This is a Sting Operation ( Open! )

[jackelyn]

aries;

Aries climbed into the top layer of scaffolding. In the height of summer it was way too hot up here, most cats took shelter in the lower levels or on the cool concrete floor of the warehouse. Dust swirled around his paws as he walked, flattening his ears against the heat, it was only the morning but, already, he could tell it was going to get unpleasant up here very fast. Well his task was already unpleasant, so what did it matter really? Aries didn't "take days off" but, he might today. Already, he could hear the buzzing of the wasp nest, and he hadn't even reached the end of the wall yet.

The wasp colony had appeared overnight, in fact most BloodClan cats didn't even notice it at first. It was on the outside of the warehouse, in the far back, tucked beneath the roof eaves. If the windows next to it hadn't been broken it would have probably been left undisturbed forever, but, unfortunately combined with the alluring scent of the fresh kill pile and plenty of easy access... one hot summer's day BloodClan had found themselves under siege from yellow jacketed spawns of Satan. Over the course of half a week almost everyone had been stung at least once, one whole group of apprentices had tried to deal with the nest on their own, and, well, Tinsel said they'd be able to talk and eat again soon, but, looking at their swollen faces Aries wasn't sure.

Eventually enough was enough, the wasps were posing a real threat to everyone's mental health. Since nobody else wanted to, Aries volunteered to take care of it, his training had never gone over wasp nest removal, but, Aries figured between Piper and Axel there had to be something useful he could use. Now he was up here alone, rethinking his life choices, and, coming to the uneasy conclusion that he wasn't sure he actually made life choices, life just chose him and then he had to go along with it. About three-quarters of the way to the nest he paused, and, put his head out a window to look at the nest from afar. He blanched in horror. It was the largest wasp nest he had ever seen. A steady stream of wasps were buzzing in and out and all around it. Aries hastily pulled his head back inside before any of them saw him. Man, he sure hoped Tinsel was right about the swelling... there was no way he wasn't going to get stung.

Unwilling to get closer until he had a game plan, Aries sat down, contemplating his options. There had been plenty of suggestions offered by other BloodClanners, but, not to be rude they had all been awful. Lucifer that maniac had suggested setting fire to the wasp nest, he'd even offered to help looking way too excited about it, and Aries had been forced to say "No thank you" in his politest, firmest voice... His eyes fell on a pile of dusty blankets nearby. They were the blankets that BloodClan used in the winter to cover up some of the worst drafts up here, they were heavy and thick and, a pain in the ass to move around... but, they were impenetrable to the coldest wind. Which, meant they were probably impenetrable to wasps. A plan was beginning to form in his mind. He got up, and, began to poke around the blankets, sneezing as he disturbed dust. Ok, there were plenty of blankets here, maybe he was onto something...

He went back to the window and cautiously put his head out, this time he looked at the nest, then at the ground far below it. Just open concrete, not a lot of space, because of the neighboring warehouse, but, plenty big for what he was thinking. One of their water sources was nearby, but, not too close. He brought his head back in and frowned, thinking aloud over the logistics, "But what if can't get the blanket down fast enough, and we get bombed?" He might be onto the best option, but, he would definitely catch hell if a whole bunch of mad wasps came swarming into the warehouse.


NOTES // Wasp Prompt!
TAGGED // OPEN for any BloodClanner! Aries mostly keeps to himself, so, interacting with other cats will be good for him! I didn't want to have 2 threads with operation in the title... but... I couldn't resist xD
WORDS // 699

[DELAWARE]

It hadn't been Diana's plan to follow Aries - not really - but she was bored and hot and there was nothing to do besides introspect, an activity that she was desperate to avoid. Normally she would have been hovering around Chrys or Minnie, but they were both out somewhere, training probably, and the rest of the Clan was laying low after the attack by the wasps. Diana had been lucky to escape unscathed, but she hadn't been able to hide her shock at the way the faces of the stung had swelled up in minutes, ballooning out lumpily, and that shock had been unfortunately vocalized - tactlessly but, Diana swore, unintentionally. Regardless, she was not the most popular in the Clan at the moment, something that didn't bother her too much but did niggle at her the same way a small pebble in her nest had, once. Not keen on being where she wasn't welcomed, or when tempers were so short (being stung was apparently incredibly painful), Diana had resorted to pretending to sleep under the scaffolding when she'd overheard Aries volunteering to go deal with the wasps. Ears pricking up and an eye slitting open, Diana watched the black-furred, sturdy tom begin to climb the scaffolding. She waited until he had vanished over the top, and then immediately leaped to her paws and hurried after him.

