Kiddie AU

[sliceitwithwind]

November 11th, after the great hair dying Halloween, when the kids got home from school there was a strange man sitting on the porch with Lenna, Elcy, and Yinsi. He was seven foot seven inches tall and seemed to take up the entire porch. Skin four shades darker than Dilan's, brilliantly green Katzu eyes, and braids down to his knees of thick, black and grey hair.

He was in a beautiful coat of terrible chartreuse, and the instant the boys saw him Dilan bolts forward shrieking happily in too-fast Katzu.

Braig grabbed Aya's hand and explained, "That's his great-grand-uncle Sannish."

Comments

[mitochondriaaya]

Aya favored tactic for this game was to get some place high! That meant, for the moment, scrambling over the fence and making a bee-line for the rose trellis on the side of the house.

It could totally hold her weight!

[sliceitwithwind]

"AYA BREA DON'T YOU GO CLIMBING ON MY ROSES!" Elcy bellowed as Aya took off. The trellis could hold her, yes, but the roses were still fairly young and could easily be crushed by a five year old...not to mention the thorns!

Braig cackled, his mother knew where Aya was going because when Dilan was Aya's age Braig had chased him up the rose trellis. This was part of why the roses were still fairly young.

[mitochondriaaya]

What the little blond girl suddenly detour as if she'd planned all along to be running at angle away from the trellis! There were other places to run to and hide!

And if she couldn't get up...well, wiggling through the space between the porch beam and the side of the house was good too. It was creepy under the porch, dark and webby and full of dead grass and stuff but it was also well hidden!

[sliceitwithwind]

She hears pounding feet for a while, then Dilan slid in, brightened up, and slipped in next to her. "We decided to play sardines instead! Some of the other kids in the neighbourhood joined in. You found an awesome spot!"

[mitochondriaaya]

She turned really big eyes on him and carefully leaned up next to his ear "I think I have a spider in my sock." The real reason she hadn't been making enough noise to be found...she was utterly freaked out. It felt WEIRD AND WHAT IF IT BIT HER?!!

[sliceitwithwind]

"Okay. Stay really still." he started wiggling around, "And don't tell anyone I'm doing magic, okay?" Just wind magic! Just enough to push the webs and things away from Aya so that he could very, very carefully look at her sock and then very, very carefully shift it, and then very, very carefully put the spider (non-biting kind) where it could run away from Aya (which it did!) before saying, "It was just a bit of dried leaf."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Okay," Of course she wouldn't tell! He was helping her and it wasn't like he was going to blow her up or anything, he didn't know that kind of magic yet!

...

She didn't think he did anyway.

Regardless she managed to hold very, very still even despite the little cold breeze and the tickling. It was a very tickly leaf in her sock! "Oh, that's all? That's dumb." she sniffed at her own fear of a leaf and settled her chin on her crossed arms. " how many other guys are playing?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"When I took off there were nine. I think we can fit nine under here." Maybe. If they squished. He cuddled in close to her, relaxing at the normal of touching one of his best friends. He loved having his Great-Grand-Uncle visit, but it was very upsetting to his routines. The little things helped, then.

Even if calling Aya a little thing was likely to get him bit.

[mitochondriaaya]

"if we really squish." She had to agree quietly after a moment of thought. "And no one else gets weirded out by leaves that feel like spiders." Because other kids might scream and then they were toast!

She moved and wiggled until her chin on resting on his arms instead of her own (it made it easier to talk quiet when they were that close!), then sighed. "Bet Braig finds us?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"No bets, this is his house after all. He knows all the best places." Dilan said, wrapping his arm across her shoulders and tugging her tight into a hug while they watched from under the porch.

[mitochondriaaya]

"I hope he remembers that he needs to hide someplace with room for people," she grumbling, remembering the last game where he'd finally been found crammed in an old stump. No room at all for other sardines!

She froze as the shadow of legs walked past their hiding spot a few times then breathed a big sigh of relief when no one found them.

[sliceitwithwind]

"He's gotta find us this time, remember?" Dilan said smugly, quite ready to take a nap if that's how long it took. Aya had found a great spot, after all.

[mitochondriaaya]

She'd just wiggled into the first tiny space she could! It wasn't an intentional great spot!

"Oh, right. That's gonna take forever."

[sliceitwithwind]

No sooner had she said it than Braig wiggled under with a grin, scooting up on Dilan's other side, "It like. Took forever to remember this place, Ayay."

[mitochondriaaya]

Well, all the important people were present and accounted for then! Aya wiggled as well, allowing a bit more room for the boys and worked her way into her pockets. Anything to help pass the time? Her fumbling produced two rubber bands, a pencil eraser, a bandaid, and a paperclip!

Not much in other words.

"That was a really short forever! It's not even dark!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"I like this spot." Braig said with a small, huffed laugh. Dilan watched as various sneakers pounded outside their spot, falling into that odd state he sometimes shared with the kittens.

[mitochondriaaya]

"I feel kinda like a spy, watching everyone out there but they can't see us." Aya gave a small giggle and bumped Dilan with her shoulder. "Gonna take a nap?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"No. I think I could totally take him down. And her. And her." Dilan has fallen into stalk-and-hunt mode. Fear, neighbourhood children. Fear.

[mitochondriaaya]

"Well duh."Aya sniffed. "You're faster than them and you bite better." These were awesome traits in a best friend!

"But we gotta stay here. I could break a rubber band and give you a wiggly piece of rubber to chase?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Maybe later." he was having far too much fun watching ankles. "Don't want you snapping your fingers again."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Hey, I don't do that all the time!." And it really wasn't that bad. She didn't bleed or anything! "But fine..." she folded her arms and settled down to watch ankles as well...

...and nodded off within ten minutes. A mighty patient hunter she was not.

[sliceitwithwind]

The boys let her sleep until the neighbourhood kids gave up, and then until they were called in to supper. Then they tried to wiggle her out from under the porch without waking her up, because little kids need their sleep.

[mitochondriaaya]

And like many little kids Aya slept like a sack of potatoes. Totally unconscious until they got to those annoying stairs up to the porch. Then she was wiggling and trying to knuckle her eyes. "Huh? Their turn to hide?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"As if, supper time." Braig says with a laugh, "C'mon, monkey, we've gotta clean up."

Dilan ... licks her nose. What? Braig had her feet.

[mitochondriaaya]

That got the requisite squeal and wiggle as she tried to escape the licking. Hard to get away when her hands and feet were being held though! "So...we won? We totally won?"