Orph(an) in RedWall
Characters: Orph the rat and Martha the hedgehog
RW Abbey: Southern Dormitory
This large room is identical to the Northern dormitory, except it houses
the female Abbey Initiates. Many beds are arranged in this room, each
with a small trunk, nightstands and a candle holder.
The face of a young rat of 4 seasons peeks around the corner of the doorway. He jumps back upon seeing a hedgehog inside.
Martha is making her bed. She's tucking a sheet under the mattress while humming a quiet tune to herself. She doesn't quite notice the rat yet.
The mucky ratling peeks inside again. Seeing the hedgehog is facing away from him and seems to be absorbed in her tasks. He sits down by the door and not so quietly munches on a pawful of nuts he'd stole from the larder a few minutes ago.
Next, the pillow is patted before the blanket is drawn up over it and, this too, has its edges tucked beneath the mattress. Martha picks a rogue spine from it, frowning a little, before she hears eating. She turns to look towards the door. "H-hello?"
Orph cocks he head at the lady and greets her, spraying bits of nut as he does. "'ello, missus 'edge pig, marm." The little lad politely tugs the end of his nose with a paw, which wouldn't be unusual if he were a mole, but seeing as he's a rat it looks rather odd.
Martha is a little surprised. One, it's a rat. Two, he's male. And, three, the nose tugging. 'Rat' is probably the thought getting the most attention, though he's small. Maybe a whole family moved into the abbey and she didn't notice? "Um. M-Martha. Please. My name is Martha... A-and you are?"
Orph swallowed the last of the nuts and wiped the back of his paw over his mouth and whiskers a bit before answering. "Hurr, Oi be call Orph. 'is shurt fer Orphan." The ratling begins to look through the pouch tied across his chest. "All outa nutters. Oi gots a bit o' cheese though. Yurr wan any o' this?" he holds up a small piece of cheese toward her.
Martha shakes her head at the odd rat. Now he's speaking like one of the moles... "Um. N-no thankyou... N-nice to meet you, Orph. Um." Well, what else can she say. She doesn't think asking, 'are you sure you're a rat?' or 'Are you a mole under that rat costume?' would be very polite. Neither is staring really, but she finds herself doing so anyway.
Orph puts the cheese back into the pouch and stands up. He tugs at the hem of his mottled brown and green shirt. The shirt would almost pass for an over-sized dirty habbit if it were longer. "This yurr room? I gota room too. Wan 't see et?"
"W-well, I s-sleep here... B-but, s-so do others. It's n-not /my/ r-room at all..." She offers. "Y-you have a room? I-In the abbey?" A little curious. She assumes he means the dibbun dorms, but, of course, she doesn't know.
Orph shuffles his feet a little as he explains, "Oi used t' sleep in th' big room. But now oi found a leetle room with pillas in ever'thin an' it's roight nexta the food. That mine now. Follower an' oi'll show yurr." He starts for the door and just misses it hitting the edge of the door frame. "Ouch!" Orph rubs his sore eye, flinching when his paw touches one of the other faded bruises that already cover his face. The pause has allowed Martha's words to actually sink in. "Abby? Wot's that? I found a nice place out inna woods," he remarks squinting with his bad eye. "Is loik home was - but no Ma," he adds quietly.
"Big room? Pillars?" And he... walks into the door frame? Ouch. She tries to crouch and see if he hurt himself. "Oh! Are y-you okay?" And then a blink as he asks the question. "Th-this is the abbey. Th-this b-big building we're in... I d-don't think we should g-go out into the woods..."
Orph laughs "Oi'm alroight. The river done worse t' me th' other day." He nods to himself,"This a abby. Not uz good as th' tunnel Oi found. Th' woods not so bad if yurr kin 'member wurr yurr goin an' wurr yurr been."
"Y-yes, but there are v-ver... Um... There m-might be l-less than nice, b-beasts in the woods." Martha tries to explain, stumbling over her words a little. "W-wait, r-river? D-did any of th-the healers l-look at you after th-that?"
Orph grins "Yurr say thet thars rats," points to himself, "and such out in th' big bad woods? Oi took a little fall int' th' river day 'fore last an' Oi found th' tunnel the same day. Oi'm better now."
"Well, it's g-good that y-you're better... B-but you should really have b-been to s-see a healer... And... I w-was going t-to say vermin. S-sorry. B-but, it's a l-legitimate worry. There are... um... outlaws- well, n-not that there seems to be m-much law t-to be out of, b-but bad beasts, anyway, in the woods."
Orph walks over to a bed and sits down. "Wot's thar t' do 'er? he asks bored.
It should be obvious by now that Orph is a rat of about 4 seasons or the equivalent of 8 years were he human. Why he talks like a mole, albeit a mole with an odd accent, is unknown. Nor is it know where he comes from.
(Martha logs off)
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