Network - 01

[graveyounglady]

Who: Mercy Graves
Username: mercyme
Warnings: Discussion of the For Sport event. All cw's from that apply here.

To the Gentlefolk of Other Worlds,

My name is Sister Mercy Graves of the Spring Tide. I have been told this is the best means by which to reach all who dwell in hope and fear in this place of refuge. It has been a difficult time for many, myself included. The creatures in the water who took us from the streets and wrapped us in a terrible cloth have been slain, but their scars remain in our hearts.

I would ask, who among us found themselves transformed? How have you felt since? I have aids for sleep if you find yourself entangled with the Dread Watcher's claws. She that hooks and hangs a body with nightmares. I have taken to lessons in the healing facilities in ADI. I would surely welcome the company of those who would learn, as well. And if you have knowledge of the tinctures and tools of a practitioner, I would beg your guidance as I train in these new arts. There is so very much to learn and I look forward to the challenge of it, that I might help those who best need it in our fight against the dark forces of this world.

As seasons turn and carry on,
So to the winds we fly.
The hope we bring is never gone,
It strengthens by and by.
The cheer is ever in our hearts,
A song of joy to bide.
We all must love and do our parts
To raise the great Spring Tide.

May the Spring Bring Life to You and Yours,
Mercy Graves

Comments

[graveyounglady]

[Mercy takes the cup gratefully and is about to thank Alex when the older woman just keeps... going. Mercy's brows creep upward by degrees as she sips her drink, instead. And she thought she was a talker.]

Sister Mercy, Ms. Alex. May the spring bring life to you and yours. It's a right pleasure to meet you, too. I ain't thought to ask to use none of the tools, yet. That seems like a mighty fine idea. I seen picture in this book of what them machines can do. Right fancy. You'd usually need a cleric cutting to get a good look.

Or, well, my daddy showed me the insides when he was teaching me how to prepare a body for the grave. It was more the wet and slick than the bones, though.

[She motions to the table.]

Why don't you sit on down?

[11calls]

[Giving the other woman an easy smile, Alex settles into the seat, and wraps her hand around her cup of tea which reminds her of something.]

Oh! I brought along some milk and sugar, because I didn't know how you may take your tea.

[Pulling the creamers and sugars carefully out of her pockets, Alex continues, and as normal, she starts with the question.]

I'm sorry, Sister Mercy. Is that what you'd prefer to be called?

[graveyounglady]

That's very kind of you. I come from simple folk. Just the tea's more than enough, miss.

And Sister Mercy's just fine. Ain't a full cleric, yet, but I'm working toward it. Reckon I'll be teaching classes at the temple on healing once I bring back all this learning here. I just need to figure out how the machines work and what they put in the tinctures, and I can make them at home.

[11calls]

[While Alex isn't someone who's been into RPGs and DnD and things like that, her best friend back home just happens to be to the point that his home game back in Vancouver had been running for something like twenty years at this point. At least the last that she knew. So, the cleric helps her contextualize the other things that Sister Mercy has told her.]

Have they assigned some sort of mentor to help with the machines and things? Even I have no idea how some of this stuff works.

[graveyounglady]

Aye! They're showing me how to use them, but that ain't no good on its own if I got to build them again for everyone. That ain't my particular trade for learning, but if I can figure out a printing press to help Ms. Tawnie for some extra coin, I reckon I can figure these out, too. At least the parts I'll need to have commissioned from a blacksmith, and the like. If I know how to assemble it all, that'll be fine.

[11calls]

Wow! That's impressive. So you're good with like building machines and things then? Cause I would definitely be all thumbs if it were me. I have a problem putting together IKEA furniture sometimes.

[graveyounglady]

I'm better at building coffins, but it's all just fitting things together the right way. What's... IKEA?

[11calls]

[Alex's surprise is very clear on her face, as is the way she's impressed.]

Wow! You can build coffins? That is so cool! And IKEA is a furniture store where you can buy furniture that is made to be easily put together. Sometimes it's a hell of a lot harder than they tell you.

[graveyounglady]

You... ain't learned anything about carpentry?

[Mercy is puzzling this with a furrowed brow.]

My family, the Graveses, we been the keepers for the Evergreen Abbey graveyard for generations. Papa taught me and my brother, Colm, how to do the work for what was needed soon as we were old enough for working. Colm's better at shaping the wood, but Papa wouldn't have let us out of the house if we hadn't learned the basics for building.

[11calls]

Nope. It's not really a skill that a lot of people need to have in my time. There are people who still do it and love doing it, but I was never really exposed to it.

So you had to build coffins just for that graveyard, or were their others in your town?

[graveyounglady]

We were charged with the Abbey's graveyard, but Papa had us build for the folk in the city when times was lean and we had the wood for it. I don't wish death on no one, mind you, but you make a living out of folk dying, and you run into a problem when no one's taking to the ground.

[11calls]

[Alex just nods, because she's not judging people for making money on death or doing what they need to do.]

Kinda like being a reporter when there's no news happening. I definitely get it. How many coffins have you made?

[graveyounglady]

Ones I made myself was 343. Papa and Colm did a lot more of that than I did. [Her expression shifts to something melancholy.] I seen most of those come is waves. Lot of death going around the Abbey when I come up against 15.

[11calls]

What was happening in the Abbey then? Was it like some sort of illness?

[graveyounglady]

No.

[There's a long moment of hesitation. This is all supposed to be kept a secret, but no one here seems to be from her world, and it's not like she's ever really been able to talk about it much. Everyone had just wanted to forget about it and move on. Even-

Well, it had been his right... and their letters had taken weeks or months to get back and forth. Difficult to carry on an extended conversation over that much time.]

It was... murders. Some bad folk were doing bad things and trying to cover it up.