Although he was nowhere near healed, he couldn't lay in the palace any more. His legs, although stiff, were otherwise fine and would do well with a good stretch. Even he knew he had to stay relatively calm to keep his stitches in place and to prevent any further damage to his ribs, but he was itching to get out. Thankfully, his break had come when Mortis came to visit. Relieved by the boy's presence, he snuck out to go on a short stroll with him with the promise to stay close in case something were to happen.

He was still on painkillers and that made things a little easier, but he still knew better to wander beyond the archipelago and risk the wrath of Deathbelle and Iolaire combined. He wanted to heal anyway, but cabin fever was already beginning to set in with him being confined for so long already and it was getting harder and harder to rest. Of course he enjoyed his moments alone with Deathbelle, but even she had things to do and Magnus worried he was distracting her from her more important Empress duties. He felt like he was being selfish, taking up space in her palace while he could easily recover in his own den or even in Iolaire's.

"Please tell me you have something fun to do?" He begged from the boy as he leaned against him for support. Fun was relative these days, but even a stroll and a breath of fresh air was more than he'd done since the bear attack. He had to wonder what brought the bear into the pack lands anyway. He'd heard it had been sick and Azure had even brought him the corpse of it's lone cub, but there had to be another reason.

298/1500

He totaled across to Deathbelle’s territory to see his grumpy old friend. The warrior was den-bound and restless, and Mortis had just the thing to cheer him up. Sneaking Magnus out was a right old adventure, and the boy tried to dim the grin that took over his expression. They made it out of the palace unseen, and hobbled together through the Island territory. He let the older wolf use him like a walking stick, offering support should his injuries start to hurt. Sneaking out had been Mort’s idea. He had seen how bored Mag’s was getting, and Mags had taken him on an adventure, this was just returning the favour. “Actually, I have an idea Uncle. Fun, and useful!” he said, tail swinging lightly behind him, a mischievous smile on his face. All Magnus would need to know he was in for trouble. “I heard Io was out of honey, I thought… we could bring her beed, and she can grow her own!” it was an absolutely brilliant idea. Thank you. WC: 180 Total: 488 "Speech"

Magnus was quick to take Mortis up on his offer, eager to get out of the den for some fresh air and a good stretch while he was left unsupervised. Whatever idea the boy had though was a mystery to him, but he hardly cared what they did. He just wanted to see something else besides the walls of Deathbelle's palace, despite how nice it was. He'd been spending a lot of time with the empress lately, something he was sure was noticed by others. He wondered what others thought of him healing there when Iolaire's was probably the usual healing spot. Magnus kept quiet about his thoughts though and turned his attention to Mortis when he mentioned a fun and useful idea.

While he enjoyed the thought of bringing bee's back to the woman that saved his life, his face twisted as he wondered how exactly they'd be catching them and bringing them to her. He hoped Mortis planned to do most of the work while he supervised from a safe distance. The last thing he needed was a million bee stings on top of his already broken body, and he was certain Iolaire wouldn't enjoy the additional work of plucking bee stingers out of his freshly tended wounds.

"Any ideas on how we're going to do that?" He questioned, eyeing the boy as he leaned on him a bit to take a bigger step over a broken branch. He admired Mortis' enthusiasm, but was still pretty uncertain about the whole thing and tried to hide it as best he could.

262 + 488 = 750

Mortis frowned thoughtfully, he had given it some idea, especially after talking to his Auntie. Io was always a wealthy source of information for him. “Weeelll… Io and my dad made lanterns a little while ago” he began his explanation. “and I heard that bees don't attack when they are surrounded by smoke,” he continued. “We could borrow a lantern, put in some greenery that smokes, and see if that affects the bees?” he finished. Turning to Mags with a flourish, to see if the wolf he had stolen as an Uncle would appreciate his brilliance.

It was at that point that he pulled them to a stop, and ducked behind a grassy stone, pulling out a lantern with a mischievous smile. He had already acquired one for their use. They just needed to make it smoke.

Total word count: 897

As they walked, he listened as the boy went on about bees and what he'd learned about them. He'd never dealt with bees personally, but it did seem somewhat familiar when he mentioned calming them with smoke. Assuming it was from his past, possibly even as a pup, he shrugged it off and let Mortis be the smart one today and agreed with a simple nod at his mention of borrowing a lantern.

Wait, didn't he say borrow? Wouldn't they have to go back to get said lantern?

As they crouched behind the rock, he saw the boy whip out his borrowed lantern and playfully rolled his eyes. Eternally grateful they wouldn't have to go all the way back for the lantern, he smirked at the boy with a soft laugh and a short shake of his head. "Now we just need some fresh, green grasses to make smoke instead of fire. Come equipped with those too, did you?" He teased with a wink.

