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DM!memoirs au Chapter 2
(TRIGGER WARNING! Mention of burial/funeral, and well just over all emotional stuff?)
The boat had been landed for some time before anyone decided to step off...
Joxter, after bawling his eyes out for at least an hour straight and his voice had become hoarse from yelling, had now sat on the floor a small distance away from the cold corpse in simple disbelief, his head pounded from all of this all so suddenly. Moomin sat there with joxter not sure how to... help? How to react? He wasn’t as close to Muddler as Joxter or Hodgkins were of course but he still felt immense remorse and sorrow for the two.
“I... I shouldn’t have let him sleep...” mumbled the Joxter in a quiet, saddened voice.
“Don’t blame yourself, Joxter.” replied the Moomin, hesitantly patting Joxter's back.
Joxter stared at the covered body with a pained look “Maybe if I didn’t let him sleep he would have... He would've still been alive now-“
Moomin cleared his throat anxiously “Joxter... at least he died peacefully... maybe you should come get some fresh air with me outside...?”
“Do you really think right now is the right time? He’s already gone, don’t try to rip me away from him more.”
“I just mean this is unhealthy for you to just... stare... I’m not saying move on right this minute but at least get some air- try to bring yourself together-“
“Moomin, will you just- shut up and leave it be?! Leave ME be! If YOU want to leave then go right ahead! I need... time.”
The Moomin gave a nod, looking down guiltily he slowly left the lower deck of the ship to leave Joxter with his dead lover, he was thinking about checking in on Hodgkins but... He didn't know how Hodgkins would react to being comforted. He stepped out to the top deck of the boat and looked out to the new land they found themselves in, he decided to let down the ramp and get off, take a small walk around to see if he could find anyone to check if this place was inhabited.
Meanwhile the Joxter scooted closer to the Muddler's body partially wanting to uncover his face to see him one last time knowing it wouldn’t be long before he’s unable to see him ever again. Knowing the inevitability of having to bury his best friend, and the first person he had ever truly fallen in love with. he of course couldn't stomach the thought of uncovering his corpse, so he went ahead and held Muddler's cold paw for a moment instead, soon after quickly letting go. The sinking feeling of knowing there was no more life in that body... in the body that was once a living person... it was an awful feeling that was almost suffocating, he quickly ran out of the lower deck to the top deck unable to bear it any longer. He leaned over the edge of the boat, unable to comprehend his current feelings.
Meanwhile; Hodgkins had been sitting in the pilot-house suffering similarly but in silence. The young man he had raised just all of a sudden gone, from something so avoidable no less. Something he could easily blame himself for. He had been staring blankly out the window, he had watched when Moomin left the boat and he saw when Joxter stood hunched over the railing. Part of him wanted to go and comfort Joxter. But why would he? So he can inevitably fail at it? To make the situation worse? What was he to say? He never said much in the first place especially to Joxter and he and Joxter butted heads more or less since Joxter was young. But, since Muddler begged him to let Joxter stay with them, why shouldn’t he go comfort Joxter? He practically raised him as well since he was by Muddler's side for ages, yet he knew he couldn’t say he was as close to Joxter as he was with Muddler. He had a second awful feeling bubbling up, the feeling that he had failed as an adoptive father figure, to both Joxter and Muddler. He felt angry with himself for a moment and slammed his paws on his desk before shouting out loud:
“WHY?!”
Such a shout had almost shaken the entire boat with it, Joxter heard it and decided to step off the boat as well, he had never heard Hodgkins yell like that before, and he didn’t want to see the details of it all, Joxter wandered alone on the new landscape.
He walked along the short stone walls to get a feel for where he was so he wouldn’t get lost so soon, so he could make his way back to where he was for the most part, he then came across Moomin again, who was talking to the mymble's daughter, asking questions about this place.
“This is the Autocrat's kingdom! How wouldn't you know that? Also I’m not allowed to talk to strangers, my mother will be upset-“ giggled the girl before opening the door and stepping out, Joxter went over to them. Moomin turned his attention to him.
“Oh, Joxter! Are you doing better?” Asked the Moomin.
Joxter looked down and shrugged “Better than Hodgkins at least... or... I think so anyways. Why are you talking to a little girl?”
“Ugh, you make it sound so weird- I’m asking her if anyone else lives here since no one else is around at the moment!”
“They're all at the king's party, including my mother and my siblings!” The mymble's daughter replied joyfully “I can bring you both there if you want!”
“No thank you. We have more important things to deal with currently... but may I ask what’s the party for?”
“It’s the king's 100th birthday! It’s very special, that’s why every ones there! Also, what’s more important than a big royal party?” replied the mymble's daughter
“I don’t think I should explain, sorry.“ said Moomin “But your mother really shouldn’t have left you alone like this-“ he added
“Well, young mymbles tend to be short from what I heard, maybe she’s old enough to be on her own at home and she just doesn’t look it-“ suggested the Joxter.
“Exactly! I’m actually 66!“ Said the mymble's daughter, obviously lying “Anyways, can you two come to the party with me?”
“Well, this might be one of the only times we'll be able to talk to the king about the situation and ask him for permission for a burial, so...” said Moomin to the Joxter
“This is all so complicated and frustrating...” mumbled the Joxter
“Tell me about it...” Moomin replied to Joxter quietly “Where do we go on from here?”
“Well, isn’t it obvious...?” said the Joxter
“Well yes, we have to ask for permission and then find a place to bury Muddler, but we need to find a place first... and get Hodgkin's input aswell...”
“... Maybe you should do that part.” said Joxter
“You mean talking to Hodgkins? But you’ve known him longer!” Retorted the Moomin
“He doesn’t talk to me much and trust me, I think you would do better... I think I need to do some more walking on my own for now.” replied the Joxter
“Are you just going to avoid the situation?”
