[Day: Wednsday, June 15th. Time: 1:00 p.m.] [Chomei goes to Chie's apartment! Take it away, guys.] [Mini Start] (gives Chomei stage directions ^_~) * Chomei walks up, checks the business card Chie gave to him, and rings the door-bell. ( Chomei is hit with a pie! ) * Chie is actually upstairs in the apartment, in her bedroom, with the shades drawn, lying on her bed. She hears the doorbell and grumbles. What part of "Closed, please hold all deliveries until next week" do they not understand? (Chomei does not hear that.) (Well, no. No one would hear that. Especially not Chomei. ;p) * Chie groans and pushes herself off of the bed. She stumbles through the living room, goes to the door of the apartment, locks it behind her, and goes down the stairs. * Chomei stands patiently behind the door. * Chie walks unlocks the back door to the shop and walks in, making her way to the door. "Yeah, I'm comin', I'm-" And then she realizes who's standing on the other side of the door. * Chie blinks. She then hurries to unlock it. * Chie opens the door. "Chomei?" * Chomei smiles a little. "That's me. I came over to see how you were doing." * Chie seems very surprised. "You came to see me? I..." She shakes her head briefly, then opens the door even wider. "Come on in." * Chomei nods. "Yeah, I guess I did. Mom'd be throwin' a fit if she knew, though." He walks into the shop and looks around. * Chie shuts the door behind him and locks it. "Well, she doesn't need to know, then, does she?" She tries to grin, but it doesn't come out quite right. * Chomei looks concerned at Chie "No, she doesn't. You... don't look so well. Not the normal person I'd be afraid of from dying my hair." You get right to the point, don't you? * Chie sighs. Um, listen... would you mind if we went upstairs? It's a little easier to talk there. * Chomei shakes his head. "Not at all." Good. * Chie does the usual "lead visitor out into the back hallway, lock door of shop, head upstairs, unlock apartment door, show visitor in, close door" thing. * Chomei does the following thing. ( Chomei fails his tracking roll and winds up outside the building! ) (X_X) [Chie's apartment hasn't changed much from the drinking mini. Still the same old (*very* old) rock posters covering walls and ceiling, and beanbag chairs and bright rugs on the floor.] * Chie looks at Chomei. "You want anything to drink?" * Chomei blinks his eyes as he looks into the room. "Nice decor... Sure." That's another thing my mom doesn't need to know about. * Chie walks into the kitchen. "There's water, juice, tea, various alcoholic beverages... and what's the other thing?" * Chomei shakes his head. "You don't need to know. As long as she doesn't know I just visited you. Ya got Tang?" * Chie goes to the cabinet and gets the Tang, proceeding to mix up a glass. "Why should she care about... never mind. I think that's something for another time." She finishes mixing Tang, then pours a glass of water for herself. She grabs two coasters from a drawer, then carefully balances drinks and coasters as she walks back out into the living room. * Chie sets the coasters on the table, then the drinks, then flops down into a beanbag. "So." Definetly another time. * Chomei takes a seat in another beanbag. "I wanted to talk to you about what's been going on... Ya know. Maybe I can help or something." He looks at Chie sheepishly. * Chie picks up her water glass and starts to take a sip, then stops and blinks at Chomei. "You... want to help me?" * Chomei nods. "Maybe if you have someone you can talk to or something, I don't know... I just don't want you to hurt yourself over what's happened recently." * Chie sets the glass down and hugs her knees. S'a bit too late for that. * Chie looks up at the ceiling. I'd forgotten how it felt when things go so wrong, so fast. * Chomei looks at Chie. "I haven't..." * Chie hugs her knees tighter, but doesn't look down. "Eoi-sensei... he told me that this was dangerous work. He told me people got hurt. People died. And I thought I believed him... but I guess I didn't actually realize what it could truly mean until now." So I had a plan, y'know? I'd come, I'd work with the group and all, but that'd be it. I wasn't gonna... wasn't gonna really get attached to anybody. * Chie looks down now. "But... that didn't last long at all. And Rei was the reason why." * Chomei looks at the ground. "I can't say I know how it feels to loose what seems to be a perfect friend. But we can actually do something about it." She's really the best friend I always wanted. And, well, one thing led to another, and now... yeah, we can do something about it. We're lucky. We're *damn* lucky. Almost nobody gets a second chance. But... * Chie clenches her fists. "It shouldn't have happened in the first place!" Why the hell did I let her go off *alone*? * Chomei looks at Chie. "There's nothing you could have done about it Chie. You didn't know, none of us knew..." * Chie looks back