Darkwater Rapids the bees knees

RE: Zeta, during your dig you uncovered a fallen --and active-- bee's nest. They're not happy!
Sunny, hot, mid-morning.

The two-year-old had followed the scent here. What was it? It smelled so sweet and new that her nose had practically dragged her here. While she was completely engrossed by finding and identifying the scent, her ears were not deaf to the rapids a few hundred meters away. She had not had a good experience with the spring rapids this year, though her brother’s disappearance had been a big factor in the events that day. She still aimed to avoid the rushing waters as best she could; luckily her treasure hunt was a ways from the banks.

The thick, mossy woodlands were hiding her prize, she knew it. Her nose to the ground, she circled the small perimeter of where she was certain she would find the scent’s origin. The sweet, nectar scent was calling to her, it smelled so delicious! Once she honed it on it, she realized that light moss and leaves and brush had covered her prize. Her nose stuck into the moss, inhaling deeply for confirmation. When she pulled back, there was debris on her nose, but her fixation was committed to digging out whatever she had found. Her paws began digging at the debris, and she was about to taste her prize when the flying insects swarmed out of the nest. She felt a prick on her rump, which she initially ignored. Then another, and another. She snapped around, growling woefully. Bees!? It was then her concentration was finally broken, realizing the swarm of bees angrily flying around her. She shook her pelt, and backed away. Her retreat did not satiate them. She snapped one or two times more at the air defiantly, but their continuous stings began raising her panic.

   

Was he getting closer?  There were days Kjell found it hard to care.  The seasons continued to shift all around him, and it had started to get hot.  Even the mornings were getting to be unpleasantly warm, so as the lone wolf trudged forward, his tail hung low, his tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth.  Ears pressed back as he tried to ignore the grumble in his belly, knowing well now was a poor time to hunt.  He’d be better of scavenging.

It seemed, perhaps, the Mother had heard his thoughts.  Not even an hour later, a faint, sweet smell caught the wolf’s attention.  His trek altered slightly as he moved, ears swiveling all around.  He could not hear much over the terraqueous thunder of the nearby falls, but he only needed a nose to guide him!  (Though perhaps if he could hear the angry buzzing ahead, he wouldn’t have allowed his empty stomach to dictate his course.)

As the sweet scent drew stronger, he broke into a lope – and all at once turned a bend and found himself face to face with a frantic wolf.  And bees.  So many bees!  He should have known the sweetness would come with a catch!  Kjell backpedaled wildly, hoping none of the little stingers noticed his presence.

“The water!” he barked.  “Ya gotta get in the water!”

(This post was last modified: Jun 11, 2016, 02:18 PM by Kjell.)

The buzzing was becoming ferociously loud as though she had insulted every single bee inside the hive and they were directly making her pay. She whipped around aimlessly, snapping at the bees, trying to avoid their stings. Her high-pitched barks were beginning to turn into yelps as she tried to rear away from them, but her attempts at running were continuously interrupted by her twisting to try and remove them from her body. She shook her belt again, only to stay their advances for a few seconds before being attacked again. Her heart had begun racing. Why wouldn’t they just stop already? She was sorry! Every time she paused, she felt the pulsing pain in the spots she had been pelted. She twisted again in an attempt to lick a particularly sore spot but had to kick again at the bees, though her evasion attempts found her suddenly nose-to-nose with a brown wolf. 
 
While she was momentarily frozen in surprise and fear, her focus was broken by the male back-pedaling away from her and by more buzzing in her ears. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head again, unable to bring herself to greet the male properly. It was only his barking that opened her beryl-lime eyes again. Water?? She looked wildly towards the water, her whites showing. A new fear emerged in the Rabbit’s mind, having a near death experience last time she was near the rapids didn’t quite entice her to head towards them again. The bees were, however, encouraging enough to pull a loud whine from her maw and send her on a sprint for the last few hundred meters towards the terraqueous bank.
 
She didn’t know if the male had followed her, her adrenaline too spiked to think of anything but survival. She moved to access the water as best she could in a shallow area, the other side of survival encouraging her not to get carried away like last time. The slick mud beneath her feet squished as she paused by the water’s edge, the rapids making their presence well-known with sound and sight. The bees had followed her though, and she was unsure whether or not it would work, but instead of jumping into the water, she shoved her face into the thick mud at her feet. First her face, then she rolled her entire body in it, rolling around to be thorough. Oh god, hopefully this would work.

the rabbit

Adopt my twin!

