[Freezair]

"If Rena doesn't come soon... we should probably try an Olley-Oxen-Free," Minty said. "'Cuz I guess... people might want this place." Sure enough, another kid looked down the tube, only to see two people hiding in it already ."What's the hold-up?" she growled. She looked to be about three, and she clearly hadn't perfected the art of "humanizing" herself yet. Her blonde hair showed traces of tiny horns, and her skirt had a scaly green tail beneath it. She looked like she might be a Battleheart.

"You big kids are mean," she spat. "I'mma tell you to the playground police!"

"We are the police!" Minty said. "We're SUPERHEROES! Aren't we, Longshot?"

She looked at him expectantly, hoping he'd tell this little kid off.

[17]

[Fallen_Snow]

Longshot puffed out his chest proudly. "Sure we are! We're the best darn superheroes this playground has ever seen! I'm super fast, strong, and good at finding things. And Min- Imean Mind Girl can fly and do stuff with her mind!" he shouted. That girl had some nerve to get angry at them- they were playing a game, for pete's sake(with this thought, Longshot wondered who exactly this Pete could be, and what's sake?)! "There's another slide, you know. You don't have to go down this one. It's not very fair; I bet if you were hiding in here you wouldn't wanna give up this hiding spot either.

The girl glared at him, but decided that fighting with him wasn't worth.

Suddenly Rena shouted, "One hundredddd~! Here I come, Longshot, Minty! I'm gonna get you guys..."

The Battleheart anthro child smiled snidely at them. "THEY'RE IN HERE!" she shouted, gave Longshot and Minty an 'I Win! Haha!' look, and then trotted off to the other slide.

"Rats!" Longshot said angrily, snapping his fingers(again, he wondered why people said rats when they were stumped/stopped. It didn't really make sense, but he was copying what Snowy and the others did around him. At least he didn't know the REALLY bad words.). "Looks like we may be found... should we wait in here? Maybe Rena wasn't paying attention." he doubted it though- that Battleheart could probably be heard for miles.

[Freezair]

"MEANYFACE!" Minty shouted up at her. She crossed her arms and set her little brow fiercely, staring at the Battleheart kid's tail. She knew better than to hurt people, but she didn't think the Battleheart would suffer anything worse than a bruised pride if she used her psychic powers to trip her up a little.

Sure enough, the kid fell over. "OW!" she said. She glared behind her, almost as if she knew Minty had done something.

"We should run somewhere else real quick," Minty said. "Come on!" She stuck out her hand, and formed herself a psychic bubble. "We're gonna hover reallyfast! Hold on tight! I don't want you to fall!"

[18]

[Fallen_Snow]

Longshot giggled as he realized that Minty had tripped the Battleheart girl, but was still a bit scared of her. If she went back to her pet form, wouldn't she still tower over them? Even with Minty's psychic powers, he didn't think it would help them much.

But thankfully, the girl kept moving, her pride throughly bruised(as per Minty's doings), her face set in an angry/sulky/I wanna kill something/furious look that could probably crack a mountain. He shook it off; no harm, no foul(to him, anyways).

He looked up at Minty, who was making another psychic bubble. Uh-oh. "Um... I don't know... maybe-" he stopped himself. Would a hero hesitate? He asked himself. NO! he answered back. Then grab her hand, Longshot! You're a superhero, you can do ANYTHING! his thoughts, having taken a totally different turn, made him look at his hand and then slap it into Minty's. My, this would certainly prove exciting. Or disasterous. No promises.

[Freezair]

"Alright! Here we gooooo...!"

Minty helped Longshot onto her ball, and then focused on the bottom of the slide. The cloud seemed to unclench, and the little ball went rocketing and rolling down the slide. Minty cheered heartily. For a few feet after the end of the slide, it was airborn--several children and parents looked up for a few seconds, trying to make sense of the shiny pink-and-denim-and-fluttering-cap-colored thing they were seeing. Then the ball hit the ground, bounced slightly, and squealed under its own momentum into a collection of trees.

