[PRP] Oddities in the Graveyard [Marrow x Aella]

[[+Katch+]]

The day was warm, pre summer warm and very calm, though to the single (living) soul that inhabited the area, weather wasn't something important, it seemed simply like any other day for Marrow. The strange stallion made his way across the old graveyard he had come to call home, making sure each grave had a decent offering of sugar and flowers and was as clean as he could get it. Next he moved on to taking care of his beloved rose patches, pruning, carrying water to them, debugging them, everything he could to to see they bloomed beautifully.

He replaced the ones wilting about his tail and one in his wild mane and moved on with his chores. He rarely cared for his appearance, his mane sticking all over the place and beads tangled in big hunks of his tail, there was no one here to impress, he did what he could for the dead. He sighed, the work tiring him out a bit, he went to rest under the shade of an old oak, drinking his fill from the water he'd collected from the pond down the hill. He looked up through the leaves to the sky above, his eyes mirroring the color. Was there more than this...?  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

The wind softly blew at the long, twisted tendrils of hair. The sun reflected making Aella's hair even redder in scorching midday son. Sweat streaked her back, and left dusky trails on her skin. On her face, the tears left paths free from dirt, made by small pools of tears.

As she stood there at a grave, she bowed her head. Not knowing quite what to say. The fresh smell of flowers drifted up to her, reminding her that this grave was well-cared for, well-loved. It was well-tended. And somewhere, lay his grave, alone and untended. How had she ever agreed to that?

She should have--oh so many things. If only she'd stayed...but stayed where and with who? Her family, her people? Or with him? She'd made alot of wrong decisions it seemed. She had loved him.

Shutting her eyes, she just breathed deeply. The smell of sugar and flowers was strong, Opening them, she blinked back tears. Why was there sugar on graves?  

[[+Katch+]]

Marrow blinked, his staring trance over, something or someone had entered the area...his nostrils flared as he scented the air and the beads in his hair rattled as he moved quietly towards the strange smell that was coming from close by. The scent was spicy, a faraway smell, with his nose so attuned to the particular scent of each rose he tended, it was easy to pick it out between the roses and the sugar he kept.

He weaved his way through the bushes, peering out from the shadows of a tree. There! a flash of bright red against the green of the landscape caught his eye and held. There, at a grave, looking quite forlorn was a mare with a luxurious red mane that flew on the wind. He thought for a fleeting moment that he would like roses that color...what was she doing here?  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Everything within her had been taught, had been warned not to do it...but it was involuntary. Her voice was not her own as the words fell from her mouth, "Who's there?"

She could feel herself begin to shiver, and she was afraid. Afraid for the first time in a long time. Was someone there? Was something haunting her? Or was she just alone like always? But, try as she might, she could not stop the shuddering as the heady smell of roses and sugar stuck in her nostrils.

"Please tell me!" The terror welled up in her throat before she took control over herself again. Taking deep breathes, she counted forcing herself to become calm again as she listened for a sign.  

[[+Katch+]]

Nyx Queen of Darkness

Everything within her had been taught, had been warned not to do it...but it was involuntary. Her voice was not her own as the words fell from her mouth, "Who's there?"

She could feel herself begin to shiver, and she was afraid. Afraid for the first time in a long time. Was someone there? Was something haunting her? Or was she just alone like always? But, try as she might, she could not stop the shuddering as the heady smell of roses and sugar stuck in her nostrils.

"Please tell me!" The terror welled up in her throat before she took control over herself again. Taking deep breathes, she counted forcing herself to become calm again as she listened for a sign.

A clear voice came from the line of trees just across from where she stood " calm yourself senorita, i mean you no harm"
He stepped out of the shadow, his white hair, tangled with beads and roses, very striking in the broad daylight. He knew how he looked but he also knew others that looked far "spookier" than he was, he sincerely hoped he would not spook her...for she was obviously not sorted in her mind.  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Aella could feel herself calming at the sound of a kind voice. Why had she become so afraid? Was it something to do with this place? With these graves? Or was it because of what it meant to her, that---

She shook the thought from her mind, as her eyes fell on the stallion who had come into the clearing. Her breath caught in her throat, was this some kind of apparation? Was this some haunting? Some figment of her imagination? How could this even be real?

Her voice was toneless, "Are you here to judge me?" Was this some punishment for leaving him behind to die? Allowing him his one last wish though she should have stayed with him?  

[[+Katch+]]

Marrow stared at her silently for a good few minutes, his ice blue eyes staring into her so deeply it seemed he was trying to see through her. After a bit he spoke, his voice soft and deep, though it carried easily through the distance between them. " No...i judge nobeast..." he tilted his head a bit, in question, wondering why this strange mare would worry about being judged..." what are you doing here...?"  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

"I've come to grieve." Aella's voice came out thickly, "You are not here to judge them then? Not here to condemn me for doing as he wanted with his last wish? To condemn me as I have condemned myself?" Her eyes bright with pain, as she watched him. Who then was this phantasm?  

[[+Katch+]]

"Grieve?" he echoed, his voice deep, resonating through the area " I am not....not for any of it...." he sighed heavily " though ladies such as yourself...should not be so quick to judge yourself." His eyes were chips of blue sky, flat yet full of inner life, pure and unjudgemental.  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

The tears leaked from the corners of her eyes unwillingly, "But you do not know what I have done. I deserve to be judged. What kind of soquili am I to leave him as he dies, even if he asks me to?"  

[[+Katch+]]

Marrow didn't know what was going on, but suddenly he was dealing with a crying mare, he had never been one for serious emotional things...like he didn't know to handle them. But as he listened to her he was beginning to get the idea " ....i do not know what has transpired....nor will i say what is right or what is wrong...but if one bid you to leave as he lay dying...it is because you were more important to him at that moment. And you should take....solace....in the fact, if a soul has something to care for...it makes the passing....easier."  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

The tears seeped down her face making a crystalline path. She looked up at the male, "But he cared for me, shouldn't I have stayed? Even if he wanted me to leave. At the end he wanted to make it easy on me, rather than letting me comfort him as he went."

She sniffed lightly, "I"m sorry. I just...in this place. It's all so clear."  

[[+Katch+]]

He flicked his tail in thought, the beads strung through his hair. " Then you would have died with him, and both you and he would have been needlessly dead..." he sighed softly " he wanted you to live, that is a great gift, and not to be wasted...his spirit is at peace...i am sure."

He blinked at her, his eyes like deep pools with hidden depths " it is fine miss...graves affect everyone in some way or another...He started to turn and walk at an angle through the grave stones, the beads in his hair clinking softly. He stopped and turned to look at her over his shoulder " if you want, you may come with me.... i do not have much, but a sweet drink of water and some sugar may cheer you....  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Aella closed her eyes at his words, listening to him gently. She wanted to believe him, but a part of her still felt that she was wrong to have left him. Wrong to not have tried to stay with him.

She followed after him, his voice guiding her. It was warm and kind, and she hadn't had that much lately. "Sugar?" She tilts her head, trying to stop crying. "I don't think I've had that before."  

[[+Katch+]]

He hated seeing folks caught up in the shackles of emotion like this, it did nothing but weigh their souls down. But he could only offer words, he was still yet...awkward...with the living around here.

" Yes, sugar, it is a sweet sort of thing, comes from a plant, the two leggers come here and set cubes of it upon the graves as...offerings. When i became grave keeper...they gave me some as well."

His hovel was large and somewhat ricketty, but well enough for the weather around these parts. He came back out holding a small bag in his mouth, which he dropped before her " there now, try some...you'll feel better"