Chapter 3:

Episode 1-2

Likeness woes

Now, to be completely fair here, Caius never said anything about Serah just coming down into her cellar randomly.

That hardly mattered now that she was staring right at them, and worst of all, Lumina herself was looking like a fool at the exact second Serah touched down from the last step. Honestly, she blamed the slippers her technically-sister wore; despite resembling moogles, they clearly had soft bottoms to mask every step down those clackety stone stairs.

Disregarding Caius's warning entirely - because there ain't no way Serah would fall for anything if she showed up a perfect mirror of her Old World self - Lumina had snagged a quick change of garb on her way towards being caught. Not many had their laundry out tonight, but on an open window sill she'd spotted a baggy t-shirt haphazardly slung across it, and snagged the thing before dashing off. Her second article of clothing - because she wasn't going buck-naked in nothing but a tee - ended up being scraps sitting on the curb, appearing to have been thrown out with the trash, but not fully tied up in a bag; someone took the lazy way out on trash night.

And that's how she ended up with a pair of jorts; yes, freaking jorts, the jean-shorts hybrid usually worn - and corrupted - by self-proclaimed "bad bitches." At least they were black... as if that counted towards anything.

On the bright side, the sandals were significantly easier to contend with, having come from that same trash pile, and along with a backpack she borrowed from an open garage during the beginning of her trek creeping around the edges and corners of the town's outer rim - Gods she was missing magic right about now - Lumina not only had a half-comprehensible appearance now, but a place to store her old clothes.

Not that it would matter after the job, because she was damn certain Caius and the Yeuls would just whisk her back like it was nothing - clothes and all.

"Uh..." Lumina, unsure really of what to do now that Serah - the real, adult human one – was staring at her, gave her best impression of a startled raccoon, and shuffled back. Seeing no way out, but having Serah's eyes on her, she took it as a sign that maybe, just maybe, if she stayed perfectly still, the Discord Sprite would show.

That was the only way she was getting out of this without too much hassle.

"Who... are you?" Serah never moved an inch, and while her somewhat spooked appearance remained mostly the same, her voice was smooth, and somewhat motherly. This meant trouble, contrary to the usual meaning one would derive from this situation, a calm voice in the face of uncertainty when dealing with a Farron meant that said Farron had their eyes on you in a less than positive light.

"I..." What could she really say in this situation?

"Hey, I just broke into your cellar, but don't be afraid, I'm actually your sister's abandoned half-doll, and I'm here to save your life!" would probably get her either a: locked up in a cell, or b: inducted into a mental institute... and locked into another cell. Sure, Serah for sure remembered the Old World, but that only made things worse. Lumina was a part of Claire again, or so everyone believed, meaning the only things left behind would be the new Gods Of Death, and Bhunivelze's tricks.

The dice really weren't rolling in her favor tonight.

A stern look soon fell over her face, and fearlessly, Serah walked over. Not an overly brisk or powerful stride per say, but Lumina knew better than to try anything immediately. Her greatest benefit - for both the job as well as her own safety - relied solely on the fact that "Lumina" as it were didn't exist as a sole entity anymore. Could she cast something like Sleep on the woman? Yes, she could, but then she'd be introducing magic into the world again.

Said magic would grab the attention of the Old World's champions, if any were around, and one thing would lead to another; yada yada yada.

The point was: Lumina wasn't in the mood for any more trouble than she already provoked.

Unconsciously, and since she wasn't willing to use magic, Lumina took a small step back when Serah got so close, prompting the woman to pause, before speaking up in a subtly laid back tone.

"Easy. I'm not going to hurt you." Well yeah, obviously. Lumina tore most of her appearance from Claire's repressed childhood, or in other words, her appearance was that of a fifteen year old punk who just wanted to be a kid, but couldn't because her childhood was stolen away by pure bad luck. Serah loved caring for children, which showed itself in her choice to become a teacher, so Lumina knew she wasn't in any real danger; so long as she didn't oust herself as an eldritch threat.

