The last time she had been to this grove of trees it had been in the middle of winter and it had looked much different when it wasn't covered in snow. It seemed like this portion of Boreas was incredibly effected by the passing of the seasons. The side of her that loved exploration through nature was especially interested in the changes the Nook went through so it continued to pull her back to see the progression. She left her bracers at home in her den since she certainly wasn't expecting to encounter any fights on this simple, peaceful adventure to a near by area of Boreas. As an additional bonus, it made the long walk a bit more comfortable. They were actually quite comfortable and easy to wear for the most part, but for an extended trip like this she might as well be as comfortable as possible.

Once she was in the thick of the trees she slowed her steps to look around curiously at the flowering, lovely branches that stretched overhead. They were fairly young trees, but they were large enough to provide a fair bit of shade. In some places under the largest of the trees there were still small patches of snow that hadn't been in the direct sunlight enough to fully melt them. For the most part though, any signs of the heavy snow storm she had gotten stuck in with Sirius was mostly gone. She hadn't really expected it to still be snowy, but it was still a surprise to see that it was just gone.

The soft hum of buzzing caught her attention and she slowed to a stop to listen for a moment. Her mint eyes scanned the trees until she finally found the source of it - a fairly large beehive that had formed in the hollow of one of the flowering trees. She watched it with her head tipped to the side curiously. The bees were all over the tree, flying off in various directions only to have more return to the hive coated in yellow pollen. It seemed like the flowering trees that filled this area were the perfect feeding spots for these bees and ended up being an endless supply of pollen for them.

She crept a bit closer so she could get a better look, following their movements and seeing how they interacted with one another. Without her realizing it, one of them flew a bit too close to her and the humming near her ear startled her. It made her jump and swat at her ear with her paw, hitting the bee out of the sky. That caught the rest of the hive's attention and she heard their activity start to get much louder and more frenzied. Her hackles bristled and she looked up at the hive she had been watching, her eyes widening. "Uh oh..." she muttered to herself right before a group of them started flying after her. She turned with a squeal and started running, darting between the trees as she desperately started trying to get away from the bees she had angered.

"Speech" Thought

Word count: 521

The girl did not explore too often, or too far, but somehow her paws took her a little further today. She had Winter on her shoulder, and her overly large paws touched gently to the ground. She had tucked a little gold feather behind her bird’s head, and it stuck upwards like an antenna from her own feathers. They whispered softly together, laughing - a rare phenomenon for the Destruction girl.

The sound of a commotion brought her head up fast, and her eyes scanned the pretty trees of the nook. She was a cautious creature by nature now, and was already poised to flee. When a dark-toned woman appeared, running, chased by a swarm of bees, her first instinct was to laugh. To laugh at the share ludicrousy of it. A moment later, she realised how frightful it must actually be, and how much it would hurt to be stung.

The girl began to run, the motion causing Winter to flare her wings and lift off from her perch, and take to the sky. “Over here!” she yelled out to the stranger. There was a pond not far from Motif, maybe it would be deep enough for them to submerge, and hide from the bees?

Tamsyn ran at a frantic pace, occasionally glancing back over her shoulder to see if they were still after her. A few seemed to give up the chase, but there was still enough of them that if she stopped and even half of them stung her she'd be in for a world of hurt and would probably swell up like a balloon. She was panting hard by the time she heard someone calling to her, pulling her mint gaze toward a tall, dark woman with white markings that was running as well. There wasn't time for her to even consider why the woman was running or why she was helping her, she just started following the stranger immediately.

She caught up and started running along side her would be acquaintance. Moments later the pond she was obviously being led to came into view. Perfect! Without much hesitation, Tamsyn dove in with a large splash and kept herself beneath the surface for as long as her aching lungs could bear. Normally jumping head first into water and getting soaked to the bone would be pretty far down the list of things she would like to do, but at this point it felt like a saving grace. When she finally needed to come back up for air, she popped her head through the surface with a gasp, flinging water around her as she tossed her head back. Blinking her eyes open, she quickly looked around and searched for her insect assailants. One or two buzzed lazily around the surface of the pond, but for the most part they had all dissipated and she was able to breath a relieved sigh.

"Speech" Thought

Word count: 1005/1500

She fought back any feeling of trepidation as the stranger ran towards her. She tossed up a paw to fend off some of the bees that came with her. Perhaps deciding that Motif was a part of the threat. She snapped at the air after one, and missed as it buzzed to the side. Tricky buggers. How had this poor woman ended up with a swarm on her tail?

When Tamsyn reached her, she began to run, side by side with the small black wolf. Leading her as best she could well running, to the pond. Her impromptu partner had no hesitations, leaping into the water. Motif had been around many different bodies of water in her life, and had no fear of drowning. She did however worry if it would be enough to make the bees give up.

Feeling a sting in her coat, Motif bared her teeth, and leaped after Tamsyn. Only a few steps behind her, splashing near the other woman. She pulled herself under the water, swimming to the bottom of the pond. She could just see the murky water past her open eyes. A startled fish swam by her nose, darting out of view. One paw must have clipped Tamsyn’s side, for she felt something much bigger than a fish near her.

With a powerful thrust of her paws, she brought herself closer to the black wolf, just making out the shape of her. Her eyes and lungs began to burn, and she saw Tamsyn nove, pushing herself upwards. Motif followed, breaking through the surface tension and taking in a deep breath. Hacking a little as she looked about for the danger. It seemed it had worked, the bees had given up the chase.

Word count: 289 total: 1,294

A moment after she came to the surface the woman she had followed to the pond popped up beside her and she was glad to see that they had both escaped the onslaught of bees without much harm done. She felt bad that this other woman had gotten tangled up in it to begin with, but she was still grateful for the help. There was a strong possibility that she would have ended up in a much worse position without her. "Thank you for your help," she told her after the beat she had taken to catch her breath a bit. She stayed there treading water for a few moments more just to make sure her attackers wouldn't come back around for another go at her before she finally began to paddle back to shore. With a huff she walked out of the water and on to the shore, water dipping off of her in buckets and leaving her fur slicked down to her body.

She gave herself a hard shake to try and rid her coat of as much water as she could, but she knew it would still be a bit before she was dry again. Ah well, better to be wet than covered in dozens of bee stings. She turned to face the other woman with a thankful smile, dipping her head apologetically. "Thanks again... All I did was accidentally swat at a bee that got close to my nose when I was checking out a hive I found back there and apparently that made me enemy number one for them." She had certainly learned her lesson if nothing else. She was still curious about the honey that was hidden inside that hive, but she wasn't entirely sure it was worth the risk. Perhaps if she knew a better way of going about getting near them she might try it, but without that knowledge it seemed awfully risky.

A thought dawned on her and she tipped her head curiously to the side as she looked at the woman again. She had a striking resemblance to a woman she had met early on in her days when she was first getting settled in Boreas. It was a little bit more difficult to tell by scent since they were both drenched, but it seemed similar to what she could remember. "You wouldn't happen to know Theory, would you? I met her a long time ago, but you really resemble her."

WC total: 1705

"Speech" Thought