Loving Every Bone in Your Body

Chapter 4.2 || Decisions

        The campsite was empty.

There of course was a fire pit shambled together in the middle and a pile of branches and leaves and tattered blankets to the side you assumed was where the two monsters slept. Their beds were surrounded by large chopped down logs. There were nicks and grooves in the wood that you could imagine Marsh leaving his axe. Cinna had also shown you his trap making area where there was plant fiber and rocks and a hodgepodge of half finished traps. You don't know if any of them could actually be used as they were. He had mentioned his brother had taken the working ones to set up, which made you second guess running around the woods.

All in all, the brothers had made a nice little area for themselves. They had settled somewhat easily in an unfamiliar forest.

"Gonna explore...look around for others..." Cinna said, claws playing with your hair. The moment he found you he had refused to put you down. He'd carried you to camp and once he'd shown you around he'd sat down on the ground with you in his lap. Focusing on the way his claws slid on your scalp emptied your head.

"Did you find anyone?" You ask, leaning further into Cinna's hold. You waited patiently for him to think through his words.

"...No." He eventually said. "Marssssh said to...stay.... No moving... safe." His other hand tightened around your middle. "Missed you." He murmured, craning his head down to bury his face into the top of your head.

"I missed you too, Cinnamon." You reach a hand up to gently pet his skull. He hums at the touch, gurgling on liquid. "I'm sorry I disappeared." Cinna shakes his head against yours.

"Lost in field... my bad." He picks his head up to just set his chin on your scalp. You nodded slowly, eyes drifting to the unlit fire pit.

So that was the last thing Cinna remembered... The field. It strikes you weird, at first, that his memory of you was cut at such a weird point, but then you think a bit longer on the underground. You wonder if it'd been reset sometime after you'd left. If a save had been loaded back when you three were walking through the field, it would explain a lot.

It didn't matter either way. Cinnamon was alive.

Your stomach growls. You'd nearly forgotten you hadn't eaten today. But it hadn't just been today, it'd been a little longer than that. You try to think of the last time you'd eaten a full meal.

Cinna's arm wraps tighter around you before he finally lets go.

"Hungry." He says, slowly heaving himself to his feet. You know it must be painful with how slow he goes, gentle to not have any of his crooked bones lock up. His small eyelights flicker down to you and he smiles. "...Bring food." He pats your head and then turns, heading off into the woods.

You watch him go. You feel like a different 'you' would refuse his help, saying you weren't hungry. You were fine and you didn't want to bother him.

But you were hungry and Cinnamon was nice. For some reason, him going out of his way to help you made your stomach do a little flip.

"Looka that, dinner." Marsh says, suddenly in the campsite. He's just a step behind you and you feel the hair on the back of your neck stand.

"Papyrus brought me." You say, slowly turning your head to catch sight of the larger skeleton. He stared down at you with his one eye before turning away. You move to watch him, but flinch when he suddenly swings his axe. It imbeds into one of the logs next to their beds with a loud thwunk.