paixaorpg | A peculiar game of tag [Active]

Characters: Ivan, Loki
Content: Ivan is chasing an imaginary friend. Loki investigates.
Setting: through the streets over on the east side of town
Time: slightly backdated (to pre-Maleficent); also, early evening
Warnings: none

It was a perfectly ordinary evening. The streets were abuzz with people on their way home, if a bit more crowded than usual - it was odd, wasn't it, there didn't seem to be as much street to walk along as before. A rickshaw passed, its wooden wheels clacking lightly upon the cobbled street. There was the usual noise, of footsteps and conversation, but apart from that, nothing all that strange.

"Bloo!"

A boy broke from the pack, although in reality he had never been part of it to begin with. Except for his staff, which he kept with him at all times these days, he might have passed for a particularly energetic local.

"Bloo, come ba- excuse me, please! Bloo!"

Dimly, Ivan was still aware of his surroundings. Of the street noise, which he raised his voice above, and of the people he couldn't seem to avoid running into, even though he'd long abandoned the sidewalk. Had he been in greater control of his senses, he might have noticed the inconsistencies - the idea that a friend over three weeks disappeared had suddenly resurfaced, or that no one else took notice of the little blue blob even as it darted perilously underfoot, hid behind people, and even (on one occasion) climbed up and took a shortcut across a series of black top hats.

He might even have remembered Yorda, and the imminent danger she was in - but sadly, the thought never crossed his mind.

"Run run run as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the..." "Bloo" paused in the middle of the street, thinking. "I'm the... blue... BLUE! HA HA!!"

And, just as Ivan almost reached him, he was off again, like a comet (which, incidentally, would have been a much better name than the Blue Blue). Ivan stopped for a second, trying to catch his breath - how long had they been at this, anyway?

"This isn't funny, Bloo!" he called between breaths. But Bloo wasn't giving up the game, and after a second Ivan started off again, running at top speed after a little blue menace that only he could see.

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Loki had been seated on a bench nearby for quite some time. For once the trickster god actually looked serious. In fact, he almost looked like he was brooding. Which probably looked like a very weird thing to do for someone the age his appearance suggested him to be. More than once he had one of the locals, mostly of the female persuasion, come up to him and offer to help him find his parents or a place to stay. It would've been kind if it hadn't been so...artificial.

Though that wasn't what he was bothered by. He was worried about something far greater and it wasn't the city's deteriorating state either. That was merely a point of interest to him. No, what he was dropping his usual cheerful self for was Odin. The Allfather had been here. Loki was sure of that. He'd spotted him in the crowd a few times too many to shrug it off as his imagination. He'd spend an entire day looking for Odin without any results.

So he had eventually ended up where he was now. Sitting on the bench with the same questions going round and round in his head. Why was Odin here? Did he have anything to do with him ending up in Paixao? Not a lot was being accomplished by doing this, Loki was aware of that. But there really wasn't anything more interesting to do here, was there?

At least there hadn't been until a frantic boy emerged from the crowd. Someone who would've easily been mistaken for another local if Loki hadn't known better. Apparently the boy was following something and Loki watched his progress curiously. He even inclined his head to get a better look at whatever it was that the boy was chasing but no matter how he tilted his head or craned his neck, he couldn't see anything. The boy was just chasing thin air.

One might shrug it off as just some poor delusional sod but the boy certainly didn't look mad or anything. There was something else going on here and that something else was making Loki curl his lips back into his usual mischievous smile. This looked like it could be a worthwhile case. He hadn't dealt with any cases since arriving here and it was about time he did. What was a detective without any cases? It'd be something to distract him from Odin at least. He could almost hear Mayura's excited cry of "Fushigi mystery~!" in his head.

The boy had stopped now and Loki took the opportunity to hop off the bench and try to approach him. Before he could reach him however, the strange boy had already given chase to the invisible thing again. Luckily, that wasn't enough to deter Loki in the slightest and the banished god simply chased the boy in turn.

"Hey, you!"

