Blaire cocked her head.
A mansion.
Not a world-class heaven scraper in the sky, not a muddy, cardboard alcove in the Depths - but a mansion. Again, her blurred memory jolted, and an image of a book arose in her mind. It was a picture book, a real one - a physical one, from way back when those things used to exist. A half-smile breezed across Blaire's face.
The particular picture the memory was focused on was one of the pictures in the book, in the top right of the left page, where a mansion, much like the one before her, was depicted. She half-expected some emotions to stir at the recollection, but her heart was as still as ever. She sighed.
“A mansion… How curious.”
Taking a step towards the large house, she waited for any feedback from any potential force fields, before realizing there wasn’t one. Not even a single one. Blaire knit her eyebrows, and took another step forward.
Nothing happened.
“Huff, humans from… whatever this place is, certainly have a lot of faith in their neighbors,” she remarked, then started walking at a regular pace towards the front entrance, which she reached without issue. When Blaire reached the door, she stopped and looked at the arch at the top of the double doors, stunted. She took in the design of the doors, comparing them to the automatically opening ones back in her now desolated home. She took a half-step forward, but the door didn’t move. Blaire sighed, and resolutely tapped her finger on the dark wood.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
*tap, tap tap*
She heard shuffling from the other side of the door, when she-
The door was ripped open from within, and an old man in a black suit, with utterly disheveled white hair met her eyes. A look of surprise, then recognition, then compassion flashed across his face, before he gently laid his hands on Blaire’s shoulders.
“Blaire! My goodness, where have you been!? I, and the rest of the staff, have been worried sick over you!”
He pulled her into the entryway.
“Why did you run away? Did Mr. Carlston do anything to you? Oh, miss,” he drawled on as he led the confused former immortal deeper into a house that looked more like an ancient relic than a family’s home.
“Goodness, Charlie, for what are you making such ruckus-” A man in a similar black uniform entered the hallway from an adjacent quarter, but paused upon seeing Blaire. “Ah, Miss! Oh, Tilda! Tilda, come here, the young Miss has returned!” Another joined him in the doorway of the room the two had evidently just been talking in, this time a plump, brightly dressed woman. The lady had much the same reaction as the previous two: “Blaire! Ohhhh, darling,” she cooed as she gathered Blaire in a hug that squeezed her bones. “Oh, darling, why did you run away? Your father was so worried for you,” she berated, sighing and shaking her head. “You must go see him.”