ic mailbox / messages

[vertrauen]

Hello, you've reach the mailbox of Petra Ral. Leave me a message, and I'll write back! And then you turn it off, like this?

Comments

[vertrauen]

[Petra says nothing for a moment, focusing instead on cutting a carrot]

He did worry, yes. Less so now than he used to, but yes.

[She didn't want to imagine her father's reaction to the news of her death.]

Are you super hungry? I haven't eaten much today, so I'm afraid I'm going to look like a pig.

[copia]

[ Oh, if Kaede only knew that her new "mom" is also dead in her home world. What is with her luck and dead maternal figures... ]

I'm sure he's proud of you! [ A smile forms on her face before her attention is back on the cabbage, cutting it into hearty chunks. She giggles a bit at that, shaking her head. ]

I am hungry, yes! You won't "look like a pig," I just hope you like what I chose to have us make for dinner.

[vertrauen]

[And if Petra has her way, Kaede won't get to find out about Petra's current status.]

What did you end up choosing? [It looks like stew to Petra, but you don't really use steak in stew...]

[copia]

[ Hopefully...

Kaede moves the cabbage to the side to cut the steak into strips. ]

It's kind of like a stew? It's called sukiyaki. The beef is cooked first in the pan, and then the other ingredients are added with a liquid mixture and simmer away. I thought you would like it.

[vertrauen]

[Petra will move to start on some mushrooms, moving to rinse them off just a bit more before she's completely satisfied with their cleanliness.]

That sounds good. Do you have it often?

[copia]

Not often, no. It's the best for when it's cold weather, like now! Sometimes my grandmother will make it during the summer.

[ She judges the first few strips for their thinness before continuing. ]

What's nice is that food is free in the grocery store, so we can experiment with all sorts of recipes!

[vertrauen]

Free food...

[Sorry, Petra's going to think long and hard on the entire concept of "free food." She remembers seeing the rioting and fighting after Wall Maria fell.]

There has to be a cost, somehow. It doesn't make sense.

[copia]

Well, in my opinion, the cost is that the Landlord gets to mess with us and we can't leave this place. Every month he does something to some residents.

[ Kaede looks up at Petra as she stops for a moment to grab a bowl. ] There's also the fact that death isn't permanent here, so we can't leave Holly Heights that way, either.

[vertrauen]

They don't expect us to work the land, but give us as much as we like to eat?

[The little factoid about death unsettles Petra even more than she had been.]

What do you mean? Are there corpses wandering the street?

[copia]

Well, he expects the adults to work, but that's to support the family for like, clothes and stuff. Kids can work as long as they're 14 and up, and sometimes he posts jobs that any age can do. But the adults don't have to worry about paying for electricity or anything like that.

[ "Corpses" makes Kaede think "zombies" and how gross they look. Ew, she hopes that never happens in Holly Heights. ]

Oh, no! You just get brought back to life and your wounds are completely healed; it's like you never really...died.

[vertrauen]

That would explain a bit, if he can somehow reanimate anything that he likes.

[Her words come out more bitter than she would have liked. She would probably have more questions about jobs and other things, but the part about about being brought back to life jars her. It's terrifying to image anyone with that kind of power.

But she's quick to recover, forcing a smile back on her face.] I'm sorry, I'm not being of much help right now, am I? Tell me what I can do next to help.

[copia]

He can also change our surroundings. During the summer, we were a set of islands. He wields a lot of power...

[ Kaede notes the bitterness in Petra's tone, and she can understand why she would feel that way. Death not being permanent here is something that the preteen is still conflicted over, but that topic is for another time. She looks over the counter at the various vegetables strewn about after tossing the strips of beef into the pan. ]

Hm, I think we only have water to drink. Should we make tea or lemonade?

[vertrauen]

What a terrifying person...

[But there's more immediate things to focus on--no need to linger on that person longer than need be, especially if there's nothing that can be done.]

Water will do for now. Let's have tea after dinner. What kind of tea do you like?

[copia]

Green tea is what I normally have, but I like to try other varieties! What about you? [ Liquid mixture going into the pan now... ]

[vertrauen]

Green tea? I haven't really tried that. My captain was fond of black tea, so we mostly had that.

[Just watching Kaede, seeing how she handles the kitchen. Most everything seems familiar to her, but it's still strange.]

[copia]

So how about we try green tea together?

[ The preteen gradually adds the remaining contents of the dish so she doesn't splash hot liquid on herself or Petra. She does not want to deal with a burn anytime soon, thank you! ]

And you mentioned your captain; is he also in Holly Heights?

[vertrauen]

That would be nice. And yes, he's here. It was surprising to see him, He's been here for a month already, and I had just seen him this morning...

[She hadn't expected to ever see him again, so it was a good surprise once she realized that he wasn't dead!]

[copia]

Oh! What's his name, if you do not mind my asking?

[ It's always nice to see someone dead again, but then it makes it all the more painful once they leave that one realizes s/he will never see the dead person again. It leaves a bitter taste in Kaede's mouth that the dead are given a second chance at life, but once the Landlord finds them boring/not fitting into his perfect image of family life, they are whisked back to being dead once more. ]

[vertrauen]

His name is Levi. People call him Humanity's Strongest, though he's a bit different when you get to know him in person.

[are you offering Petra the chance to brag about her captain, because she'll totally will.]

[copia]

"Humanity's Strongest" — that's a pretty important-sounding title...

[ She may have opened the door for Petra to brag about her captain. ]

[vertrauen]

He's amazingly skilled, there's no one else who can handle titans like he can. I heard stories about him while I was in training about his feats, and I couldn't believe it until I saw it in person. It's a bit of a shock when you first meet him, though. He's mostly seen when he's on horse, so it's a shock to realize he's actually very short!

[Not that Petra has too much space to talk on height...]

[copia]

[ She laughs lightly as she reheats some white rice, imagining this Mr. Legend-type figure...and then shaving a few inches off of him. ]

It sounds like he's your town's hero, which is great. Has he taken down a lot of titans?

[vertrauen]

So many that they've stopped counting. And he mostly has solo kills, on top of that.

[She pauses, remembering her manners for a brief moment.]

Tell me how you want the table set, and I'll do that while you finish this.

[copia]

They stopped counting? Wow...

[ Now she has in mind this short-yet-dashing small town hero demolishing these "titans" — she's thinking giant monsters — like Levi is Barnaby. He keeps the town safe, he defeats the enemy, and he has a plethora of fans.

She has to stop imagining Levi to think about what they need, and then: ]

We need four small bowls — two for each of us. And... [ face is turning pink ] this is going to sound silly, and I don't mean to offend you, but do you use chopsticks?

[vertrauen]

[Well, Levi tends to crush the expectations of most people he meets; at least Petra has learned how to handle it by now.

Kaede's questions baffles Petra for a moment--another thing that she's never heard of. At some point, she'd get the hang of everything in the town, right?]

I don't know what they are.