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The food harvesting area for West River Colony is an expansive location that's approximately crescent shaped, except for a more rounded end to the farthest North. To the South, and down a soft slope is a small branching brooklet that forms in the early spring from winter snow melt from the river that lies to the East. Thus part of the reason the colony has the name that it does. Not to mention the neighboring river to the East, and the ant colony that lies to the East of their river. For a good part of the year these rivers are dry, but as the snow to the north is still in the melting stages, which is where the colony gets the majority of it's water supply for the year.
But right now the emphasis is on harvesting, as Winter stayed unusually long, which the effects hit the colonies food supply harder than usual, depleting most of what they had, but not quite to emergency levels. So while it's not a life or death situation, the need for food is there and being significantly pushed for the large number of ants collecting food. Breaks are short and less often, but still given since collapsed ants don't help the depleted food supplies.
Kneeling at the edge of the brooklet with hands holding a drop of water ready to be consumed is the female ant named Misty Summeroak, quenching her thirst and attempting to enjoy a few minutes of break time before the 'time horn' blows, calling everyone back to work. The female ant has been out since daybreak like everyone else, but has been putting in extra effort for the colony. 'Heck if I'm gonna starve!' stated the female ant when some asked why she worked so many days in a row. Personally, she'd have to say that she's mostly out to enjoy the warmer weather and not feeling cooped up inside the anthill for so long, but it seems that not everyone understands that.
After consuming a couple more drops of water, Misty raised her right hand to scratch an itch on her right cheek, and let out a small 'eep' at how cold her hands were. 'Sure, that makes since,' she thought, 'since the water is so cool and refreshing.' But the thought of the cold water making her hands cold, and then her cheek simply didn't cross her mind until now.
The female ant placed her hand to her cheek again, wincing slightly at the coolness. She then took her hand away and after glancing at it absentmindedly for several seconds, kneeled down a little lower, and placed both hands into the water. It wasn't long before the chill of the water began to overtake her hands and discomfort started setting in. 'Not yet… Not yet…' she muttered to herself, forcing herself to keep her hands submerged in the clear water.
To take her mind off of the less than pleasant sensation, she studdied the small pebbles in the water that she could see just below the surface. 'I wonder what it is about water that makes it see through, and other things not,' she mused. By this time she could feel the cold sensation reaching her wrists, and the tips of her fingers were becoming quite numb. 'A little more... a little more...' She now had her eyes closed and her teeth clenched tightly. 'Ow! Owowowowow!' Discomfort finally reached its breaking point; the owner of the increasingly numb fingers yanked her hands out of the water.
"Ack," the female ant yelped out as she placed her hands to her cheeks. 'Wow... cold.' A quick glance down to her hands, showing a slight bluish tint to them caused her to contemplate this whole situation for a couple seconds, then she sprung to her feet and headed briskly back to the harvest area, but before long she slowed her pace to a significant decrease as she reached the outline of the closest grain stalks.
Sitting in the shade of a short clover, Martin Summeroak rested with his back to the stem of the 'natural umbrella' to get out of the heat and munch on a blackberry bud; a bit of an energy boost to help keep him going until lunch in a couple hours. It may be spring, but between the work and the unusually warm temperature, a little shade is appreciated.
Already a couple bites are taken from the juicy fruit, and then swallowed as the male in-his-late-teens waves to a couple female ants of similar age. "Mmm! Hi Cindy! Hi Denise! Hey... what say we do a little 'star gazing' after dark tonight?" A wry smile then crosses his face. Both girls give Martin a quick glance, looked to each other and without speaking give each other a look of 'you've got to be kidding', giggled softly and kept on. Seems he's used this line a little too often, and word spreads through a colony quickly, especially with most teenaged female ants.
"Girls,' the male ant mutters to himself and sighs a little. He then raised the berry bud to take another bite.
At this point, Misty has spied her brother and after placing her hands to her cheeks, winced again at the chill they possessed. She walked up behind her brother in virtual silence, kneeled down and after being sure he was not aware of her presence, reached around the stem of the clover and placed her hands on and around his thorax just above the waist.
"AAAAAAHHHH!!!"
Martin screamed out while flinging his hands up in a virtually involuntary manner, tossing the berry bud into the air, which went flying up to one of the cloverleaves. However, by the time he was half way between sitting and standing suddenly felt the impact of the same berry bud which was ricocheted back down by said clover leaf and was smacked squarely on top of his head. Because of the location of the bites in the juicy piece of fruit and the male ants antennae, the bud stayed in place for a few seconds, running it thick, sticky juice down the right side of his head, as well as the back of his head and down his neck. Then after quickly swinging around to see who or what was behind him, the black berry bud came loose and slid down the left side of his head and cheek, leaving an even messier trail.
After watching the berry bud drop to the ground, Martin finally turned around to see who or what the heck... "MISTY!" roared Martin as he glanced at his sister with her hand held tightly over her mouth.
"I'm sorry, Martin," giggled the female ant once she began to speak, no longer able to contain her laughter. 'I didn't expect you to get all covered with berry juice."
The male ant's expression hardened firmly, with hands tightening up into little balls and then released several times. "What the heck was /that/ for?"
Misty's expression and countenance changed dramatically as she held her arms akimbo. "Simple. Next time you find Ember, you /don't/ hide her for a week and tell me she's lost." Misty's right hand jutted out and poked her brother in the thorax firmly. "Got it?!"
Martin looked at his sister for several moments then slowly nodded his head. "Yeah... I got it. Won't happen again." He then folded his arms and gave his sister a wearying look. "Couldn't you find a better way to-"?
"I could have told mom, would you want that?"
"No... I'll pass thanks."
Misty noded her head curtly and assumed a similar stance. "Yeah, you'd be sorry."
"Not as sorry," began Martin as he quickly reached down and took hold of the berry bud. "...as you're gonna be when I cover you with berry juice!"
She was not exactly expecting this, but Misty managed to get a lead start as her brother threatened her with being covered with that awful stickiness and twice nearly caught her until...
BRRRAAAAAWWWWW!
"Okay, everyone... breaks over; time to get back to work," called out the supervisor of team seven after hearing the blaring of the horn off in the distance. Team Seven is the team both the Summeroak siblings belong to. Martin then stopped and watched his sister quickly head over to a nearby grain, glanced at 'Lilac Warmleaf', their 'super' and began to walk over to his sister to get back at her.
"Martin... breaks over!"
An irritated look came over the now sticky male ant, who glanced from his supervisor to
his sister and back to his supervisor again. "Can I at least wash this stupid stuff off?"
"There's no time," she responded in a cool tone. "Besides, where do you plan to go, the creek? We must keep the water supply clean and there's no time for you to go back home. You'll have to wait until after your shift today." The female supervisor, with a leaf clipboard in hand and both arms folded, impatiently waited for Martin to get back to work, her expression clearly showing it.
A simple, evenly spoken work left Martin's mouth. "Fine." He then semi-stomped off to his work area and after climbing up a grain stalk began to remove one grain at a time, while the heat of the sun dried the berry juice on his head and face.
--Revenge is a dish best served cold. -- Doroth Parker (And so many others!)
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