[Twitch]

"I'm not very good with stills.  I get all twitchy." - Saffron Burrows

The morning was clear and bright, bearing the promise of a beautiful day.  With an excited shriek that only a child could make, a little mottled ball of fur tumbled down the hill. To call the young pup uncoordinated would be too kind. She tripped and sent herself sprawling like a tiny drunk, but it didn't dampen Twitch's enthusiasm for the adventure she was insistent on having.  Barely with her legs under her she had bolted into the unknown with a completely bright outlook.  There was so much space.  The den had been stuffy and crowded.  She never got to keep her creepy crawlies for long in there.  Every bug and beetle magically escaped or disappeared with her siblings about.  But in this bright, open world there had to be crawlies galore.

Skidding down the slope, Twitch's large ears perked forward in the direction of the most interesting noise. It was a high, electric buzz, It was a noise that set her nerves on edge. It drew her because of curiosity, but it was already threatening to overwhelm her small system.  One of her ears flicked like a fly was buzzing around a horse's head.  Her long tail stood almost straight up, but bent back over halfway, making her look oddly squirrel-like as it twitched around her.  She crawled under a bush, her back just brushing the lowest branch, sending an involuntary shiver through her that resulted in a wet-dog shake.

Looking around, she didn't find the source for the buzzing.  Padding to the other side of the small clearing, she ducked her head into a break in the undergrowth, but the sound seemed duller on this side.  Plopping down in the center of the small gap in the trees, she raised a hind foot and scratched her ear in thought.  She wanted to know what was making that sound!  Another tremor wracked her, and she fell backwards on the grass and rolled from side to side, trying to get rid of the itch the noise was causing.  She needed to know, because they aggravated her twitches. Twitch didn't like these buzzing things, no sir.  But first, she needed to know exactly what she didn't like.  It was important.  Because reasons.

OOC:  Thought the bug kids should meet <3

[Embsay]

Embsay stuck a paw under the log and wiggled it frantically side to side in a fishing motion to see what he could dig out. It wasn't a particularly good haul, lots of soft, rotting, splinters of damp wood, two small snails and a centipede that scuttled away far too fast for his uncoordinated puppy pounce to catch it. "Heeeeey. Come back!" He called. Unsurprisingly, the centipede did not come back to be squashed by his enthusiasm. He snuffled under the log and had a couple more unfruitful fishes before putting his shoulder against the log and giving it a good push, it wobbled slighty but his inconsiderable strength was not enough to turn it over.

Embsay sat back on his haunches with huff and, knowing when to quit, he looked around for something else to do. Mr Centipede went free this day. Then he heard it. The electric whine of a.. A bird? They made noises like that? Kinda like that? This merited further investigation. A new voyage of exploration plotted he set of in search of the sound. He had only taken two purposeful paces away from the den when doubt assailed him and he looked back thinking he should perhaps ask his parents if he could go first, he didn't want to worr... Another of the things started chirping and his head whipped round, large ears perked and all his good intentions were completely forgotten. He bounded off down the hill.

His ears lead him through the undergrowth to a clearing and he sprang out into it a dither of excitement and ran back and forth trying to locate the noise in a very haphazard fashion. This was not a very scientific exploration. He saw Twitch then and made a puppy bark of greeting but didn't even break his stride as he stuck his head in another bush, then withdrew frowning deciding the noise was coming from the otherside of the clearing afterall. Adults would probably have stopped for polite introductions but kids don't need them. Embsay was also so absorbed in the quest it never occured to him anyone else could have been about any other business. "You see it?" He asked bouncing towards her. "Bird right? A bird?" He jabbered excitedly.

"Wait no, it's over there! No, up there!" He head and ears were jerking about madly as he kept zeroing in on the noise only for it move as soon as he thought he had it. "Wow! It must be fast!" His red eyes went dramatically wide then and he turned to Twitch and added, "Or there are lots of them..."

[Twitch]

"I'm not very good with stills.  I get all twitchy." - Saffron Burrows

"You see it? Bird right? A bird?"

