Logs:Abuzz

Abuzz
Dramatis Personae Bug, Sarah	2020-06-30 "One box is like, 15 dozen eggs."
Location <NYC> Tompkins Square Park - East Village
Small but popular, this tree-lined park is a perfect centerpiece to the eclectic neighborhood it resides in. Home to a number of playgrounds and courts from handball to basketball, it also houses a dog park and chess tables, providing excellent space for people watching -- especially during its frequent and often eccentric festivals, from Wigstock to its yearly Allen Ginsberg tribute Howl festival. Summer has loosened it’s fist on the city, recently bringing the temperature down to bearable levels. Earlier in the day, the park had been host to a number of people and their dogs, people jogging, playing basketball, having picnics. Nowhere close to the amount of people there once was, but life has been returning to bask in the sunshine. Now, with the sun close to setting and clouds moving in, the park lights turn on to illuminate a park that is mostly empty. That emptiness doesn’t seem to be bothering Sarah. She walks down one of the more out of the way paths with a disposition sunny enough to replace the fading daylight. Just off of work, she’s still in uniform: chunky black nonslip shoes, white slacks, a navy gingham button down with rolled short sleeves and ‘Flour Power’ embroidered on the breast. The wagon she pulls behind her is loaded with a number of brown paper sacks holding various sized loaves of bread wrapped in parchment paper, and carefully stacked white bakery boxes, their contents written on their sides. Different cupcakes, brownies, muffins, scones, about half of them marked with (V). Possibly the wagon is all that keeps her step from having an actual bounce. The emptiness of the park is welcome to one of its visitors, as Bug's very suspicious tree climbing is hidden by the lengthening shadows and the absence of prying eyes. He has a dropper that he has pulled from his tattered grey hoodie's front pocket that he is drip-drip-dripping into a tray that is lodged into the waxy edge of the nest. Insects swarm around him, buzzing loudly, which some might misinterpret as anger. With the advantage of high ground (and multidirectional sight) he notices Sarah's approach, and he shifts so that he is sitting on the thick branch that he has ascended to and facing in her direction. He tilts his head back and forth, and the cloud of insects follow the motion in something of a wave. A wide smile crossing her face, Sarah raises her arm to excitedly wave. Picks up her pace as much as the balance of Precious Boxes allow. “Hi Bug!” she calls, voice lowering some for her next greeting. “Hi, bees!” Earnest as she is, she comes to a stop a few feet from them. Curiously looks at the swarm, before stepping aside to reveal the wagon with a returning smile. “Ta-da!” she says, with a flourish of her arms that is not quite as ‘magician’s assistant’ as she wants it to be. Maybe a bit more 'inflatable tube person'. “Food that the state says we can no longer sell, but is still absolutely fine to eat.” "The bees say hi back! Actually..." Bug pushes himself off of the branch to land lightly against the ground. For someone his size, even as small as that size is, a heavier landing would normally be expected. The red banded insects start to settle down a bit in their agitation, though some remain on his clothing, skin and hair, still getting up to whatever business they were up to before. "They mostly just are saying, 'bzzz' but I am sure that you can tell!" He approaches to see the boxes, and despite his energetic movements, there is a tiredness that lines his stark black eyes. "Ohh, thanks! What's the Vs for? Vegetables? Vanilla flavoured? Venezuela?" Nothing notable about Sarah’s expression changes while she takes in Bug, but she still moves to open one of the top boxes. “The V stands for Vegan. So I guess vegetables, kinda, yeah!” Offering Bug a chocolate cupcake that has a sensible amount of frosting and is bigger than her hand, she asks, “How have you been? It’s nice to see you’re still making it after… everything.” Her free hand gestures at the rest of the world in general. "Oh yeah, of course it stands for vegan! I think I'm better at eating vegan food anyways," says Bug. He takes the cupcake into his hands with great veneration, though one of his insects hops from his hair onto the frosting unceremoniously. His expression becomes serious, though, when Sarah gestures around. "Oh. Yeah, I don't have the kind of respiratory system where I'd be affected. But... it was a tough time for my people. Thank God for the vaccine, or I don't--" His eyebrows knit together and he says, "But I'm glad you made it through too! And that you have pastries!" “Thank God for the vaccine,” Sarah repeats, nodding as her own expression turns serious. “And for pastries. Anytime you want some, for you or your people, you can let me know.” She points to a building within view. “I live over there. I don’t know if it would be easier to like. Send me a bee, or I give you my number and you text me or whatever. But my boss likes making sure people get fed, and so do I.” "Sending a bee is probably easier, 'cause my reception is pretty bad," admits Bug. He shields his eyes, even though it is getting darker still, as he looks off towards the building. "Maybe just take one of them with you and then open the window to let it out and I'll know where you-- Or actually! Maybe don't do that, because it would be me going into your house then getting tossed out the window and I just realized, wow, that's a creepy thing to ask someone! Wow! Nevermind! But yeah, the pastries are good! If you ever find you have too many eggs, too, and you're like. Whoa, I gotta get rid of these eggs! This is too much! I know how to get rid of them, too." Laughing, Sarah shakes her head. “I don’t mind taking a bee.” she assures him. “Besides, it sounds like