Her face flooded with embarrassed blood but she watched the woman closely, looking for signs of she wasn't sure what. The woman smiled another of her gentle smiles but didn't laugh. That was when Juri knew she could love this stranger.
After such a stupid question she didn't laugh, which was more than Juri would have expected from herself had the tables been turned. She was almost ashamed, but not quite. She was too desperate to know the answer to make it all of the way to that particular emotion.
"Yes, dear, I'm real. At least last time I checked. I imagine I'm as real as you if that brings any comfort. Not knowing you I'm not sure if that's a comfort or not," she said kindly.
"I'm real," Juri asserted a little more aggressively than intended, "I'm definitely real."
"Good! That settles things. You might as well tell me your name, then, if we're all going to be living underneath the same roof."
"Um, okay, sure. My name is Juri. It's a weird name, I know -"
