[PRP] The Hive [Swarm/Rolling Mist]

[Ruriska]

Brother and Sister were building. In the bone limbs of a dead mangrove, they were creating a hive, busily moving from the tree to the earth, scooping up mud and flying back. The sound they created with the constant beating of wings was a heavy drone.

BUUUUUUZZZZZZZ.

Swarm stood beneath the mangrove, hardly moving, absorbed in the sound. There was a quiet intensity to her pose, in the way her nostrils would occasionally flare and her skin ripple slightly as if a ghost hand had touched it. In some way, she was imagining herself as they were, capable of ascending into the sky to make a home fit for a queen.

 

[Kinu]

It wasn't often that Rolling Mist ventured out before dusk as he found his comfort and solace in the cool evening air and the velvety cover of night. He took the heat and humidity that could often accompany midday to be quite unpalatable and given the choice he'd choose to withdraw into the deeper parts of the swamp where he felt safe and overlooked.

His lithe legs carried him through the murky water, golden eyes keen for any movements that warranted a quick sprint, he had no intention of becoming lunch for some leathery skinned beast.

The ripples that fanned from each step barely disturbed the water, his pace languid as though he were absorbing his world with a loving delicacy which he quite possibly was. When you were denied the gift of speech you thought, sometimes too much, though long ago he'd learned to still the incessant chatter and find clarity and peace within. At least most of the time.  

[Ruriska]

The buzz changed and deepened; an warning. Swarm’s eyes snapped open, instantly alert to the world. Brother and Sister settled on the branches and were silent; their gazes looked to the distant swamplands only their vantage point offered them.

Swarm waited, poised. She was the still wasp, with hardly even the blink of an eye, waiting for the intruder to move into the open.

I K i n u I

 

[Kinu]

The buck was, for the moment, blind to the does presence. His gaze still trained on the turbid water which surrounded his hooves and soaked the soft, feathery fur about his fetlocks. As he grew nearer the mangrove tree he felt a shiver course the length of his spine and almost instantly he'd frozen, still as death and absolutely silent.

Rolling Mist moved not a muscle nor did it appear that the breeze dared stir a single hair on his ghostly white pelt. His ears perked to listen, hoping to locate that which unnerved him so, if anything were even there at all. Paranoid. He was being paranoid. He smelled nothing, the downside of being upwind.

Then he heard it. A buzzing. Almost a deep, hypnotic hum which resonated out across the air from the long gone Mangroves direction. Relaxing a trifle he shook himself, silly. What a fool. It was only wasps. So long as he skirted the tree at a fair distance he'd be fine. Trouble was the way he'd chosen put him in the path of the doe who lay in wait.

Ruriska

 

[Ruriska]

Brother and Sister were getting restless. She could feel them above in the mangrove tree, moving about, wanting to get back to work. Whatever was coming was clearly not much of a threat to them. Nothing really was, to be fair. She was a strong doe and they were two very big wasps. Only a fool would challenge that combination. They were better off just letting whoever it was, pass on by.

Yet Swarm felt that faint tug of curiosity, a very unwasplike trait. So continued to wait, solid as stone, eyes wide and focused, for her fellow kin to finally stumble onto her path.

I K i n u I

 

[Kinu]

Rolling Mist was still trotting along quite lazily when a leathery, shining snout popped itself up from the water to his right. Pointing in his direction. He almost didn't catch it and he shouldn't have been so surprised since he was pale as a cloud and easy to spot amidst the more natural colors of the swamp.

So startled was the buck that he kicked his back legs in a frightened flail and practically lunged away like a sparrow in flight. He would have appeared more graceful had he not given another few flailing kicks mid-air, tripped over his own legs, and tumbled headfirst into the very tree where the wasps were making their nest.

The tree groaned, swayed and appeared to desire simply to topple over into the water.. suddenly it started groan louder as if to say 'Get ready.. here I come!' The mud packed hive shook, dead leaves and broken branches scattered about, tangling up in Rolling Mists tail and pelt as he lay sprawled and half dazed in the embrace of the dead tree. Panic. Why did he panic? Thankfully no-one saw that or he'd never live it down.

Ruriska

 

[Ruriska]

The buck had trotted into view and Swarm, with her position nearby and her dark colouring, was not easily spotted. So she watched him, eyes narrowed and utterly still, apparently quite happy to let him pass on by without anything more than a curious once-over.

But it wasn't to be for unfortunately for him, he’d stepped right into alligator territory and the scaled beasts that had chosen to ignore the three wasps (or two wasps and someone who almost was) had instead picked him for an easy target. His evasive tactics, though sloppy were effective enough… or would have been if he hadn’t thrown himself right into the old tree.

Brother and Sister lifted into the air with a beating of their wings, hovering with a lot of very loud angry buzzing.

The doe had shifted enough to be out of the way and reacted with only slight displeasure when she was sprayed with mud and twigs. He’d effectively destroyed a day of hard work in seconds and she could feel the anger of her wasp companions beating against her skin.

She stepped up, onto the heavy branches of the mangrove and perched herself above the buck to see if he’d survived. Swarm said nothing, just stared, trying to decide whether she should let Brother and Sister sting him to death.

I K i n u I

 

[Kinu]

Rolling Mist was dazed, for lack of a better word, and now his brilliantly white pelt was smudged and stained with mud. Debris had woven itself into his tail and littered his body. The buck grimaced and had he the ability to vocalize would have been groaning.

