Carcass Carivan

The crackling and smell of bacon stirred Tellia from her slumber as she slowly looked over to where Zelph had a fire going and cooking bacon like he promised her. Rubbing her eyes, she got up and walked over to where Zelph was and sat next to him staring intently at the bacon while holding her teddy, trying hard not to yawn too much. "You kept your promise." It wasn't that Zelph often broke his promises, he just sometimes held out with the food to make it last longer. Still tired she leaned against her brother. "Do you think mom and dad will be waiting for us when we finally get to the city? I miss them."

 

Tellia couldn't even begin to grip the idea that her parents might be dead. She had been told days before she left that it was possible that they might eventually have to flee, and if that happened to go with Zelph and they would catch up later. Now Zelph was telling her that she might never see her parents again. Tellia began to sniffle. "No. We will see them again. They will come for us. Momma would never leave me for that long, she will find us." Tellia argued as tears ran down her face. "They have to find us, then we can all be a family again." Tellia never saw how not a part of the family Zelph was. He was her older brother, of course he was a part of the family.

"I would never say no to meat." Hedgrit stated, climbing down the ladder after dropping off another load of bricks. He turned to see Tellia crying and suddenly decided that he hadn't brought up enough bricks. "But if giving it to the little one will keep her quiet, I will take more potatoes. As long as she don't keep us up all night crying."​

 

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Tellia shifted a bit uncomfortably as silence fell, she didn't like when Zelph avoided conversations like this. She knew it didn't mean anything good, knew that he had to be right that her parents weren't coming back, but she didn't want to believe it still. Taking the bacon she was given, Tellia ate it silently, still leaning against Zelph as she ate it. "You aren't going to leave me right?" Tellia asked as she yawned again while eating. She was terrified to lose her entire family, she wanted to at least keep her brother with her.

Finishing her bacon and little bit of potato, Tellia moved to lay her head in Zelph's lap, quickly passing out again, in the comfort of having her brother around with her. When Tellia was asleep, Hedgrit finally sat down and took some food for himself eating it.
"You gonna be able to carry her up there now?" He asked almost sounding like he was offering to help this time.

 

"So what exactly is yer story. Ya don't seem to be telling her everything." Hedgrit pointed out, ever more curious about his traveling companions. "And I don't think you'd be givin' her false hopes with the promise unless ya intend to leave, but the kid is psycho enough as it is. I don't think ya should leave 'er." Hedgrit warned as he looked over at Tellia, his face actually softening a little bit as he watched the girl sleep, like he didn't actually mind the two kids completely, and maybe his tone with them was often just an act. ​

 

"At any given time, with or without the crawlers something could happen and you could die. Doesn't mean that you should not make the promise anyways. It means that she will not think anything is certain, and hope is a powerful thing in these times." Hedgrit warned Zelph as they sat around the fire. "So which parent do you share, and where are they now. Did you run ahead or are they... you know... uh... gone?" Hedgrit asked trying to coax out the entire story from Zelph even if he didn't want to talk about it. ​

 

Hedgrit nodded as he listened before he finally spoke, offering up his own bit of information on his life. "I... uh... I was workin' in the mines at the time. Sometimes we stay up there for days. I was only gone for two, but when I came back down, most of my town that wasn't in the mines were crawlers... includin' my wife. I chose to put her down before she could do too much damage, but I couldn't take on the entire town so I fled." Hedgrit admitted as he pulled out a charm that he was wearing, hidden beneath his beard the entire time. "She was the most lovely thing I had ever met." After offering a little more about him however he still had another question for Zelph. Up until now he hadn't understood so he mocked it, hadn't wanted to understand. But how he described it in the story, curiosity had gotten the best of Hedgrit. "What exactly is this little friend? Is the wee one crazy, thinks she has other people in her?" He had heard of medical cases where people went insane and ended up believing they were several different people, but something told Hedgrit that it wasn't quite the same as that, not the way she seemed to fight against her own mind when things go too much. ​

 

Hegridt sat there seeming stunned for a moment like he had no idea how to react to it, and well that was because he didn't. "Yer tellin' me that another whole entity lives within that tiny body?" Hedgrit knew that was what he had just said and still it didn't seem to sink in. "Would it ever be dangerous to us?" He then asked. He didn't necessarily plan to send them away, but he never paid much mind when the girl started to talk to herself, now he wondered if he should be on his guard. Right now she looked like she couldn't hurt a fly, but the thing that lay beneath, it was because they didn't know what it was that scared him the most about this entire thing. ​

 

Hedgrit nodded for a moment before staring at the girl for a bit longer. "I am sure she will be fine, with a brother like you to take care of 'er." There was some sense of compassion in his voice as he watched the two of them. Hedgrit then stood up and stretched. "You get first watch, I am going to get some sleep. Are ya sure you don't want help getting her up." Hedgrit looked to the top of the ladder where he had started to set it up for them to sleep. At the very least he would let Zelph go up first and wait right at the bottom just in case. Hedgrit still worried about having Tellia with them, but he would do his best to help care for her, he wasn't quite so heartless to let them struggle on their own. ​

 

Hedgrit lingered at the bottom of the ladder, keeping his eye out as Zelph started to carry Tellia up. Zelph didn't look totally stable, and Hedgrit cringed a few times as he tried to climb, but in the end Zelph and Tellia got up fine. With confidence that he was okay, Hedgrit then climbed up himself. Tellia seemed nice and tucked in, so Hedgrit found a spot on the other side of the landing, opposite to Tellia and Zelph. He gave Zelph a small wave before curling up himself, taking off some of his armour before he fell asleep.

(I rolled for it, the night will pass without incident.)​

 

Tellia had slept for a long time, it was normal in children, even more so for her. It seemed when she didn't sleep at least ten hours, the thing inside her was more irritable than normal. When she awoke, she found herself in a strange place that she had not remembered really getting too the night before. As she woke up and looked around she found herself in a high area, laying on some hay. Getting up she looked down at her brother who was already awake. Looking down it seemed Iridia was talking to Zelph distracting him, so Tellia thought it might be fun to trick him. She didn't know what to do though. Looking around she found some straw sitting around and started to throw it up and let it rain down out him, giggling slightly.

Come morning Hedgirt was up slightly after Zelph, but remained to watch the little one as she slept still. Hedgrit was nearly dozing off again when he heard giggling and saw Tellia throwing straw over the edge, seeming to be aiming for her brothers hair. Shaking his head he got up. "Come on lassie, lets go harass your brother into giving us food." Hedgrit went down first, watching as Tellia started to come down after him, making sure that her feet were both on the ground before looking to Zelph. "Is it ready yet." He did his best to imitate Tellia's whining voice. ​