The stench of death hung heavy over the enterance into the graveyard. Tilled soil, cold breeze, and a disturbing mixture of antiseptic and infection. But today, or rather, tonight at least, there was a new scent about it! The scent of food, halfway decently made by numb fingers and dull senses. A spark of fire dancing in a pit of a shallow grave, made into an impromptu campfire of sorts, lit the ground well enough to see the assembled. A dozen or so shambling corpses, decayed and rotting even as they stood, holding in jarring contrast paper plates and red cups. A few more... whole ladies and gentlemen scirted the edge of the firepit, smiling with teeth too sharp and eyes too gleaming, their own cups a bit fuller. A moment of life and vibrance for the damned and the dead, the sounds of gurgling laughter and garbled speech flowed out from the congregation, enticing in only the barest sense of the word.

And at the gate, a duo stood ready to greet those whom came. A short, busty lass with a face like molten wax danced about, offering a smile and wave to the newcomes. "Well Hiya 'all! I'm Rita, and welcome to our-" A pause, the lass pushing her cheek back up, "-latest Graveyard bonanza! Feel free to have some of the party mix and punch! Made it-" Stubborn eye, stay in there! "-Ourselves!"

Quickly asuaging worries, her companion, a figure wrapped head to toe in old bandages, held up their hands. "And by that, she means we made it, and kept her as far away as possible. Wouldn't want a repeat of the last time, would we?" Rita simply grumbled and crossed the remains of her arms. "... No Steve..."

Wurtzite enters the graveyard warily, not quite comfortable with the reminders of the world that once was and the grim spectre of mortality looming over every single soul during those times, and the smell, in spite of the poetic nature, (or at least, it's interesting nature) of her other grievence with the graveyard, it could not compare to the smell. The smell is inescapable, the same as a badly festering wounds, it's really enough to make the fox wish that she had a defective nose.

It was not, after all, a joy when the antiseptic smell of a hospital was the more welcome one. Wurtzite smiles at the two greeters and approaches them, attempting to preserve whatever veneer of politeness might exist in defiance of the constant barrage on her senses, "Thanks for the invitation."

Shi excuses herself and goes off to find the punch.

A familiar partially robotic kitsune walks into the graveyard. In contrast to some others, she feels even perhaps a little bit relieved to greet the undead looking citizens. Thankfully, thanks to one of Zephyr's surgeries, she doesn't need to breathe, making it quite easier on her in regards to the smell, she did however breathe it in once and heartfeltly regretted it. Naiko bowed to the two greeters, softly adding in a synthetic pitched tone, "Thank you for all this hospitality. I do believe I'm hardly ever invited to a friendly meal!"

Sensuen walks into the graveyard with the others, looking around to all of the people who look like they've been quite dead. Sen just waves respectfully to the zombie greeter. The zombies somewhat remind the sea angel of the ghouls from Fallout 2, the smells of course, while not that great to smell, are somewhat bareable to Sen. The putrescene doesn't smell all that bad to the sea angel, it reminds her of the flytraps she used to make before p-day happened. The sea angel has come here looking for things before, sex and infection vials mostly, but now she goes to the graves looking for a party? She'll just have to see how this goes.

Clef wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this.

  Maybe he thought it was a costume party or something, or that people wouldn't be as... well, undead as they turned out to be. More likely, he just hadn't yet become entirely accustomed to the strange reality in which he lived, a reality that not too long ago just existed on pages of books and screens of televisions. For Clef, at least.

"Uhh... h-hi," greeted the half-dragon, half-otter at the gate, hesitating for a moment before extending a hand of greeting towards Rita. "Thanks for the, um, invitation," he said, trying to ignore the putrid stench and visibly failing. He gave a quick sweep of his eyes across the area, figuring he'd locate the least decomposed of the bunch first and go from there.

Rita gave a bright grin bact to Naiko as she passed by them, only partially diminished by the fact she missed the left half of her lower jaw. "Aww, thanks for showing up! Hard to get visitors up here. Seems even with lower land prices, people aren't keen on renting gravelots!" She spent a moment trying to set her cheeks in order, keeping that bubbly grin from falling off, quite literally. "As for having a friendly meal, we're glad to be able to offer some! Hard to round up some food here about. Even with the mind stable, still struggle to buy food. But Please! Help yourselves!"

