"I hear that," he agrees, as though this was explicitly a plea that he not go haring off and do anything weird with death magic, because it probably was. "Door beneath the Staywell, clues in the graveyard, figure out why the death just— accumulates. I'll let you know if I stumble onto anything new."

He'd go through Pal, usually. Not... not right now.

"If you run across anything a life-and-death guy would be useful for, give me a ring." There's something heavily unsaid here, and John is skirting around the weight of it, hiding the tight line of his mouth behind his teacup. "Think of Pal as precision, and me as firepower, if it comes to that."