She'd never seen a wasp up close before. She'd spotted the blurry black-and-yellow insects as they buzzed around the ceiling or were scared away from the fresh-kill pile, but they'd always seemed quite small and harmless - like a larger, narrower fly. It was hard to equate the tiny creatures with the damage that they had wrecked, but at least she had kept her mouth shut about that. The idea of actually seeing one, not just from a distance, was an exciting prospect. And anyone who knew her knew that Di lived for excitement. She was also incredibly curious, too. What magic powers did Aries possess that he so readily and confidently volunteered for the job that the rest of the Clan had been putting off for days? He must have a secret weapon of some kind, she reasoned to herself seriously as she effortlessly scaled the scaffolding. Something that would protect him from the wasps, maybe, or vaporize them in an instant. It was a silly thought, something that belonged to stories, but it was still slightly comforting. The feeling unnerved her. She was supposed to be older than that now; she was supposed to know better than to take solace in fairy tales. Aries wasn't a white knight; he was just a dude, getting rid of wasps for the good of the Clan.

Still, she couldn't help herself but envision him larger-than-life as she emerged onto the highest level. He was standing by the window, head out, and as she padded forward a few steps he brought his head back in and muttered something to himself. She didn't catch all of it, the distance between them pretty wide still, but she thought she heard something about blankets and bombing. Ears pricked in interest, she increased her pace, trotting up to him without flinching at all. There was an odd vibrating buzzing in the air, like a distant machine, but she ignored it. "What are you talking about?" she meowed, loudly and a little rudely. "Are the wasps outside?" Without waiting for an answer, she closed the fox-length between herself and the window and shoved her face out. Her immediate reaction was disappointment. "There's no wasps here at all," she mewed, confused, staring at the wasp-less roof, and then the buzzing sound behind her caught up with her brain caught up with her mouth and Di swung her head around to look in the other direction. She gasped. A huge gray-brown, flaking thing hung in the corner of the warehouse, a cloud of yellow-and-black zipping around it. It was easily larger than herself, maybe even larger than Chrys, and absolutely disgusting - like an upside-down, marbled, peeling mud ball. She yanked herself back into the warehouse with a yelp, fur prickling all over. "Is that - is that - what the hell is that?" she whispered in horror to Aries, taking the opportunity to also try out, for the first time, one of the words that her aunt Tamarix had let slip the other day when she had stubbed her paw on a piece of concrete. "Is that the King Wasp?"


[ ooc this is such a good thread idea I couldn't resist omg!!! and it seemed like a good opportunity to introduce diana and aries haha. she's 7 moons here, idk her mentor tho oops so... try not to mention one I guess lol. jackelyn, @anyone else who wants to join! <3 also, wasp prompt! ]

[jackelyn]

aries;

Oh no! Aries recognized Diana's voice and nearly groaned, of all the cats who could have joined him of course it had to be her. Seriously, was he a magnet for Piper and his family or what? He didn't really hang out with Diana, but, of course he was curious about Axel's daughter and Piper's niece. Especially when she looked just like them. Well, just a few minutes of observation had told Aries everything he needed to know. Diana was a lot like her uncle and her dad, which as far as Aries was concerned, meant he needed to stay far away before he got dragged into her shenanigans.

But when had anything Aries intended gone according to plan, especially when this family was involved? With a sigh he fixed a pleasant expression on his face and turned around... only to let out a yell as he saw her shoving her face out the window with no concern in the world. "Wait! Don't-!" he said, springing forward but she was already looking back at him, horror in her face. Well at least she knows enough to be scared he thought to himself, he was sweating all over at the thought of her being swarmed by wasps. He would 100% be killed if anything happened to Diana, even Sassafras would take a turn. Also, who was teaching her to use that language?

Also, "King Wasp"?

