Various little blurbs about Kochev

Marvek decided to spend some of his time reacquainting with the city, and to teach Sasha to stop harassing Finn and Peacock. He managed to get her to at least stop carrying them around like a whelp and she stopped trying to groom them, although she did start attempting to teach them how to hunt to no avail. Another thing he chose to do was to finally talk to his brother again, even if Kochev had demanded to not be visited without prior notice Marvek didn't particularly care. He was too cooped up in that shack in his opinion and he knew that wouldn't be healthy, especially for someone as unstable as Kochev. At least Kochev seemed very unstable from what he had seen so far. He decided he wasn't going to push further on why he hadn't said anything earlier when Kochev suddenly stated that he did remember him, nor was he going to push the topic of the orbs, that wasn't really of importance at the moment.

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It was only a week in when Marvek suddenly barged in through the front door of Kochev's druid shack- now even more overgrown than when it was first created, and the distinct metallic scent of blood was abundant. He would've been worried in any other case, but seeing as he saw Kochev safe and sound at his desk he decided this was probably something intentional. Kochev turned to him, staring daggers into his soul for a moment before closing his eyes and taking a moment to collect himself. 

"What do you want, Marvek.", Kochev asked, clearly annoyed. "I'm quite busy as you can see.", He gestured at what seemed to be a temporary pot of soil and a few vials of blood. The blood had a slight, unnatural cyan hue to it, as if it were tainted by some disease. Then again that wasn't that far off. His hand was bandaged, presumably because he was cutting into his palm to get the blood out.

"Well, I wanted to come and see if you're doing alright and seeing as I haven't properly spoken to you in about... 12 years or so I can't tell if this is normal for you or not.", Marvek said as he closed the door. He avoided stepping on any flowers and found himself a small table to lean on for the moment. "Since you know- I'm your brother and all that and even if we haven't talked in a long time or even seen eachother I still quite care about your wellbeing.", He added. Kochev turned back to his workstation and continued on "tinkering" with various parts of plants, his blood, and magic. The parasite was resting on the table, trying to take in any blood that may have been spilled on accident.

"You came in at a bad time, Marvek. I'm busy.", Kochev coldly stated. Marvek sighed. "It was always a bad time for you when anyone came to talk to you." Marvek said. "I don't quite know what they did to you back home. And you don't have to tell me how or why you forgot me, I don't really care about that anymore." He said. "Just know that I'm here for you. Even if we've grown apart." He said, lifting himself up and onto the table to sit on it. 

His words caused Kochev to take a deep breath as he moved his chair back, looking up at the ceiling. "I don't really know what to say to you. I remember specifically avoiding you because of the headache you gave me. I remember being your younger brother. But who I was when I was younger is.. Is dead." Kochev said. "I don't know you that well anymore. What I see and hear is a criminal who went places where he shouldn't have, and somehow got out of the realms." Kochev told him, looking back at him. Marvek gave a sad smile and nodded. "I get it, you went through a lot at such a young age and you're a wholly different person now." He said, staying quiet for a few seconds before smiling and continuing. "The grumpiness is at least still the same as in the past." He said, grinning a little. He managed to get a small chuckle for Kochev who shook his head. "Yeah and you're still collecting animals. I don't think you can keep kobolds as pets though." Kochev said, poking back at him. He was leaning his chair back to keep himself moving, he was nervous. Marvek had to chuckle at the statement.

They spoke to eachother in a calm manner for a while, poking at eachother and remembering their childhood. They both deemed that while Marvek was mostly the same, just more depressed, Kochev had changed a lot. He wasn't a small little rascal that would mess with people he didn't like anymore. At some point Kochev started speaking of the things he had done on this adventure so far. Letting his weird blobby teammate die, Murdering some old guy in cold (hah) blood, receiving the soul stone, the world being torn apart, and of course the controversial story of how he sold a child.  Marvek hadn't decided if he fully believed Kochev's side but he decided not to press on it further. After that Marvek decided to share his much less eventful adventures- mostly with the rebel group. 

