[Day: Friday, June 10th. Time: 12:00 p.m.] [You're home, wherever that is.] [Mini start] ( Unless you're calling from a phone booth or something :P ) * Chie walks in the door of her apartment. She's just gotten back from Rei's. The waffles were inedeed as good as advertised - perhaps better. And now it's time to check up on her other friend who got seriously hurt yesterday. * Chie picks up her phone and dials Makoto's number. ( Unfortunately Makoto died one hour before. Shouldn't have stopped for waffles. ) (;_; Curse those waffles!) * Makoto rummages around in his closet, which is practically a room unto itself. Over the years he's accumulated a costume wardobe of movie set proportions. When his phone rings he walks gingerly over piles of shoes and wadded shirts until he reaches the little device. He answers it. Makoto. Hi, Makoto. It's Chie. I didn't wake you up or anything, did I? Huh? Oh, no. I'm just staying home and eating a lot. Rearranging my closet. What's up? Nothing's really up. I just wanted to see how you were doing. Was worried about you. Well, I won't be running any marathons any time soon, but I think I'm okay. Why, just this morning I sprouted my own pair of fangs! ...I'm guessing that the fact that you're joking about it means you're feeling pretty good. You *are* joking, right? Although *you* could probably grow fangs any time you wanted to... I am joking, yeah. You checked up the others already? Ran into Rei, Chomei and Maria this morning, actually. Apparently depressed minds think alike. We all ended up at the clubroom 'cause we thought nobody else would be there. But it was a good thing, really. We all managed to cheer each other up, and then we went to Rei's place and had waffles. So, all is, if not good, at least better. * Makoto nods and retreats back into the closet, though Chie can't see him do that. (Damn. Knew I should've gotten the videophone.) That's good to hear. Not that everybody was depressed, but that you're all feeling better. .oO( I want to go to Rei's too. But maybe not when everybody else is there... =^_^= ) Yeah. It's good to feel good! ...that sounds like something Rei would say, actually. But, y'know, stick around someone long enough and you start picking up stuff from them. I mean, Chomei's getting almost as silly as we are now. * Chie would make victory sign, but Makoto can't see it. ( He doesn't know sign language anyhow. ) ( Hah! ) (Hee. And that should be "a victory sign") * Makoto chuckles and hangs some more clothes in relatively appropriate places. Most of his clothing is arranged by the shape of body he tends to have when wearing them, and the sorts of goals he has in mind when taking that shape, so it's an extremely personalized little system. Chomei, silly? That's kind of a scary thought. Next thing you'll be telling me he's found a clue. I dunno, I think it's kinda cute. But, no, no clues yet. Perhaps we should write them on post-it notes and stick them to his forehead. What do you think? Hmm... possibly, but then he might get embarrassed. I think maybe I should have a little talk with him. He has a lot to learn about reading people. (No kidding. He should run *away* from the two psycho girls, not encourage them.) Mmmm... yeah. You are right about that. If nothing else, he has yet to learn that being alone with the three of us is a bad idea. * Chie grins, although, again, Makoto can't see it. * Makoto coughs. As long as you haven't traumatized him. Not permanently! Hah! Fair enough. Exactly! So, you're ready to audition for the part? What part? Of my new navi system? Don't you remember? * Chie giggles. "Oh, yeah. Okay, hold on a second." * Makoto grins to himself and kicks a few pairs of shoes out of the middle of the closet and into more appropriate piles. * Chie clears her throat, and speaks in a low, sultry tone (or the best she can manage). "Oooh, Makoto. I do so love it when you push my buttons. And a guy who isn't afraid to ask for directions? So very sexy." * Makoto manages to hit the 'record' button on his cell phone just in time. Eight seconds of sweet, sweet blackmail... * Makoto laughs. Excellent! You get the part! (Devious. I love it. ^_^) (That's the kind of thing Rei would do. Oh dear.) Yay! My very first acting role! Should I start planning my Oscar acceptance speech now? It couldn't hurt, kiddo. Stick with me, and I'll make you a STAR! Fantastic. I've always wanted to see my name in lights. If they still even do that. Oh, sure they do. Theater is still really big in New York and London. I swear, I've really gotta learn English. It's a fun language. I could give you lessons. Or Rei could, too. Hey, we could trade! Hrm... an interesting proposal. I could swap you driv--outta my head, Chie! But I like it in here! It's kinda dirty, yeah, but you should see my place sometime. * Makoto grins. ( Kirby could teach you! ) ( Lesson one: "Hiiiii!" "Hiiiii!" "Hiiiii!" ) (Hello: "Hiiiii!" How are you: "Hiiii!") (Heh.) Yeah, well, I like to think of it as "comfortably sullied," rather than "dirty." ( Hiiii! ) * Chie snickers. "Suuuure." I'm all for a knowledge swap. Only not at the same time or else the first words I'll probably learn from you will be English for "Fucking stupid piece of shit clutch!" Oww, my virgin ears. You really *have* been hanging out with me for too long. That, and every once in a while my filthy German blood begs to cry out! (His filthy German brain, on the other hand, gets plenty of exercise.) ( Of course! ) * Chie laughs. "Oh, yeah? Well, if I ever run