luministi | ◌ 019 ◌ さよなら (Farewell)

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◌ 019 ◌ さよなら (Farewell)

[Fuu sits contemplatively in front of the windows, staring out into the stars. Above the pages of her Luministi journal she holds a pen loosely in her hand, her mind wandering from her writing.]

[Everything that had happened was so unbelievable. The end had been so sudden and shocking. And now... now she gets to go home. The thing that she wanted the most also fills her with the most dread - how can she possibly explain her absence for over three months?]

[But before she gets to worry too much over that, she should make sure that she says proper farewells to everyone she met here. Because they have shared a very unique experience together. Something they will be unable to share with anyone else.]

[ooc: Much the same as Xion's post, Fuu will be in search of everyone in order to say goodbye! Or, of course, you might find her first XD]

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Oh, Ms Sara. I don't know that you owe me anything, however I would be honoured if you would choose to share the real ending with me. I'm certain that you had good reason to omit whatever you did.

[with a wry smile] I don't think you realise quite how much you did.

It wasn't something I wanted this town to know, but I don't think that matters now. You see...I told you that I stayed in the house. That the Doctor and Steven left, but I stayed. But that wasn't the whole story. [pauses, watching Fuu curiously for her reaction] Sara Kingdom left with them.

[Her face is thoughtful as she carefully considers that.]

"Sara Kingdom left with the Doctor and Steven?"

So I don't suppose that means that you stayed with the house for a while, then they came back and you passed the house on to Robert before leaving with them. You would have just said that...

[curiously and a touch uncertainly] I don't understand. Did something else happen when you were connected with the house? ...Are you not Sara Kingdom?

[sadness flickers across her expression] No. The Doctor and Steven never came back.

[but it quickly fades, and she gives Fuu one of her rather enigmatic smiles] Very good. I am Sara Kingdom, but...not as such. You see, when I--when she--put her hand in the indentation in the wall and wished for the house to have a sense of judgment, it responded by granting itself hers. And it did so by embossing a copy of Sara Kingdom's mind onto the house itself.

[blink, blink, wow]

The house made itself a copy of Ms Sara's mind... That is amazing! But then, was she okay? And then what happened when Robert took over the house from you? Does this mean that there are now two Sara Kingdoms in the universe? [She hesitates as that brings back memories of the test for Escudo, where she faced off against her copy-self.] Two good Ms Saras?

[laughs] It's not quite like you're thinking.

I suppose you could say that there are now two Sara Kingdoms. But... [her expression grows more somber] The other, the real Sara Kingdom, has been dead for a very long time. So in a way, there's only one, now.

Robert, well, that's another story. [smiles fondly] Without Robert, I still would be the house. He's been...a very dear friend to me. [glances at Fuu] Would you like to hear the end of Robert's story?

[Her eyes drop sadly when she hears that the 'real' Ms Sara has already passed away] I see...

Well, no matter how it was achieved, I'm very glad that you were able to be here with us, Ms Sara!

And I'm afraid that I cannot possibly decline one of your stories! [Her face clearly shows her eagerness.]

[smiles sadly] I think Sara would have been glad to hear you say that.

[laughs, but then her expression takes on a more serious cast] You should know, it's not the happiest of stories. But I think...no, I'm sure Robert would want me to share it.

[pauses, taking a deep breath before she begins] Robert began visiting the house quite a long time ago. Really, if I told you the whole story of his visits, we'd be in this town for a very long time! But Robert was a rationalist. When he first came to the house, he didn't believe in magic--or ghosts. He only believed in science--the science of his world. And his was a world that had long since lost the technology that had built the house. And so Robert was skeptical of it--of me--at first. But eventually, he came to accept what I could do, and from that point, the house just made him curious.

And then...then a disease swept over Robert's world. Law and order collapsed and, eventually, his daughter fell ill. And so he came back to the house, looking for the only chance he could think of to save her.

[Fuu nods, listening attentively. She can appreciate Robert being so scientifically-minded, not unlike herself. The house must have changed his perspective as Cephiro had changed hers.]
[Her face grows concerned at the thought of a disease that could harm the world so much that even law and order derailed. And for the one, personal story in all that chaos: Robert and his daughter.]

