"Is that by any chance a bell that kills you?"

"It is a bell that kills everyone in earshot!"

"...Why is there a bell that kills everyone in earshot?" she asks, idly tucking a wing around him. (It's a very cozy wing.)

Mm, cozy. He snuggles in. "Well, the primary function of the bells is necromancy, so it's less random than it sounds." 

"I suppose that makes sense."

"But it's not really useful except as a deterrent." 

"Or if the person carrying it is suicidal. Or very, very deaf."

"You know, I'm not actually sure if deafness stops the bells." 

"And even if it stopped the rest it might not stop that one. I wouldn't want to be the one to test it, that's for sure."

"No kidding--although I suppose if one were to test it, here would be the place." 

"Yeah, in a place like this if they advertise a death ward you have to figure it's been tested against some pretty emphatic forms of death."

"Yes...honestly, I'm curious how the bells work at all here, I have no idea if this place is connected to the Gates." 

"The Gates?"

"It's a liminal river inhabited by the Dead and divided into nine precincts. Beyond it is--presumably something--from which no one has ever returned." 

"Death in my world isn't anything nearly so fancy."

"Hm. Mosrael in particular seems likely to work oddly if at all, then." 

"Oh? What's that one do?"

"Mosrael is the Walker, which brings the Dead into life as it casts the wielder into Death." 

"What an inconvenient-sounding bell."

"It's not that inconvenient. Any necromancer worth their salt can handle the first few precincts, and it doesn't cast you far into Death." 

"Still! So far I haven't heard you describe a bell that doesn't try to kill you at least a little bit!"

"Well, the ones that don't are less likely to interact oddly with the death ward or the school! I've only mentioned two." 

"Fair enough." Snuggle.

Snuggle. "I admit I don't know much of anything about the thought processes that went into designing the system." 

"I would definitely have questions for the inventor of the Kills Everyone Bell if I met them."