✯ — it just sucks to try and explain

the gentle clinking of sound would emanate from the male's shelter, the half fallen-in house aglow with a gentle light from several candles and lanterns, the fire flicking gently in the grate of his home. this place was as much home as any other shelter that he'd stayed in, this one with another he knew, not far from his reach. that alone allowed him to sleep a bit more easily, without fear of waking up and finding everything missing and gone again. but it didn't mean that sleep was easy, no. for that very reason he was awake with the moon headed for the horizon and his candles burning the ends of their wicks.

tail twitching to a tune played in his mind, one he wished he could hear again, he worked in a zombie-like state as he looked down at the fabric pulled tight in front of him, his make shift work table. again would his paws move to shift a pile of seeds, nudging it onto a much smaller square of fabric before gently rolling the ends over the pile and nosing it off to the side. there he sat, quietly tinkering around as the candles finally all winked out on their own, working by lantern and fire-light from the dying hearth.

gaze lifting to the window and the faint blinking of the sun upon the sky, turning the safe darkness towards the brilliance of daytime and the violence it would reveal. he wanted to stay inside, he didn't want to see any other face, not ones that didn't match his wandering memory. blinking before looking away from the cracked window, standing and stretching as he looked down at his work table. He would snag a piece of vine around each little packet of seeds before picking them up and sliding them into his satchel before scavenging around his home.

coming across an item of appropriate size, he would drag a basket over in his jaws towards the door. He was in need of new herb cuttings, and he was too tired from sleepless nights to grow any upon himself, that, and he hadn't had a proper meal in the gods know how long. his stomach complained at him now, sending him looking for his canteen for a mouthful of water. It was then that he realized that he also needed to refill the bladder with drinking water. Tail twitching as he slipped into the canteen's straps, shaking himself out when it was in place before picking up his basket again.

Stepping from the building, the Tom would pass through the sleepy settlement, belly brushing against dew kissed grasses until he broke onto an even path. Standing there till he was sure of where he wanted to travel, headed off in the eastern most direction. Perhaps he should think about cultivating tea leaves.

✯ — MALE. TANGLE. MED DIFF. CAT. GRIM. LANGUAGE GUIDE. — ✯

✯ — it just sucks to try and explain

Blinking quietly as a voice interrupted his rather mindless thoughts, the tabby tom shaking out his tail for a few moments as he processed his words. It seemed that his mind was still deeply held within the eaves of exhaustion, staring quite stupidly at Cory, his words making little sense as they echoed around his mind. It was like knocking at a door and if Cory could hear within his mind, the frantic scramble would be much the same.

Blinking a few times as his fur ruffled upon his shoulders, a shiver running through the other domestic, the Grim stuck in his small body. A body he much preferred to the terrible mess of a separate identity, a body he knew the ins and outs of. Company? Well, he could use the extra paw. And for a moment there, there stood a different tom with the same sort of curious yet disconnected expression. 'Arlo ...', he supposed the other hadn't ceased to haunt his memory either.

Blinking a few times more as he set down his basket, small blossoms of amaryllis beginning to blossom and unfurl upon his shoulders. As unfamiliar as his face was to Cory, so was his to him. He was curious, the other was of interest to him. Had he not heard that there was a strange creature living amongst them? Did he not know to stay clear of him? There were some that warned others from interaction with him, some said that he was rude while others wondered why he never spoke.

Cautiously, he flicked his tail as he looked down at his basket. Company... maybe he could help him? Looking back up with a hesitant nod, he looked around a few times before looking to the sky. It was early, earlier than he was used to anyone else being awake. Flicking an ear casually, sneaking a peek at Cory as he picked up his basket. Geeze, he wanted to know about him a bit more now. Maybe there would be some dirt he could write a message in or something. Drifting eastward, he paused and looked back at Cory, tail lifted and crooked slightly to indicate he should come along. What he would give to talk so easily as others could. He wished he could have his voice back, but even that was an impossible feat.

Right. What was he doing? Herbs, seeds, and water. What else? Gazing up to the dawn he would frown, shaking his pelt out when the dew soaked through his shorter fur, reaching up with a paw to touch the two golden rings pierced through his left ear. A memory he would never forget or surrender. A memory he could never forget, a haunting feeling that would never leave him alone. Lowering the paw after making sure they were still there, he charged on, mucking through the forest in search for a clearing of more or less solid ground where he wouldn't be sucked down into a bog.

✯ — MALE. TANGLE. MED DIFF. CAT. GRIM. LANGUAGE GUIDE. — ✯

✯ — it just sucks to try and explain

the swamp wasn't so lonely now that he was not alone, now that there was another body alongside himself. paws stepping with a sureness as he sought out old paths he had made when he'd arrived, sorting out the areas he needed to search for new growth within his mind. the silence carried between them, mostly on his part because he couldn't exactly vocally make himself known, but he could through action. taking a deep breath of air, pausing as he read the scents, turning north bound now until he brought them both to a clearing. there at the edge of the clearing laid a pond, where he was headed towards. stopping on the bank of the sinking ground, the tom slipped out of the straps that held his canteen to his body, setting down the basket as well.

this was one of the few times that the grim wished he could speak to those around him, dim the memory of watching his adopted son fall to what should have been his doom, and the empty scream that had rang out. shaking himself from his memory, turning to look back at cory with a smile on his maw, nodding to the water. he was going to see what he could find and check on how his plants were doing - not that they could technically be his. the first process was to go about pulling up things such as cattails and sawgrass, though he wished he didn't have to touch the painful latter. the blades of the swamp plant were sharp enough to reach him even through his fur, those plants he usually dove to pull up by the roots.

wading now into the water, the tom wouldn't so much as blink as water soaked his fur to his frame, going in until the water was up about his shoulders, and began to shuffle his paws slightly, feeling for the locations in which he had earlier planted other plants. He was most eagerly awaiting the growth of his water mint, amongst other plant forms. Wading there for a while more as he sunk further into the mud, tail peeking from the waters and swinging whenever he moved, finally he would dive underwater after identifying a bundle of Sawgrass that were affecting the growth of his plants. Resurfacing after a slight struggle, he proudly held the defeated plant by its roots in his mouth, chucking it ashore. This process would continue itself a few times more before he had cleared away a patch of cattails and Sawgrass, leaving a clear section for the struggling plants.

Wading around a bit more, he made his way back to the shore, all but covered up to his chest in thick mud that was slow to drip from his fur. Shaking a paw vigorously, he looked at his satchel in partial defeat before looking to Cory hopefully. Sprawling swiftly in the boggy ground, 'can you open my bag please?' before he hauled himself from the water and ashore, standing far enough away as he proceeded to shake himself. Next was finding a suitable area in the clearing to plant the seeds he had within the satchel.

✯ — MALE. TANGLE. MED DIFF. CAT. GRIM. LANGUAGE GUIDE. — ✯