Tag is, and I mean this, hilarious
A short fanfic written for @brightsideoflifeseries event! Thank you so much for this opportunity!!
Words-3153 POV-Scott Smajor
Scott woke up in week five to find a book—his book—on his bedside table, fresh ink lining the pages. He waited until he was outside, with Impulse and Gem, to read exactly what had been chosen for him to do this week. He loved the thrill he got every time he opened the task book, the way his mind would fruitlessly try and guess what lay inside for him.
“Three, Two, One!” Gem shouted, signaling them to open their books and look through them. He opened his slowly, flipping the pages until he got to the one headed as No. 5.
You are in a game of tag between yourself, Tango, Impulse and Bdubs. If you are "it" at the break, you fail. The game continues in the second half and if you are "it" when "Session over!" is announced, you also fail. You succeed if you are not "it" at the end the session.
He glanced over at Impulse, who was still reading his book. When Scott caught his eye, he looked up and furrowed his brow. Impulse pointed to the book and mouthed, ‘What is this?’
Scott shrugged. ‘A task,’ he said back silently. Impulse glared at him a second before going back to reading. Scott closed his book and slid it into his inventory.
“Are you two going to say something out loud or just continue whispering to each other?” He jumped a little when Gem asked, swiveling his head to look at her. She had her hands on her hips, book still in one, and she was glancing back and forth between them.
“Sorry Gem,” Scott recovered quickly from his shock, leaning back into his relaxed poise. “We can’t say anything, not with you around.” He pointed to her yellow name. She snorted and gave her shoulders a little shake.
“Whatever you say, Scott. Anyway, you two need to gear up,” she pointed at both of them. They all dissolved into discussion about armor and weaponry for the upcoming sessions. There were already red names on the server, and they needed to protect themselves. One question remains though, and he whispered it to Impulse as they descended the stairs to the spawner.
He didn’t have to wait long for the answer. Barely seconds after he asked, he felt a shift in his inventory. Something inside his book had changed, he had felt it before when he had pressed for a hard challenge. Impulse obviously hadn’t felt it, because he just kept going down the stairs. Scott took out his book, making sure to keep it as quiet as possible. There was a new sentence at the bottom of the page, and he grimaced when he saw it.
The first person whose ‘it’ is Scott.
He could easily get a shot on Impulse, it would be the most logical thing to do. Getting rid of the seeker responsibility as fast as possible was important, because he didn’t want to fail this. It was such an easy task, as long as he could hide easily.
Scott crept down the stairs to their enchantment setup, watching from behind as Impulse enchanted his boots. He didn’t want to hurt his friend, and although he could see the chest plate, he decided to ask anyway. Taking hearts off of someone was less than favorable during non-red tasks.
“Hey Impulse,” Scott pretended to occupy himself with one of the bookshelves. “You have a chestplate on, right?”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the imp look up from his enchantment table, his tail flicking around his feet. “Yeah, I do, an iron one.”
“So, I need to do this, uh-” Scott cut himself off by whirling around and pushing his friend square in the chest, so hard he was sent sprawling back. By the time he had regained his footing, Scott was laughing so hard he had doubled over. He barely got the “Tag!” out before he started cackling at the expression on Impulse's face. His tail was flapping back and forth, showing off his anger even more than his face was.
“Yeah, okay, I thought that was how that worked…” he choked out, his voice strained with anger. Scott knew he wasn’t really angry, it was just the way the game was. “What if I was to..?” He raised his hand, ready to push Scott back. Scott, who had calmed down from his fits of laughter, tutted and raised a finger.
“No tag backs!” He declared. No where in the book it had said that, but he really hoped that Impulse wouldn’t question it and go along. Lucky for him, the imp seemed not to think about it too much and just put his hand down, pouting a bit. Scott stifled another laugh (he could tell he was going to be doing a lot of that today) and leaned back against the bookcases. “You’ll have to get Tango or Bdubs.”
Impulse grumbled something that sounded like a few names and a few swears, but Scott didn’t pay much mind to it. Tag No.1 had happened, and now all he needed was to stay away from Tango and Bdubs. Easy enough.
Tag No.2 happened while he was there. Scott hadn’t been doing a very good job at avoiding anyone this session, but that was fine. He wasn’t in danger just yet. He had taken his horse to go and collect flowers for their area, on top of the cherry mountain. In the distance, he heard Impulse yell something, something that vaguely sounded like ‘Tag!’. He was curious as to who it was now, and if he hid among the trees he could see who it was and then hide easily. So he crept towards the clearing where he saw Impulse, Tango, and Etho, strangely enough. Tango was the one yelling now.
“You’re it!” He shouted at Impulse, who was grinning at him with his arms crossed.
“No tag backs!” Impulse yelled, putting a hand up to his mouth as some sort of megaphone.
“No tag-backsies!” Added Etho (who was strangely still there, and probably had no idea what was going on).
Scott (who was being a bit stupid, as he later told himself) stepped out of the forest on his horse and decided to clarify for the people there. “You can’t tagsie-back, Tango.”
