HH: Assignment - To Honey

Blowing out a hard breath of air, Grady hefted the fallen support beam over his shoulder, bracing his knees for the weight. Shrugging a few times to edge it back, he managed to find a proper center of balance, and straightened his back to test it. When gravity didn't drag him to the ground, he huffed out a satisfied noise and started towards the front door of the quaint little house.

Quaint was flattering. The town was decrepit, barely safe enough to walk around, let alone dare investigating further. Every hair on Grady's body was standing on end, waiting for the practical inevitability of someone being hurt. The thought of anyone being pinned by a beam, or having something dropped on their head, was enough to make his gut feel like it had been tied into knots. That wasn't even including the worry that scattered nails or screws inflicted upon him, or the threat posed by the instability of the entire buildings.

Shaking off his incessant fretting, the fisher heaved out a sigh as he emerged back out into the sunlight. Hunching forward, he dropped the beam heavily, watching it clatter hard against the ground at his feet. Snapping his thick tail behind him, Grady turned and appraised the house he'd chosen to clear of debris. Plenty of the houses were littered with such issues, though; collapsed rafters, sagging walls, caved-in roofs. Looking around, Grady could hardly see anyone close to his own age; these were practically kids! How could those military-types ever hope to have this town up and running by putting all of the workload onto people who were so young?

Those thoughts were muted by the sound of shouting going on throughout the town. Not panicked or even all that indignant-- more like... well, workers. Everyone was cooperating, pulling their own weight, doing whatever they could. Relaxing for a moment, Grady watched while others dragged broken furniture out of the front door, or called below when something was being dumped out a window; saw people running by with shovels to help across town, or trading off jobs when one got too tiring; studied the grateful expression of someone sweeping being joined by another stranger.

Maybe he was underestimating them. It was instinct, to want to protect them. The hole left behind by the absence of his kid was in dire need of filling, and his heart was eager to push every single one of these kids into it to try and compensate. That wouldn't do anyone any good.

He felt bad for his previous thoughts. Whether they were kids or not, they were acting like adults. Everyone was working together and doing their best to get to the end of the day with as much progress as possible. Bickering was minimal, and even those who resented the military presence weren't going out of their way to antagonize the rat's people.

Maybe they'd be fine after all.

"Blake!" Round ears flicking, Grady lifted his head and glanced toward the sound of his name. "This is too heavy for us, could you help?"

"Sure thing," he called, trotting across the dirt road to lend a hand.

---

He couldn't help but eye the rat whenever he walked by. There was something perverse in the pleasure that Clay was taking from his position. Grady didn't like it at all.

"GRADY!" Just as suddenly as the suspicious thoughts had entered his mind, they were banished by a shrill wail. Startled from his reverie, Grady straightened from where he was yanking at an especially stubborn weed, watching as the questionably-dressed young caracal sprinted towards him.

"What's wrong?" Despite his agitated thoughts from a moment before, he wasn't terribly concerned by Chase's panic; the boy was predisposed to overreaction.

"I was cleaning this cute house, I hope I get to live in it, especially this one room, the window faces east so I'll get an awesome sun rise every morning--"

"Chase," he interrupted, trying his best not to sound exasperated. He failed, but it was laced with fondness. The boy's tendency to ramble was sweet.

"Oh! Oh my god there's a bee hive in the room beside mine!" Grady didn't bother to point out that it wasn't necessarily Chase's room yet.

"Want me to get it?" he offered with a chuckle, knowing that was exactly why Chase had come to get him.

"Yeah! Yeah, please! I knew there were too many bothering me while I got rid of all those cobwebs, they just kept showing up. I think one stung my tail!" His lip wibbled at the admission and Grady smothered the laugh he felt bubbling up.

"Better get it looked at, just in case," he suggested, and Chase waffled indecisively, expression fading slowly into a pout.

"Maybe," he grumbled, clearly not wanting to.

"Show me where this beehive is." Perking up, Chase nodded emphatically and snatched Grady's hand, hauling him practically across town.

Dragging him in through the front door, Chase planted his feet in the middle of the main room, looking up at Grady like he'd seen a ghost. "That room," he said under his breath, as if speaking too loudly would summon the bees. Pointing, the caracal followed the direction of his own finger, eyeing the room warily.

"I'll take care of it, bud, don't worry your pretty li'l head." Chase's expression changed immediately, practically preening at the flattery.

"Thanks, Grady!"

Leaving the boy in the center of the room, noting how he craned his neck to try and see as Grady stepped in, the fisher scanned the room and had no difficulty finding the hive. It was huge.

Walking over to it, Grady stood on his toes and studied the nest. Something seemed off about it, but he didn't bother himself with trying to figure it out, instead reaching up and grasping it between his hands. Digging his fingers between the nest and the wall, he detached it from the wall. Stumbling back, he jostled the nest, wincing as an angry buzz rose.

The first sting of pain on his hand almost made him drop the nest, but he knew that would only crack it open and unleash the swarm to the open air.

The second sting had him making a face and stepping back towards the door.

The third, fourth, and fifth stings were all up his arms as he called, "Chase, head outside!"

Every sting after that just reaffirmed the idea that something wasn't quite right.

