them anyway, or so they believed. Shrugging and smiling back Symbri grinned deviously.

"Alright you all, you better get hiding cause I'll have you no, Miss Symbri don't take no prisoners and ain't nobody gotten away from her yet,"

Holding her hands over eyes still grinning Symbri began to count.

"One

Two

Three

four

five....."

[Niv]

Niv wasn’t sure where she had found herself, but the trees smelled of fruit and were neatly placed in preculiar lines. When Niv looked down she saw that many of the people wondering about were sprouts, which struck her as odd. During her short life, Niv hadn’t seen many sprouts wandering about in large groups together. There was adults present, but not enough to watch over the amount of sprouts that seemed to take over the area.

A familiar face was spotted but Niv didn’t recognize it at first because hands were covering the eyes. The Tunawa narrowed her vision to get a better look and her memory soon clicked.
“Symbrri!” The Tunawa called from above and waved her arms about to catch the human dancers attention.
“Why yews cover eyes silly Hewman?” Niv chuckled “Yews look like deh monkey wit dust in deh eyes.”

Niv stopped to look about and noticed that all the spouts from before had disappeared.
“Where all deh sprouts go?” Niv’s eyebrows lowered in concern
“Oh noes deh blew away wit deh wind, We have to find dem friend!”
Niv’s couldn’t help but be afraid of bad people capturing the young sprouts and talking them to become slaves like Niv almost was. It was a dreadful thought that Niv tried to dismiss but it kept coming back to haunt her.


Art credit to Kidchan

[Symbri]

"Six

Seven

Eight

Niiiiine~~

Teeeeenn~~~~~"

As Symbri was about to speak the words of Here I come her thoughts were interrupted by the high and familiar voice of someone she had met not to long ago speaking her name. Flying in on her mount the small Tanuwa chuckled on High while asking her what she was doing, it was quite charming in it's own way, Symbri wouldn't say it but the small Tunawa was very childlike herself. though her bewilderment about where the children were up to was further amusing, enough that Symbri let out a soft laugh at her green companion.

"they're fine silly, we're just playing hide and seek, right now, they're hiding and I'm doing the seeking, but, if you wanna help I'd love an extra pair of eyes."

Saying that Symbri spun around to the little girl who was supposed to be her helper for finding all the older children, lifting her up and putting her on her shoulders.

"i'm sure that with all the kind hearts here nothing bad will befall any of these little ones, specially with people like us around to watch out for them right?"

Bouncing the girl on her shoulders twice Symbri smiled, the child was probably around six cycles old so old enough to be devious but not quite ready to be with the big kids, but that said the little ones spent all their time watching the big kids and admiring them, as the youngest of five it was a feeling she understood well. this meant that the little girl probably knew where most of the good hiding places were.

There were eight children to be found, and one with her so their were nine children all, and eight to be sought out.

"where do you think we should start searching? do ya know where the good hiding spots are?"

Pointing towards a small hay barn the girl giggled while still watching the small green girl flying about, it was likely she'd never seen a Tunawa before and seeing such a creature up close and personal was like seeing something out of a fairytale become real.

"Symbwii!, that flying girl is so pretty, where'd she come from"

"She is pretty isn't she, Heyn Niv you hear that? We want you to know that we think you're pretty"

Grinning up at her flying companion Symbri stuck a tongue out at her. It was fun to tease people and Symbri was curios how the little Tunawa would react to having her Ego stroked.

"I think the first place we should look is the hay barn, whaddya say Niv? you wanna play too?"

[Niv]

“Ohhh dis anoder game.” Niv breathed a sigh of relief as her mount Patcha landed on a nearby branch. The terrible feeling that erupted in her chest when she though of the missing sprouts began to fade away but she still felt uneasy with them being out of sight. “I not knowed of game where sprouts hide and others find dem..” Niv put on a smile to prevent her worry from ruining potential fun.

“I and Patcha will give yews eyes ta look fer deh sprouts” Niv nodded her head and patted her bird companions head. Niv let out a high pitched squawk with a cheerful inflection to convey to Patcha that they were about to play a game. Patcha returned the enthusiasm twice fold and began bobbing up and down and fluttering its wings in excitement.

“I sure yews right..dis seems like good place.” Niv’s voice wavered a bit with her reply, not really fully convinced but doing her best to see the positive.

Niv smiled warmly at the little sprouts complement before speaking up once more. “dank yews, Both very very pretty also .” Niv shared a glance at the little one and smiled again. “yew grows tah be very sturdy and beautiful lady”
Patcha stirred underneath in impatience and Niv stoked the back of the birds neck to calm him. “Yews pretty too Patcha.”

