[J] Japi's Chimes

[FemStranger]

Light poured in as Japi opened her eyes. Last night had been crazy! The three housemates had enjoyed a feast and dinner theater courtesy of Nina. The story had been a murder mystery that took place at a little town in the southwest. Then they were serenaded to sleep by Anna's chime music from random household objects.

The idea was all the girls'. Japi was startled suddenly when she returned from visiting one of her daughters. She stepped through the large mirror that was used to transport her to different dimensions and was greeted by a table filled with exotic foods and large stage formed in her living room. The girls popped out from behind her and exclaimed, Surprise!

~~

Japi had no idea what the celebration could have been for, but she enjoyed the fun she had with Anna and Nina the night before. She dragged herself out of bed, ready to thank them again. She walked out into the kitchen. "Anna! Nina!" she called. No answer. She walked outside and repeated her call. Nothing. Did they change again? she thought to herself. I doubt it. She continued her search for a while longer, but soon decided that they would come back soon.

Resigned to the fact that she would see them later, Japi went to her refrigerator to start making breakfast when she noticed the note stuck to the door with a magnet. It read: <I'm very sorry to just leave like this, but even though I have a wonderful sister and a wonderful friend, I feel lonely. Ever since Amber found her true love, I've been wondering if there's someone out there for me. I've gone to search for him. Please don't follow me, I don't want to be an inconvienience to you. With all my heart, Anna.>

She stood there for a moment or two, baffled. Anna was gone? Did Nina go after her? Japi found her knees getting weaker, so she went to the dining table to sit down. There on the table she saw another note. This one was from Nina. <Gone adventuring. Be back soon. Nina. P.S. - I'm not really sure when soon will be... but you guys can have fun without me, right?>

They were both gone. For how long? Japi had no idea, and it seemed neither did the girls.  

[FemStranger]

Japi spent the next several days moping around the house. For once in her life she felt lonely and had no desire to do anything about it. She would look out the window for hours on end and didn't eat much either. Was this depression? She doubted it, but it must be close.

Slowly, Japi began to loose track of the days and it became harder and harder to get up in the morning. Several weeks later, or so Japi had guessed it was, she spent the entire day in bed. The next day, Tanya visited.

"Mom?" the girl yelled into the house. Japi didn't bother to answer. Tanya would figure out where she was eventually.

"Mom!" she yelled again and poked her head into Japi's bedroom. She spotted her mother and walked the rest of the way inside. "What's wrong with you?"

Japi just sighed.

Her daughter wouldn't have that kind of attitude from her mother, so she pulled the covers off. Japi didn't react.

Tanya looked around. "Where are Nina and Anna?" she asked.

That did it. Japi burst into tears, wailing at the top of her lungs (which is really loud by the way). Tanya plugged her ears up and waited for the noise to subside.

After a while, Japi's throat began to tire and her wailing diminished into sobbing. Through tears and hiccups, Japi explained everything to her daughter.

"Stop being such a baby!" Tanya scolded after Japi had finished her story. "How do you think we feel?" she asked. "You haven't contacted us for days!" Tanya was referring to the fact that Japi had not contacted any of her children via the mirror since Anna and Nina disappeared.

Japi hiccupped again. "How long has it been?"

"About four days," Tanya replied.

((After Japi and the audience return from their anime-style fall-to-the-ground, they continue.))

"Maybe I am being a little melodramatic," Japi said.

"You're telling me," replied Tanya sarchastically.

Japi looked out her bedroom window and decided to wait patiently for the return of the two chime spirits without the pathetic act.

"They'll come back," she told herself. "I know they will."  

[FemStranger]

Anna looked up at the sky. The sun was bright, but the clouds hid it well. There was little wind today, so it was very hot, but it was a dry heat. She was on a commerce street, lined with little shops, most of no interest to her. But there was one for which she was headed that she hoped could help her with her problem. She looked at the flyer she had picked up. "Make your own chimes with our kits!" She had a little money with her, so she decided to try making a chime to attract a spirit to her, instead of looking for one.

She looked up to see the shop in front of her. Hanging in the window was an ominous looking chime with white skulls. She certainly didn't want a chime like that! She backed away a little but, feeling the paper in her hand, found the courage to go inside. She entered the shop.

I want a chime kit, she said softly.

The lady at the counter turned and smiled. "Metal or crystal?" she asked.

Crystal I guess. Anna replied.

"And what three colors would you like the dye to be?" She showed her a vast array of colors to choose from, but three stood out to Anna, for whatever reason. She didn't realize that it was because they were three colors quite common in Japi's house.

Lavender, Mint and Plum, she pointed out each in turn.

The lady boxed up the chime supplies and rang up the total on the cash register. "That'll be 4k," she said.

Anna reached into her pocket and pulled out the gold she needed and handed it to the woman who put it in the register and then handed her the box of supplies. "The instructions are inside."

Anna waved to the kind woman and left the shop. She was eager to get started on her chime.  

[FemStranger]

Anna walked to the park nearby and sat on a bench. She opened up the box containing the chime kit and looked at its contents: a moon-shaped peice, five long crystal peices, a metal ring, a bead, several feet of twine, three little bottles of dye in the colors she'd chosen, and a paper containing instructions.