Children have the uncanny ability to only be able to experience one emotion at a time, and at the moment, excitement overwhelmed everything else.  It didn't matter that they had never met before, that they didn't know each other's names.  Right now, they were on a quest and the chase could not be paused for paltry things like introductions!  Tail twitching with each buzz, Twitch's large, pointed ears swiveled around at the sounds. She was also looking up into the trees, trying to determine the noise.

"Nonono, not a bird." She said, whipping her head back around in the other direction. "Too buzzy for a bird!"

""Wait no, it's over there! No, up there! Wow! It must be fast! Or there are lots of them...""

The noise bounced back and forth in the clearing, and the two puppies were practically spinning in circles trying to figure out where it was coming from. Twitch tripped on her own tail and went sprawling to the ground, but with the resilience of any determined youngster, she quickly got her feet back under her. Swishing the grass out of her long extra limb, she turned back to her sudden ally in unknown entomology.

"You go over there, I'll go over there." Twitch indicated to opposite sides of the clearing. "If there's only one, one of us will hear it most."

[Embsay]

OOC: Sorry for th delay! Had a bust few weeks and got a bit behind.

---

 
"Nonono, not a bird. Too buzzy for a bird!"
 
Embsay's ears twitched at the noise too, now he was closer, practically on top of the noise it buzzed and burrowed straight through him at such a pitch he had to flatten his large ears back against his skull for a second to shut it out as it was putting his teeth on edge. "You're right!" He agreed emphatically, "No bird!" Then after a moments pause added, a pointless anecdote which in that moment seemed to him important information. "I saw a bird once that flew about like it was bee and drank from flowers like a bee too! It was pretty buzzy. Well hummy I guess... So it can't be one of them."
 
"You go over there, I'll go over there. If there's only one, one of us will hear it most."
 
"Yeah? Yeah! Good plan!" Embsay bounced on the spot a couple of times in excitement, his new friend -  Of course she was his friend they had just met after all, that's how you make friends when you are a puppy -  was full of good ideas! "We're gonna get it now!" Then, remembering he was actually supposed to be doing something other than being excited, he followed her directions and bounded off to the other side of the clearing, ears perked and straining, not that it was hard to hear the incessant buzz, he just didn't want to miss any clues.
 
"I think...." Embsay called after a moments silent listening in which he struggled to keep still and just listen like he was supposed to. "It's behind me?" It was a question because he still really couldn't tell. "It sounds like it's everywhere though!" Then after another pause "How are we supposed to know if you or me can hear it loudest? Because it's pretty loud..." Then he had an idea of his own. "Hey! Hey!" He scuttled back across to her and nodded back the way he had come. "Swap ends with me, then is it louder here or there?" This way they would be able to compare! Yes! They were doing the thing!

[Twitch]

"I'm not very good with stills.  I get all twitchy." - Saffron Burrows

"You're right! No bird!"

Twitch rolled her eyes. Like duh, I knew I was right.

"I saw a bird once that flew about like it was bee and drank from flowers like a bee too! It was pretty buzzy. Well hummy I guess... So it can't be one of them."

"A Humbuzzy Beebird?" Twitch said doubtfully as she cocked her head. "I've never seen one of those."

But the noise was still going on, and the desire to see a Humbuzzy Beebird was going to have to wait. The buzzing was going to drive her insane, no two ways about it.  Twitch's back was starting to do it's twitch thing.  It started at her shoulders, like a horse twitching away a fly, but soon her whole spine would be doing it.   She hated the twitches.  But she got them a lot. Alot alot.  So much that she was named for the twitches. And things like these buzzy things made it worse.  She wanted rid of the buzzy things! With a puppy whine-huff, she ran in a tight circle, bouncing up and down to shake the twitches.

"Yeah? Yeah! Good plan! We're gonna get it now!"

Not wanting to be outdone, she ran to her side of the clearing.  The buzzing was loud here too, and seemed to be calling back and forth.  Loud, then not as loud, then really loud again.  She didn't think it was that fast.  She was starting to think they were dealing with more than one buzzy bug.

