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“Fabian! Don’t run with that knife! Where did you even get that from!?” Adaine shouts as a white-haired child runs past her, giggling.
“It’s not a knife, it’s my sword and I’m a pirate!” the half-elf exclaims gleefully.
“Well, it’s not something you should have,” Adaine scolds him, using a mage hand to pluck the cutlery from his hands. She quickly pockets the knife in her magical jacket to keep it out of harm’s way.
She turns around, looking for the other Bad Kids. There’s Kristen, sitting on the couch singing Helioistic hymns to a patiently listening Gorgug, Fig is clinging to Adaine’s knee, looking up at her with stars in her eyes like she has the big sister she’s always wanted, and Riz…
“Where is Riz?” Adaine asks, looking from one child to the next.
Gorgug shakes his head, as does Fig. Fabian ignores Adaine in favor of bouncing from one armchair to the next, lost in his imagination. Kristen stops her singing and looks to Adaine. “I saw the goblin go underneath the couch a while ago. Do you think he’s scared?”
Adaine sighs and gets down on her hands and knees and crawls to the end of the couch.
“Riz?” she calls out. “Are you under there, sweetie?”
She hears a stifled ‘hiss’ and then “Yes, Ms. Adaine.”
“Riz, come on out, you’re okay with us. You don’t have to hide. Why not play with the others?”
“‘M reading,” comes the reply.
“Well, can you read where I can see you? Please?”
A small sigh comes from underneath the couch, but Riz dutifully crawls out, dragging a large book with him. Adaine smiles at him, and Riz shyly smiles back, his grin full of fangs and a small gap where one has recently come out.
“Thank you, Riz,” she says, tousling his moppy hair, and the goblin goes back to reading his book on forensic science (for kids!).
Kristen begins on a new hymn, singing “The Lord Shall One Day Shuck My Corn,” and Adaine cringes.
“Kristen,” she says sweetly. “You have a very lovely singing voice,” (and she does), “but why don’t we all play a game together? Fabian? Riz? Why don’t we all play together?”
“Let’s play pirates!” shouts Fabian, bouncing off of a cushion and tumbling expertly to the ground.
“I don’t mind storytime,” says Gorgug, eyeing Riz’s book.
“Maybe not Riz’s book,” says Adaine.
“What about hide and seek?” suggests Fig, still clinging to Adaine’s hand. “Or, or princesses! Kristen and I could be princesses and the others can try to save us from a dragon!”
Adaine’s smile coagulates a little, thinking about fighting more dragons.
“Let’s play cops and robbers!” This suggestion, of course, comes from Riz.
“Oooo, how about cops and pirates!” crows Fabian, jumping up and down and tugging at Adaine’s hand.
“Kristen? Any suggestions from you?”
“Hide and seek sounds fun, Ms. Adaine.”
Adaine turns to the boys. “Boys? What do you think? Would you like to play hide and seek?”
Gorgug nods. She looks over to Fabian. He doesn't look as impressed, and when she glances at Riz, the goblin is still absorbed in his book.
“Riz, you can be the one who looks for everybody, alright? Like a detective searching for missing people.” Riz stops reading and looks up.
“Yeah? I can?”
“Yeah!”
“Cool. I’ll play.” He dog-ears his book and closes it. All that’s left is to win over Fabian.
“Fabian, you’re good at hiding, aren't you?” she asks, trying to convince him to get on board with the game.
“Pirates don't hide, they fight!” he says brandishing another knife, which Adaine immediately mage hands out of his grip and into her jacket.
“They hide their treasure!” says Fig, popping her head from around Adaine’s leg.
“That’s true,” says Adaine. “Fabian, why not pretend you’re a hidden treasure, and Riz has to dig you up?”
Fabian scowls, and looks around the room. He can see that he’s the only one holding out, and the pouts on the other kids’ faces make him feel guilty.
“I guess I can pretend that and hide.”
“Wonderful! I’ll hide, too, okay?”
“Don’t make it too easy, just ‘cause I’m a kid!” warns Riz. “Detectives don’t get it easy unless the criminal’s really, really dumb!”
