"Deep in earth my love is lying 🥀 And I must weep alone."

[ectoherbology]

Who: Wendy, her ghostly sister, and you
Which: Open Log
Warnings: Wendy frequently mentions the macabre, themes of death, mourning and violence may come up


Where: Reverein
What: In town, a lone child wanders around and explores, donning a mourning veil. She's asking for help getting equipped for winter!


Quite unlike the world Wendy had been trapped in before, the presence of a town was something to immediately take advantage of. Cradling the silken red flower containing her sister's soul in her hands, Wendy was traveling between each building open to anyone, hoping to take advantage of what was here. On her back was a large sack woven from grass and reeds, though it was currently quite empty.

Her first bit of luck is getting a winter coat from a seamstress, one that's several sizes too large for her but nonetheless will help keep her warm. Blowing soft puffs of warm air on her fingers to ease the chill, she moved on, careful not to accidentally step into someone else's path.

Catching the fact that a stranger's gaze was upon her, she approached, staring with eyes slightly too eerie and hollow to truly belong to a kid. "Excuse me. Is there a method of currency here, or particular item for trade? I don't have anything, yet, but it's quite cold."


Where: Outskirts of Reverein, near the lake
What: Wendy and her ghostly sister Abigail are working on crafting a base outside of town for survival


To anyone familiar with the struggles of wilderness survival, the appearance of several things between Reverein and its lake made quite a bit of sense - baited rabbit traps woven out of long grass, trees chopped and saplings stripped, rocks disturbed and dug up from scavenging for the right size and shape for tools...

At the center of all of this activity is a massive firepit, circled with heavy stones to keep fire from spreading. It was currently lit, but low, at the moment only serving to slowly cook a few tiny fish that had been fished up from the lake. Sitting atop a stump nearby was the young Wendy, wearing a simple scarf even in the frigid chill of the outdoors. She's preoccupied with crafting something - but whoever approaches will first be 'greeted' by a frightful ghost popping up in front of their path and interceding them from approaching Wendy. There's a supernatural chill in the air, and a glowering, pinkish glow, but it subsides the moment Wendy simply says, "It's okay, Abigail."

Comments

Outskirts

[sos_pilot]

Being a seasoned explorer, Della often went to the woods for basic training and exercise. So she was rather surprised to suddenly find it inhabited! And by the newest batch of adorable little youngin's!

She waved cheerfully even after Abigail attempted to spook her. "Hey, girls!" She chirped pleasantly. "What're you two doing all the way out here?"

[ectoherbology]

"Hello, miss Della," Wendy greeted, even as she was still sharpening a blade on the end of a handmade spear. "I am establishing a survival base. I could simply sink into one of the provided beds and wait for death, but Abigail insists I be prepared," she replied. "We don't know if this place, like the Constant, intends to attack and kill us."

[sos_pilot]

Yep, Webby would definitely get along with these kids. Della, for the moment, assumed this was a "just in case" base, and that they weren't actually living out here...

"Well, I dunno if I'd go that far, but this place isn't always safe and sunshine either." She shrugged one shoulder before going back into cheerfulness. "Any way I can help? I've camped out plenty of times! And for a couple of years I tried to use the nearby woods of my uncle's mansion to try and catch Santa Claus, so I know all about building good traps!"

[ectoherbology]

"You tried to catch Santa?" That catches Wendy's attention, and Abigail curiously started circling Della. There was a tiny glimmer of curiosity in Wendy's eye, but all the excitement was coming from Abigail, who was presumably shouting at Della in excitement even if it wasn't clear.

"...Abigail wants to know if you ever caught him."

[sos_pilot]

Dawww. These kids were adorable, even if one was presumably dead. "Nope... he's a tricky guy. Just about caught a Wendigo, but not a Claus... and I stopped trying to catch Claus once I got the full story out of my uncle. I always thought Santa was a bad guy, but it turns out my uncle wasn't telling me the whole truth."

She figured this was probably going to lead to even more questions, so she went around looking for a particularly smooth rock to sit on.

[ectoherbology]

Darn. Wendy goes back to looking at what she was doing, but Abigail was much more visible about her disappointed pouting. "I've unfortunately encountered a very cruel Klaus, but he appears more closely related to Krampus, not to Santa Claus," she replied, setting the spear aside and pulling up a collection of chopped logs. Her hands were blistered from all the hard work, but she seemed to be completely oblivious to it as she started braiding reeds into a rope so that it could be woven into the logs.

"The both of them are quite dangerous, Klaus moreso... I have met my painful end a few times through conflict with him. Most winters, I avoid him and instead focus on preparing for the deerclops."

[sos_pilot]

Wow, this went from adorable to worrisome real quick. "... Oh, I have so many questions and none of them are fun." Yikes on bikes.

After a nervous throat clearing noise, Della decides to get back up and kneel next to Wendy. "But for now? How about I take over the physical work? Your hands are all kinds of 'ow'-looking."

[ectoherbology]

"They tend to look like this whenever I return without my callouses," Wendy lifted them, rubbing them together. They were definitely blistered to hell and back.

"Do you know how to craft armor?"

[sos_pilot]

"Sure, sure, but again, let's focus on you." It wasn't like she walked around with medical supplies, so for now, she took off her scarf and began to gently wrap it around the girl's hands. "Abigail, is there any rivers or streams nearby?" She figured the ghost girl was at least capable of physically showing yes or no signals.

