[there was no goading wrath just really likes talking about their brother wow
there is a LOT to take in there, and wrath sort of just wheezes for a second and falls back against whatever flat surface there is. a long, long pause, and then:]
You - you're a Lich? [they know it wasn't lich, it was something else, but they're trying to make sense of what they saw with absolutely no context. a girl, with a sister, a letter, cavaliers...]
[Yes, she absolutely is, although she doesn't know that word, and corrects - ] Lyctor. And. . . to some degree. As you saw, the process in my case was something of a failure. [She doesn't sound ashamed of this, just tired.] I have access to the well of power, and likely to the myriad long lifespan, but not the other aspects. A true Lyctor will heal any injury automatically, without thought, and can leave their body behind to enter the River, guarded by the ghost of their cavalier - and will borrow their cavalier's fighting prowess as well.
Uh - kind of all of the above? Definitely undead. Maybe immortal, I haven't, uh, considered that far ahead, actually? And if by battery you mean my memories are the only thing that make me not feral, then yes! Battery powered, for sure.
[they reach up to rub at their face with both hands.]
Hah. How's that for narrative parallels - you have a spotty memory and I have had a wild ride of a time getting people to remember I exist at all. The Lich and the Lyctor.
it's not a good dark, either. it's a horrifying, endless sort of abyss, and you spend long bouts of time being unable to see, and then being unable to hear, and then being unable to touch, and then all three, and then finally, you pull yourself together enough to hear a voice, outside.
Here you go. I’ll just make these sort of… taste better.
and you wake up, fully, you pull yourself together enough to cast yourself out, to see what the world looks like around you, because that is your brother's voice, and he's going to cast something, but you're going to intercept. so you do. he'll know, this time, he'll know where you are if you can just give him a sign. you hear his startled noise when you take control of the umbrella, and it takes every single bit of energy you have to trace three, simple letters into the wall with scorching ray.
your brother speaks. Why? What does that—what is... static. white noise.
he doesn't... he doesn't know. he doesn't know who you are? why doesn't...
[She processes this memory, a little blankly, uncertain how to feel about it. But deep down, there is a part of her that feels - strangely about this. That feels as though there can't be anything in the universe so goddamn shitty as being some kind of locked away, forgotten fragment of a person, the only thing left of you being how bad you want to reach out and protect the person you love, but they've slammed the door shut on you and rolled a rock over you and there's nothing you can do about it but keep clawing and scratching in the darkness. It's not even really horror at Wrath's situation that she feels, but anger. She just sort of wants to slam a fist in Wrath's twink brother's no-doubt smug wizardly face.
But she can't really understand why she would feel this way, why this situation would trouble her so much, what she has in common with it besides, as Wrath said, being a lich and a Lyctor, forgotten and forgetting. It is terribly sad. It is. There's just no reason she ought to connect with it.]
I've never had a sibling, or even. . . really anyone I was afraid to lose. [She grew up so alone, not even any other children her age around her.] I'm not sure how to -
It's okay. [they say, gently, reaching to pat her hand. they telegraph it very clearly, as usual.]
Sorry works. It's not your - you know, your responsibility? You have much bigger things to worry about than some girl's dumb wizard brother.
I appreciate it, though. Really. Kind of a double-edged sword, right? Like, on the one hand, you never had anybody you were afraid to lose, but on the other, you never had anybody you were afraid to lose.
[... you know, except for the people harrow may not remember, wrath is unclear on that one, but listen.]
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there is a LOT to take in there, and wrath sort of just wheezes for a second and falls back against whatever flat surface there is. a long, long pause, and then:]
You - you're a Lich? [they know it wasn't lich, it was something else, but they're trying to make sense of what they saw with absolutely no context. a girl, with a sister, a letter, cavaliers...]
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[they rub at their face.]
Uh - same hat? Sort of? I don't have the instant healing, that'd be rad. But... we're more similar than you'd think.
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Oh. Undead? Immortal? Battery powered? [By 'battery' she just means some other external source of power - in a Lyctor's case, another person's soul.]
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Uh - kind of all of the above? Definitely undead. Maybe immortal, I haven't, uh, considered that far ahead, actually? And if by battery you mean my memories are the only thing that make me not feral, then yes! Battery powered, for sure.
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[That's not how it works for her, but. . . ]
The older ones often start to go mad, over time. [So, maybe memories are important.]
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[they reach up to rub at their face with both hands.]
Hah. How's that for narrative parallels - you have a spotty memory and I have had a wild ride of a time getting people to remember I exist at all. The Lich and the Lyctor.
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it's not a good dark, either. it's a horrifying, endless sort of abyss, and you spend long bouts of time being unable to see, and then being unable to hear, and then being unable to touch, and then all three, and then finally, you pull yourself together enough to hear a voice, outside.
Here you go. I’ll just make these sort of… taste better.
and you wake up, fully, you pull yourself together enough to cast yourself out, to see what the world looks like around you, because that is your brother's voice, and he's going to cast something, but you're going to intercept. so you do. he'll know, this time, he'll know where you are if you can just give him a sign. you hear his startled noise when you take control of the umbrella, and it takes every single bit of energy you have to trace three, simple letters into the wall with scorching ray.
your brother speaks. Why? What does that—what is... static. white noise.
he doesn't... he doesn't know. he doesn't know who you are? why doesn't...
and the memory ends.]
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But she can't really understand why she would feel this way, why this situation would trouble her so much, what she has in common with it besides, as Wrath said, being a lich and a Lyctor, forgotten and forgetting. It is terribly sad. It is. There's just no reason she ought to connect with it.]
. . . What made him forget?
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they're quiet for a moment, and then they shrug.]
You know, I don't actually know. I have my suspicions, but they're just that. Suspicions.
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[The words are hard to explain, somehow.]
I've never had a sibling, or even. . . really anyone I was afraid to lose. [She grew up so alone, not even any other children her age around her.] I'm not sure how to -
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Sorry works. It's not your - you know, your responsibility? You have much bigger things to worry about than some girl's dumb wizard brother.
I appreciate it, though. Really. Kind of a double-edged sword, right? Like, on the one hand, you never had anybody you were afraid to lose, but on the other, you never had anybody you were afraid to lose.
[... you know, except for the people harrow may not remember, wrath is unclear on that one, but listen.]
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. . . Exactly. It's different now, which is more difficult and easier at the same time.
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It's okay to have that, though. People you're afraid to lose.
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... I guess you just have to decide which is more important to you. The people you love, or a goal so important you agreed to come here to get it.