Can you Embalm a Reptile?

Knitting is harder than it looks

Then you go over...under...over- no, you have to-
The embalmer rolled his eyes as he untangled the last part.

He just got lost in his thoughts so easily that even after learning the basic steps he messed them up every now and then.
"Don't worry, you are doing just great!" Emma said with a bright smile as she just wrapped up another finished sweater.

"I just- who would want to wear a messy scarf with holes in it?..." Aesop frowned, making the gardener chuckle a little.
"It's the thought that counts~" She reassured him before she picked out another set of yarn.

It's the thought...
He looked down at his scarf. He had almost reached 3/5 at that point, and the more he proceeded the smoother it looked, yet, there were still visible mistakes.

He was just glad that Emma was taking care of the hunter's sweater... He managed to give her some vague measurements based on his arm length and the ability to hug him because he couldn't just walk up to Luchino with a measuring tape and be obvious about it.

Apparently that was enough for the gardener to work with. She also said she would use the elastic yarn so it wouldn't be too tight on the hunter like all his other clothes seemed to be.
Despite his initial idea of an all-black look though, Emma managed to convince him to add some greys and whites in an unsymmetrical stripe pattern.

But yes, the scarf was already enough work for him and he would just be happy if he managed to make something presentable.

~

Pets... Pets...
The reptilian browsed through the catalog.
He had enough echoes, barely enough but still.

And there it was, the Shiba Inu. Sitting around 900 echoes.
Now, he just had to be sure he wrote down the correct article number on the paper and get it into the box as soon as possible.

The dog had to be here before Christmas after all.

And indeed, it did. The box was there a day after he sent the letter.

He just wasn't the one to find it.
Robbie was.

Having been up earlier than the reptilian and having found the moving box in front of the scholar's room.

And of course, a kid who finds a puppy will go and play with it.

Luchino found them in the living room, the boy giggling excitedly as he played hide and seek with the little dog which ran after him while wagging its tail.

Maybe he should get Robbie a puppy of his own... Actually, maybe the boy could use a little friend. But this one was Aesop's.

And surprisingly, the boy understood that. But he was still allowed to play with the dog while he stayed over at the hunter's side under the promise of not spoiling the gift to any of the survivors.

But Luchino knew he had to get some more echoes together. Robbie needed a new friend~

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-

They both tumbled for a while when Luchino fell from the sky, the hunter now ending up on top of the survivor as they both tried to catch their breath.

"Hello there..." the reptilian chuckled as he looked at the downed survivor underneath him.

"H-hey..." Aesop said, sounding a little pained.

It was a 8vs2, they were down to two ciphers and there were still four survivors left...

"You got your coffin up?" the hunter asked, making the survivor nod a little.

Then, a cipher clicked. One more.

"Close to the exit?" Luchino asked, now another nod coming from the survivor.

"Hmm, I should find you a chair then~..." he said before he picked up the limp survivor and tied him to the balloons.
Surprisingly though the hunter took his sweet time locating a chair, ignoring the communicator messages as he waited for the last cipher to pop.

And there it was, just on queue ~

With that, he placed the Embalmer onto the rocket chair, hoping the other hunter wouldn't be close to the coffin...

-
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"You know you didn't have to do that," Aesop said as he placed down the tray, the reptilian just shrugging in response.

"I don't know what you're talking about..." Luchino said as he sat back in his chair, with a thank you accepting the cup of coffee the survivor had brought for him.

"You gave me a tie, on purpose. You can't just sabotage another hunter like that." The embalmer said, being quite serious about it as he now too sat down across from him.
"A tie means enough points for everyone...besides, Jack has more than enough victories." He shrugged again before he took a sip of the warm brew.

"You still shouldn't do that," Aesop said, now sipping his tea.

They both fell silent for a moment, the embalmer's gaze falling to the window as he just observed the snow falling outside.
The manor was surrounded by a thick layer of white at that point, the garden almost unusable and making smoking even more of a pain than it already was...

"It's quite beautiful, isn't it?..." Aesop asked while still looking outside quite absentmindedly, not noticing the hunter had his gaze set on him instead of the window.

"Hm...beautiful indeed..." Luchino agreed with a soft smile~