[PQ+] ready or not

I've done nothing wrong
Except for all the atrocities

Journeying to the Greatwood hadn’t been high on her priority list until, well, every fucking thing all over again. Keeping her head low in terms of actions, rather than clearly meandering around the area looking for some damn flowers, meant the Honeybee would be up to her usual starting some Ludo bullshit to pass the time. Or maybe everyone really just needed moments to relax and chill and amuse themselves. We can go with that.

So the demigod made her way towards the Village, getting somewhat of a permission from the Fae (they glared and rolled their eyes and sent out warnings about destruction), before she sent out her usual round of notices, notes, and parchments stuck to boards. If enough people were wandering through, they might want to take part.

When the allotted time had come upon them, early morning, Melita stepped upon the nearest bench and made herself clearly known by cupping her hands around her mouth and yelling. “Hello! Welcome to our Hide and Seek game! Anyone who wants to come play, step on up!” Several seemed willing, and others less so, though they were milling about, maybe to watch and be entertained. “You probably know the drill of the game, but the goal is to hide, then find the base, before the seeker can find you.” Pointing to the bench she stood upon, she placed a little banner, and then opted to raise the flag so it was easy to identify from distances away. “This will be your goal! You can use your items, abilities, shifts, magic, whatever you have,” Melita was, naturally, intending to use her companions to assist, “to win!”

Her eyes shifted around the others, narrowing until she simply picked one out – oh, Maea. “Why don’t you seek first? Count to 100, please.”

And once the Ancient closed her eyes, the Honeybee immediately went invisible, and headed towards shimmying her way up a tree, content to be in its branches.

--

Welcome to the Hide and Seek PQ+! This PQ+ must be completed by April 7th.

Each character will have a turn playing the seeker, and depending on how rounds go, more than one opportunity. Characters will score points based on if they weren’t found and got to return to base/safety, or if they successfully found others. Finding one another is based partially on actions, plausibility, and dice rolls.

Your characters will be allowed to use items, magic, shifts, etc, to be wily and sneaky. Other creatures may/may not show up to assist and/or make everything worse. And some NPCs will be participating as well. If you try to pull some meta stuff your characters will be penalized. XD

Melita, Thalassa, and Alys must post before Maea – that way everyone is hidden.

Melita has chosen to go invisible and stay up in a tree.

Places to hide for this round include:
- Kiosks/market stalls
- Brambles/thorns/bushes
- Very large trees

1. Melita
2. Thalassa
3. Maea
4. Alys

the honeybee

Besides that
I'm innocent

The quiet, singing voice of the rose.

Once they'd finished their lunch at the Bodega, Thal and Maea made their way through the village, coincidentally encountering Mel announcing her game of hide and seek. Amused at the idea, she gave a fanged grin. "What do you think, Maea? You in the mood to lose a game of hide and seek?" Because she had absolutely no intention of losing. Although, if she remembered correctly, Mel had an invisibility cloak that would make it near-impossible to find her. 

Shrugging her own black cloak into place, she waited for the pale Ancient to begin counting before darting off to hide. The best spot she could find was a small patch of thorny bushes that wouldn't be fun to search in. Their pointed twigs would snag and pull at anyone who tried. It might be similarly difficult to hide in - if she didn't have a surprisingly convenient shift. Usually, she wasn't a fan of the lava wyrm shift. It was just so... small, but that came in handy when she needed to hide in small spaces. So she shifted down to size, inching her way into the depths of the bush to hide the small glow of the liquid flames. And then she waited. 

---

Thalassa hides among the brambles/thorns/bushes in her lava wyrm shift!

The song that promised all might be well,
all might be well,
that all manner of things might be well.

Thalassa

Alys was not one for games of hide and seek under normal circumstances, but with some time to kill in the Greatwood while waiting for Tal to finish up some deliveries, she thought she might as well. Besides, it seemed like a good excuse to practice her magic in a setting that wasn’t life-or-death. If her thoughts went to the yeti fight, she kept that to herself.

