NANNASPRITE: There you are! NANNASPRITE: I have been looking forward to meeting you, dear. :B JANE: You have? JANE: Who are you? NANNASPRITE: I'm you! NANNASPRITE: But most know me as John's Nanna. Hoo hoo! JANE: Oh, yes! JANE: He told me about you. JANE: Gosh! JANE: Pleased to meet you... Nanna, I guess I should call you? NANNASPRITE: Suits me! JANE: Calling you Jane might feel a bit strange. JANE: Also, perhaps disrepectful? NANNASPRITE: And why is that? NANNASPRITE: It is my name after all. JANE: Yes, but, JANE: You are my senior by many decades, I gather. JANE: And you have so many more years of life experience, and wisdom, and you... JANE: Seem to be dressed like a clown? NANNASPRITE: :B JANE: Not to disparage your fanciful attire. I quite like it. JANE: I just mean that... JANE: You've been through more than I can imagine. JANE: I couldn't call you by my name. It would feel wrong and flippant to treat you like my equal. NANNASPRITE: But really, Jane, the honor of meeting you is all mine! NANNASPRITE: I have been looking forward to it so much since I learned of your existence. NANNASPRITE: Ever since I spent that one day helping John through his session, there haven't been many reasons for me to feel particularly worthwhile. NANNASPRITE: Yes, I tended to him and his sister for several years, baked for them, lent a sympathetic ear when needed... NANNASPRITE: But in a way, it's been a lonely life for me since my ashes fell in this silly old sprite. NANNASPRITE: I've been strictly an auxiliary actor, there only to serve others even during my greatest moments to shine! NANNASPRITE: So when I heard of you, a version of myself who was a true hero, so young, empowered, and set to embark upon a life filled with consequential deeds... NANNASPRITE: I was absolutely giddy. I knew that we had to meet! JANE: Oh... my! JANE: You, JANE: You really feel that way about me? NANNASPRITE: Yes, Jane! NANNASPRITE: I do not mean to suggest I regret the way my life has gone, of course. NANNASPRITE: I lived a very humble life, as free of intrigue and adventure as possible, by choice. NANNASPRITE: You see, I grew up in dangerous circumstances. I knew how cruel the woman who raised me could be, and what she might do to me or the people I loved if I made waves, or demonstrated any sense of defiance. NANNASPRITE: So I lived simply. I started a family, and operated a quiet joke shop. Though I always knew trouble was brewing, they were the best years of my life. NANNASPRITE: Yet I always had a little more knowledge than I ever let on, and used my understanding in subtle ways to help those to whom the torch would be passed in this great fight. NANNASPRITE: But then, I made the transition from knowing some things in life, to knowing a great deal more in death. Being resurrected as a sprite endowed me with a very deep knowledge of the game and its broader circumstances. I was in peak form, a true harlequin wisewoman, and there was nary a question I couldn't answer. NANNASPRITE: And then, the dear kids scratched their session, and cast themselves into the unknown. NANNASPRITE: I ventured with them, and so I too lost my bearing on the nature of what lay ahead. NANNASPRITE: I went from my prime, a state of all-understanding, to a state of absolute uncertainty. For the first time in about as long as I could remember, I had no idea what to expect next. NANNASPRITE: It was quite freeing in a way! I had a wonderful three years on that ship with those lovely children. I thought little of what challenges were ahead. NANNASPRITE: But when I did, my thoughts would always drift toward you, Jane. NANNASPRITE: Thinking about you, and this adventure you were about to begin, it made me feel like a child again. NANNASPRITE: It gave me the feelings I used to have for the limitless potential of life, before my stepmother snuffed them out, confronting me with the reality that life would have to take a considerably more limited shape if I wished to survive. NANNASPRITE: So when I look at you now, I see the potential I had as a child finally being realized. NANNASPRITE: But in a much more special way than I ever would have imagined back then! NANNASPRITE: It makes me so proud to see you as a heroic young woman, ready to make a difference, and forge your own destiny. NANNASPRITE: I just wanted to tell you this before you go off to battle! JANE: Oh jeez. JANE: Nanna, I don't know what to say. JANE: Thank you so much for those inspirational words! NANNASPRITE: Hoo hoo! JANE: I think John was really lucky to have you as a sprite. Not to mention, a grandmother, of course. JANE: It's no wonder he appears to have his act together. JANE: Maybe I would have been better off if I had someone like you to advise me from the start of all this. JANE: Maybe I wouldn't have felt so lost. NANNASPRITE: It's normal to feel lost, though. NANNASPRITE: And believe me, needing to find your own way in time will make you a lot wiser than having an old lady around to spoon feed you all the answers. NANNASPRITE: In any case, you have me now! NANNASPRITE: I think it's been quite a long time since John has needed my guidance. NANNASPRITE: The boy has grown so much since he clobbered me with a joke book on that fateful day. NANNASPRITE: From now on, I'd be pleased if you would consider me your sprite. :B JANE: Wow! :O JANE: Oh my goodness, yes, please! NANNASPRITE: In fact, I heard from the cat girl that you and she are on healing duty in this spectacular fray coming up. NANNASPRITE: It so happens that healing is my specialty. Next to baking of course. (And pranks.) NANNASPRITE: Why don't I assist? JANE: That would be great too! NANNASPRITE: Oh! And Jane, one more thing. NANNASPRITE: Just so you know...