Tango lifted his head towards him, eyeing him with a smirk. Scott's horse stepped back out of fear, and Scott had to agree with it. He would have stepped back too with the look both of them were getting.
“No tag backs?” Tango asked, spurring his own horse forward. Scott feels his back up further, and he smiles nervously. Tango’s coming towards him now, slowly but surely, and in the background he can hear Impulse yell ‘Run!’ “I hope your horse is fast,” Tango teases, and then breaks out into a run after him.
Scott breaks out into a run on his horse, jumping over logs and darting around trees through the forest. He can hear hooves behind him, and that only makes him go faster. Despite the imminent danger and way his mind is muddled with warning signs, he laughs brightly. Scott was always a fan of the adrenaline involved in these games, the way he would feel as if he could do anything for a split second during a chase or a fight. It was why he kept coming back.
The hooves behind him faded away as they got to open field, and he found himself close to the secret keeper. Where he would normally slow down and dismount, he kept running, all the way back to the cherry mountain and into the yard they all shared. Gem, who was still there, or maybe she had just completed her task extra fast, yelped when he came speeding though the gate.
Scott, breathing heavily, slipped off his horse and tied it to a tree. He took a few deep breaths, then turned to his teammate and smiled. “Tell me if Tango or Bdubs come looking for me, yeah?”
Gem just nodded, still startled by his sudden entrance. He retreated to the top of a (new, had Gem made it already?) tower in the wall, and started scouting.
At one point, Impulse joined him. They sat down at the top of the tower together, watching Tango and Bdubs in the distance chase each other around. Both assumed Tango was still it, since they hadn’t broken off from each other, and it was honestly hilarious to watch them chase each other around like cats. More times than one, they would just sit and watch the two of them from the top of the tower and crack jokes about it while Gem stood confused in the background. She stayed with them anyway, and it was nice. Relaxing, even, to have some quiet time with his team.
After a few hours, their coms buzzed all together. Scott picked his up, read the message, and cheered, handing it to Impulse to read.
“Break time!” Scott jumped up and down. “We survived!” Impulse started to copy him, jumping around the tower.
“One more chance for me to fail!” Impulse joked, leaning back against one of the walls. \
“We got this, I believe,” Scott said, checking his com. “I suppose we should figure out who lost and meet up for the next round, yeah?” Impulse nodded. Scott shot off two messages, one for Bdubs and one for Tango to meet them at the Secret Keeper. They made their way down the mountain, aware of the mere hour that was allotted for break. When they arrived, Tango was leaning against the block that held up the fail button, while Bdubs was talking to him rather excitedly.
“Heya!” Scott greeted, making both men turn towards him. Tango grinned when he saw the both, waving to them. Once they had made their way to the center, Scott pointed a finger at the two and smiled sarcastically at them. “So, who’s out?”
Tango’s smile immediately dropped. “Since this jerky-jerk,” he pointed at Bdubs, who stifled a laugh. “Has a fast horse, it’s me.” Scott’s smile turned sympathetic, and he crossed over to pat Tango on the shoulder. Some of the tension he had been holding was let go, and he gave Scott a tight smile.
“Well, I guess it’s round two at the end of the hour,” Impulse mused. “And I think that as soon as we watch Tango here press the fail button,” This suggestion was met with a groan from the blaze, and chuckles from everyone else. “He should get to pick the next person whose ‘it’.”
Tango perked up at that. His hair—which had already been flickering at the edges from anger at himself—lit up like a fuse. Scott couldn't help but giggle at his sudden enthusiasm. Tango looked around at the three of them, scrutinizing each of them through squinted eyes, before he whirled around, hit the fail button, and without missing a beat, hit Impulse in the chest at the same time.
Impulse was, in one word, shocked. He took a few seconds to process what had just happened, while the others cracked up in the background. When he finally came back, he glared playfully at Tango. “What was that for!?”
“That was for making me press the fail button!” Tango grinned.
“You know,” Scott pointed out. “You could have finally got Bdubs.”
Tango lost all of his bravado. His fire fizzled out into normal hair, and he let his shoulders fall. Scott just started running, yelling over his shoulder that he was ‘Getting a head start!’ He didn’t care about the yelling that came after him, because he had a plan.
It was just a few minutes into the second half of the session before he saw Impulse again. He had taken Etho’s horse, in an attempt to be faster, and made the mistake of using the horse to return to the cherry mountain. As soon as he got there, he passed the newest tower Gem had made (really, how many towers did they need?) and say Impulse.
“Hey Impulse!” He called out from a safe distance.
“Did you do the thing yet?”
“Ah.” They looked at each other a second, like a silent face off, before Scott sighed and got off his horse. Impulse mirrored him, dismounting at almost the same time. “Look I have a deal for you,” Scott started. Impulse didn’t say anything, but it was clear that he was listening. “You tag me, then I go and get Bdubs because I’m faster than him now. Then, all we have to do is hide and wait until the end of the session.
