(open) just a plain and simple chapel

[fallingsand]

WHO: Bruno Madrigal and whoever wanders out his way.
WHERE: Barrens, an abandoned chapel amongst the ruins.
WHEN: vague hand waggle over the month
WHAT: Bruno, unable to not be some local cryptid, has taken up residence in a ruined chapel rather than living in the city like a regular person.
WARNINGS: n/a

clean-up.

[ In the first week of wandering into the chapel and deciding that may as well be where he remained for the time being, Bruno's time was split between sitting in a dusty old pew and staring blankly at the wall ahead and, then, picking up refuse scattered around the place and tossing it out the east side of the chapel, right off the edge of where the Barren's most abandoned Vestige curls downward towards the chasm that the rest of it collapsed into.

It was an easy way of getting rid of, well, a lot. The place was cluttered with broken wood and stone and overgrown with weeds and scratchy thorn bushes, not to mention vines. While the broken wood would be kept, the rest? The rest could go.

It would not be unusual to come across him trying his best to rip out a thorn bush that's grown through a window with his bare hands, with plenty of pauses to mutter and grumble or for him to cringe away when he got a particularly nasty poke from a thorn. ]

...y'know, one of those scythes would actually be useful right now...

[ Or some gloves. Gloves would work, too. ]

ruins are for looting, every adventure novel says so.

[ But once he — and perhaps a little help — have tidied the chapel up enough, it was time to find a way to make it more comfortable. Bruno hadn't gone looking for a job just yet. To be truthful, he wasn't sure how one did that, as his only job had ever been overwhelmingly unpopular oracle and that sure didn't look good on paper. That meant he would have to source his home goods from somewhere a bit more, uh, left behind.

It does mean rattling around the other abandoned ruins of buildings that litter the Barren, however, and that isn't necessarily safe, now is it?

To anyone else happening by, they'll hear a large crack of something breaking, followed by a startled yell and the telltale thud of someone landing heavily in one of the ruined, haphazardly leaning buildings nearby. ]

festive.

[ And last but not least, decorating. For the holiday, in fact. By the third week of the month, the chapel is looking... a little better? As in it doesn't have garbage and infinite overgrowth clogging up the floor and windows and Bruno's managed to dust it enough so he isn't constantly sneezing. Holes in the roof have been patched. They could use some work still, as some of the rain does leak in now and again, but hey, he can worry about that later.

What's important now is that some kind Restless lady in the city offered him her leftover decorations for Respite after he helped her put them up outside her own residence. Gleaming gold-toned ornaments that catch and reflect the moonlight, and other little baubles that give off a marigold and ginger-colored glow; they were a treat to put up back at the chapel and add a splash of color to an otherwise dreary place. Better yet, speaking of treats, he'd picked up some on the way back out of the city. It'd been a surprisingly nice day, this day, to end up with any of this at all.

So it might be the spots of bright orange light that draw the eye or the drifting scent of the little campfire within, boiling up firstdawn tea to go with the sundrop cake he managed to get his hands on, that beckons you closer to the little chapel. It's no trap. It's just Bruno, merrily humming in a rare good mood as he works on stringing up the decorations along one of the windows. ]

Comments

looting

[nastycat]

[Izutsumi was always up for a spot of looting, or just straight-up stealing. It was just very easy for her to pick up things and wander off without really thinking of it. Sneaking also came naturally to her, it was part of the reason the bossy lady made her go through ninja training.

Then the crashing interrupted her prowling. Whose died?

She padded over, ears perked forward as she peered into the building. Then she clambered down, any movement? No? She's going to pick his pockets.]

[fallingsand]

[ What Izutsumi will find is that same twitchy, mousy little man from before, the one who drew the rat, and he's laying sprawled across the floor of a haphazardly leaning ruin of a building. Bits of wooden boards lay around him, so it might be that something overhead gave and dumped him down here.

There's no movement apart from the barest rise and fall of his chest, so, not dead. Well, extra dead, considering where they are, but when she moves to pick his pockets, she'll find...

Uh, nothing. Sorry, kid, he's super poor. That rifling about him does stir him into motion, though, and he opens his eyes and makes a grab for the wrist of that wayward hand searching his pockets. ]

Uh. [ What. He looks at her, staring, confused. ] What... what are you doing?

[nastycat]

[Damn, this guy has less money than she does. Then she looks at the face and realises it's the rat guy and...nah, she doesn't regret trying to mug his corpse. Especially when he turns out to not be a corpse.

The grab made her jump back, lips curling back to hiss for a split second. Meeting his stare with her own. She wasn't ashamed or anything. She just wasn't sure how to answer. ]

...Looking for money.

[fallingsand]

[ Bruno pulled his hand back quickly at the jump, at that cat-like response. Goodness, she really was part cat, wasn't she? Because he does recognize her from the netherwork, too. It was hard to forget someone with cat ears... ]

Oh. You were... [ Ha ha, she was trying to loot his corpse. This was awkward. He cleared his throat and slowly pushed himself up to sit. ] Sorry? I guess? I. I don't really have any. Anything much, really.

[ Again with the apologies, although this was far weirder than before. Who apologizes for having nothing worth stealing? ]

[nastycat]

[Izutsumi wanted nothing more, than to be able to suppress the cat-ness. But at least she'd not gone through anything as bad as that anti-monster barrier. The one that made her docile.

Anyway, she didn't seem to fazed being caught corpse looting. But it was pretty normal in the dungeons. Partly because of revival spells, but still, no shame.]

...That means I have to look at the noticeboard. [YEAH, you better feel bad, making her need to do work. But her ears twitched as she scuffed the ground.]

What are you doing?

[fallingsand]

Uh, just... y'know, exploring, I guess. Looking for anything useful out here.

[ Bruno gave a quiet sigh and ever so slowly, ever so carefully, raised an arm to point at where the floor had given way overhead. It still hurt to move somewhat, sore, jolted, and he was sure his entire back will be a bruise by the end of the day. ]

I thought the floor up there could hold me when I leapt down from the roof and... nope. I was very, very clearly wrong.