third pounce

[nyancrophile]

[Today, very close to the factory, you may encounter a mummy in Mayfield. A mummy with cat ears and a tail, which has also been thoughtfully wrapped. The mummy is holding what seems to be a beating heart in a jar, and keeps looking from it to the factory. There are more organs sitting on a gurney inside, all pulsing like the heart, but Orin could only manage to bring one jar with her. Without help, there's no way she'll be able to carry every single internal organ in her body.

And so, she is at a loss. The first time, she tried to leave without her organs. She didn't get very far before her head began to empty, her posture began to worsen, and her arms began to rise. At some point, she found herself turned around after shuffling aimlessly for a few minutes, and the closer she got to the factory, the better she got.

She decided, then, to bring her heart with her. The heart is the core of the body, after all; it and the brain are the most essential in terms of life and death, and maybe that's what was causing the problem.

But as soon as she left, she could feel her thoughts dimming, and all she could do was go back. So now she paces outside the factory, looking back inside, unsure of what to do. She could try pushing the organs along with her feet as she walked, but that could break the jars, and she doesn't know what would happen if the jars broke. There's no way she can carry them all by herself. Orin has found herself between a rock and a hard place, unable to leave the factory unless someone comes to her assistance.

So all she can do is stand just outside the factory and wait. And if someone does happen to get within earshot, Orin will force the fabric around her mouth apart and yell:]

Heeeey! You! I got a favor to ask!

Comments

[roadrolling]

[there is nothing Len wants more right now, nothing, than to go find his sister and cling to her until everything goes away.

... but he remembers the man with the metal wings helping him, and how grateful he was for that. and how he wished he could have done more for the boy with the horns.

he approaches the cat girl. conversation will be difficult without a tongue, but maybe he won't have to talk much.]

♪ Hyeah?

[nyancrophile]

[Orin knocks on the top of her head, as though she's done something silly.]

Turns out I forgot a few things in the factory that I need to take with me, an' there's no way I can carry 'em all.

[She holds up the jar with her heart in it to show him.]

Everythin' that was inside of me is in a jar like this one. Ya don't hafta if ya don't wanna, but I think I need help carryin' all of me home. You got a bag or somethin'?

[roadrolling]

[normally, he'd freak out at that sight. he still kind of wants to. but what he saw in that room... what was done to him... he just doesn't have the energy to spend on being horrified.

he bites his lip, considering the problem]

♪ Hho, buh mhaybe we couhh finh home kinh of carh...?

[nyancrophile]

[It takes Orin several moments to puzzle out what Len is saying. She hasn't really been watching his mouth as he talks, so she has yet to notice that he's missing his tongue.]

Some kinda...car? Is that what you said? I guess that'd work...I don't know how to drive one of those things, though.

[roadrolling]

[he shakes his head, a little frustrated]

♪ Carhh. [he tries to sharpen that 'hh' sound as much as possible, and pantomimes pushing a cart. stupid missing tongue.]

[nyancrophile]

Oh, cart! That's a better plan than a car anyway.

I was thinkin' about takin' the gurney I was wheeled on, an' it's not that I got a problem with stealin', but I dunno if I'd live to tell the tale if that crazy doctor lady found out I took one'a those.

[She pauses, and then:]

So what happened to you?

[roadrolling]

♪ Mhaybe... hhe henerhahl hore? [oh god why is it so hard to say 'general store'?] Hhopping carhh?

...

[he doesn't want to try to say it again. just thinking about it hurts.

so he lightly taps the bandages where his ears used to be, and then opens his mouth, pointing inside.]

[nyancrophile]

Yikes! No wonder I'm havin' trouble understandin' you. Sorry that happened to ya, kid...

[Speaking of understanding him, Orin has no idea what he said, so she's trying to piece it together. The only thing she really gets out of it is "hopping cart."]

Hoppin' cart...hoppin' cart? That doesn't sound like a real thing. What sounds like "hoppin'"...

[She pauses as she goes through every word that rhymes with "hopping" that she can think of, and eventually she says, slightly uncertain:]

Shoppin' cart? Is that right?

[roadrolling]

[the sympathy is appreciated, Orin :(b

he nods gratefully when she figures it out. He wasn't looking forward to having to try and convey 'shopping cart' nonverbally]

[nyancrophile]

You'd hafta be in charge of gettin' the cart, in that case. If I went with ya, all I'd be able to do is walk around like this.