"How are we supposed to know if you or me can hear it loudest? Because it's pretty loud..."

"It's loud here too!" She shouted back.

"Hey! Hey! Swap ends with me, then is it louder here or there?"

"'Kay!"

They raced back around the clearing, and once again stopped to listen.  A silly game, but a show of real skill and teamwork.  Twitch didn't know this other puppy's name, but they were obviously best friends now.

"It's the same loud!" she called back over one twitching shoulder. "'There's two of them!"

She turned her head up towards the tree, standing on her unbalanced puppy hind legs.  Her long tail was already beginning to drag on the ground, but it would be longer still once she was grown.  Large ears swiveled like mini radar disks, and her spine pulsed, raising her hackles.

"Get down here, Buzzy Bug!" She barked up the tree.

[Embsay]

"A Humbuzzy Beebird? I've never seen one of those."

"I'll catch you one and prove it!" Embsay announced with absolutely no thought as to how he was ever going to achieve that. The thing has been a streak of lightening that weaved this way and that with no apparent logic and only paused momentarily to sip from each flower before darting off again. A promise was a promise though so he would have to do it or die trying. It was that simple.

"It's loud here too! 'Kay! It's the same loud! There's two of them!"

"Two of us too!" Embsay yipped back, proud of their so far flawless teamwork. Why couldn't his sibling not be this easy to get along with? He was sure if any of them were here it would have dissolved into arguments and biting of ears and the Buzzer would be long gone. Though that's probably the natural result when you've all be cooped up together in the same uterus; you get sick of getting kicked in the ribs by your siblings long before you even know they are doing it so need to exact revenge where you can.

"Get down here, Buzzy Bug!"

Twitch barked up at the Buzzer and he joined in too. "You're in big trouble Mr Bug!" The chirping carried on without missing a beat, Mr Bug didn't seem to care or even have even noticed the two puppies who were likely to squish him to death either accidentally, or on purpose, if they managed to get hold of him.

"There's only one thing for it," Embsay said turning to Twitch with about the same gravity as a General who was about to announce they needed to eat the horses. "We'll have to go up after it!" How were they going to do that? Ermm... Think...Think... Oh yeah! "You climb up and scare it and I'll be here ready to pounce when it comes out?" He made a few pouncey movements that caught nothing but dead leaves to show how good and ready he was for this important task.

"Boost you?" He crouched at the base of the tree, nodding to his back, indicating she should use him as a handy step. If she did take up his offer he would count loudly "1...2...3!" and pop upwards, adding a little bit of momentum to any run or jump she might attempt. If she refused, well, he would just look very silly.

This new plan had the potential to go really well or very badly.

[Twitch]

"I'm not very good with stills.  I get all twitchy." - Saffron Burrows

"I'll catch you one and prove it!"

"For realsies?!"  Oh, yeah, this kid was definitely Twitch's new best friend.

The hellion girl had just as little of an idea on how her new friend was to accomplish it, but that really wasn't important right now.  They sped around the clearing, conducting their experiment.  In a flawless display of unity, they both barked at the bugs.

"There's only one thing for it, We'll have to go up after it!"

"Up after-?"

"You climb up and scare it and I'll be here ready to pounce when it comes out?"

Could she climb? Twitch had never tried to climb a tree before.  But before she could contemplate whether or not she was a climber, he was moving forward with his plan.

"Boost you?"

Not one to be left out, she clamored onto his back.  Instead of trying to figure out if she was a climber, she focused on keeping her balance.  As puppies, they weren't that much different in size, although he was still a little bigger, a little stronger.

"1...2...3!"

She pushed off as he rocketed up.  For a moment, her paws caught around the branch.  She clamored for a hold, hanging by both front paws while her back legs kicked wildly.  Her tail swished back and forth and she swung like a monkey.  But they weren't victorious just yet.  Twitch strained to keep a hold on the branch, but she couldn't quite get her leg over.  If she couldn't get up, she'd fall.

