"Ahahaha! Did you see the look on his face? Kah, that black-haired bastard wants to lead me around? Funny. Very funny. He hasn't even been here for a year, and he already wants to play with us. Isn't that funny, Fred?" He smirked, slurping down another from his bottle.
The two men were sitting next to one other on a relatively small table. The sound of clattering footsteps, laughter, and even shouts can be heard from just about anywhere. At this hour, the canteen was filled with both men and women— but mostly men.
After all, the perfect time to be drinking was after work.
"..."
"Fred? Fred, are you there?..."
"..."
"STOP spacing out, will you?!"
"Uwah— ah!" The young man was quick to grab his attention to his colleague, "What were we talking about? I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention—"
"Bout him, who else?"
"About who?"
"What in the world's gotten into you, Fred? You're not drunk, are you?!" He asked, before all of a sudden, his eyebrows twitched, "Oh, I get it. Is that woman bothering you again?! If she can't even clean herself, I swear— I'll make sure she won't have to lift that back of her's—"
"For the last time, Debbel, she's my WIFE! Just SICK, that's all there is."
"Come on, Fred. Stop pretending that you care about her! I've seen you swindling with those whores. Just dump her. You'll live free. Isn't that YOUR kind of DREAM?" The man rolled his eyes as he chugged the last of his ale.
"..." The young man turned silent, while the air slowly turned uncomfortable.
"Deb, that's too far." Another one of his friends showed up from behind, patting on his shoulder.
"Hmph, I'll say what I want to say." After glancing at his friend, he dusted his friend's pat away. Eyes slipping away from the table, he was reminded by the empty green bottle on his hands, which happened to remind him of something.
"Oh, thanks for the ale by the way. I really needed it."
"Uh..." The bearded man looked confused, "Which belch're we talkin about here?"
"This one, what else?"
"I didn't give you that one. Why would I?" The bearded man's face looked surprise, before that mouth of his turned into a grin. He shoved his fat belly onto the table, laughing. "My friend here's a bit greedy today. I've been feedin it the boozies all day, and it still wants more."
"Look Deb, I've said this many times, but if you want me to buy YOU boozy, you must buy ME boozy. That is how the boozy works around here." The bearded man chuckled, his face already red and flustered.
"You just made that up."
"No, I'm serious, I do it with the others all the time."
"Well, if it wasn't you..." He turned to the man, looking serious, "—Then who gave me this ale?"
"You know? You're the only one around here who calls boozies, ale. How should I know, Deb?" The bearded man raised his shoulders. "Damn the Lords, maybe the bees decided to be generous."
Seeing his friend wasn't taking him seriously, he clicked his tongue. Drinking from his bottle, he seemed to have just realized that he'd already finished it. He stared at the bottle thinking he was drunk for today. Maybe even crazy. But then again, only a fool would think himself as a crazy man.
—And he wasn't a fool.
"Just who are you..." He mumbled, trying to remember the things he'd seen. His eyes, eyeing on the path which he came.
▼▼▼
"Say aah!"
"Buzzz!~"
As she hugged me, my worries melted away. As she fed me, my stomach didn't feel as uncomfortable anymore. And even though the food was bland, I thought it was delicious. She filled my stomach slowly, but it didn't mind waiting.
"Cute!~ Oh, I know! How about Cutie? Isn't that a cute name!" —Though her sense of names is quite out of the ordinary. If I even know what ordinary is anyway...
This human female carries an air of warmth, which her creepy-looking eyes, failed to deceive. Her long white hair was smooth and silky. It's been brushing across my face for a while now, and even though I don't think it's annoying, it's starting to get into my eyes— Ow, speak of the devil.
For a while now, I've been trying to remember where I'd been before all this. Who I am. How this happened. Yet none of it rings a bell. It's almost like I appeared out of nowhere!
One thing's for sure though, is that I know a whole bunch of things. Names of objects. Countless of Words. Grammars. And even how to speak, technically. I'm not exactly sure how I ended up with this, but I'm sure it means something.
"Nuh uh!" One thing I'm certain of, however, as I shook my head.
"Buzz zu!~" —I think the other bugs don't think the way I do. So in other words...
"I'm a special bug!" Not just a bug, I'm a special bug!
"Aww!~ I think that name was cute though..." The female human pouted as she fed me with more bread. What was her name again? Luen? Lune? or was it Luna? Whichever it is, I need to find out. After all, she's my knight in shining armor.
"—Well..." I sized up her tin foil armor, "A knight in 'cheap' armor, I suppose would do."
"You sure are smart for a child, though. Some children either go running when they see me, or flustered and speechless when I hug them." Oh, really? I wonder why? Your hugs are the best, I assure you.
Sitting down on the other end of the room, the two humans started whispering to each other.
"Now that we've taken care of that, we still need to talk, Felix." He said, tightening his brows.
"Right," His friend watched closely at the bug's actions, "In all my time here, I've never seen a bee like this. It acts so— How do I say this?— emotional."
"All the bees I've seen have always been so dead. It's like all their lives'd been sucked out of their bodies. Now I can't say for sure that all bees are like this because I've never even been into the 'Honey Farm'. But I can say for sure, there's really something about this bee."
"Glad we're on the same page." He sighed, also staring at the bug as it ate another one of Luna's bland bread.
"—Oh, and apart from the bees who have a 'Bloodline Skill', of course. They really do get angry when we try to put them back into the cage." His friend's tongue caught up with the last of his words.
