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…

[Mortimer]

"I think you have enough silver there to buy enough nuts to hold you over for a season." he rang the bell sitting on the counter to summon Gertrude. "what kind of nuts would you like?" he gestured to the various stacks of nuts.

[Marrow]

Marrow looked at the selection and sniffed. They all smelled pretty good. "I'll... I'll just take a variety of them... I can't choose. I'll take whatever nuts I can get with it then." She shrugged slightly.

[Mortimer]

Gertrude emerged from the back.

"I think we're ready to settle up here, Gerty. We've got a two hundred and fifty milligram silver piece for a blanket a cushion, a nail file. Then the rest I think we'll take in assorted nuts" Mort leaned over to marrow and said quietly "go ahead and give her the silver so she can weigh it." He looked back to Gertrude "do you think I could get your boys to deliver the nuts to my house?"

"oh ho ho ho, you squirrels and your nuts." she giggled. "That'll be no problem at all, I'll have all four of my boys bring down ten big bags later today, dear."

"Thank you Gertrude." He looked over to Marrow "then I'll help bring them to your place."

[Marrow]

Marrow slowly stepped up to Gertrude and put the silver down on the counter very quickly. She then immediately backed away a few steps and glanced back at Mortimer for a moment, then returned a wide-eyed stare at her. She was visibly a little shaky from approaching her.

[Mortimer]

"Oh honey, I don't bite" she lightly chuckled as she picked up the silver piece. She put it on a slide scale. "Three hundred milligrams dear, let's round that up to twelve bags." She opened a drawer and placed the silver piece inside. "I'll have the boys bring them to your place before sundown Morty, I'll make sure to tell them to knock before coming in."

Mort again blushed. "Th-thank you Gertrude. Have a nice day, alright?" he said picking up the bottle of hazelnut liquor.

"Certainly dear, and you two have a wonderful day as well."

He started walking out of the shop with Marrow, by now there were several residents milling through the marketplace. All minding their own business. "need help carrying any of that?" he asked Marrow.

[Marrow]

Marrow found herself glancing at everyone, making a mental note of where everyone is. "I'm fine I'll carry them." She hid her face behind the stuff; only her eyes were showing over the top to keep an eye on people as she walked.

[Mortimer]

Mortimer walked with Marrow through the thinning crowd towards the road that led to his house. they both heard a very tiny "E'cuse me!" right near them. A very young Dreg had slipped right in front of the two blocking their way. "are you really really really scared? or sad? is that why you're hidin' your face?" The child stood clutching a rag doll looking directly at marrow, with a concerned expression. "Is he scarin' you? Y'know that's not no nice at all mister!" she pointed at Mort.

[Marrow]

Marrow stopped in her tracks and froze stiff, looking at the child wide eyed. She fixed her eyes on the child as she backed away a few steps. "No...." She got nervous from her path being abruptly blocked and started to step around the child, keeping a close eye on her as she tried to step around.

[Mortimer]

Mort started to step around the opposite side of the child, also looking at her now, a snow white mouse in a tiny pink sun dress, it matched her eyes. The doll she was clutching, a plain brown squirrel, with a goofy smile and a torn ear. "Oh I see, you're sick, you sound sick. are you feeling ok? you should try some soup. My name's Alice, what's your name?" she started to walk with them now directly between them.

[Marrow]

Still keeping an eye on the child, she began to walk faster, trying to lose her. "I'm fine..." Marrow was getting very nervous about this mouse. She didn't want to harm her, but she was becoming a major concern. She did not want to talk with the mouse at all. After a moment, she decided to give the mouse a warning. "Leave me alone, now...."

[Mortimer]

"Oh… Ok. I hope you get better soon, Fine. Bein' sick's no fun. Before I leave, I want you to have this. He always helps me feel better." she held her doll up towards Marrow as they walked.

Mort could tell Marrow was getting agitated, and was probably just going to keep moving. "Thank you darling, I'll carry it for her, her arms are all full." He said before she handed it to him.

Alice stopped walking then and called "Goodbye Fine! Goodbye Mr. Scary-man, It was nice meeting you! Get better, ok, bye bye!" then wandered back into the market.

