Tales of Hunter, Polly, and Others

Hide and Sneak

Hunter did what he could to prepare for the next day. He dug through the entire house and found a pocket watch. Polly snuck up behind him. "What the rapo is THAT for?"
"Hey, gotta time you somehow!" He lied. He needed it to time himself.
"Why can't I time myself!? I'm trustworthy, aren't I?" Hunter laughed. If she was in charge of timing herself, she'd probably cheat. Polly gave him the stink eye. "And YOU wouldn't cheat?"
Hunter shook his head. He would never do such a thing. ...She did have a point though. "Alright fine! Do you have any good ideas?"
"How about..." Polly took the watch from Hunter.
"...if I'm not timed... at all?"
Hunter's eyes widened. There's no way this could work without that watch. "Wha?" He quickly took back the watch. "D-don't you want to measure your progress?"
"Progress?"
"Y-yeah! ...Don't you wanna show off your skills?"
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? EVERYONE KNOWS I'M THE BEST!"
"Uhh... But now you can get proof of it!"
"They don't need proof to know I'm a good seeker!"
"Well uh... They need proof that... uh... you can find ME!"
"No they don't. Everyone knows you're easy to find!"
"...Not anymore!" He lied.
"And who's gonna believe that?" That's true, saying Hunter became a hide and seek master overnight is pretty ridiculous. But maybe...
"Maybe if people saw it, they'd believe it!"
Polly paused to consider the thought. "Yeah... Yeah! That could work! It'd take time, but yeah!" Hunter grinned. It looks like he actually came up with a decent idea for once! Polly rushed her way out the door. "I'll go see if anyone wants to join in!" As soon as she showed up, Polly left.

Hunter looked down at the pocket watch in his hands. 'What have i got myself into? Now I have to be extremely careful...' The ticking of the watch soothed Hunter's ears. He took a deep breath and sighed. 'The Twilite Wood... It'll make everything worth it. I know it.'
He continued to search the house. It wasn't long until he found a pen and notebook. Hunter picked up the notebook. It looked completely untouched. No scribbles, no wrinkles, nothing. 'Is this dad's?' He looked to see if anyone was around. He didn't want to take it, but.... 'I could really use this... Besides, dad can get another one.' Hunter put the notebook and pocket watch under his pillow for safe keeping.
He sat down on his bed and thought if that was all he needed. Well, it pretty much was. But was it everything he wanted? ...No. No it wasn't. But what more could Hunter want? 'Well, a chair would be nice...' Okay, a chair. That can't be too hard, right? 'And a shovel and pail! To dig stuff up!' Okay, there's already a shovel and pail for the beach. Who's to say it can't work with dirt? 'And some food! And toys! And the entire house!' Okay, now Hunter was getting a bit ahead of himself. Hunter stopped himself from getting too carried away, and tried to think. 'When I go to the wood, what will I need to enjoy my visit?' He looked at his surroundings and thought. 'Standing up all the time would be a pain... And there's no way I'll let myself fall aslee... I mean rest my eyes again. A chair would be more than helpful. ...But how am I doing this?'
He searched the house for an extra chair nobody would care about. There's no way he could take one from the dining table, everyone would notice. As he searched around, Hunter came across some of the items his dad made for the villagers. 'Maybe I shouldn't be in here...' Despite protesting against it, Hunter searched through the workshop for a chair he could use. He finally found what he was looking for and thought about what to do next. 'Now what? I can't just wait to take it there... I'll have to take it now. ...in broad daylight. ...Maybe this was a bad idea... Dad worked real hard on this...' Hunter looked out the window at the forest gate's direction. Nobody seemed to be around. He looked at the stool in front of him. '...He won't miss one, right?' Hunter took the stool out the front door.

