[PRP] Grave Encounter (Nucleo + Gourdi)

[Doutei]

It was a dark and stormy night...

 

[Doutei]

"Really?" Nucleo jumped as another crack of thunder rippled through the forest. He'd made his way down from Busthind to search for some more herbs when he'd stumbled across a path he hadn't explored yet. It had been strangely hidden, vague and hard to follow. The mystery was a little spooky- what awaited him at the end? But as all adventurous trolls do, he'd ignored the danger and marched right along.

As well as one could march in a storm, anyway.

'Starting to get a bit cold...' His clothes were drenched now and Nucleo eager to find some sort of shelter. He was tempted to turn back but really wanted to hold out and see if there was anything down this trail. Plodding through the mud, the greenblood continued his trek until he discovered a large dark fence. It was foggy now so he couldn't completely make out what it was surrounding.

"Hello? Anyone there?" Nucleo called out while wandering past the gate, hoping to alert the owner that there was a visitor. It did not occur to him he might also be considered an intruder.

GhouIs

 

[GhouIs]

Gourdi enjoyed the rain. She liked to stand on the porch whenever the night skies grew dark and cloudy. She would often extend both of her grabbers out past the protection of her hive and watch, mesmerized, as the rain fell against her skin, making it slick and shiny. As she sat, perched in front of an unfinished gargoyle, Gourdi turned her head to look out of one of the tall windows. She thought about going out and enjoying the night, and watched as HoofDaddy huffed and passed through her vision. He, too, enjoyed the rain.

He ran through it gallantly, lungs heaving in and out the fresh scent that rain always brought to their small corner of Alternia. His eight legs moved fluidly across the grounds that were so familiar to him, and occasionally he would let loose an excited whinny as he slipped and slid through the mud, barely avoiding collision with one of the many statues Gourdi had propped among the grassy clearing that was her lawnring.

The purpleblood troll rolled her eyes at the lusus' childish antics, watching him for a few more moments through the window before turning her attention back to the problem at hand. She was frustrated with her work. She just couldn't seem to get the gargoyle's grin to form as she pictured it in her thinkpan. She had tried and tried... but the stone seemed to reject the tiny details of each jagged tooth. Gourdi growled and threw down her chisel. She turned, again, towards the window; suddenly realizing she hadn't heard any more of HoofDaddy's running. She stood up and walked to the window's edge; standing with half her form hidden by the dark curtains as she searched the yard for the musclebeast.

HoofDaddy had been alerted to the presence of an uninvited visitor. He creeped towards the intruder quietly; taking in with his wide eyes the troll's rather unorthodox appearance. A low grumble built in his throat, and then he sprinted towards the poor greenblood; rearing back on four of his eight legs and wriggling the other four high in the air as he let out a great whinny. Surely, that would teach the young troll a thing or two about wandering onto someone else's property...

Doutei

 

[Doutei]

"Whoaaa!" A frightened, confused yell cried out. Scared by the sudden large beast, Nucleo raised his arms to protect himself while Goatmom leaped out from behind him and reared up in response. She wasn't as intimidating as HoofDaddy but there was no way the lusus was about to sit back and let her child get stomped! Trying to appear larger than she was, the lusus eventually had to put her hooves back on the ground but made sure to stand between Nucleo and the newcomer.

'Where did it come from?' Peeking out from behind his mother, the greenblood wondered if the other creature had approached them for a reason. If they'd spooked animal because he was protecting his nest or something, it would be best to leave. The last thing Nucleo wanted to do was to stress out the wildlife around here.

"Goatmom, we'd better go..." Uncertain of what to do, Nucleo started to back up and glance to see what path to take to get out of there. Why'd there have to be so much fog? Struggling to see, the boy kept one hand on his mother's coat and the other outstretched in front of him, trying to feel around so he wouldn't walk straight into any of the strange stones poking out of the ground. What were those things supposed to be anyway?

So far the coast was clear! His hand swept through the fog like a gentle breeze! His feet, unfortunately did not.

While the air was clear, Nucleo had not taken into account the uneven ground and stepped unaccordingly. Thrown off balance, he tumbled and rolled a little before smacking straight into a tombstone. Whimpering in pain as now his head was throbbing and he was still cold from the rain, Nucleo stayed on the ground and tried to stop the oncoming dizzy feeling that approached.