it would bee the easier option.” Grinning ridiculously, her eyes sparkle. She’s never able to think of puns in the moment. Go her. “Eggs, huh? We do have a lot of eggs at the bakery… I don’t know for sure if I can get you some, but it’s worth asking, right?” Expression morphing to a thoughtful one, she chews at her bottom lip. “One box is like, 15 dozen eggs. How many boxes would you need?” Bug giggles at the pun, but his eyebrows shoot up in surprise at hearing about the size of these boxes. "Oh, wow, 15 dozen eggs? I think eggs keep really good, so I don't really know! They're protein that doesn't really go bad quick, which is like... eggs are like gold. I'd be a hero! Bug Eggbringer!" Bug raises his hands in a victorious pose. "But of course, I'd give you the credit! If you ever want some red honey, too, I can get you some! I mean, after my hives recover more... I lost a couple during the pandemic and I'm still having to give them sugar water to help the remaining ones survive." “It’s not even the biggest box you can get, which is bananas! Or, well, I guess it’s eggs!” Giggling herself, Sarah quickly sobers and shakes her head, holding her hands up. “Oh, no, I don’t care about credit! I mean, I’ll take some honey, but—Oh!” She covers her mouth with her hands when Bug talks of his hives, her eyes widening in a mix of sorrow and horror. “Oh no!” she says, muffled past her fingers. The sincerity and concern in her voice is heavy and genuine. “Are you okay?” She takes a step toward him, hesitantly, hands reaching out before dropping. “I’m so sorry. Can I do anything to help?” "Oh, no... it was my fault. Our supplies were real low, so I ended up overharvesting... a couple of the queens died," says Bug, and he rubs his forehead, which has grown a crease in it as it's furrowed. "Like, I always overproduce, 'cause I want to share the honey with people, but if the supplies go too low, the hive can't feed itself and keep up its work." He finally takes a bite of the cupcake, the greedy insect that dove in finally flying off to prevent itself from ending up in Bug's mouth. "They're building up stores still, and sugar water's not the best, nutritionally, but..." He shrugs helplessly. Arms crossing over her chest, Sarah grabs her elbows. The horror has faded, but the concern (and some sadness) remains. “Still, I’m sorry. Your hives are like a part of you, aren’t they?” she asks gently. “Can the hives that are left make new queens for the ones you lost, once they build back up?” Her own brow furrowing, she bites her lip before asking. “What is the best for them? Pollen?” "Yeah, they're like... it's like losing part of me. I was able to... I don't want to say 'give birth to', because that's weird, but hatch at least one new queen inside of me, and when she's ready, I'll be taking some of the drones from another hive to make a new one!" says Bug. He frowns and continues, "It was really hard. I was in a tough place, mentally, but... at least things didn't end up getting worse! Umm, yeah, as a supplement to the sugar water, pollen is probably the best for them, that'll be a good place for them to get nutrients from. I'm trying to grow more healthy drones myself, too. Soon, we'll be abuzz with them!" Sarah is distracted enough by this information to spend a second contemplating Bug’s torso. He doesn’t have to be a telepath to read her thoughts. Where do they hatch? “It’s good that they didn’t end up worse,” she agrees, offhandedly. “But I hope you’re doing better now... you know.” Green eyes meeting his again, she taps the side of her head with one finger. “That sounds tough to go through, even if it wasn’t a worse case scenario.” Her eyes wander now, from swarm, to picking out individual bees in Bug’s hair, to the hive. Another smile slowly grows on her at Bug’s pun. “Don’t you mean a-bzz?” "Uhh, I'm not gonna explain how they hatch, 'cause people get weird about it. I know how other people's biology works, and I don't get squeamish at all about all those organs," Bug gestures in a circle towards Sarah's midsection, where all the organs are stored, "but it doesn't really work the other way around!" He informs Sarah, indeed able to read the thought on her face. "A-bzzbzbzz! It was tough, but I had people around. Some of my people weren't able to fight off the virus, and it was hard, but like... what am I gonna do, cry about it? Just gotta keep working hard. Work work work!" His sorrow is not well hidden behind his energetic words, and it's evident that he is trying to push it down and move quickly by it. "There's still people who need stuff to help. Oh! And protests to do! I heard you were doing... protest stuff!" “Oh!” Cheeks turning red, Sarah shakes her head and holds up her hands, her smile embarrassed now. “No, that’s fine. You don’t—owe me or anyone that! Sorry. I shouldn’t have stared.” Sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck, Bug’s attempt at being cheerful seems to slap her in the face. The color drains from her cheeks as quickly as it rushed in. She stares wide-eyed and stricken, a beat, two, before rapidly blinking and pulling herself together. At least, trying to pull herself together. “Right, protest stuff!” Bug is not the only one who can fake pep! “That’s what the wagon is for. Protest food and water and other protest stuff! Um.” She looks behind her at the wagon and all its boxes. “You’ll probably need it to get all this to where you’re going, but I don’t mind if you borrow it! Just, can we meet back up tomorrow for me to get it back?” "I can borrow it? Nice! I promise that I'll be careful with it! I was kind of worried about um. Just carrying some stuff!" says Bug, and his enthusiasm seems more genuine. "It's cool that you drag this around at protests, people can get real thirsty when it's hot out! And yeah, I'll get this back to you tomorrow so you can get back to taking care of people. Cross my hearts."