A/N: Guess what y'all? I was the gaffer in this year's fall play. (funny, i failed to mention that before…) anyways, for two weeks I had no free time, but had nothing to do. i mean, my part in the play consisted of me moving a light around for, oh say, thirty or so seconds. and I had to sit, in a very uncomfortable place, mind you (although it was quite high, which was nifty) for half of the play, with nothing to do. so, anyways… story. But first, an anecdote from play practice (or, cue practice) novo (our director) added a comedic scene. Guess what that means? The actors (as in all of them) get to run around the stage for two straight minutes to some blue grass ditty. Its awesome. especially since right now (er, when this was written), they're running around stupidly and falling over the steps and junk. it's so so so so sooooo funny. and i've come up with some great gags for this next bit of story. Nifty, eh? YOHOHOHOHO! Pass me the rum! (or coke… whichever…) yes, and I apologise for the atrocious formatting.
Kit19: gotta love sweet, gotta love juicy fruit. Sorry that was random. Hehe, thanks so much. You have no idea how much your liking it means to me. (no sarcasm, honest). Two's the awesomest ever! For Halloween, we burned marshmallows in the front yard. It was fun. And we also watched anime till 4 am. It was awesome.
Matrix-Twin1: wai! Thanks a bunches! Hope you like this one, too. I call it *artistic arm waving* Nitrous Oxide….
Enjoy, and review. (that means you Jennifer, or thou shalt be called freshman for the rest of your life, got it?)

Pandora the Brave
Chapter 9

"Mummy…" Pandora mumbled, rubbing her jaw. "Mummy, my mouth hurts."

"Yes dear," Persephone replied as she feverishly scratched her pen across the page.

"Mummy. My mouth. It hurts."

Persephone looked up. "Your mouth hurts?" she asked. "Come here, honey, let me see it." Pandora shuffled closer and opened her small mouth; Persephone looked inside and quickly uttered a small sound of surprise. "I must call the dentist. Go ask one of those Twins for some bourbon. Don't eat any more candy."

"I don't have anymore."

"What? Halloween was only two nights ago."

"Uh… No comment?" Pandora said innocently, shrugging.

Persephone looked her in the eye, hard, but only said, "Alright."

~@~

Pandora walked through the rooms, aimlessly it seemed, for all but herself would not have seen the purpose in her steps. She moved quietly, slowly enough to be taken for leisurely, while she made her way to the suite that belonged to her Twins. As she neared their suite, she heard a peculiar noise. It was something between a train wreck and a screaming child.

Worried, Pandora ran forward and slammed her small weight onto the door. The pandemonium became so loud she doubted her beloved Twins would hear her. What in the heck was going on in there?

Pandora clawed at the doorknob frantically and was surprised when it opened easily. She threw it and herself into the room and was thoroughly shocked to see

One headbanging with a guitar, wait, playing a guitar? One played the guitar? And Two? Two with a drumset?

No. Way.

It certainly was a sight to see. The Twins, sophisticated killers, rocking with an electric guitar and a drumset. And suddenly they stopped.

"What do you want?" they said in unison.

Pandora simply stood with her mouth hanging open, rocked to her core.

"Well?" asked One.

"Or are you going to stand there?" asked Two.

"I, I, I…" Pandora began.

"Yes?" they demanded. One put away his guitar and moved around towards the bar to pour himself a drink. Two stepped around the couch and, leaning on it, watched Pandora.

"I, uh, that is to say, Persephone, I mean that, I—" she stammered.

"Spit it out!"

"Do you have any bourbon?"

"Bourbon?" One asked, raising an eyebrow behind his sunglasses and lifting a glass to his lips.

Two smirked and rapped Pandora on the head with his knuckles, saying, "What's a little girl like you doing wanting bourbon? You're still underage, you know."

Pouting, Pandora said, "Yeah well, I don't want any! Stupid Persephone told me to get some from you two idiots. Now give me some so I can leave!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down, brat," One chided. "Why are we supposed to give you bourbon? In order to give you some, we need to know how to give it to you."

