Resting Grounds had changed a lot over the years, it had almost no resemblance to the desolate sanctuary of death that it was a few years ago. It was still a silent place designed to house the bodies of those who had already left this world, but now it had a friendlier aspect. Visitors arriving daily at the site had begun planting various types of flowers to decorate the graves and honor the fallen. In addition, they had erected numerous statues in honor of the Lord of Shades, the influence that the cult had on the kingdom was notorious.
Orchid looked at the statues with interest, the representations of the deity were somewhat different from those she had seen elsewhere, where he was shown as a terrifying and threatening being, with his four arms outstretched ready to tear whoever approached. Here on Resting Grounds he looked more benevolent, whit palms together as if praying seeking comfort to those who suffered from the losses.
The mantis were not in the habit of becoming so attached to their dead and they overcame the losses quickly, so it was a bit strange for Orchid such dedication to the inert bodies, but she no longer questioned it, it was simply something different from her customs. Also, it was not something that she disliked , the silence that reigned had a special mystique, the statues of the deity were very beautiful and she was enchanted with the quantity of flowers that were everywhere.
Suddenly she felt the characteristic noise of Hollow's pencil tapping against the whiteboard, he was calling her. She didn't realize she had stayed behind, it was very easy for her to distract herself observing the landscape and there was so much to see. It was not just the flowers and the graves, the people also had a special and mystical air. There were vessels on site, but these were different from the ones she had seen anywhere else, they did not have that playful and carefree air that used to characterize them, they were silent, calm and above all expressionless, they reminded her a lot of the knight the first time she had seen him.
Now that Orchid thought about it, what had happened to Hollow in all these years? How, from being an empty being without emotions, did he become the adorable individual who was always by her side and pampered her? And now that she looked at these guys here, why did they act like this? Was this their true nature? What was hollow's true nature?
The reality was that the contamination with void that the vessels had, had affected them to a different extent, at first they all acted as entities without mind or conscience, but that state was somewhat reversible, the coexistence and affection of others filled their hearts and minds leading them to be almost normal bugs. But others had not been so fortunate, they could develop their own will and desires, but they did not fully understand what affection was and had problems expressing themselves. Some of these vessels were those who had chosen to stay in the abyss. But others, in spite of everything, wanted to live on the surface and chose to stay in the calmest and quietest place in the whole kingdom. Resting Grounds.
Both of them went through the corridors full of graves and flowers, until they reached the most remote place in the huge cemetery. There, under a canopy of flowers and surrounded by books, they found the guardian.
When Orchid saw the bug, she couldn't help but be surprised and a little confused, that thing was the strangest thing she had seen in a long time.
They had a round white face with a single eye in the center and two tiny horns protruding from their head, they was dressed in a long robe that completely covered their body except for some... Tentacles? that stood out from among their clothes with which they had some books and other things clutched. What was that? She couldn't even tell if they was a male or a female, even their name was neutral unlike Chari.
Orchid did not know but they was also a vessel, one quite particular, of those who had been too contaminated by the void, so they lacked expression. Also they did not seem to have much interest in imitating normal bugs, so not even they bothered to use their limbs and pulled out void tentacles to manipulate things.
They was Alone, the lonely and reserved keeper of the Resting Grounds.
When Alone saw the newcomers, they greeted them with a slight nod and kept quietly watching them, their posture was rigid and expressionless.
Orchid was initially very nervous. Didn't the guardian like her? Or was they evaluating her? Was they planning to challenge her to a duel? If there was a fight she would not back down, she had become stronger and she wanted to demonstrate it.
But Alone showed no signs of aggression, just glanced at Hollow. He immediately knew what they wanted to say and started writing on his board.
"I'm going to talk to them alone, give me a moment please"
"Ok".
The mantis decided not to question it, it was seen that this place was very different from Crystal Peak, where everyone was friendly and warm, here instead there was only coldness and silence, perhaps due to the fact that they were guarding the dead, in reality she did not know it. She looked around and noticed a couple of vessels staring blankly at her, that was really awkward.