   

Nnnahhh, shit! 

The bees had noticed him.  Oh, sure, the majority of the pack – the clan? – the flock? – the group of bees remained swarmed around the younger wolf, a few intrepid souls had broken off, buzzing angrily in his face.

Kjell made a muffled noise as he sneezed, shaking his head wildly as they darted about his snout and eyes.  The scars on his neck and chest were exposed with his streamlined summer coat – but he paid no attention to the tiny arse daggers left there, for he could not feel a single pinch.  He instead focused on the ones near his face, and after a moment of thought, decided to take his own advice.

Wheeling on his haunches, the lone wolf sprinted towards the water beneath the falls.  He had none of the inhibition the grey wolf showed, all but leaping into the water like a dog off the dock.  It splashed all around him as he paddled, strong swimmer that he was, ducking his head several times before he was quite certain they were gone.  Gone from him, anyways.

Poking his head up, he snorted ones, golden eyes seeking out the younger wolf.  “Hey!  You okay over there?”

Whether it was the long sprint through the thick brush or the deterring mud, Zeta found that the number of attackers had significantly decreased. The few stragglers were manageable, and her face lifted from the mud, thankful that she was able to take a full breath for the first time. She itched to snap at the last few bees buzzing around her, but her demeanour was depressed and she did not want to instigate anything if she could. Her breath was coming heavy, her ears flicked back in residual concern for the situation. It was a few moments of disbelief and relief before she noticed the wolf who had directed her in the water. She had a faint memory of seeing him in her peripherals leap fearlessly into the rapids. Her expression was still one of disbelief, but this time directed at him. She was convinced he was a strong swimmer by now; but her last experiences still tainted the idea of the rapids being anything but safe. 

The brown and cream wolf that had had more of a paranymph appearance to him early was boasting the common soaked-puppy face as he doggy-paddled around, dunking his head for good measure. She would have laughed at the handsome wolf's change in presence, but her heart was still beating wildly at the situation that had just unfolded. She had never had a scare quite like that. God, Broken Timber Pines had given her lots of new experiences - finding her father and reuniting her family had been heavenly; but, nearly falling to her death, losing her brother, and being attacked by bees.. those she could have definitely passed on, thank you very much. He called over to her to check up on her status, and she gulped instinctively. Shaking some mud out of her ears, she called back softer in volume, "Yeah, I'm fine." Though her voice was still shaky and sounded unsure, she was okay. Her attackers had dispersed away from her, and seemingly from him as well. Guilt found her then, realizing she had caused this poor stranger to get attacked to, simply because her curious nose had gotten the best of her. @Zane never would have let that happen to her, the overprotective and ever-vigilant brother that he was. 

His check-up had caused her to finally look down for the first time and consider her own appearance. She was thickly covered in dark brown mud nose to tail. Certainly her feminine appearance had been foiled, too, in the adventure. Her heart rate returning to a comfortable level, she was able to chuckle lightly at herself, and everything. Now that they were gone, they did look kind of funny. Her timid beryl-lime gaze turned upwards to meet the kind stranger who had helped her, a sliver of happiness melting their way back into her mismatched eyes. He would think her crazy for swinging moods so quickly.

P.S. I love Kjell's theme song. *jams*

the rabbit

Adopt my twin!

   

Kjell continued to bob in the water for a few moments more, lingering just in case the bees decided to go for a second round.  The fateful buzzing never returned, nor did the other wolf seem to jump from her skin once more.  It must be safe.  Righting himself, the wolf paddled back to shore, dragging his body from the chilly water.  He shook his entire frame, spraying water all over the earth.  His legs looked like little sticks, while his summer coat stayed out in all directions in tiny little spikes.  At a younger age, he might have considered it a cool look.

“Well.  Tha’ was excitin’,” the loner drawled, pacing over to the smaller female. 

Though dirty, she looked no worse for wear, no puffy limbs or eyes swollen shut.  Good, he thought.  His mother had taught him about plants, but that was largely how to kill someone, not make them well again.  (And even then, he hadn’t listened to his lessons too keenly.)

“So, y’wanna go scavange the hive?  Bees ain’t gonna stike around forever, really.  They gotta build a new one, an’ they’re likely to go elsewhere.” He flashed the silver wolf a charming grin.  “Whaddya say?”

Zeta watched the larger male carefully as he waded out of the water, curious to his presence now. He gave his pelt a shake, trading his drenched-pup look in for a porcupine-pup look. She giggled again, quietly so as not to seem like she was laughing rudely directly at him.. though she may have been a little bit. She gave her own pelt a bit of a shake, though it did not do much for dislodging the mud she had caked on. It would seem like she had done too good of a job. As her fur settled, she felt the pangs of burning in the places that the bees had managed to lodge their stingers in between her fur. She thought the cool mud soothed them, though she would not know until it was gone. Until then, she was thankful for the placebo affect it had.

Her ears flicked backwards when the male approached her, unsure of his plans. She did not do much socializing with strange wolves, especially the kind that were so forthcoming with their help, but she was very thankful this one had approached/ran into her today. She half-breathed, half-laughed out of relief when he made his comment about the bees. He continued on in his funny accent, but her eyes widened in disbelief as he did so. "What!? You want to go back there?" She asked incredulously, looking at him through disbelieving green eyes. Her ears remained against her head, thinking about returning to the scene of the crime for fun. He must be joking. He was joking. No one's mind was so automagical that they would want to endure that again. She doubted they would be gone just yet. She laughed nervously at this realization. "You're funny," she told her in a tone that told him that she had figured out his jest. "I'm definitely not in for a round two of all of .. this," she told him as she gazed down at her muddy pelt, standing in the thick mud. "They're probably just waiting for us, crazy little things," she mumbled, insulting them quietly.

the rabbit

Adopt my twin!

There are several fresh rabbit tracks in the mud. Hunt Opportunity

“Uh, yeah?” Kjell replied easily, tone making it clear he saw nothing wrong with the whigmaleerie.  They were only bees, and they were probably gone by now.  What would be the point of them sticking around?  No one would be able to put a bee hive back together (not even the bees themselves), and once their alpha got out safe and sound, they’d leave.  Just like if your den got sealed in by rocks – couldn’t move the rocks, so move the den, much easier.

Furrowing his brows back at Zeta, the wolf huffed, ears rolled back as he considered his options.

“Y’know they’re gonna fly away, right?  Bees do tha’.  Ain’t no point in livin’ in a broken hive.  Not like you’d live in a collapsed den, right?”  He raised a brow, hoping she could follow his line of logic.  If she couldn’t do that, well – he’d have to hope she could at least follow his trail.  The dark brown wolf rolled his shoulders and began to pad towards the site of the fallen nest.  In this particular case, even the dragon prince wasn’t about to rush in (there was always the possibility of stragglers, even if he wasn’t about to say as much to his companion).  “You comin’, darlin’?  My name’s Kjell, yeah?  Who’re you?”

(This post was last modified: Aug 15, 2016, 04:32 PM by Kjell. Edit Reason: Open tags. )

Zeta's eyes opened considerably as the male continued. He had been serious. It had not been some silly joke that she was going to be able to laugh off. Why he wanted to go back there was beyond her. I mean, they had literally just run from there minutes ago as fast as they possibly could. Why would anyone want to go back at the off chance that they might still be there?? She considered his point about the broken hive, and while she appreciated the simile, she was not confident that the bees would not still be there packing their things before they left for their new home. How quickly did a mass of bees decide to go off and make a new home? Zeta certainly didn't know. Was it an already agreed upon escape plan that everyone knew? Did they have rendezvous points for situations such as these? How smart were bees, even? Smart enough to run your butt into the river.. she thought to herself bitterly.

"I know.. I just thought they might not be gone yet, I guess," she explained quietly and sullenly, feeling momentarily stupid for not being on the same page as the wolf. Maybe he just knew more about bees than she did. Maybe it was her who knew less about bees than the average wolf. He was about to leave, when he gave her a final chance to join him. Quickly, she would have to make a decision. But.. he also called her darling. That was new.. But before she could contemplate weighing the options, he had already turned to go, and her tiny heart pushed her decision. "I'm uh.." she started, but darted after him before continuing like the obedient little lamb she was. "I'm Zeta," she said finally, moving to catch up with the honorific new wolf. 

One more post form you, then archive? Then we shall conspire about a second thread. >:)

the rabbit

Adopt my twin!