Luckily Aries had plenty of experience adapting to the weirdness of Piper's family. "That's the King Wasp's hive" he meowed, "His... um, his home. The King Wasp stays inside, he is protecting his treasure... trove, but uh" He thought quickly "All those wasps swarming around are his minions, they are protecting him. We don't want to attract their attention because they will attack us. So, keep your voice down please!" He gave her the best stern look that he could while silently thanking the stars or whoever that Axel had spent some time telling him stories. At the time Aries was just grateful he wasn't about to be murdered, but now Axel's fantasies were coming in handy when talking to Diana. Because, seriously? King wasp?

He gave Diana a once-over, normally he would consider someone her age too small to help him but she was large for her age. Now, whether or not she would be able to follow his directions... well, maybe he was just jumping to conclusions here. He had to give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she was going to be totally normal and helpful, like her mother. Aries didn't know Sassafras very well (anyone who agreed to have kits with Axel scared the heck out of him) but, she was always friendly and sensible the few times they interacted and, in Clan meetings.

"I'm trying to come up with a plan to get rid of the wasps" he explained to Diana. "Did you come up here by accident? You probably don't want to be here, when I get started... You might get stung." Would she take the hint? He hoped so.


NOTES // Poor Aries! xD Treasure trove Prompt... Sorry it's clunky!
TAGGED // DELAWARE. Still OPEN for BloodClanners!
WORDS // 506

[DELAWARE]

'By accident?' 'Don't want to be here?' 'Might get stung?' If Aries was trying to get rid of Diana, he was going about it entirely the wrong way. Anything that brought excitement into her day was a plus as far as Diana was concerned, and this wasn't just excitement - this was also a challenge. Aries might as well have thrown down a gauntlet; the effect would have been the same. "No, I'm fine," she meowed, ignoring the slightly hopeful lilt in Aries' voice. Keep dreaming, buddy. What Diana wanted to do, Diana did. "This is the coolest thing to happen to me all week. I'm serious." And without warning, she trotted back to the window and shoved her head out again. "Challenge accepted!" she shouted at the King Wasp and his Hive, and waited until she heard the buzzing increase briefly in response to her yell - a moment of passing discontent - before ducking back inside. She grinned cheerfully, and with a slightly impish glint of mischief, at Aries. "Okay, I'll keep my voice down now. Promise. Now, you were saying something about a plan, right?" She tilted her head, paws curling in thought. "We could throw things at it, force the minions to come out and fight us directly," she suggested after barely a second. "I'm sure you could take them, right? Which leaves me free to go after the King. Oh! Wait." She paused. "Didn't you say we didn't want to attract their attention?"

It was hard to say if she was joking or speaking seriously, and if Diana was being honest, she wasn't quite sure herself. Yes, part of it was a desire to bother Aries (it's probably genetic at this point), but it was also a genuine idea, driven mostly by the fact that she had no idea how to deal with wasps and a background that was more rooted in the fantasy than reality. Besides that, she also wanted to impress Aries. He was an older tom, he was close to the family, he was a capable warrior... it wasn't the kind of "I have to impress you or I'm going to pass out" sensation that she felt when she was with Faye, for example, but Diana loved adoration, admiration, being thought of well. She was also annoying and stubborn, but at the end of the day, Diana wanted to be liked. It wasn't a compulsive desire, but it was a strong one, growing in direct proportion to her own insecurities. And god knows those were multiplying fast. "You were saying something about a blanket, right?" she blinked at him, then pointed at the pile he'd been poking around in when she'd arrived. "Do you mean those? Oh! Are they your magic cloak or something? Are you going to use it to protect yourself when you attack the wasps?" She gazed at him expectantly, the idea that he possessed some superpower having taken a firm hold in her mind. Realistically she knew that it couldn't possibly be true, that such thoughts were just products of a fanciful imagination, and she had every reason to abhor them now that she had grown up a little, but... these were the foundations of her entire childhood. Love-hate relationship or no, it was hard to change an entire way of thinking about the world.


[ ooc jackelyn ]

[jackelyn]

aries;

Aries nearly had a heart attack when Diana shoved her face out the window again and yelled directly at the wasps. By the time she turned around again, none the worse for wear he was even staggering forward in a belated attempt to save her from herself. Aborting the action, he nearly ran into the wall but, considering the fact Diana began to fire off ideas like bad idea homing pigeons he didn't think she even noticed.

Which, really that was just standard operating procedure when it came to this family wasn't it?