If Ivan heard Loki calling, he didn't seem to think it was directed at him, and kept running, darting quickly between the citizens and trying to keep a bead on his target. For a second, he lost sight of him; then a second later, there he was just a few feet away.

"Later, loser~" Bloo teased before starting off again down a much less-traveled street.

With effort, Ivan swallowed. "Bloo, come on," he called, less enthusiastically than before. All this running was going to be the death of him, but he had to make sure his friend was all right, and so he followed.

Loki found that running after someone who happened to be quite a bit taller than you was a rather difficult thing to do. He was having trouble keeping up after a while and he could only curse the tiny little body he was trapped in. If he had been in his normal form, he would've caught the kid already. Easily even!

But as it stood there wasn't a lot he could do about it. He was going to lose his interesting case in the crowd if they kept running around like this. Which is why it was very fortunate his case decided, or rather the imagined thing of his case, to go down a street that wasn't quite as crowded. Loki had more chance of catching his attention this way and even as out of breath as he was, he forced himself to try once more.

"Hey!"

Bloo had made it a good several blocks down the side road before Ivan caught up with him, but even then it wasn't because Ivan was faster. He might have wound up chasing his little friend all over town (more so than he already had) if he hadn't come to an abrupt halt in the middle of the road and veered off to something of interest on the sidewalk.

"What's thiiiis?" said Bloo, inspecting an odd-looking pipe protruding from the ground next to the wall. From the sound of it, he had more of an idea what it was for than Ivan did, although those more familiar with such things would recognize it as an old-fashioned water pump.

"Leave it alone," Ivan replied warily, but Bloo had already grabbed hold of the lever and was pulling down on it with all his might. "Hey! You don't know what that does!"

He made a grab for his friend, which said friend nimbly avoided by climbing the pipe itself. "C'mon, work!" Bloo exclaimed, making a jump for the handle. Surprisingly, he did land it, but the mechanism still didn't move, and the imaginary friend lost his balance and fell about a foot to the ground.

Ivan cringed, but Bloo was back on his feet (if he had feet) within a couple seconds. "Bloo, I'm serious. You're going to hurt yourself."

"Hey, it's not my fault this piece of junk has it in for me!" retorted Bloo indignantly, and before Ivan could say anything more he ran up and kicked the pipe. The pipe didn't appear to feel any pain, which was more than could be said for the imaginary friend and his foot.

Ivan let out a long sigh. He really was just like a little kid...

It was a good thing the boy stopped when he did because Loki didn't think he could run much further. He had to stop a little distance away from his case, who seemed to be engaged in a conversation with his imaginary friend it seemed, to lean on his knees and catch his breath.

This would've have been nicer if Yamino had been here. Or Mayura. Or even Narugami. He could have made them do the running for him but alas...

In fear of losing his interesting case Loki didn't stay put there for long, once he had his breathing under control a little he made his way over to the boy and to ensure he wouldn't just run off again, Loki grabbed a hold of the boy's sleeve.

"H-Hey..." He managed with a strained voice and as he spoke he leaned a little to the side so he could glance past Ivan. There still wasn't anything there. Just an old water pump.

A sudden tug on his sleeve made Ivan jerk in surprise. He whirled to face Loki, as if only just noticing he was there - which was true, actually. But he didn't know who the boy was, and had (he thought) more pressing concerns. He glanced back at Bloo, who had apparently quite forgotten about the pipe.

"Heeey, who's your friend?" Bloo drawled, coming over to inspect the newcomer.

"He's - we haven't met," Ivan tried, a little uncomfortable. Then, to Loki, he added, "What's wrong?" The boy seemed really out of breath.

"You run way too fast," Loki whined in retort. Now that he had a hold on Ivan so he wouldn't run off again, at least not without dragging Loki along, the trickster god took the time to properly get his breathing under control again. All the while staring at the spot Ivan had been addressing before.

Once he was sure his breathing was steady again, he straightened himself and looked back to Ivan. "Who's that?" He asked finally, gesturing vaguely in the direction he thought the kid's imaginary friend was.

A peculiar game of tag [Active]

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