fourth. text.

[torrefied]

In the interest of having it completed some time this century, I'm taking over the project to create a guide document for new arrivals.

[And he's starting it from scratch, no thanks to Chris.]

If you can tear yourselves away from telling ghost stories long enough to reply, I'm interested to know what information you found most helpful when you first arrived, as well as what you would have liked to know sooner rather than later.

Comments

[enchangement]

[ River shrugs. Any answer is better than none. Besides there's nothing lost in the asking. ]

Oh.

Then it's better that you do it to reach for exacting standards and useful information.

[torrefied]

... Why do I feel like you're mocking me?

[Probably because you're a paranoid asshole, Mello.]

[enchangement]

You worry too much.

[ No, she means it. His attention to detail will probably help the project along. ]

[torrefied]

I worry because I have reasons.

[enchangement]

Everyone has reasons. Still. Too much.

[torrefied]

How do you quantify what's too much versus what's enough when it comes to reasons for worrying?

[Show your work, River.]

[enchangement]

When she makes fun of you, you'll know.

[ River rolls her eyes. ]

Always a threat, always a danger. From the air breathed to the neighbor's trigger finger. Do you still breathe? Do you still sleep?

If not, then too much worry.

[torrefied]

Maybe the reason I still breathe is because I worry.

[Because he's always on his guard, always alert for danger. After all, the last time he let his guard down, Bianca killed him. It's not difficult to find cause and effect there.]

[enchangement]

...maybe.

No more arguments, they produce the counterproductive.

What else do you need to make this work?

[torrefied]

[Well, she's not wrong.]

I don't know. Probably just a way to get the document loaded on the phones once it's finished, but I'm guessing Hope would need to do that, since he's the one who distributes the phones to begin with. Why - is there somethig I'm missing?

[enchangement]

An explanation of the Gods. Examples of what they've done.

Otherwise, no.

[torrefied]

[That's something no one else has mentioned yet, actually. He murmurs a quiet, wordless agreement.]

That's a good idea.

[And then he adds, almost begrudging, nearly an afterthought:]

... Thanks.

[enchangement]

Welcome. [ River grins. See? Friends are helpful. ]

What name do you answer to?

[torrefied]

... Mello.

[It's not the only name he's ever answered to, but Mihael Keehl feels like a boy he used to know a lifetime ago, and none of the other names he's answered to since then carried the weight that this name does, a weight built with blood and determination.]

You still answer to River?

[enchangement]

Yes.

[ She doesn't point out that it's her name. Names are weird, fluctuating things. She understands that they change. ]

It may always be River.

[torrefied]

It may not.

[People don't always need a secret mission to reinvent and rename themselves.]

You'll let me know if it changes?

[enchangement]

Yes.

[torrefied]

Good.