Chapter 7:Lili

That last chapter was actually symbolic. He'd been preparing to see her and it wasn't grand or anything, just a couple of kids chatting about stuff and fighting some inner demons. Then Lili left and they didn't even kiss, which I had hoped they would.

You know how in the chick flicks (like the new version of "Pride and Prejudice") sometimes they have the guy rehearsing what he's going to say to either his bff (which I know isn't a guy-term, but oh, well) or a mirror? Well, on Thursday ('cause it's not Thursday no more) I found out that they actually do that. And I went to my boyfriend's little sister's play with him at his old elementary school, and it's in the same district as my old school, right? First, I was excited, then I was confused (slightly different layout) then I was confused and excited, then we went in the MUR (multi-use room) and I was just ecstatic, because apart from some of the stuff on the walls, it looked EXACTLY THE SAME as the one at my old school. Then the play started and I made Psychonauts references afterward and even though he's never played it he got them. It was fun, and it was my first actual date with him. We've been biking like 5 times and we went walking once when it was too rainy to bike.

So that I don't have to upgrade, I'll put the description of Lili's mind in this chapter. Zig's, too. Her mind was black (as in, completely dark) because that's how she sees the world. That's why you get around using clairvoyance.

He thought about Lili's mind. It (or the part he'd seen) was floored with a sort of springy carpet. Not very springy, just springy enough to get a good, high jump. Or a good, long jump. The levi-ball didn't work well there, but it worked well enough. What were the walls like? He tried to picture the image in his mind. The walls… weren't walls. They were a bamboo forest. Lili was weird. Not like he hadn't known that already.

He was thinking about her because he missed her. He hadn't seen her for a week. First he'd been on a mission, then… well, he'd been busy. He knew what he had to do, though. He called Zig.

Hey, Zig!

He was on the outer edges of her mind, so he felt her anger at him. What the heck! I was just doing yoga. You made me fall down. Now I have to get up off the rug after falling THREE FEET DOWN onto a rug, under which is a HARDWOOD FLOOR!

Oh, uh, sorry. I didn't mean to. I just wanted to know if you'd take me to Lili's mind again.

No. Out of the question. It's 4:09. From 3:00 to 4:30 we always meditate and do yoga. Multi-tasking isn't just for the physical world, you know.

Oh. So, at 5 I could go in your mind and over to Lili's?

Yeah, but I wouldn't see why you'd want to. You could just do that at 4:31. Now, get the heck out of my mind, circus freak.

He distinctly felt her break out of their tie. He knew she'd be blocking him after that. Ah, well. He remembered that True Psychic Tales #700 had just come out, so he went to the drugstore to get it. Then, he went to the thrift store to see what stuff might look good in his room. He found a nice sheet set, which I know is weird for a guy to want, but this is a really ugly room he has. And he got a lamp. Lighting makes a room look cheerier, or brighter, or whatever you want it to do. He payed for the items, wished he could teleport, and carried them back to his room, entering in through his window, which he had actually meant to leave open. Not like he had anything worth stealing, anyway.

He decided that he needed a bank account. He had about $200 after buying that stuff, so he either needed a strongbox under his bed or he needed a bank account. He supposed that he'd be in high demand in the future. Not that many people were generalists, surprisingly enough. And who wants to send eight or ten people on a mission when they could just send one or two?

So he went to the bank and tried to set up an account. They couldn't give him either a credit card or a debit card because he was only ten. He showed them his Psychonaut ID and his Psychic Practices permit, which showed that he was capable of making adult decisions, but the bank insisted on being buttmunches, so he went to find a good box with a strong lock.

Eventually, he ended up on e-bay looking for one, because it's amazing how few stores, thrift or otherwise, sell decent strongboxes.

So he'd ordered his box, he had good lighting and new sheets, and he was bored enough to miss Lili again, which had started creeping up on him while he was on e-bay. He looked at the clock. 6:42. It was dinnertime, then he'd find out what Lili's schedule was like.

Zig joined them on the upper levels of the cafeteria and was more than happy (in Zig terms) to tell Raz what Lili's schedule and her schedule was like. She probably wouldn't have, just to be difficult, but she didn't want to be interrupted again. One more week and she'd be free, but she didn't want to spend a week with Raz interrupting her while she was doing stuff.

"So, can I call you while you're having lazing-time, or not?"

"Not. That's when I watch movies or play videogames or read videogame fanfiction, and before that I'm eating frozen strawberries, so while that's the time when I'm least likely to teleport one side of your body to the lowest depths of the ocean and the other half to the Sahara, which I actually might be able to do now, I still don't want to be interrupted from my strawberries or my fanfiction, or my DVD's for that matter, and you don't want to know what I'd do to you if you caught me in a boss fight."

"Oh. So, what if I catch you in between your classes and your room?"

"I teleport back. So does Lili, but she used to keep it secret. Now she's going to be registered, though, so we'll be teleporting back at about the same time after this one week."

"What if, right before you can get to the freezer, I knock on your door?"

"Then you'd be dead anyway, because from when I'm in my room to the time I start my homework is my free time. Then I do homework, which can take anywhere from two minutes to several hours, depending on how much coloring I have, because everyone knows colors hate me, so with Lili gone, I have to try even harder, because Lili's gone now."

"I could be your homework buddy. I have tons of stuff I still have to do."

"That'd be nice. I'm used to reading backwards in peripheral vision, so you don't have to worry about that. What I do in class when we're reading books is, I use clairvoyance on the book and the story goes along just like a movie."

"Oh. I never knew you could use clairvoyance on books."

