#bergen_county

"First, you become fetchingly pale... then thin, with great luminous eyes... and then, your lungs fill and you slowly drown in your own blood."

"Have you considered dotting a handkerchief with red spots?"

A gasp, and a sip of tea, "How could something be so elegant? That's so much more ...everything, than Chicken Pox"

"And no, I have not"

"You've been vaccinated though, right? Your parents aren't some of those mo... less than educated?"

"I mean, dying of consumption is great and all. Dying of a curable disease is much less glamorous, because folk won't think it's tragic, just dumb."

"Even before our changes, mom was saying Anti Vaxers were the flat earthers of biology"

"Feh. The world has no sense of poetic tragedy."

A snicker. "That was one of the first projects my dad worked on with Ann Marie. If they did another 'Educational Series', they should take Dirk along to beat it into some of those parents that they need to stick their kids."

"Subtlety is, alas, sometimes lost on the Tragically Stupid." He says, with a melancholic pose.

"Well, fair. Dirk would enjoy it, I imagine."

Thoughtful. "Maybe if there was a way to give the parents shingles without the kids getting sick. That would be fair karma and might teach them."

"Redcaps sound very..direct"

"Or a nightmare of their child dying of whooping cough. " He is plotting now, they can see it.

"Oh, they should suffer... mayhaps summon the ghosts of dead children to plague them?"

"I could pretend to be one" Volunteering

He gives Lily an appraising look. "How would you like a role in this... dramatic reinactment? You're nicely pale and deathly thin already. A few spots..."

An approving nod as she volunteers!

"maybe i could cough a lot? not loudly but"

"Oh, aye... a touch of makeup, some cobwebs..."

"A death rattle can be scarier than a hacking wheeze." Advised sagely.

"ooo I could rattle"

"Like.... auuhghhhh..uhhh..hhhh...." And he does a fair approximation of the last gasp leaving desperate lungs.

Admiring glance at that.

A tiny applause,

"he's very good at dying. He should do it more often"

"I don't really play the race card... but I bet I can play off some Coronavirus fears. Morons are locking the doors without even realizing that our own flu that we HAVE a vaccine for has killed so many more already just this year alone - and idiot parents thinking crystals and lavender will keep them safe." He shakes his head. "Sorry.. see, my dad's a doctor, and he has to deal with this all day... he could've been a world-class surgeon on call, but he wanted to work with people directly." A shake of his head, uncomprehending.

"Oh... my. Indeed."

"What, just because you're asian'merican?" A scowl "That's stupid and mean."

"People are often ignorant, and thus stupid and mean."

A nod. "And when the poorest people end up not getting resources, it just reinforces a stupid cycle. But... yeah. I think maybe we can do something. And if we get just even just one of the ringleaders of those... mommy anti-science groups down, it could help."

"Well, I like some asian stuff because it's spooky. their ghosts are like, green and their demons have cup heads and... well it's just a lot of neat stuff"

"Quite good demons, agreed."

"If you need help, Mister Symon, let me know, and I will look very dead from not getting vaxcinated or whatever you need. I want to practice so this will help me"

He glances at Zara. "Do you think this is an appropriate use of her talents? I'm no teacher... I don't want to mess things up."

"I think this is a worthwhile exercise."

"We are nightmares." With pride.

A small smile, and he nods to Lilly. "I'll see what details I can scrounge from Ann Marie's notes and online. I think one of the local ladies leagues meets around town - they don't let them in the library anymore since they tried to coordinate a pox party there." And a grin over to Lilly. "Ever heard of Pox Parties? It was a great idea back before there were vaccines, if a bit gruesome in nature..." And will tell her about how children would be cooped up together with one sick until they were all taken with the pox.

"...it worked out better in the end because kids would get sick when young and not when they were older and it was dangerous, but can you imagine how it would feel to be trapped in a room with a plaguebearer?" A snicker.

"I feel like maybe a sluagh came up with the idea."

"Can you imagine?" He twirls an imaginary villanous moustachio, and sweeps a dramatic hand. "And thus we shall give ALL your children the consumption! Muah ha - ha ha -ha ha!"

Zara grins.

She is enraptured "Oh yes, please"

He starts helping to tidy up his place. "I think I'll go get started. Oh." He pauses and gives Lilly a small, formal bow. "Thank you very much for tea. It was, uh, delightful. I hope to host you both sometime soon."

"And please, keep the rest of the cookies. Ann Marie thinks if she feeds me as much as Dirk, maybe I'll be heartier. And I'm running out of places to hide the food - even with a Redcap in the house."

She curtseys "You are always welcome here, Mister Symon" A pause "Save when you are not, of course but mostly yes"

Zara pitches in on cleaning up.

"A lovely tea, Miss Lily. Thank you for hosting."

And the young girl tends to it all, 'Well, you did the tea, Miss Zara"

Symon slips out so that they can continue chatting after clearing his place.