“You—“ Her fist curls and her voice struggles against itself to strain out, “I didn’t have the same choices you did. Necromancy wasn’t even a legal form of study until I was thirty.”
Thirty… The Immortal Queens took the throne thirty years ago… Woah.
I offer a conciliatory, “it looks nice on you anyway.”
“Your platitude is empty,apprentice.“ She snaps, “take a floor walk.”
“Sorry.”
“Is she finally overworking you?” Piero asks.
“No, she’s just keeping me off the desk.” I pick a cigarette butt off the floor. “Is she typically kinder to her apprentices?”
He hastily excuses, “you’re different. And, besides that, how’s having magic?”
“What?”
“Necromancy requires study, but there’s so many basic things you can do now! Remember, focus on your eyes, and not just these two.” He taps under his eyelids. “Your mind’s eye is the most important one. The Ring doesn’t understand Roversellan, so you have to speak to it in concepts if you’re trying to make it give you a spell.”
“That’s helpful. When I can access the Ring, I’ll remember that.”
“You can’t access it yet?” His eyes widen. “Oh, you poor thing. I couldn’t imagine she’d be mad at you for that. Don’t take her anger to heart; it’s towards someone you’ve never met.”
I grip tightly onto a bundle of my hair. “I didn’t really fail. We’re having our second date at the end of the week.”
And now, his eyes have narrowed. “...Uncomfortable?”
“I didn’t know her that well. We’ll be able to socialize better while hunting ghouls anyway.”
“You know, it really is just a kiss. It won’t last as long, but it’s just one kiss. And after starting patronization, it’s easily kept up with smaller actslike hugs. Like a needle prick, it’s just one little uncomfortable pinch and you’re done.”
The comparison gives me a shiver which runs deep into my blood.
“Or are you uncomfortable because of your own girlfriend? If that’s it, you can always invite her; I’m sure Vincenza will cover you both.”
Why did he assume…
I test him with, “I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“Then just listen to my original advice!”
This is an entirely traditional necromancer’s garb. What do people see in it that’s so homosexual? It’s not overwhelmingly inaccurate, but I’m still deadly curious.
“W-what if I had something other than a girlfriend?” I ask.
“A…otherfriend?”
Is he struggling to find a word for an ungendered companion? I guess I don’t really know the proper term either.
I’ll ask Vincenza if she thinks I look gay. Whatever. “Uh, have a good day, Piero.”
“And to you, Vincenza’s lovely apprentice.”
I keep to cleaning up the floor before returning to her. Work will make my apology seem more sincere, won’t it? I hope it will, because it’s mildly tiring my arms out.
Mistress Vincenza’s latest project was for me to shift the shelves until all the spacing was equal, and fuck me, nothing in ‘youth literature’ is in order. And I can’t shift it until it’s in order. And once it’s in order, everything I shifted before my last break is slightly messed up and needs to be fixed.
Who even comes here to read youth literature?