“Okay, I won’t go easy on you,” Adaine says with a twinkle in her eye.
“And tell you kids what, you’ve got the whole bottom floor of the house to hide in, alright?”
“The whole floor??” asks Kristen, incredulous. “My parents only let us hide in one room!”
“Well, I’m not your parents. I’m your cool babysitter, so have fun!” She turns to Riz. “Alright, close your eyes and count to one hundred, got it?”
“Okay.”
Riz obediently closes his eyes and begins counting. A chorus of giggles erupts from the other children (even Fabian) as everyone scrambles to find a place to hide. Adaine, wanting to make sure that she can keep an eye on things, casts invisibility on herself and tiptoes away, following Fabian to make sure he doesn’t get into trouble.
Once she mage hands yet another knife out of his hands (Seriously, where is he getting those?) and feels secure with him hiding beneath a bed, she searches for the other children. Gorgug, she notices, has hidden himself inside of a trash can. She mentally applauds his ingenuity, but also grimaces, thinking she’s going to have to convince him to take a bath at some point.
Fig – dressed in bright pink and sporting a tutu – has decided that wrapping herself up in the drapes will be a suitable cover. Too bad her tutu makes a bulge in the curtains and her pink tights are peeking out garishly from the bottom. Adaine quietly moves an ottoman over in front of the curtain in hopes of giving her better chances of not being found immediately.
Lastly, Adaine searches the bottom floor of Mordred Manor, looking for Kristen, but as she does so, she can hear Riz reach the end of his count. She gives up on Kristen, figuring she’ll be safe, and sneaks back over to shadow Riz as he searches the house.
The future rogue and detective immediately spots Fig, but, being a good sport, he makes a show of searching the area thoroughly. Fig giggles as Riz passes by, and Riz pulls back the drapes dramatically, exposing the wood elf.
“Got you!” Riz shouts excitedly, his tail swishing around his feet.
Fig giggles again. “You found me! I’ll help you find the others,” she offers. Riz smiles.
“Okay.”
They continue their search, heading into a bedroom next. It’s not the one Fabian has hidden in, but Adaine takes a moment to see if she can spot Kristen at all. The three scour the room, but find no one.
Riz moves onto the next bedroom – Fabian’s – and Adaine watches as Riz thoroughly checks everywhere but under the bed. Fig doesn’t try very hard to search, instead playing with her hair and tutu. Finally, Riz stops at the foot of the bed and suddenly drops down, looking under the bed. “Aha!” he says triumphantly.
Fabian comes crawling out, pouting.
“You knew where I was!”
“Yeah. You moved all this stuff out from under the bed!” Riz says, pointing to some clothes and boxes that are clumped around the bed.
“Hmph!” pouts Fabian, but Adaine sees him trying to hide the admiration in his eyes that the goblin knew where he was so quickly.
Adaine follows the trio as they continue to search, raiding a closet and peeking into the garage before heading to the kitchen. She wonders if junior detective Riz will solve the case of the missing half-orc as easily as he did with Fig and Fabian. Riz digs through cupboards and checks above and beneath the dining table, but can’t seem to find Gorgug. Adaine’s ready to chalk the win up to Gorgug when a rustling sound draws everyone's attention to the trash can. Gorgug has been clever and made sure not to take out any trash, but Adaine wonders if this is now backfiring on him.
Sure enough, a moment later the can shakes and topples and Gorgug comes scrambling out as quickly as possible, tears streaming down his face.
“A bug! A bug! Nooo!” he cries. He looks around for the adult who’s supposed to be watching him, and not detecting Adaine in her invisibility, begins to panic. He rushes towards Fabian, the next closest child to an adult, crying and gibbering about the bug. Fabian, remembering Cathilda’s words to him that he’s the big brother for everyone younger than him, puts himself between Gorgug and the trash. He pulls out a knife and brandishes in front of him as if it were a sword, and while Adaine is very alarmed at the boy’s ability to seemingly magic knives out of thin air, she’s proud of him for coming to Gorgug’s defense. Fig, also squeamish about bugs, hides behind both of the boys.
