[PRP] A Fine Specimen (Mirrims + Sonnie)

[Sypon]

fun in the swump  

[Sypon]

Everyone who was anyone knew about the Spaceship crash in Four Fronds. It was recent history, not to mention a huge disaster in one of Alternia's prized locales. Most trolls had been swayed away from the inner swamps outside of the woods due to the rebel incident, and the hunting grounds were dangerous for other (obvious reasons). It was a perfect time to hunt for relics of the past - trinkets from the crash, not to mention unearthed treasures that had surfaced due to the massive displacement of the spaceship crash. By their estimations, Reisio suggested that bones, architecture and other technologies from decades ago could have surfaced. Plus, scavenging the swamp was much more fun than poking around the recent tragedy that had swept their own home in Civisect. More swamp mummies, less red tape.

They plopped around in the muck. The troll was dressed in oversized waders, but it was clear that their tabard was still tucked inside. They looked around for Flatparent, stroking their ribbon-esque sides calmly. The two had wandered deep, deep into the swamps, but their confidence and curiosity would only falter if they spotted their twin showing any sign of exhaustion.

seekingCylem

Kimbley Kitty

 

[seekingCylem]

The forest of Four Fronds had an admirable tenacity to it. For so much of it having burnt to the ground, the location had certainly regained its foliage in haste. And moisture. It was quite damp. Oisier tilted their map and frowned. It was deceptively difficult to gauge whether their current spot of swamp was part of the former crash site, or just more wet dirt.

Reisio seemed unperturbed by the conditions however. At least, no more than was to be expected. Oisier followed suit with a bored hum. They rolled up their map and returned it to its cylindrical carrying case. No need to risk dropping the document in the mud and running all the ink. Oisier tucked the tube into their own pair of waders and approached their twin with slow, noisy steps.

"I am failing to see signs of the crash's trajectory, much less the site itself. I put forth that we seek higher ground by which to regain our bearings." Oisier shifted their weight with a particularly enunciated squelch. Their accompanying desire to take a break from the humidity was implicit.

Sypon

Kimbley Kitty

 

[Sypon]

“Agreed. We will head… Up that way.” Reisio waddled with their sibling away from the spot. They hummed with discontent.

“There are fewer small chunks of ship than I would have expected as well. Even in the crater it looked to be in mostly one piece. But perhaps we will find some living quarters. Or a storage block. Or a gunnery. Or…”

Reisio’s voice continued to drift lazily through the swamp.

Kimbley Kitty

do it

 

[zeflamigo]

Two bluebloods. Twins, Sonnie noticed. Accompanied by their lusii, they were a threat that outnumbered Sonnie and his own lusus easily. He'd keep their distance from them, but was keen to observe. If they moved too deep into the swamp, he'd have to find some way to intervene. He hoped it wouldn't come to that.

The greenblood shifted on all fours in his ghillie suit, shuffling closer when the two disappeared from his line of vision. He could tell Kermie wasn't far behind from the soft, distinct squelch of mud following him whenever he moved. Even then, occasionally Sonnie would look back just to make sure.

In one such moment, Sonnie had his head turned as he felt a strange, rough texture on his palms. He gave a sharp gasp as he looked down at the offending object. Surfacing from the mud was a detached, decomposing hand. This made the young boy shriek, though he quickly noticed his mistake, and covered his mouth.

He held his ground, not moving. Hopefully the twins would look back and think nothing of it— that it was just the sound of some kind of swamp creature. Maybe they could think it was perfectly normal for bushes to shriek? Either way, Sonnie knew his best bet was to stay completely still, and not just because he was scared stiff and certainly couldn't run at this point.

sypon

seekingcylem

 

[seekingCylem]

Oisier nodded along with Reisio's words. They were not paying particular attention to their sibling's words. They followed the same train of thought regardless of whether or not the words were voiced. Oisier found the noise comforting all the same. Reisio's droning and the rippling of Planariant and Flatparent atop the surface of the water provided an acceptable background ambiance. Together they successfully muffled the swamp's natural assortment of birds and insects.