He wasn't ready to get up just yet, especially with the angry buzz of those wasps hovering overhead. He was in enough trouble just trying to pry himself out of this mess and he wasn't ready to make a mad dash from them as well should they attack. For now, at least, he was fairly out of sight. Giving a huff he plopped his head back into the tree trunk, his brow furrowing.

Why was he so flighty? He could have easily outrun that croc without flailing around like he'd gone insane. Puffing a leaf off of his forehead he glanced skyward and that was when he saw her. Rolling Mists eyes widened abruptly. How long had she been there? Had she seen everything? Oh great. Oh GREAT! Just what he needed. He closed his eyes for a minute before opening them again, one at a time. Maybe she'd vanish. Nope. Still there. Still a witness to his grand display of idiocy. Perfect.

Ruriska

 

[Ruriska]

He said nothing and she said nothing, so time marched on between them with only the occasional buzz from the nearby giant wasps. Swarm stared down at the buck, growing increasingly annoyed. Why didn’t he say anything? Was he in shock? It slowly occurred to her that in this situation, it would probably be considered polite for her to inquire about his well-being.

“Are you alright?” She rasped in a voice disused to talking, frowning as she waited for his reply.

I K i n u I

 

[Kinu]

The buck lay there blinking up at her and looking rather dumbfounded, as though he were lost for words which, considering the fact that he was a mute, happened to be pretty accurate. Her voice finally pierced the silence and he found the tone rather interesting. Different. But good. Mist gave a sheepish grin and nodded his head indicating he was fine. Well, as fine as he could be given the circumstances.

He perked his ears and looked about at the mess he was in, his brows furrowing when he realized he was well stuck in the mud. Giving a sigh of frustration he looked back up at her and grimaced, showing her that he was stuck by trying to roll side to side. He hardly moved. His hooves waved in the air faintly and he flopped his head back into the bark of the tree exasperated. Stuck.. like he didn't have enough to be embarrassed about.

Ruriska

 

[Ruriska]

No words from the buck but she had her reply. Swarm blew a long, hot breath out of her nostrils and nodded in return. It was almost a relief. His lack of words freed her from uttering any more of her own and instead she would watch his expression, seek the body movements that were often the only indication of anything she would get from Brother and Sister.

She didn’t fuss about and simply got to work, lifting a hoof to smash at the branches. If she broke enough, it would give her space to set him free.

I K i n u I

 

[Kinu]

Mist rolled as branches broke and he tried to help her free him, keeping his legs tucked so as to avoid kicking her. He felt like an idiot but what could he do? He'd at least try not to be useless. He looked up at Swarm in the midst of his rolling and he noticed the determination upon her face but there was something else there, he couldn't put his hoof on it, but he sensed there was something beneath the surface and it intrigued him.

Amidst all of the commotion and the sound of the branches snapping Mist didn't hear the sound of water being disturbed. The long, smooth glint of glistening scales briefly appearing and disappearing beneath the water went easily unnoticed by distracted Kin. A second set, followed by a third, appeared for only a moment before the water went still again and were one to glance out over the murky water it would appear as though nothing were amiss.

Ruriska

 

[Ruriska]

Definitely unnoticed by distracted kin but there were two other pairs of eyes keeping an eye on the situation and they weren’t quite so easy to fool. The wasps had settled nearby, unable to help Swarm’s effort and so simply keeping watch as she snapped branches with steady determination.

Brother gave a buzz, a low drone that was instantly caught up by Sister. Swarm lifted her head, suddenly rigid and alert. When she returned to her work, it was with renewed vigour and haste, hardly worrying about whether he got hurt in the process or not.

"Danger," she said, translating the drone of the wasps for him.

I K i n u I

 

[Kinu]

The ghostly white male wasn't quite sure what all the fuss was about but if she felt there was danger he wasn't exactly going to argue, especially in his current predicament. Rolling this way and that he worked on both freeing himself and dodging sharp hooves where he could, the latter not quite as successful and he would be sporting a few bruises by late afternoon as proof. Finally there were a series of snaps where the vines gave way and he felt himself able to lift his body upwards further than before. So close! Just a little bit more. But his joy was quickly shadowed by fear as his eyes slid, transfixed, to a terrifying sight.

A rather large, burly looking Caiman had popped its snout out of the water and was sliding with bold determination towards the patch of land they were currently occupying. Its head rose clear of the murky depths but it kept silent, hoping to slip up unnoticed in order to get a good lock on one of the Does legs in order to drag her under. Mist flailed his legs around wildly trying to free himself and, pulling all of them back in unison, struck out in an attempt to knock her out of the way as the Caiman opened its mouth and lunged forward.

Ruriska

 

[Ruriska]

She knew that there was trouble but didn’t look around from her task in order to tackle it. There was always someone watching her back. Brother and Sister would deal with the threat until she dealt with the trapped Kimeti.

Or that had been the plan, until the buck decided to kick her out of the way. She hadn’t been anticipating the move and was in mid-motion to break more branches when his legs hit her in the chest and belly, tumbling her back and sideways.

The caiman’s jaws snapped shut on air but she landed beside it, the air knocked from her lungs. Then the wasps were there, full of fury, harrying the caiman with their stingers until it had no choice but to retreat back into the water.

I K i n u I