at Chomei. "But I should have... I should have guessed *something*, right? Or before we left, I should've checked on her, I should have made the Prof get an ambulance... I should've..." She bites her lip. What kind of person lets her best friend *die*? Nobody lets their best friend die. Nobody. We should have guessed something was up, and we did. That's why Rei went on her own. But I did. And I couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't save her, or her brother, and I couldn't save you and Makoto from those zombie things... What good am I if I can't even save my friends? I'm... I'm fucking worthless, is what I am. * Chie starts crying. Maybe they were right... and I can't make anything of myself... but I thought I was doing *well*... No, you're not worthless. At least you know what your job is and how to do it... Ah man, I'm sorry. Look, if you were worthless, would I be here? * Chie blinks back some tears. "No." At least... I don't *think* you would. * Chomei mock frowns. "Yeah, you're right. I don't hang out with anyone but the most worthless of the worthless. I'm so worthless, my worthless has worthless." He says sarcastically. Hey, don't insult yourself like that! Even though you are joking. * Chie *almost* smiles. At least she seems to have stopped crying. * Chomei smiles back at her. "See? You must be worth a lot actually. I mean if I came to see you and all. I am a very busy person and can't spend my time with just *anyone." He says jokingly. * Chie does smile this time, at least a bit. "I'm so very glad that I'm worth a little of your very precious time. And possibly risking your mother's wrath." But in all seriousness... Thank you. This... this really does mean a lot to me. * Chie smiles for real. * Chomei grins. "See? I told you I could help. And my mother's wrath? I suffer that already. I just hope you don't do this all the time, I hear once you run out of jokes you start saying lame all the time." You're right. Being like this doesn't suit me at all, does it? And it suits Rei even less... * Chie blinks. "Do you think she'll be mad at me?" (Mad at you? Naw. There's plenty of other, more reasonable targets.) Rei? Mad? At you? If she's mad at all, I'd say it's at Lazar or me. But I can't see her being mad at anyone for very long. (Oh, is Chomei wrong there.) I can think of some people. But... just as long as she's willing to forgive me. She'll forgive you, I'm sure of it. Espically since you didn't do anything that needs forgiving. Good. 'Cause, y'know, there's still lots of things we have yet to do. Like trade recipes and talk girl stuff and make evil plans for world domination... oh, wait, we did that already. Hm. Maybe we can give the world back and then take it over again. And she and Makoto have to go out, and she has to tell me all about it. Well, as much as she *wants* to tell. * Chie grins. "I won't ask for *all* the details. Just the really good ones." * Chomei snickers. "Well, you can do that after we get her a body. What time did the prof say to be at the clubhouse?" Um... 2:00, I think? * Chomei checks his watch. "Well, we don't have much time then." He downs the tang that's been sitting on the table. Oh, yeah, you're right! * Chie gets up, dashes to the bedroom, and comes out with her bag and a black jacket. She drops them on the floor. "I'll give you a ride, if you want." * Chomei gets up outta the chair. "Sure, I normally get stuck taking public transportation." And anything's better than those busses. Even me, huh? Wow. * Chomei winks. "Yeah, even you." * Chie grins at him. "Glad to hear you say that. And, uh... oh, what the heck." * Chie walks over to him and gives him a hug. "Thanks again. I'm really glad I met you." * Chomei accepts the hug and hugs her back. "Don't mention it. No, really, don't mention it to my family." (Chomei's real last name is Fort.) * Chie lets go. "Your secrets are safe with me." She walks back over to where she dropped her stuff and picks it up. "So, let's go get Rei back!" * Chomei lets go too. "Remember, we cannot fail. Otherwise we'll never hear the end of it." He smirks. "I never thought I'd be doing this. Let's go." * Chie motions him out. "After you. I'm the one that has to lock the door." * Chomei walks out and smiles. "Looks like chivalry isn't dead. It's just reversed." * Chie shuts the door and locks it. "You're gonna have to walk over your own puddles, you know. I'm not getting my jacket dirty." Oh, but the brown would give it a much more 'natural' look. I think not. Besides, enough stuff happens to my clothes as it is. And what's wrong with black? * Chie indicates her own outfit, and his. * Chomei looks at his outfit. "Ya got a point." Exactly. * Chie heads down the stairs, and out to where her bike is parked. * Chomei follows Chie. "Don't wanna keep the prof waiting." Absolutely not. This is... quite possibly the most important thing we've ever done, so... we're gonna do it right. [Mini end]