kate

[undread]

Comments

week 0; saturday

[undread]

[laudna can be found a little later at the haunted house, a ballgown-looking dress spread out on one of the beds as she starts to examine it for rips and wrinkles. also, there's a leech still stuck on her neck and arm and she doesn't seem to have noticed.]

Tch, tch, tch. A little grimy, isn't it?

[sootprints]

[ kate is coming out of another room, which she's used to change into her regular clothes. she looks a little more like a proper lady now, and even seems to carry herself with more confidence. ]

... Ah. You have something on your...

[ pointing to her neck as politely as possible. ]

[undread]

Ooh, how embarrassing.

[grabbing the leech and crushing it in her hand.]

I had to dig around in that awful bog to get my dress and my dear little familiar. I suppose it was the same for you.

[sootprints]

[ oh. goodbye leech. ]

Yes. Fortunately, the bath in this building seems to be working...

... You have a familiar?

[undread]

[she nods!]

Oh, I have to introduce you! Pâté, Kate is a proper young lady, so you must promise to be on your very best behavior and watch your language. He can be a bit salty, I'm afraid.

[she'll hold out a dead rat with a bird's skull sewn on his head. also, he has bony little wings poking out of his back.]

[sootprints]

Pâté...?

[ looks at it. ]

He speaks...?

1/2

[undread]

Pâté de Rolo. He's a cousin of the very prestigious de Rolo family of Whitestone, though you wouldn't know it by his manners. And yes, he can talk.

2/2

[undread]

[um, anyway, what happens next is she moves the little dead rat herself to make him do a little bow, and then she starts talking in an exaggerated deep voice cockney accent, moving her lips only just a little bit.]

Pleasure to meet you, little miss. Name's Pâté. You won't hear a salty word out o' me, promise.

[sootprints]

[ ......



................. ]

I see!

[ sometimes it's really good that you can't actually make facial expressions. ]

[undread]

[see? she wasn't being patronizing, she's just insane.]

What a little gentleman! His manners have improved so much since I started speaking for him again.

[sootprints]

Was that ventriloquism?

... Do you not always speak for him?

[undread]

Yes. When I first made him, he was just a little doll, and I'd talk to him in my head for company. But eventually, I developed the power to bring him to life. But he's feeling a bit shy today, it seems. So back to speaking for him.

[sootprints]

... It sounds like you must have been lonely.

[undread]

...Yes. Very much so. And Pâté was an important friend to me during that time.

[she moves the rat so it gently pats her arm.]

Laudna made me so she'd have someone to talk to!

[sootprints]

I see... I'm glad he was able to offer some comfort to you.

[ softly. ]

This power of yours... How did you acquire it?

[undread]

Well. I was born with it, to some degree. And some of it I learned from a very powerful woman I know. She helped me concentrate my power, learn how to control it.

[sootprints]

The power to animate the dead? Is that what it is?

[ she sounds genuinely curious. ]

[undread]

No, no. Well, perhaps one dead. Me! But generally, my abilities lie elsewhere. Pâté was a special little exception.

[sootprints]

... I'm sorry?

Did you say that you're dead?

[undread]

Oh, yes! I died years and years ago, but just kept going.

[sootprints]

Kept going, as in... your consciousness did? Because of your power?

[undread]

Yes. I died and then I woke up. Still dead, but awake. I've never really known exactly why.

[sootprints]

Why you died? Or why you woke up?

[undread]

Why I woke up. [she laughs a little, a bit darkly.] I know why I died perfectly well.

[sootprints]

Ah... I see. I imagine it was a terrible experience...