"Oh. Sorry."

"It's just one of those things. If we stay in protected civilized areas undead aren't a huge risk."

"That's good."

"Yeah. And one can learn to set them on fire with magic and whatnot."

Sandess is quiet.

"Anyway, science fantasy world, that's cool, what's - uh, Riley's - day to day like with the science fantasy world?"

"The science fantasy stuff isn't that big a thing day-to day. We go to school in the morning, go to classes about- well, we have science classes, I guess you'd have less of that without technology. There's also maths, English, gym, social studies and Spanish. And at lunch Riley hangs out with friends. After school she has hockey training three days a week and after that and on other days she does homework and sometimes visits a friend to do it with them. And then if we gets time after that she hangs out with friends more, or reads, or Skypes friends, or listens to music, or looks stuff up online. Skyping is a way of talking to people in other places. Kind of like a phonecall but using a computer and you can see each other."

"We have magic mirrors for calling people. English and Spanish are - languages?"

"Yes. English is the one Riley speaks. Uh, she also speaks Spanish in Spanish class and for practice but not as well."

"She has to take a class in the one she speaks natively?"

"Yeah. The class is more about reading stories and writing essays."

"Oh, like a literature class and a composition class."

"Yeah."

"Those are good to have. What do you do for gym?"

"We play hockey there too when it's an option. But currently it isn't so we're doing soccer, which is another sport."

"These games aren't translating, so I'm guessing they aren't very much like skirmish or gladiating."

"Probably not. Those sound like they're fighting games, and hockey and soccer aren't."

"We have other games for little kids, but I think people Riley's age have started learning to fight. Maybe you have fewer monsters and it's less of a life skill."

"We don't have monsters."

"None at all? Gosh."

"I guess it might depend on what you mean by 'monster'? There are dangerous animals in the world, but we don't call them monsters. And we don't have any dangerous animals in California, which is where Riley lives."

"What's California like?"

"Hot and dry. San Francisco is also busy and crowded and loud and confusing and foggy. And there are lots of homeless people there. The food is weird. There's not enough open space, and there are cars everywhere, and it's really hilly so it's hard to walk anywhere."

"Sounds inconvenient, but maybe you'd list inconvenient things about anywhere you lived because you're a Sadness?"

"I guess so. Minnesota was really nice, but I didn't really appreciate it until Riley's parents decided to leave."