"I can't get up!" She grunted, trying to swing up again.

Her partner was going to have to come up with something good, otherwise she was gonna fall, and probably die.  Yeah, she was gonna die. Twitch gripped harder to the branch.

[Embsay]

""I can't get up!"

In reality the distance was only a few feet - Embsay wasn't that strong and Twitch wasn't that light - No where near enough of a fall to cause a fatality, a bruise possibly, but pride was and dignity were the two things most in danger in this situation. Still, to one who was only small themselves, the gap between branch and ground looked vast and Embsay looked worriedly between the dangling form of Twitch above and the ground below feeling incredibly guilty. He had just lead her to her death! His best friend! He'd killed her already and he'd only had her ten minutes!

"D-Don't worry!" Embsay called up to her in what he hoped sounded a confident and reassuring voice, like he totally had the situation in hand. He looked round wildly for ideas, red eyes wide and heart beating loudly. What to do? What to do?! He spotted a long stick laying in the leaves... Maybe he could poke her down? Wait. No. He shook his head, that wasn't helping. He watched her swinging and struggling to get her leg over the branch, chewing his bottom lip, mind working frantically. Unless...

He darted over and grabbed the stick, it was several feet long and covered in flaky bark, only a couple of inches thick at the widest point, tappering to a fork and fingery branches with dead leaves. Much bigger and it would have been far too heavy for him to lift, even as it was its ponderous weight was a struggle, but he dug his teeth in and heaved it up staggering about with it, trying not to be thrown off balance. With much grunting and huffing, and several misses, he propped the leafy end up against the tree. Panting and spitting pithy bits of bark he stepped back from his handywork. The leafy top of the stick bisected the angle between trunk and branch so it was just below Twitch, but was it close enough? He couldn't tell from below. "Can you reach that?" He asked, stepping back and forth beneath her anxiously, trying to see. "Can you get a foot on it? Maybe?" He was trying to make her a step to push off from, it would have been a brillant plan if he had taken into consideration the fact the stick was old and brittle and therefore debatable as to if it would even take her weight.

"If you fall I'll catch you!" He called up, more bravely than he truely felt, positioning himself directly under her and sitting back on his haunches to reach up to her. He could almost touch her tail if he streched as far as he could - So close, but so far! The reality was if she did fall he would be little more than a cushion to soften her landing and would probably end up winded into the bargain. He was not the hero anyone deserved.

[Twitch]

"I'm not very good with stills.  I get all twitchy." - Saffron Burrows

In the black and white of a child's mind, there was only resounding success or absolute failure.  While the branch's height was nowhere near the distance perceived by the children, it was an impressive leap for one so small. A hint to the agility that the hellion girl may be capable of in the future.  That was lost to both of them, however, so engrossed were they in their current ordeal. Twitch continued to swing, her momentum causing the branch to begin to bob up and down.  She squeezed her silver eyes shut against the blurry world, her belly beginning to flip flop with motion sickness.  Unaware of the physics behind her actions, Twitch had no idea that she was doing it to herself.

"D-Don't worry!"

Twitch's eyes snapped open as she rolled them to look over her shoulder at her friend.  Hardly the tone of confidence, and instead of looking back at her he was scanning around.  She watched him dart away, and suddenly she had a spike of fear shiver through her.  He ran away?!  She had the barest moment to hate him before he wobbled back into her view, carrying an "enormous" branch.  He hadn't left her after all!  Hate was already forgotten, as she felt relief. It was a miracle she had managed to last this long.

"Can you reach that?Can you get a foot on it? Maybe?"

"I'll try..."

She said, ceasing to try and swing her leg up. Instead, she tried to stretch down to put her rear paws on the stick.  She could barely touch it with her toes.  She couldn't reach her foothold unless she let go of the branch she was swinging from. If she let go of the branch, she was going to fall.  There was so much she hadn't done yet! She wasn't even old enough to have regrets yet, and here she was about to die.

"If you fall I'll catch you!"

"Promise?!"