"Whaaaaa!" Minty said. She pulled back the energy she had on the ball, drawing them to a stop. The hover ball caught on a stone, and she tumbled into a bush, leaving the ball behind her.

"Well, we can hide here!" she said, whispering optimistically. She didn't seem to notice the cut on her forehead, on the scrapes on her knees.

[19]

[Fallen_Snow]

Longshot tried to keep himself quiet. He did, he really did... it was just... it was too scary! And she was going so fast! But he barely had time to scream or even say anything that actually sounded like words, so a small yelp was all that was let out. And then he was sent with Minty into the bushes, and he finally found that he could let out coherent babble.
"WhatinPete'snamejusthappenedweweregoingsofastitwassoscaryIthoughtIwasgoingtodie! AndthisisagoodspotbutIthinkRenamight'vesawusyouknowOHMYGOSHYOU'REBLEEDING."

He was going so fast that it seemed almost impossible that Minty could actually understand him.

But hey, she was, like, eight or so, right? Eight year olds understand everything.

Besides, because Longshot focused on Minty and not on himself, he would've found that he was particularly bruised up, with blood trickling down his chin from a large brushcut. He also seemed to have a bruise blooming on his cheek, and his arms and hands weren't in the best shape either. But he was still young, and nothing was broken, so it didn't really matter. A few cuts and bruises never hurt anyone; adds to their character.

At least, that was what Tagg had said to Longshot the one time he met him when he'd wandered too far from home. He wasn't allowed to visit Tagg anymore, though; Marie thought he was a bad influence. Longshot kept his eye on Tagg, as bad influences are always the ones who cause trouble, he was there to prevent it. It was the only reason(in his mind) that he had been taken in by the girls.


Rena stared at the forest in a daze. Did she just-? And was that-? What had they-?

Too many questions. Rena quickly secured her bag at her side and rushed into the forest. She may not like Longshot, but she was responsible for him. And she was not about to lose at hide and go seek. No way.

((Sorry if you can't really pick out the babble, I italicized the important words that Longshot would've emphasized. Uh... I'll send you the text if you need it? X3))

[Freezair]

((Psshhh. Babble is easy-peasy to sort out. I grok ya. ))

"Wha...?" Minty's hand drifted up to her forehead. Her expression went sour as she felt the warm, sticky trickle dripping down from her cut. Nevertheless, she looked at her fingers just to be certain.

"Yeaaaaagh!" she said. She stood up rapidly. She pressed her face up towards Longshot's. "Is it bad? I don't look like I need stitches or nothin', right?" She blinked a few times. "Wow, you look bad too! I guess my landings... really need work. I'm not so good at fast hovering."

Minty licked her bloodless fingers and smeared them over her forehead. A pale pink mass of saliva clung to her face. "Spit on your fingers and clean it," she said. "It's what Mommy does. You want me to do it for you?"

[20]

[Fallen_Snow]

Longshot shook his head; not that he was a germaphobe or anything, but he didn't a girl to take care of him. He could take care of himself. He did as she suggested, spitting heavily into his hand and then rubbing it in the bloody areas. "You'm might, Minty. That's a bad gash there, I think." he looked at it closely; it wasn't too big, but he could see that it would require stitches, probably only a small few though. "I would suggest practice, but you'm might hurt yourself again. You know, it's not that bad. It don't hurt that much. They numb you up really good and you don't feel a thing except a little pinch. I 'member I ran into a door..." he trailed off as a familar voice came from the other side of the bush.

"Loonnnnnnnnngggshottttt... Minnnnnttttttyyyyy..."

Longshot shook his head; Rena was REALLY bad at getting what hide and go seek meant.

[Freezair]

Minty went very quiet, contemplating the possibility of stitches. No matter what anyone said about numbing, she did not like needles. She moved her hand over her forehead, hoping that hiding the gash would somehow make it go away.