He was marginally impressed she remembered the blanket until she began to mention her ideas about it. He stared at her, not certain if she was kidding or not but from the earnest look in her eyes, she wasn't. But... magic cloaks? King wasps? Sure Axel had told him stories but Aries had never believed in them. He was too old, and, he had grown up with Piper as his mentor, who adamantly opposed fairytales and even chastised Aries for day dreaming once. Strange, how the two brothers were so different. And strange how the kits they raised reflected that, almost like they were mirror versions of the two siblings. Now, Aries was boots-on-the-ground pragmatic. Sure he entertained flights of fancy but, he was always going to be an anchor, a tether or what have you. But Diana...? Well Aries had a feeling that if he said the blanket was his magic cloak, she wouldn't even question it. He wondered if Chrysanthemum and Minerva were reflections of Axel too. What a totally terrifying thought.

"I wouldn't... call it a cloak" said Aries "I wasn't thinking about using it to protect me." Also how would that even work? Aries was strong but a full wool blanket over him was definitely stronger, it was why he never used them for his nests even though they were the warmest. It just made it way too much effort to get out of bed in the morning and, that wasn't exactly a process that needed more effort.

"What I was thinking..." He hesitated, should he really tell her his plan? Theoretically it wasn't too late to turn back and send her packing, Sassafras would thank him. But practically... if there was something Axel and Piper shared it was an incredible stubbornness. Looking at Diana's eager, bright gold eyes he knew she'd inherited it twofold. Sure he could physically force her to go away but, that didn't sit right with Aries in the slightest. "Okay" he sighed deeply giving in. Maybe it was just inevitable. "I was thinking I could knock the nest down so that it fell on the ground, and push the blanket out the window to smother it once it had fallen. But I don't think it would work" he paused, he hadn't said the plan aloud before but, now that he did he could see the major flaw, "Because the hive would absolutely break into pieces once it fell." Which, would defeat the purpose of pushing the blanket onto it...

He looked at Diana but, couldn't actually bring himself to ask her what she thought. He waffled.


NOTES // Mirror prompt
TAGGED // DELAWARE
WORDS // 523

[DELAWARE]

To her credit, Diana managed to stay more-or-less still as Aries shared his ideas, though both her paws and ears twitched with fidgety energy. She even managed to paste an expression of attentiveness onto her face, which was both truth and lie. Diana was taking this seriously - her intense need for validation wouldn't have demanded any less - but she also wasn't even an apprentice yet. There was only so much a need for validation could do against youthful immaturity. "Well, I can't imagine why that would be a problem," she said almost before Aries' final words had left his mouth. "If the Hive breaks apart, their home is destroyed, right? Plus, it's like, a LONG way down to the ground. They wouldn't survive the fall, right?" She nodded to herself, pleased, at her reasoning and conclusion. (Let it be known that anatomy and physics, for a seven-month-old Diana, were not exactly strong points. Or any points at all, really, if we're being honest here.) "I say we give it a try. It would be better if you had a magic cloak, though." And she gave Aries a slightly judgmental look, as if his inability to live up to the fantastical world she idealized was his fault.

Now, Diana was the type to leap straight into action. As a general rule, she relied on others to moderate her impulsivity for her, a side-effect of being the head-strong, reckless hero amongst a sibling pool of headstrong but cautious (Minnie) and just plain lazy (Chrys). It was the reason she fell in trashcans, the reason she sought out experiences like they were gold, and the reason that, now, she was throwing herself fully into this moment in an attempt to forget the events of the past few weeks. Compartmentalization and repression had never been strong suits for Diana, but they were suits she was determined to make fit, even if she had to use a shoehorn to do it. Combine this unchecked impulsivity with this desperate need for forgetfulness and - voilá. Disaster.

Diana grabbed a blanket in her mouth, trotted to the windows, and without preamble leaped onto the windowsill so she could toss the blanket at the Nest and knock the whole thing down. Or at least, that was the idea. In reality she was thoroughly unprepared for the weight of the wool blanket she was dragging, and though sheer willpower got her through the first half, when she leapt for the window she hadn't anticipated just how much her balance was off. With a muffled shriek, Diana misjudged the force of her jump and sailed right through the frame - only to be yanked back by the blanket's weight, causing her to land hard on the sill itself, half-in and half-out of the factory, paws scrabbling, eyes gone wide with terror, and, thank god, her jaws clamped so tightly around the blanket that she might as well have been glued to it.


