Goodbyes

January 2, 2011

Two people, sitting on a platform high above a stage, dangling their legs over the drop and talking...

"So... you're all packed, then?"

"What's there to pack? I think my wand counts as carry-on. I haven't got much else."

"You're really leaving tomorrow?"

"Yes."

There was silence for a minute.

"We're a touring show, narrator. We can't stay in the United States forever."

"I know. So explain to me again why you can come here from Miami but not Japan?"

"It's just too far." The Trickster sighed. "Too far for me, narrator."

Moha-Samedi looked at him, and wondered whether it was possible... that Trickster might actually miss him?

"I'd visit if I could. Really."

"Do you know when you're going to be back?"

"No, no idea. Our schedule isn't all mapped out yet."

"Oh."

Trickster looked up at Moha suddenly, the hint of a smile playing around his red lips. "Will you miss me, narrator?"

Moha was taken aback. "I... well... of course."

"Because I'll miss you." Trickster looked down. His voice had been very quiet.

Moha blinked. "You... will?" he said, somewhat stupidly.

"Of course, narrator. Why do you think I come to Mystere so often? To see Brian le Petit?"

"No, I know, I..." He trailed off. "I... I'll miss you too. I wish you weren't moving."

"I know. Places to go, people to see, though, right?" Trickster drew his knees up to his chest. "You know, I've never been out of the US before."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Trickster leaned his head back, hugging his knees, and looking oddly young and vulnerable. He hummed a fragment of a song, then another. "What's that from?" Moha asked him.

"The KÀ album."

"No, the other one."

"Zumanity." Trickster flashed him a grin and got to his feet. "This is goodbye, then, narrator."

Moha got up after him, unsure of what to say. Trickster smiled at him again, then enveloped him in a totally unexpected and full-contact hug. His jacket was warm, as if he'd been sitting in the sun. "Oh, Moha," he whispered over the narrator's shoulder. "I'll be back. I promise you."

And then he was gone.

Moha-Samedi sat down slowly, and felt an unaccustomed lump inside his jacket. He reached in and pulled out a copy of the Kooza music CD and a CD player in red and yellow stripes with matching earphones. It appeared that Trickster was a bit old-fashioned about technology things, just like him.

He wondered whether Trickster had magicked them into his jacket at some point, or if the hug had been an excuse to slip them in, and then decided that it didn't matter very much. He put the CD in the player under the instruction of something that wasn't quite his conscious brain, and pressed play.

Hum Jaisa Na Dekha filled his ears. And he thought, I'll be back. I promise you.

A/N: I really did not like this when I wrote it. It's grown on me a little since. It was prompted by some real-life circumstances going on with me (and also, obviously, with Kooza at about the same time). Of course, this was before the earthquake and everything in Japan... more about that in a later fanfic.

The songs which Trickster hums are We've Been Waiting So Long and Mio Bello Bello Amore, respectively. About that - Chance Benson is the Trickster I have in my head, which means I like experimenting with younger models of Trickster... *shrugs*

And no, I will not rate a story solely for implied homosexual content. This is so implied that it's only there if you want to see it, anyway.