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Post by Morgan on Nov 2, 2021 20:07:59 GMT -6
The month had been a metaphorical whirlwind; and by the time that Morgan had time to go out to see about possibly picking up an assignment from the Quest Board, Endymion had other things to do that for once, didn't involve dealing with Morgan's gently-referred-to whimsy. The human hadn't had a lot of time during the month anyway, and it was November before they could even blink. There were plenty of things that deserved their attention; but they had finally managed to carve out some time; and they chose to spend it with Squee. Who very much was not 'young' anymore. It had been a year since the Tailypo had been created; and she was growing up steadily. Convincing her to ride in Morgan's backpack out to the quest board at around nine in the evening was surprisingly easy to do; and that meant trouble. That was how the Tailypo were designed, after all. [1] - [Morgan is using Sever Bond at the cost of 4 Hollow MP]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 3, 2021 14:20:19 GMT -6
Even though it had been easy to convince Squee to go; it was not necessarily easy to walk the already quite dark streets with a freshly 'teeneage' Tailypo riding around in their partially unzipped backpack. Morgan was lucky that Squee spent the majority of the time with all three eyes wide open, staring at all of the shiny lights and various storefronts with an obvious intelligence and covetousness that would probably creep out someone that wasn't prepared to find out that Tailypo were this way.
"N-none of that, S-squee. I-if you are good, if you are a good-gal today Squee, I'll get you something shiny just for you." They kept their voice calm. They knew that Tailypo were not naturally inclined towards speech, but she did perk her ears up at her name- and her slitted pupils contracted a tad to focus on the bespectacled human. Morgan could see her as they glanced back over their shoulder.
[2]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 3, 2021 15:01:45 GMT -6
Just the other day, Squee had managed to cause all sorts of mischief. She typically slept beneath Morgan's chair at the desk at work (she spent nearly equal amounts of time at home and at WELP) while Morgan was busy, but she was no where to be seen when it was time to go home. That was because she was in the Lobby, practically swimming in the oversized candy-bowl that had been placed out partially as a festive Vai-Min-Mur decoration and partially so that people could grab some candy if they felt like it when coming in to work or leaving.
Morgan had grumbled when removing her from the candy pile. "Y-you little, you Candy Pilferer."
That was what Tailypo were made for; so they couldn't even be mad about it. Several people had gotten fairly 'cute' pictures of her in the candy bowl, and no one seemed frustrated about it, so there was no real harm.
Now she was old enough to cause some real trouble, though- Morgan was thankful that Squee was a bit of a late bloomer when it came to Tailypo.
[3]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 3, 2021 15:32:29 GMT -6
It hadn't seemed that Squee had learned quite how to float yet (or at least not enough to know how to control it; and Squee was already showing signs of being a particularly graceful and purposeful young person) or else Morgan would probably have a whole other problem on the way to the Quest Board than Squee pawing in the direction of something shiny and making a noise sometimes that sounds a bit more like 'meh!' than the 'honk' that she'd probably settle into emitting with great annoyance soon enough.
The streets were a little quieter this time of year. It was coming into the dark and cold half of the year well enough now, the sky had been grey most of the day the last few days. It was chilly enough that everyone that was on the streets were bundled up in hoodies or overcoats, and typically wrapped up in a scarf as well.
[4]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 3, 2021 16:02:44 GMT -6
Luckily there wasn't a wind passing through over the city that night; soon enough Morgan knew from experience that a very chilly wind would rip through the city and whistle between the buildings that seemed to get higher and higher in some areas year after year. The city knew how to grew up, if not as far out as it used to. Tonight it was cold, but it wasn't as bad as it would need to be to cause Morgan pause, so while others were wrapped up and whirling home like leaves, Morgan was ready to spend a night out doing... Something or another, anyway. They hoped to find something fairly adventurous to do, since they were running a little high on energy and a little low on impulse control.
Squee was relatively quiet once they got past the majority of the business district and towards the Questing Board. The area in front of it was of course lit; but the square about it was surprisingly dark.
[5]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 3, 2021 16:17:46 GMT -6
Morgan was wary enough of their surroundings; they had only spent a portion of their childhood in the blithe lap of luxury after all. One did not live in the Labs City for long without being aware of the dreadful underbelly, let alone when one did what Morgan did on a daily basis. However, they were quite sure that Squee would notice something a little weird far before they would, so whenever they glanced back and noticed that the Tailypo didn't seem to see anything that worried her, they allowed theirself to move from the obscuring shadow of a nearby awning and towards the bright light that illuminated the quest board. They could already see that there were quite a few papers there- perhaps more than usual. It was the part of the year that the City started to wind down, so they wouldn't be surprised if there hadn't been as many taking quests recently.
[6]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 3, 2021 16:47:11 GMT -6
Once they got close enough to read the sometimes thin and tiny writing upon the various pages, the bespectacled human noted that quite a few of them couldn't have been remotely recent; some of them actually were asking for people to escort kids around during Vai Min Mur- which was certainly not something that Morgan would have wanted to take on even if they had gotten there in time. They skip over the ones requesting services like that one. They wanted something that they could do this time of night; something exciting and adventurous- which was a little bit abnormal for them but Morgan didn't want to look a gift equillion in the mouth when it came to having a relatively positive mood for once.
Squee reaches forward and nips them nearly on the ear- Morgan would have certainly had quite a nasty little bite if not for having jerked away so quickly.
[7]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 3, 2021 17:07:54 GMT -6
Morgan had felt that sensation again; the strange, nearly shocking sensation of 'MOVE' that they sometimes felt whenever something that should be completely non-expectable was certainly quite expected by their subconscious. "Hey, Squee!" Morgan murmurs, waving their hand in her general direction. "W-what was that for?" Squee had her tongue out, ever so slightly- pushed out past her otherwise closed-looking mouth. "T-that was uncalled for." They grumbled into the cool night air, the finality of their response escaping as a little light wisp.