[ ooc re: being an apprentice, when she's seven diana isn't apprenticed yet for... plot reasons. her mentor will be faye later, though. and neither are her siblings. but she is able to roam around and be outside haven! im imagining this takes place after the factory event, which is why there are a few plot references. jackelyn ]

[jackelyn]

aries;

“Well I can’t imagine why that would be a problem … They wouldn’t survive the fall right?”

Aries stared at Diana in disbelief, hoping she was kidding and realizing with growing dismay that she was not. "They’re … wasps" he said and, very seriously began to deliberate whether or not now was the time for a lesson on basic wasp anatomy. But, it wasn’t even basic wasp anatomy, it was just basic anatomy and common sense wasn’t it? Wasps had wings ergo, they could fly ergo, a drop would not kill them it would just make them mad. Surely Diana could see that. OK, he knew she’d grown up sheltered and, that she wasn’t an apprentice yet, but, this wasn’t the kindof lesson you needed a teacher for…

As Aries waffled Diana sprang into action. Before he could even blink it seemed she’d grabbed the blanket and was headed for the windowsill. Aries snapped unceremoniously out of his thoughts and, lunged forward after her. "Diana WAIT!" he shouted, but, she didn’t seem to hear him. Or she was ignoring him, very possible too. Either way she leaped onto the windowsill with too much force and because Physics Is Real she went straight out the other side.

Only Aries’s fast reflexes saved the blanket from going with her. He pounced on it and threw his whole weight down, he scooted a few centimeters across the floor but, Aries was mostly muscle. Within seconds it had stopped moving. From the counterweight he could feel still wanting to tug he knew that Diana hadn’t fallen, even if all he couldn’t hear her. And, he prayed he wouldn’t hear her, she’d mostly been holding the blanket with her mouth when she went over, so, if she started to speak that would mean she’d let go…

Aries didn’t trust her in the slightest not to do this. Carefully he rose, and, began to walk towards the window, making sure to keep holding the blanket down. It jerked a little under his paws, but didn’t go further and he was able to make it all the way to the window. He looked out.

Sure enough there was Diana, dangling from the other end of the blanket with all her fur on end. Her big gold eyes were wide and terrified but Aries was deeply relieved to see that it looked like her jaws had been welded shut on the blanket, there was no sign that she was letting go anytime soon. However, they had a problem: her dramatic fall had caught the interest of the wasps. Aries could see them (and hear them) beginning to swarm curiously around Diana’s dangling figure. Great, just great.

Now if he had been Piper or Axel he would have let Diana hang out there for a while, it was exactly the kind of “character-building” lesson they would find useful, hilarious and sadistic. But, Aries was not that sort of cat at all. "Get a firm grip on the blanket with your claws" he instructed Diana, he forced his voice to remain as calm and level as he could, there was no point in making her aware of the gathering swarm. Besides she could probably hear it herself. "I’m going to pull you in. You don’t need to do anything else. Just stay still and trust me."

PLEASE stay still and trust me Aries pleaded with her silently as he withdrew back into the warehouse, based on everything he knew of Diana’s character this was asking A LOT. Resisting the urge to cave into the enormous pressure and hurry Aries moved slowly, and deliberately. First he got a firm grip on the blanket with his teeth. Then he crouched down low and leaned back to center his gravity down. Once he felt stable, he slowly, slowly began to take small but unhesitating steps back. With every step he made sure he had a secure pawhold before placing the next. He was walking backwards over the blanket itself which meant there was a good chance he could slip if he wasn’t careful… and if that happened, well they would all go out the window together.

Centimeter by centimeter he dragged Diana back inside.


TAGGED // DELAWARE
WORDS // 693

[DELAWARE]

Terror lurched through Diana as she hung, swaying, from the blanket. Her breathing was coming fast and panicked and a roaring noise had begun in her ears, amplified by the interested buzzing of the wasps as they came to investigate the unexpected intruder. Unsteady, she let out a muffled scream as her paws - scrabbling, making it worse, she always made things worse - slipped off the sill. For one awful, horrible second, she hung in the air, and then gravity took over and she was falling again - and then there was another jerk, and she came to a horrible, organ-wrenching halt, her jaws aching as she clamped down reflexively to stop her grip being thrown. She did not dare to look anywhere but up, at the window that was still so close and yet so far. It's only a few inches, the rational, unruffled, sounds-suspiciously-like-Minnie voice in her head whispered. You aren't far. But Diana had never been good at listening to Minnie, and besides, the roaring was drowning her out.

