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Despite the fact that Mollymauk never wanted anything to do with whoever he was before--Lucien, Nonagon, or whatever his real name was supposed to be--he did still find himself wondering about what might have happened to him. After all, it was not every day that one had to literally claw their way out of their own grave. So while he did not have a desire to dig too much into his past, Mollymauk did have a bit of an odd fascination with death. When he thought he could get away from the rest of the Mighty Nein for an hour or two, he liked to visit the nearest graveyard.
Sometimes, he would wander through the rows of headstones, taking note of interesting names, wondering about the people that had come and gone. More times than not, however, Mollymauk would find somewhere he could just sit and think. On the rare occasion he needed a moment alone, he found solace in the general quiet air that always seemed to hover over such burial places. He’d become so used to making these visits alone that it surprised him the first time when Caduceus wondered about joining him.
“You want to do what now?” Mollymauk asked, pausing at the top of the stairs as he turned back towards the firbolg standing in the doorway just down the hall.
“I decided I wanted to join you today,” Caduceus replied in his usual even baritone, offering the tiefling a gentle smile.
“Well, I suppose I have no reason to say you can’t,” Molly relented.
“Wonderful. I’ll meet you downstairs in just a moment.”
“Right,” Molly replied and headed down the stairs.
Not long after, the two headed off down the street. Though they did receive the occasional odd look--the current town they were staying in was a smaller one, so it was very likely that few of the residents had seen a tiefling before, much less a firbolg--but they otherwise traveled in relative silence. When they reached their destination, Caduceus took in a deep, deep breath before he released it in a slow exhale. He looked absolutely content.
“This is nice. This feels like home,” he said quietly, though it seemed more like an offhand comment to himself more than an attempt at conversation.
Molly replied anyway. “You haven’t done much traveling, right?”
“No, I haven’t,” Caduceus acknowledged with a half-nod. “These past couple of weeks have been… interesting, to say the least.”
“Especially with our lot, I’m sure,” Molly quipped.
“Why do you say that?”
Molly paused at that. “Well… We are quite a colorful cast of characters, wouldn’t you say? And perhaps, in any other circumstances, none of us may have never met.”
Caduceus nodded a little bit. “Yes, I suppose that is true.” His lips quirked into the faintest smile. “Life sure is funny that way.”
Molly flashed him a wide, toothy grin in response. “Too true.”
They picked their way through the gravestones and markers, falling into an easy silence that neither felt the need to fill, and eventually found a weathered stone bench to sit on. Caduceus took a moment to examine the moss and lichen creeping up its side before he actually took a seat, letting out a long sigh as he settled down. Molly leaned back, planting his hands on the stone surface to support his weight and tilted his gaze towards the sky.
“...You know, I don’t think I ever probably thanked you for helping us before,” Molly eventually said, tilting his head a bit to look at Caduceus.
“It was the least I could do,” Caduceus replied. “Especially with how distraught the others looked when they arrived at my door.”
“Hmm…” Molly mused, looking back up at the sky. “They… don’t talk about it very much. I suppose I didn’t fully realize just how much they cared.”
“They care a great deal,” Caduceus assured him. “Though I do suppose you all have odd ways of showing it to each other.”
Molly snorted a little at that. “Yeah, that’s true. But I guess that’s why I like them all so much. They remind me of the circus.” After a long pause, he added in a soft voice, “I sometimes wonder what might have happened if I hadn’t made it.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah… When I woke up after whatever ritual put me in the grave the first time, I didn’t have anyone waiting for me. I was alone.”
“I have no doubt in my mind that they would have remembered you.”
“You think?”
Caduceus smiled. “I do. I think it’s just in our nature to remember those that have passed. No matter where you go, you always find evidence of people memorializing their dead, whether it’s a local graveyard or a personal memento of those that have passed. It’s especially true when the individual being remembered had a larger impact on those that are left behind. And you, Mollymauk Tealeaf, have definitely made an impact on the rest of our friends.”
Molly laughed a bit, cheeks warming a little at the unexpected praise. “Well, I certainly try my best.”
“I know you try to make the places you visit better than you left it. And I think you do the same for people.”
Molly laughed again. “If I didn’t know any better, I would say you were trying to flirt with me!”
Caduceus blinked a bit. “Uh…”
Molly grinned and gently elbowed Caduceus in the side. “It’s a joke! You don’t need to look so taken aback.”
“O-oh.”
Molly chuckled a bit more before he sighed and settled back again, turning his gaze once more to the sky. “Still… Thank you for saying that, Mr. Clay.”
“It was my pleasure, Mr. Tealeaf.”