When the Dead Rise Again (Xemmomt)

"Yeah, great...," the undead huffed grumpily and rolled his rotten eyes as the girl curled up against him, though he approximated a warm smile as she drifted off.

He wouldn't sleep, of course, and in the morning, he needed answers.

The morning came soon enough, as the sunlight swept over the room, unaware of the grim aftermath its golden rays touched. The small nekomimi, Xyg was that her name? still slept at the ghoul's side. She probably knew far more about the lay of land than the former man did, so perhaps it would be best to wake her and ask what he wanted to know.

Fortunately for him, the ghoul had a pretty good idea where he was going. Still, given what he saw her do last night, this was no ordinary girl, and would probably find him sooner than later if he left.

So, scooping the girl up with an arm, the ghoul returned to the graveyard, looking for answers.

Xyg didn't seem to wake as she was carried to the graveyard. The graveyard didn't look much different in the light of day, but it was obvious which grave was the former man's, a gaping hole and freshly overturned dirt made it clear.

"Something doesn't add up here...," the ghoul sat the little girl down harder than he meant to, waking her up, "Who are you?! Why were you here when I woke up?! Why did I wake up at all?!"

Xyg blinked up at the man, seemingly unfazed by the shouting. Yawning and standing, she trotted over to his grave, pointing to the tombstone, "Xpeu!" she said, smiling brightly back at him.

"Xpeu...?," the ghoul blinked as he looked at the tombstone, trying to make out what it said, "Is that... my name?"

Grinning and bouncing up and down, Xyg nodded, "Mynu!". Unfortunately, most of the letters had been weatherd away, there was an X...E...M...M...O...M...T... all the rest had been worn away by time. But below the name was more intriguing, a design, traced in what looked like blood... a spell of some sort?

"Xem...mom...t," he sounded it out with a puzzled expression, then instantly crumpled over and held his head in pain as a memory came flooding back to his long-dead brain.

When the pain subsided, and the man stood again, he was no longer in the graveyard, but in a workshop. Mechanical pieces littered the room, across workbenches and on shelves. Before he had a chance to thoroughly examine the room, a voice called out from the doorway, "Dr. Xemmomt! Are you done in there?"

Going forward as one does automatically in a dream, Xemmomt looked over to the voice behind the door, "Please enter."

A young woman entered, preoccupied with a notebook she held in her mechanical hand. "Doctor, the converter is on the fritz again, Calahan wants to know when the plugs will be ready and Caroline is here with-" she looked up for a moment and examined Xemmomt. "Doctor? Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost..."

"I... am uncertain," Xemmomt looked around, trying once more to get his bearings. Had he dreamed it all? Was he really still alive and breathing?

The woman peered at Xemmomt credulously before giving a shrug, "Well, best to get over this uncertainty quick, there's no place for it in this business. Caroline and Alecia are here... shall I send them in?" she asked looking back to her notebook.

There wasn't much more to the room than at first glance, it was definitely some sort of workshop, his own? Various working machines were scattered amongst the broken one's. They seemed familiar, perhaps his own creations.

"Yes, do that," Xemmomt nodded absently as he walked over to inspect one of his creations, searching desperately to remember...

The woman left the room quickly, leaving Xemmomt alone. The machine was a strange one, with multiple pumps pistoning at once and no immeadiatly aparent function. What did he do here? Could it be that-



"Daddy! Daddy!" came the cry from behind him as he turned to see a small girl running towards him arms out stretched. But no sooner had she reached him when there was a loud rushing wind, knocking Xemmomt off his feet.


"Dyqu! Dyqu!" when he opened his eyes again he was back in the graveyard, being shaken by Xyg as she wailed pitifully.

"No...," the ghoul's eyes widened as he was forced back to the reality he did not want to face, "No, I was... there!"

Standing abruptly, Xemmomt looked to the girl with a stoic expression, "Kid, we gotta find where you belong. I've got a feeling you don't want to go where I'll have to."

Xyg looked up at Xemmomt for a moment, before grabbing on tight to his pant leg and shaking her head violently, "MI! MI! MI! XEMMOMT!" she wailed at the top of her lungs, "Xyg supl!" she said, quieter now, her voice muffled as she buried her face in Xemmomt's pants.

Wincing at the blatant show of loyalty, which was clear in any language, Xemmomt sighed heavily as he hefted the girl like a sack of potatoes onto his shoulder, "Fine fine, but if you're gonna stay you're gonna work. We've gotta figure out who I am. Somebody might come looking for us."

Xyg squealed in delight, clapping her hands gleefully as her tail switched in Xemmomt's face. Perhaps Xyg would prove useful, she had already led him to his first meal, not to mention his first clue to his exhistance. A living companion might not have been the smartest move for a graveborn... but help like her's was hard to find.

EXP:
Fine Dining (Not eating Xyg) 100
OVERKILL (Unknown man) 500
Dream Sequence (Regaining a mermory) 200
You've got a friend in me (Befriending Xyg) 300
Total Exp: 1100/2400