This One's Not So Stiff… (Private RP)

[Mortimer]

First topic message reminder :

Marrow was hungry. Looking around her tree she found no scraps of anything edible. Any tidbits of food that she had squirrelled away were now gone, and so it was time to forage. She grabbed her bone and set out into the forest, determined to find food.

Marrow started wandering the woods but finding only twigs and turds to gnaw on, she pressed on. She wandered on for several more minutes until she came upon a rotting, fermenting pumpkin. Unaffected by its smell or appearance, she smashed a hole in the side with her bone and immediately started to feast, as at this point she was feeling a little weak from hunger. She pulled herself half way in, smushing pumpkin into her cheeks as she went. As she ate, Marrow was overcome with a strange wooziness and was slowly succumbing to the alcohol that had fermented inside the fruit. She kept eating until she passed out, blackout-drunk.

About that time, a Dreg named Mortimer was walking through the forest. The morgue he worked for was running low on funds, so he was commissioned to look for some fresh cadavers to sell off to necromancers. Equipped with heavy leather surgical gloves and some body-bags, he was having little luck. The whole forest seemed to be booming with life, and this made Morty sad.

After wandering for a ways, the dark ginger Dreg squirrel finally came across something of interest.  He saw Marrow, sticking like a cork out of the side of a rotting pumpkin, only her hips down visible. He set down his bags and rapped on the gourd to see if there was a response. There was none. He referred briefly to his enchanted pocket watch. It was stopped at 4:20, like it had been for the past month. This was precisely how long it had been since it last ticked, signifying that the damned were nearby. Looking over the scene, he decided she must have choked to death a week ago, given the decay of the pumpkin and, seemingly, her too. He lamented, "awwwww, poor……… girl." He pulled her body out and layed it down on a body-bag. "What a shame, you were a cute one too…" He briefly checked her over, then closed the bag up. Noticing the massive femur that was lying near the pumpkin, he grabbed that too, admiring how well preserved it was. One body had to do for him, as it was getting dark. Mortimer made his way back to the village, and the morgue, to stash this find.

Soon after his return, Mortimer moved Marrow from her body bag to the operating table, to prepare her for sale. As he turned to the counter to prepare his instruments, she began to stir…

[Mortimer]

Not wanting to leave, Mortimer lingered for a little bit, but had to continue on his way. He waved to Marrow as he left. "Bye!"

[Marrow]

Marrow didn't understand the wave at first, but figured it was some sort of gesture related to leaving. She raised her hand in response, with a slight wave. "Bye..." She climbed into her tree, and watched him as he left. When he left her sight, she sat down. Never before had it felt so quiet there. She didn't know why, but she started to feel like she wanted him around. She started to work on fixing up one of the marionettes she had made, and did this for the rest of the day. Eventually, she grew tired and laid down to sleep for the night.

[Mortimer]

Mort trecked back to the village, the whole time, contented that she'd agree to meet with him again. He thought about what she could have meant when she said she might hurt him. He thought about the way she just barely smiled at him. He was unsure of what she might do. He was sure, however, that he wanted to see her again. He spent the remainder of the day claening the bones that Marrow had so deftly ripped from a corpse for him.

The morning he had promised to meet Marrow again had come. He dressed in a nice new, unsullen shirt and waistcoat, just for her. He gathered a package that he meant to bring, then set off into the forest.

He wandered for about an hour before he found the tree Marrow had told him, that she lived . He approached it.

[Marrow]

Marrow was still fast asleep, snoring quite loudly. She had made no attempt to wake early, as she had not expected anyone to be up as early as he was.  She doesn't often wake up very early, and so she was still curled up on some rags in her tree, fast asleep.

[Mortimer]

Mortimer stood at the base of Marrow's tree. He noticed pieces of bones scattered about the area. Looking up, he notices a hole, covered very carefully from the inside with a ragged cloth, stained brown by weather. Taking the parcel in his mouth by it's tie string he began to ascend. Mort had put on some weight and was finding it difficult to climb easily, but he was making progress. He finally made it up to the opening, where he rapped gently on its edge.

[Marrow]

Marrow was startled awake, spazzing herself up onto her feet. She stood, back against her wall and reached for her bone. She saw a figure on the other side of the curtain, and slowly approached, bone in jabbing position, to knock the threat off of the branches. As she neared, about to jab through the curtain... she noticed something familiar about the shape. She recognized something about a missing ear. It took her a moment in her startled tired state, but she realized that this was that squirrel she met two days ago. She slowly pulled back the edge of the curtain to peek out.

[Mortimer]

"Hello Marrow!" he spouted joyfully, seeing her face pop out from behind the curtain. "I brought you something!" he said, handing the parcel forward.

[Marrow]

Marrow looked at him, then at the package, and back at him, and stared for a few seconds. It was taking her a little while to fully remember him. She pulled the curtain to the side and took the package. "Uh, what is it?" she asked, biting the string off, and opening the package up.

[Mortimer]

"I baked you some peanut butter cookies. I got the recipe from the village baker." He Smiled still. He was a bit surprised to hear her voice had not gotten any less raspy, and to see she did not look any less malnourished. He reasoned it had only been 2 days since he last saw her, and perhaps she needed more time to fully recover. "Have you… gotten the silver piece back?"