“Kill it, Fabian! Kill it!’
Riz hesitantly pokes the garbage that had spilled out, and another rustle comes from the pile. Even Adaine is holding her breath now, waiting for the evil bug to appear. All five watch as slowly a big, black cockroach skitters out of the trash.
“No roaches! I can’t do roaches!” cries out Fabian at the sight of the black carapace. He steps backwards, tripping over Gorgug who trips over Fig, and the three children go down, screaming for their lives as the insect approaches.
Even Riz, who had a brave face on earlier, looks too unnerved by the roach to do anything about it.
Adaine immediately reaches out with a mage hand to pick up a nearby magazine, rolls it up, and swats the offending bug. The kids scream again. Realizing that she’s still invisible, Adaine drops her concentration on the spell, revealing herself to the group.
“Hey!” Riz shouts, no longer distracted by the cockroach. “You cheated! No fair!”
“Yes, yes, I cheated. Sorry, Riz. Adults cheat all the time. I’ll treat you all to some ice cream to make up for it, alright?”
“Yeah!” Riz cheer
“Ice cream!” joins in Gorgug, raising his arms up in joy. Fig crawls over to the dead roach, studying it.
“Wow… it’s dead…” she marvels. “That was cool. Ms. Adaine.”
“Uh, yes. Thank you, Ms. Adaine,” Fabian says, suddenly shy. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to be a hero. Thank you for helping us.”
Adaine pats Fabian on the head while removing the knife from his hand. “You did a wonderful job protecting the others, Fabian, just like a big brother would. Everyone has their limitations, and there’s no shame in being scared of a cockroach. Thank you for protecting the younger ones.” Fabian beams at the praise.
“Now, let’s find Kristen and go get ice cream,” says Adaine.
“Kristen!” she calls, cupping her hands around her mouth. “Kristen, you won! Come on out!”
“Kristen!” The other kids mimic their babysitter, cupping their hands and calling out.
“Let’s each check a room, alright?” suggests Adaine.
“Ms. Adaine, I saw her go up the stairs while I was hiding,” Gorgug says meekly. “Sorry to be a tattletale.”
“No, I’m glad you told me, Gorgug. Let’s go upstairs.” The group heads up to the second floor, calling for the redhead.
“Kristen! Come out! You won!” Adaine calls out.
“We’re going to get ice cream!” shouts Fabian, opening up a bedroom door. “Ah. …Ms. Adaine, I’ve found her,” Fabian says in a sharp whisper.
“Hm? What is it, Fabian?”
Fabian points to the bed where Kristen is snuggled up under the blankets.
“Oh.”
Fig comes running in, calling out loudly “Have you found her?” Fabian shushes her.
Adaine walks over to the bed and sits down next to the prone, sleeping figure of Kristen.
“Kristen,” she says, gently shaking her. “Kristen, let’s get up.”
Kristen rubs her eyes and yawns. “What? What’s happening?”
“Well, I’d like to ask you that same question, Kristen,” Adaine says, gently but sternly. “What are you doing up here when I said we were hiding downstairs?”
Kristen tucks her knees up to her chest and looks off to the side towards the wall.
“I didn’t want to play hide and seek. I thought I could take a nap while everyone else played.”
“Oh, Kristen, sweetie, you gotta tell me these things!” Adaine says with concern. “It’s fine if you want to nap, but I need to make sure you’re safe while you do so!”
“I’m sorry…” Kristen says. “Did I screw up? Am I going to get punished?” She begins to sniffle.
“What? No!” Adaine says, aghast. “No punishment! In fact, we were looking for you so we could all go get some ice cream!”
“Ice cream?”
“Yeah! So come on, guys. Let’s all take a walk to Basrar’s okay?”
This was met with nothing but cheers from all five children. “Okay, everyone, let’s line up and hold hands!” Adaine says. “Fabian, I want you on the outside, got it? Riz, I’d like you to stay next to me, okay?”
And with everyone lined up, holding hands, the six Bad Kids all went to Basrar’s.