#thoughtsofmoss

You’ve said that in 40 different ways already, dear. This isn’t much worse than what we’ve had to put up with in the Marrow, is it?

It is! We’re below the Marrow in the world’s core! I-I…

I need water… I need rest.

… It’ll be okay, honey. Just a little longer and we’ll go home where you can soak in a nice cool spring.

Follow the ruffled trail of bones, Kirr… Tibby can’t be far, can they? They wouldn’t have gone too deep I imagine…

…

…?

It goes so much deeper…

Dear Myophyta… It doesn’t feel like we’re in Pharloom anymore. These magmatic caverns… we’re below the lava lakes of the Marrow, little wonder.

I feel ill from this air. I-it’s still and agonizing to breath… Oh my gods, this was a mistake.

Remember the child, Mozs. We need to find them… and if worst comes to pass, I will carry both you and Tibby back to our nest if my shell breaks doing it.

Hufff… alright!

…

What in Pharloom for? All of our childs are… fine, aren’t they?

Not about our child, but… one we were still supposed to look after…

Marr’s kid, Tibby. A little Skull Scuttler, Marr directed them to stay with us while he left to do something dangerous, but…

I haven’t seen them since we woke up.

…

Marr will slay us in cold hemolymph and stomp our shells to dust if we don’t have them when he returns.

(Mozs curses under her breath as she finishes.)

How could we have been so ignorant?!-

…

Where could they have gone…?

I remember seeing them before we went into that dreadful slumber, among the other childs in the Weavenest.

But they could have wandered off so far by now… and Pharloom is so vast…

…

i… ohg kirr-

Good awakening to you too, dear.

Hawweh… how long have we been resting in here? All our misadventures couldn’t have taken that much of a toll, but… oh, gods i don’t know how well that rest helped me-

Ahhh… well, they probably did infact. We’re still mortal bugs, we can’t do everything. Rest is much needed for those in positions like ourselves… Does your shell feel any better? I remember you saying it’s been aching as of late.

(Mozs then stretches long and hard, a subtle crackling of joints being heard as her exoskeleton settles before she promptly flops into the floor.)

Ooohh… yeah, I think it’s a bit better now. Have we been neglecting our own selves as we tend to our childs? Surely not…

… Speaking of which, uhh… where are they all?

…

… oh, right.

Mozs, we need to zip around the grotto now.

(The ruffled Moss Mother shot up as action spoke to her. Something could be wrong, she must know what her children have gotten up to without her supervision.)

Brryeh- eh-! Hhokay childs! Mothers are awake now again! Come along Kirr- we got our whole family to round up! And I guess check up on our neighbors too…

(The pair left as quick as they could fathom, exiting the nest and into the greater Grotto to look for neighbors and childs alike.)

…

Dearest… must now be the time for-

I… was thinking back to that day. When your faker revealed itself to me.

…

It’s a miracle the only long-term scar I sustained was the one nearly on my eye… I could have died then.

And what would it have done at that point? Assume my form as soon as you returned? There’s just so many things that could have gone wrong, and things I have no answers for.

What was it truly, being so far beyond the tactics and behaviors of a standard shell-shifter? Why did it wait instead of springing its trap instantly, when it must have had hundreds of opportunities to do so? What did it know about us, to impersonate you so convincingly and understand how to trade places with

The way it moved and looked… I can hardly remember at this point, besides always that it wore what was left of its original guise, a lookalike of your shell, as a mask.

Sometimes I doubt if I had even killed it at all.

… Mozs.

… s-sorry. I shouldn’t reminisce on such a thing and especially not while you’re still upset over things. This is just… really bothering me-

Let us sleep closer than ever tonight… I understand we both need it.

… We do.

I love you, Mozs… Always remember that, even when you believe that you’re alone.

Heh… as if I could ever forget who you are, dearest.