An uneven shrug was given as the other vulpine walked off, a long table set off to the side. A bowl of pretzles and please-let-those-be-gummi worms was set up, a few plates of stale chips, and some cookies were set up. By it, a vat was stirred with a simple ladel, a sickeningly sweet and thick punch slowly being drawn up by a well dressed gentlemen... wearing a face mask. A small glass was drawn up and handed across to Wurtzite. "Cu-h it wiff some wa-er, 'eps keep i-h down." Numb lips, if lips there were, were hidden away, a thumb left at the bone jerked to a smaller bowl of almost clear water. Almost.

Steve though, the bandaged lad, swept what could only hope to be his gaze over the two who seemed... uncertain to enter further in. A dry and dusty chuckle fell from him as he raised a hand to the dragon... otter... creature. "Not a problem at all young sir! Come, come, I think... Hmm, Rupert might help pull the edge off for you." And with a wave of his hand... hopefully, he gestured them further in, down closer to the edge of that burning pit. Heavens to Bettsy, they cleaned it first, right? The scent, burning flesh and putrid remains, seemed to signify that was not the case. Waste not want not, and without trees about... But they led them past that, a rather tall lad with all his teeth looked back to the pair with a dizzying grin. Even without skin on his belly, his presence was fpalpable, uh, felt. "Well Goooood Evening there! Seem's we've got a pair of fresh faces around here! Rare that is, and rarer still they're still smiling!" Stepping forward as Steve swept back, he gripped Sensuen's hand in his own, a demented jangling occuring as they shook said hand. "How'dy do-edo-edo! Take it Rita managed to send out the invites this time, huh? Seem's she finally Muscled up the courage for it! Hehehehe, But in all seriousness, she's got my 'eart for doing that. I'll 'ave to ask the pharoh for help on that. But for you two! How's ya doing?"

Wurtzite takes the glass uneasily, "Thanks you."

She takes a sip, surprised that anyone had ever procured this much sugar and wasted it ruining a drink. With some more trepidation, she applies some 'clean' water to it, praying silently that the nanites will do their damned jobs and keep her safe regardless of the obvious 'cleanliness' of the water.

She takes a sip and finds it more appealing, if a bit ... gritty, and turns back to the person who gave it to her in the first place, "Thanks for the advice."

Naiko does walk further in, of course. It would be impolite to ignore all the hard work these people went through to serve them their.. Traditional.. Recipes? Nevertheless, the robotic kemonomimi kitsune also greeted Rupert. "Good Ev-" Her head tilted a little to the side and her pitch abruptly changed up and back down, seemingly glitching. "-Ening to you too. Pardon me, those tend to happen more often than not." There was something about this gathering that made her feel.. Unusually comfortable. Perhaps a little hesitant sometimes, but curiously comfortable. She moved on to the punch after waving towards some other attendees, inspecting it before pouring herself a glass of the punch and taking a sip of it.

Sensuen looks to the less appearantly rotten person and shakes his hand when he takes her own in his. Sen thinks a bit as she wonders where they're going, though the smell of the food could probably be improved if Sen brought some smoked salmon from the sea. Pitty she didn't weave a fishing net for the occasion, but that's how surprises go. Sen is a bit nervous and hypervigilant as they're led somewhere else, but there may not be much cause for worry in the sea angel.

Clef took Steve's hand with just about the minimum amount of pressure required to consider it a handshake, and nothing more, for fear of pulling the guy's hand off - or perhaps worse, grasping empty, floating bandages. He let the greeting gesture fall away as the outgoing fellow turned back in towards the graveyard, giving an uneasy glance towards Sensuen before following behind Steve. As they came to the edge of the burning pit, Clef couldn't help himself but to glance over it a little bit, and was thus met with a faceful of burning, rotting meat fragrance. He nearly vomited right there on the ground, but stopped himself, a hand rising to his face - that would be terribly rude, now wouldn't it? As Clef's hand came away from his stubby snout, his nose came with it, detached in an effort to block out the smell - though he frowned and gagged again as he remembered the nanomagic still allowed the organ to function. "H-hello," he greeted towards Rupert, giving some facsimile of a smile. Given that his nose was still clutched in his hand, his voice came out comically pinched and distorted. "Nice of her to do it," he continued, reaching up to reattach his little black nose afterwards. "I'm, um... fine, I guess, just trying to... adjust...? Wow, this place is crazy..."

