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Vyce was about to finish his third slice when it happened. She took off her shirt. He didn't want to think anything of it, since she just did it to change, but his brain thought otherwise...

You know, brain?

What do you want, Id?

Nothing, just wondering why you guys are such goodie-two shoes.

Hey, it isn't our fault. Blame Vyce and conscience. They seem to be in charge.

Yeah, well, you see, that's not normal. He should be jumping her about now, we all know she's doing it on purpose.

That's just the problem, Id, you don't think about the consequences.

Aww, ******** that, man. What this guy needs is his brains ******** out. Maybe she can do that.

Maybe, but that's not up to us to find out, it's up to him. And he thinks now is not the time to whine about this kind of s**t. Think about it. Every girl he's met has done something to tease him at some point, with the exception of a few. This is gonna happen often, but it doesn't mean he's gonna get laid.

This sucks! She has a nice rack!

True. Not big, but nice anyway.

Okay, guys, Vyce wants control of his head again, so less talkin' more workin'.

Hey, you ain't the boss of me!

Nope, but he is. I'm just the messenger. Now, we got work to do. How about we start by letting him swallow that pizza stuck in his throat?

Oh yeah...

Vyce coughed a little, but the pizza finally went down. He went for the last slice, which was all he could do at the moment, still a bit stupefied. The big deal wasn't seeing her topless, but that she would do that in front of him when he thought that no wy in hell would she do that.

After swimming around a bit, Seori heard a deafening scream coming from the roof, and thought she recognized it as Chiku. Being outside in such a wide open space, she thought she was the only one who heard her scream, and the "thud" of her fall. Seori quickly prayed that Chiku had just fallen on the roof, and that Vyce was with her as she climbed out of the pool, grab her towel, and made a mad dash for the front door. Once inside, she rushed to the kitchen, hoping some one else had shared the pizza Vyce had made, and was still in there. She was both relieved and surprised to see Vyce and another young woman in the kitchen. Without realizing she was only holding a towel to cover her front, she stood for a moment catching her breath, until she burt out in a fast, panic speech.

" VYCE!!! I thought you and Chiku were on the roof together!??She's on the roof alone and I heard her scream and-and-and then a thud like she fell!! OhmygodVyce,OhMyGOD!!! What if she fell off the roof!?We have to go find and help her! NOW!!!"

Seori finished, shaking violently, tears streaming down her cheeks. She had only known the young woman for so long, but old memories reminded her of someone else, and her heart ached at the thought of serious injury to the girl, or the possibiltiy of death...

Chiku slowly opened her eyes.

"Where am I...?" she mumbled. She thought she remembered going to the roof, but...she was inside? She couldn't have been brought back by anyone. Did she imagine going to the roof? Her mind was just cluttered. She remembered some book she had read where a character's mind, when she was partly asleep, was filled 9/10ths of the way with penguins. There were definitely no penguins though. She remembered her home, surrouded by dry dust. She remembered Vyce. She remembered her choice to come here...but wait. She had to have met Vyce after she came here. Why was she remembering meeting him under completely different circumstances before?

She sat up and tried to stand, but found her legs weren't working.
"Traumatized rodent reaction." she murmured. She looked at Vyce and Seori. They looked worried. She wanted to tell them she was fine, but somehow she couldn't. It just didn't feel like she was.

"I can't get up..." She said softly, still unwilling to say she was fine. She looked weakly at Vyce.

"Can you...hold me?" she asked quietly.

Seori felt she shouldn't be in the room at the moment. She had made a wrap of her towel, but hadn't had time to change in the excitement of Chiku's accident. She watched a Vyce embraced her gently. She moved towards, motioning for Chiku to stay still, for her own sake, and so that she didn't have to leave Vyce's arms. She thought it best to check over Chiku before the ambulence came. Her mom had been a nurse, and Seori had been in girl scouts for a few years when she was little, so she took pride in her first aid skills.

She gently put her arm to Chiku's forehead, curious as to why she had collapsed, but thought better not to ask just now. Now fever, and she didn't appear to be having a seizure when they found her. Perhaps it was just a fainting spell... She gently ran her hands over her arms, legs, and neck, pasung at each to make sure there was no sprain, break or fracture. Miraculously, there were none. Perhaps a bit of a sprain in her left ankle, and her legs were weak, but nothing serious. Her eyes weren't dialated, her pulse and tempuratuer were normal, and after asking about any strange tingling, aching, cramping or just sparratic twinges of pain, found that there was really nothing wrong. She was grateful, but still curious as to why Chiku had fainted. She reassured her that if there was anything, which she doubted there was, the hospital's peramedics could probably take care of her here, with Vyce. When she was done, Seori left the room to go change, but more because she felt Vyce and Chiku should be alone at the moment.

Vyce was just holding her, he dared not move. His brain was stressed, everything was confusing him. Only one word ran through his mind: Why?

Why did she go and do that? What happened? Did she slip? Did she jump? Why'd she go alone? Geez...

Drama, drama, drama. Dude, just let it go, it's not like you're ever gonna get a straight answer. Besides, all this drama and sadness just isn't you. You're Mr. "I can't tolerate drama bullshit", for pete's sake! This isn't like you at all...

You know, for once, Id is right. This is one of the reasons you always feel compassion, yet can't shed a single tear for anybody. You don't do this. You know, in this situation, you'd probably call the hospital and stay away. When was the last time you actually cried?

Wow... It's been a year, at the least.

And how many sad things have happened to you in that last year?

More than I care to remember...

My point exactly! Just stay there, and don't screw up. Don't ask questions. Don't think. Just stay there a while until she snaps out of it. I don't want to take over you at the moment, the situation's way too messy.

Tell me about it. Maybe it's something with her brain....

Maybe. At the moment, we won't know, so just sit tight.

Vyce had no choice but to listen, and they were right. He thought about leaving, but he just stood still.

Seori threw on a bra and panties, then a loose t-shirt, shorts, and tied her wet hair in a loose bun. She headed down to the kitchen to make tea and coffee. As she waited for the water to boil, she tried to think of what could have caused Chiku to scream and collapse.

Trauma. That was the only thing she could remember, and it made sense. Although, she had no idea what could frighten her so far as to make her faint. Perhaps she just fainted easily, but she now wondered what it was that had made her collapse...

Seori put the tea and coffee on a tray with three cups and headed out and up the stairs. She made her way to where she had left Chiku folded in Vyce's arms.