[GAME] Hide and Seek... Again! - Open!

[mouselet]

And back to the corner of the field Farraginis wandered, humming a jaunty tune as he went. Still no sign of anything, but he was regaining his confidence in something randomly turning up.  

[Excited Apathy]

Back to the other side Valli went, where the brush began to give way to jungle. She wound around tree trunks and crept around bushes, but there was nothing in this spot.  

[mouselet]

Wandering and wandering, searching and searching. Good thing this wasn't the sort of thing the colony did every day or he might have regretted his decision to stay with Jayani!  

[Annchen]

Vaina hadn't given up yet. She closed her eyes and tried to follow her nose. But going blind didn't help. She was sure she could smell something promising, but when she really looked she found this place as empty as the last one she searched. She sighed and decided she was bad at this game. Other leopards and random critters were running around finding things all over the place. Perhaps she wouldn't find anything at all.  

[mouselet]

Farraginis continued browsing around, but not finding anything. That was just fine. He'd found his silver token. No matter what else happened today, he had that much.  

[Annchen]

Vaina searched without much of a plan... She found a likely looking shrubbery that should be able to hide a leopard, but all she managed to do was to scare up a bird. She backpedalled as the bird exploded out of the bush with a shriek, and had to compose herself and wash her paws before her heart stopped racing. When she checked out the bushes again they were empty. Not even a bird's nest for her troubles.  

[mouselet]

Nothing here, nothing there. Well, if not for the fact that he and the others had found tokens, Farraginis would have supposed that the area was empty - of items and leopardess alike.  

[Talencia]

Desya sat perched in his small tree for some time, watching the patterns of the others searching, of where tokens were found, and where the leopardess possibly could hide. It was a reasonably wide area they'd been given to search! Time to move, though. He'd rested and seen enough. He leaped down to the ground with a soft thump and began strolling through the grass, pausing to give the colorful male leopard a congratulatory nod as they happened to pass each other.

He found a sunny patch of grass and began nosing around the edges, ears twitching at the birdsong, rustle of blades of grass, and the noises of others searching. This was one stealthy leopardess! Breathing would be impossible to hear unless one was very close indeed. Little did he realize he'd once been extremely near the leopardess, all unknowing, looking the wrong direction! As it was, though, he merely enjoyed the sun on his back as he perused the edge of shadow and light.  

[Annchen]

Vaina looked around, trying to decide where to look next. She wandered over to a likely looking spot, but it didn't hide any leopardess. She pawed at the dry leaves and twigs littering the ground, but couldn't find any tokens either. This was quite hard actually... She sighed and looked over her shoulder to see how the others were doing.  

[mouselet]

Crossing the field for the nobody-knew-how-many-th time, Farraginis checked yet another area that was difficult to distinguish from the rest.

Still nothing. Oh well.  

[Excited Apathy]

Moving deeper into the jungle, Valli found little more than the usual jungle fare. Trees, vines, leaves, and the usual ground clutter. Nobody and nothing hiding here!  

[Talencia]

When the sunny meadow revealed nothing out of the ordinary, the mellow leopard strolled along in the sunlight for a ways. He was still savoring the warmth of the light, and had little desire to return to the gloom beneath the trees. He wove between towering trees and thick brush, staying as much as possible to the sun-washed ground. This got tricky when he discovered a thorn bush blocking his path. It was a little too deep to leap over, too thick to wade through, and seemed to almost encircle him where he stood. Hmm. Under? He poked his head gingerly beneath the thorn-laden branches.  

[Annchen]

Vaina decided to search a tree next. She jumped up and spent a good amount of time going from branch to branch to see if the thick foliage might hide a leopard or a token. She even rustled the thinner branches to see if anything would fall down. It wasn't a bad idea, but the tree she had picked was empty. When she was satisfied that no one was hiding in the tree she jumped down again, wondering if she should try another tree or if she should keep looking in the underbrush.  

[mouselet]

On and on he wandered through the field of play, poking around here and there. The leopard paused and idly teased a strange looking item out from beneath a bush. Then it glinted in the sunlight. Had he actually found another token? It certainly looked that way!  

[Talencia]

Ugh, that thorn bush had been a baaaad idea. One of the thorns caught him in the tender place behind his ear where it joined his head. This also put it at an irritatingly difficult place to get to. He pinned his ears back in disgruntlement, only to wince. That hurt! He sat himself down in the sunny patch amongst the thorns and gently groomed that ear, careful to clean the scratch well. He hadn't expected an injury from this little game, regardless of how minor the injury was.

Ministrations done, he backtracked so as to go around the thorn bushes. He still attempted to stay within the comfortably warm sunshine, but soon ran out of the golden pathway of light. Hmm. Now what? He sat in the roots of a large tree to consider.