Meanwhile, Hollow was trying to communicate with Alone. To tell the truth, dealing with them was somewhat complicated, they were quiet even to be a vessel and it was not a good idea to press them. So he stood watching them, waiting for they to finish reading the page of their book and pay attention to him.
When Alone closed their text and looked at him, Hollow noticed that they had a kind of bandage on the left side of their face. He didn't want to ask at the time and just talked about the matter that brought him to Resting Grounds in the first place.
"(What happened? You said you had a problem and that you needed help" With Alone, it was best to speak just the necessary, their social skills were so bad that even something as simple as a greeting was complicated for them.
In response, Alone removed the patch on their face, revealing an ugly crack from which void dripped.
"Who... Who did that to you?!"
Hollow looked very alarmed, although his sibling was an absolute pacifist, it was not that they did not know how to fight, and if someone had been able to cause them such damage it was somewhat worrying.
"(A white thief, looks for the legacy of the moths and...)" After saying that, they covered the crack in their mask again.
"(You don't need to explain more, I understand. You want to catch the thief)"
Alone did not answer, just touched the mask and rubbed it gently while looking down.
(Isn't that it? Uh... you want to repair your mask?") Alone stared at Hollow sharply. "(I think I understand. You want to go to Deepnest to see the mask maker to have yours repaired, but you cannot leave the Resting Grounds unguarded and need to be replaced while you go about your business.)"
It might seem strange that Hollow drew so many conclusions with so few gestures, but he was already used to the particular communication with the vessel, which always reduced all their messages to the smallest expressions, without decorations or unnecessary words.
"(Okay, Orchid and I will stay guarding the cemetery while you return, I don't think it will take more than one night, right?)"
Alone did not answer, just turned their head and fixed their eye on the mantis that was nearby smelling some flowers and enjoying its softness, she looked happy. Hollow also watched her for a moment and sighed with glee, she loved seeing Orchid enjoying those little pleasures she seemed to have been denying herself for so long, she was so beautiful that he felt like he could watch her for hours.
But he tore his gaze away from her suddenly when he felt that there were now some eyes hanging on him. Alone and their two assistant vessels were staring blankly at him, though given the situation he could assume they were curious.
"(Eh... She is Orchid, she is a mantis that I am taking care of during this month, she is quite strong, she is a good fighter, she will be useful helping me protect the place)". He said with some nervousness.
"(You look at her weird)"
"(Weird? What do you mean?)"
"(I do not understand)"
Hollow wanted to ask what he did not understand, but he noticed a certain discomfort in Alone, They probably did not understand what they did not understand. He sighed somewhat overwhelmed, dealing with them was always a bit stressful, the worst thing was that for him it was also stressful, not by chance they had chosen to be the guardian of the quietest and loneliest area of the kingdom.
Knowing that he could no longer exchange words with his sibling, he went to Orchid and tapped his pencil against the whiteboard immediately drawing her attention.
"What's wrong Hollow?"
"We'll be taking care of the Resting Grounds for tonight, Alone has to go out and do some things"
"Ah... Okay." She looked at the vessel and with some nerves made a gentle nod in greeting.
The vessel looked at her for a moment and then started to walk away from them without making any other gesture. The mantis got angry thinking they had ignored her, but the knight was quick to calm her down.
"Don't take it personally, they is like that, they is something strange"
"Mmph," Orchid snorted annoyed as she crossed her arms. "If you say so. Even though there was easy to say hello. Anyway, where are we going to stay tonight?"
Hollow had to think about it for a moment. Resting Grounds was primarily a cemetery, it did not really have houses or shelters to sleep. The vessels in charge of taking care of the site did not need these luxuries, they did not eat, they did not bathe (Although they cleaned their masks and cloaks), they did not sleep in beds. When night fell they took off their masks and wandered around the cemetery in shadowy ways, greatly contributing to the spread of rumors of spirits roaming the place. Taking all this into account, they did not have the comforts Hollow would like to provide to Orchid, but somehow he would manage, anyway the mantis was not very picky nor a lover of luxuries, she could sleep on the floor without major problems, but it had a somewhat more comfortable place than the rock floor.
