iii. dictated

[heloise]

Would you leave the Castle now, if you could?

Friday was unfortunate. But for most of the year, surely it has given us a comfortable home and the most singular of friends.

And so, as for myself, I would not. I should like to tarry here a little longer, if only to relish the taste of liberty and the fruits of invention. Refrigerators are so magnificent!

[ With that, she will be in the kitchen with the fridge door open, sticking her hands into it with glee. ]

Comments

[heloise]

Ah, a pity. I thought we could have fresh fruits for Christmas, wouldn't that be lovely?

[blue_sniper]

Well, I suppose if you froze them... Maybe they would keep. I wouldn't try it, though.

[heloise]

I shall try it for this Christmas, if I am still here. We can have our pan d'oro with strawberries.

[blue_sniper]

...What's pan d'oro? [He has no idea what she is talking about half the time. It's either the century gap, or the money gap between them.]

Oh, and your question. Even if I did leave the Castle, it wouldn't do me any good.

[heloise]

[ Geographic as well. ] It is a special golden cake for Christmas.

Why wouldn't it, Bucky, if you could meet your best friend again?

[blue_sniper]

Well, my best friend is here. He got here a few weeks before I did. [She might have even met him.] And well... I'm dead.

[heloise]

Oh.

[ And follows the palpable silence. She has never learned how to comfort the dearly beloved. And all her games about reading his fortune must have seemed so cruel. ]

I hope, then, that you will stay here with him. For a long, long time.

[blue_sniper]

Don't worry about it, Lucrezia. I'm not technically dead yet. I'm still here.

[heloise]

I would be terribly sad for you if you leave, so I hope you never do.