Streets of Fandom, Friday morning

[raven_unhollow]

Raven prowled through the streets of Fandom, keeping a wary eye out for any villagers foolish enough to be out by themselves (herself excluded, of course) or those who had gone hollow. She was also looking for any of these new visitors to the island she'd both sensed and heard about. Some of them felt...familiar in a way, though she couldn't

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[deathof_you]

Today was a better day than yesterday, though not such a good one that Death remembered to cast a shadow.

She tilted her head curiously at Raven, wondering whether she would be fun to play with. (The strongest ones scream the prettiest, she thought, before dismissing the thought. She wasn't going to make anyone scream, not yet.)

"Hello," she said, a bit vaguely, as though she wan't sure whether to expect an answer.

[raven_unhollow]

"Hello, Didi," Raven said warily. She hadn't expected Death herself to fall victim to the corruption of the island, but sadly that hadn't proven to be the case.

[deathof_you]

"People used to call me that," Death said, sounding surprised. She knew and forgot her human name and learned it again all the time. "People used to call me a lot of things. People used to call you Rachel."

It had taken island magic on top of the corruption for Death to become this hollow and this close to monstrous. But once the coruption's claws were in, there was nothing she could do to stop it.

[raven_unhollow]

Rachel. She hadn't heard that name in a long time, either. Why had she used that name instead of her own? She couldn't quite remember.

"Lady Death is what I would often call you," Raven said, still keeping her distance. Others who had gone hollow she could fight. She wasn't so sure she could deal with one of the Endless, even corrupted as she was.

[deathof_you]

Death, for her part, seemed disinclined to start a fight, though of course that might change at any moment.

"Lady Death," she repeated grandly. "I like that. I like it almost as much as I like eldest sister. Is my sister here?"

[raven_unhollow]

"Not that I am aware of," Raven said. Thankfully. One hollow Endless was enough. She shuddered to think of a hollow Delirium, or worse, Dream. Dreams were their only escape in this place.

"I have not seen any of your siblings."

[deathof_you]

"Oh," Death said, thinking that over. (Thinking was hard; it took her a while.) "I miss them. But I suppose it's good they aren't sick."

She looked past Raven as she spoke, wondering if she might find weaker prey.

[raven_unhollow]

Raven didn't miss that look. She wasn't sure she could take on Death herself, but she might be forced to.

"You should return to the graveyard," she said. "If they come looking for you, that is where they would seek you out." She had no idea if that were true or not, but it sounded good.

[deathof_you]

"But there's no one to play with there right now," Death said, reasonable. "I get lonely. I make things but then they all fall apart."

Usually because she killed them, true.

"Why don't you come to the graveyard with me and we can both wait?"

[raven_unhollow]

"Perhaps later," Raven said, which of course meant "Hahaha no." "There are some things I need to do first, but I can visit another time."

[deathof_you]

Death smiled sadly at her. "I'll come find you if you don't."

[raven_unhollow]

And didn't that send a chill down Raven's spine. She nodded at Death. "I will see you soon, then," she said.

Now she really had to find if there was a way to put an Endless to rest.