Norah just stares at the girl for a moment as she struggles to absorb this new data. "Your family?" she says slowly. "You were all...?"
She cuts herself off quickly. There's no need to assume anything, particularly when she saw firsthand how a ghost can build a family from the living. Even if Lisa does hail from an entire family of ghosts, it's rather academic at this point, and Norah does not relish trying to explain that to a confused little girl, ghost or not.
"From what I understand," she says slowly, "they should be as you left them. Your house, too. The city only seems to take individuals. You and I are quite unusual in coming along with our dwellings. And... well, the city may send you back, at some time. It is impossible to predict its... humors." She grimaces faintly, a mere flicker of an expression. "And from what I understand, if you are sent back, it will be at the moment you left. As if nothing had happened. I cannot say how much of this is theory and how much is true, but..." She shrugs a bit helplessly. "It's what I have to offer. I'm sorry."
This feels like too much, too much for a child of any persuasion, and she hastens to add, "There are many of us here, though. Some ghosts and many people your age. We may have been taken from home and family, but... we do not have to be alone here."
That is rather rich coming from her, but she tries to sound convinced for Lisa's benefit.
no subject
She cuts herself off quickly. There's no need to assume anything, particularly when she saw firsthand how a ghost can build a family from the living. Even if Lisa does hail from an entire family of ghosts, it's rather academic at this point, and Norah does not relish trying to explain that to a confused little girl, ghost or not.
"From what I understand," she says slowly, "they should be as you left them. Your house, too. The city only seems to take individuals. You and I are quite unusual in coming along with our dwellings. And... well, the city may send you back, at some time. It is impossible to predict its... humors." She grimaces faintly, a mere flicker of an expression. "And from what I understand, if you are sent back, it will be at the moment you left. As if nothing had happened. I cannot say how much of this is theory and how much is true, but..." She shrugs a bit helplessly. "It's what I have to offer. I'm sorry."
This feels like too much, too much for a child of any persuasion, and she hastens to add, "There are many of us here, though. Some ghosts and many people your age. We may have been taken from home and family, but... we do not have to be alone here."
That is rather rich coming from her, but she tries to sound convinced for Lisa's benefit.