Panic took over and she went from dead-still to thrashing, trying to reach the window frame with all her might. Stretching her body as far as it would go, she managed to brush the tip of one paw against the frame, and then the blanket slipped under her - she jerked down another half-centimeter - and Diana went deathly still, too afraid, this time, to even scream. Her vision was blurring, her heart pounding against her chest, and the dull, sudden recognition of her own mortal limits overcame her in an aching jaw and sore muscles and a heavy, body-weighted fear that exerted more force than gravity. She couldn't hold out, she wasn't strong enough, the wool in her mouth was thick and disgusting and hard to grasp, the wasps were growing closer, she was going to let go, she could hold on as long as she liked but she wasn't strong enough and because of that she was going to die -

The roaring was so loud now, and Diana's vision so unfocused, turned so inward, that it took her a moment to register the blurry shape above her, longer still for the noises coming from it to form into words. And they didn't. Not really. By the time she had managed to push out of her stricken mind to make any sense of anything that didn't end in her imminent death, Diana had missed everything the shape - Aries, because it was Aries, he was still there, he was still there - had said, except for one final phrase.

"Trust me."

Trust me. Trust him. Trust. Simple words, easy to say, but Diana was low on trust right now. It had been torn out of her, stamped across the warehouse floor, burned up in wild eyes and a feral strangeness she refused to recognize. Trust was a pulverized, pathetic thing, a twisted children's toy that meant comfort and offered nothing. Diana did not want to trust. In this moment of her life, hunted and caught by the bitterness that lived like a parasite within her, she wasn't even sure she believed in it. Were it not for her siblings, she would have been certain. She would have ignored Aries, done her best to get inside herself, summoned up the ruthless street cat that was her father's family's legacy. Would have, all things being equal and paranoia and pride being more equal than most, fallen to her death. (Not strong enough.) But her siblings appeared in her mind, the color of fire and smoke, and Diana shut her eyes and clung to her love for them and trusted.

Under her, the blanket jerked. She flinched with it, a full-bodied flinch that nearly set her panicking again, but she'd set her mind to self-preservation now. She might never open her jaws again, but she was never going to let this blanket go. (She didn't think to grab the blanket with her claws - she hadn't heard Aries' instructions, was too far gone to process anything else, and the sheer force of Diana's stubborn will did the rest.) She kept her eyes shut, her ears flat, her body limp. The blanket jerked again, and again; and Diana could feel herself ascending, in fits and starts like bad stop-motion, the scrape of the blanket against stone and wall and the buzzing of wasps, louder than ever, her own heavy breathing, nose nearly pressed flat against the wool... but she was moving. She was moving. Slowly, inexorably, Aries was pulling her in, and then - and then she felt the bump of a windowsill against the bottom of her jaw and Diana came alive.

Reaching up, heedless of Aries, the blanket, of anything except her own tsunami desire to save herself, Diana grasped the sill with her claws and hauled herself forward with a strength she didn't realize she possessed. She managed to get halfway inside before the sliding blanket became too much to counteract, but her claws were buried deep now and she was spitting wool out of the way, freeing her mouth enough to let out the frightened pleading she'd been suppressing - "Please please please PLEASE please pleasepleasehelp me help mehelphelp pleasehelppleasehelphelpplease -" while the wasps, unsettled by the sound and the action and the invasion too close to their nest, to their queen, began to swarm ominously.


[ ooc jackelyn !!!! bringing the drama as always ]

[jackelyn]

aries;

Almost there... Almost there... Aries's legs were trembling with effort, his jaw hurt from gripping the blanket in his mouth, and, on top of everything else the wool tasted terrible. But he could tell Diana was close, in fact, her ears had just appeared over the edge of the windowsill, he sent a brief prayer of thanks that, she was listening to him, she was staying still...

