Playmates (XpHyRe)

[Anonymous]

Johnny really did not like boats. They were always moving, even if they weren't going anywhere and the smell that always clung to a boat was not one the boy was used to. If it was up to him, he would have never stepped on another boat after they left Suna. However, Meri always wanted to be somewhere they currently weren't at an said that boats were the fastest way to get around.

Ugh. At least they were away from boats for now.

The two had been dropped off at a nearby dock almost forever ago and Johnny's feet were beginning to hurt. He glanced up at his guardian. "Meri, where are we going again?" The woman had her left thumb up in from of her mouth, her right preoccupied holding Johnny's left, and she had a far off look on her face. The boy sighed. When she got like this she never answered him. He would just have to wait it out.

Johnny didn't know how much longer they walked along in silence but almost forever later they came to a clearing that had - "Houses!" Johnny exclaimed. It'd been quite a while since he'd been around others. A few noises caught his attention that he recognized a second later as laughter from kids his age. Excitement rose in his chest and he started walking faster before he felt the pull of Meri's arm on his.

He looked back to find her blinking. "Here already?" She muttered. A smile broke out on her face. "Here already." She said in a more cheerful tone. She looked down at Johnny to find him giving her a pleading look. "What? Oh." It clicked when she registered the laughter. "Yes, you can go play." Johnny gave a cheer and started to run off. "Be at the temple in the center of town by sundown!" She called after him, waving.

Now that she was alone, she could do what she came here for.

[Xphy]

"I'm baaack!"

No one in the messengers' guild was surprised to hear that all too familiar declaration so soon, even if only twenty minutes had passed since Lakelis had left on her assignment. With her abilities that was more than enough time for the young girl to travel to Essyrn from the guild's headquarters in Ketra to make her delivery. It was those abilities that put her among its most expensive messengers to use.

However as with all things they were a double edged sword. In Lakelis' case her abilities often kept her from getting a lot of assignments since the guild master saw it as a 'waste' to send her out on just any delivery. Sure she usually got the high paying jobs, making deliveries for high level officials and nobilities that needed their packages delivered asap, but aside from those she almost never received assignments. On top of that she was often sent home early because there was nothing for her to do, and she had a bad habit of getting in trouble when she had nothing constructive to do.

Today would be no different.

After receiving her payment from the guild master the man dismissed for her for the day, and as she always did Lakelis gave the man a broad smile before walking out of his office. Once outside she wasted very little time before making preparations for travel. She closed her eyes, and tried her best to picture the streets of her home town La'marri before completely disappearing from where she stood. There was no fancy display, no portals, no nothing.

She was just standing there one second and gone the next.

Her reappearance in La'marri was equally as quick and abrupt, only instead of seeing the streets or the houses the moment she opened her eyes she found herself peering directly into the brown eyes of a little kid. Usually she was good at avoiding people when she teleported, but she had been careless and well... this happened.

Of course her first reaction was to yelp in surprise, losing her balance and falling backwards onto her bum. She quickly rose back to her feet after realizing her mistake though, and bowed her head to the boy to give him a frantic apology.

"I'm so so sorry! I...I wasn't looking where I was um... going. Yeah going! That's it!"

[Anonymous]

Johnny waved back at Meri to show that he had heard her. It'd been forever since Johnny had anybody near his age to play with and he could already tell today was going to be fun. After all, how else was an eight year old suppose to have fun? Learn magic? Borrrring. It was nothing but sitting around being quiet or at least that's what Meri was having him do. He was starting to think she wasn't trying to teach him magic....

The boy turned back just in time to see that he was about to run into somebody. He tried stopping, making lines in the dirt where his feet skidded, and manged to twist a little to the side to avoid falling on the other person. It wasn't until Johnny was picking himself off the ground that he registered that the person he almost ran into was a girl.

He smiled up at her. "It's all right. I wasn't looking where I was going either." He stuck his hand out towards her for a handshake. "My name is Johnny. What's yours? Oo! And would you like to play with me?" His eyes practically sparkled with excitement. "It's been a really long time since I've been able to play with anybody."

[Xphy]

To say that Lakelis was a wee bit surprised at the little boy's reaction would be an understatement. Most would've been taken aback by her randomy appearing in front of them, but he seemed to be completely calm about it. Then again he did say that he hadn't been paying attention either so he might just have missed her teleporting in. That probably was it.

When he extended his hand out to her and asked if she would play with him, his face seemed to light up with excitement. Clearly the boy really wanted to play, and with the look he was giving her she found it incredibly hard to say 'no' to him. It wasn't as though she had anything else to do today anyway, and the kid didn't seem like he was up to anything.

Besides it could have been fun.

"I'm Lakelis," she beamed, taking his hand shaking it lightly. "And sure I'll play with you. Dis you have anything particular in mind?"

[Anonymous]

Johnny emphatically shook her hand. "Well, I was going to ask if I could play with some other kids I heard but I can't hear them anymore." And he was really looking forward to playing with a group of people. Oh well! Lakelis would do fine!

What to play though? He crossed his arms and stared intently off into space. There weren't many games that were fun with only two people. "Ummm." The boy chewed on his bottom lip. Oh! "How about tag?!" Being in a new place and meeting somebody new had really gotten him fired up. The energy would be put to good use for playing. "I don't know a good place to play at though. Do you know of a place to play?"

[Xphy]

Lakelis took a second to think about what he had asked. If he wanted to play tag then they would probably want to go somewhere that was fairly open and out of the way. That way they wouldn't get in anyone else's way. The last thing she wanted to do was trouble her mother by bothering other people. She also figured that somewhere with grass would be best. Tag could get a little rough at times.

Then it hit her. She knew just the place! "Well... there is a clearing on the western end of town where we could go." As she spoke she pointed to her right in the direction of the clearing with a wide grin across her lips. "And if we run into anyone along the way we can always ask them to join us!"

[Anonymous]

A grin broke out on Johnny's face. "Alright!" He started off at a half-run, wanting to get there quickly but not wanting to use all of his energy before the game started. That would just be silly! "So do you live here?" The boy asked as he headed to their playground. If she did, she should know more kids that would be able to play, right? Right! It made perfect sense.

This was definitely going to be one epic game of tag.

Or! Or, if they couldn't really get many other kids to play, there was always the option of exploring. That was always fun and if Lakelis did live here, she should know some awesome spots. He couldn't stop an excited giggle from leaking out. This was going to be fun! He just knew it.