Wander and Sylvia attracted unwanted gazes everywhere they went together. Folk would talk, point and call the whole thing unimaginable. After all, nobody had broken the chain as of yet and all of a sudden these children do?
The two kids were never fazed by it though. Adults could point and talk all they want but as long as they were having fun none of it mattered. Every day they would meet in the center of the village on the mark and go off to explore the many possibilities the village held.
The adults weren't the only ones who talked and pointed. The other Nomad and Zbornak kids did as well. If none of them wanted nothing to do with them before they definitely don't want anything to do with them now. Still, Wander never bat an eyelash to them. He had Sylvia now and Sylvia actually managed to keep up with him!
"Last one to the pond is a rotten egg!" Wander shouted as he raced off towards the outskirts of the village.
"In your dreams!" He heard Sylvia shout behind him, and now the games begin.
He ran as far as his little legs could carry him, and that wasn't much considering his size, but his energetic personality made up for it tenfold.
"You better hurry up because I'm right behind ya!" Sylvia's voice was much closer than he had anticipated. He willed his short legs to move faster but Sylvia's footsteps only got closer and closer and then-
"Whaaaa!"
Wander screeched into a halt. The action was so sudden that it caused Sylvia, who was running right behind him, to crash and knock them both over into a roll across the ground. Wander ended up on his stomach under Sylvia, who was on her back with her backside on him. None of this fazed him though, and he quickly jumped from under her and started searching for the crying.
"What in the? Wander? What happened?" She asked when she got up and saw him searching around.
"I heard someone." He said and continued the search until "There!" he pointed at a random location in the shadows, obscured by trees and houses. In the shadows a group of Watchpups were circling something, taunting and laughing at it. Wander wasn't a genius but he had a fairly good idea what it was they were taunting, or to be precise, who.
On that exact moment some of the Watchpups decided to get a better view in the circle and moved apart from each other, giving Wander and Sylvia a perfect hole between the wall of bodies to see exactly who was being bullied. In the center sat a tiny Watchpup, tinier than its attackers, wearing a long, silver shirt that covered its knees. Its eye was closed but tears were evident all over. It rubbed its eye in an attempt to dry them off but only succeeded in smearing it and creating more.
In front of the Watchpup stood another far bigger one who pointed and laughed while holding something up in the air. On closer inspection the item the Watchpup was preventing the other on the ground from reaching was a stuffed little Cyclops bear.
Wander could hear Sylvia grunt. "Those jerks!" He turned to her, asking if they could help without actually saying anything. Sylvia understood loud and clear. "Come on, I think it's time they picked on somebody their own size."
The surrounding Watchpups never stood a chance, let alone knew what hit them. Sylvia charged at them like a maniac and never gave them a chance to retaliate, sending each Watchpup running back home crying. The main pup who appeared to be the leader was so shocked they just stood there frozen in place. Wander took the opportunity to snatch the bear from their hands and walked over to the Watchpup on the ground, who still had their eye closed and didn't realize what was happening around them.
"Hey, are you alright?" Wander placed a hand on his shoulder, making the pup jump in fright and open his eye. Wander made eye contact with a bright red, watery eye that looked to have been crying for some time. "Hi, I'm Wander, what's yours?"
The Watchpup hiccupped, unable to answer. Wander waited patiently until he could while Sylvia handled the last of the bullies. After sometime the pup finally managed a sound. "P-p-pee-pp-pers."
"Peepers?" Wander repeated to make sure. "That's a cute name."
Sylvia walked over to them, slapping her hands together in a job well done manner. "Those creeps won't dare show their face here again."
"Peepers, this is Sylvia." Wander introduced.
She waved at him. "Hey, little eyeball."
Peepers sniffled at the comment. "She doesn't mean it mean, she means it playful." Wander reassured him. "Anyway, is this yours?" He pushed the bear he rescued into view.
The moment the Watchpup spotted the toy he lunged at the bear, gripping it with all his might.
"Why were they picking on you?" Sylvia asked him.
Peepers sniffled even more. "B-becau- b-b-because I-I'm a c-cry b-b-baby."
"Aww, that's not true." Wander said. "You're not a cry baby."
"I a-am!"
"Hmm, oh! I got it!" Wander snapped his fingers. "Why don't you come with us? There's plenty of stuff for us to do and you won't have to worry about being a cry baby anymore."
"Hey, why not? We could always use an extra pair of hands." Sylvia agreed.
The pup was hesitant, waiting for a cruel joke to happen, but it never did. He watched the duo cautiously, or as much as his watery eyes would let him. They didn't look bad like the bullies. They actually looked like they cared.
Wander reached out a hand to him. "Wanna play with us?" He and Sylvia smiled warmly at him.
Peepers slowly accepted the hand, still waiting for something to happen, but when he grasped it and they still contained their smiles his own soggy eye returned the smile too.
"Yes, please."
Wander had seen the kid multiple times now. It was hard not to since the village didn't house any other species like him. A skeleton, a skinless skeleton with glowing, green eyes and small yellow horns coming out from the sides of his head. He was the only skeleton child around. It was hard not to notice him. What Wander didn't understand was why he was barely noticing him now.
A Skelloid child, according to adults the only Skelloid child around. Wander spotted him sitting on the same place every day, just outside the village but not actually passing the village's limit. He took the spot under the trees, hidden in the shadows. His red robes hardly making it easy to find him but the bright white from his bones was enough to let Wander know he was always there.