Her head jerked as Rena called out. "Into the bush!" she hissed, diving in. She kept her hand clamped firmly over her forehead. She didn't need anyone big asking awkward questions.

[21]

[Fallen_Snow]

He followed her deeper into the bush. It seemed to be getting thicker, and he wondered if they were actually up in a tree? They had been on a psychic energy ball thing, why not a tree? He looked around, but nothing looked very tree-ish to him.

It was then he noticed Minty's hand pressed firmly to her forehead. "You know, they might just use that tape stuff to hold the two sides close to each other. You might not have to get stitches." he whispered, hoping that would comfort her. "It's not that big. Dun worry about it, Rena will know what to do when she finds us." he looked at his hands, and right then he wished he had those neon bandaids Rena sometimes toted when baby-sitting him. "You can even get cool colors! I bet they have pink."

[Freezair]

"It's probably girly pink," Minty said bitterly. "I only like neon pink." She set her shoulders stubbornly and gazed around her.

Her face softened with worry, though. "...I hope it doesn't hurt... You don't think Rena will make me go to the doctor's, do you?"

[22]

[Fallen_Snow]

"They're always neon colors. The only reason they wouldn't be is if they have pictures on them. Like one time, I saw Lord Baal and Einsor bandaids. Oh! And I also saw Treasure pets bandaids, and Christmas pet bandaids... and, and..." he trailed off as she mentioned Rena forcing her to the doctor.

"Erm... I dunno. Maybe she might, if she thinks it's serious. Does it hurt at all? She might call Marie and Snowy- Marie is really smart, and knows a lot about cuts and stuff. She can make mine heal reallyreallyreally superduper quick. And Snowy has freezy powers, so she can numb your head so Marie can fix you. You won't even know that they ever did anything to you!" he said. As soon as he said it though, he knew he said it wrong. So, to make up for it, he bent down and pulled up his pants to his knee. A faint scar was visible on the side of his knee, and was slightly indented. "See this?" He tapped the spot, smiling proudly. "I got this way back when I was eight. I'd fallen off the stair banister and landed on my friend Speck. His wingblade had caught my knee and stuck me real hard. But then Marie and Snowy were there, and Snowy cooled my leg and then Marie sewed me up; I didn't feel a thing. And I felt a lot better afterwards. I'm sure they can do the same for you."

[Freezair]

"I guess I kinda like the cold," Minty said. "But I like it when Mommy does it better. She goes into your head and gives you a dream with her, and she likes music, so she plays you cool songs. And then the doctors can do stuff to you and you never remember it. S'how I got my tonsils out," she nodded proudly. "Vati wishes he knew more healing stuff, but he doesn't. When I was really little, Armin fell out a tree an' sprained his ankle an' he and Vati went to the hospital... An' they had to wait FOREVER." She let out a deep breath. "Well, maybe if your friends do it, it won't be forever."

She peeked out of the bush. "You see Rena anywhere?"

[23]

[Fallen_Snow]

Longshot peered through the bush with Minty; it had been a while since Rena had said anything. He wondered if she was alright...

"This is a trick." Longshot recognized immeadiatley, pulling Minty back(while trying to be careful of her cut). "Rena's good at tricks; she knows how to draw people out or to get their attention. She's good at tricking. I should've paid more attention, I knew Rena was better at hide and seek than I gave 'er credit for. Darn, that little sneak is gonna get us. We need to either split up or go somewhere she won't be able to reach."

He looked up. "I wonder if Rena's afraid of heights..."

[Freezair]

"Not me," Minty said proudly. "I can go up real high in trees! I can float down is why."

She craned her face up at the tall eucalyptus hovering over them, its spear-shaped leaves rattling. "You think we should climb that? We would get a better look... I can hover us up if you want!"

Of course, given how she'd botched the last hover, he probably wouldn't.

[24]