un: Black Prince; text

[blackscales]

What funerary rites are you familiar with?

The Kaldorei cleanse a body, perform a final viewing where there is singing then take it to a resting place and grow flowers around it. Goblins have extravagant funerals with mourners and ornate coffins which they are buried or entombed in along with all their accumulated wealth. In Kul Tiras burials at sea are common, while the Tauren peoples burn their dead on funeral pyres so their spirits may return to the Earth mother.

Here, burials appear to be common I have gathered.

Comments

[blackscales]

[ This person would get along well with Goblins. ]

If you are fond of explosions I can see the appeal.

[in_theworks]

[he absolutely would]

I am absolutely fond of explosions, my dude.

Seriously, though? It's like. I'm not there, anymore, after death, so what do I care what happens to my body? We don't have zombies or whatever's going on here, half the time. [so, funerary rites aren't strictly necessary. maybe here, he'd like to be buried or burned, if and when he dies, just so he doesn't end up a monster, but not back home] And there aren't a whole lot of people who would mourn me.

[blackscales]

It is your choice. If that is what you wish, I see no reason it should not be indulged.

[ Azeroth has seen weirder things, why not blow yourself up as a funerary rite to be quite honest. ]

[in_theworks]

And this is why I like you.

So, what are funerals like, where you're from?

[he gathers, at least, that Wrathion isn't a part of any of the groups he mentioned, not that the names of any of those groups mean much to him. well. goblins, maybe, by virtue of his team's hideout being in the basement of a game shop and his being familiar with D&D, but]

[blackscales]

[ Hmm. ]

I have never personally attended a funeral.

[ Which is true. He knows the concept of how his kind approach death, however. Knows that all dragons lay themselves to rest in Dragonblight, aiming to return to their flight's respective dragonshrine.

Or what's left of them.

He wonders, distantly, how many people would even mourn his own passing. The other flights little trust him, and Ebyssian is the only strong connection he has left to his own. ]

[in_theworks]

[there's a very long pause before Wrench answers again. it's clear he was debating whether or not to admit what he's about to tell him]

Neither had I, until kinda recently.

One of the guys I worked with got kidnapped, and when he didn't wanna do what they wanted him to do, they killed him. We didn't find him fast enough.

[blackscales]

[ ... Did he also want to be exploded?

That feels like something Wrathion shouldn't ask, but he's horrendously curious if this is a sentiment anyone else shared.

He contains himself. ]

Death is common for my people, funerals less so. We are rarely offered the chance. I hope you had the opportunity to mourn.

[in_theworks]

[probably not. he and Horatio were like night and day]

Mostly?

I kinda got arrested, like, less than a week after the funeral, but.

[but there had been a funeral and they'd all gone to it]

So, what would you do if you needed to do a funeral?

[if he's never been to a funeral, if his people really aren't afforded the chance, what would he do, if they were? if he, personally, were in charge of laying someone to rest?]

[blackscales]

[ Ah.

Hmm. ]

Whatever was the local custom for the deceased, I suppose. If it were one of my own, there is a place we are meant to return to when death is near. I suppose I would be sure they could be taken there, if it were safe.

[ And then? Titans know, he supposes he'd have to... invent something.

Or ask Alexstraza. As uncomfortable as the thought is, he supposes death rites should be more... important than their disagreement. ]

[in_theworks]

Is it kind of like a pilgrimage thing?

[is it purposefully not safe?]

[blackscales]

It is more akin to a return home.

[ It isn't purposefully unsafe? Just... you know. War Happens So Much. ]

[in_theworks]

Huh, okay.

[he guesses maybe he can understand that. there were times were it wasn't safe to go back to the hackerspace. it was all pretty temporary, but -- well, that's as close to a home as he really has]

But anyway. Why the interest?

Is it because of Dipshit?

[the Merchant and his upset over them putting the coma ward out of its misery]

[blackscales]

[ ... Dipshit?

This sounds like a nickname for someone, and the only reason Wrathion makes any guess at all here is because Eleven also had an amusing nickname for one specific person: ]

Do you mean our absent benefactor?

[in_theworks]

Yeah.

'The Merchant' or whatever.

[as if that's his real name]

[never mind the fact that neither is 'Wrench']

[blackscales]

[ Right, at least he's getting better at translating this! ]

Then no, it's research for the... atonement I have been assigned here.

[in_theworks]

I dunno if that's better or worse.

[but either way]

What

is your quest, anyway?

[he knows the Monty Python reference there isn't going to get him anywhere, but he couldn't help it]

[blackscales]

[ It absolutely means nothing to Wrathion, although his player appreciates it.

Still: ]

I have been set to atone for someone whose negligence allowed a burial ground to be defiled.

[in_theworks]

Ooh, yeah, that's bad news bears, where I'm from.

That's how you get into, like, creepy evil undead and shit.

Fictionally, anyway.

We don't ACTUALLY have undead where I'm from.

[blackscales]

Then you're quite lucky. They're a nuisance, as no doubt you have learned in your time here.

[in_theworks]

Little bit.

I take it you guys actually have zombies or whatever, though?

[blackscales]

We have several categories of undead, some more problematic than others.

[in_theworks]

Like sentient and

uh

UNsentient or whatever?

[what is the opposite of sentient? no one knows. like the difference between zombies and, say, vampires is what he means, though]

[blackscales]

Some recall more of themselves, some become mindless, some gain... unusual abilities.

[ It's really quite the mix. ]