We don't fight fair
spring skill prompt
07-13-2020, 05:53 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-03-2020, 11:37 PM by Ulric.)
He had taken the time he needed to clear his head and thanks to the pack he had stumbled upon the wound he had gotten during his fight with Philly had healed up nicely. There was now a permanent reminder scarred across his cheek, but as long as he didn't look at his reflection he could almost forget the scar was there. It didn't seem to impede the movement of his jaw at the very least... though he did wonder if it would if he hadn't had it looked at properly by a healer. Luckily he would never have to worry about that possibility and he was sure he would slowly begin to adjust to the look of it over time. He hadn't quite made it back down to the falls to see his family again, but each day be got a bit closer. Today he brought himself to cross the bifrost, but he hadn't made it much farther than that into Auster. He lingered in the grove of trees that the sandy land bridge emptied in to and didn't quite gather the courage to go deeper into the southern continent. Instead he found a place near the shaded edge of the grove to rest, his mind reeling with possibilities of how his sister might react to him returning. He had to check on Roza if nothing else and he wanted to make sure Meme and Nausicaa were still doing okay. Perhaps his presence wasn't as welcome as it once was, but his heart wouldn't let him do anything else. There was always the possibility of turning back the way he came and trying again another day and that possibility was one that he was still considering. It all depended on how much of a coward he decided to be. While he was resting in the late afternoon sun, his thoughts finally calmed enough for him to notice the soft buzzing and humming of a beehive in the tree across from him. His silver gaze lifted to look at it, his head tilting slightly to the side with curiosity. He had never really noticed a bee hive before or at least hadn't taken the time to really pay attention to it. He watched the striped insects work busily around it, a few flying in one direction or another before another one returned from whatever mission it had been on. He supposed a grove like this one that was so full of berry bushes and plant life would be a good place for bees to reside. Honey was something he had heard about, but had never tried and he began to ponder how one would even begin to get such a thing. This particular hive was low enough in the branches that someone of his stature might be able to reach it, but wouldn't he just end up getting stung in the process? He hummed quietly and thoughtfully as he continued to watch the hive, letting it distract him from his own issues. His gaze drifted down a bit and he noticed a place near the base of the hive where some of the honey inside had begun to collect. It was clear that this area had in fact been a fruitful one for the insects and the hive was full to the brim with honey. A few large drips of it had begun to form at its tip and that was where his idea began to form. His plan wouldn't get him a lot of honey or even really enough to say that he had actually collected some, but maybe he could at least get a taste. If it was as good as he imagined then maybe he could think of another way to go about getting some, but until then... he just wanted to try some. The large brute got to his feet again and with one last glance toward his prize he set out to search for a long branch, preferably one that had already fallen so he wouldn't have to try and pull one off of the nearby trees. His luck seemed to be high today since he found exactly what he was thinking of after just a short bit of searching. He then set to work carefully pulling the bark off of one side of it, forming one long, slightly curved piece of thin wood. It took him a while to finish his little project, but by the time it got to be the early evening he had exactly what he wanted. Now he just had to hope it was long enough to do what he was thinking. He went back to the hive with his track made of bark in tow and then began carefully turning and setting it up under the hive. He took extra care to not move too quickly or jostle the hive in any way so he would hopefully not disturb the bees inside. The bark he placed under the hive formed a long ramp of sorts where he hoped the honey would run down to where he could collect it. He very gently poked the top end of his makeshift ramp into the bottom of the hive, the honeycomb surprisingly soft and easy to manipulate. A few bees stirred because of this and he held very still - waiting to see if any of them would actually figure out what he was doing and try to retaliate. They flew off a few moments later so he breathed a sigh and took a step back to admire his work. A thin tunnel of bark ran from the base of the hive and almost reached the ground below. It wasn't quite long enough, but he thought it might do the trick. With that set up, Ulric went back to where he had been previously laying to wait. He flopped down on the ground and watched his handiwork curiously. He had no way of knowing if it would actually work, but it had been worth a shot and if anything it had entertained him for the afternoon. After maybe half an hour of waiting patiently and watching the hive, he saw a glob of honey begin the slow decent down his little home made honey raft. He grinned and his tail thumped gently against the ground behind him. He'd done it! It would probably take awhile at this rate for enough to actually get to the point where he could taste it... but it wasn't like he had anywhere to be. In his mind at least this felt like a bit of a creative success. word count: 1,101 |
