This One's Not So Stiff… (Private RP)

[Mortimer]

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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…

[Marrow]

Marrow looked at him as she walked. "I never had things explained to me either... You're lucky they cared at least..." She looked back towards the ground. "Though you're worth caring about more than I am. I deserve what happened to me after what I've done. I deserve to be alone. I can't trust anyone anyway; I'm afraid of everyone.... and it's for the better." She fidgeted with the silver piece in her hand.

[Mortimer]

He watched her rolling the silver piece back and forth in her fingers. "do you trust me, Marrow? Are you afraid of me?" His pulse pounded, anticipating her to say she didn't, and was; respectively.

[Marrow]

Marrow looked at him again. "I... I really don't know what I think about you. I'm kind of confused by you to be honest..." She continued fidgeting with the silver. She knew she was still a little frightened of him, and was still weary of trusting him. "I'm confused because I am still scared of you, and I don't know if all of your actions I can trust. But what confuses me is I don't think I mind being around you... I just... don't trust you. It really confuses me that i don't know what I think of you."

[Mortimer]

"oh…" He was a bit hurt. "Is… is it my appearance that frightens you? I get that a lot…" He put a hand over his scar as they walked.

[Marrow]

"No," she stated, glanced over towards him. "Not at all. I'm frightened because I don't know what to expect. I'm not used to others... I don't know if this is all a trick. I don't know if you are going to turn around and hurt me. I'm not used to anyone spending this must time with me." She fidgeted with the silver in both hands now. "But if you really do want to be trusted... It'll take me some time. I've never been in this situation before."

[Mortimer]

He glanced at her again, and slid his hand off of his neck. "I see…" He was relieved she did not find him grotesque like others. "I know it won't assure you at this point, but I have no intentions of hurting you Marrow." He could see the Village coming through the tree line.

"I understand it'll take some time, but, I don't mind spending that time with you one bit" He smiled.

[Marrow]

"Okay..." She saw the village coming up, and instantly got nervous. Seeing the village, it had dawned on her that this was going to happen, she she suddenly felt so unprepared. She took her bone out from under her arm and held it at the ready. The silver piece made it a little more awkward to hold. She slowed her pace and instantly began scanning her eyes over the village, looking for the position of every person she saw. Her heart was racing, and she was visibly shaking quite a bit.

[Mortimer]

As they approached the main village road, there were a couple burly looking Dregs tending farmland in the distance, and a windmill spinning lazily further off. Sensing how agitated Marrow had become, he loudly greeted the two, waiving an arm "Good morning!" in hopes of conveying that they were friendly. The two stopped and waved back amicably, then returned to their task. "Listen, the People of this village are friendly, but they may react badly if you look like you're about to attack them" he gestured to the bone she was holding so defensively. "I promise, if anyone is a problem, I'll take care of it." He flexed his arm for her.

[Marrow]

Marrow lowered her bone and watched the actions of everyone carefully. "O...okay..." Despite her lowering her bone and taking a more normal stance, her eyes still darted around intensely, all of the tension she had in her body showed through her eyes as she was forced to behave calmer. It was very difficult for her to not be prepared to attack at all times, as she often used that tactic to keep people at a distance. "I... I don't like this..."

[Mortimer]

They walked slowly down the Cobbled road. "we don't have to go in anywhere you don't want to, but I promise, I know these people, they're not dangerous." The buildings of the village started to grow denser as Mort led the way to the merchants district, the road still empty at this early hour.

[Marrow]

Marrow kept walking with him. "Okay.... I'll go." She didn't really know how to behave "normal" but made an attempt at it which looked very stiff and awkward. She kept looking around quite frantically moving her eyes more than her head.

[Mortimer]

They started nearing some shopfronts, the shopkeepers still setting up to open. "I think we might try the general store first. They've got near anything you'd ever want, Or so they advertise" Mort started walking over to a shopfront where an elderly looking sugar glider was washing the front window. Mortimer nearly twice the Dreg's size, put a hand gently on her shoulder. "Morning Gertrude! are you open yet?"