[Embsay]

OOC: Sorry such a delay on such a bad post! Thought it was better something than nothing. Just getting my RP mojo back after a lot of stress and work. Feel free to say how she lands on Embsay -or not as the case may be- you can smush him at will though!

---

The buzzy bug was still chirping away mockingly from somewhere near them -Up? Down? In front? Behind?- It was a total mystery, but it was completely forgotten now there was an almost literal cliff hanger in progress.

""I'll try..."

"So so close!" He barked up to her encouragingly as she stretched for the twig with her back legs. "Nearly!" She could barely touch it, the twig just wasn't big enough. His plan with the oversized twig had always had several large flaws in it however he was still crushingly disappointed it had failed so badly. He'd wanted his new friend to be impressed by his quick thinking rather than a casualty to his second bad idea of the day. He bit his lip and willed her to be just a inch or two more stretchy or the branch to magically sprout and grow up to her, but of course neither of those things happened. 

"Promise?!"

He realised he'd been holding his breath as his chest started to hurt and sucked one in. It was just too far. She was going to have to let go and risk it. "Cross my heart and hope to die!" He drew himself up to his inconsiderable full height on his back legs and patted his chest with one of his outstreched paws indicating her target. "I'm sorry I got you into this... But if we make it out of this do you want to be best friends?" He thought it was important to get that off his chest and make it official just incase neither of them survived the next few seconds - or if he failed to catch her and she did actually die she would have a harder time staying mad at her bestie... Right? "Let go! I've got you!"

This was going to be undignified.

[Twitch]

"I'm not very good with stills.  I get all twitchy." - Saffron Burrows

Even with the impression skew that came from their puppy vision, the stick looked precarious at best to the little swinging hellion.  She wanted to trust her new friend, but she didn't trust that branch one bit, no sir!  Still, she wasn't sure what else she was going to do.  Obviously becoming a monkey and living in the tree forever was just right out.  She made one more futile reach for the branch.
 
"Cross my heart and hope to die!"

That did reassure her. a bit.

"I'm sorry I got you into this... But if we make it out of this do you want to be best friends?"

"You'll be my best friend if you can catch me!" Twitch confirmed, taking a deep breath and trying to steady herself before she leapt into the void.

"Let go! I've got you!"

Twitch released her paws from the branch, and dropped.  Immediately she began to pitch down and backwards as the twig snapped, barely slowing her descent.  Time for her could-be ex-best-friend to make good on his promise.  Either way, it wasn't going to be pretty.

Luckily, kids bounce.

[Embsay]

"You'll be my best friend if you can catch me!"

It was everything to play for them. Nothing ever had been, or ever would be, as important as the next few seconds of his life. Twitch dropped. The branch, his theoretically brillaint but technically lacking solution, gave way instantly with a loud crack and his new friend tumbled backwards. Embsay reached up to intercept her ungainly decent and closed his eyes to brace for impact. For a horrible moment, that felt like an age despite being only a been a hundredth of a second, he thought he had missed her and she had fallen to her death. Then her weight hit him full force. He was instantly delighted - Yes! Best friends! - and then winded just as quickly.

He had miscalulated somewhat, he had intended to catch her neatly against his chest, but the height of her fall plus her weight vs his own strength was a badly weighted equation. She flattend him.

Embsay wheezed, sprawled in the leaf litter, fighting to inflate his lungs after the impact and spitting mud from what felt like a split lip. "I- I-" He squeaked out from underneath her, struggling to get enough air to speak, "-m, Emb- Embsay. W-Wh-Wos yours?" He was bruised and battered but he wasn't going to miss out on claiming what he had sacrificed his ability to breath for. He needed to make sure he was now in possession of one best friend.

[Twitch]

"I'm not very good with stills.  I get all twitchy." - Saffron Burrows

The impact felt good.  But really bad.  Actually, it hurt. A lot. Twitch crashed into her new best friend with all the dead weight of a sack of flour. Although, in reality, she didn't even weigh fifty pounds yet.  Even as an adult, she would barely clear that hurdle.  Like the hero and damsel after the final explosion in an action movie, they slammed into the ground together in a tangle of limbs and fur.  Her impact cushioned by another soft, fuzzy body, Twitch was, in fact, not dead.