“I play! I play!” Niv jumped up and down and gently tugged Patcha’s reins. The bird eagerly jumped off the branch and soared down, spreading out its wings to soar on the wind.
Niv steered the bird towards the hay bar with little effot, Patcha was aways a very intelligent bird so Niv didn’t have to do much to get it to go where she wanted. They landed silently at the edge of the Hay bail to investigate the sound of stirring he heard underneath.

Over the edge of the hay bail was a male sprout with dusty blond hair who looked up at Niv with a frown of Disapproval.
“Dere is a sprout hiding in dis place!” Niv called back to here friends.
“This is cheat’n!” he cried as he stormed out with his arms crossed in disapproval.
“Name not chee-tan, I called Niv and dis Patcha” Niv replied in confusion.
The boy only looked at Niv and began to cry at his own embarrassment at being the first one caught.


Art credit to Kidchan

[Symbri]

When the youth stormed out of the hay barn flustered to be the first one caught symbri smiled wanly while ruffling his hair. He was sort of right, that it was cheating, but it hadn’t been specified that such a thing couldn’t be done.


“I like to think of it as using my resources, but I’m sure you’ll come up with an even better hiding spot next time, even one that a bird’s eyes won’t find. So don’t be mad ok?”


Turning about Symbri waved back at Niv.


“good find Niv, with your help we’ll have found them all in no time”


The Tunawa was good company, Symbri felt a certain kinship with the small girl, she might be small, but Symbri felt that her heart was in the right place, she two had witnessed the horrors that had taken place when the monsters had attacked. If she was anything like Symbri she two was probably still having nightmares, that was why moments like this were important to Symbri. A reminder that she was still capable of smiling.


Bouncing the girl on her shoulders Symbri searched for the next possible spot that children could be hiding and her eyes alighted on the grove of pear and apple trees.


“Niv I’m heading for the orchard, these little punks climb trees just as good as monkeys so keep an eye open for them in the trees. Ruffling the boy’s Hair Symbri grinned at the still frowning.

“You’ll just have to get even when it’s your turn to come look for me.”


Jogging towards the grove Symbri grinned, it might be cheating a little bit, but then again if they thought having Niv spying from the Sky was unfair if that girl decided to hide, they'd have their work truly cut out for them.

Cupping her hands to her mouth Symbri bellowed into the orchard announcing her arrival, hopefully she could get the bluff on the boys and cause them to move shaking the branches in the trees marking their locations and making them easy to find.


“Ready or not Here I coooome, You can’t hide from Meeee!”

[Niv]

“Don’t let deh waters fall from eyes” Niv said softly as she tried her best to console the distraught boy. “Games make happy not sadness.”
There was many games Niv had played back in Desnind but she couldn’t remember any of them bringing someone to tears. The Tunawa took Symbri’s words at face value and could only assume the boy was sad that he no longer got to play.

“Is dere animal yew like?” Niv asked the boy.
“..I like turtles.” The boy sniffled but his face relaxed a bit when he gave his answer.
“den yews be a tuddle till games end. We’s find some otder animal friends sos yews not alone.” Niv flashed the boy a smile. “Dat sound good?”
“no.” The boy sat down cross legged and continued to pout.
“Oh..” Niv frowned in disappointment before heading back to Symbri.

“Dank yews” Niv replied to Symbri’s compliment. “doh Patcha is deh one dat found em, I just on his back.” She gave the bird a quick but gentle hug to show her appreciation.

“I follow yews” Niv nodded and lightly tugged on the reins of Patcha to set him off into the air. Once at the orchard, Niv directed the bird to soar amongst the trees. The foliage was thick enough that it provided great concealment, A fact Niv and her people often took advantage of. Though the human sprouts weren’t nearly as small and Niv had the birds on her side. Niv sung a series of birds tweets and listened for other birds to chime in. Birds wouldn’t sit in a tree with a sprout in it, so Niv would follow the silence. There was a chorus of bird tweets to the left so Niv headed right. It didn’t take long for Niv to hear the rustling of leaves and investigate.
“I sees yews!” Niv shouted as she flew in front of the shocked child.
The red haired boy startled enough at the sudden surprise that he nearly slid off the tree. The boy’s leg flailed about giving his place away as he tried to regain his place.
“Shhh” The boy whispered in an effort to keep his location a secret.

The tallest of the boys was hidden in a tree nearby, trying his best not to make a sound. As hard as he tried to keep himself hidden his lanky body wasn’t completely concealed by the foliage.