"We will stay at the seer's home"
"The seer? Another inhabitant of this place?" Hollow hesitated a moment before answering.
"The seer was an old moth that had her house here, but she died a few years ago, although her home is still there" In reality, more than dying, the correct term would be she transcended to another reality, but it was something difficult to explain.
"I see. Guide my steps".
Hollow led the mantis through some steep boulders and rocks to the highest part of the cemetery where there were several abandoned caves, when they reached the top of the climb, they entered the last cave they found, and to their surprise, this was much more welcoming than a normal cave. There was a plush carpet covering the floor and lots of fluffy cushions scattered all over the place, you could see some dusty furniture cornered near the cave walls and many luminary lamps that had lost their shine long ago.
"It's a little dirty but... I can sleep here I suppose... Although if you allow me I'll clean the place a bit before occupying it."
Hollow waved his hand, implying that she could do whatever she wanted.
Orchid then cleaned the room, removing dust from the furniture and shaking the cushions. It seemed incredible to her that the guest room was in such a bad state. Were they really so rude to visitors? No one had told her that in that place, there simply were no bedrooms.
When Orchid finished she went out to look for Hollow, she thought that the knight would have gone to clean his own room which would be one of the other caves she could see out there, but to her surprise he was in a high area watching the territory in silence.
"Hey... Have you finished cleaning your room yet?"
"...?" He cocked his head, wondering what she meant by that.
"I already cleaned the room where I'm going to stay. Was your room as dirty as mine?" The vessel took out his whiteboard and started writing on it.
"There are no more rooms in the Resting Grounds, this place is a cemetery, we are going to sleep together tonight"
That was like a bucket of cold water for Orchid. That must be a joke! She couldn't sleep with Hollow! It never occurred to her that she was not going to have a private room, after all, in Crystal Peak they offered her that and many other comforts.
But the situation at Crystal Peak was very different from the Resting Grounds. When Orchid arrived at the place, everyone noticed the cloth hanging from her waist and immediately knew that she was in heat, so they gave her a private room to sleep and placed Vervela branches on the door and in the window to neutralize the pheromones. In this way the mantis could rest assured that she would not attract any unwanted visitors and would be free to do as she pleased when she was alone.
But now it was her turn to share a room with Hollow. Was it possible to sleep with him next her? The mere fact that he touched her made her mind explode in a thousand fiery fantasies. How could she bear to sleep next to him? With his body a few inches from her, within reach of her claws to touch and hug him as much as she wanted. Just thinking about it already made her temperature rise. The worst thing is that having him next to her, she could not even touch herself to ease her desires a little. It was hell.
But apparently Hollow did not care, of course, he was incompatible with her, so her pheromones did not affect him, but as impossible as it was that they had children toghether, she could not help but feel attracted to him, and this distressed her. She should make him sleep outside, out of sheer courtesy she should have the privilege of having the room to herself, but she had no heart to expel her knight. Slowly all of her concerns were starting to show on her face and Hollow began to worry.
"What's up Orchid? Do you have a problem?"
"I have a problem? This is serious?!" Orchid's nerves were beginning to alter. "How the hell do you expect me to sleep next to you! And don't play innocent! You know I'm in heat!! Everything affects me, and yet you subject me to these uncomfortable situations, you are very cruel..."
Again the mantis' emotional outbursts were beginning to affect her, but this time she wasn't expressing rage, rather grief and anguish. Orchid was trying her best to hold back the tears, but she couldn't help Hollow noticing. The knight felt disoriented and somewhat confused, he still had trouble understanding what the heat meant for a female and he was not very clear why Orchid had problems with having him by her side, but she had said something about that she could not sleep. Did helping her with sleeping would make her better? He would do what was necessary to avoid seeing her sad, it broke his heart to have her crying.
