Truth is what I offer

Turns around to see everyone walking with flowers, chocolates or plushies but mostly, next to someone they love.

“…”

Nith stared at Karthus for a moment, then back at the street.

“Dad, I love you so much.”

Now she had to figure out who should she kill and how could she rip their heart out for her dad who thinking about it has become her best friend through the years.

“Who do you want me to kill?”

“Uh.”

Karthus really, really should have seen this coming. “That...tradition is...no longer practiced. I would greatly prefer if you did not, at least for the time being.”

Darn, and he had no need for heart-shaped trinkets and didn’t eat, either.

Turns around to see everyone walking with flowers, chocolates or plushies but mostly, next to someone they love.

Perpetually-single Karthus personally had no use for the holiday, but the story behind it was equal parts sappy, violent, and gruesome. In short, exactly the kind of story that would stick in a Noxian child’s brain within seconds of first hearing it.

“Legend has it that long ago, back when the Noxii were mere scattered tribes, before even the reign of the Iron Revenant, there was one day of the year devoted to strengthening bonds through martial prowess.

A lover would slay their beloved’s second greatest rival - the glory of killing their greatest rival reserved for the beloved, of course - and present their beloved with the resultant corpse’s eviscerated heart. This would convey that the lover was both willing and able to fight for their beloved, but also not steal the glory of victory for themself.

As casual murder became less socially acceptable over the generations, the tradition changed to the cooked heart of an animal, a heart-shaped baked good, or another object of similar symbolism.

Oh no, did something horrible happen again?

“Needs of living human..?”

Ah, right… she was human, wasn’t she? She was still human? As the tears continued to fall from her eyes Nith began to think about how many things still made her human and how many things did not.

First of all she now had to drink quantities of blood that, at some point when she read a book, would make her, in description, a vampire, on the other hand she still loved animals and nature. She had long since stopped feeling other things, such as cold. Although she still appreciated hot baths and her trauma with cold water persisted. In fact, most of her friends were souls or non-human beings. Did she have any human friends?

“I think… I still have some of those. I do eat from time to time and for traveling I could really use a pair of shoes. Some money to pay for lodging, though, my little singing jobs cover that. I guess… I can still consider myself a living human? I guess, though, my appearance is not human at all and I almost attacked you, dad…”

What? Why was Nith crying about needing to eat?

“You are, by your own accounts, some percentage of living and undead. It stands to reason that you would still have some of the needs of the former, altered though they may be by the undead part of you.”

Karthus, who had no nose, greenish-gray skin, and glowed blue from his eyes and mouth, wasn’t sure what his daughter was talking about with the ‘not looking human’ comment.

“Nith, you look exactly like a human outside of, at most, your eye color pointed ears. Your personhood is not determined by your resemblance to a living human, regardless.

Oh no, did something horrible happen again?

Her cherry red eyes blinked a couple of times as she watched her father rummage through so many pockets… wow… she didn’t know priest’s robes had so many pockets, maybe she should look for a similar outfit. Anyway, when he claimed to have found what he was looking for, she held out her hands thinking it would be a coin or two, not a whole packet, let alone that amount.

At that moment Nith finally understood something. Grandpa Maokai gave her a lot of money the time she complained that she was hungry. Thresh continued to give her dresses of fine material, and now Karthus had that amount on hand and even confirmed that she could ask for more if she needed it.

She stood there, staring at the bag of coins, and began to cry without noticing.

“Wait… then… you, pappa and grandpa, are rich? So, I’m not poor anymore? I can buy all the cupcakes I want?”

Karthus paused. He was...rich? Well, he supposed he was. It hadn’t occurred to him to think of himself that way as he only occasionally needed to spend the money he collected from those no longer in need of it.

“I...suppose I am.” He couldn’t help but think of how useful that would have been back when he was still living and starving and desperate enough to-

Regardless, it isn’t as though he would have had the opportunity. No one in Noxus was wasteful enough to burn or bury their dead with anything that could still be used.