GhouIs

 

[GhouIs]

"WHAT IN THE INFERNAL REGIONS OF THE GREAT OBLIVION BELOW DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING LEAKING YOUR b*****d ICHOR ALL OVER MY ******** LAWNRING?" Gourdi entered the scene abruptly, and she glared down upon the greenblood with an immense amount of displeasure tugging at her painted countenance. She stomped one of her feet firmly on the ground, delivering an irritated shriek. "THE FENCE IS PLACED THERE FOR A REASON!!" She said, fists tightening at her sides as she yelled. She whipped her head around to glare at the lusus accompanying the troll. Then, with her lookstubs firmly glued to the mother goat, Gourdi moved closer to her charge. Gourdi's fingers wrapped around his wrist and then she tugged him harshly upwards, forcing him to his feet. The rain seemed to be gathering into bigger, fatter drops now. Gourdi herself was completely soaked through. Her rage and adrenaline were the only things that kept her from feeling the cold. Her appearance, however, was definitely indicative of the storm that thundered around them. Her black hair poofed fuzzily around her head, aggravated by all the moisture- and the static.

"I don't feel like trying to deal with your stupid piece of s**t corpse freezing out here." She tugged him towards where her hive loomed at the center of the small clearing. She had memorized the paths through her gargoyle wards, and she wove through them expertly; all the while tugging harshly at her injured companion's arm. "You will enter my hive as an unwanted guest, I will give you the needed medical attention, and you will stay within the confines of my home until the storm subsides. You will then leave and you will not return."

HoofDaddy approached them from the side, looking superior as he trotted along. He'd been a bit disappointed by the boy's failure to react all that much to his prank; but the way his lusus had reared up in defiance... that had been quite amusing to the 8-legged musclebeast. He whinnied joyfully as they all moved towards the hive's porch. It was where he stayed, when he required shelter. He was too big to get through the door, and Gourdi would often make infuriating faces at him whenever she was safe behind the tall windows that decorated every wall. The hive itself was large, and extremely ornate. A gothic mansion, with inspiration springing from the Troll Victorian Era.

Gourdi roughly let go of the greenblood's wrist. She pulled hard on one of the black-painted wooden doors and, slowly, it creaked open. The inside of her hive was no different than the outside. The rooms were lit by large black candles, and the furniture was old and mostly used for decoration. The troll moved towards the large staircase that led upwards into darkness. She reached out and took a candle from its holder, and turned towards her intruder and his guardian. "Remove your shoes, I don't want you tracking mud and that disgusting green blood all over the damned place." She said, the flame flickering in front of her ghostly white face. She pouted, as though realizing something, then ripped off her jacket and tossed it to him. "Cover your wound with that, now! YOU BETTER NOT BE DRIPPING THAT DISGUSTING GREEN BLOOD ALL OVER THE DAMNED PLACE!" She was angry. Again.

Doutei

 

[Doutei]

"I-I'm sorry-" Startled by the loud roar, Nucleo flinched as a purpleblood came out and started yelling at him. He knew he shouldn't have been here but couldn't she see that he was hurt? It seemed like the large musclebeast was her lusus so at least that explained that but didn't that mean it was her fault he was injured? If she'd sent the thing after him, who would expect the target to get out unscathed? Confused if he could assume that much, the greenblood winced as she dragged him up and to her front door.

'Ow, my head.' Shivering as he was ushered inside, the boy accepted her coat so she would stop yelling more. He felt bad bleeding on it but she'd offered. It wasn't like he'd asked for it. He'd stayed quiet after apologizing in hopes that it would give her a little time to calm down but it appeared that wasn't working after all. For a moment, he almost wished she was Frossa. At least she gave him a moment to breathe while yanking him around.

"There." He removed his shoes like she'd asked, even the socks too. It didn't feel much better to go barefoot but he didn't have many options. His socks were as dirty as his shoes from the mud outside. Why did she live in this place if she couldn't handle a little mess? It seemed like she should go live in the city then.

