◌ 017 ◌ What is behind door number two?

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

[Video message to everyone]

Thank you for that message, Mister Braxiatel!

I'm completely in agreement with his suggestion, so, would anyone like to team up with me? I think I know the answer to Miss Osculia's question.

Comments

[finalwished]

I think I'd like to get behind these doors as well. [not least of all because she can't believe she's trapped in another house! clearly she deserves this somehow] Are you near that one? I'd be happy to go with you.

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

[brightly!] Thank you, Ms Sara. I am indeed near it. I'll see you in a moment.

[finalwished]

I'll be waiting there. [because, as it turns out, she was exploring the area just adjacent to that door, so it doesn't take her long to arrive at all. she studies it once she's there]

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

[And poof, here Fuu is.]

Thank you for teaming up with me, Ms Sara. Who knows what's on the other side of that door... well, provided we can get through it! [Joins her in investigating the door.]

[finalwished]

[smiles] I'm eager to find that out myself.

Did you want to use your CAT for the security code, or shall I?

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

Well, I'll try answering the question, so I'll use my CAT. But thank you.

[Fuu resolutely passes her CAT over the door's panel.]

[finalwished]

[watches curiously to see whether Fuu can answer the question. being as new as she is, she unfortunately knows little about the people these questions are focused on]

[luministimods]

Miss Osculia's voice speaks in response to Fuu's CAT request:] What treat is the best reward?

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

[With far more confidence than she feels:]

Chocolate!

[luministimods]

[ooc: I suppose this is the part where I apologize to myself for tagging out of order...]

[the door gives a buzzing sound of rejection]

[finalwished]

[frowns, disappointed] Maybe it's looking for something more specific than that? What candy have you seen in town?

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

[Her heart sank with that buzz of rejection, but she perks up at Ms Sara's suggestion.]

Well, there is a whole candy store full of anything you can imagine. But out of all the things I brought to Miss Osculia...

[She passes her CAT over the door again and says,]

Creme-filled chocolates!

[luministimods]

[again, a buzz sounds to reject her answer]

[finalwished]

[sighs, thinking] If she liked those, maybe the answer is something similar to that? [pauses thoughtfully] Has she ever given you--or any of the residents--any treats while you've been here?

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

[Urk. Fuu rather dislikes being wrong.]
[She considers that thoughtfully for a time. Miss Osculia, give something?]

Not from her. ...At least, not her directly? But some treat that we were rewarded with...?

[She passes her CAT over the door again and says tentatively the treat that she'd received from the mysterious box at the garden:]

Mint fudge?

[luministimods]

[another unhappy buzz]

[finalwished]

[thoughtfully] She did mention both a treat and a reward. I would have thought that would be it...

Have you received any other treats as part of a reward?

[Mun gives the door an incredulous stare--]

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

[Fuu gives the door an incredulous stare, embarrassment warring with stubbornness in her mind and on her face. She had been decently certain that she'd known the answer. But to strike out three times!]

[At Ms Sara's encouragement, she tilts her head and thinks carefully back on everything. She then takes out her Luministi journal (which she'd had on her when she'd been drawn here) and starts paging through it.]

No, I don't think so. Unless she means some other treat than a dessert. In which case, it could be nearly anything. 'Gold coins', 'a job well done', 'free time', 'truth?' No, 'truth' is certainly Miss Verita's answer.

[Still paging through the journal, she speaks softly to herself.] Treat. Reward. She works for the Mayor, so it might even be hidden in something he said?

[finalwished]

[looks over Fuu's shoulder, wishing she had more of the evidence to solve this mystery] Maybe something you received from the Mayor then?

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

[Fuu sighs and shakes her head. She passes the book over to Ms Sara. Who knows if the answer is even in what she's written, but perhaps she could tease something out.]

There were things that might be a reward, but I wouldn't consider it a treat. And vice-versa. [She pauses, giving herself a mental shake.]

I didn't know the answer, but we'll find it. She wouldn't ask something hopeless, right?

[finalwished]

Thank you. [starts to flip through the pages]

No, I'm sure she wouldn't. But here... [points at a passage in front of her] You say you helped find a murderer in town. The mayor really didn't give you anything after accomplishing something like that?

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes. To everyone who helped, he sent a plaque and a gift basket.

[With a shrug she grins.]

I'm not sure if Miss Osculia had anything to do with it, or if it's really a treat, but it's worth a try! Besides, there was candy in there, I think. What all was in that gift basket again? [After peeking onto the next page Fuu swipes her CAT before the door with each item:]

Commemorative plaque.
Gift basket.
Restaurant gift certificates.
Chocolate-covered cherries.

[finalwished]

[watches the door, hoping that one of these will be the answer it's looking for]

[luministimods]

[the door buzzes at those first three items, but at the fourth, it gives a ding of approval and swings open]

[dryly] Ah. So it's you.

[Miss Osculia is in the middle of the room, sitting behind a desk identical to her desk outside the Mayor's office in the Town Hall. In fact, the room is painted to look like that very hallway, complete with the door to the Mayor's office painted on the wall behind her]

Were you going to come in?

[o.o omg yay!]

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

[Fuu smiles brightly as the door opens on 'chocolate-covered cherries'. It was candy after all!]

Ms Sara, that was splendid. Thank you!

[Despite Miss Osculia's dry reception, Fuu keeps smiling as she enters the room. She promises herself to treat the woman to a nice big box of chocolate-covered cherries once she can leave this house.]

Thank you. After all the trouble of unlocking the door, I had best do so.