“If you still need to eat beyond the blood issue, then yes. If you still have the nutritional requirements of a living human, then cupcakes alone will not suffice, but by all means go ahead.”

Oh no, did something horrible happen again?

She didn’t pick up the last part.

“Okay then I shall pay that place a visit!”

She mentioned pushing herself up and cleaning her skirt while doing so.

“I wonder if I can go there looking like this or, maybe I should try some new clothes. Do I need to pay for an appointment and how much? Mmm maybe they would be okay with a carrot or two. Otherwise I don’t know how I could pay them, maybe if I look through a couple of corpses around the beaches of the Isles…”

“I assure you, no one in Zaun is going to disdain you for how you dress, because they will be wearing something far stranger out of either necessity or taste.”

The things they wore in that place were frankly bizarre, well beyond the mere constraints of poverty or the devices they needed to survive in such an environment. No, even the wealthy and healthy dressed in baffling fashions on purpose.

“Ah yes, currency. The dead in Bilgewater often have a good assortment of silver serpents and gold krakens in their water-coffins, which a Zaunite might accept simply for the value of the metal. I haven’t the slightest idea what one might charge for such a service, but...ah, hold on.”

Karthus dug around in his robes, which concealed a surprising amount of pockets, and came up with a money-pouch. From there he poured out fifteen krakens and five serpents to hand to Nith.

Oh no, did something horrible happen again?

“Honestly I wouldn’t know, it’s been a hot minute since I tried to investigate or be near a doctor. Besides, it must be someone really good at what they do, otherwise it would be pointless. Imagine ME walking to a clinic while saying: Hello sir, I’m an half undead that is trying to discover her blood type before I murder humans again! I bet regular humans wouldn’t know that we exist.”

Besides Noxus there weren’t many options, unless…

“What if… how about this fancy place? What was it’s name… Zaun or Piltover? I heard they are good with science and this wild things. How about I try going there and finding a doctor? A suitable one.”

“That is a very good point. You’d need some kind of specialist, and a rather open-minded one at that.”

What kind of doctor would even be able to treat someone with a...how would they even phrase it? Blood deficiency, perhaps. No one would have the kind of absurdly specific knowledge except for one of the eccentrics in-

Ah yes, Zaun.

Oh no, did something horrible happen again?

“Hemomancy?”

That term Nith had heard before, especially during the months she stayed in Noxus, it seemed to be something commonly practiced, and taking into account her dad’s previous mention of a white-haired man dressed in red… it might not have been such a bad idea on her part to leave such an investigation aside.

“I know it’s blood magic and it has something to do with what we do, doesn’t it? Uhm… undeads? But I wasn’t referring to it, according to recent studies by doctors, there are different blood types. Some can donate to others while others can only receive, and vice-versa.

I really have no idea what type of blood I am, I never had a blood test to determine that, after all the mage seekers didn’t care much if you ended up convalescing or not. So outside of the special circumstances of those ‘wild moments of mine’ I wouldn’t know how to receive blood or if I can in my normal condition. You know, like transfusions. The plastic bags filled with blood that you pass to another person through a tube and an injection?”

Transfusions? Why would anyone go to the-oh, right. People outside of Noxus didn’t have hemomancers clotting the streets and would thus have to resort to other tactics.

“Who would be qualified to perform a blood test and willing to do so in the present for you? That strikes me as a valid first step. If they are qualified but unwilling, perhaps they could be persuaded by the mention of your blood frenzies. If you were to determine what blood type worked and feed regularly in small quantities, it may be enough to prevent those unwilling rampages.”

                 “ Yₒᵤ'ᵣₑ fₐₗₗᵢₙg ₐₚₐᵣₜ. Wₕₐₜ ₜₒ dₒ wᵢₜₕ ₜₕₑ ₚᵢₑcₑₛ? ”

                       Independent | Selective | Thresh RP Blog

The banshee took the pants and looked at them, the details and the little figures standing out.

"Daddy, this way people will never believe I'm a grown woman..."

Finally, holding them up in front of her, she exclaimed with joy: