[Meanwhile, over here.... uh...] [Chie opens a door only to find no floor on the other side. She falls until I can think something up.] What the heeeeeeeeeeeeeeee... [Chie lands in a barrel of laughs, which they find exceedingly funny.] ...ll. Ha. Ha. Cute. * Chie tries to climb out, muttering, "And that's the last time I'll trust the word of a fucking *water* god. Should've known better." [Chie climbs out. She finds herself in a hall of mirrorrererers. Which are like mirrors except with a longer non-sensical word.] * Chie angrily shoves Seiryuu's note into her pocket, then peers down the hall. Whoa. Gettin' dizzy. * Chie blinks a few times. [Chie notices two of the mirrors have doorknobs.] * Chie eyes the mirror-doors. "Well. Yet another path to choose. Guess we'll use the scientific method." * Chie plays eenie-meenie-miney-moe, and comes up with the door on the right! (Presuming on is on the right, that is.) [Chie tries the knob, and finds that it's painted on.] ...yeah. I'm startin' to really not like this place. * Chie tries the other door, then. [That door opens, which leads Chie into a well lit study, complete with a fireplace and dark windows. There seems to be someone in a chair near the fireplace, but his back is to her.] Huh. * Chie walks on in, and strolls right up to the person in the chair. No, she hasn't heard of knocking. ;p [Sitting in the chair wearing a Sherlock Holmes-ish derby and smoking a pipe is... a slinkey?] Uh. Hi there? * Chie waves weakly, a look of utter confusion on her face. "Top o' the mornin' to ye." Yeah, same to you, too. You wouldn't happen to know where I am, would you? Or what's going on? Because that would be *really* helpful. (When all else fails, bring in the slinkies! I like the slinkies. ^_^) (Heheh.) "Why, you're in Westchester mannor on Eastchester street of Northchester precinct in Southcrombley town." O... kayyyy. And where, pray tell, is Southcrombley Town in relation to... other places? "South of Northcrombley Town. Duh." So we're in England, then? Or the UK. Or whatever they're calling it now. "No. You're in Westchester mannor on Eastchester street of Northchester precinct in Southcrombley town." But where is Southcrombley Town? What country? What continent? What planet, even? "South of Northcrombley Town. Don't you pay attention? And why are you wasting the last few minutes of your life arguing about this, anyhow? Personally, if I was going to die, I'd try skydiving over arguing any day." I already did the skydiving... wait. Last few minutes of my life? I really *am* dying? I thought I... by choosing I... no. No way! I am *not* going yet! "Are too." "This is really just a big hallucination anyhow, but if you want I'll ask the question and you can move on." I don't care about any goddamn questions! I'm not gonna die! There are people back there who I really care about! Who *need* me. I can't leave them! "Can too." Fine. I don't *want* to leave them. They're my friends, and I love them, and... it's not my time yet! "Prove it." If I leave them, who'll take care of sensing the spirit stuff and all? Eoi-sensei can't do it; he's busy in China. S'why he called me. They needed someone, and they were having trouble finding one. "Soooooo? Other groups have gotten by without one before." Who's gonna be there to hang out with Rei and sing disco and cheer her up when she's feeling bad and remind her what a great person she is? "What a cruel thing to say. She's incapable of making any new friends?" I'm not sayin' *that*. But I want to be there with her. And I'm her friend, dammit, I shouldn't be making her sad. And it would make her sad if I went. It would make them all sad. And I don't want that. It's the thing I want least in the world. I want them to be happy. "If everyone who thought like that didn't die, then nobody ever would." I don't mean that I could maybe wave some sorta stupid magic wand and make their troubles all go away, but if I'm *there* I can at least help. ...I know. My parents... they thought like that too, I'm sure. "Which ones?" Which ones? What are you talking about? My *parents.* The ones who died fourteen years ago. You... you're not saying... [The slinkee tips its pipe to clear some ash and continues smoking.] Kindly explain what you meant by "which ones." "Can't do that. I'm just a slinkey." Then who *can* explain? And how could you say something in the first place if you *couldn't* explain? "It's the miracle of tofu." Fuck the tofu. What. Did. You. Mean. * Chie clenches her fists. "You wouldn't hit a poor unarmed slinkey, would you?" I might. If you don't give me a little help here. [A big sign appears infront of Chie: "Don't hit the slinkey please!!"] [It's neon.] * Chie stares, and unclenches her fists. Okay. I won't hit you. Just... please. I'm asking nicely. Help me out here. When you said, "which ones," who were you referring to that *weren't* Daichi and Suzume Matsuda? "You've had a lot of them. Pick a few. Start with the Chinese ones." You mean Master Wei and his wife? I've always thought of them more like grandparents, but... what are you talking about? "I'm saying you are not exactly you. You follow you? You." * Chie puts