For a moment she considered bolting around the younger Farron when she got close enough, but these damn sandals were a point oversized, and would most likely slip off during the attempted escape, tripping her up. And so, Lumina did as asked, albeit stiffly to convey active fear - which wasn't all that hard, seeing as she was genuinely unnerved and worried she'd messed up. Thank Etro - or, she supposed Caius and the Yeuls now - she'd left the backpack over against the wall and in a corner; there wasn't much weight to it, but Lumina left it there so she could bend and move easier, anticipating a small bout with the DS not long after arriving.

Serah, in an instant, reached her and kneeled down. Following this, Lumina was subjected to scrutinizing eyes, which scanned all over her body. Serah was clearly searching for any signs of injury, and so Lumina had only a few seconds to come up with some sort of plan going forward. Ain't no way she was getting out of this one without any questions, but maybe she could play things up like she was homeless or something.

Oh come on, that wouldn't work. With such a small community, they were bound to know exactly who was, or was not, homeless. Hell, there probably wasn't even a foster home here, as this seemed like the kind of town not to just throw their kids away for one thing or another, no matter how much they disliked the little leeches.

"What's your name?" Serah met her eyes, and in a bid of panic, Lumina spoke without thinking. She wasn't so lost in panic as to spill her real name and seal the deal, but she might as well have with the false one she used.

"Lulu."

Crap!

"Lulu?" Serah muttered, and Lumina went to work digging the hole deeper.

"Lulu Fae." She could already feel, physically feel, Serah - the doll - pinching her in the ass from her back pocket. Lumina wasn't sure when it happened, but her six-inch companion slipped down and into the back pocket of her jorts, and despite Serah's sudden entrance, she was doing a fan-flipping-tastic job at playing the part of a toy.

"Lulu Fae..." Serah sat on the name for a second as the sweat began to roll like rivers down every exposed surface of Lumina's everywhere, until a small, friendly smile brightly lit up. "That's a very nice name." Soon enough, her eyes went from piercing to laid back. "Lulu, can you tell me what you're doing down here? I know we're rather friendly here most days, but that doesn't mean you can just waltz down here whenever you want."

"O-oh..." Lumina swallowed, audibly, which made her cringe a little before answering, "Okay. Sorry; I just thought it was… you know: open."

"Don't worry about it," Serah beamed, standing back up. "I'm not mad. It was just a little shocking to spot someone down here without so much as a knock, and..." Expression flipping to confusion, Serah then added, "Munching down on our cheese."

You're not nearly as simple as you should be. Serah clearly caught sight of her uneasy slump, because she adjusted herself accordingly.

"A-again, I'm not mad, just... curious. I don't mind you coming over for a snack or two, but we'd appreciate it if you asked first, okay? Gives us a little time to tidy up and make the place presentable. Besides, what do you think would have happened if it was dark and I came down with something like a bat or crowbar?"

"Why would you have a crowbar?" A bow, sword, and pretty much any other weapon would have made sense for Serah. But a crowbar?

"Snow keeps taking it out and leaving it wherever." Her face scrunched up following that admittance, but it skipped town just as fast, and Serah spat a disgruntled sigh. "And I have to return it whenever he does. I swear, men have a knack for leaving things all over the place." Shaking her head, she then broke out of her little spat and looked back over again, once more curious. "By the way, I don't think we've met before, have we?"

"N-not personally, no." Why was this so hard? Sure, she couldn't use magic, but here she was sputtering like a little girl caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Granted, it kind of worked in her favor. Still, Serah had just backed her into a corner again; time to improvise - and pray bullshit wasn't called. "I'm... here visiting my aunt. She told me about you, and... how you..."

Come on, come on, think! She needed an excuse as to why she'd both been inside Serah's and Snow's cellar, and she needed it said in such a way that Serah didn't ask for any names.

"How I... what, exactly?" Serah crossed her arms, not angry, but mildly bewildered. She held her posture well, which forced Lumina to just continue spouting nonsense and hoping it worked.

"She's not really..." And then it happened, the ultimate reason rolled on up to her rear, and it just so happened to pinch her in the ass at the same time. Caius said it would make her look like a real weirdo at worst, but that unsettling implication was about to save her skin. "She doesn't think I should be spending time around you."