I- I--m, Emb- Embsay. W-Wh-Wos yours? He gasped.

"Twitch!" She exhaled back, rolling to get off him. "You 'kay?"

Now that she was safely back on the ground, she was now realizing that maybe she'd hurt him.  After all, her brothers always told her she was fat.  She'd never believed them, but now, she was suddenly worried she was.  Had she squished her best friend before she'd even gotten to properly play with him?! Around them, the sound of buzzing had faded, the insects moving on to different trees, leaving the clearing silent.

[Embsay]

"Twitch! You 'kay?"

"Y-yeah. Ju-just catch-ing my breath." He assured her as she rolled off him and he too clambered back to his feet, chest heaving. He shook himself, freeing a shower of twigs and bits of leaves from his wavy black coat and then sat down heavily, eyes closed for a moment as he concentrated on breathing. In and out. His ribs hurt and his lip stung terribly; they were incredibly minor injuries that would be healed in a day or so, but they were the worst injuries Embsay had ever sustained in his short life and his lip did trembled a little bit as he fought back a sniffle and the thought that he'd really like his Mum to kiss them better. But he had to be brave infront of his new best friend. "I think I'm gonna head home." Well braveish.

His ears pricked up at the sound of silence and he stood, looking about the clearing. "Mr Bug got away!" He realised with horror. After all they had gone through their prey had escaped! "Tell that Bug he wont be so lucky next time!" He shouted at the surrounding trees, as if they might pass the message on the long since departed cicada.

"Meet here same time tomorrow?" He asked Twitch, tail wagging slowly, hopefully, from side to side. "We'll hunt him down!'" She would agree if she was his best friend, wouldn't she? "Ooh and we'll need a password." He added brightly, and a lot less militantly. "Just so I know it's you and you know it's me." The logic of this one was decidely lacking considering they both had full use of their eyes, but that was beside the point. "We can make this our base and no one else will be allowed in!" All best friends need a secret base.

[Twitch]

"I'm not very good with stills.  I get all twitchy." - Saffron Burrows

"Y-yeah. Ju-just catch-ing my breath."

Luckily, her new best friend didn't seem to be that broken.  His lip had a cut, and he was panting, but she didn't see any broken bones.  It was broken bones that were deadly, right?  Twitch's tail, absurdly long as it was, wagged and flicked about like an angler fish's lure.  Her silvery white eyes stared at him with the unabashed intensity that children posses, and while she was staring, she wasn't really comprehending what she'd done to him.  She had no idea how heavy she was to someone her own size.  Adults picked her up with ease, so she obviously could not be heavy.

"I think I'm gonna head home."

"Awww... Already?!" Twitch whined.  They'd just gotten to know each other!

"Mr Bug got away! Tell that Bug he wont be so lucky next time!"

It was a good sidestep.  Twitch was unaware of how overwhelming she could be, especially considering how easily everything overwhelmed her. She was temporarily distracted, looking about the clearing as if the sound would start again, and their quarry would reappear.

""Meet here same time tomorrow? We'll hunt him down!"

"Yeah!" Twitch readily agreed, her disappointment forgotten. Her tail sped up it's undulating dance, and her back rippled a bit like she was trying to shake flies.


"Ooh and we'll need a password. Just so I know it's you and you know it's me. We can make this our base and no one else will be allowed in!"

Twitch felt she had been wise beyond her years in picking this best friend.  Obviously he was a genius.

"Hmmm..."

The little girl's face squinched up in over-expressed concentration.  Her tail went twitchcha-twitch, and her back rippled again. Now she shifted from foot to foot, like she couldn't stand still.  She considered for a moment, then, it came to her. It was so obvious!

"Buzzybird!" She declared, her large ears going straight up as she hopped in place.

Brilliant.