[ Emmrich's gaze only turns to what Parisa's written when she gets out of bed. Until that point, he's only looking at her, watching the way concentration and thought manifest on her lovely features, as though he could read her intentions better this way than in seeing what she puts to paper. Letter-writing has a way of both diluting and intensifying feeling, and it's useful to remind himself of something more immediate, more instinctual β her, here, with him. There's nothing to doubt or speculate on in this moment, no hairline fault in the affection he feels for her in the here and now.
His response takes a little longer, on account of the new sketch that accompanies it: a great gate, not so unlike the Ishtar Gate, with two towering statues β skeletal figures adorned in robes β on either side of it. Underneath the drawing, in Emmrich's hand: The Grand Necropolis. A day after her last writing to him, a day before the answering sketch and letter arrive β on a tray, this time delivered to her in the bath β he tells her he's in the middle of writing, compelled, perhaps, by the knowledge they've begun treading into slightly less idle territory. ]
My love,
How strange, for us both to have been visited by the same spectre of misfortune. But how fortunate, now, that both sides of our bargain consider a future for us together, rather than apart.
The calling of the Mourn Watch, in the simplest terms, is to maintain the balance between life and death. In practice, there are any number of ways to honor that mission, from assisting in the funerary preparations and rites for those interred in the Grand Necropolis, to tending to the errant wisps and spirits that roam the halls, to devoting oneself to academia. I, as you know, fell more into that last category, both researching and teaching necromancy, as well as handling the occasional request to commune with the dead. Recent days had also plunged me into more action that I'd necessarily expected, dealing with rogue spirits outside of the bounds of the city.
(As a side note, I confess I occasionally feel the same frustration that drove Johanna to abandon our order entirely, but I do not believe change to be out of the question β merely that such things will happen at their own pace [or given a particularly persuasive argument] on account of the sheer age of the institution.)
And, yes β no two paths to lichdom are alike, and it could be some time before you were allowed to undertake the ritual, but in the meanwhile, I feel it necessary to note that there is very little extant literature on the nature of intimate relations between liches and humans. That potential avenue of exploration aside, what are a few years β or several β when we've eternity to look forward to?
no subject
His response takes a little longer, on account of the new sketch that accompanies it: a great gate, not so unlike the Ishtar Gate, with two towering statues β skeletal figures adorned in robes β on either side of it. Underneath the drawing, in Emmrich's hand: The Grand Necropolis. A day after her last writing to him, a day before the answering sketch and letter arrive β on a tray, this time delivered to her in the bath β he tells her he's in the middle of writing, compelled, perhaps, by the knowledge they've begun treading into slightly less idle territory. ]