I'll Give You Something to Beelieve in!

This was... not Toxicity's most dignified moment. She had come away from her studies a bit to harvest more honey from a hive she had been keeping an eye on since the spring started. It had been useful enough and she had been able to learn how to mix it with herbs to make some delightful teas as well as some sickly sweet poisons. A few of the local animals had tested and proven that her poisons were at least potent enough to kill something small. In the case that someone needed vanquishing, perhaps it would be of use, although not very subtle with its strong scent and flavor. It would be a feast of wit to get an enemy to consume such a mash.

When Tox came upon the hive, however, she found that the bees had been rather disturbed- by what, Tox could only guess. Their hive had a nice sized chunk taken off and smashed on the ground. Perhaps someone went to harvest and fell an unfortunate victim to the bee's sting, dropping their bounty and fleeing the scene. If only Toxicity could find some way to harness the power of bee stings. If only bees were trainable or had any notion of loyalty to those other than their queen and maiden honey.

Toxicity didn't have very long to ponder within her thoughts, however. The bees- dumb and loyal as they were- had no idea that she, in fact, was the culprit of their ruin. She was none the wiser to what happened to their hive than they were, however, in their blind to reason and minimally functioning brains, they saw her there- a living breathing creature- standing next the the ruined fruits of their labor. She had to admit, from even a logical being's perspective, it may have looked damning with her standing there as fresh honey still oozed from the crushed comb on the ground. Either way, the buzzing seemed to surround her, bees dashing in and out of her sight with blinding speed. It was apparent they needed a target for their aggressions and that target was Toxicity.

At first she tried to swat away the first few offenders with few snaps and a tail flick or two. There were more to come, however, and for every one she swatted away, two came to fill its place. If Toxicity hadn't bee so busy with trying not to get stung, she might have thought about how it was good symbolism for how she hoped the future Abraxas to be. When Venom took over and Toxicity had the ability to bear pups, she hoped the bloodline would spread bountifully just as her father had hoped it would. For now, however, her mind was preoccupied with the ideas of being lumpy and swollen with bee stings. She wasn't even sure how to treat bee stings, much less a few hundred of them. She backed away slowly, trying to move in a way that would somehow convey to the bees that she was not the threat they were looking for. Their adversary was elsewhere, she tried to will them to understand, so why did they continue to swarm her?

It became obvious that this was not a hive that Toxicity would get honey from today. All of her attempts to convey how non-threatening she was had utterly failed, thus leading to the moment where she turned tail and fled. She didn't have time to contemplate how she may look as she ran away from the bees which, from a distance, may not even be visible. She could hear the hum drumming of their wings close behind her, drowned out only by the sound of her own paws thudding against the ground. She sent up prayers to allow her to escape unscathed, leading to her revelation that bees would not pursue her in the safe, glowing waters of the shrine. By memory, her legs adjusted her course, steering her automatically to the place where she spent so much of her time.

If she dove under the safety of the waters there, how long would she need to wait? After running, her body's desire to gasp for breath and cool by panting would be strong. Would she be able to stay down long enough to avoid the bees? Could she do it in several, smaller dives until they lost interest and bumbled away? Tox's mind whirled with such questions as she ran around, finding the fastest and easiest path to the shrine. If she were to trip and fall, there was no telling if she would be able to get up in time before too many stings landed against her mortal flesh. She had too many things to do in life to be taken down by a swarm of bees.

When she finally made it, Tox didn't hesitate to suck in a large breath and dunk herself under the soft glow of the shrine waters. Her lungs ached and burned as she fought to stay under. Finally, bubbles erupted from her maw and she was forced to surface. When she did, the bees buzzed warily in the distance- Tox forgotten completely.