[PRP] In The Flesh [Swarm/Dapper Mantis]

[Ruriska]

As fall marched on, Brother and Sister grew increasingly irritable. The trio, Swarm at the lead, had decided to prepare for winter on a small rise covered in thick brush and trees. It was elevated and relatively dry, but most important of all, easily defensible. By the time the frozen season arrived, the wasps would be sleeping and Swarm would be there to watch over them.

But until that day, Brother and Sister were not in a friendly sort of mood. They guarded their new territory fiercely, driving off even the birds. It was not unusual for the copse to erupt into violence when some unfortunate creature wandered too close and Swarm chose to ignore it most days.

Only just mid-morning and a heavy, angry buzz began as Brother spotted a new interloper.  

[Jun D]

A mantis must eat, and Court was unafraid. It heard the angry buzz long before it leapt into the copse, but did not stop - its own wings fluttered, a radiant warning.

Two wasps against one mantis was hardly good odds, but Court had never let a thing like that stop it.

Ruriska

 

[Ruriska]

Brother had always been the more aggressive out of the two wasps. He was in the air as soon as the mantis dared enter their space, the drone of his wings no longer a warning but a clear threat of imminent attack.

Sister was slower to react, as ponderous as a wasp can be while she watched the two and finished placing the mud she'd been smoothing onto their new nest.

Jun D

 

[Jun D]

Court stared clear-eyed at the rising wasp - it stood its ground, but its limbs were poised to leap aside at first dart.

Ruriska

 

[Ruriska]

With his abdomen hooked and jutting stinger ready to strike, Brother darted forward-

- in a feint. He halted abruptly before he was even close and continued the aggressive buzzing, as if hoping he could settle this disagreement without engagement.

Jun D

 

[Jun D]

Court tensed to leap - but the wasp had paused. It did not move, eyes fixed on the wasp as the wasp on it. It would not attack - not yet, anyhow - without contact, but neither would it stand down.

Ruriska

WASPS SO POLITE QAQ

 

[Ruriska]

He swung from side to side, anger growing with each second that the mantis remained in his territory. Caution had held him back so far (one did not simply charge a mantis when it was prepared to strike) but the call to violence would soon be stronger.

Sister chose that time to enter the fray. Slightly larger than her hivemate, her wings beating quicker than the eye could see, she approached from the side.

Jun D

Not really. XD

 

[Jun D]

Now caged by the wasps, Court's bright wings flared and rattled - it raised its blades with an anticipatory rasp of their razor-edges:

So this was to be war.

Ruriska

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

 

[Ruriska]

Two against one.

The odds were heavily in their favour and bolstered by Sister's presence, Brother moved into an attack. This time there was no hesitation, he thrust himself forward for full body contact, stinger at the ready.

Jun D

 

[Jun D]

A chitinous clatter of a deflecting limb and Court had leapt to the side, barely clearing the charge. Rearing, it sprang again, this time forward - razors out...for Sister.

Ruriska

 

[Ruriska]

His own momentum carried him forward and it took an intense flurry of his wings to stop and turn back into the fight.

When the mantis turned towards Sister, she was ready- to fall back. A quick dart backwards and out of range, always the more patient, the less aggressive, waiting for the perfect shot to kill.

And then Brother was there, seeking to engage once more.  

[Jun D]

Plan thwarted, the mantis whirled and sprang to strike the other instead -

- and into the middle of this deadly duel crashed a hapless buck:



"Court," he panted, breaking through the bushes, "where have you gotten off to now - oh, brother."  

[Ruriska]

The two wasps hesitated.

Another combatant. Did this change anything?

A hasty series of buzzes.

No.

Brother and Sister circled and prepared to attack.  

[Jun D]

The mantis clicked its mandibles, furious at having its fun interrupted, but the buck ignored his constant(ly troublesome) companion's protestations and darted between the warring insects instead.

"What have you done now?" he hissed, pushing frantically at his (only) friend, "there're two of them!"

But his hopes of a quick escape were dashed as the wasps began to fence them in - Dapper threw his panicked gaze back and forth, but they were too quick to allow for a break.

"If we die here," he half-gasped, half-whined, half-knees-buckled, "I hope you know it's all your fault."

But he threw himself over the mantis anyway.  

[Ruriska]

"Enough." Just one word; spoken sharp and precise.

In mid-attack the wasps came to a sudden halt. Their constant furious buzzing, that had raged throughout the battle, became a softer drone. Their retreat was calm but wary.

They flanked their queen where she had entered the battleground.