magicisreal | Haven Inbox

[They're both pretty good at this "brush it under the rug" thing, aren't they...?

Morgan just giggles, nodding.]

All right, so, we call them Risen. They're people who were dead but were re-animated to be sort of alive but mostly undead. They go "Graaargh".

I know there are other words for them less exclusive to our world, but I just can't think of them right now!

Undead. Zombies, although those are of a particularly passive-malicious stripe. "Undead" is a broad term that we often use as an umbrella for anything humanoid and once-living but no longer. "Risen" is new to me.

Zombies! That was it, that was the one!

[She's so excited..... but oh, right.]

Huh, Morgan hasn't told you? It must not have come up. The Risen are what we're fighting back home, for the most part. They're basically zombies that evil sorcerers reanimate to come after us again and again with their pointy weapons.

Oh. A legion of the undead. Shadow's adumbration given control of a body. Shape without form, shade without color, paralyzed force, gesture without motion.

[Morgan is not going to know that poem. Oh well.]

With pointy weapons, of course. No proper army is half as effective without a point.

Edited 2014-10-28 03:02 (UTC)

[She does not know that poem at all, so she takes it rather literally, as Morgan does.]

...Er, sort of, I guess? Except they do have shapes, mostly of the gross, decaying sort, and they definitely are a sickly grey color...

[Huh.]

They're not even really a proper army, I think. They're more like the fodder while the higher-ups just make more to try to stop us!

The zombies of Earth lore would be a shambles of an army as well. They don't think or comport themselves as humans can. Perfect for becoming barriers of dangerous but stupid adversaries.

They "make more"? So Risen are also risen in the literal sense - the revived remnant of one who was once dead?

Yep, that's exactly right on both counts! Evil sorcerers tend to revive them, though they're really just shells of who they used to be, if that.

[For a moment, she's a little uncomfortable, thinking about the Deadlords. They'd....spoken, hadn't they? They'd even had some similarities to--

No, it's fine. It had to be nothing, really.]

But because they just keep reviving soldiers over and over again, it's a liiiittle important that we stop them at the source.

[Ha. A vast army of the dead, indeed.]

How difficult is it to reach the source?

Well, we got to it! We were about to take on the Fell Dragon Grima--

[...]

...But I'm not entirely sure how that went, since I ended up here instead. I'm sure it went well, though, since it was Father making up the tactical plans!

[She knows Morgan has amnesia to a point; what does it feel like to have an unknown past and an uncertain future?

What does it feel like to have your past disintegrated and your future burning?

Rose shakes her head, hard, once. This does not pertain to the conversation at hand.]

You expect me to accept that the source of your zombie infestation special feature is a dragon.

Dragon...god? More god than dragon, probably, at this point.

[Does that...make it better..........

Morgan just grins, shrugging. She certainly doesn't seem bothered by the prospect of death at the hands of an evil god. But then, she'll probably always be this blithe about things--amnesia, danger, and death.]

But the answer to that question would be a definite yes!

Luckily for you, that is just outrageous enough to be more truth than falsehood. [Making up an evil dragon god as the calamity point and maintaining the story takes a touch too much effort for a liar.]

Eh, I'm not a very good liar anyway. Father says deception tactics are my weakest tactics.

[She says so very blithely.]

Anyway, Grima is a problem, but he's still no match for Father's abilities!

Has a portion of your amnesia resolved, with regard to your father?

[Rose suspects no. If it had, Morgan would begin with a chipper announcement, not a question about zombies.]

Oh, no... Father's just the only thing I can remember! It's always been that way, as far back as...well, as my memories go, ha ha!

All I've got is Father teaching me tactics when I was younger.

[Stop being so cheerful about it, Morgan.]

How intriguing. [Rose, too, has only one parent in her memory, but it is a complete (mostly) memory and suffers only the holes of young teenagehood before its abrupt end.]

Were tactics his profession, or his hobby?

His profession! He's the tactician of Lord Chrom's army back home--er, just like Morgan's mother is in his timeline.

[The weird gender inversion continues...]

But he's led Chrom's army to victory again and again and again, and I'm preeeetty sure he can't lose! I have a ways to go before I surpass him, that's for sure.

[In all likelihood, in the world she has heard Morgan and Morgan describe, a loss for their army would mean death. So, no, he can't lose.]

I'm not an expert, but your designs ring tactically sound to me.

[That's also true, shhh. But nonetheless, they usually win handily, without losing many soldiers if anyone at all--but then, that's how amazing their parents are.]

Aww, thanks, Rose! You may not be an expert, but you are super smart! Do you want to play chess or tactical games with me sometime?

You have a chess set? [Something about chess tries to turn her aside, but Rose is more stubborn than a few lingering memories and symbolism.] It would be preferable to lying here staring at these walls in my spare time.

[Chess. Against Morgan. Rose catches herself smiling.]

I don't own one personally, but I know a few people who would let us borrow theirs!

[She has a lot of connections.

But she laughs at that, nodding brightly.]

Great! Then it'll be a birthday date, all right? After all, I did say we'd do something more fun for your birthday once we got out.

[Damn. Rose hoped Morgan would forget about that.]

Getting out with my life attached is fulfilling enough, I assure you.

[But she only engages in the deflection because she feels like it. A birthday chess date with Morgan sounds like an instant yes.]

[Pls, Rose. Pls. That's hardly good enough at all.]

Ha ha, that's just the basics! Birthdays deserve more than the basics. ...Way more than the basics!

So we'll do this and it'll be tons of fun! I'm always looking for really smart people to play chess against, and the fact that it's Rose is even better!

Well, I suppose I can hardly say no under the pressure of compliments like that.

[Not-so-secretly pleased to the hilt, is Rose. She can't think of a better way to spend a fake birthday just now than in games of intelligence with such a unique and magnetic person as Morgan.]

Of course, if I wanted to be truly entertained, I would watch you and your brother play chess instead.

[That much gets...an exasperated huff out of Morgan. It's good-natured as always, but there's definitely a pout on her face.]

We're 32 and 32 right now... evenly matched. As per usual. [no matter what they do, they always end up tied in the end--which is a given, probably, but weird to experience.]

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