They could not, however, muffle the piercing scream that broke out through the swamp. Oisier immediately shot to attention, nearly leaving the water entirely in the process. Their imperfect vision strained to pinpoint the source of the noise as they wheeled around in place. The wide, echoing spaces between the trees and dearth of water made tracking sounds nearly impossible. Frustration further frayed Oisier's nerves.

"Reisio! What was that!" They demanded, "It sounded as though someone was injured! Who is there!?" Oisier's voice rasped as it wasn't used to being pushed beyond a soft speaking volume.

Sypon

Kimbley Kitty

 

[Sypon]

Reisio twisted up their mouth in thought. “A yelp indeed! Trollian?! It sounded like it.” They took a ready stance, hands outstretched and ready for a scuffle (as though their lusii were not directly nearby).

“Oisier, we shall comb the swamp. The offending yelp will be uncovered at once!” Reisio barked, and began to slosh through the swamp water, stepping up onto branches when available and peering under fallen logs. They were beginning to get dangerously close to the ghillie suit, unbeknownst to them, but their progress was slowed by their careful pace given their lack of depth perception.

seekingCylem

Kimbley Kitty

 

[zeflamigo]

Sonnie stared at the dirt, mortified. This was unrecoverable. If he stayed silent, he'd eventually be found, and what would he do then? Surrender to the queen's forces? Shrivel up and die? Both?

Meekly, he attempted a distraction. He had been practicing throwing his voice. Maybe, just maybe it would work. He put on an incredibly fake, nasal voice.

"No, I'm fine. Everything's fine! Enjoy your swampy romp!" He said, immediately grimacing. That didn't really work at all, did it?

Sypon

seekingCylem

 

[seekingCylem]

Oisier slowed to a stop, almost hesitantly so. The voice was so discordant with the current circumstances, Oisier found it hard to believe they'd heard it at all. They cast Reisio a perturbed look.

Planariant, in the meantime, continued to glide across the swamp water undaunted. Most trolls sounded very much the same to an animal with no ears. The creature made a gentle loop around its charge, only to pause at the troll-shaped cluster of foliage. For a moment it seemed that Planariant was considering the ghillie suit. Then it inched up onto the mound and began to nibble the fringe of the disguise.

Oisier looked down at their lusus. A deep frown pulled their mouth around their teeth. "Planariant! Now is not the time," they scolded.

Oisier's vision focused. From their perspective several feet taller than their lusus, they could make out the oddly familiar shape in the reeds. "Reisio..." the called in a low, warning tone. One eye stayed pinned to the mystery lump.

Sypon

Kimbley Kitty

 

[Sypon]

“Planariant has found… A tasty snack…” Reisio caught on as soon as their twin did. Their brow furrowed. Walking in a lazy arc, the troll reached for a rock nearby and gripped it in their hand. It was, to most anything residing in the swamp, a pebble. But to the defender Reisio, it was a formidable weapon against a mysterious and possibly hostile lump. They flanked the suit, eye contact locked with their twin.

At last, their boot planted near the ghillie suit. With a dedicated swoop down, their unarmed hand tangled in the false weeds and pulled upward, as hard as they can.

Kimbley Kitty

seekingCylem

 

[zeflamigo]

Reisio's tug would reveal the crying face of Sonnie, blushing bright green from forgetting to breathe. Sonnie stayed motionless, albeit quivering with fear. "D--D-D-Don't eat me, please!" he begged, tears running down his dirty face. He didn't want this trouble, he didn't want to be eaten! "I d-don't taste good, anyways! I p-promise!!" He added, hoping he could be more convincing.

Just then, Sonnie's lusus rushed in and lashed out with two long, sticky hands, slapping at both the offending child and the lusus. The contact would smart, but only leave a thin level of eroding sticky goo. A warning.