Hearing Chase run out the front door, Grady followed quickly enough, keeping his distance from anyone else as the cloud of angry bees-- bees?-- rose around his head. Narrowing his eyes to slits to keep them from taking any damage, he ran between the houses and quickly emerged on the farmland, heading to the nearest bush and depositing the nest there.

With both hands free, he immediately began to swat at the swarming menaces, racing from the nest. They weren't deterred, no matter how many he knocked away.

It wasn't quite as funny to him, as it might be to everyone else, seeing such a lumbering fisher running around the perimeter of the town and flailing his arms. It took some kind soul taking pity on him and dousing him with a bucket of water before the stinging little bastards left him alone. Grumbling a thanks, thanking the powers that be that it was hot out today, Grady returned to the house where Chase was still waiting for him.

"Sorry," the boy mumbled, looking guilty. "I didn't think it'd be that bad."

"S'alright," Grady chuckled, patting Chase's arm. "Make sure you get that room, or this'll've been for nothing, right?"

"It's definitely mine!" Chase said with conviction, clenching his fist.

"Good." Agitation was twitching through Grady's muscles and he excused himself, wandering through the town and looking for a familiar white figure.

It didn't take him too long to spot Aspen, though it took longer than Grady would've liked. "Hey," he greeted, a bit gruffly as he stepped up, resisting the temptation to start scratching all over his body. "Got stung by some bees."

"You haphazardly attempted to relocate a hive, hm?" Aspen asked sympathetically, reaching out and taking Grady's hefty hand in his own delicate one, turning it over and studying the visible stings that stood out on his pawpad. "We'll have to locate all of the stingers and oust them promptly."

"Uh... huh," Grady agreed quietly, not pretending to understand everything the fox was saying. Something in Aspen's expression silenced him; the subtle furrow of his brow, the close way he was inspecting the wounds. "Somethin' wrong?"

Shaking his head, Aspen lifted a hand to push his hair from his face and get a clearer view of the stings. "These aren't bee stings," Aspen said after a moment, lowering a nail and scraping gently at the welt. "No stingers." Straightening, he glanced up at Grady. "What did the hive resemble?"

After a moment's consideration, Grady decided, "My kid's third grade papier-mâché volcano."

"That was a wasp's nest. Odious little vermin." Looking a little uncomfortable, Aspen glanced around, ears laying flat. "Where did you allocate the nest?"

"Uhh, I stuck it in a bush on the edge of the farmland," Grady said, dipping his head a bit to try and catch Aspen's eye. "What's wrong?"

"Ah, nothing." Flashing a quick smile to reassure the other, Aspen redirected his attention to the stings. "Wasp's stings are facile, quite elementary to handle. Without stingers to extract, it's a simple affair to treat the irritation." Appearing satisfied, Aspen turned towards his supplies, rooting through them. "Nothing a little aloe vera won't ameliorate."

"Ameliorate," Grady repeated, a bit helplessly.

Glancing up at him, Aspen hesitated, before saying, "Relieve the pain."

"Aha. Well, that's good." Grady grinned. "Thanks."

Smiling in return, Aspen nodded, straightening with the bottle of gel. "Preferably we'd ice the inflamed areas, but I must confess, that fink of a lieutenant is imparting nary a helpful morsel to my service." Visibly agitated, Aspen took a moment to reign in his frustration, composing himself to properly treat the man in front of him. "I apologize for my outburst."

"If that's an outburst, I'm a canary," Grady chuckled, and Aspen glanced up just quickly enough to make sure Grady wasn't mocking him before offering a tired smile of his own.

It took a while to find all of the stings, and even then, it took all of Grady's willpower not to start scratching. "I'd advise you palliate from work for the time being." Straightening, Aspen capped the aloe vera, returning it to his bag.

"Aspen, please," Grady finally said, unable to keep himself from sounding a tad impatient. "I love that brain of yours, but dumb it down for me a bit."

Ducking his head to veil embarrassment, Aspen nodded, resisting the urge to apologize. "Take a break," he clarified, focusing on the bag he was reorganizing.

Grady shook his head, tugging his vest off. "No time for that. Can't leave everyone else to work while I sit out for somethin' as pitiful as this."

"Have you taken a break yet today?" The tone of Aspen's voice was carefully measured, yet Grady could hear a trace of concern. Pausing, he studied the back of the fox's head, taking a moment before replying.

"No." Then, to appease the other, he said, "I'll grab some food before getting back to it."

Sighing, Aspen nodded in acquiescence. "Come back tomorrow so I can reapply the aloe," he called as Grady left. Waving over his shoulder, the fisher kept it in mind.

A cloud of dust erupted from the doorway as Grady stopped in front of it, lifting a paw to wave it away. "Chase?" he called, squinting through the murk.

"Grady!!" A broom clattered to the ground and the caracal appeared from around the corner of the house. At Grady's confused look, he said, "Window," and stepped up to him. "D'you get looked at for all those bee stings?"

"Wasps," Grady told him. "And yeah. Got patched up by Aspen."

"Ohhh." Nodding, Chase glanced back at the main room of the house, watching as the dust gradually settled. "I better get back to work. If I work the hardest on this house, then I'll definitely get to keep that room!"

"Good luck," Grady chuckled.

A voice called his name and he glanced up. Someone gestured towards a heavy-looking couch, stuck halfway in the doorway. Without thinking, Grady headed over to help them pull it out, forgetting about lunch altogether.