"Most people don't, but you can. You should try it with Pride and Prejudice. It's sooo sweet. Or maybe since you're a guy you should use it on a dumb guy book, like that stupid comic you bought earlier."

"Hey! Get out of my head!"

"You know I can't help it. I'm already in your mind, so I pick up a little on your subconscious thoughts."

"Let's just eat dinner. Whatever this sludge is, it's got to be better that being embarrassed like that."

"Okay. You should learn about the joy of vegetables. They're served whole."

"Yeah, but they taste bad."

"Smoothies are good, too. There's a good smoothie place somewhere near here."

"Okay."

Dinner passed with idle conversation, they went back to their rooms (Zig teleported herself, but offered Raz no such service) and slept.

EEEET! EEEET! EEEET! EEEET! EEEET! EE— click. Raz's heart rate always rose a little, or at least it seemed like it, when his alarm clock went off. The annoying, unnatural… well, at least it got him up reliably every morning at 6:45. Enough time to do whatever he wanted. He went down to breakfast. Usually, the time it took to eat breakfast made the sludge his mind seemed to be into some sort of recognizable form.

Zig would be at classes, so he went to talk to Milla.

"Certainly, darling. What you need, though, is a psychoportal of your own. You can order one from the Psychic Supplies shop on the second floor."

"Oh. Okay. Sasha never asked me for it back, though, so I've been using it."

"That's theft, darling. Now, get into my mind and I'll open up the door to my collective subconscious."

He used the teleport bugs (he, himself, had no problem with them) to get near the end of the party in Milla's mind, went to the end-room, and the backing of the big float in the middle opened onto Milla's Collective Subconscious. "Don't ask how I know Zig, darling, I just do."

He entered into Zig's mind.

He had to go through Zig's whole mind again because she'd gotten rid of all of her teleport bugs (girls, if you didn't know, often enjoy being difficult for the sake of annoying other people. If you're a girl in middle school, or a guy with a girl friend, you know that) then into Lili's mind, and search for her.

"Get the heck out of my mind, dorkface. If you look at any memories I've missed, or if you pick up any of my cobwebs and don't give me the cards, you're dead. There shouldn't be any baggage, and if there is, tell me, don't give in to your stupid male pride and sort it for me."

It was almost less welcoming than Zig's recorded message.

She materialized in front of him after a second. "What are you doing in my mind, Raz, and why? This is Demon Week, so Zig and I are fighting all the demons we can find, behind walls, in the walls, everywhere. We're pulling them all out from everywhere. I'm not in that good of condition, so unless you have a pocket full of dream fluffs, get out of my mind."

"Okay. Sorry I spoiled your fun." Whenever he saw her, she always disappointed him. Now she didn't care about him at all. It was the worst week of his life.

"Listen, Raz, I don't care about psychoisolation, but it does have effects on me. Mostly that's because a dozen or so minds get boring after awhile. So give me a break, will you? I'm bored, I've been killing things all day, not to mention that those things are part of me, so I'm kind of hurting myself, and I haven't talked to anyone for two days, probably because Zig had a ton of homework that I'm gonna have to make up in the next two and a half weeks, so I'm not going to get enough sleep, and I know Milla feels guilty because she didn't speak up. If you see her after you leave, tell her I don't blame her. I told Zig to tell her, but I don't think they've talked recently."

"Okay. Do you need any help with your demons?"

"No. I've got it under control. I've still got three dream fluffs left."

"Can you make those things that increase your mental projection if it's your own mind?"

"No, that stuff's just based on confidence. If you defeated something and you feel confident, you get those, if you did something hard with confusion grenades, shooting, or love darts, you can get your max ammo up, all that junk. Plus, I've already got all those things."

"Love darts?"

"Yeah. My dad never should've taught me about those. Next year, when Sasha's looking at Milla, I should shoot him with one. They don't make you crazy in love or anything, but they can turn a friendship into a romance, so it's fun to watch the effect.

"That'd be kind of mean, to shoot Sasha with a love dart."

"Yeah, but it'd be funny. Imagine Sasha in love. Sasha stumbling on words. Sasha falling in love with a person like Milla. You have to admit, it'd be absolutely hilarious."

"No. Let's just let them be. If Sasha went love-crazy, he wouldn't be good for shooting lessons anymore."

"Yeah, he might teach clairvoyance or telekinesis or something. It would be nice for Milla, though. Everyone knows she has a major crush on him."

"Well, yeah, but love isn't meant to be fiddled with."

"Oh, come on, the main rumor at camp, besides that people were disappearing, was that the whole Elton/Milka thing was just love darts. I, personally, like to think those rumors were true. Plus, Elton isn't that sort of person. He wouldn't normally have left a message on the board. He'd be too embarrassed. Actually, I'm glad someone threw those darts. You're the best boyfriend I've ever had."

Lili smiled. She was pretty when she smiled. If only she smiled more…

"Thanks. It's good to know my smile isn't dorky or anything. Now, get the heck out of my mind."

He did. He'd had a nice, pleasant conversation with Lili, she hadn't called him many names, and he knew that he'd made her feel better.

Sweet? Too sweet? I know I haven't updated in forever, but while I was snow camping, I was trying (and completely failing) to forget about Psychonauts so I didn't annoy anyone. Did you know that when you look at the rows of grapevines in vineyards and you're whizzing by in a car, they look kind of like the kamikaze symbol? Of course, I had to explain to everyone about the Kamikaze Bunnies and Sasha and Psychonauts, but I tried and I worked on the beginning of a story I'm going to do. I need to do some reading before the new story though. I'm waiting for a decent idea for the 666 idea, and it seems like no one cares about it, but I'm not working hard on the idea.