Art credit to Kidchan

[Symbri]

Puffing her cheeks out as she witnessed the ease with which the tunawa played their game for a moment she thought she'd be pretty miffed too if a tunawa had easily found her in hide and seek. after all the idea was to be good at hiding right, so if you got spotted effortlessly it was pretty embarrassing.\\Shrugging it off Symbri tailed after the Tunawa into the orchard spotting the boys in the trees with help from her eye in the sky.


Standing at the bottom of the tree however Symbri bemoaned the idea of actually having to climb it.

However as Symbri was about to embark on the task of climbing said tree a startled shout from the treeline caught Symbri’s attention, it was a huge wild boar running after one of the children who’d hidden near the forest, and while the child had a significant lead on the beast, it wouldn’t be enough to escape it unless someone intervened.


Quickly pulling the girl on her off her shoulders and lifting her into a tree Symbri turned to face the beast, she could intercept the child and cut the boar off, but from their she wasn’t sure what to do, fighting giant pigs wasn’t really in her itinerary of skills, perhaps her new friend might have an idea but she didn’t have the time to talk it over she’d just have to go and hope for aid.

Sprinting towards the child Symbri took long bounding strides almost like a series of leaps than a sprint, it would be a matter of moment before the child passed her and she was left facing the boar.


The idea in her head was to sidestep it at the last second and plant a boot in it’s rear to knock it off track.

“Get up in the trees kid, I’ll take care of this”


She yelled as the kid passed her. Crouching low in front of the beast as it barreled toward her Symbri grimaced, this was gonna hurt if she messed it up.

[Niv]

It seemed the game had taken an unexpected and dangerous turn, with an angry boar making an appearance to muck it up. Niv quickly looked about to ensue that all the sprouts were out of the boars path and directed Patcha to head towards the commotion. Niv didn’t know too much about the animal only that it was temperamental and didn’t like having it’s territory disturbed. The tunawa could understand not wanting it's home invaded but she still thought the boar was being terribly rude, right when Niv was getting the hang of the game too.

As Niv continued to fly over, she listened to the sound the creature made and deconstructed it in her mind. The distressed whines and angry sounding grunts it made conveyed the emotion Niv expected, but Niv wondered if she could manipulate them into something more southing. Making a copy of sounds was what Tunawa did best but as Niv practiced the sound she knew it would be hard to keep the original nature while altering it even slightly.

Niv leapt from her bird just in time to land on its back, totally unaware of Symbri’s plan to kick it. The Tunawa firmly grasped the creatures coarse back fur and held on as tightly as she could while the creature charged towards the dancer. Niv tired in vain to let out a more softer boar snort, but it sounded more like the bizarre cry of a boar and song bird fusion. The noise only proved to irritate the animal as it tried even harder to shake Niv off.

If Symbri’s kick were to make contact, Niv would have to change her plans quickly. Niv didn’t like the idea of scaring an animal that had just been protecting its home but she wasn’t going to let it hurt the sprouts ether.

No matter who's plan ended up working the wild Boar would retreat, leaving them in peace to finish their game.


Art credit to Kidchan

[Whisper]

Niv

Awarded Points

Story: 4/5
Collaboration: 5/5
Structure: 5/5
These points can/cannot be spent in magic

Awarded Knowledge

Children: Cry at Silly Things
Creature: Boar
Human Game: “Hide and Seek”
Common Tongue: Names of Games
Patcha: Enjoys Playing Games
Persuasion: Cheering Up Children
Tactics: Hiding in the Trees
Tactics: Using Birdsong to Find Someone

Awarded Extras

Loot & Losses	Injuries
None	None
Fame	Devotion
+2 - Consoling a Child	None
+3 - Protecting Children

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Symbri

Peer Review

Story: 4/5
Collaboration: 5/5
Structure: 0/5
These points can/cannot be spent in magic

Awarded Knowledge

Creature: Boar
Human Game: “Hide and Seek”
Tactics: Circumventing Rules to your Advantage
Tactics: Hiding in the Trees

Extras

Loot & Losses	Injuries
None	None
Fame	Devotion
+1 - Keeping Children Busy	None
+3 - Protecting Children

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Comments

So... this one is clearly unfinished and no attempt at all had been made to finish it... which is a shame, because it was fun and exciting to read. Niv, I can tel you made the effort to get where you did so no Structure lost for you, but Symbri, this looks abandoned on your part so... yeah.

Also, Sym.. I dunno what's going on in this thread for you anyway. Your grammar and general typo-checking is usually a lot better than this :/ it's a pet peeve because it takes minutes to re-read work... and having loads of typos just makes it harder for the reader to immerse themselves in the writing.

If you have any questions, comments or criticism about your review, feel free to send me a PM and we can discuss it.
Thank ye.