“Oh, that's smart! Ok, Ok,” Impulse started towards him, and Scott resisted the urge to pull away, letting himself get tagged lightly. Impulse made sure no one lost any hearts when he tagged them. “Boop!”
“I think I’m going to wait a little to hit him,” he confided in Impulse. “We have a lot of the session left, and the faster I hit him, the more likely it is that I get to be ‘it’ again.” He grinned and pushed himself back up onto his horse.
He kept his word and didn’t immediately hit Bdubs. He saw the man a few times, mostly around other people, and he acted normally. A few times Bdubs accused him of being the tagger, and he had to lie and tell him he wasn’t. He could tell he was still suspicious though, based on the side eyes he was given whenever he was around.
Eventually he found himself in Etho and Cleo’s house, with the latter two people and Bdubs. He had—without anyone knowing—taken Bdubs horse and hidden it in an underground cave. Scott had the fastest horse there was now, and he felt confident enough that he could avoid Bdubs the rest of the session.
Now they were all talking about something or other, Scott wasn’t paying attention. He just walked forward, pushed Bdubs on the shoulder, and smiled warmly.
“No!” Bdubs screamed, as if Scott had just taken his first life. “Oh no!”
“I’m sorry, bud,” he repeated, trying to keep his laugh down until he was at least outside the house. When he strolled out the house, he could hear his friends yells of confusion after him. Now it was time to hide, and more importantly, protect Impulse.
They met back up on top of the cherry mountain. Scott confidently told Impulse what he had done, who got a good laugh out of it. They stayed around their houses, looking out for anyone other than Gem (who was still building towers, the mad woman). Both tended to stay near the highest point of the mountain, so everything below them was visible. Well, everything except for Bdubs, apparently.
“Watch, watch, watch!” Scott shouted, scrambling behind the hill. It was too late. With a scream of ‘No!’ and a cackling laugh, Impulse was it. He pouted as he returned behind the hill. Scott backed away from him a bit, eyeing him wearily. Impulse looked at him sadly.
“I can’t believe you got caught that quick, bud,” Scott sympathized, though the sarcastic lilt never left his voice. Impulse looked down at him, tail flicking, and made a split second decision.
“We’ve got time for this.”
Scott was it again, and he absolutely hated it. The session was going to be over soon, he knew it, so he had to find Bdubs as fast as possible. And fast he was, because it was only a few minutes later that he was talking to the Heart Foundation, and asking if they had seen him.
“Yeah, he went that way,” Tango pointed to the west.
“Thanks,” Scott winked at him and downed an invisibility potion he had picked up before he left, earning a few excited gasps from the Foundation. He grinned, though he knew no one could see it, dropped the empty bottle, and went after Bdubs.
He was just behind Scar’s house, talking about something (Scott really couldn’t focus on anything else when he had a goal in mind) and completely ignoring the grass fluttering nearby. He didn’t hear the soft footsteps or the low giggled, he didn’t see the hand slowly reaching toward his back, but he definitely felt the push and the yell of ‘Tag!’ in his ear.
“Wha-No!” He yelled after the already retreating figure, though in the wrong direction. Scott, personally, though this was hilarious. Now he just had to lay low and wait.
Scott whooped as he read the message on his com.
He did a few circles with Bdubs horse—he would have to return it, now that the game was over—and sped off to spawn, where he would complete his task. Vaguely, he wondered if it was Impulse or Bdubs who had ended up losing. He hoped it was Bdubs, because he didn’t like seeing someone he worked so close with fail, but if it wasn’t then so be it.
When he got there, the other three were already gathered at the side of the Secret Keeper. He caught Impulse giving a few claps on the back, to which he grinned up at him like a puppy. Scott swung his leg over his—Bdubs—horse and dismounted. Grinning himself, he joined them up next to the rocks.
“Scott!” Tango shouted, enveloping him in a quick hug. Scott laughed, hugging back briefly before holding Tango at arms length. “You won!”
“I know!” He shouted back, matching the energy basically oozing from his friend. Still smiling like an idiot, he turned to Bdubs and Impulse. “Which one of you was it, then?”
Impulse raised his hand and sighed, though it was a happy sigh. “I failed. He got me.” Bdubs has a half proud, half gloating expression on his face, and Scott couldn’t help but swallow a laugh at him. Bdubs turned to him, raising an eyebrow, before he addressed them all.
“Time to turn in our tasks!” He declared loudly, skipping (literally skipping, Scott didn’t know how he did it so well) to the succeed button and slamming his hand down on it. Impulse was next in line, pretending to be sad while he pressed the failure button. Tango leaned over to Scott and told him that he was actually really happy that he and Bdubs got to succeed in their tasks. They shared a stifled laugh, and Scott couldn't help the way that made him feel happy.
When it was his turn up to the button, he pressed it with joy. In the background, his friends' cheers filled the air. He felt the swell in his chest that meant he had regained all his hearts, and let out a happy breath. He honestly couldn’t wait until next session.