"If you point to the bathroom, I'll take care of this myself." The boy offered, or rather stated. He didn't want to bother the girl any further since he seemed to be greatly inconveniencing her. Nucleo couldn't blame her for freaking out about him being an unwanted guest because he now realized he hadn't been adventuring but rather trespassing. But still! She could stand to be a little quieter for someone with a head injury!

"No Goatmom, it's okay. You should stay out there." The sound of a goat called through the door and Nucleo turned around to reassure his lusus gently. She was not happy at the idea of being separated from him but after a few exchanges of words understood that the girl would not want an animal in her house. Trotting over towards HoofDaddy on the porch, the goat sized him up and tried to stay at the very edge away from him.

"Sorry about that. Where was it again?" He swayed for a moment and then caught himself on the door and tried to pretend he'd meant to do that on purpose to reach down and close it.

GhouIs

 

[GhouIs]

Gourdi thought the boy was pitiful, and it showed in the way she sneered at him. "I have multiple ablution chambers." She said, angrily, as she kicked off her own shoes and placed them neatly at the foot of the stairs. "You, however, will be accompanying my fine ******** a** upstairs where I will personally tend to your wound; so there's no chance that you'll mess it up." She glowered at the greenblood. "You should be honored that a highblood has deemed it necessary to address you, you pitiful mirth-leeching beastie, and you haven't given even a single compliment in regards to my obviously illustrious hive." She crossed her arms over her chest, examining the other with a look of sour distaste. He was too colorful and his horns were a mess. The way his eyes drifted within their orby confines made her think he was stupid, and a definite waste of time. She couldn't, however, risk him dying on her premises. The purpleblood gave an exasperated huff.

"Come." She said, gesturing up the stairs and placing one of her black-socked feet upon the first one. "Now." She did like the way he followed orders, though. At least he had one redeeming quality to him. She whipped around just as he was unsteadily mounting the stairs. "Tell me your name, pissbaby, so that I can describe this scene later on to my blessedly mirthful companions. I'm sure they'll find you to be as sad and piteous as I do."

Doutei

 

[Doutei]

"Why?" Nucleo blinked in confusion when Gourdi sneered about having multiple bathrooms. He wondered what need she had for more than one or two washrooms. It looked like she, as most trolls did, lived alone. Her lusus sat outside on the porch in the rain so it wasn't like he would use one while she occupied another. He had no time to fully press her for an answer as the purpleblood had already continued on with a harsh tone and insults to his intelligence and character.

"Nice hive." He replied without much emotion, feeling too drained and frustrated to give her an eager review. Her house was actually quite beautiful in a strange sort of way but her behavior distracted him from fully appreciating it. Just what was this highblood's problem? He knew that highbloods had a tendency to be vain, self-absorbed, rude, and a royal pain but this girl was going overboard. It almost made him think she was insecure.

'Is that what's going on?' Following her up the stairs, the greenblood hoped they were only aiming to climb one set. He really just wanted to sit down and fall asleep with the way his head was going fuzzy. Straining to listen as she pecked at him further, the boy stumbled and grabbed onto her arm to steady himself. He knew that would have disastrous consequences but what was he supposed to have done instead, fall on his face? No, then he would've gotten blood all over the carpet, a violation she'd made sure to scream into his head not to do.

"Nucleo. What's your name?" Ignoring her jabs a little longer, the boy tried to just bear it so she'd help him clean up and maybe by then his head would start to clear up. Possibly even the storm.

"Are we almost there?"

GhouIs

In which Nucleo makes an assumption.

 

[GhouIs]

"Nucleo? IS THAT IT? You are terribly ******** concise, so much so that I may even consider it rude enough to cull you right now. It chills me to the very marrow of my beautiful wretched bones." She spat his name like poison from her fanged mouth, climbing the stairs despite the cold ache that had spread slowly through her body. When his grabbers suddenly latched themselves onto her, Gourdi growled and ripped away. She hadn't realized how chilling the stairs could get, on such stormy nights. Rain spattered at the windows, and lightning flashed purple against the twin moons. Gourdi hunched over and moved quicker. Her small body had begun to shiver as they made their ascent, and she didn't dare to openly show such weakness to a lowblood. Hurriedly, she reached their desired landing. She ran down an eastward facing hallway, body lilting towards the arched entrance that glowed pleasantly with the flickering of many candles, and an eerily-decorated fireplace.