Seeing Melita again was bittersweet. She’d always been fairly neutral about the demigod, but when she had returned Sascha’s body to Alys… well, she was certainly in the seer’s good graces after that. So when Alys arrived at the site, she offered a small wave to the Honeybee, then leaned against a tree as she listened to the woman’s instructions. She saw Maea and Thalassa in the crowd, waving at the former and nodding warily at the latter.

Hide and seek was an easy enough game, particularly if she could be quiet. With her magic, it should be easy enough to hide, or so she thought. With that in mind, as soon as Maea starting to count, Alys called upon her illusion magic, cloaking herself in invisibility and making her way through the forest. She chose a tree to hide behind, surrounded by bushes that would make it harder to reach her, and stood invisible, peering out for anyone coming nearer as she waited for the game to begin.

—-

Alys goes invisible using her illusion magic and hides behind a tree.

ALYS GLASSE

Sing to me, I am not doing well
Getting tired of my own words

Maea was not in a mood, especially not given who the instigator of said game was. A sideways glance at Thalassa did bring back an earlier conversation however, about how she was uptight and in need of letting loose. If that meant joining in with games, then... fine.
Sighing to herself she gave her friend a nod, then cast a look around to see who else would be joining. Spotting Alys, Maea waved back and felt a bit better about the whole thing; that was at least one person unlikely to shoot or stab her for the fun of it.

Oh. And of course she was first to seek. Was it deliberate? Was she being bullied? With the Honeybee it was hard to tell; Maea kept her expression neutral and simply played along, stomping down any unease or apprehension and squashing it thoroughly beneath a figurative heel.

It shall be said, it took courage to close her eyes with Melita present. As Maea started to count, every number that dropped from her lips came with the vision of arrows in flight and an expectation of pain. Certainly the cold sweat and her own thundering pulse kept her from listening after disappearing footsteps, and by the time she neared the deadline, she was standing by herself.
"... ninetyeight, ninettynine, one hundred. Ready or not... "

Opening her eyes, all she saw was the town, a few scattered spectators and budding signs of Flowerbirth in progress. Figuring the wouldn't get far with her eyes, Maea shifted into a molten tiger, and noted with grim amusement how she suddenly was granted a lot of private space. Focusing, she sniffed the air and began to search for familiar scents, tracks or the furtive, fidgety sounds of someone trying to stay very very still.

------

Maea counts to 100, then shifts into a Molten Tiger and starts searching for tracks using the tigers senses.

Sing to me, cause I can't hear myself
through the loudness of my own hurts

base inspired by Odd <3

I've done nothing wrong
Except for all the atrocities

And just like that, without many preambles, save for a few waves or snickers, the game was on.

Indifferent to Maea’s suspicions, the invisible demigod scurried up a tree. Unfortunately, despite Melita's many years of experience in doing just that, nimble and proud, she made an awful lot of noise on this venture. Branches creaked, leaves brushed, and she had to tuck herself tightly against the bark of the trunk – rolling her eyes at her own blunders. She'd remain still and certain, and for once, biding her time.

Thalassa would find the brush, thorns, and brambles to be an excellent fit for her smaller form. Tucked in, nice and cozy, she would probably be able to wile away several moments, until either Maea was out of sight, and the base in reach. If everything went well, of course.

Alys, utilizing that wonderful illusion magic, would find herself rendered incorporeal, but unfortunately, she too would leave behind semblances of her path. Marks and footprints in the dampened earth could very well lead the tiger to the seer’s destination – maybe she’d be able to come up with something else to waylay the path.

And Maea, as soon as she was able, began to find the air full of aromas, the ground meshing with tracks, and could very likely pursue anyone she wished to snag. However, the first one trail she’d be able to pinpoint easily was Thalassa’s – and if the other Ancient didn’t do something fast, she’d be caught outright.

As for the others – well, there were always options of staying or fleeing, but both came with their own risks.

--

Melita has made a lot of noise in her venture up the tree, but remains invisible.

Thalassa is comfy cozy in the brush, but Maea has picked up on her scent quickly.

Alys is also invisible, but has left behind a lot of footprints.

