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]

"Oh! That's what you meant, alright." he thought for a moment. "it's like your body's natural reaction to something you find funny, or something you enjoy" he was slapping his stomach like a drum now making a beat. He was definitely very drunk.

[Marrow]

"Oh... it felt good to get that out." She rolled over on her side and looked at him. "I don't know why I laughed though..."  She continued to have some difficulty focusing on him, and her head moved slightly and snapped back into place slightly. She casually started picking her nose with her long claw, completely unaware that such actions are not socially acceptable. She continued to speak, "Did that drink make me dizzy? It's like the pumpkin..."

[Mortimer]

"Maybe you've just needed a good laugh. Sometimes you just can't help it" he looked over at Marrow who was looking at him. "A bit like the pumpkin yeah, but this drink is especially brewed to taste good and not make you sick. The pumpkin was just randomly rotting in the middle of the forest and…made you violently sick. "

[Marrow]

"Oh...." She rested her head on her hand, still on her side. "It's strange... I feel really confused right now... This is all so new. I don't know how I feel about all of these new things... Three days ago I would have never done any of this."

[Mortimer]

"it's good to come out of your comfort zone sometimes. You'll find things you never even knew you'd like" He gave a big grin. "sorry if this is all a bit fast."

[Marrow]

She curled up on the floor. "It's fast, yes." She didn't understand the apology; she never heard one before. She yawned and closed her eyes for a moment. "I don't feel like you're that bad though. But I don't think I want to trust anyone else. That's too much for me." She thought back to the conversation from earlier, opened her eyes to look at him, and asked, "Can you not tell anyone about my past.... or me....? I don't want that getting out there. I really don't want my dad to find me......" She started getting an overwhelming feeling of fear from the information she carelessly let slip earlier.

[Mortimer]

"That information stays between us, Marrow" he held out his gloved hand to her. "You have my word. The last thing I'd want to do is betray your trust in me."

[Marrow]

"Okay..." she replied. She looked down at his gloved hand. Hesitantly, she lifted her hand and slowly placed it on his. "Why are you being so good to me? I don't understand why you are spending time with someone like me...."

[Mortimer]

"I like spending time with you, I want to be your friend." He felt her hand in his own. "I guess maybe I've been lonely. And… I am still really sorry about thinking you were dead and abducting you the first time we met."

[Marrow]

Marrow thought for a moment. She rarely analyzes her own actions. "I've been alone all my life, pretty much. The company I've had has not been good, I wouldn't consider it company. I never felt lonely because I didn't know of anything else but that... Until we talked that other day, I'm kind of glad that happened, I think." She gripped his hand tighter. "I don't know... Maybe I like to spend time with you too..."

[Mortimer]

He grinned. "Do you want stay here tonight? You've even got your own bedding. And I'll help you take the nuts back tomorrow" he felt her hand in his own massaging the back of it with his thumb.

[Marrow]

"Okay, if it's okay with you..." she said. She was quite tired and still drunk. She crawled her way over to the pile of blanket and pillow by the door and crawled underneath it.

[Mortimer]

Mort, still laying on his back watched her make her way to her pile of bedding. He slowly got up then placed the doll right near Marrow and placed it right next to her. Yawning "Sleep well Marrow" he retrieved a blanket and passed out on a nearby sofa.

[Marrow]

Marrow woke the next morning. Opening her eyes, they slowly gained focus. Noticing she was not waking in her tree startled her for a moment, but she recovered once she remembered what had happened. She yawned and stretched, and noticed the doll next to her. She picked it up and looked at it again, squeezing it.

[Mortimer]

Mort was still fast asleep on the sofa. His blanket had migrated to the floor and his limbs were splayed out in all directions. The sofa around his face was completely soaked in drool.

[Marrow]

Marrow looked up to see Mort, laying there sprawled across the sofa. She continued to lay there, and waited for him to wake up; she did not want to disrupt him. She closed her eyes, still holding the doll.

[Mortimer]

Eventually the morning light hit Mort in the face. He slowly rose and stretched, giving a small grunt. the fur on the left side of his face was still matted down with slobber. He looked over to see Marrow laying in her blankets holding the doll he had modified for her, and smiled. He made his way to his restroom, and started grooming in the mirror with the door open.

[Marrow]

Marrow heard him and opened her eyes. She stretched and sat up, and looked at him. She thought he was interacting with someone at first, and got up to peek around to see what it was. She saw then that it was just his reflection, and just then she caught a small glimpse of hers as well, and she ducked back away, startled by the her reflection. She had only seen her reflection in water, so it was quite distorted and she never really paid too much thought to it, what she has ever seen. She realized that that was a mirror of her actions as well, that or whatever it was was just as scared of her as she was of it, and slowly approached the mirror next to him. She reached forward and touched the glass. She slowly pieced together that it was what she actually looked like.

[Mortimer]

As Mort was returning his fur to a smooth fluffy state, he noticed Marrow approaching from behind him in the reflection. He stepped aside to allow her closer to the mirror. "Good morning Marrow! Did you sleep well?" he said washing his hands in a simple pitcher and bowl style basin.. "Have you seen mirrors before? I know they're not very common in ruined and feral areas." He continued to use his wet hands to groom his head.

[Marrow]

"I slept okay..." She tilted her head and looked into the mirror. "This?" She pointed at the mirror. "No..." She watched his reflection as he groomed himself. She didn't really understand what he was doing, and quietly watched, completely uninterested in cleaning herself up. After a moment, she walked out and collected her things together. She sat down and watched him, waiting for him to finish grooming. She started filing a nail with the file, making it super sharp, while she waited.

[Mortimer]

Using a towel he dried himself off. "Yes, it's just a piece of glass coated with silver. They're a bit expensive, but fairly common here." He started putting his clothes back on, his fur now clean and neatly groomed. "I'll make us some food then we can head over to your tree and stash your nuts." He buttoned up his vest and put his watch in the pocket, it was still reading 4:20.

[Marrow]

Marrow looked up at him. "Okay..." She looked down and continued to file her claws, making them really sharp. "This thing might be useful after all." She looked at her claws, now very sharp. She watched him quietly as he worked on making food.

[Mortimer]

Mortimer boiled some oatmeal for them like he did 3 days ago. He placed two bowls on the table outside his kitchen. "Be sure to let this cool before eating it this time, It's very hot." He retrieved a couple glasses and filled them with orange juice and placed them on the table as well. "I've been thinking, Marrow, and if you ever want to come visit me here at my home, or just up the road..." he pointed out the window to the cobbled road "at my mortuary building, I think I'd enjoy that" He looked at her and smiled. "Barely anyone ever goes either place, I always transport my work myself."

[Marrow]

Marrow sat at the table and waited for the food to cool this time. She sipped the orange juice and looked at him. "Okay... I might like to..." She looked down and stared at the oatmeal. She dipped a claw in and tested it. It finally cooled off, and she started shoveling some into her mouth with her hands.

[Mortimer]

Mort picked up a spoon and ate his oatmeal after it had cooled, there was a spoon on the table for Marrow as well. Watching Marrow he was reminded of how he had conducted himself before conforming to the society he had made himself a part of. Mort was not about to correct her, he figured she would learn how to use cutlery if she wanted to. "How do you like my cooking?" He took another slice of the nut bread that was still on the table and offered one to Marrow.

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