"This is the East Sitting Chamber." She stated, as she moved towards one of the many plump purple couches that filled the room and wrapped herself in a blanket that had been warmed by the fire. When the greenblood didn't immediately sit next to her, Gourdi sneered at him; bearing her long white fangs. "SNOTBLOOD! Sit down this instant so that I can more easily tend to your dented ******** thinkpan." She removed black gloves from each of her hands, revealing black-painted nails and long fingers that could only belong to an artist. She flexed both hands into fists- once, twice, three times. On the third flex, her knuckles cracked pleasurably. She hummed angrily, then fixed her gaze back onto this... Nucleo. "I despise stupidity, you know. And why are you wobbling about like that? To and fro and to and fro. It's irritating. Sit down now. Didn't I already SAY that?" So far, he seemed to disappoint the troll girl more and more. He had failed to impress her at complimenting her hive, and he barely seemed interested in the words she spoke. His eyelids fluttered, as though he were on the verge of... of- "FALLING ASLEEP? ARE YOU ON THE PRECIPICE OF FALLING ASLEEP WHILE I AM HOLDING A DELIGHTFUL CONVERSATION WITH YOU? ARE YOU THAT ******** DISRESPECTFUL, YOU DESPICABLE GREEN-HUED SWINE?" She reached out a hand, yanking Nucleo- again- by the wrist so that the poor nearly unconscious lad was suddenly wrenched from his upright position and into a more... horizontal one. Gourdi had flipped him directly onto the couch and she looked at him with a sour expression.

From a bag, hidden within the couch's pillows, Gourdi produced both a needle and thread. She grinned at Nucleo as she brandished them both. One for each hand. "This won't hurt even in the slightest." She said as she leaned in towards him, practically cackling with contempt.

Doutei

if im moving too quickly or you'd think nucleo would protest feel free to ask me to edit owo im rusty

 

[Doutei]

"Ngh!" Wincing as the girl began to yell at him some more, Nucleo struggled to not push her off and shout in response. He was better than that, right? She forced him onto a couch and then took the blanket all for herself, nevermind the fact that he was equally wet and less clothed than her. And injured. Sure he should've worn heavier clothing out there but he hadn't known it was going to storm! Shivering, he found himself wanting to sleep and yet unable to due to how uncomfortable he was. It was miserable.

"Stop!" Suddenly she was holding a needle mere inches from his eye and the boy pushed away from her in fear. What the froth did she think she was going to do with that? He was starting to think this troll knew nothing about first aid. She hadn't even offered him a chance to wash the wound before trying to bandage it! If he stayed here, she'd probably next offer to amputate his head to 'take care of that!'

"Look, I get that you're trying to help but you've been pretty rude to me too!" Nucleo glared, feeling frustrated that she cared more about manners than the situation when she didn't seem to have any herself. He'd done everything she wanted from shoving this jacket on his face, taking off his shoes, complimenting her hive, and giving her his name and she couldn't even be bothered to give him her's back.

"I was going to stay and keep you company a little while because you seemed lonely but if it's going to be like this, I'll just get out of your way since I'm such awful company." Nucleo rose to his feet, legs wobbling as his head throbbed. His body protested, reminding him that he was losing blood and chilled to the bone but he didn't feel safe in the hands of a stranger threatening to cull him. It upset him to meet such a nasty highblood who had no intention of letting him say two sentences without trying to tear him to shreds for her own pleasure.

"Goodbye. Don't worry about me-yes I know, you weren't going to." The patience in his voice was gone.

GhouIs

Up to you if she stops him or not, he's just a little fed up. Nucleo's been having a tough week! XD

 

[GhouIs]

"Fine!" She glared at the other child, as though she could cull him just by looking at him for long enough. "I find your paltry company to be quite ******** shitty, anyway... ACK! Just thinking about the fact that you entered MY hive." She crossed her arms over her chest, tilting her chin toward where the staircase loomed.

"If you can make it out of my lawnring WITHOUT HELP and WITHOUT ******** DYING!!" She gave an impish cough, then grinned. "I won't try to help any ******** longer. But if you fail to make it past the gate, I will be forced to give you some ******** medical attention." She pouted at the boy, lookstubs taking in his exterior. He was swaying, and greenblood leaked from the gash on the front of his thinkpan. She highly doubted that he'd make it past the first couple deathstones, and the thought made her hands sweat nervously. She did not want to deal with another body. Not tonight.