"Oh... Um, why is that?"

Yes! Lumina would have jumped for joy, but with Serah watching her with a mix of both worry and uncertainty, paired with a desire for answers, she instead opted to take out the toy and fake some embarrassment.

"She thinks you're a bit of a bad influence."

Serah genuinely locked up at the sight of the doll, blinking twice as her face reddened.

"Oh.. I see." Apparently, it was Serah's turn for a course correction. "You have one of... those."

"Well yeah, duh." Lumina rolled her eyes alongside the outburst, getting the exact reaction of bewilderment she sought. Slipping on a cocky grin, she added an evil edge, explaining directly, "Everyone with taste has gotten their hands on at least one of these. I mean, look at it."

Proceeding to wiggle around the arms and legs, Lumina went into full blown stalker mode, making up whatever nerdy-sounding "facts" she could to sell the idea that she was a fan of both the model in her hands and the character Serah's image had created online.

"This much articulation allows for a variety of extreme and detailed poses. Custom shading painstakingly hand painted to simulate shadows in the style of the game itself. Removeable equipment with highly detailed..." Okay, so maybe she didn't need to imply just how detailed some parts underneath might be. Lumina, thus, cleared her throat. "A detailed body with interchangeable clothes and accessories." Serah's red face deepened, and she visibly shook - be it from embarrassment or rage was anyone's guess. Swiftly moving on, Lumina capped it off. "Look, it's a cool collector's model, okay? I don't get how anyone can look at it as anything but cool!"

Lumina had to take a moment to breathe; that little rant took a bit out of her. But her wordiness bore fruit, as Serah was too... distraught, enamored, indifferent even? She couldn't say which, but Serah was stunned enough that her first words weren't aimed at names, so Lumina counted it as a win.

"Right. Of course." Robotically, the woman forced herself to speak. "It's just a toy, and nothing more." Whatever else she'd been considering looked to drop down a floor, leaving her less about to burst and more on the backburner. "Okay. I can see why she'd be less than enthusiastic about me." Shaking herself free, Serah returned to what Lumina liked to call 'mom mode.' "Anyway, why don't you come on up with me into the house? I can get you something proper to eat that isn't just cheese."

Okay, so maybe she hadn't been as successful as she would have liked, but so long as she wasn't being kicked out, Lumina was willing to bite the bullet for the time being.

"Uh, sure..."

.

.

Serah knew she should have just ignored the offer... but then again: the money ensured they were never faced with any real hardship.

Sitting out in the living room and taking little peaks at the girl munching down on a cookie over in the kitchen, it became increasingly clear how extensively her public image had been tarnished. At first, it seemed like a dream come true. Claire had made more than a few friends throughout her years as a model for various fashion brands - aided mostly by her almost never aging face, which Serah began to feel were their lucky genetics - and was given a deal to try something... unconventional.

Now, she wasn't completely out of the loop when it came to video games in general; Snow occasionally hopped online with Hope during some of his downtime from work, and more than a few of the students at the school she was apprenticing in were rabid about the stuff. Serah, personally, preferred a good book, or maybe even a movie. That wasn't to say she'd never tried games before, but she could never really get immersed in the stuff.

Serah loved stories, learning, and understanding the world and all its highs and lows; that sort of thing. Sure, she knew some games prided themselves on telling grand epics and emotional tragedies, but during those instances where curiosity got the best of her, Serah was more intent to just... have someone else play the game instead, so she could kick back and relax; someone like Hope, who - when he wasn't working on his robotics assignments at uni - would do that 'streaming' thing that was the rage nowadays.

Surprisingly, he was good at putting on quite the show, but never interrupting an impactful story.

And that's why she'd been roughly none the wiser when Claire came to her with an offer.

"It's nothing too difficult, I promise. Just come in, take a seat, and do your best to make whatever expressions they tell you to."

Simple as that, her sister claimed, reiterating how she'd essentially done the same. Apparently, they could just up and take pictures of people and put them into things now: scanning individual actors with startling accuracy. Such a thing had been commonplace back in the Old World, but Earth was far less complex in terms of evolution in the tech industry, so they were a decent ways away - perhaps even a lifetime - before such things as hovercrafts and gravity manipulation would come into play.