Seeing the chaos start to unravel, Sonnie stood with a start and ran towards the safety of his lusus. At Kermie's side, he stood his ground, but remained unaggressive. "I'm s-sorry!" Sonnie shouted from afar, "Th-that was m-mean! He just got s-scared!" Sonnie gulped. He was definitely scared, himself, but that went without saying.

seekingCylem

Sypon

 

[Sypon]

Reisio gasped once when the greenblood was revealed from the swamp, and again when they were suddenly assaulted by a flapping creature. A handprint - a burning imprint - laid across Reisio’s cheek. They teared up, clutching their face with both hands.

“It slapped me! It hurts, Oisier!” They wailed, and Flatparent immediately fluttered towards the danger with the quiet flipping of its lacy exterior lapping the swampwaters. “This is a troll! You should! Have made yourself known! To us!” Oisier barked, but at the same time fled towards their twin for comfort.  

[seekingCylem]

Oisier choked on their own gasp. There was certainly always the opportunity to find a body in a swamp, but an alive troll hadn't even been considered! The blubbering only continued to disorient Oisier. This wasn't part of their itinerary.

Neither was the globular lusus rushing out of the underbrush. Oisier shrieked audibly. What WAS that!? Reisio curled over in pain and fear. Oisier woke up from their stupor and whirled between their injured twin and the offending thing.

Oisier caught Reisio by the shoulders and wrapped them in their arms. It took a little maneuvering to properly glare in the direction of the enemy over the horns of someone their identical height. "How dare you! Identify yourself you- you scoundrel! Planariant!"

At the call of their child, Planariant joined Flatparent in flanking Sonnie and his lusus. There wasn't much for a lusus of their stature to do necessarily, but they were at their ward's beck and call. They fluttered as menacingly as they could against the viscous waters of the swamp.

Confident with their lusus's ability to handle the situation, Oisier turned their attention to Reisio. "Let me see." They pushed Reisio's face around to see the damage. A light, but cartoonishly-shaped burn mark had blossomed across Reisio's cheek. Had the injury occurred to anyone but their beloved twin, Oisier would have laughed. Instead they felt offended. The mark was more insulting than serious. That was awful in its own right.

"Hold still." They didn't need to give orders to Reisio of all people, but the illusion of control helped ease Oisier's nerves. They rubbed at the burn with their thumb as if dabbing away mud. The healed skin of Reisio's face was drawn over the injury, covering and lightening the mark. "That ought to do it until we can get home and acquire proper lotion." Oisier nodded.

"And you," Oisier wheeled in Sonnie's direction while maintaining their grip on their sibling. "What do you have to say for yourself and your... your beast of a lusus! Shameful!"

Kimbley Kitty

Sypon

 

[zeflamigo]

"I-I-I-I..." Sonnie stammered, visibly crying. "I... he... we didn't mean to!" He wanted to hide his face, but he was too scared to look away. "We got scared... we got scared..." Sonnie repeated, shivering with fear.

"M-m-m-muh... M-my name is F-Froggy..." Sonnie gave his code name. He wasn't sure what else to say, so he stayed quiet for a good moment, until the blueblood started to apply mud to their twin. Then Sonnie reached into his suit pocket, and pulled out a small jar of mystery mud. A home remedy for Kermie contact emergencies.

"I h-have a poultice... It should help..." Sonnie offered, holding it out for them to see. He didn't dare take a step closer to the highbloods.

Sypon

seekingCylem

 

[Sypon]

Reisio whimpered against the burn on his cheek. They weren’t sure if it was poultice or poison; there was no way the injured, vulnerable twin was getting closer to this swamp felon. Fortunately, Oisier was there to help, pushing their fingers against their twin’s face. “Mmmm…” Reisio mumbled, protectively crossing their arms.

“We can take care of ourself… Wh-what do you say, Oisier?” They were in too sour a mood to accept the mystery mud… But their cheek was stinging. Ugh. Pride, trust… Complicated emotions!!