out of curses in Japanese, Chinese, *and* English, then I can get some German ones from you?" Of course! But to be honest, German curse words sound pretty tame unless you get the inflection just right. ( Translation: When you shout the curses, beat a guy over the head with a beer bottle. ) ( *sniggers* That works! ) Practice. Got it. And, hey, with Laz we've got Hungarian covered, and the prof probably knows stuff from the ancient Mesopotamians or something. But actually *asking* him would certainly be interesting. (MC2: Learn to swear in seventy-two different languages!) Hey, Professor? How would Gilgamesh have said... *whisper whisper whisper* * Chie cracks up. * Makoto imitates Peter's voice surprisingly well: "Silence, you horrid little man." * Chie keeps laughing. "You don't think he'd be shocked speechless?" Well, he would. But if I simulated the moment or three of silence you might think I had to stop and think of a clever response. * Makoto grins and puts more clothes away. Ahh. Of course. And the quickness of your clever responses should never be doubted. That's right! Every adventuring group must have a witty but otherwise useless member whose primary purpose is to provide comic relief for the benefit of the audience. * Chie sighs. "Don't you start that, too. You are most definitely *not* useless, and if you tell me you suck, I *will* come over there and hit you." I suck. But only if you pay me enough. ...I so walked right into that one. * Makoto laughs. Come on, then. You have to come over and "hit" me, now. But don't tell Rei. * Chie laughs, too. "I'm afraid I can't do that, Makoto." Well, you can't blame a man for tryin'. I mean, I don't even know where your house is. Ah. Well, there aren't any good roads for burning out my clutch around here. You'll probably want to meet me somewhere neutral. You want me to meet you in Switzerland? Anyway, as far as I know only Rei knows where I live--well, and whoever has my file at Interpol--and that's fine with me. Hrm. Well, I can speak to the locals there, but you'll have to pay to have my car flown out. A teeny bit out of my budget range, I'm afraid. And since you know where both of us live, I'll let you pick a nice, neutral, convenient to us both spot for me to *not* burn out your clutch. 'Cause I can be careful when I want to. Heh. That works. Hrmm... there's a Christian church across from the Kirby Kirby Revolution dance hall a couple blocks west of the clubhouse. Know where that is? Their parking lot's usually empty, this time of day. Never actually been there, but I'm sure I can find it. When do you want to start lessons? I can't today. Gotta mind the shop. Later this week's free, though. Or we can just figure it out later. No sense in overplanning. Life needs spontaneity! Oh, any time but Sunday is good, if that's where we're going. And not after about five in the afternoon on Friday or Saturday, either, 'cause the clubbers sometimes run out of space and park over there. If we wanna do it during that time, we could probably just use one of the school parking lots. Very few people are at school when they could be out chasing tail. ( Chie's two-timing Chomei. Oh my. ) ( SCORE! ) Got it. And your observation of college life is stunnigly accurate. However did you manage that? ( He cheated? ) Believe it or not, when I was in high school I'd spend my spare time at college. I wasn't ready to tackle the clubs, so I cut my teeth sedu--err, socializing with college students. * Chie snickers. "But of course. I, in the meantime, honed my meager skills by hanging out in clubs and talking to random customers." * Makoto smiles. "I think you've managed pretty well, considering." Why, thank you. From you, that's quite the compliment. * Makoto makes a little beeping sound out of the corner of his mouth. What was that? Oh, and wouldn't you know it, I've hit my quota on compliments without ulterior motives for the day. * Chie laughs. "I'll bet you could get in another one. I wouldn't tell anybody." But not to me, of course. I've used up my quota of receiving compliments without ulterior motives. Oh, good. No offense, but I was kind of saving the last one up for Rei. * Chie grins. "Won't tell a soul." Quite literally, in my case. Yeah, I guess you've got a lot more souls you -could- tell. Not that many of them would even know who you are, but, hey, live people gossip. They love that stuff. It's weird. That is kind of weird. Maybe dead people don't think they're quite as exciting once they lose their glands. Being dead is just like being alive in that respect. It's as exciting as you make it. Maybe different kinds of excitement, but still. Oh. Well, I get all my excitement from glands, so I guess I'd be a pretty bored ghost. * Chie laughs. "You would, yeah. I'd probably be a pretty bored ghost, too. Not for entirely the same reasons, though." * Makoto snickers. Fair enough. Hey, I have to go with my aunt and uncle to some garage sale... thingy. They need me to carry stuff around. Oh, sure! Hope I didn't keep you too long. And then I thought maybe I'd stop by Rei's if there was enough time. Huh? No, you didn't keep me at all! It was great talking to you, Chie. So I'll see you at the club room later? * Chie grins. "I'm sure she'd be very happy to see you. Have fun, and I'll see you tonight, yeah. Take care!" You too! Later! * Makoto hangs up and pockets the phone, before heading off to help his aunt and uncle as promised. * Chie hangs up the phone and heads downstairs to get some work done. [Mini end]