①
“Me.”
Upon the Woman with Fritzy Hair’s innocuous remark, the Girl lunged forward and was only held back by nearby people who restrained her movements long enough until she calmed down.
“It’s okay, I’m okay. I’m fine now.”
Then, once she displayed an air of forced calm, the surrounding people backed off... just long enough for her to try to assault the Woman again.
As she was restrained just mere hair’s breadth away again, the Woman with Fritzy Hair stared at the violent assaulter utterly unperturbed, and in a disinterested voice asked,
“Have we met?”
②
The Girl sputtered and spatttered in spasms of disbelief. She was so apoplectic with rage she could hardly get the words out. In front of her was the the Woman who’d made the Girl lose her composure, shattered her stubborn unrelenting streak, and caused her to forcibly harm herself, all with a few carefully-selected words, all without ever laying a hand on her.
The Woman with Fritzy Hair only stared in an uncomprehending stupor that further filled the Girl with unbridled fury. Why was this Girl approaching her with wailing and gnashing of teeth? It must’ve been from something she’d done. There were so many people she’d unintentionally insulted. She could hardly be blamed for not keeping track.
③
The Girl had been through plenty of trials throughout her period of pregnancy, and even though she’d only been in the presence of this Woman for three minutes, the resulting encounter was so traumatizing that it overwhelmed all her experiences during her nine-month ordeal. This diminutive Woman barely the size of a child was the only person who made her cry. Compared to that, giving birth was a minor inconvenience. She didn’t relish having to confront her again, and looked to avoid her at all costs if possible.
“You don’t even remember what you did?!”
“I upset lots of people on a daily basis. You’ll have to remind me.”
The Girl emitted a low hissing sound through clenched teeth in the hopes her imitation of a teapot might scald her target of derision. It didn’t. Her reaction however brought curious reactions from her surrounding peers.
①
“You know her?”
“I’d rather not talk about it”, she said with such indifference that the spectators were awed. The Girl figured she must’ve been a well-respected person around these parts. The Girl wasn’t much surprised, considering people’s reaction to her presence.
She didn’t want to think about their meeting - the memories still upset her too much.
“It was back during less hospitable times.”
That was clearly all she was willing to discuss about the matter. She hefted the bounded leaflet in her hand.
②
“I only met her briefly.”
“What do you know about language?”, the Journalist asked.
“Admittedly, not much.”
“Well, to bring you up to speed, I heavily recommend that you read this.”
And he held up a thin book; Memoirs of Babyface.
“Consider this your manual. Read it, learn it, love it, because everything about learning language from other creatures can be fully utilized by poring the contents of this book.”
She took the tome from him and looked at the profile on the back. “Hey, I think I’ve met the author of this!”
③
She cracked open the spine and took a look. Then after a few pages, she had to stop because the contents were so overwhelming. This wasn’t something that could be speed-read in a hurry. It had to be slowly digested over the course of days to really let the material sink in. If this was the kind of thing this woman lived through, no wonder people revered her. She’d read it later. Much later.
The unforeseen drama taken care of, the Woman with Fritzy Hair went up to the Accountant, the only person there she could reasonably stand.
“Hello.”
“Good to see you again.”
The two of them stood side by side, not bothering to turn their heads to face the other. This was their unspoken pact. For about two seconds.
“They tried to trick me by handing in their forms in written berry candy-coated swirl, but the colours didn’t match the inflated figures!”
“I’ve been in contact with another celestial being that existed before time and started rampaging about before being tamed by synchronized clocks.”
“So, same ol’, same ol’.”
“I’m just as important as I was back then.”
“That’s such a typical thing for you to say.”
The Accountant bent back to look behind her and see what was there. Or more precisely, what wasn’t there. “You didn’t bring your usual bag of tools this time around.”
“I was told they weren’t necessary. I feel almost naked.”
“I too, was told not to bring any devices around.”
“I wonder why.”
The Girl tried to ignore their conversation and decided to broach the subject no one else was going to broach. “So, one of us is going to die?”
①
“You can’t ask something like that!”
“It was a reasonable request.”
“You should know better!”
{We took no offense}
{We saw it coming}
“How could you?” The Woman with Fritzy Hair’s remarks usually came out of the blue with no warning.