"...And so to avoid having my mind being scraped for information about the rebellion- I threw myself off the bridge into the void." Marvek said in a very casual tone. Kochev stared at him for a long time in what seemed to be shock. "How the fuck did you even get out of there?" Kochev asked in disbelief. "Im not sure. It involved.. some kind of bird I think? Im pretty sure I met some non-realms god that scooped me up but its been a few years." Marvek said, causing Kochev to raise his brow "So what you spent five years here?" He asked. "Oh no no no- I spent three years in what was essentially a cult disguised as a bard college where I learned how to make music that kills people." Marvek bluntly said in a humorous tone. Kochev had to grin a little. "And then I got kicked out for not being very into the cult. And they kicked me out *good* because THEN i ended up here. I've been here for two years now." He said. "And now I'm in an underdark gang against my will but eh- what can you do y'know? Thats just how it be sometimes." He said as he shrugged. Kochev smiled a little and nodded. "So you first tried cults and then decided gangs were more like your thing." He said, grinning. Marvek gave him a tired look. "Well, you know, I thought maybe I'd try joining a group against my will like my little brother did eh?" He said, grinning back at him, before promptly being whacked by a vine that slinked down from the ceiling. "Ow- That's rude." Marvek complained, moving the vine away from his face.

"So- now that we've caught up, what the hell are you even doing with that plant?" He asked as he stood up and walked over to Kochev's desk to get a closer look. As he leaned on the desk, the parasite crawled its way over to his hand and settled on it. Both Marvek and Kochev stared at it. "Should I be worried about this?" He asked, not sounding worried at all. "Only if you suddenly feel a sting- then it's trying to eat you." Kochev told him with a small grin. "Anyways- I guess... I can tell you. If you make sure your marionette friend isn't watching." He said, waiting for Marvek to have asked Teppup for some privacy for once. He seemed Skeptical when he said he was gone, but what could they do really. He took a deep breath and seemed to think for a moment, gently pulling the parasite off of Marvek's hand and letting it curl around his own wrist. He winced for a moment as it chose to bite into him, apparently it was hungry. "Marvek, you know of the forest obviously." He said. Marvek nodded. "You used to ramble about it all the time and I just accepted that you were a weird kid." He commented. Kochev sighed. "Yeah, weird kid, whatever. Anyways, to continue, when your puppet pal-" He said, emphasizing on 'puppet pal' to signify he was pretty sure he was still listening, "-Attacked us for what's mine, the parasite and I acted together out of the sheer rush of adrenaline. It attached itself to me and fueled me with magic." He explained, tapping the place where the parasite had latched onto with his hand. The scarring from the sudden removal was still visible. Marvek didn't comment on it, assuming it was probably something he'd rather not speak about. "It unified us. I was one with it and it was one with me, and we had one goal together and we both agreed we would do anything to reach that goal. It was in the benefit of us both, and in the long run the rest of the forest." He slowly continued, smiling a little as he spoke. He slowly turned his head to look at Marvek, the parasite finishing its drink as it clambered up and settled on Kochev's neck where it now belonged.

"It felt like home. It felt safe. Because for once in these many, many weeks I got to feel how it was to be with the rest again. I took them for granted, I didn't realize how much their voices kept me company. And I miss them. Marvek, you may be my brother but unlike them you haven't been present for my entire life. You can understand how I see them as my true family, right?" He continued, his voice letting through a strong emotion other than anger and annoyance- He was passionate about this. Marvek looked a bit lost, he wasn't sure what to say, but he nodded without saying a word. Kochev smiled a little at that, looking relieved. "Then you would understand that being cut off from them and their voices hurts me a lot. Because of that, I thought I could just... I could try and create a second forest- here in this world. Even if it might be small and much weaker compared to home, it would be some company. Some voices to hear and speak to. To feel some kind of unity again." He rambled on. "So far I haven't managed to replicate a plant from the forest at all- but I'm getting closer. I think so at least." He finished.

Marvek kept quiet for quite some time before nodding. "I can't say if that's a good or bad idea, but if it makes you happy then I say keep trying." He told him. "Just know I'm willing to help you. I might not be some funky magic plants that can talk to you through your mind, but I sure as hell am a sturdy human that can and will do whatever he can to help out family." Marvek said, before suddenly ruffling Kochev's hair and receiving a very annoyed "HEY!" from him. "Now stop being creepy with the blood and all of that and eat something before I force you to eat- Clearly you haven't taken care of yourself." Marvek immediately scolded him. Kochev looked annoyed. "I've eaten some goodberries, I'll be fine." He said, receiving a very stern look from Marvek. "Not good enough. This is why you're so short- you don't eat. I'm going to make lunch right now you just sit tight with your weird plantfriend.", and with that, Marvek was off to collect some basic ingredients to make lunch against Kochev's will.