“Yeah, I think that’s fair to assume,” Magnolia considered. “Claire’s family is a little like that. I’m not sure how it all works if that’s the case, but she told me her family was approached by the funeral home they were sending her grandfather to and that’s when she first learned about it.”
"Interesting… maybe there's some way to reach more people? Make it more well known so that they know how to go through the proper steps after they pass away?" He wondered aloud, toying with a lock of his hair as he idly paced around the room. "I don't really know a lot about that kinda thing, though."
She shrugged. “Well, funeral homes will advertise themselves and such, but I guess it might differ depending where you are. And I must confess I don’t know much either, I’m not in the advertising department.” A chuckle slipped out as she stopped speaking. “I think there’s more information about it now that we have the internet, though. There’s a lot of stuff written by necromancers and other witches who can inform others about it, but it’s not very mainstream, as you can imagine.”
"Yeah, I guess so. And it's not really my place to be involved in that kinda thing, so…" Atlas shrugged and yawned, hoisting himself up onto the desk to sit on the edge. "But anyways, the next guy should be here kinda soon, right? We should make sure we're ready for him."
“Well, they’re fair questions to ask,” Magnolia pointed out. She checked the clock and shook her head. “We still have some time left. I’d be happy to answer any other questions you might have.” She gave him a small smile.
"Mm…" Atlas considered for a few seconds, trying to think of any more questions to ask. "Um… I can't really think of anything? I'll let you know if I come up with any, though…" He yawned and sighed, fidgeting with his hands.
She nodded. “Okay then. I’m just going to quickly check on some things…” she pulled out her laptop and opened up on the desk. Soon the sound of clicking and clacking filled the room. “We have digital records of these too, so I need to fill those out…”
"Mm?" Atlas glanced up curiously and wandered over to watch what Magnolia was doing on the computer. He pulled himself up a bit to see better, humming softly to himself. "How do you do that?" He asked.
She chuckled. “Oh, so now you have questions?” She said teasingly. “Well, I go into this program here…” she hovered the mouse over the program’s icon. “And then I go into this folder… and look through the digital documents until I find the big list with all the boxes, and then I fill out the person’s name and check the box that matches with the paper they signed, and then fill out the date.”
Atlas flushed a bit and apologized softly, but kept watching attentively regardless. His gaze followed the mouse on the screen, and although he couldn't read, he could at least somewhat tell what was going on. "That's cool… what do you do with it when you're done with it?"
Magnolia frowned a little at the apology, but said nothing of it, merely glancing at Atlas then turning back to the screen.
“Once I get everyone down, I press save, then send it to Mr. Khua and Ms. Atkin at the end of the day.”
Atlas nodded a bit and kept watching, resting his head on his hands as he stared at the screen. "That's cool… how do you send it to them?" He asked. "Do you just bring this to them? Or is it more complicated than that?"
“Well, sometimes I bring the laptop to Mr. Khua in case I made any mistakes or something’s changed. But when I know everything’s good to go, there’s a more… yeah, a more complicated process to go through.” Magnolia paused to think. Maybe it would too much for Atlas to learn about the many aspects of online communication just now… or anything to do with the internet in general. He can’t even read or write yet…
“But don’t worry about it right now, okay? It may be a bit too complicated, y’know?”
"Oh… okay. That makes sense, I guess." Atlas spotted a pen and reached out for it, starting to toy with it contentedly. He kept his eyes on the screen for the most part, still intrigued. "What should we do now if you don't have much more of that to do? There's nobody here yet, and I'm bored…" He whined.
(Hey! Just fyi school started for me so hopefully I’ll be able to respond this weekend)
(Alrighty!)
The clicking and clacking sound filled the room again. “Hmm, not sure. We still have some- oh.” Magnolia felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. Upon pulling it out, she smiled. “Claire’s asking us how we’re doing. Do you want to talk to her?”
Atlas looked at the phone curiously when it rung and grinned brightly at the question, nodding. "Yeah! I wanna talk to miss Claire!" He replied. "What are we gonna tell her about? The mean lady?"
She giggled, “Sure, if you want to.” Glancing back at the phone, Magnolia typed out a message detailing their encounter with Miss Jane, adding that they were doing fine (though Atlas was a little nervous). She sent the message, then looked back at him. “Now we just have to wait until she replies.”
Atlas nodded a bit and moved closer to Magnolia, resting his head on her shoulder. "Do you think she's gonna reply soon? How is she replying from so far away?" He asked curiously. "Isn't she at home or at work or whatever?"
Magnolia opened her mouth to answer when her phone made a little ringing sound. "Oh, there's your answer for you." She tapped the notification, her eyes flickered from side to side as she read it. "She says… she wishes she could punch the mean lady in the face." She laughed and shook her head. "Oh, Claire." Turning to Atlas, she then held the phone so he could see. "We both use these to communicate with each other over long distances. We should be able to receive each other's messages immediately."
Atlas looked at the phone curiously when Magnolia turned it towards him. He would have no idea what the words said if Magnolia hadn't just said them. "Yeah, the mean lady was mean for no reason…" He said softly, glancing up to listen to Magnolia speak. "That's cool. Are they magic?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.
"Well, not completely for no reason…" Magnolia muttered under her breath. Then she perked up at the question and chuckled. "No, it's not magic. It's technology. Although, some people will argue that technology can be magic, especially those who actually… ah, I'm rambling. Point is, it's not really magic. But it is very convenient."
She pulled the phone away to type a response to Claire. "I'll tell her we're just waiting for our next client."
"Oh, okay… that's pretty cool." Atlas said softly after Magnolia explained technology a bit. "How long does it take for people to respond with the technology?" He asked, tapping his fingers on the desk with a soft hum. "Since it's so convenient or whatever, people probably have it with them all the time right?"
(Shisjiejie I’ve been very busy sorry-)
“Oh yeah,” Magnolia agreed fervently, nodding her head. “It’s gotten to the point where you have to use it for certain things. Like how I use this,” she gestured to the laptop, “to record data.”