Fool's Gold Chasm Bittersweet Treat

Enera, you had a tasty though messy honeycomb treat, but now the bugs are starting to swarm...
All welcome!

Enera was having a very good day. She'd spent the morning playing with @Rhaegara and then napped in the sun for a while. Now that she was up again, enjoying the warm air, she was ready for a new adventure. She thought about seeking out @Marrah or @Aweho to play, but maybe she'd run to them anyway. Then they could call it a real adventure. Maybe they could play border watch! She'd been wanting to try that again ever since that strange man had run right into the middle of their home and the adults all got mad.

She was skipping along, snuffling out different scents and poking her nose in places she maybe shouldn't have when she smelled something sweet. Intrigued, she followed her twitching snout to a hole in the trunk of a fallen tree. There was a faint buzzing sound, and little yellow and black bugs were zipping about. Enera poked at the hole with one paw and the log came apart with only a little resistance, widening it enough for her to poke her nose through. Her tongue flicked out and her eyes popped wide at the wonderful flavor she found there.

Withdrawing, she stood up on her back legs and dug at the hole until she could better reach inside. She found she was able to snatch a chunk of whatever the sweet treat was and haul it out before munching down on it.  It wasn't until she'd finished it and was reaching for another when she noticed the bugs were now buzzing around her, growing thicker and crawling all over the hole she'd widened. One landed on her snout, and she went cross-eyed trying to keep it in focus.

Then pain blossomed on her nose and with a sharp yelped she backed away, pawing at the insect that was already flying off even as more closed in around her.

Woya huffed to herself after stumbling upon the scene. Small globs of honey clung to the pup's face as the bees swarmed, angered at the thievery. At this point, she only knew of one way to end the situation. The small wolf took a deep breath, and then dashed forward.

She'd been told not to touch Enera, but she figured this time @Rhaegara would have less to say about it.

Woya crossed the distance between her and the child in short order, wrapping her jaws once more around the pup's waist once she reached her. She was bigger now, and with a grumble the older wolf adjusted her gripping, grabbing hold of Enera by the nape instead. Once sure her hold was secure, Woya started to run.

The bees darted and stung, some holding stubbornly to their fur. Woya scraped past bark and brush trying to wipe them away. She didn't stop until the biting and buzzing did and she was pretty sure she'd outran then all. Panting, she sat the child down and dropped her haunches to the ground.

It hurt, oh it hurt so much and she didn't know where they were or where they went and how they were hurting her, she just knew it was them and they weren't listening when she cried out in pain and why were they hurting her-

Suddenly there were jaws around her, shifting to grip her tightly and lifting her from the ground to whisk her away. Relief swept through the girl, though her nose and various other bites and stings - even though she didn't know that's what they were - still burned. Mama had come to save her! Enera twisted around to look up at Mama in excitement, and froze.

It wasn't Mama.

The Scary Lady.

Terror jolted through Enera like jumping in cold water and she froze, hanging stiffly from the Scary Lady's jaws as they charged through brush and trees. She didn't even make a sound as branches whipped against her face and sore nose, frightened as she was. Finally, the Scary Lady slowed to a stop and set the pup down before sitting beside her. Enera stared up at her with wide eyes, tail tucked between her legs. She wasn't sure what to do; the Scary Lady didn't seem mad this time, but she'd been mad the last time she'd picked up Enera, and even though the girl didn't know what she might have done wrong, she must have done something to warrant the Scary Lady arriving.

Woya felt the way Enera's tension within her body changed and shifted, locking up completely. She wasn't having a reaction, was she? Her heart clenched with genuine fear, but that would only make it all the more important to escape the area where the vicious insects were. When at last she was able to stop and put the child down, she was greatly relieved to see her breathing. She didn't look ill or anything, in fact she looked, well, scared. Woya frowned and cocked a brow at the kid, before leaning down and licking the remaining honey away from her fur and checking her over for anything wrong.

"Yer a bit of a trouble trap, aren'tcha?"