... only for him to shout as she started to thrash around. The blanket was yanked brutally out of his mouth, Aries bit his tongue and cursed, tasting blood. He lost his grip on the blanket too, his claws were scraping along the surface, he quickly sunk them in again but, he knew it wouldn't be enough. He'd lost his balance and, was beginning to slide across the floor, gaining speed as Diana scrambled and wailed. To his absolute horror Aries saw her small, terrified face appearing through the window, she was trying to haul herself in but, it wasn't going to be enough. The momentum of the blanket was too fast, she was too small...

Aries made a split second decision, he let go of the blanket entirely and, in the same movement lunged forward. His jaws closed around Diana's nape. With a powerful twist he hauled her inside and pivoted around. He released her, tossing her clear of the blanket and danger. Unfortunately, the action caused him to slip more, and suddenly he felt his back paws hit the edge of the window. Uh oh. He was in big trouble. He could hear the agitated noise of the wasps too, all of this action was disrupting the hive. A wasp, and then another and another, buzzed into view very close to his face. Too close.

Aries felt dread rise in him, and then, he felt a sharp painful sting. Right between his ears. Another one quickly followed, on his nose. With a wordless yell of pain he swept up the blanket underneath him. The adrenaline made the heavy wool, suddenly feel as light as a feather. He swung it around and whipped it at the hive and oncoming swarm of wasps. He had just a moment to see it connect firmly with the hive's great structure, breaking it apart through the middle and top, and then suddenly, all he saw was bright blue sky.

You see, Aries had still been standing on the blanket... and, so when he threw it with all his strength, he accidentally threw himself out the window, too. Time seemed to slow down. Great Aries thought as he twisted in mid-air, he looked down below him at the blanket-covered hive, dark cloud of very angry wasps, and most importantly the very hard concrete ground rushing up to meet them all. Instinct took over, he felt his body relax, preparing for the impact. He screwed his eyes shut. This is going to hurt!

NOTES // He will land on the blanket and hive :) Bruised, but, not broken!
TAGGED // DELAWARE
WORDS // 481

[DELAWARE]

Diana screamed as she went soaring through the air, Aries' powerful throw sending her sailing towards the opposite wall, the scream cutting off in little wails and grunts of pain as she hit the top of the cargo boxes and went skidding painfully several feet. Dazed, she lay there breathing hard, the rafters of the warehouse swimming before her eyes, all thoughts vanished; after what felt like years (but must have only been seconds) she became aware of a buzzing sound, growing increasingly angrier. Blearily, she lifted her head, twisting her neck painfully in the direction of the noise. For a second her vision remained unfocused, just blurry moving blobs and flickering lights and shadows, and then in a split instant everything resolved and the world rushed in again - and Diana screamed in horror, unable to help herself, as she saw Aries pitching over the side of the window and out of sight, pursued by a horde of black insects.

Diana scrambled up, racing over to the window, all previous injuries and fear forgotten in the face of what had just occurred. She hesitated, frightened, in front of the sill; she suddenly didn't want to witness whatever she would see when she looked out. She didn't know what a several-story fall could do to a cat, and her overactive imagination supplied images of pancaked cats, almost comically flattened, all four legs sticking out... but how much blood would there be? Would there be a dent in the ground from the impact? She'd seen dead bodies before, but no body had ever met their death by falling - a muffled thump interrupted her thoughts and Diana flinched, hard. Before she could stop herself she peered out and down, eyes drawn like an unwilling magnet towards the heap of blanket and paper-gray hive and furious cloud of wasps that had landed hard on the concrete. She stared, transfixed by the undulating bodies of a thousand wasps; they were almost beautiful in a way, mourning and protesting and confused by the loss of their home, and she felt an unexpected pity well in her throat for them, to have everything ripped away so harshly...

The sight of a black tail poking out from the blanket, motionless, brought Diana back to reality with a wail of distress. Before she knew what she was doing she was scrambling away from the window, ungracefully throwing herself towards the ground, and then tearing madly out the warehouse door, rounding the corner in a bundle of frantic, flying black-and-white fur. Gold eyes wide, she tripped over herself, stumbling forward a few feet - closer to the blankets, to that still motionless black tail, than she had intended - before she finally stopped. "A... Aries?" she whispered, voice barely carrying through the noise of the swarm above her. "Are you... are you okay? Aries! Please wake up, Aries, please..." and with a hesitant, fearful paw, she reached out - stretching her whole body, she was just barely close enough - to poke, once, at the warrior's tail.


[ ooc jackelyn ]