Taking a deep breath, Hunter moved towards the Forest Gate. On his way there, he constantly stopped to look around. If anyone caught him taking this stool to the Forest Gate, it's game over. Hunter had to be extra careful. He walked close to the trees just in case he needed to hide. Out of the corner of his eye, Hunter saw a flicker of motion. He looked at the direction the movement came from, and saw Polly. Luckily for him, she didn't seem to notice him.
Panicked, Hunter haphazardly hid the chair within the trees. Polly, hearing the rustling of branches, turned around to find Hunter standing there.
"Hunter? What are you doing here?"
Hunter did what he could to not look back at the stool and give himself away. "...Oh! Just getting ready for tomorrow!"
Polly could tell he was hiding something. "You're not going to hide there are you?"
Hunter nervously smiled. "...I can't say!"
Polly raised an eyebrow. 'What is he hiding to act this weird?'
Hunter nervously laughed. "So... What are you doing here?"
"I was finding rapos to help seek. That's what I was doing!"
"Oh! ..Did you find a lot?"
"... Not really." Polly asked plenty of people, but nobody wanted to join them.
Hunter laughed. 'So much for being a good seeker!'
Polly grew angry at the smirk on Hunter's face. "Hey! I know what you're thinking! Stop it!"
Hunter's smile disappeared. "...sorry."
Hunter then noticed something in Polly's hand.
"What's that?"
"Hmm? Oh!" Polly raised her arm and opened her fist to reveal a pocket watch. "I got a timer of my own now!" She spun the watch by it's chain. "Took a while, but NOW it'll be fair."
Hunter looked at the watch. It looked a little familiar to him, but he wasn't sure why. 'It doesn't look like mine, so why is it so familiar?' "Cool! ...Where'd you get it?"
Polly jumped a little. She didn't get permission to borrow the watch. She just... took it. '...I mean, Hunter stole HIS watch. How is he any better? I mean, I'll take it back. ...Sooner or later.' She tried to stand as straight as she could. "I found it on the ground! Fair and square!"
Hunter could hear her voice shake a little. A small part of him wanted to know more, but he ended up shrugging it off. 'Maybe she's just nervous? Oh well, none of my business. ...Besides, I got other things to worry about.' "Nice!" An awkward silence put a stop of to their conversion. Hunter began to fidget in place. He really wanted to get this over with. "...I gotta go... Uh..."
"...Scope out the village?"
"Yeah! That!"
"Good luck tomorrow!"
"You too!" The two began to go their separate ways.

Hunter slowly walked away from the scene. He kept his eye on where he hid the stool, but kept walking. He had to make sure Polly wasn't looking when he went back for it. As soon as he thought the coast was clear, he made a dash for the line of trees where the chair was hiding.

Polly went on her way back home. She didn't have any other plans, and wanted to take a break before the next day. She just hoped her parents weren't back home yet. After all, there's no way she wanted them to know about the watch she borrowed. Once she had gotten close to the house, she saw her parents close by talking to the mayor. Polly quickly backed away and hid from the grown Raposa. She overheard them speak.
"...I'm so sorry we couldn't help ya Mayor. I ain't got an idea of where it may be."
"Oh ho ho... It's fine. It's just so strange. One minute it's there, the other it disappears."
"Perhaps that Zsasha fellow took it?"
"Nah, no way. Not in broad daylight."
"I'll have to keep looking. Maybe Mari took it. She can be so mischievous for such a young girl."
"We promise to look out for it sir."
Polly looked at the watch in her hand and sighed. She couldn't bear to face them after what she did. She snuck away as fast as she could, squeezing the watch to silence it. She didn't have anything to do, so she began to wander the village. Besides, maybe she'll find Hunter's hiding spot.

Not wanting to get caught again, Hunter kept moving through the trees, out of sight. The Forest Gate felt so far away, yet he was almost there. He slowly crept out of the trees, dragging the stool along with him. He looked up at the gate, and pushed it open.
Once he entered the Twilite Wood, he set down the stool and stretched. After a moment of taking in his surroundings, Hunter picked the stool back up, and carried it to his new hideout.

Polly walked all over the village, looking for any place a rapo could use to hide. 'If I can remember all these spots, I'll find him for sure!' When she looked just about everywhere, she went on her way back home. On her way there, Polly heard a strange creaking sound. The sound came from the Forest Gate's direction. She squeezed the pocket watch and decided to check it out. When she got there, no rapo could be found. She walked up to the gate and inspected it. 'Somebody just used it. Nobody's here, so they must've went in. Better not be Hunter. If he's hiding outside town, I'm going to kick his butt!' She put her hand on the gate. 'I'll catch that cheater if it's the last thing I do!' She was just about to open the door, when she felt someone tap on her shoulder. Polly stood frozen in place. Her parents would never allow her to enter a warp gate. That, and she was still holding the stolen pocket watch. Her hands began to sweat. Whoever this was, they're going to get her in serious trouble. It took everything she could to turn around and greet this mystery raposa. Right behind her stood Hunter. 'Hunter!? But I thought... How is he here!?!'
Hunter smiled. "What are you doing?"
Polly was shocked. "N-nothing! Just checking out the gate!"
Hunter looked up at the gate. "...Pretty, isn't it?"
"Yup! A real wonder."
"...You weren't thinking of entering it, were you?"
Polly jumped a little. "Oh no! No! I wasn't going to do that!"
"That's good! I was scared I had to tell mom!" Hunter laughed. "Cmon! Let's go home!" Polly looked back at the gate, and followed her brother home.

As the two walked home, Hunter smiled out of relief. 'Thank Creator that's over with. That was really close. I can't believe I pulled that off... And I thought I would be the one to be caught off guard. Good thing I hid just before she showed up. If I didn't, it would've ruined everything. *sigh* That short trip wasn't close to being long enough. I hope all this struggle is worth it. ...Why do I feel like it will be?'