The cobbled road to Mort's home was empty for the rest of the way. as they reached his door, the sun was at it's peek in the sky.

"Come on in" he said pushing the door open. He set the bottle of liquor on his dining table, leaning the toy against it as if it were sitting. "You can place those anywhere" he said referring to the arm full of blanket and pillow she was carrying. "are you hungry?"

[Marrow]

Marrow stepped in slowly, glancing around before putting her blanket and pillow on the floor by the door. She continued to hold the file. Still nervous, she stood by the door, just inside. "Yeah, I am..."

[Mortimer]

Mortimer took a loaf of nut bread from his cupboard and cut about half of it into thick slices. He but the remaining loaf and the slices on a plate on the dining table just outside the kitchen. He placed a jar of hazelnut spread next to them with a blunt butter knife in the jar. "Please, have a seat and relax." He pulled a seat out for her. "You're safe here, it'll just be you & I" He slathered some hazelnut spread over a slice and placed it on a napkin for Marrow.

[Marrow]

Marrow slowly walked in and placed the file on the table as she sat down. She picked up the slice and began to eat. She glanced around the room again then stared quietly at Mort while she ate.

[Mortimer]

Mort retrieved two short, wide glasses before breaking the wax seal and removing the cork from the bottle. "This one's a bit strong, you may want to sip it slowly." He filled each glass halfway and set one in front of Marrow. Mortimer took a sip of the velvety liquor, his chest filled with a strong warmth that slowly moved up into his head. It was very good.

[Marrow]

Marrow picked it up and looked at it closely as she recalled this was something given to him by someone else. She sniffed it. Seeing him take a sip of it, himself, eased some of her concern slightly so she took a sip. The strength of the taste was startling at first, but she found that she liked it. She quickly forgot to sip slowly and began taking more frequent sips, as if she were drinking water. She was not used to drinking things slowly at all and was almost done with the glass.

[Mortimer]

"so, how're you feeling after doing all that for the first time?" he said getting a slice with spread for himself and taking another sip. He sat at the table opposite Marrow.

[Marrow]

She took another bite of the bread and chewed as she thought. "I... got useful things but... I still did not like it. I don't think it's worth the risk yet for most things." She looked down at the glass and drank the last of it, and followed it with the last bite of bread.

[Mortimer]

Mort was nearing the end of his glass now. "It will get easier, I promise." He poured them both another round. "It just takes time." He picked up the rag-doll and started examining it.

[Marrow]

"If you say so..." Marrow said, taking the new glass and looking into it. She took another sip, and started feeling a little more relaxed. After sitting fairly straight up on the alert for a while, she finally sat against the back of the chair and slumped into it a little. She watched as he examined the doll, starting to feel the effects of the drink, but in a calmer state than what she experienced from the pumpkin.

[Mortimer]

"Hmm, do you mind if I do something to your new doll?" he said taking a generous sip.

[Marrow]

"I don't care. I don't know what it's for anyway." She took another sip.

[Mortimer]

Mort got to his feet with a little wobble and left the room. He returned immediately with a small cloth bundle and some old torn clothes of his own. he put the shirt and vest on an empty part of the table, then unrolled the cloth bundle across the table on his own side. It was a kit of surgical tools. he immediately took a scalpel and cut the dolls throat open. "They're like little pillows that remind you of things you like. most people use them as to comfort themselves."

[Marrow]

Marrow watched him. "Oh... Okay then." She took a large sip, nearly finishing her second drink as she watched.

[Mortimer]

Mort put the scalpel down on the table. He took a needle and thread from the kit next and stitched the neck back together. The torn clothing he had brought was quickly and skillfully cut into small swaths, then sewn together into miniature versions of their previous forms. "I thought it already looked enough like me that I'd accentuate that a little bit." He put the shirt and vest on the doll and buttoned them up. He held it out to Marrow. "do you like it?" Mort hadn't noticed yet that the right sleeve of the doll was now resting right on top of his knuckle which he had sliced open on the scalpel which he had not secured. it soaked up his blood staining the forearm of the sleeve bright red.

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