The lad behind the punchbowl simply nodded to Wurtzite, an unpleasantly wet laugh given. "Ol Ri'ha loiks 'ha pu'h more sugah in i'h. See'n 'ow 'ombies can drin'k 'it fine, no ma''er, Ri'ha loiks 'ah see when 'eh vamps won't drink 'ih anymore." He gave a wink back, "I's an ol' game of e'rs. Ne'er seen 'em back down. Keeps 'ih in'eresting." Rupert on the other hand, simply waved a warm greeting back to Naiko as they stepped further in, a chattering laugh given at the... hickup of vocal performance. "Ah, not to worry about that marm! Half the stuff we have now doesn't work like it should anymore, or just doesn't work at all! Ya'r in good company there." He shot a bright grin back to Naiko as they shuffled on over a few feet, plopping himself down on a gravestone. As for the drink said robotic kitsune drank... it was as sugary as a salt lamp is salty. Enough water in there to carry it without sloshing, and with a hint of cherry buried deep under that flavoring. The lad behind the bowl simply pointed a finger back to her, a small nod given. "'ess a brave one, 'e is." Off by the gravestones, Steve settled down, a slow dusty sigh falling from where lips should be. "Crazy? Hon, we're the sane ones here. Crazy's further on in, blocked off by gates right now. This little entorage? Heh, we're the ones with half a mind left to give." Rupert seemed to perk up at the phrase, snapping his fingerbones back at Clef and Sensuen, "Ey, and he's right about that mind thing! Between the lot of us, got about two minds to spare! Not accounting for what fell out 'our ears! Heheh..." Can rags roll their eyes? Maybe not, but Steve would be damned if he wasn't trying. "Ah hah. Very funny. You kill me. But, on to the point, seemed that you two were stiff. Rupert may as well be hung up as a scarecrow for his corny jokes, but usually helps with that respect." Said bony lad shook his head, "Bah! Leave corn for the foxy ones. Just as you should leave the rigor mortis for the dead 'ones up here! Heheh... Still, glad that ya took time out tah see us! Speaking of see us... Might grab some help out here one of these days. These ol' bones aren't up to what they used to, ya know?"

"Huh." Wurtzite says, her interest piqued, "So Rita likes to keep some competition going with the vampires then?" She taps her snout, thinking for a moment, "I don't suppose that you have any idea why?"

The robotic fox reacted.. Poorly to the punch, watering it down the instant she took a sip of it. To her, it seems that it felt like 'drinking' a block of raw sugar. "Gods, it sure keeps it interesting but I'm definitely not ready for this the way it is." She chuckles. "Like our other vulpine friend here, I'd certainly like to know more about this.. Competition!" Eventually, Naiko turned back towards Steve and the others as she picked up on their conversation. Now, taking a sip of the -watered down- version of the punch because she was a lightw- Ahem, not adapted to the punch, she asked. "Well, it wouldn't be kind of us not to listen. Grabbing some help with what? Have you been having problems with a bunch of bad apples like The Order or anything like that 'round here?" Her ears twitched a little bit, just as her tails gently swished, demonstrating her curiosity.

Sensuen thinks those gravestones might be rather good for shafting if she could dig her own house somewhere near here, maybe not 'in' the graveyard however, the smell would be something to get used to, but Sen is partly there already. The sea angel htinks the problem might be about food as she says. "I've yet to taste the water, but, I remember that I have a daughter who likes to cook, maybe she can give you recipies that are more palatable, if it matters all that much."

"N-no, no, I didn't mean-" Clef shook his hands and head a bit in defense, not meaning anything by the comment. "It's just, um... it's quite..." He was about to say 'unusual', but in the day and age of nanites, it really wasn't! He gave a little shrug instead, glancing down towards the ground. His head perked up again as Steve began talking, trying to show a polite smile - the hospitality truly was heartwarming, but the stench made showing his hospitality a little more difficult for him. "W-well, uh... yeah! Could always, um, use new friends, right...?" he said, chuckling a tiny bit at himself. "I was just kind of around, and, um... o-oh, you all need help?" he suddenly asked, figuring that was a more interesting conversation topic than wherever he was going with that sentence. "What-" he began to ask, but was beaten to the punch by Naiko. "Y-yeah, that."