[Marrow]

She looked inside the box and pulled one out. She sniffed, yet again, and took a small bite.  Following this she ate them full cookie at a time. Upon hearing the question, she responded, mouth full, "Yeah I got it back yesterday," spitting crumbs at him as she spoke.  She turned around and walked over to her table to retrieve it. She grabbed it and returned, showing him. Putting the silver piece in her hand that is wrapped around the box, she freed her other hand to eat the cookies whole in rapid succession. As soon as she swallowed one, she began eating the next; she was quite hungry.

[Mortimer]

He chuckled "I'm glad you like them!" He watched as she went into her home and retrieved the silver off the table. He couldn't help but also notice a red, leather bound book, and a small box also on the table. Aside from the makeshift table, the interior was rather unfurnished. He looked at the nugget she presented. It was oddly quite clean for what it had just been through. "Excellent! Have you put any thought into what sorts of things you'd like to trade it for?"

[Marrow]

Marrow shoved the last cookie in her mouth and started to chew, as she talked. "What can I trade it for? I don't know." As she spoke, more crumbs and little globs of spit flew at his face. She swallowed the last of the food and put the box on the floor. "I don't know where to go and what there is to get..." She wiped her arm across her face to remove and crumbs and drool that remained there.

[Mortimer]

He brushes the crumbs off his vest. "Ah… well there are a bunch of things, like clothing or books, maybe even some novelties… or if you wanted something more practical, perhaps some food stuffs." Mort was a bit concerned over how gaunt she still seemed. "I can show you where all the venders are."

[Marrow]

"I... don't know too well what clothing or books are..." She looked at him, slightly confused. "I could probably use the food, but I'll see what there is I guess." She hopped out of her tree and jumped down, branch to branch until she landed on the ground. She looked up at him and waited.

[Mortimer]

Mort watched as Marrow gracefully zig-zaged down the tree in no time at all. He tried to jump down in similar bounds. He landed awkwardly on several jumps, however on the last, he missed the branch entirely and fell face first onto the ground at Marrow's feet. "I'm alright" he wheezed painfully.

[Marrow]

Marrow watched as his jumps became increasingly clumsy and jumped back when he landed in front of her. Eyes wide, she looked at him. "Um... Okay..." She thought it was incredibly strange that a squirrel like her could not make those jumps well, and this slightly confused her. She shook her head fast and snapped her focus on something else. "I just hope there's not a lot of others out there right now..." The thought of running across anyone made her uneasy, but it had to be done to make use of the silver she had.

[Mortimer]

He got to his feet and dusted himself off. " It should be alright right now, most people are at their jobs working, we'll have the marketplace almost to ourselves at this hour" He gestured in the direction of the village. "I honestly would not worry about the residents, they're all pretty friendly." He said rubbing his nose, it was still sore.

[Marrow]

"I still don't trust any of them." She took a deep breath and exhaled. "Well, I guess I'm ready to go." She gripped the silver piece in her hand tightly, slightly shaky from the idea of encountering people.

[Mortimer]

He started walking in the direction of the village, gesturing for her to follow. "Any specific kind of food you were looking for? I'm partial to nuts, but I think that might've been obvious." He swished his squirrelly tail back and forth, as if to illustrate this point.

[Marrow]

Marrow followed him.  "I don't know. I only have really eaten nuts myself... And some fruit... I'll see what they have I suppose and decide then." She looked at the ground as she walked slightly behind him.

[Mortimer]

"Fair enough. Have you always lived in the forest then? I didn't always live in the Village either y'know, I had to live in the forest for a good chunk of my life." He slowed his pace to meet hers, and walked by her side.

[Marrow]

"I..." She stopped walking. "No... I...I lived in the Ruins." She stood silent for a moment. She closed her eyes and buried her face in her hands, pressing against her eyes, trying to restrain any tears. "I... I don't...." She wiped her face. "I..." She sighed loudly and suddenly continued walking towards the village at an accelerated pace, muttering a few profanities as she was reminded of all the things she has been through back then. "It's... it's the past now," she stated, a rather angry tone in her voice.

[Mortimer]

His mind raced with what little he knew about the ruins of the old capitol, and of her being an Uplift. This painted a vague picture of her parents being Necromantic Familiars living in the underbelly of the ruins. He wanted very much to confirm his thoughts, but could easily tell that this was a sore subject from her tone. He'd have to be careful.

Lost in thought, he realized she was far ahead of him now. He ran up to her side. "I see." he said matching her pace again. "I've never been there, I've heard it's quite the dangerous place." He cautiously watched her expression.

[Marrow]

"It's not safe. I had to fend for myself most of my life out there. You don't want to go there." She said, still having an angry tone to her voice. "Being out in the open there was preferable to the crap I've been through in my 'home' there." She watched the ground as she walked, looking quite angry. She then sighed loudly, kicking herself inside for ranting that far into it to him, realizing she had mindlessly spoke.

[Mortimer]

He could see she was having a difficult time talking about it. He decided that maybe it might ease her mind if he shared as well. "When I was young, when I 'awoke', the 'home' I found myself in was not much of one at all" he air quoted as he spoke, despite her not looking at him to see it. "there was so much I didn't know so much I was frightened and confused about, and no one to explain it. My parents… were simple ferals. I'm sure they meant well, but I always felt so alone…"

[Sponsored content]