You may choose to continue hiding, do something further to make yourself less known, or head for the base. Maea must post last.

the honeybee

Besides that
I'm innocent

The quiet, singing voice of the rose.

Being so tiny made things a lot easier as Thal slipped between the thorns and branches. They didn't catch or hinder her progress, the leaves barely brushing her head in most spots, however, apparently something was giving her away. Perhaps it was the sizzling of the grass beneath her that drew Maea's molten tiger closer, the scent of burning foliage hard to avoid. 

She didn't have many options of avoiding the pale Ancient. Shifting into her lyvern would immediately get her spotted, just as her Ancient would get caught among the thorns. And she didn't have access to her fire magic while shifted, leaving her quite vulnerable to Maea's discovery. Trying to avoid any burnable objects, Thal slithered deeper into the underbrush, hoping to make it too difficult to spot her within. 

---

Thalassa moves deeper into the bushes while still in her lava wyrm shift!

The song that promised all might be well,
all might be well,
that all manner of things might be well.

Thalassa

As Alys hid, she realized that she had left tracks behind. She peered out from behind her tree, her mouth tightening into a grimace. How could she have been so stupid? She needed to move, to find a new spot where her footprints wouldn’t lead Maea right to her. With that in mind, she set off from her hiding place, still invisible. This time, she used her air magic as she walked to erase her steps.

Walking slowly through the trees and erasing as she went, Alys found a new hiding place among some bushes and brambles, settling herself down to wait. She’d taken care of her footprints, and no one would be able to see her - but she’d have to be very quiet, and there was nothing she could do about her scent.

—-

Alys uses her illusion magic to stay hidden, and her air magic to brush away her footsteps as she finds a new hiding place among some bushes.

ALYS GLASSE

Sing to me, I am not doing well
Getting tired of my own words

Was that smoke? Something burning? Or just Thalassa trying to hide, ohoho. Oh, and that was definitely a set of footprints trailing off from the starting point. Flicking her tail in consideration, Maea decided to go for whatever was burning, just to be safe. They wouldn't want angry fae asking why their forest was on fire, after all.

Leaping into action, the molten tiger began to follow the smokey scent that may or may not lead her towards her fellow Ancient. While she couldn't be sure it would be Thalassa, it seemed the most likely culprit if something was burning. The stronger the scent became, the more she began to look for signs of smoke that would reveal a more exact location.

------

Maea remains shifted and follows the scent trail towards Thalassa, also looking for smoke or something burning.

Sing to me, cause I can't hear myself
through the loudness of my own hurts

base inspired by Odd <3

I've done nothing wrong
Except for all the atrocities

A long, long breath flooded through Melita – careful not to knock any leaves askew in the sigh. It was strange, to find herself biding her time rather than launching into the fray – but this was an art in patience, in subterfuge, in covertness that she had never really quite grasped…

Nah, she was going to try it.

Very carefully, she began to slide down the tree, lightly going the way she’d arrived. If she was lucky, and kept herself hidden in that invisible ability, she might be able to forge her way back to the base having not been spotted at all.

Alys would harbor the same sort of results; capable of shifting around her old post, closer and closer still to the secure area. Her illusion magic held well, as did her air adornments brushing over laden footprints, though if anyone was suspicious of such motions, maybe they’d blame it on the passing breeze.

Thalassa would find herself tight and secure, but with the danger of perhaps…not being able to escape. Maea had already caught wind of her presence, and it might only be a matter of time before the small form was found out. But the tiger wouldn’t be able to catch sight or sound, not as the lava wyrm entrenched herself deeper into the brambles and thicket. Maybe there was something else either of them could do.

--

Melita leaves the tree and starts heading to the base, remaining invisible.

Alys remains invisible as well, and has covered her footprints with her air magic.

Thalassa has not been spotted, but might want to think about how she’s going to get out of her situation.

Maea hasn’t spotted Thalassa yet, but the signs/senses are all there.