Regardless, Serah had gone along with it, not giving it too much thought.

She very much should have.

Serah had, unfortunately, not asked just what they would be tying her likeness to, and that had swiftly come back to bite her in the ass. Now, she liked to think she wasn't that judgemental of a person, honestly. But sometimes... sometimes you had to draw the line. It was a simple Friday night, like tonight, when Serah discovered the unfortunate truth of just how scantily clad most equipment in online games could be when tailored to women in particular.

Now, maybe there was a legitimate reason the character her face represented dressed so... provocatively. However, she knew better than to give them the benefit of the doubt; the design alone had clear intentions, and the effect it wrought was just as potent as most would expect it to be. Valkyrie Princess Serah Farron was a hit with the male crowd, but it seems they weren't the only ones to take a liking to it, if the teen in her kitchen was anything to go by.

They'd given her the option not to have her real name used, for privacy's sake, but she hadn't seen the harm in being associated with something so simple and innocent as a video game - again, a mistake she would never repeat.

The only saving grace to all of this was displayed when she'd gone to one of the larger conventions hosted a year back. Claire was a special guest who, having signed a contract to advertise for an up and coming film, would be adorning the outfit of the lead heroine. Serah ended up meeting some of her "fans," and shockingly, they were really nice - not in a super pervy way either. Whatever story she'd been a part of, it had an effect on them, and they were mostly curious about how it felt to be in a video game.

She didn't have the heart to voice her disgust-filled regrets over her game-counterpart's design.

Valkyrie Princess Serah Farron was no Teacher's Apprentice Serah Farron, not by a long shot, and so she let them down gently by clarifying that she hadn't done much more than offer up her face. They'd been kind and understanding; a far cry from the things she'd drummed up in her mind after Vanille spent the night before introducing her to the deepest recesses of the internet.

Shuddering upon recalling both how disturbing and inspiring it was that so many overtly talented people used their skills to contrive the most demented of images and fantasies, Serah contemplated checking on Lulu. She didn't seem like such a bad girl - despite her obvious attraction to the questionable character. Serah never got more than a couple of steps away from the couch before the front door creaked open, and out called the one person who could take her mind away from humanity's more disturbing forms of tribute.

"Honey, I'm home~"

Snow sloshed a little near the end there, but he and the others provided a stronger sense of sobriety in terms of washing away her dirty thoughts, which became the perfect foil for her to relax.

"Welcome home!" She cheered, making sure Snow knew that behind her smile lay promises of vengeance should he not comply with whatever she asked him right away. Alcohol could do a lot to people, but no amount of booze could ever overshadow his learned habit of tending her every whim whenever she was in a commanding mood.

Like a deer in the headlights, Snow reconstructed an air of dignity and sensibility upon her call; good, he knew he was still on a tight leash from his mistake earlier, and she would make use of it by having him deal with the brunt of the awkwardness that Lulu's fondness of the dirty toy created.

"T-thanks for the welcome." Taking a few precautionary steps, he opened up for a hug, testing the waters of her mercy. "Care to b-bring it in?"

Noel and Yeul seemed far less high up in terms of liquor, which was good; it meant they wouldn't risk provoking her anger.

"Anytime, dear." Serah accepted, whispering deeply into his ear, and feeling him lock up in terror. "Now come with me. I have someone I want you to meet."

Author's note

...

Managed to drum this up over the week. It's not all that eventful, but enough to bring in some of the bigger players for this little... Does this even classify as a sit-com? It's been so long since I've seen one that I've forgotten what sets them apart from every other comedy on a fundamental level.

Whatever, we're back again with some nonsense, and this time it involves Serah. Money is great, but how far is too far when you make the foolish decision to trust others not to take the more... questionable opportunities before them?

Serah's nerd experiences aside, we'll be seeing some of Snow next time, as well as Noel and Yeul. How will Lumina play this off, especially when three of the four have more personal experience with the forgotten shadow?

Guess we'll need to wait and see.

Until next time.