riverview | 3 [@necromantica: video] (WARNING: blood and gore)

Hello everyone! I hate to bother, but I thought I might share some exciting news with you all.

[This is a blatant lie, as everyone who's met her knows - she loves to bother. But that's not the point.]

First of all - I took the time to talk to a doctor about my child, and everything seems to be fine with her. It's a girl! I haven't thought of a name for her yet, but perhaps some of you have suggestions. A family name didn't seem appropriate seeing as... I have no intention to see my family again, nor bring any of them here.

[With the obvious exceptions, she guesses.]

Second thing... Here, Walter, come in here.

[She pulls a dead body into the camera view with her - a certain zombie-killing sheriff might recognize him from a certain zombie-related misunderstanding. Since then his bones have been bleached clean (mostly), and his head glued back together to the best of her abilities (it's missing a few pieces), and she's even done her best to clean the clothes she found him in. They're torn and bloodstained but... she thinks it gives him character.

Those living on floor one may take issue with the smell that came from her amateur attempt at cleaning the corpse... the bathroom on their level may or may not have suffered a lot of damage from her efforts. Aside from the bathtub being dyed pink from her filling it with chemicals she has a very approximate knowledge of and a dead body, there are bloodstains that she didn't know how to clean up, as well as some leftover gore that she failed to throw away. (Exact levels are up to player comfort.)]

This is Walter! [She seems perfectly happy to refer to him as though he's a living person, and has propped him up so he can sit next to her while she continues to speak. She even picked his hand up to make him wave when she introduced him.] I found him outside of the perimeter while everyone was handling those monsters... and we ran into a bit of trouble, but I was able to get him back to the communal hall in one piece. Mostly.

Now, it's been brought to my attention that some people come from worlds where necromancers don't exist or are frowned upon. I'd like to assure everyone that while I am a necromancer, my magic is only used for good. It can be extremely dangerous, but I've become very attached to many people I met here so I'm taking extra precautions not to take any risks with it. And, well, I very much like to stay alive as well. So there is that.

For those of you from worlds that don't have necromancy, I suppose the easiest explanation is that I can speak to the dead. I can make them move too, but not both at the same time and I thought it might be better to talk to Walter rather than- yes yes, I'm getting to it. I told you I would.

[She's addressing Walter, who has not made a single noise as far as anyone else will be able to tell. She clears her throat.]

I made this.. video.. [still a weird word] to give people the chance to ask me anything they might need to know about necromancy and the dead and... Walter agreed to answer questions about himself as well - seeing as he is a native of the Quarantine, he can give us more information about it and what's outside of it. [She may or may not have bullied him into it, but Walter can't communicate with non-necromancers, so he can't exactly ask for help.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, so you didn't play pranks because you're friends with your maids, you did it because you could. And because you have nothing else to do.

*Lola managed to cut off her anger with pity. This girl was like a character from that movie, only the version with the zombies instead of the version Lola actually liked.*

If you think my make-up is surprising, you would have a heart attack from everything else in my life. I like how I look, I like spending time on myself. Most of all, I like me. Even when everyone else calls me names.

[She thinks it over a minute before replying.]

Your makeup suits you, at least. You do certainly make an impression - it would be hard to miss you in a crowd. [She's trying to say nice things, okay.] How do you even make your hair that color?

Thank you.

*She likes praise. Even if it feels like she's trying a bit hard to offset her words.*

At home I have a stylist who I trust with coloring my hair. Then I take care when I wash it, silk pillowcases, little things to help protect the dye to keep it bright for longer. Like how you protect clothes in the wash.

I'd never cleaned clothes before I came here... it took some getting used to.

[There's a hint of embarrassment in her voice as she admits it.]

Still, the world you live in must be nice. My family would be mortified if I tried to make my hair anything but black.

I've been doing my own laundry since... I was eleven? I do it better than Dad ever did.

*Lola's painfully mundane, but they are useful life skills.*

It's okay, it isn't perfect and things are messed up but they usually work out. Dad wasn't super thrilled the first time I dyed my hair, but he came around because I really wanted it. He's such a guy about fashion stuff.

[That gets a vaguely confused little laugh out of her.]

'Such a guy'? What does that mean?

Ummm... guys don't have to really worry as much about looking good. They can wear just about anything, and so long as they bathe regularly and brush their hair they get away with it.

*Some guys had style, but they didn't really have fashion.*

I'll take it your world doesn't have many men like my husband, then. On most days he wears more lace than I do - and his hair is longer too.

[To be fair, Aristeo is gaudy by her world's standards too... but it's a charming level of gaudy.]

I think you'd like him, though, if you met. He loves to make himself look exotic.

Most men that want to look, um, exotic. Usually are more interested in spending time with other men than with women. Or like men as much as women. At least in my world.

*Lola's last romantic entanglement was with a boy who had a boyfriend. Lola makes terrible choices do not be Lola.*

I like most people, if they're nice to me.

What are you- oh. Oh.

[oh.]

Well.. I honestly couldn't tell you, one way or the other. He doesn't seem to care much for men or women, as long as they're alive. Must more interested in the dead.

[Which she just realized sounds terrible but.. who is she kidding, he's brought bones into bed so many times it's embarrassing.]

...Yeah, that's gross and unhygienic and illegal.

*Dead people do not normally give consent, and also they are dead. Leave the dead alone.*

He liked you enough to, you know. And you are pretty so I can see why. But if your guy spends more time on his hair than you do on yours, it is generally a bad sign.

[She glances around as if someone might overhear her, but who is she kidding, she's a huge gossip. And Walter is currently regretting agreeing to her dragging him out of the wilderness.]

Well, he was never much good in bed, but he did manage to sire a child. Deep down there must be some interest in women.

That's unfortunate, I really wish there was better ways for boys to learn what they were doing. I got really lucky in that regard.

*Barring the pregnancy and... well, everything that happened after. But the event itself was definitely in the win column.*

Pregnancies are a lot easier than enjoyment.

I suppose so... but there's no room for learning when one is required to have no experience.

[Like honestly, she may not know any other way but there has to be SOME better option than paring virgins together and expecting a livable marriage to happen.]

Still, life is what it is.

Well, there are books on the subject. They help.

*Personal experience.*

I guess I'm lucky I'm in a world where you don't have to be inexperienced when you find the right person.

Your world must be much more advanced than mine... I hate to admit it, but it does sound much better than Thornwell.

[But also, a lot of things do. The fact that she's been living in a world without stickers and hot showers is honestly astounding to her in retrospect.]

It has its problems, there's all this stuff... that we're supposed to know. But if you know it, you get judged for it. Because you're suppose to know it, and do it, but if people know you do it then you're wrong.

*Just teenage things.*

That sounds awfully confusing... why would you be forced into holding secrets like that?

[She says, mostly because she has no shame. She's kind of a huge gossip, even about her own misdeeds.]

Our elders are very clear about what we can and can't do... it's just that some of those things don't quite make sense if you're human and make mistakes.

I don't know, that's just how it is. It is because it always has been, I guess. It doesn't really change, does it?

*Lola found society like walking through a minefield without any flags. She could mimic what she saw but it was still more than likely to blow up in her face.*

We all get to screw up, the only good thing is that someone else screws up and everyone forgets. At least that's how it works for me.

My family very rarely forgets our mistakes... they're the difference between granting you a spot as an elder or dooming you to lose the family name. I made mistakes when I was sixteen that dictated the rest of my life.

...Though, I suppose it ended shortly after, so it still didn't affect much.

3 [@necromantica: video] (WARNING: blood and gore)

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