"Whatever, loserbutt. I have a toothache and I need bourbon!"

Two sniggered and One prepared a cottonball, leaving Pandora to stand quietly. She got bored as One dug around in the bar for something, and she began to tap her foot. Two caught the beat and began adding strange flourishes with his mouth and his hands; irritating Pandora, who tapped her foot faster. Two only quickened his pace, which aggravated Pandora even more, but One finished soaking the cottonball in bourbon before she could shriek or yell in defiance.

One walked over to Pandora and handed her the cottonball.

"What the hell is this, and what the hell do I do with?" demanded a revolted Pandora. She held the cottonball delicately between her finger and thumb as if it were infected.

One glared. "It is a cottonball."

"Soaked in bourbon."

"Stick it on the tooth that hurts."

"And don't suck on it," Two finished. "Wanna play Mario Kart?"

"Don't you have a decent game console?" snapped Pandora. She winced and slid the cotton into her mouth, making a face at the sweet but sour liquor.

"We could always play Star Wars: Old Republic," offered Two.

"God, you're such a dork, Two," Pandora said.

Offended, Two snapped, "You're a stupid brat with no friends!"

One said, dully and uninterested, "Get out."

"Fine! I hate you!" Pandora yelled as she slammed the door.
~@~
The next day, Persephone informed the Twins that they would be taking Pandora to the dentist's office. When they arrived, Pandora was very uneasy about the nurses, nervously chewing on something in her mouth.

Exasperated by her gnawing, One finally asked, "What the hell is in your mouth?"

"The bourbon," Pandora mumbled in reply. She bit her lip and looked around warily. Two shook his head in amazement.

Geez… Her mouth must really be hurting if she had that all day yesterday.
Or maybe she's to proud to ask us for another.

Eventually, the nurses took her away, and the two were left to their own devices. They waited patiently for about thirty minutes before Two began to get very, very bored.

We're going to play rock, paper, scissors. Okay?

Whatever.
Paper. Scissors. Rock.
They both had rock.
Paper. Scissors. Rock.
They both had rock.
Paper. Scissors. Rock.
They both had rock.
Paper. Scissors. Rock.
They both had rock.
Paper. Scissors. Rock.
They both had rock.
Paper. Scissors. Rock.
They both had rock.
Paper. Scissors. Rock.
They both had rock.
Paper. Scissors. Rock.
They both had rock.
Paper. Scissors. Rock.
They both had rock.
Paper. Scissors. Rock.
They both had rock.

Flustered and frustrated, One turned away and began picking at the hem on his trenchcoat. Two attempted to continue the game for several minutes before giving up, after which he tried to figure out how he and One had been unable to play. He got bored with that and scoped out a pen. He found on sitting on the receptionist's desk. Hesitant, he stood and made his way over to the counter, thankful that the woman had waddled away. Casually, he dropped his arm to the other side of the desk and snagged a pen. Smiling widely, he sauntered back over to One and plopped down, showing off the pen as if it were the teacher's chalk.

One rolled his eyes. What are we going to do with that?

Tic Tac Toe.

Really now? Do we have paper? We didn't think so.

Two smiled and laid his left leg across his knee, giving him easy access to the rubber sole of his boot. He quickly drew a board on the toe and handed the pen to One, who rolled his eyes again. He placed an X in the left hand corner. Two put an O in the center. One put an X in the lower left corner. Two put an O in the center left. One put an X on the other side of the O, prompting Two to place an O beneath the X. One then put an X next to the O and the game was cat's.

Two quickly drew another board, again handing One the pen. X in the center. O in the upper left. X in the lower right. O in the upper right. X in the top center. O in the bottom center. X in the lower left. Cat's game.

This time One drew the board and handed Two the pen. O in the right center. X in the upper left. O in the lower right. X in the upper right. O in the top center. X in the center. O in the lower left. X in the bottom center. Cat's game.