a hand to her head. "Wait, wait, wait... I'm gettin' really confused here. Is this like reincarnation? Past lives?" "Sorta kinda. Sorta." How can it be sorta like reincarnation? What, are there pieces of my soul missin' or something, and I'm gonna have to go find them? "Except it's not quite your soul. It belongs to a bunch of people." *My* soul belongs to a bunch of people, or some other soul that I have to find? "A little from column A, a little from column B." "You're supposed to be much farther by now. It's a shame." Much farther how? Nobody told me anythin' about a missing soul until now. "You surely didn't think I was the last visit you had in this hallucination, did you?" "And all the gods who donated their time, well... I wouldn't want to be you when this is done." * Chie sighs. "Yeah. This is a hallucination. Kinda forgot that. Okay. What do I need to know, and where do I need to go next?" And I *like* being me. I intend to do it for a very long time. "Forgets it's a hallucination. I'm a slinkey, remember? Anyhow, want me to ask you that stupid question now?" I talk to dead people. Why should a slinkey be any weirder? And, fine. If you gotta ask the stupid question, ask away! * Chie throws her hands up in the air in frustration. "I don't 'gotta'. And you've hurt my feelings. Slinkeys have feelings too." "Maybe I don't want to ask you now." * Chie sighs. "Okay. I'm sorry. I'm really *very* frustrated now, and confused, and so I'm not exactly in the best of moods." "Oh. Maybe I shouldn't ask this, then." It's okay. Go ahead. "Ok. How much do you know about the Christain faith? And no, that's not the question. I just want to see if I have to explain anything." Bits 'n pieces. There's a heaven, and a hell, and the world's supposed to end and their God's supposed to come back and judge everyone. "Do you know about the slaves in Egypt?" It's interesting. I meant to study more, but... got distracted. Slaves in Egypt... uhhh... that's... no, sorry, not really. "Well, in a nutshell, the king wouldn't free the slaves, even after signs from God to do so. He only finally did when God killed all of the first- born sons other than those behind a door that bore the blood of a lamb." Oh! I think I might've read about that once... Laz would know about this, wouldn't he... "My question is this: If you were there and knew about what God was planning the night before it happened, what would you do?" (Wow. You really do *not* go for the easy questions here, do you?) ( :P ) ( Path to enlightenment. Yay. ) * Chie swallows. Then swallows again. "I... I guess I'd go tell the king that something really horrible was going to happen if he didn't free the slaves. Give him one last warning. And then... well, if he didn't free them... telling him about the plan would just make him want to hurt the slaves even more. And people should be free." "There. That wasn't so bad, was it?" I suppose. "Okay, off you go!" [Chie suddenly finds herself in... Stonehenge?] * Chie blinks. "I'm not gonna get any answers about the soul pieces thing, am I?" * Chie looks around. "Stonehenge, huh? Funky." [Chie spots someone across from her: a somewhat handsome boy with long blond hair tied in a pony-tail, dressed in Chinese clothes.] * Chie walks over to him and waves. "Hi there! Are you here to tell me about missing bits of my soul or ask me really difficult questions?" "Um... I'm not sure." (*cracks up*) (I'm laughing so hard that my eyes are watering. ^_^) ( Offer him chicken!) ( Woot! ) Okay. Then why are you here? "I'm... not sure." (Ha!) Do you know *anything*? Anything at all? He ponders... "... Sleeping in the open is good." He looks at Chie questioningly. "Do you want to sleep in the open?" Thank you. That's lovely to know. And, sure, why not. Maybe I'll have a dream within a dream, or whatever the hell this is. "I'm not sure." * Chie sits. "So, aside from sleeping in the open, what else do you know?" "Don't throw eggs out the window." Also good advice. What else? "Chicken goes good with anything." Ever so true. I'd like some chicken right now, too. Maybe you can point me in the direction of some? I'll share. He nods enthusiastically and points east, then moves slowly in a circle until he goes 180 degrees, then points at his chin. "I'm not sure." Okay. There's chicken over there... * Chie points east. ...or are you not sure? "I'm not sure." Somehow, I'm not surprised. Okay. We have sleeping in the open, we have eggs, we have chicken. What else is there? "I'm not sure." You're not being very helpful here. "Are you sure? I'm not." I'm pretty sure, yeah. Sorry, but I really need to know where I'm supposed to be goin'. There are people I need to get back to. "Oh." He takes a look around again. "... I'm not sure." * Chie sighs. "Yes, I think we've established that fact. Tell you what. Ask me something. Ask me anything. Whatever pops into your head. Just play along with me, here." "Ok..." He thinks. "Do you like chicken?" Yep! Chicken's yummy! * Chie stands up. He nods. * Chie looks up at the sky and yells. "Okay! He has asked me a question, and I have answered! Time to move on to the next stage, right?" ".... I'm not sure." [End!]