Without saying a word, the knight ran until he was lost in the sea of tombs that were everywhere. Orchid didn't know what was going through his head but was relieved that he was going away. At least that way she could cry without anyone seeing her, or at least calm down a bit.
She spent the afternoon alone, wondering if she had done something wrong, in her eyes she had only exposed the truth, but perhaps she had hurt Hollow in some way and that's why he had left her alone for so long. It was close to bedtime and she was beginning to get anxious. What if something had happened to him? What if he had abandoned her? At least she already knew how to get to the White Palace by herself using the Stag station, but if she arrived alone, what would they think of her? Perhaps they even believed that she had eaten him.
Suddenly she began to hear the sound of footsteps and her antennas became alert. She looked at where the sound came from and was relieved when she saw Hollow walking slowly toward her. She was about to scream in frustration, but she managed to control herself. It was then that she noticed that Hollow brought with him some dead prey and a bunch of branches from a plant she did not know. Seeing that, she suddenly remembered that she was hungry.
"Where have you been all afternoon?" She tried very hard to hide her joy with an annoyed expression.
Hollow sighed and first busied himself with arranging what he had brought with him before picking up his whiteboard and answering.
"I went to find some herbs to help you sleep and while I was there I caught something for dinner"
"Oh I see, thanks." Orchid immediately softened her countenance.
After that they built a fire and dined quietly, although it was a silent and somewhat uncomfortable dinner. Orchid was upset with him for not leaving the room to herself and Hollow didn't understand anything. He was even beginning to wonder if Orchid hated him now, for some reason that idea scared him and caused him pain.
Once they finished eating, Orchid ate the herbs to sleep, unfortunately it were very bitter, but she preferred this to a night in hell. At least the plants worked well and half an hour after eating it, she started to feel sleepy, it wasn't long before she fell asleep next to her knight in the seer's old home.
It was already the middle of the night, everything seemed calm in the cemetery, only the shadows of Alone's assistants who were watching roamed the place, in case they saw something strange they should notify Hollow immediately.
Meanwhile, the knight slept peacefully, with nothing to disturb his sleep, he was comfortable and warm in the shelter, with numerous pillows available to hug and a plush carpet as a bed, nothing should have interrupted his rest, but nevertheless, he saw himself forced to wake up.
Hollow was startled when he felt a pair of claws around his waist, he might have reacted aggressively, but a soft growl alerted him to the identity of the owner of these limbs.
He was reassured to know that it was Orchid, who was hugging him while he slept, that was not something he had to worry about, in fact it even seemed cute to him, she showed affection while she slept, perhaps she would even be dreaming of him.
"Mmng.... Hollow..."
Curiously his assumption turned out to be correct, Orchid was dreaming of him and this made him happy. After so much, he finally gained the love of the mantis, now she loved him so much that she hugged him affectionately, perhaps she even hugged him in her dream. What was she dreaming of? The truth, it made him somewhat curious and he wanted to get into her dream world, so he started looking among his things and took out the old dreamnail he was taking care of. It was a somewhat dangerous element, and partly for that reason He had self-declared its guardian. He normally didn't use it because Hornet had taught him that it was rude to spy on the thoughts of others, but now he was tempted. Orchid was dreaming about him. Didn't he have a right to see what it was about? It was something that directly involved him.
Even he realized that it was a silly excuse, but that was not going to stop him. He was about to enter the mind of the mantis, when she squeezed him pulling him towards her, then placed her legs on top immobilizing him.
This was already starting to stop being tender and bordering on the uncomfortable, he liked being close to the mantis but this was too much. So he began to shake trying to get the female off him, even ended up trying to make sudden movements to Waking her up, but it only made her squeeze him more and growl a little. Hollow wanted to scream, but he was beginning to notice that even that would be useless, Orchid was drugged under the effects of the sleeping plant, she was not going to wake up so easy.