"Wander?" Peepers asked him, clutching his Cyclops bear to his chest.
"Are you looking at him again?" Sylvia followed his gaze and spotted the skeletal child. Wander nodded. "This is the fourth time you know."
"I can't help it." Wander replied. "He looks so lonely over there."
"Are you going to ask him to play?" Peepers wondered.
Not even answering the Nomad started heading towards the shadows of the trees, walking straight to the skeleton.
"I'll take that as a yes." Sylvia commented and followed after with Peepers right at her heels.
The Skelloid had his back turned to them so he never saw any of the three coming, but the moment he heard one of them speak he spun his head in surprise.
"Hi, I'm Wander." The little orange Nomad sat right in front of him. The Zbornak and Watchpup that followed took up each of his sides. "This is Sylvia and Peepers."
The skeleton looked at them warily, trying to figure out why they were even there. Nobody else had tried talking to him before, why were they starting now?
"So what's your name?" Wander asked, receiving no answer from the shy Skelloid. "Do you have a name?" He nodded at him. "Want to tell us?" No answer.
"Want us to give you one?" Sylvia suggested. "How about Skelly?" He looked offended at her. "That bad, huh?" He didn't seem amused at her attempt of humor.
"We're not trying to make fun of you." Wander told him. "We just want to get to know you. Hey! We're going over to the pond to look for treasure, want to come along? I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun together!" The Skelloid looked at them as if the very idea of inviting him somewhere was beyond his understanding.
Wander jumped up enthusiastically with Sylvia and Peepers mimicking him. He extended an arm down at the skeleton child. "Wanna play with us?"
The other looked at his hand curiously, looked back at him, gave Peepers and Sylvia a once over and dropped his gaze back at the offered hand. Slowly he reached out to grasp it, and successfully made Wander smile beyond his capability.
Without letting go of the skeletal hand he led the three to the pond where he found the shiny stones and shells days ago. Together all four dug near the sand. Wander never missed a beat and caused layers upon layers of sand to pile up and create mini hills all around. Sylvia wasn't about to get outdone and turned the entire thing to a competition. The kid with the biggest mountain of sand would win.
Peepers was a bit more cautious, his one giant eye limiting his sand throwing in order to avoid a very painful case of 'sand in my eye.' The Skelloid was slower in the digging and searching. While spending his current time with other kids was enjoyable he didn't know how long it would last. The entire thing could only be for a day and then everything would return back to normal, as if it never happened.
Before any of them knew it time had escaped them. The sun rested above their heads, telling them it was time to go home. They were so into the sand competition that none of them found a single treasure to keep.
"Aww, that's a darn shame." Wander said. "We didn't find anything, but we sure had a lot of fun!"
"Yeah, too bad." Sylvia added.
"I really wanted to find treasure though." Peepers hung his head low in disappointment.
Suddenly an idea hit Wander. He was carrying treasure, three treasures to be exact. His mother always said it was better to share with others, especially when those others were friends. He brought out two of the three shiny stones he found on the very pond they were standing on; somehow managing to carry them around with a means even he didn't understand.
"Look what I have." He showed them the green and red stones.
"Oooh, those are beautiful." Peepers commented
"Here you go, you can keep it." Wander offered him the red stone which Peepers accepted hesitantly.
"A-are you sure?"
"Sure I'm sure. It's a gift to a friend." Right on cue Peepers' red eye started watering on the spot, causing Wander to smile and turn to the Skelloid child.
"This one is for you." The skeleton looked shockingly at him. They barely know each other and already he was giving him gifts?
"I hope we can play together again tomorrow." Wander told him, still holding the stone for the other to accept. Slowly but surely the other reached out a shaky hand and accepted the gift, but before he pulled the gift back he quietly said "Hater."
"'scuse me?"
"My name is Hater." Hater repeated.
Wander positively grinned after that. "That's a neat name!"
"'bout time." Sylvia crossed her arms.
"Hey, wait." Peepers suddenly said. "What about Sylvia? You didn't give her a stone."
"Actually he did. He gave me a blue stone days before we sent those bullies packing." Sylvia proudly showed off her own stone which somehow she was able to carry around.
"Aww shucks, Syl. You still have my gift." Wander said bashfully.
"Of course I still have your gift. I'm not about to throw my friend's present."
The little Nomad's heart fluttered against his chest. He can't remember a time he'd ever been this happy, and he knew for sure he wasn't about to forget the feeling any time soon.
"But, Wander you don't have a stone." Peepers informed, looking at the stones Wander had given and realizing the Nomad was left out, or at least seemed like it. Wander pulled out the orange stone and showed it to them.
"Don't worry about me, I have a stone too. I found all four here in this exact place." Everyone looked around the pond. "Neat! I found them here and now I'm giving them to you guys here!" Wander realized. "Start of a new adventure!" He held out his orange stone, shining from the reflection of the sun. Sylvia, Peepers and Hater also held out their own stones with him, forming a small circle in the sky.
"This is all too mushy for me." Sylvia said and stuck her tongue out playfully, smiling and laughing right after. Wander joined in the laughter until he remembered the time of day.
"I better go home now. Mama will be worried about me." Wander turned to head for home, but not before waving goodbye to his friends. "Goodbye! I'll see you tomorrow, friends!"