The next four games were cat's games, frustrating Two so much he scribbled the last one out and threw the pen to the floor. One picked it up and made a hangman board on his right shoe.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

F

F _ _ _ _ _ _ _

O

F o _ _ _ _ _ o

forty-two

Two drew out the next game.

_ _ _ _

A

_ _ _ _

lynx

One drew out the next game.

_ _ _ _ _ _

E

_ _ e _ _ _

French.

The games went quickly with only one or two guesses before beginning a new one.

~@~

The nurse gently sat Pandora in a chair. She looked around uneasily as the nurse busied herself with a tray full of *gulp* metal tools.

"Alright, dearie," the nurse crooned. "Lie down and pick a flavor."

"Cherry," Pandora replied uneasily.

"Excellent choice," the nurse crowed, procuring a small red mask. She placed it over Pandora's nose and attached several tubes to it. "Now just breathe regularly," she instructed, turning on the gas. Almost instantly, Pandora felt her heart fluttering. Within minutes, she felt … estranged from her body. The word… detached… floated across her brain… No real thought… There were gray spots around the light… Millions of little spots, gathering around the light… Someone was talking somewhere above her… or was that below her…. Pandora ignored the voice until—

"Dearie, wake up," commanded the nurse. "The dentist is here. Just open your mouth and if you feel any pain, raise your right hand. Do you understand me?"

Pandora tried to answer, but all she could do was nod. The little spots were dancing… little gray spots… dancing around the light… they could be faeries… pretty faeries… faeries are kind of like elves… elves are neat… they have pointy ears… pointy ears like santa claus… hobbes once pretended to be santa… he wrote hate mail to calvin… calvin once sent susie a ransom note… the agents had sent a ransom note for her… they had such shiny sunglasses… shiny shiny… shiny sunglasses… shiny twiny sunglasses… pretty white twins… Suddenly her mouth was ablaze with searing white-hot pain. Pandora wanted to scream, to run. Where were the Twins? They could save her. The pain escalated. What would they do? What would they do? Two would bear it out. It hurt too much… But it seemed to be fading, fading… Fading away, like some nightmare… like the agents did… in her dreams… fading away into darkness… sweet surrender.. sweet dangerous darkness…

Hello, Pandora.

Someone was talking to her… Pandora struggled to open her eyes, but something held them shut. Something, something…

Calm down. You're not in danger. You're safe.

Safe… safe where… Pandora thought.

No one can get you as long as you're here…

Where's here…

I need to show you something important.

It was a woman's voice. Sweet and kindly, old and young, strong and peaceful, naïve and wise. The mad hatter was wise… the caterpillar was wiser… the cat was wisest… the rabbit was creepy.    tea parties with madmen… tea is good… chai is best…

Pandora. Pay attention.

Attention… that's spanish for warning… like a wet floor sign… those are yellow… like street signs…the twins drive… they drive an escalade… a pretty black escalade…

Pandora. This is no time for your games. By your own hand has a disease infected this planet, and by your own hand will it be cured—

--be reasonable! No idiot would fall for that, not even her, snapped a second voice.

Pandora wanted to laugh, but she couldn't move.

Pandora, your curiosity unleashed a program capable of catastrophic destruction. The punishment for this crime is simple: you will complete the Arc of Souls and end the countdown.

That's what I said! 'Cept you were, less cryptic.and all. Um.

"Dearie," the nurse called, from a far and distant land. "Dearie, I'm turning off the gas. You'll be right as rain momentarily."

~MnI~

woooooooo! I'm so happy, oh so happy! I went to a con and I got lotsa junk! and fake pocky that's not real pocky, but I'm so desperate for pocky that I tolerate the fake pocky woooooooooooo! *cough* yay for randomness! yay for plot movement! yay for idiots! Wait.

Hehe. Luv ya'll,  plz review! I spent a while writing up these five pages. Although most of them are pointless blather about bored games, etc. anyways. Don't you think I deserve some encouragement? *pleading looks all around* could I bribe you with virtual pocky?