Gertrude gave a start "Oh my! Oh, hello there Morty, I didn't see you there. yes, yes, you and your girlfriend go right in, I'll be in as soon as I've finished up out here." She gestured for him to lean close. and as he did, she whispered "Good for you Mort, deary, I told you you'd find someone didn't I?" She patted the front of his waistcoat and smiled sweetly.

Mortimer blushed so hard he felt it might even be visible past his fur, he stammered over his words "I-I-I…we're not- uhm…"

She stopped him. "Oh ho ho ho, it's alright sweetie, you don't need to explain it to me. Go ahead now."

Still flustered from the exchange, he held the door open for Marrow as Gertrude chuckled sweetly behind him.

The inside walls of the shop were all neatly organized shelves packed with preserved food stuffs and supplies. A glass front counter spanned the wall opposite the entrance, containing various tools, trinkets and novelties. Several wooden boxes stood to the left of the entrance, their tops open, filled with nuts neatly stacked into pyramids. And to the right of the entrance were stacks of bags of various types of grains. The place was empty except for Mortimer and Marrow.

"You said you've never really been into a store before, right? Well, you can have anything you see in here, provided you trade for it fairly. and if you want something you don't see, chances are they can get it for you."

[Marrow]

Through their entire conversation, Marrow stood slightly behind Mortimer, staring wide eyed at Gertrude while not moving a muscle. When he opened the door, she glanced at him for a split second then returned her stare at Gertrude.  Marrow kept her eye on Gertrude as she slowly stepped into the building, sliding by her at as far a distance she could pass.  She began to look around but frequently turned to look at her, making sure she's not about to attack her while her back is turned.

Marrow slowly eased into looking at the stuff more than at Gertrude, but still had the occasional glance, keeping an eye on her. She looked at some of the stuff on the back counter. She had difficulty identifying the use for many of the items, and looked slightly puzzled.

[Mortimer]

Mort watched marrow as she slowly eased into the shop and started poking through things. He started to look through the wears now too. He eyed some of the more expensive items behind the glass front counter. He noted Marrow was looking quite baffled. He looked around, and picked up a simple leather bound set of manicure tools. "Here, I notice you have some trouble holding some things because of your long claws…" he slid it onto the counter in front of her, and opened it. It included a pair of clippers, in 2 sizes, tweezers, and a file. He held his hand out to her to show her his neatly filed and trimmed claws. "you use the file there to shape them, and the clippers to take off large sections" he was pointing them out as he explained.

[Marrow]

Marrow looked at her hands. "Can I sharpen them with the file? I don't want them shorter." She then looked at his hands, puzzled as to why he keeps his claws so short. "Why are your claws so short? On purpose? I can't imagine you being able to fight much things off with those... They wouldn't cut into anything or anyone too well..."

[Mortimer]

Mort paused, looking at her very long claws, then back at the dinky little file in the kit. He closed the manicure kit putting it back, then retrieved a single large, metal, nail file. "I don't see why not, this one might suit you better than that little kit then."

"the reason I trim my nails is because I make a living by the dexterity of my hands, I need to be able to hold and use precise tools. You've watched me dressing the body of a Dreg before. It's one thing to cut someone open, but to stitch them back together so that it looks natural… you need to be extremely adept." He twirled the file deftly through his fingers to illustrate. "You are correct that my claws are pretty useless for defense, though, in this village there's really not as much need for me to defend myself. Besides, if need be, there are tools to use for defense" he pointed into the glass case to a selection of small and large hunting knives, the polished metal blades sitting on top of their decorated leather sheaths. He put the file on the counter in front of Marrow.

[Marrow]

Marrow looked at the file closely, considering trading for it.

She gave Mortimer a puzzled look. "Why... would you stitch them back up? They are dead, what's the point of that? And... what if you lose the knife? You'd have no other way to protect yourself." Marrow was puzzled by all of this. The way she saw it, if she lost her bone, she could still use her claws to fight back. She didn't see how Mortimer could live comfortably without some line of defense that can't be easily taken from him.

