Dear Eliza [for Clara, Aradia, Liam, and Mab]

[necromancynow]

[This is the placeholder post for Faust's search for a way to communicate with his dead wife. Prompts inside!

Warning: probably contains mental torture and/or physical harm]

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[necromancynow]

"Thank you," he said, smiling warmly back at her. But now it was time to see his wife at last. He turned to the pentacle, began intoning the words of the spell. The summoning circle began to glow brightly, almost blinding in its brilliance. The shape of a woman appeared: tall, dressed in a pale pink nurse's uniform, with blonde hair that fell in long waves past her waist. She was lovely, just as lovely as Faust remembered.

"Johann?" she asked in disbelief. He moved forward to touch her arm, obut of course his hand simply went right through her. "Is it really you?"

It had been worth it. All those years of research all that torturing her name out of her uncle had all been worth it. He had hypotheses, of course; ghosts in distress had trouble controlling their powers. Perhaps his wife had remained in Germany while he'd been doing his preliminary studies. Back then he wouldn't have been able to see her. Back then -- but oh, what did that matter?

"Eliza," he said, his face lit with joy, "Don't worry. I've been working all these years. I'll bring you back! We can be together again!"

"Bring me back...?" She seemed taken aback for a moment. "You mean with the Fausts'... Johann, you musn't! It's unnatural!"

Then she looked around at the others assembled in the room. And at the room itself. "Where is this? What's happened?"

[megidoomed]

She'd been about to reply, attention split between Faust's cheerful comment and Mab's curious staring - but then the ritual begins, and the pieces began to fall into place.

Aradia didn't know a lot about being a ghost, admittedly. She was still testing her boundaries and learning just how far her new existence could stretch, especially when compared to older ghosts like Clara or anyone who'd done more intense study into the subject matter. But she liked to think she knew quite a lot about the living side of being a medium from sheer immersion and practice, as far as a teenaged girl could be counted to have experience in anything.

So whatever innocent joy she'd had at the start faded when Eliza's ghost started to panic. That... probably wasn't a good sign, and she has no qualms about edging back and quietly whispering to the other two observers to rule out ideas. "M-maybe she doesn't know she's dead? I know some ghosts don't realize it at first, but..."

[rules_winter]

Mab is pretty sure Eliza is aware she is dead. The reaction tells her that she also knows what Faust's plans are and doesn't approve. Of course, she doesn't need to approve if he can summon her and force her into a body. With Clara nearby she's certainly not going to mention that aloud. This is Faust's show, he gets to decide what is explained to his friends and what isn't.

She touched Aradia's wrist just momentarily in a soothing gesture and murmured, "I believe she is aware of the implications."