Doutei

boop you can have him make it or have him need help or just w/e else you can come up with...

 

[Doutei]

Nucleo felt pretty good about the way he'd stood up to the highblood. The fact that she was sputtering made him feel like he'd shown her.

Until he reached the stairs, that is.

Froth! The room was starting to spin and he had to climb down this trap without wiping out. It was hard for him to steady his balance on the flat floor now, he knew that there was no way he'd navigate the steps without falling. Unless...

"Oh I'll have help. Just not from you." In retrospect this would have been a stupid action, but Nucleo was tired, exhausted, suffering blood loss, shivering, and wanting to get home as fast as possible. In seconds, three clones poofed into existence around him. The idea was that his buddies would help ease him down the stairs and then he'd merge back with them once outside. Goat mom would take care of him once she could reach him.

That's what should have happened.

Instead, all of Nucleo's clones had the same head wound and beginnings of a cold. They struggled to hold him up and upon the first step down, clone number one went a tumbling. Clone number two was next as he tried to grab ahold of the first and went bouncing after him. Clone number three thought he'd better stand back and stay out of things but held onto Nucleo's wrist which was his downfall. Nucleo, startled by the crashing clones, twitched in surprise and wiped out next, bring the third clone down with him. As the pack fell, green blood smeared down the stairs and flicked onto the walls, making a mess everywhere.

"Ngh!" The clones poofed at the bottom of the stairs, suffering too much damage to sustain themselves and all that was left was a collapsed boy curled up in the fetal position.

GhouIs

>ruins your staircase<

 

[GhouIs]

Gourdi shrieked, immediately distressed by the sound of Nucleo tumbling down the stairs. She could've sworn she heard multiple other voices, all moaning and groaning in a near perfect unison, but as she reached the top of her stairs she saw only Nucleo laying at the bottom. The pupils of his eyes drifted in the nether of his lookstubs, and he moaned softly as his eye lids fluttered open and shut. His blood was splattered haphazardly across the walls that lined the stairs; and Gourdi's various decorative items such as old portraits of nameless trolls and various antique weapons had fallen from their places. Some were destroyed, others repairable; and a vast many had, of course, survived the brutality... but even so, Gourdi clenched her fists and stomped her way down the stairs; her angry eyes never leaving Nucleo's immobile form.

She shook her head as she kneeled next to him, a grimace pulling at her carefully painted countenance. Her voice, however, was uncharacteristically soft as she reached a hand out to touch the very edge of Nucleo's bleeding wound. "You lackadaisical green <********> She murmured, before finally turning her attention towards the large entrance hall. Nucleo was near unconscious, and she would need help moving him around. She beckoned for his lusus to enter, then had the concerned mother goat help move the injured greenblood to one of the Entrance Chamber's long and blissfully plush couches.

After gathering the needed supplies (including, this time, the proper equipment needed to clean and dress the poor child's wounds as she was no longer trying to scare him), Gourdi administered the attention that the greenblood direly needed. She closed the gaping wound atop his skull, and bandaged the bumps and bruises he had earned himself during his tumble. Then, to guard against the influence of any spirits floating around her grandiose home, Gourdi began chanting as she drew various cultish symbols on Nucleo in wet, purple-tinted salt.

She was no professional, and her stitch work would certainly leave a scar; but- the troll would live, and that is what Gourdi found to be most important when it came to the medical field. She allowed the troll a few hours' rest while she scrubbed at the mess he had created; then she went out back to fit HoofDaddy with the large and rickety cart they used to transport corpseboxes. It had been decided that HoofDaddy would escort Nucleo and his lusus back to their hive, where he could rest further- and in a more comfortable environment. The purpleblood, with the help of Goatmom, placed the youth within one of Gourdi's finest coffins (fitted luxuriously with soft, plush pillows)... and then, without farewell, Gourdi watched with a sneer as they left the front gates.

"Heinous little greenie sludgepile..." She murmured with great distaste, turning back to the darkness that was her home and disappearing behind the large wooden doors.

Doutei

fin!