(This post was last modified: Aug 14, 2021, 12:14 AM by Woya.)

The Scary Lady was giving her a lot of attention, and Enera tried to make herself even smaller, staring up at her with wide eyes. Her heart and mind were both racing; was that treat the Scary Lady's and Enera had stolen it? She didn't mean to, she didn't know! She should apologize, should back away and run for mama, should-

Oh, oh no, the Scary Lady was leaning towards her. Enera closed her eyes and cringed, expecting a punishment, but instead-

The Scary Lady was licking her, cleaning the last of the stickiness from her fur and looking her over. Why was she doing that? Could she see all the burning little points where the bugs had hurt her? She peeked up at the grown up, body relaxing just a little.

"I'm sorry," she said meekly, hoping that an apology would at least lessen any scolding she might get. "Am... 'm I in trouble?"

The child apologized, to which Woya merely hummed a single sound to let the girl know she'd been heard. Satisfied that Enera was as fine as she could be given what had just happened and the multitude of stings, her elder gave the youth space once more.

"Nah," she answered the pup's question casually, "y'didn' hurt anyone."

Well, maybe the bees, but who cared about insects? Woya certainly did not.

"Time for a mud bath, kid. Gotta get those stingers out."

She turned, aiming to lead the way. Thankfully, since she was still so small, it wouldn't be difficult to find a puddle big enough to dunk Enera in and cover up all those mars. Then, they'd just need to wait and let the mess do it's work.

(This post was last modified: Aug 27, 2021, 01:36 AM by Chan.)

At first Enera thought the hum from the Scary Lady meant a lecture was incoming, but she just stepped back and casually dismissed her, saying she didn't hurt anyone. The pup wrinkled her nose; she must have hurt something for the little insects to hurt her like that. But as long as the Scary Lady wasn't mad at her, that was okay. Enera finally relaxed a bit and took a moment to lick at a particularly painful sting on her paw. Her nose hurt the most, and she went cross-eyed trying to focus on it, but it was no use.

She looked up in surprise when the Scary Lady mentioned a mud bath. Mama usually gave her a bath after the mud, because she shouldn't get dirty like that right before bed. But it wasn't right before bed, was it? And since an adult was telling her it was okay...

Enera followed, limping slightly on the paw that had been stung. The rest of the painful wounds didn't let her forget about them either, and she couldn't help a small, quiet whine. "Stingers?" she asked timidly. "What... why did they do that? What did I do wrong?" She didn't think she'd hurt them.

Woya's ears picked up at the small cry the child emitted. Poor kid. She didn't imagine picking the pup up would be any more comfortable for her, however, and did not move to comfort or assist. Questions she could answer, though. She supposed.

"Yeah, insteada teeth they got stingers. Like, one really small skinny tooth. They can make ya real sick too, 'pendin' on the bee."

The other answer was far more simple.

"Y'took their honey. That's bee food."

Stingers? Enera's brow scrunched as she tried to picture a long tooth like that. She hadn't gotten a good look at the mean things, even though one had been on her nose.

Her tongue flapped out and over the sore spot.

"But why's a tooth hurt so much?" she ventured. The Scary Lady was being nice, and didn't seem to mind answering questions as they walked - or in Enera's case limped - to wherever this mud bath was.

Honey. Was that what that sweet treat was? It was good. But it was their food? "I didn't know that," Enera said softly. "I di'nt mean ta steal."

The first question to fire back from the pup earned a soft, scoff of a snort from Woya.

"Your teeth hurt too, y'know," she answered with a hint of laughter tinging the words. Man, her poor niece and nephews.

"A lot worse actually; they make so much bigger holes."

Steal. At least she had that one well-seated in her head.

"Eh, honeys good. There's ways to get it without bein' stung."

The ground began to soften and slip up between her toes; it was getting muddy enough. A good clay mud would be best, to her knowledge, and so Woya began to sniff around and look for that telltale consistency.