He was considering how to wriggle out of her grasp when he noticed Orchid begin to move her claws rubbing his shell. For some reason this made him turn red, somehow it was nice to be caressed that way, but at the same time it caused him embarrassment, nobody invaded his personal space that way and he had not authorized her. But the thing began to getting worse, Orchid's claws began to go down his body while continuing to rub, Hollow stiffened, the touch of the mantis was cheeky and provocative, lowering more and more, until she reached that private area where she began to search what Hollow didn't have.
That had already been too much for him, with a sudden movement he removed Orchid's claws from the place ready to get out of there immediately, but the result was different from what was expected. The mantis hugged him again and this time she pressed her body fully against him, curving her tail forward and tucking it between his legs in a way he wouldn't think possible.
Hollow was dizzy with embarrassment and discomfort, Orchid had him imprisoned and she was groping his whole body shamelessly and there was no way to stop her, she was too asleep. Now he was beginning to wonder if this was the reason she seemed reluctant to sleep with him. Did she always behave like this while she slept? No wonder she wanted a private room, he had to give her the shelter, he had to stay outside and leave her alone, everything had a reason for being.
Things got worse when Orchid's tail started rubbing against his crotch, this was so embarrassing that he wanted the earth to swallow him, probably if Orchid found out what she had done, she would dig the hole herself to bury herself.
"Hmmmnn.... Hollow..."
She kept dreaming about him, now Hollow didn't want to get into her dreams anymore, in fact the idea scared him. How much more would he have to put up with all this? He was concerned that he was beginning to have some somewhat strange sensations that he had trouble identifying. To tell the truth, being touched by Orchid was not entirely unpleasant, it only bothered him to have that tail between his legs moving, so he decided to put it aside.
He grabbed Orchid's tail and pushed it back, the mantis yelled at this. At first he was scared to think that he had hurt her, but it was not the case, in fact she looked relaxed and happy. He managed to glimpse her smiling face with her eyes closed, also had her legs open leaving her tail absolutely visible.
Hollow debated between what he considered correct and what he wanted. Hornet had already told him that he should not touch the tail of the females, but he liked it, for reasons that he was not able to understand, and now she was practically offering herself ¿ Maybe it wouldn't hurt to touch a little bit?
He extended his hands and caressed the area tenderly, immediately drawing a sigh and an exclamation of pleasure from the mantis, which encouraged him to continue. He touched Orchid as much as he wanted, traversed every inch of her tail and delighted in the texture of her skin.
Suddenly he felt Orchid's claws on his shell again, he thought a little about the situation and decided to leave her do what she wanted. Since he was touching her, she had the same right, he even lay down next to her to be easily within reach.
Sharing caresses in that way had a special mystique, touching and being touched in some way made them closer, as if the barriers between them slowly blurred. Hollow was enjoying the moment, suddenly Orchid's touch was no longer so annoying or awkward, it was even desirable. He wanted to extend the moment as much as possible, but all this had to end at some point.
Orchid's movements became smoother and slower, until finally they stopped and only the gentle rise and fall of her chest remained as she breathed.
Hollow sighed in disappointment, he wanted them to continue for a while longer, after all, this was a new experience for him, but he was not going to push her, not that he could considering that she was asleep, so he placed next to her and stayed looking at her with dreamy eyes. A loud sigh from Orchid cut the silence and a couple of words were carelessly thrown into the wind.
"I love you Hollow..."
The vessel felt that he ran out of air when hearing that. His eyes widened with shock and he looked everywhere, not knowing what to do. Orchid said she loved him? Was this true? To tell the truth, for some time now he also felt that he liked the mantis but had not dared to put his feelings into words, he supposed that the mantis would reject him (and he was right). But she had taken the first step, she loved him.
He rolled into place feeling butterflies of excitement in his stomach, that was too good to be true. And in fact it was, Hollow's little common sense hadn't made him think it illogical to take seriously a declaration of love made by a sleeping and above all drugged person.
But oblivious to this, he built a thousand castles in the air, dreaming of walks holding hands, romantic dinners and pillow fights... Especially the latest.
This is how, immersed in a thousand happy thoughts, he fell asleep, being this time he the one who hugged the mantis.