ximilialog | ( open ) time is tickin' I cannot waste it love

Entry tags:

( open ) time is tickin' I cannot waste it love

CHARACTERS: Erik Stevens + Everyone / Mingle! I’m not the boss of you.
LOCATION: Open Field near ish the Palace
DATE: Sometime in July
CONTENT: Party, drinks, dancing.
WARNINGS: N/A

( i. party hats )

[ this had been the stupidest condition of his goal, but it’s a doable one so erik handles it the way he would handle any kind of mission; single-mindedly. he gets to work and makes a couple of dozen party hats of various colours and size. some might seem too small, others too big, a few that are just right, no he doesn’t accept constructive criticism. ]

Just put the damn thing on, it won’t kill you.

( ii. food and stuff )

[ unfortunately there are constraints. if they were back in usa, setting up the supplies of food and drink would be a cinch. however, he’s working with fantasy asian cuisine, out of which he knows half of. still, his position as a nobleman’s attendant gave him a hefty salary and he put it to good use. there are plenty of caskets of booze, all the kinds he could find and various eateries and snacks. some from the palace, others he cobbled together with the use of their kitchen like basic butter cookies and wafers.

eat, drink, he’s not here to card you kids ]

( iii. dancing )

[ and of course, there’s music. lively music, slow tunes. erik managed to hire a band (like three people on instruments but details). the sun was setting, the breeze was cool and maybe for a brief moment, you want to enjoy yourself. give up your worries for a day. the light hits the flowers, giving the scenery a warm orange glow.

grab a partner and have a little fun. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ dryly. ]

Shocker.

[ a finishing school in europe only bothering with western cutlery and disdaining the rest? erik would have never seen it coming. ]

The idea is not to have them cross over. Make sure they're steady.

All right.

[And Sabriel finally gets the correct grip! It's a little wobbly, but she's actually able to grab a dumpling and take a bite.]

Miss Prionte would probably be mortified that she didn't know how to use these.

[It was less painful to think of her etiquette mistress than it was to think of a lot of things involving her time at school.]

[ he shrugs. ]

I'm guessing you guys don't travel all that much.

[Sabriel shrugs in acknowledgment.]

I mean, I traveled all over the Old Kingdom with with father, before he brought me to Wyverley.

[Admittedly, most of what she remembers from that time are the campsites, and the inside of the wagon, and snatches of the other travelers who looked after her.]

But after that- I never went more than a few dozen miles from the school. Some of the other girls talked about their summer trips to the Continent, but I stayed at school during all the holidays.

[ hmm. ]

Did you want to?

[Sabriel laughs at that.]

Of course I did! My father would never explain why I couldn't go back with him over the holidays, like the other girls did, except that it 'wasn't safe'. Or really explain why he even sent me to school beyond 'necessity'.

[The drink has clearly loosened Sabriel's tongue a little bit, but her expression falls as she continues.]

And then I went to the Old Kingdom and I understood. I just- wish he could have told me before.

[ he can understand why, though that's not his experience. his father made sure to tell him as much as he could. they were alone and they had no protection from anyone else. not from family. not from people. not from the injustice that haunted them now. ]

He should've but dads do that.

[Sabriel could understand why her father had chosen not to tell her. Not when she'd been very young, at least. But when she'd been old enough for him to train her, old enough to face the occasional Dead creature that got too close to the school?

Although looking back on it now, she wonders how many of those Dead had simply wandered south, and how many had been sent after her specifically. Mordicants had to be deliberately created, after all.]

I just- wish he could have told me what his name was. I grew up thinking it was Abhorsen, and didn't learn his real one until- after he died.

But you know it now.

[ erik had known some. other bits he had to piece together on his own. he's pretty sure he would have traded being in the dark to a little more time with his father. but it is what it is. ]

I just- wish he could have told me himself.

[Instead of reading it in some of the papers at Abhorsen's house, Sabriel muses as she takes another sip of her drink.]

I just- He loved me. But he kept a lot of secrets, and he couldn't see me that often.

[As he'd said- no Abhorsen had ever been an ideal parent. He'd loved her, and he'd tried to prepare her.]

Like I said. He should've.

[ but what he can tell, sabriel's dad spared no expense to make sure she was cared. safe. happy. and prepared. to erik, that's still a luxury. ]

Thing about wishes like that . . . they don't benefit you all that much. You just keep going in circles.

You're right. I made a bargain to undo my regret... and that wasn't it.

[And if she had made such a bargain... she's not sure her father would approve of her refusing to let him stay dead.

So there's no point poking at that particular wound. Better to try to let it heal, and focus on what's in front of her.]

My dad died when I was seven. So yeah, I get it. Life's short though. I don't think they want us to spend it all on 'em.

[ erik is being extremely liberal about it. he has to be. ]

Everyone and everything has a time to die- and take it from a necromancer, you can't actually bring back the dead. Not in any state they'd thank you for.

[ he often wonders if he really spoke to his father in the djalia. his instincts tell him yes but erik doesn't trust his instincts on everything. that'd be dangerous. ]

Did you ever try?

[That definitely gets a reaction. Sabriel flinches, remembering how tempted she'd been on multiple occasions- and the one time she'd acted on it, almost on impulse, to bring back a little girl's pet.]

I've been tempted, but- never on a human.

[ yeah. it seems only human to be tempted. not something that should be held against her. ]

It's a lot of power. Can't blame you for thinkin' about it now and then.

A large part of my necromancy training involved making sure I knew exactly how bad an idea it would be.

And just because I have that power doesn't give me the right to play god.

[Deciding who lives and who dies- those aren't choices Sabriel is remotely qualified to make.]

[ dryly. ]

And yet, that never seems to stop anyone.

Not most necromancers outside my family, at least. There's a reason we cremate our dead in the Old Kingdom.

[It was often the only way to keep them safe, unless you were the royal family and could build a carefully warded graveyard.]

Because they rise up?

Occasionally. Independent Dead spirits will try to inhabit any intact body they can get, but the greater threat is necromancers and Greater Dead enslaving their spirits and using them for their own purposes. The final rites prevent that from happening.

[Independent Lesser Dead would happily kill people to consume their life force, but they tended to be solitary, and often more cunning than truly intelligent, preferring to prey on the weak. Necromancers and Greater Dead, on the other hand... those could plan, and engage in strategy and tactics... along with amassing armies of the Dead.]

[ fascinating zombie lore. worth noting at any rate. ]

Do you think that might be the case here? Similar, anyway.

You mean that the monsters are under the Ghost Girl's control? It's certainly possible- likely even, if she's like the Free Magic sorcerers and necromancers I'm supposed to fight in the Old Kingdom.

But- magic here is different. So I don't actually have any proof one way or another. Still... A necromancer would probably go after easier targets first, to build their strength before attacking the palace. But all the deaths are concentrated there.

[ no proof but the hint of a possibility. it's something to work with. ]

Any way we can get that proof? Break through to a monster, get it to talk?

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