[Mortimer]

"ah, there are several reasons to do so. primarily, if a family loses a loved one, I will preserve the body for them for a burial ceremony. I dress them in something nice and groom them so that the last time they're seen, they look their best. otherwise, if the body is unclaimed or they've sold their own body to us upon death, I will preserve and clean the body in order to sell it to necromancers. They pay quite a lot for a well preserved, whole body." Mort looked at his own hand for a moment. "… you do have a good point there, I often don't even carry a knife though. I've been in many fights… as I'm certain you've guessed from my appearance. I cut off my claws when I found I no longer needed them, once I found somewhere I felt safe. After that… they were more of a hinderance than a help to me." Mort laughed nervously "That being said, my claws were never as long as yours. They're quite impressive really"

[Marrow]

"Oh..." She was slightly confused still, but didn't pursue it any further. "I don't think I'll ever feel safe. I never have. I still don't..." She sighed and looked at her claws. She felt slightly envious of him not living in such constant stress and fear for his life, however, she does not wish to let her guard down at any point in time. "Sometimes... Sometimes I wish I could just stop worrying for a day. But I can't. The moment I stop worrying, something bad will happen. I always need to be on the guard.... I don't see how you can do it."

[Mortimer]

"I understand how you feel marrow…" he sighed deeply. "I really do. Almost every time I trusted someone, I got hurt… figuratively, and literally" he felt his half nub of a right ear. "I don't know why, but even after I'd been hurt so many time… I kept trusting people, and sometimes… they did what they said, sometimes they didn't want to hurt me. It took time, like you said, it took time to learn how to trust people, and not get hurt…" Mort's eyes were starting to tear up. "Marrow, if you want to try trusting me, even just a little, I promise I'll try my hardest not to disappoint you." He smiled at her as a tear rolled down his cheek.

[Marrow]

Marrow looked him in the eyes, trying to read the expression on his face. The only part she understood were the tears, and started feeling maybe he was being honest. She realised that he is rather defenseless, and easily taken down if he does turn on her. "Okay, I'll try trusting you," she replied. "But if you do try to hurt me... I will attack. I have to protect myself. You wouldn't be too difficult to take down."

[Mortimer]

"I wouldn't expect anything less." He wiped his eyes. "and I hope we won't have to find out." He was relieved

A bell rang as Gertrude stepped through the front of the shop, she'd finished cleaning the front windows. She walked slowly to the back of the store, making her way behind the counter. "Morty dear, I want to thank you so much. The suit you picked out for Wallace was just dashing. I'm sure he would have loved it, and the service yesterday was quite beautiful." She rustled behind the counter for a moment then presented a parcel. "This is for you and your special lady friend, deary. I have a feeling you'll both like it"

Mortimer took the parcel from her, and unwrapped it. It was a rather expensive bottle of hazelnut liquor. "oh wow, thank you Gertrude! you really are too kind!" he said reading the embossed gold lettering of the label.

"It's the least I could do dear." She made her way for a back room. "If you two need me I'll be doing some inventory, just ring and I'll be up." With that she disappeared in the storeroom.

Mort set the large glass bottle on the countertop and turned back to Marrow. "If you'd like, after we're done shopping, we could retire to my home, and we could have a couple drinks? This one looks excellent." He was eager to try it.

[Marrow]

Marrow thought about it for a moment. "Okay... I'll go with you."

She looked at the file, and took it with her through the rest of the shop. She saw a large blanket, and felt it. She picked it up and put it in her arm, then saw a pillow to the right of the blankets. She put her hand on one and felt it. She needed some better things to sleep on than her rags, so she grabbed a pillow as well. "I'll take these," she said, holding up the three items. "I don't know what else I'd need..."

[Mortimer]

"hmm, if you don't need anymore things how about some food to hold you over? do you have much of a supply back at your tree? there are some pretty good foods here, I think the simplest and cheapest would be a bunch of nuts though, I don't think you have cooking supplies right?"

[Marrow]

"I'm running a little low on food right now, I suppose I could get some nuts." She walked over and looked at the nuts. "I don't know anything about cooking, though, I don't have supplies for that. I'd rather just eat what I find."

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