The lad behind the counter simply shrugged, a glance tossed to the more whole ones across the way, one gagging on said drink. "Vamps go out and gi'h sul-swe-luqu..." He paused, a dizzyingly damp sound coming as he smacked his lips. "Sexy looks. E'r looks are mo're dir'y. Can'n' pick up much f'ower, or food, le' alone lads." He lifted a finger to nudge where his brow would be up, "Som'in about poun'in some'n like salami, 'n no good 'grips that don'n'n slide aroun'." His gaze turned back towards Rita, smirking with a few too few teeth back to the posh one gagging, "Bu' if you ask me... I' say iss jus' da do somfin. Oderwise, is jus' us all, si'in aroun, munchin s'uff we can' 'as'e, and going, "Whoo, we alive-ish."" He shrugged, "Same reason I gar'en, and Ruper' 'ells 'is aweful jokes. I'ss somefin da do."

Over by the edge of the fire pit, Rupert offered a small and sad glance back to Naiko, difficult without much skin on his maw, but an attempt was made. "Naw, nothing like The Order or anything up here. They aren't exactly looking for the Past, but in it." He shot the lass a wink, gesturing back behind him, "Just some easier stuff is all. Helping patrol, maybe getting an actual supply of food out here, filling in some of these graves. Not with bodies, but ya know, earth. Place would be plenty ripe for growing too I bet..." Steve actually nodded to them, a slight finger lifting to point on towards the side, "We mainly just need some help about. Not a threat, but... Well... A grave is no place to really live. But we can't do terrible much to go out. Patrols an all seem to think dead needs to stay here." Rags raised in a shrug. "Fixing it ourselves is slow going, but we can manage. Just... Heh, fresh faces are nice you know? Not everyone was blessed to look... um..." He trailed off, pausing.

A touch long... Before Rupert coughed, "Ah... Um, pardon for him. He's... Ah. Shoot. No easy pun there without being forced." A faint shrug was offered, before he simply nodded to Sensuen. "Yeah, food sounds right nice around now. Some recipes more than what we can remember right now would be kinda nice!"

Wurtzite nods, "I can understand that. We've all got to find meaning, and often enough, meaning is most easily achieved through action." She looks around at the area around her, "Sorry if that's a bit abstract... It's that entertainment is a necessary part of life." She pauses, not sure that the shape of her words are quite right, "You will probably build a nice place out of the graveyard once you have the chance."

"Looks like you need a respirator there, buddy." The robotic kitsune grins towards the water dragon/otter being, giving him a wink. "Hmm.. Cooking however is definitely not my forte." She chuckles towards Sensuen, raising a hand to her cheek and pausing to collect her thoughts. "I'm a little short on available supply due to a rather demanding situation in Fairhaven, but... I could lend you a couple of helper drones and some supplies, even if little. It's not much but it should help y'all make this place a little warmer for you." Naiko takes another sip of the punch, warmly saying, "Plus, we're all good people in here. 't would be kind of impolite not to help."

Sensuen nods more to the undead residents of, presumably, the graves than the party she traveled in with. Sen says, "I'm good at generally making stuff, it wouldn't be that hard to figure out how to make better food. I can spare, hmm," before she takes off her messanger bag and hands sacks of dried meats to her other hand, still under the bag's concealment. Wow, she really can't carry that much huh? Ok then, Sen closes her messanger bag before putting it back on, then taking her comm unit from an outer flap on the bag and wires the order of food to the graveyard, mostly smoked meats, perhaps she'll ask around about materials for woodstoves since her solar cooking efforts went not all that well. That's assuming cooking is even needed here. Sen puts her bag away and says, "Well. You'll be getting a delivery of food from me if you want it. It's a couple of crates that I couldn't fit in this." before she taps her messanger bag lightly to reference it.

Clef gave a small nod, simply listening as Rupert spoke. He could do that - small patrolling jobs, that is, as well as other help. He wasn't exactly ready to fight off anything too threatening, but he could... well, do what he could to help. "I could, um, maybe help you guys out a bit..." he offered, stepping forward slightly. "Wherever you need it. I have a good bit of free time, and I know... a thing or two, I guess." He couldn't help but feel guilty that he didn't have much of his own to offer in material goods, but he could at least put in a bit of manpower towards helping with whatever was needed.

With a spot of food to be shipped back and a lighter air about the place than when they had entered, the grave seemed, for a time, brighter. Warmer, with a touch of life in it. The drinks were terrible, the snacks stale and sour, and the smell aweful. But there was a bit of laughter, a bit of smiles, and a warmth there that had little to do with the corpsefire. For now, there was genuine comfort. Eventually the fire burnt low, and the snacks ran out. A lump of sugar was found in the drinks, and one by one, the undead called it a night, waving the visitors off before returning deeper into the dark.