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WHO: Fuu Hououji and you
WHERE: Heropa & Nonah
WHEN: Throughout August
WHAT: Fuu is out and about in the summer!
WARNINGS: None.

Heropa and Nonah, out'n'about
[In the run-up to the school year starting again, Fuu wants to get in as much of her actual job as she can... that is, writing video game reviews for a man who takes editing a teen entertainment magazine way more seriously than any one person possibly should.

So she's wandering around the arcades (the lovely air-conditioned arcades) and outside; if you're at a game or playing a game or if you're even concentrating on your phone a little too hard, you might find her looking over your shoulder.]

At the beach

[August is a time for swimming! Or, if you're Fuu, finding some less crowded areas of Florida beach to do a little magic practice. Today she's seeing how much sand she can pick up with her Binding Winds spell and how fine a blade she can shape with her Emerald Typhoon. Though keeping in mind the setting, she keeps it more to an Emerald Light Breeze.

She notices that even modest displays of magic seem to be clearing the beach more than they ought, and sighs at the suspicious looks being aimed at her. This hadn't happened in June.]

Oh dear. It seems I'm still being viewed as a witch.

It's not easy being green (St. Walker)

[Well, it's been a couple of months now since that incident where people were living out altered lives. That's long enough for it not to be so awkward anymore, right?

So she'll head over to Walker's house and ring the doorbell--she's got a few treats that the woman at the animal rehab place told her would suit an opossum, and for Walker himself, some tea. ~~Earl Grey. Hot.~~

???

[Got another idea or want one? Drop me a line!]

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[Fuu smiles, relieved. It's not just good to hear that for this conversation, but for the future, as well... she already trusts Saint Walker enough to talk to him about the things she might feel, but having it said out loud is assuring.]

I do get curious when friends of mine suddenly become different. [she touches her fingers to her cheek.] What lesson would you say you draw from Green Walker?

To stay true to myself, and to my faith. That even when it appears that no other alternative presents itself, that I must take action, if I remain steadfast and industrious, there will always be another way.

[He presses one hand to his chest, thinking on that one, magnificent moment when he reached the top of the mountain and saw nothing, when he decided that that was not an acceptable answer, that there will always be hope... that would not have been possible if he had chosen the Green Lantern ring for a simple lack of anything else in his life.]

I do not think I ever told you this, but after I rejected the Green Lantern ring, I pursued a different option. And in doing so, I became the first Blue Lantern of the galaxy - but not, I hope, the last.

[Fuu listens with interest. When there's no alternative...

Hikaru had had no alternative. And she forged a new path where none existed. It might be odd to compare a passionate person like her to someone as pacifistic as Walker, but she sees it.]

So you found your own way... made your own way, rather. [she smiles] So, there was no such thing as a Blue Lantern before you became one?

No. [He smiles gently, not quite self-conscious, but thoughtful in a different sort of way. He believes strongly in humility, in attributing gifts to God rather to himself, and to lead Fuu astray would not sit right with him. He believes in himself, in his own goodness, but this gift?

It was a gift won through his own dedication, but it is not his to claim ownership over. It is far, far larger than him.]

Make no mistake, sister, if I did not choose to become a Blue Lantern? It is inevitable that another would have been chosen. Perhaps they would have been better, wiser than I, but that is a different branch of Fate. In this one, I became the first, and not a day goes by that I am not grateful for it, for the opportunity to once again serve something bigger than myself.

[This business of the Lanterns is a little confusing, she'll admit. It sounds, maybe, like the force was out there in the universe, waiting...]

I have a hard time picturing the person who took up the mantle first in that alternate world. You fit into the role so well. Mr. Green Walker... he was friendly, and I liked him as I like you, but he seemed to be carrying a burden that you don't have.

He betrayed what he once held dear to him. His ideals, his customs, his last ties to his home -- the very things that make people the way that they are. To move onto a new set of customs and rules does not necessarily need to be a bad thing, of course, particularly if those ways were not particularly good... but I would not have devoted my life, my entire being to a cause that I did not feel was just an right.

[He smiles at Fuu, a little sadly.]

Perhaps the version of myself who chose that path exists out there, still. He has my sympathy. I do not think he will find what he is looking for, on the path that he had embarked upon.

[..........last ties to his home?]

He may. When I first arrived I was quite curious to know if there was an older version of me living somewhere in Japan. I don't think it's implausible to think that Mr. Green Walker is out here, somewhere. [...] He seemed very certain. But I don't think it's impossible that he would find his way onto the path you forged, someday.

[because that's what blue is, isn't it? it's hope.]

If I may ask--what do you mean when you say your last ties to home?

[He's said no subject is off-limits, but she still feels she should ask permission for that.]

[God is forgiving, Walker knows. But he is a man of principle, and wonders if after turning away, he would truly find himself back in the arms of God. When he turned away as a Green Lantern, he knew what he was doing as he acted out of rage and despair and the burning need for companionship, the knowledge that what happened to his family would never happen again.