You may choose to continue hiding, do something further to make yourself less noticeable, or head for the base. Maea must post last.

the honeybee

Besides that
I'm innocent

Alys sat in the bushes for a few moments, biding her time as she watched her surroundings for any sign of someone tracking her. It seemed that her efforts had been successful, for when she looked behind herself, she couldn’t see any tracks - only a few puffs of wind clearing the last of her footprints away.

Satisfied and feeling quite pleased with herself, Alys snuck one last glance around before slipping from the bracken, making her way slowly but surely towards the base. She kept her illusion going, remaining invisible to the group, and continued to use her air magic to clear her prints away. She remembered an old saying: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And if this was working for her, she was going to keep using this strategy until it no longer served.

—-

Alys heads for the base, using illusion to stay invisible and air to clear her tracks.

ALYS GLASSE

The quiet, singing voice of the rose.

Although she still hadn't been spotted, it was apparent that Maea was close on her trail, and all she was doing was backing herself into a corner. She couldn't change how she scorched the earth around her, but she could hope that it clogged the molten tiger's nose enough to keep her from noticing as she moved away. 

With all the stealth she could muster, Thal slinked through the leaves, thorns, and branches to make her way towards the base. It wasn't hard when she was in such a small form, but she kept her eyes and ears(?) open as she moved. Her lava body moved quickly, skirting around the backside of the bush and out, hoping not to be caught. 

---

Thalassa starts moving towards the base in her lava wyrm shift!

The song that promised all might be well,
all might be well,
that all manner of things might be well.

Thalassa

Sing to me, I am not doing well
Getting tired of my own words

She was close, Maea could feel it in her whiskers. But despite the scent she could neither hear nor see anything, and the brambles were too dense for her large body to get through.

Considering the options, she could go back to the unguarded safe area, or attempt to get a better vantage point. Settling for that, the tiger shrank into a gore crow, and with flutter of wings Maea took to the air where she began to circle, looking mostly for Thalassa but also keeping an eye out of anything else that might reveal a hidden figure.

This time, if she spotted something, she was ready to act. Was it enough to spot them, or did she have to tag them too? Perhaps she would tag, just to be on the safe side.

-----

Maea shifts to her gore crow form and tries to spot Thalassa from above

Sing to me, cause I can't hear myself
through the loudness of my own hurts

base inspired by Odd <3

I've done nothing wrong
Except for all the atrocities

Incantations and abilities assured both Alys and Melita made it back to the base. The Honeybee was quite content the moment she touched the bench, giving out an emphatic fist pump as the invisibility peeled away. For now, she sat right on top of the thing with a Cheshire grin – waiting to see and hear of others either making their way over, or being snagged by the Ancient.

Which, unfortunately for Thalassa, was soon to come.

Climbing her way through the underbrush, she’d eventually find herself, well, quite stuck – and from overhead, Maea would be able to spot her easily. All she’d need was an outcry of gore crow intent, and the other Ancient would be caught.

From the wooden tabletop, Melita cried out the next round. “Thalassa is the new seeker!”

And then, of course, they all scattered once more.

The Honeybee, figuring she wasn't going to knock away the elements that had already gotten her one point, turned invisible again, and scurried for another tree.

--

Alys and Melita have made it to the base! One point each!

Thalassa has been spotted by Maea! One point for Maea!

Your options for hiding this round are:
- You guessed it, more trees
- Behind some cute little Fae buildings
- Some of the merchant stalls

Points:
Thalassa: 0
Maea: 1
Alys: 1
Melita: 1

the honeybee

Besides that
I'm innocent

Having made it back to the base, Alys allowed her own invisibility to fall, offering a small smile to Melita as she waited for the rest of the round to play out. She wasn’t quite sure how to interact with the demigod who had brought Sascha’s body back to her; they’d never really gotten along previously, though nor did Alys harbor any ill will towards the woman.

Luckily, the game moved on before the silence between them got too awkward, and as Thalassa took up the post of seeker, Alys called upon her magic once more. Utilizing illusion and air magic, she hurried from the base and into the surrounding Fae, choosing some cute little buildings to hide behind.

—-

Alys uses her illusion magic to be invisible, air magic to hide her tracks, and hides among the Fae buildings.

ALYS GLASSE