"You idiot! That Beeman might've had a 'Bloodline Skill' and you just remembered?!"
"I'd forgotten about it! You don't see those bloody bees often, do you?"
"Well, we just saw one today, didn't we?"
"It's my fault, ok? I'm sorry."
"Well, I'm just glad that we're lucky. If that Beeman really has a 'Bloodline Skill', then need to be careful." He massaged his temple, and sighed once again, "We still don't even know what we're going to do with it."
"We might get in trouble if we don't report this, you know?" The other man said.
"Mhmm." He kept staring at the bee.
"Probably even lose a chance on getting a promotion."
"Yeah." His eyes squinted as he looked over to Luna's face.
"Brave," His friend's turn to be serious rose, "Is it even worth it? Now I know she's thinking of keeping it, I know we might not be able to convince her, but I also know you'd do anything for her."
"Felix!" His face blushed red a bit. He glanced over at Luna again to make sure she didn't hear any of that.
"Hehe! Pal, I just want what's best for you!" His friend laughed, smacking him on the back.
"But... I'm just saying— you can make her happier if you get rid of it."
"What are you trying to say..." He winced at him. Not wanting to misunderstand what his friend was trying to say, he listened closely.
"You can make money! is what I'm trying to say." His friend told him, trying his best not to sound shrewd in front of him. "Now, I'm not trying to make anything here, I'm really not. You and Luna can even have all of it. I just have a friend over at Berry's, is all I'm trying to say!"
"Keeping it here can have Luna smiling for a while, sure. But if we get caught..." His face slowly turns grim as he fidgets with his neck, "—You know what happens, right?"
"We'll be charged with Capital Crime from 'The Holy Church'." Even he began to touch his neck at the thought of it, "Any acts of protection towards an unholy beast is punishable by public execution."
"Exactly! Brave, even you're not brave enough to do that!" His friend made another point.
"Well, how about this?" He leaned closer to his friend's ear, "If the Beeman either doesn't like us anymore or turns evil, we'll grab a cage and meet your friend. If it escapes, we'll act like it never existed. "
"—But if Luna still wants to keep it, we'll keep it. Simple."
"No, not simple." His friend shook his head, "What if someone sees it?"
"Then..." He rubbed his chin, all before pulling his thumb across his neck, "—It's either 'it' or us."
▼▼▼
A bit of time has passed since I've eaten the bread.
I'm still under her arms— Just sleeping on her lap— yet I find myself constantly worrying about that cranky human. I know I said that her hugs ate all my worries away, but I just can't help it.
Things like, 'What if he comes back?' or 'What happens after his aile is finished?' continues to swirl around my head. If anything happens I might be able to trick him, but then again, the puddle's almost dry at this point— Not that I was going to touch it again or anything.
"Are you sure you don't want Cutie? It's a cute name~"
"Buzz zuz!" I shook my head as I embraced the warmth of her hug. Ah! She smells so nice~
"Eeeh? What about Bicorn? You have two little strands of hair sitting on your head, don't you?" Ah, Lune, I'm pretty sure those aren't 'strands of hair'.
"Luna, for the last time, don't go calling your pet a 'Bicorn'." The pervert snorted beside her, seeming annoyed, "Those things are bad omens. I told you, didn't I?"
This human raised his voice on my Lune? I think I'm starting to not like your attitude. Although I think your hair has a nice almond color to it, I still believe my Lune's silk hair is better than— Ah! stop moving, it's getting into my eyes again!
"Then, what're we going to name him?
"It's a 'he'?"
"I think it's a he."
"What? That doesn't make any sense, I thought all Beemens were supposed to be a—"
"No babbling now, Felix. No one likes a babbler!" Luna interrupted the pervert. Oh, looks like I finally got her name! Three claps please! "See? Even Sunflower agrees with me!"
"You're even calling it Sunflower?" He winced his eyes as he turned to look at me, "Wait, how is it even clapping right now—"
"Stop calling Sunflower an 'it', Felix. I know you're just jealous of him." The human's jealous of me? Now that I think about it, he's been eyeing at us for quite some time. "He's getting all the hugs and cuddles, after all~"
"J—Jealous?! W—Why would I be?" His cheeks started to blush as he looked away.
"Now now, stop fighting you two." The plucky human said as he lit a small lantern, "I just got the oil lantern on, so why don't we have some peace and quiet."
"But Brave~ Felix is a pervert! and why didn't you get jealous?" —Huh? Why's Luna grappling to that human's arm? Why isn't she hugging me anymore?
Looking up, I can see the human's face up close as Luna hugged his arms. His hair was pitch-black, and so were his eyes. He seemed quite 'Ok' to be honest, but compared to that perverted human's looks, he didn't look too good. In fact, he might actually be a bit ugly with Luna.
"Luna's a beauty, after all. Don't touch my Luna, man."
—The door slowly opened once more. I'd only just realized because I was right next to it. In an instant, the familiar sense of intense fear and nerve-wracking worry climbed over me. Without realizing it, I was already running to the nearest box.
By accident, I'd also knocked over the human's lantern down.
"Hey, I think I left some of my ale here, so I came back and—"
"The lantern!" The black-haired human jumped on his seat to get it.
"Argh, I got it!" The perverted one had his arms flying, trying to reach the falling lantern.
"Brave? Sunflower? Where'd you go?" —All the while Luna was trying to find an arm to hug.
"What in the name of..." Looking at the spectacle before him, he was dumbfounded.