“As much as I can. Yes.” answered the Joxter before walking off again into nearby wooded area far away from the rest of civilization on this island. He was planning to return later but he might as well walk around and try to clear away as many feelings as he could.
The Moomin paced around planning out what to say and do first to help get this all over with, the mymble's daughter had overheard his conversation with Joxter and skipped over to him.
“you need permission to bury some thing you said?”
“Yes I did, but why are you nosing around in others' conversations?”
“Well I can help you! You can ask the king for permission to bury whatever you want, he's an easy going guy but the hard part of getting to him will be the maze,”
“The what?”
“The maze and the puzzles to get to the garden of course! I can help you get there and through if you want!”
“I suppose it would be interesting to finally meet a real king...but I wouldn’t want to ask him during a party if we could... oh nevermind, I’ll figure it out on my own.” Moomin pondered
“And I won’t have to walk alone! Come on!” Said the mymble's daughter, trying to be convincing. Afterall, she didn’t know the details of what Moomin and Joxter were so wrapped up about, she assumed they were just having a bad day.
“Let me talk to my friend back in his boat first, I need to see what he says before I agree.”
“Oh fine... you adults are no fun-“ she went back to her hut and pouted as she waited for Moomin to get back.
Moomin went back to the ship finally working up the courage to try and console Hodgkins. He knocked on the door to the pilot-house, Moomin stood there for a minute or two before sitting by the door and began to talk through it.
“Hodgkins, sir, I know you're in there- I don’t know where Joxter went but he said he needed some time to walk around, I’m guessing to clear his head... I know you're... probably going through a lot with the current situation and I’m sad about it too of course but we can’t just sit around and let the body stay there... we need to find somewhere to bury him but we might need permission from the local king who runs this place- I ran into a mymble and she told me the king's having his 100th birthday party today and that’s why there’s not many people here right now- i just thought to fill you in on that, I know you don’t like to talk things out or talk much in general but... you get the point, we should go because it might be one of the few chances we can properly talk to him.” The Moomin then went silent for a few moments pressing his ear against the door, he then heard footsteps coming from the inside of the room and hodgkins opened it up and looked down at Moomin.
“Alright...” said Hodgkins before offering Moomin a hand up, he looked tired, and messy, his whiskers were all crooked aswell.
“Hrm...” Hodgkins stood thinking for a moment, he gave a nod 'yes' and walked ahead off the ship “If this is what it takes to get Muddler a proper resting place then fine.”
“There’s just one issue-“ Moomin piped
“And what would that be?” replied Hodgkins rather coldly
“There’s an entire maze we have to go through to get to the castle, so if we want to go through we will have to take the mymble girl with us to solve the puzzles.”
Hodgkins took a deep annoyed sigh and gave another simple nod in understanding. They went to tell the mymble's daughter they were ready to go and the three of them went on their way.
The mymble's daughter was excited and happy about the maze, there were painted eggs for them to find along the way, Moomin and the mymble's daughter stopped a few times to pick up the eggs. Moomin was trying to keep the mood light and maybe even cheer up Hodgkins a tiny bit trying to get his mind off of mourning.
“Come on Hodgkins, have some fun! You should grab that egg up there! Neither of us can reach it!” suggested the Moomin. Hodgkins grabbed it and held it between his pointer finger and thumb.
“That’s the spirit!” said the mymble's daughter, then Hodgkins stared at them and crushed the egg and tossed it to the ground.
Moomin's ears went down and so did his tail “Got it- let’s just rush through the maze then-“ he looked down and continued to pick up the pace.
The mymble's daughter was disappointed “what a buzz kill!” She retorted but Hodgkins didn’t reply and just continued. Eventually they ran into a bunch of pranks mostly involving fake mechanical spiders and things of that sort.
Hodgkins. Was not. Having it.
He crushed one of the fake spiders in anger “All of this just to ask for permission to bury my darn NEPHEW!”
The mymble's daughter fearfully walked ahead without them because of Hodgkin's clearly boiling anger and they where almost out of the maze anyway. They continued past a few more pranks and got through to their end goal: the King's birthday party.
As they entered moomin took in his surroundings seeing tables of food and a carousel and and happy cheerful faces and a very large old man sitting on a thrown with a crown he was amazed to be in the same room as royalty but hodgkins on the other hand was less then thrilled he got straight to the point and walked over to the king with a serious expression “excuse me your kingship I’m apologize for asking you this on your momentous 100th birthday but may I have your permission to bury my nephew on your Island.”
The King looked down at Hodgkins, lifted an eye brow then chuckled out loud thinking it was some sort of dark joke “Oh ho! Aren't you a strange one! Go ahead bury him where ever you want! Better yet, bury him in front of my castle! Hopefully he’ll come and haunt me!”
Hodgkins sighed, annoyed, and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Not a joke your highness. May I bury him on your island? Simple yes or no.”
The King's expression quickly, faded his eyebrows lifted in surprise his smile turned into to an awkward frown “Ho- oh my... uhm... of course- bury him where you would... like- uhm...” he cleared his throat because never in all of his 100 years of life had someone ever asked him such a blunt question especially one of this matter. Hodgkins then ended the conversation with a quick “Thank you.” And left.
He got the answer he needed.
Joxter had spent his afternoon scouting out the area, and along his walk he found a peaceful clearing right before the forest started but far away enough from houses and homes for it to be a proper resting place. He put some stuck some sticks out of the ground to mark the area and remember it before going back to the boat just to find he was the only one there at the moment. He decided to go to the pilot-house and rest on the couch in there until Moomin and Hodgkins returned from where ever they were.
(Sorry if it’s a bit messy I had technical difficulties while typing ✨because my phone hates meeees✨/slight joking)
End of chapter two. Illustrations being added soon-