[solemnly] The only chance: a wish-granting house. What were you able to do for him?

[opens her mouth to respond--but then pauses. it's very difficult to explain what happened when Robert returned to the house without explaining what had happened before--what she had done to try to bring the Council there. what Robert had done in response. her dispersal into the air because of him, and then those years later, Robert returning, so desperate that he went against the law--and the Council's decision that he had brought about--to bring her back

I offered his daughter anything that she wished for. She was only 11 then. And would you know, the one thing that she wanted was the end of one of my stories? So I granted her that.

And then I offered Robert a choice.

[Fuu shakes her head wonderingly. The fatally ill girl had only wanted the end of one of Ms Sara's stories? That made this conversation all the more a privilege.]

A choice? [This strikes her as rather odd - like the genie in the bottle suddenly breaking it's role as one who only did as ordered. Although, of course, Ms Sara is far more sophisticated than a genie.]

What kind of choice? You had some sort of plan?

Yes... [Sara's expression is unreadable. it's up to Fuu to decide whether she believes the motives Sara is about to claim are true]

Robert had been curious about the house for a long time. He wanted to stay there, to find out more about what it--what I--could do. He hoped that I could save his world. But he wouldn't have stayed on his own. So, I told him that I would heal his daughter--if, in exchange, he stayed in the house for the rest of his life.

[At first Fuu is surprised by this. It sounded a bit sinister, Ms Sara cohersting Robert to stay in the house in exchange for his daughter's life. But then she gives it some more serious thought. Not believing Ms Sara to be a sinister person, she asks her question calmly and sincerely.]

Ms Sara... why would you offer him such a choice? Was it a way for you to grant Robert's desire to stay and observe the house, or was there some other reason you would go to such lengths to get him to remain there forever?

[meets Fuu's gaze, remembering Robert's words--his accusations, that she simply didn't want to be alone. their discussion of the price of wishes. but she doesn't want to say any of that]

Robert did want to stay, but his daughter--she was only eleven. She'd already lost her mother. Do you think she would have wanted to spend her life in the house, like her father did?

[shakes her head slightly] No, probably not. So Robert did stay? But I don't understand. Why would either of them have to spend their lives in the house? ... Unless--

[She cuts off, then continues softly. Her face fills with compassion as she puts the ideas together.]
The world was dying. Perhaps no one could come to the house anymore. And you said you were there a very long time.
Oh, Ms Sara. You must have been desperately lonely.

[frowns, her expression tightening] Robert said I did it to fulfill my own wish, too. But he wanted to stay. He just didn't realise what he wished for. In all those years, he never even asked to leave--never once even tried.

And Robert stayed in the house for a very long time--long after his daughter decided to leave it.

[Fuu nods slowly. 'He just didn't realise what he wished for.' Wishes could be so tragic... And a wish-granting house even more so.]

Yes, I remember you saying that Robert is a dear friend. And indeed he must have been, to accept what you offered him.

He was there for so long, what led to him wishing to replace you as the conscience of the house?

He had always wanted to know more about the house, and he wanted to save his world. But...I think it was when he realised that he wasn't aging that he began to think of that wish.

He wasn't aging? Just from staying in the house?

He didn't wish for that. Or perhaps he just hadn't realised what to wish for.

[Fuu shakes her head. This seems even more peculiar than Sara's part in the story with the house.]

[Uncertainly] How did it come to be that he wasn't aging then, if he didn't wish it?

[smiles] He didn't wish to age. All that time in the house, and never once in his mind did I see any desire to grow older--or to die. There was too much left that Robert wanted to know--and do to. And so he stayed as he was until, finally, he decided what he really wished for.

[Didn't wish to age. That was a head-scratcher all on it's own. How would someone even think to wish for something that should just happen naturally?]

[And now, the question is just begging to be asked. Perhaps she could even say it has been begged to be asked for a while now.]

What did he really wish for?

[is quiet for a moment, a smile on her face but sadness in her eyes--at what Robert gave up while giving her such a gift]

He wished to trade places--that he would become the house. And that I would become human.

Amazing... Not just observe the house, but become the house. And release you at the same time.

But then what did you do? You have been the house for so long, it must have been peculiar to be human again.

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