The bespectacled human turned back towards the board, looking past the ones they had just read already, and finally their eyes land on a particularly interesting looking one. It was a rather smallish but obviously hand-written note; nothing like the standard black printer ink on creamy pages or the elaborate affairs advertising one thing or another (they got tired of those quite quickly already this year). It could just be another note about Vai Min Mur excursions, but something about it drew their attention.
[8]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 3, 2021 17:23:06 GMT -6
The writing on the strange slip was very rough; and that was part of what brought it into stark contrast against the other slips that were up on the board. Morgan could hardly read it (they probably should have cleaned their glasses before they came out here, but they hadn't quite remembered to do so before leaving today), so they moved their glasses a bit further up their nose to look through a part of the lenses that were not covered in... Well, really it could have been anything. Work that day had been particularly messy, after all.
Now that they had a better look (and Squee was not bothering their ear as much as she had been- playing instead now quite distractingly with a zipper on the backpack) they could see that the issue was that whoever had written it was a child. Obviously quite a young one at that, and that made Morgan frown.
[9]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 3, 2021 17:27:36 GMT -6
Typically quests were only officiated if they had a real tangible need to be fulfilled (or were requested by adults) so Morgan had an idea that whatever the concern was with this particular request, it must have been quite the big deal. At least to a young child it would need to be. Morgan whispered aloud as they read. Apparently a kid was visiting their father whenever they lost their doll. The issue was that the mother in the situation was refusing to go look for the doll (gross, but Morgan had known of enough marital issues from hearing others complain in the past to realize that this was par for the course for parents most of the time) because there were 'better ones at home'.
They were of course thrown for a complete loop whenever they found out that the doll was left in a cemetery. "What. The... Absolute fuuudge." Morgan grumbles, eyes wide. Squee stops fiddling with the zipper on their backpack for a moment, ears standing tall.
[10]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 3, 2021 17:34:13 GMT -6
Morgan would have understood, though been quite disgusted at, this being a marital issue. Parents use children against one another like weapons so often that Morgan would never consider getting married to anyone, ever- it was such a horrible sounding nightmare. However, they did not understand this particular mother in the slightest. This sounded so... Petty. Morgan could hardly believe it at all, so they had to read over the slip of paper again just to convince theirself that they had read it right. Unless the father was a mortician that straight up lived at a cemetery, than the situation was heinous in a way that Morgan could not quite wrap their head around.
They never had a mother, but they couldn't really understand having a parent that would do something Like That.
Just then, Squee makes a soft muffled sound like surprise, and the hair at Morgan's nape stood completely on end.
[11]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 3, 2021 17:40:35 GMT -6
Morgan had the unmistakable sensation that someone was right behind them, watching them. Squee was turned back the other direction too, so it wasn't Squee that was giving them the distinct feeling that someone was breathing down their neck. They saw nothing once they turned around, of course. There was no one, not even in the shadows, they were certain of that. But still, the sensation lingered. It made their skin crawl, on their nape. It was such an odd thing. Perhaps an animal had been watching from the nearby alleyway or something, they reasoned with theirself. The thing that concerned them the most was that Squee had obviously sensed it too- what with her response noise.
Morgan glanced down at the quest ticket, and then decided to go ahead and take it. They didn't want to spend much more time in this area than they had to, not after that weird... Interlude.
[12]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 3, 2021 17:44:37 GMT -6
Morgan completely understood why this quest had not been taken yet; but had there been a rain in the meantime? Something that would ruin a doll most likely left outside? Morgan frowns, but turns to leave the area anyway. The cemetery in question was not too far away from where they currently were; closer to the center of town. It wasn't exactly a spooky place, either- though Morgan had not wasted time going there after dark for any kind of reason. Their own Father was just 'missing', or at least a body was never found- so Morgan had his memorial at their own place.
That being said; had their father's body been found, he most likely would have been buried there. They'd been there once or twice when they were younger, just trying to get some kind of closure for the situation.
They continued to feel like something was watching them, though Squee seemed unperturbed, now.
[13]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 3, 2021 18:13:31 GMT -6
Morgan was a little predisposed to being worried about nothing, so they decided that they were indeed worried about nothing (after all, feral-ish Tailypo were a thing and the whole species could float now, so there was a good chance that Squee had just seen one of them that Morgan had not at all seen) and they decided to ignore the disembodied concern that they had. It really didn't make sense for it to 'be' anything. At the very least, Squee was a bit of a chore sometimes, there was a possibility that she was passively making Morgan uncomfortable.
Yeah, that had to be it.
The few blocks after the merchant district were fairly spookily quiet. By now most of the people were gone, and most people had the good sense not to be anywhere around a cemetery at night time. Morgan didn't really care about that sort of thing, but something was nagging at them; an insistent worry that they couldn't quite shake.
[14]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 3, 2021 18:23:05 GMT -6
The bespectacled human stops at the edge of the cast iron fencing that surrounded the cemetery plot. They checked the name above the gate a ways away to make sure that it was the same one on the slip of paper. It did appear to match. Morgan had figured that this was the one, it was the most influential one in town (the oldest, most of the 'best' names in the town buried their dead here) and the mother in the note sounded rather posh. Morgan couldn't help but sneer again thinking about someone that would be heartless enough to look for the doll of a child- her child, that apparently had lost her father. Sick.
Morgan walks down the sidewalk, and then up to the gate. Once again Squee seems to become enraptured with something beyond the shadows. "What has gotten into you, Squee?" Morgan murmurs, eyes peeled for any movement in the dark. They cannot find anything, theirself.
[15]
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