niceskirts | Ruby City Inbox

Twenty minutes. The door's unlocked, as I said.

See you then!

[And, about twenty minutes later, here she comes, checking the address, knocking first anyway even though the door is unlocked, toting a bag of her few gathered things. She peeks in before toeing off her shoes.]

Hello? Dr. Lutece? It's Keiko Yukimura.

In here!

[Though she emerges a moment after calling that. Rosalind's changed, though the smell of fresh paint lingers about her. It's a much more elegant and put-together woman that smiles faintly at the sight of Yukimura, and nods towards one of the couches.]

Come sit. I assume the journey over was pleasant enough?

[A beat, and then she adds:]

You may as well start calling me Rosalind, if we're to live together.

[That, and Dr. Lutece will get confusing around here.]

Oh--that's--u-um. [She clears her throat.] Well, if you're sure.

[Goodness, the only adult she calls by her first name is Atsuko, and, well. Atsuko's maturity level is what it is. As much as she sympathizes with the woman, she hardly bears the air of dignity Dr. Lutece carries with her.]

Then, please, call me Keiko, too. Since we're living together.

Keiko, then.

[She nods towards one of the seats. Upstairs, one can hear Robert moving about: walking this way and that, fussing with some of their scientific equipment.]

. . . Keiko. I told you that there was another occupant here, Robert. We, ah--

[Ah, how to even begin explaining this? Rosalind hesitates again, then gets up to fetch a notebook. Returning to her seat, she says:]

We're a bit unusual, he and I. But a bit of a background is needed to explain, so tell me first: what is it you know about the theory of parallel universes?

[Because that's typical knowledge needed when one wants to explain one's S.O.]

[B l i n k.]

Um. Not much, I think. That's not referring to... to different planes like the human world and the spirit world, right? It's more... sci-fi than that.

[So demons and spirits aren't sci-foh okay let's not get into the semantics of it, I guess.]

Mm, no, that's a different concept. Parallel universes are . . .

[She draws a small figure in the notebook.]

Imagine yourself at a crossroads. You have a decision to make. It hardly has to be drastic, so long as deciding will make a difference. Eventually, you choose.

[A line branches off from the figure.]

For every choice you didn't make, the theory states, there exists a universe where you did. All the choices that a person ever makes, their opposite exists in another world. Does that make sense?

[Keiko watches Rosalind draw and nods slowly, hands clasped in her lap.]

Okay. That seems logical. We already know different worlds exist... from, well, being here.

[She tucks her hair behind her ear.]

A lot of those worlds seem to be pretty similar--that is, I've talked to other people who seem to be from Japan, but from other times or with other differences. So if this is one way to explain those discrepancies, I think it makes a lot of sense. The worlds... branched off, like your crossroads.

[She looks up.]

Am I close at all?

You are. That's precisely right. You and I, for example, come from different worlds. I remember living in a city that floats in the air, whereas you, I'm almost certain, don't have any such phenomena in your history books.

[Which is a very interesting example, and one Miss Yukimura surely will ask about, but not just yet.]

Now, when it comes to Robert and I . . . we aren't from the same world, to begin with. We're from parallel ones, ones so similar to each other you'd have a hard time differentiating if you didn't know where to look. He, ah--

[Oh, she might as well be plain about it.]

He's what would occur if Rosalind Lutece had been born male.

If...

[Wait for it.]

...Oh. Oh! So, you're... and he...

[Keiko's such an honest girl, it's easy to see the connection play across her face. Yup, there it is, she's got it.]

So, you're... you're different versions of the same person. Sort of?

Yes.

[Rosalind doesn't look anxious, exactly, but there's a bit more fidgeting with her pen than there'd been a moment ago.]

Our lives diverged in various ways, but yes, we're more or less the same person. But, ah, we regard ourselves in--

[Oh, hell. Oh, hell, she hates admitting this, she hates this part, there's a reason she's not told anyone but Kurama--]

--a romantic light.

[SMITE HER NOW, O MIGHTY SMITER]

...Ohhhh.

[The pieces reassemble themselves and click into place, and, finally, Keiko can see the whole picture. They're the same person. But a boy and a girl. And they came together across an impossible divide...

She touches her face as it all comes together, then blinks and focuses on the woman before her once more, fitting her understanding to the reality.]

So... you... you love each other?

Yes.

[It's a very simple answer, but there's something particularly intent in Rosalind's tone. Do they love each other? God. There isn't a thing in all the worlds that she wouldn't do for her Robert. There isn't an act imaginable she wouldn't commit if it meant keeping him alive and well at her side. God, she'd torn open the world just to get him at her side; does she love him? Yes doesn't begin to cover it.]

Very, very much.

Then...

[Admittedly, it's a lot. The parallel universes and the meeting your double and the loving yourself that much--there's little to prepare a mundane fifteen-year-old Japanese schoolgirl for the reality of Rosalind and Robert Lutece.

But the sincerity in those four simple words...

Keiko smiles softly.]

Then I'm happy for you. And I'll be happy to meet him, too; if he's that much like you, I'm sure we'll be able to get along.

All that I am, with the addition of a predilection for puns.

[Is that good or bad? Who can say. Though Rosalind says it quite fondly, relieved now that they're on the other side of things.]

[She giggles.]

It's not like that's the worst personality trait I've ever come across. Puns can be funny sometimes.

Mm, I'll see if you still feel that way in three weeks. He'll be even worse now that he's got someone who might indulge him . . .

[What a prat, that Robert Lutece, absolutely the worst, utterly awful, how on earth does she stand him, god only knows.]

In the meantime: would you like a tour?

Yes, please! It's such a big house, I don't want to get lost on my first day.

Ruby City Inbox

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject