riverview | 4 [@necromantica: video]

Okay, you'll all have to forgive me for bringing up necromancy again.. I know some people really dislike hearing about it.

[She clears her throat nervously, trying to decide how to word this delicately. You know, for the people who hate necromancers or are afraid of the dead. But... Letha's never been the best with tact.]

I've heard through word of mouth from locals and... Walter... that some manner of people were living outside of the wall, and have since been mysteriously killed off. While I'd like to investigate and I'm... particularly equipped to speak to the dead, I don't trust myself to stay safe on the way there. Particularly considering that my only current forms of protection are a risen and a baby pokemon.

Aside from some proper protection, I'd like to see if anyone has... well, I believe investigative experience would be prudent. Those who were coppers in your home worlds or... at least have solved mysteries before, I'm not picky. It would be nice to have another necromancer around to divide the work of interviewing corpses, but I doubt I'll get that blessing.

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It still feels novel, not having to go light the lamps at night. [So many things are strange and futuristic here, but there isn't much about it he'd complain about.]

We always had cooks and chefs, in the palace. I used to steal pastries as a boy, they'd shoo me out the moment they saw me. [He laughs quietly.] Now I wish I had been able to pick up a few tricks.

Perhaps we can cook together, once we're done with this expedition. The result may not be... edible... but it will give us both some practice.

[Damen's type of humility isn't very familiar to her - the Regis children tend to be brats, and she was one of them - but she finds it endearing in a foreign way. The talk of stealing pastries almost makes her self-conscious about what Regis children consider 'harmless pranks'...

Almost.]

My little brother-in-law has an affinity for mice... he used to hide their skeletons in my maids' pockets while they were cooking. Sometimes lizards, too. After a while they stopped letting him into the kitchen, so I helped pass along a few parting gifts.

[Giles was 12 at the time, but Letha was 17. So she has no excuse.]

Perhaps we can, though frankly I am not certain I will still be allowed in the kitchen by then. My fiance will no doubt get tired of the smell of burning eggs. [Look, he'd heard that eggs were one of the easiest things to cook. It was not so.

His expression is quickly morphing to a frown as she talks about small animal skeletons in pockets.] I... see. My brother and I were never quite that bad, I think. Our father was terrifying when we truly misbehaved. [He's awful at hiding it, but he tries to keep the sad note out of his voice when he talks about his father and brother.]

Perhaps we can try boiling them - then they can't be burnt, at least.

[Hard-boiled eggs are one of the only things she's managed to cook successfully... although she is not partial to them, so in that sense it was still a failure.]

I don't think I'd describe any punishment I'd received as 'terrifying'... [Aside from being forced to marry, but that's her own business.] Do you miss your father? I hadn't even thought of mine for months...

[She feels kind of terrible for it, but... she'd accepted not being able to see her family again months before she came to Riverview. And her father had never visited her in the afterlife.]

I scorched the pot boiling water for noodles yesterday evening. [He's a failure so far. Learning, but still a failure.]

It was his disappointment that was frightening. Not only had I disappointed my only parent, I had disappointed my king. That sort of pressure... well. [He waves a hand vaguely, his smile melancholy.]

Yes. I think about him often. He... died, just months ago.

Ah.

[She sort of knows the feeling, but... having been able to speak to her loved ones after they passed, she didn't really start mourning them until she came to the quarantine.]

I have both my parents, but I lost my brother a few years ago. I may not quite understand the feelings of those who cannot speak to the dead, but I know it still hurts to lose someone you're close to. And in the last few months... I haven't been able to speak to Nathaniel at all. It's... odd. And I've started to miss him more than I could put into words.

I'm sorry for your loss. Where I come from... death is merely the end. We have no magic or- [A vague gesture that means' any of this at all'.]

That sense of loss never really goes away completely. I don't think I will ever stop missing my father and my brother.

Then I suppose you're lucky to have your fiance with you. He is... both a memento from your home, and someone to comfort you at night. [This gets a slightly bitter laugh out of her.] If my husband came here... I don't think I'd ever let him out of my sight.

Yes. He is the only family I have left, now. I am thankful that we can remain together here, since we do not know how long we'll remain in Riverview.

4 [@necromantica: video]

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