TWC: 1061

Mortis stuck his tongue out at the older wolf, but enjoyed the teasing banter, and strolled forcially up to a patch of undergrowth. ”I’m always prepared” he lied. Ripping into the grass and finding it surprisingly tough and annoying under his teeth, he ripped a section free. He tossed them into the lantern, and brought it up to Magnus for the other wolf to hold.

He then grabbed the fire-starting kit he had also ‘borrowed’ from Io. Watching Magnus for a moment, to ensure he held the lantern steady and was ready. After a few moments of careful blowing, it caught fire, and began to smoke. Mortis coughed harshly, wrenching his head away from the opening. He hacked a few times, tasting smoke, and shook his head. “Rh-” his voice broke. He spat once more. “-Ready when you are” he informed Magnus, and pointed at the beehive, which Mortis had led them close to.

“You're in charge of hunting the bees with the smoke, and i’ll gather them, okay?” he didn’t know if Mags would be okay with the younger wolf taking charge, but Mortis had the idea of their adventure. It got poor Mags out of the house for a bit. If the older wolf chose to change it up as he pleased, Mortis would go along with it.

TWC: 1,289

Sticking his tongue out at the boy in response to his silly face, Magnus chuckled as the boy went off to fetch the grasses necessary to start the smoke. When given, he held the lantern as still as an injured, sore man could while Mortis started the fire. A worried eye cast down at him when the boy started to hack, but as he got fresh air he sighed a breath of relief through his clamped teeth. At the ready, and with instructions to calm the bees, Magnus glanced towards the hive and cringed a bit. If he got stung, he certainly wasn't going to hear the end of it from Deathbelle and Iolaire, not to mention the earfull Mortis would likely get too.

"If you say so." He still wasn't so sure about this, but trusted Mortis to take the lead. Magnus walked up to the hive and stretched his neck out as far as he could, allowing the lantern's smoke to rise upwards and into the bee's home. It was certainly having some kind of effect on the bee's, however there were a few scouts left on the outside of the hive with plenty of oxygen around them to get out of the calming smoke and check out the source.

A bee then landed square on Magnus' nose and he went cross-eyed looking at it. "You might want to hurry." He mumbled around the lantern's handle, watching the bee as it checked out his nose.

twc: 1526

It surprised him, how readily Magnus listened to him and let him take the lead. It also delighted him, and he grinned, filled with mischief from the daring escape from Deathbelle’s lair, and his terrible plot to gather bees.

Mortis was distracted by the buzzing creature that landed on his Uncles nose. The boy giggled softly at the sight of it, before nodding at the older man's request. [b “Right.”[/b] he agreed.

Moving, he began to gather any bees that, confused and disoriented, landed on the grasses. He picked them up by… scooping them into his maw. Collecting them, likely to Magnus’s horror… one...two...three...four, all settled, confused, onto his tongue.

His attention was taken off of the bee on his nose when he watched Mortis... picking them up in his mouth?! Was the boy insane?! His eyes widened in absolutely horror watching him, but the bee on his nose started to tickle. Holding back a sneeze for as long as he could with it dancing on the ticklish part of his muzzle, a massive sneeze finally erupted. Not only causing his ribs and ears and everything else to hurt, he'd dropped the lantern and sent the bee on his nose into a fearful rage.

With a yelp, he swung his head around in defensive of the bee that had stung his nose and backed up, out and away from the rest they may or may not have been coming after him now due to the loss of their friend. "Shit," he whined as he backed up, his nose already clearly swelling. Others had already started to awaken from the loss of the smoke, but Magnus wasn't paying attention to them now as he pawed at his swelling nose. As they started to swarm towards him, Magnus hadn't noticed until the buzzing was audibly close and it was too late to run.

Despite the pain he was already feeling, Magnus growled and swatted at the bees, earning himself a few more stings along the way. Once he'd given up and slumped onto the ground like a defeated puppy did they finally disperse, leaving Magnus with a handful of new bee stings and already trying to figure out how to break the unfortunate news to Deathbelle and Iolaire.

When Magnus sneezed, Mortis jumped in surprise, not expecting the noise. The motion rocked the residence in his mouth, and they began to buzz, some flying, others stuck to his tongue. He had no idea what happened to Magnus for a bit after that. He was much, much too busy freaking the absolute out.

The feeling of little tiny feet pattering away at his tongue, of wings buzzing against his teeth… he opened his maw, but it was too late. One stung his tongue, causing him to yelp, and and draw in a sharp breath. He felt something ping against his throat, and another sharp pain. Oh god, oh, oh god! The pain in his throat was like nothing he had ever experienced in his life. He was crying, snot bubbling out of his little black nose… and was that an antenna? Coming out of his nose? He cried harder. “IO, IO, IOOOOOOOOOOO”