[She stretches her arms out in front of her.]

[idkmybfforin]

[When Orin failed to reappear anywhere she had been before, Okuu had taken off without thinking.

She came back down within a block as her wings snapped.

...but she was beginning to see a pattern. Her bones itched and burned right before something broke--just before, no earlier--so sometimes she could land and save herself the trouble of crashing down to earth. Most of the time this worked!

Utsuho still ends up dropping out of the sky at least four times as she made her first circle of the city--and once more before she found the hospital. People had been reappearing in front of that place before, so surely Orin must be there--

--but just as she swooped down close enough to investigate a figure all wrapped in bandages that might be familiar, her wings started to itch.

Dammit.

And down she goes into the sidewalk.]

[nyancrophile]

[Well, it's pretty damn hard not to notice something that big falling out of the sky. Orin recognizes the crumpled heap on the ground immediately, and walks toward her as fast as the linen wrappings allow her, brain cells be damned.]

Okuu! Okuu, are you okay?!

[idkmybfforin]

[The lump of feathers grumbles in irritation.]

Nrgh.

[It's a very long moment before she gets up, though. The two main segments of her wings had fractured again, but straightened out as she stood. Slower, much slower than usual, but regenerate they did.]

Be...fine.

[Okuu wobbled back to her feet before her wings finished straightening out. She was breathing hard, but it was Orin there after all. Was she so badly hurt? There were bandages on her from head to toe. It wouldn't do to be weak now...]

[nyancrophile]

Geez, ya look even worse than I do, an' I'm the one missin' all my insides! You're a real mess sometimes, Okuu.

[She says it affectionately, though.]

[idkmybfforin]

[--wait wait what]

What?

[Suddenly the fact that she was re-experiencing being crushed every fifteen minutes didn't seem to be such a big of an issue.]

[nyancrophile]

Well, ya know what a mummy is, right?

[idkmybfforin]

[This face would be a "no".]

[nyancrophile]

That's okay, I didn't know what a mummy was either 'til I read the book they gave me.

Anywho, when the Egyptians wanted to prepare an important body for burial, they'd take all the insides out an' put 'em in jars, then they'd wrap the empty body in cloth. They didn't do it for everybody, just people like kings an' such.

[And cats, but that wasn't in the part of the book she read.]

So that's what they did to me.

[idkmybfforin]

...why would they do that? Then you can't use them for anything! [Like, yanno, living with. Or burning. Or as food, but that seems mean so Utsuho promptly banishes the thought from her mind.]

[nyancrophile]

[Orin shrugs, clearly just as confused as Okuu is.]

It's a total waste. If they wanted my organs they should've at least done somethin' with 'em. I mean I'm mad they took 'em already, but to see 'em just in jars like that...it's pretty creepy, an' it kinda pisses me off.

Late event tag is late, if you don't want to backtag with me that's 'kay :3

[equal_shots]

[Mummy. Cat ears. Tail.]

[What is going on.]

[But cat eared mummy is shouting, and he can't help but stop and go see if he might be of use.]

May I help you, miss?

It's okay with me, as long as this super-late tag is okay with you, orz...

[nyancrophile]

Well, that all depends on a few things! I should probably get this question outta the way first - are ya squeamish? Ya might not be of much help if ya can't handle what I need help with!

Awesome sauce, because I am usually the SLOWEST TAGGER EVER

[equal_shots]

I am not typically squeamish, no.

[Just wait until he realizes that helping you will result in blood on his clothes. It's ok, he won't panic about his outfit not being symmetrical until after he's helped.]

/slow tag fistbump

[nyancrophile]

Alright, great!

[Orin claps her hands together, a sound that's muted by the linen wrapped around them.]

Y'see this here? This is my heart.

[She holds the jar up so he can see clearly, then points at the factory behind her.]

The rest of me is in there, an' I need to get 'em all outta here, but I can't carry that many jars at once. Seems like I can't leave the factory without 'em, or else I'd just grab a cart or somethin' and do it myself.

/slow fistbump XD

[equal_shots]

[He follows Orin's gaze, nodding.]

I see. I'd be happy to go and get them for you.

[Not squeamish - things will be safely tucked into jars. He can handle that!]