{That’s for us to know and for you to find out}
“Why were we specifically requested?”
{We had profound interest over those who influenced future events}
“Wait, do we do something significant in the future?”
{We were intrigued by those who investigated us}
“Typical naval-gazing.”
“I note you still haven’t answered my question.”
“Back up. How do you know somebody’s going to die?”
{It should be obvious to you}
“It’s not obvious, that’s why I’m asking!”
{Don’t worry}
{You will figure it out}
“Why can’t you just tell us the answer?! Do the thinking for us!”
{Because you will figure it out yourselves}
The Girl frowned in a scrunching manner, familiar lines of irritation etching around her face. They were so selfish, keeping that knowledge all to themselves! Hiding their futuristic ability behind prophetic garbage that could mean practically anything. Sounding all sage and wise only works if they had the means to back it up. They probably didn’t even have any futuristic vision!
If she knew the future, she would tell everybody about it, they wouldn’t believe her, and then once her outlandish prediction came true, they would accuse her of lying for attention...
Hmm. Maybe it was better not to share the future so much.
{We have provided you with all you need}
“FINE. If you’re not going to be any help, I’ll do it myself!”
“You still haven’t answered my question.”
②
“We should only be so lucky.”
“That seems like the kind of thing you lead with, not leave until the last minute!”
“Nothing good comes with tangling with seers. They’re harbingers of doom.”
The Girl’s senses were still heightened from her unexpected run-in with the Woman with Fritzy Hair, triggering escape sensations and in her amped-up state, brandished a sharp instrument that was just lying around. “Stand back! Nobody’s getting me killed! I’ll kill you first!”
“Come on now,” the Silver-Haired Reporter sighed with an air of exasperation. “Don’t make this a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
“I won’t have to die if somebody else dies first!”
“You’re panicking ahead of schedule. This sort of thing doesn’t happen until the last day.”
“Save that for later.”
“Come on, put the knife down.”
“...no, none of you have to die. The real fault lies with these things holding us hostage!” She grabbed the nearest SeerSighter who presented no resistance. “Tell me which one of us...” she paused, and she swung her blade through the SeerSighter meeting no resistance. Confused, she swung again, and it passed through, not affecting the SeerSigher the slightest.
With a deft careful manner, the Journalist removed the knife from the Girl’s hands before she even noticed.
“You’ve prematurely ruined the climax.”
“Have you calmed down now?”
“Uh, yes. Yes, I think so,” she exclaimed, confusion overwhelming her outrage. She was so sure that if she did something totally unexpected, they wouldn’t see it coming. She didn’t account for their intangibleness.
The Silver-Haired Reporter looked at his watch. “33 seconds. That’s a new record for losing it and gaining it.”
“Could you tell us a little about yourselves?”
{All will be revealed in time}
“Well, that’s vaguely cryptic and maddeningly unhelpful.”
“Are there a limited number of questions we’re allowed to ask you?”
{The questions asked thus far have not been of anything pertaining to the future}
{One has already been asked and answered}
The Woman with Fritzy Hair looked up and down at the SeerSighters and casually asked, “Are you edible?”
③
{No, we are not}
The Girl looked around the impassioned faces of the surrounding group. “How can you be so calm?? Aren’t you worried?”
“I’m not,” the Accountant assured. “They only said there would be a dead body. They never said it would be yours. Mathematically speaking, there’s only a 1 in 5 chance that you’ll die.”
“Okay...” she reluctantly agreed, still feeling upset about the reveal.
“Conversely speaking, there’s only a 1 in 5 chance that I’ll die. So already, the odds are in my favor. All we have to do is figure out how they think before time’s up. I operate best under a deadline anyways.”
“Please don’t say the ‘D’ word around here.”
“Didn’t you pay attention to what they were saying earlier?”
“I was too preoccupied with my mortality at the time. I remember them being evasive with their answers.”
“They act like we’ve solved how they think... meaning that we must figure it out ourselves at some point in the future.”
The Girl digested this nugget of information. How had she missed that? She must’ve been too close to see the answer.
“I suppose we should go around and introduce ourselves.”
“Yes, we should’ve led with that first.”
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