Disclaimer: I do not own any of the things in this chapter, and if you have a problem with that, too bad.
Hyde A/N: Well. Band camp looms in the near future. And I am sunburned. So that is not good. But I shall try to get this chapter done, despite sunburn and band camp.
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Amon stared straight ahead. Doujima read over the file in silence. Amon wasn't sure how to introduce the subject of Abigail. As he turned a left corner, Doujima sighed suddenly causing him to blink in surprise.
"Amon, why do you keep taking me on these things?" she asked. "Do I have another top secret mission or something?"
"No."
"Good. So why did you bring me? I'm not any good."
"I want to talk to you. About your last mission."
"Yes?" Great, she thought, he's going to chew me out for not taping that part.
"About that part that wasn't on the tape…Why didn't you tape it?"
"Because she would have gotten suspicious if I did," Doujima said, expecting him to offer some alternative to what she had done no matter what.
To her surprise, he merely nodded and continued. "So what did she say?"
"Um, something about there was some kind of argument among the Oatmealists and some people wanted to change something that she didn't want to change so she left. And she's been working since to prevent that change."
"She didn't say what it was?"
"No. She said she wasn't going to. I suppose a privacy thing. She didn't want me to go digging into it."
"A real journalist would have investigated it anyway." Amon mused. "Oh well, it probably doesn't matter."
Doujima paused. This behavior was completely unexpected. Judging from his earlier actions, she would have thought the thing about the Oatmealist feud would have been the thing he'd be most interested in. After a moment, she said, "Good…" and lapsed again into silence, reading the folder without really reading it.
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Abigail walked in and dropped her mail on the counter. She took off her shoes and sifted through it.
Her attention was caught by a letter with no return address, addressed to Abigail DeNoel. She opened it curiously. Inside was a single sheet of white paper on which was typed the following message:
This is Amon, the person to whom you gave the prophecy 'Greater love hath no woman than for her bread machine.' It would be appreciated if you could correspond from now on by mail. It would be much more convenient. My address is [this part omitted for protection of privacy]
She looked at it, first right side up, then sideways. She had never encountered such a request before.
"Must consult with the Goddess…" she muttered to herself.
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Robin rinsed her mouth out eleven times, then drank a cup of coffee, but to no avail. She could not shake the nasty, gritty taste of that awful toothpaste that dentists insist upon using.
Suddenly, Touko burst in.
"Coffee…"
Robin wordlessly handed her a cup. She guzzled it at first, then settled into a chair and let the warmth of the cup sooth her nerves.
"What happened?" Robin asked softly, when Touko had calmed somewhat.
"This whole day hath been muchly bad." Touko said in prelude.
Muchly? Robin thought. It was her first clue that something was wrong.
"First, I hath a headache, so Chloe gaveth me some medicine that she said would maketh me assuredly better."
Is it just me, or is her Elizabethan English just a little more modern and a little out of whack? Robin wondered to herself.
"Well, it maketh me better, but now I hath been chased by the Easter Bunny for many hours…I think."
"You think you've been chased?"
"No…I knoweth I been chased, I don't know 'fit was hours…mighta been weeks…"
Robin was now quite sure that something was wrong.
Then, Touko looked at the wall with eyes wide with fright.
"No, Robin, why'd ya letim in? No, please, leaveth me alone…"
"Come on, Touko, we're going to see the doctor…" Robin took Touko's arm and led her away. Then she thought of something. She didn't have a car, and Touko couldn't drive in this state.
What now?
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Amon's communicator let out a beepish sort of noise. He gave it a Sullen Glare That Smashes All Annoying Electronic Devices. Electronic devices were macho, but ceaselessly annoying.
Doujima watched as he made a series of grunts and small noncommittal words such as 'yes' and 'um' into his communicator.
"Who is it?" she asked.
Ignoring her, he said, "We'll be there," and hung up.
"Where are we being?" she asked, when he made no move to tell her.
"Something's wrong with Touko. We're going to take her to the doctor."
"Oh. Not something serious, I hope?"
"I don't know."
"It's not her traumatic stress again, is it?"
"I…don't…know…" said Amon slowly and deliberately, as if to pound it into Doujima's head that he knew nothing whatsoever. It didn't work.
"Was that Robin?"
"Yes."
"Where was she? At the apartment?"
"Yes."
"Which doctor are we taking her to?"
"I don't know." By this point Amon had resigned himself to a fate worse than death: Doujima's incessant questioning.
"Did Robin say what exactly was wrong with her?"
"No."
"Well, does Robin think its tra…I mean, post-traumatic stress again?"
"I don't know."
Thankfully, for Amon's sanity, they soon arrived at Robin and Touko's apartment, where Robin and Touko were waiting outside.
Doujima jumped out.
"Hi, Robin! How's Touko?"
"About the same."
Suddenly, Touko burst into laughter, startling Robin and Doujima and making Amon raise an eyebrow.
"Ha ha…snorkel…he ha hee hee…wooooo!" or something to that effect came out of Touko's mouth. She stumbled to her feet and began laughing and doing something that looked like a dance to inaudible music.
"Whooo hoooo! Party…hee hee…-snort-…" She bumped into Amon, who forced her into the back seat. He somehow managed to climb in after her and toss Doujima the keys at the same time.
"Which doctor are we going to?" Doujima asked as she started the car.
"The nearest one," said Robin and Amon at the same time.
Doujima drove like a maniac, secretly happy to finally be able to drive the macho black Audi. Robin sat in the front seat next to Doujima, clinging to the armrests in terror. Amon was torn between trying to restrain Touko, who still seemed under the impression that a party was going on, and fearing for the well being of his car.
Touko turned her head to look out the window and suddenly screamed shrilly. Doujima was so startled that the car swerved, cause Robin to let out a soft cry of terror.
"The bongimonkey!" Touko yelled. "It's on the window! Get it off! Get it off!" She clung to Amon's arm and leaned away from the supposedly bongimonkeyed window, squealing.
"We'll be lucky if we make it there alive," Doujima said over Touko's squeals.
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Well, band camp is finally over so I better get this posted. Today is the first day without band camp, so I plan on hanging around home doing nothing and actually relaxing.
Carri: Well, this is as soon as I can. Band camp takes up nine hours a day, you know. That doesn't leave much other time. Thankfully, my parents don't smoke and rarely borrow money from me. And I hide some of it, so no one knows where it is. I have a twenty somewhere under my bed. I think in a shoebox.
Yay for the requested Touko-bashing! It has returned! I love writing Touko-bashing. Its so fun At band camp I had an inspiration for something weird for Touko to say that involves donuts and Jehosephat. Did I spell that right? I shall have to look it up when I write the next chapter.
CrazyTomboy: Sure, whatever, go ahead. I'll even read it if you write it. :) You have my official permission. –writes out long technical virtual contract giving rights to CrazyTomboy and Mental—
I may not like hot chocolate mix right from the package, but I like other weird things like liver and gizzards. Yum.
St Earns: I would like to meet this niece of yours. She likes WHR and the cowpit! Exactly how old is she? I haven't been to the Holy Shrine which is Ais's home for practically all summer, I've been so busy. Maybe I should try to do that before school starts on the 17th.
Yeah, Robin goes to a night dentist. Its so crowded with people in WHR world that dentists have to work around the clock to get everybody in for all their checkups and fillings. –finds something inanely humorous about that and dissolves into giggles—
May your jeep never hatch a plot to take over the world,
Hyde
Okie dokie. There we are. All done. So I can finally post and Carri will not sic a legion of undead minions on me.
May orcs never crash your Winter Solstice Party,
Hyde