He had found new meaning with the Green Lanterns. That would be a very difficult thing to turn away from, after being alone for so long.

Fuu feels hesitant about asking, that much he can tell, but he cannot blame her. Indeed, it is a difficult thing to speak of, not because of the tragedy inherent in his story, but because of how much his tale affects others. Gently, he says,] I can see your hesitance, sister, and I did mean that no subject is off-limits. This one is included in that statement, but I rarely tell it, for it is a sad story indeed, and few relish hearing it.

My planet is no more. My title, and my faith -- these are the last things that I have to remind me of where I am from, and what was important not only to me, but to us.

[Walker is right to be wary, and in spite of the warning, Fuu's hands fly to her mouth. A planet... a whole planet... billions of people, gone?

There are ways life have been destroyed on Earth. Mass extinctions take millions of years, but meteorites... the titanic collision that tore the Moon free. That had happened long before there were even bacteria. If something like that occurred today, humanity would have no chance.

Or perhaps it wasn't that. Perhaps it was nuclear war--no, that would annihilate the surface, but the planet would remain. Then maybe people have devised something that's even more terrible.

The death of two people had almost destroyed her. How can Walker even stand up straight, having experienced the death of billions?]

Do you mean... you're the only one of your people left?

I am.

[He smiles at her. The expression is a sad one, but it is one of acceptance as well. He will never stop mourning his people, his family, his world, not for as long as he lives, but it needn't dictate his entire life either. He has embraced the possibility of living well and doing as much good as possible before he is finally, finally allowed to join them once more - and there is a not-insignificant part of him that yearns for that day - and proving to the universe at large that they are not all like the Red Lanterns. That some of them may still have hope in their hearts, no matter how many times the universe attempts to crush them beneath her mighty boot.]

Not by choice or design. I did not mean to abandon my people to their fate, but at the last minute, our destroyers had made a bargain with petty slavers; the last of one's kind can fetch quite a healthy price on the market. [He shakes his head.] Not to worry, however, sister. The fate of a slave never befell me.

[He was saved. And to this very day, he believes that that must have been God's will, in some way.]

Edited 2016-09-14 02:14 (UTC)

[He's still speaking, and a reply is required, but Fuu can't--it's impossible. She doesn't know how.

The destruction of an entire people. All of his kind wiped out, just to turn one of them into a prize, a museum piece. There have been many horrendous crimes committed on Earth but she doesn't think that has ever been one of them. She thinks of it being done to Earth.

Umi and Hikaru might have something to say. Something loud, or outraged. Or they might not. She doesn't know. She just knows that she can't.

She realizes that she needs to take off her glasses to wipe her face.]

At... least they were thwarted in that much. [...] I don't know if I should ask if they were brought to justice.

[It comes out as a murmur. But really, what kind of punishment would redress...? No, not punishment. However, it is necessary that they were somehow stopped from doing the same thing again.]

[He smiles gently at her, though still, the expression is just the slightest bit sad. It doesn't suit him, truly, but even this small showing of emotion is more than what most get to see. There is more behind that placid smile of his, of course; it's only that each of his smiles mean very, very different things.]

I appreciate your empathy, [he says, quietly.] I did warn you that it was a very sad story indeed. But they are all now, I hope, in a place that they can be truly happy.

[I hope. In others, that would be a sign of doubt that such a place even exists, but those words mean very, very different things to Saint Walker. To him, hope is power, and if he can ensure their happiness from the next plane through hope alone, he will do so.]

It is difficult to gauge what being brought to justice means, truly. For some, it would mean death. Others, imprisonment. Others still would wish for them to reform.

And in truth, their fate is a combination of the three. There was a battle, a mighty one, waged over the fate of the remainder of the universe at the hands of these people, a battle that I too had fought in. And while we did win, winning a single battle means little in the grand scheme of things.

[Even if they did effectively save the universe.]

Reparations are being paid, from both sides. Perhaps one day, those who used to be Red Lanterns may find their own sense of peace once more.

[She nods. What is justice, for that? Even if you're going by the precept of a life for a life... there's too much to ever be repaid.]

I hope so as well. [She's not sure how the soul or the afterlife works anymore, in different universes with different gods, but she'll trust how he feels about it.] I say justice, but I don't know either. I suppose whatever you feel is best, is what it would be.

[Because there's nobody but him to have an opinion of it. And nobody else has the right to decide but him.

and she picks out a word: remainder of the universe.]

If the... Red Lanterns have caused such destruction, that may be the best thing to ask for. It sounds like whatever's left of your universe deserves some kind of relief.

Yes. At the present, that is the best that anyone can wish for -- relief from grief, and from loss, for all of those involved. One would think that a war such as this would be an easier issue to unpack, but it never is.

[He offers Fuu a smile.]

Do not grieve for me and my people, sister. There is hope for the universe to be healed yet, and I am to be a part of that.

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