"We need to wash your hands to make sure they don't get infected. Getting sick when you're trying to survive would suck." Aaaand they were adopted.

[ectoherbology]

Abigail twirled a bit, chattering something and floating idly towards the lake.

"It is a rather unpleasant death," Wendy agreed, conceding and letting Della tend to her. The feathers were a pretty new experience, and captured the girl's attention for the moment. Feathers aside, her disregard for Wendy's experience and stubborn attentiveness were very much like Mr. Higgsbury. "We have only seen a nearby lake and no running water as of yet."

[sos_pilot]

"That'll have to do. Let's go." She stands up, gently trying to encourage Wendy to stand up as well so they could walk together.

"Might as well start off all the super uncomfortable questions now..." She begins awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck as they begin to head for the lake. "You guys are actually living in a house, right? And this is all a 'just in case' scenario?"

[ectoherbology]

Wendy paused only to dig out a small pot she'd gotten from town, taking it along. If they were getting water, may as well boil it.

"Yes. I just don't know when things will turn upside down and become unreliable here," she explained. "I'm looking forward to having walls to keep out the winter chills. It's been a long time."

[sos_pilot]

Della let out a huge sigh of relief. "Good... I was this close to kidnapping you both and taking you home with me." And she probably wasn't kidding. "... But if you guys ever wanna crash at my place, door's always open anyway."

[ectoherbology]

"Oh, well... just be careful," Wendy warned, a bit uneasy for once. "I can't always control Abigail, and if she thinks I'm in danger, she will probably attack you. It has unfortunately happened a few times to friends of mine... at the very least I could revive them."

[sos_pilot]

Della raised her eyebrows, but otherwise doesn't seem surprise. In fact, she actually smiles. "That's what siblings do for each other, right? They take care of them and watch out over them, and sometimes that means protecting them."

To wit, she looks over at Abigail and gives her an approving thumbs-up. "I'm a twin. I've seen my brother go ballistic when he thought someone ended me... and I know if someone hurt him, I'd never show them a hint of mercy."

[ectoherbology]

Abigail bounced in place, making a bit of cheering-like noise - it wasn't hard to see that she was enthusiastically agreeing. Wendy softened a bit, with Abigail's ringing endorsement.

"I see. You must be the good twin, like Abigail," Wendy nodded slightly to herself. "Either way, I suppose we could create a poultice, though I don't have any honey on hand. I'd have to find some other 'antiseptic', as Mr. Higgsbury would call it."

[sos_pilot]

"I dunno about the good twin...Uncle Scrooge and Donald might say something else..." She lightly snickered, mostly to herself. But, no, focus! Focus on the babies!

"I don't have any meds on me, but I'm sure I could grab something in town..." Then she pauses, cupping her beak in extra thought. "... Say, you don't suppose that Dreamotion stuff could come in handy here, could it? I'm still wrestling with it myself. Never been one to really lean on magic too much."

[ectoherbology]

"I've heard of dreamotion... I haven't looked into it yet," she shrugged, gesturing vaguely behind them at the camp they were walking away from. "Emergency survival first, shelter, food, then I can dabble in the occult more. I am willing to learn, though."

[sos_pilot]

Well, that was a bust. "I don't quite feel comfortable experimenting on children..." That was more of a Gyro thing. "So, town shopping it is. But we can still make it fun!"

She then jerks her thumbs to her shoulders. "Who wants a piggy-back ride!" Kids still like those thing, right?

[ectoherbology]

In a rare display of more genuine child-like attitude, Wendy purses her lips. "Too much whimsy gives me indigestion," she huffed, a bit brattily.

Abigail, however, was bouncing up and down in excitement at the thought, running into Wendy to 'push' her as much as she could. "It's not a long walk, Abby, but if you insist..."

[sos_pilot]

A good sign! Della almost breathes a sigh of relief - so there's still some childhood left in these kids.

Kneeling on her good knee, Della has her back exposed to the girls. "Now boarding, all passengers please find your seats and get ready for an awesome ride!"

[ectoherbology]

It was better than being grabbed and carried off like a sack of potatoes, at least... Wendy took Della up on the ride, climbing on. Abigail leaned in as well, but she didn't weigh a thing - she just made things a bit chillier than they already were. "Abby is excited for this."

[sos_pilot]

"Oh, then I better live up to her expectations!" Della grabs Wendy by the legs, and then quickly stands to her full height. "Taking off in three... two... one!"

She then begins jogging ahead, purposely leaving over any fallen logs and doing zig-zags to avoid puddles. "Here we go, ladies!"

[ectoherbology]

Abigail was certainly giggling up a storm, despite having to float along after them and occasionally floating circles around Della. Wendy wasn't nearly so openly cheerful, but she held on for the ride.

"Your feathers are soft," she remarked, after a brief 'oof' upon a leap over a log.

[sos_pilot]

Not the compliment Della was expecting, but hey, she'll take it! "Thanks!" Was saying Abigail's skin was soft in return be weird? That might be weird.

But hey, everything about this situation is already weird...

"I dunno how you humans do your skin, but we ducks gotta brush and preen to get it that way! But sometimes I'll totally forget about it... my brother Donald would have to remind me! He's always such a worrywart!"