She read the instructions and began work on the chime, wishing with all her might that it would bring her love as she strung the thing together. The result of the basics was a very plain chime with no colors yet. She took out the dye and started working.

Anna's mind wandered as she painted the dye onto the chime, and a mental image began to form in her mind. Japi's house. She was homesick, but she was lovesick even more, so she continued her endeavor without complaining.

She dyed the bead and the moon shape in the mint color, and the twine in plum, and the metal ring in lavender. Then she colored the five crystal chime peices with the lavender as well, but it looked too plain, so she splotched a bit of the mint on it for an accent. It was a beautiful chime.

Anna picked up the chime and rang it. It sounded lovely, very different from her metal chime back home. She looked around, hoping another spirit would come immediately, but alas, no one came. She would in fact, have to wait quite some time before a spirit noticed her chime.

Standing up, she decided she would hang it in a tree somewhere and wait nearby to see who came to admire the chime. She said a little prayer and hung it in a nearby branch and walked back to the park bench.

For the next week, many people came to admire the chime. They would stop while at the park and wonder who placed it there. But these were people, and Anna had wanted to find another chime spirit, not a person. So she waited.

...and waited.  

[FemStranger]

The winmi-- I mean dragon glared ferociously at Nina as she readied her frozen sheild and blade to defend herself. She slashed at one of it's two heads and hit. The dragon reared back and roared in pain and tried to slash at her with the opposite arm. Nina raised her sheild to meet it and defended against the blow, but it knocked her back. She jumped into the air and, using her flight ability, rose to meet its other arm with her sword. She cleaved it entirely off, and it fell to the ground with a thud. She turned to see one of its heads coming straight for her and she quickly pulled her fingers to her lips and blew a wind arrow at it, a trick Anna had taught her. The dragon roared again in pain and shut its eyes. The arrow had made its mark, one of the heads was dealt with.

Using that blind spot to her advantage, Nina drove her sword home into it's chest and struck the heart. The beast writhed in pain before finally falling to the ground, dead. She had been victorious!

Nina looked back at the broken six bladed windmill, which was unable to spin it's blades when she found it. Now one of its blades was on the ground next to her, and three others were severely damaged.

It wasn't really fun anymore, but she had known all along that pretending to have an adventure is nowhere near as exciting as having one. The problem was, she just couldn't seem to find a decent adventure!  

[FemStranger]

Bored. Completely and absolutely bored. Nina had finally run out of things to do in her immediate area. She had got lost in a forest and survived off of nuts and berries for a week, which was easy because she didn't actually have to eat to survive. She had battled with a dragon, which actually was a windmill--she read that in a book once. She had even become a mercenary, but could only find jobs like mowing lawns and painting houses.

Nina decided she would have to go farther to attain the adventure she wanted. The question was, where should she go? She remembered Janet saying something about searching for treasures as a space pirate, so she decided that she would have to pick some kind of treasure to look for. Now she had a new question, what? She was drawing a blank. There was nothing she knew of that would be so important that the quest to obtain it would be any kind of adventure at all.

Nina realized that she could not do this alone, so she reluctantly decided to return home for a while, to ask Japi for help with her quest to find an adventure.  

[FemStranger]

Nina felt defeated as she returned home to Japi and Anna. She floated around the corner of the house into the backyard to see Japi sitting in her chair outside.

"NINA!!" exclaimed Japi as she jumped to her feet and rushed to meet the returning chime spirit. "You're home! Where's Anna?" she looked around for the other twin.

She's not here? asked Nina, confused. She was under the impression that she'd left both Japi and her sister behind.

"No. You two left on the same day," replied Japi. "I thought you knew. Did she know you were leaving?"

No... Nina looked confused. Then Japi remembered Nina's note. <You guys can have fun without me, right?>

"Oh," she said. "I guess she left on her own then."

Anna left? Where'd she go? Nina looked a little worried.

"She said she was looking for someone," Japi replied trying to remember what Anna had written.

Who?

"I don't really know," replied Japi. "I don't think even she knows."

Nina was confused.

"Come here, I'll show you the note." Japi motioned to the door and they both went inside.

~~

Why would she need to find someone out there when she's got us? Nina demanded angrily. Are we not good enough for her?

"She's not trying to find someone better," Japi tried to explain. "She just needs..." It was hard to find the right words, especially since she had had to ask herself the same question when the both of them had left. But that was it! Japi knew how to explain it!

Nina was still brooding.

"Well," Japi began. "What about you? Wasn't it enough fun here? Why did you have to go off looking for fun somewhere else?"

Nina was startled. That was different!

"Not at all."

But I just wanted to-- she stopped. Japi was right. It was the same. There is simply something about looking for things in other places that appeals to people, regardless of what kind of happiness they have already.

The grass is always greener... Nina mumbled.

"It's not like that," Japi assured her.

What do you mean?

"That saying implies that what we're searching for isn't always there, so we shouldn't try so hard to search for it," Japi explained. "But I don't really believe that. Even if it's not really greener, it's the search that matters. What makes living worthwhile is not the end, it's the journey." She smiled at her friend. "Besides," she whispered, excitedly. "How will we know it really isn't greener, if we don't look?"  

[FemStranger]

"So, how did your adventure go anyways?" Japi asked Nina later.

Nina grimaced, embarassed. Not so great, actually. That's why I came back home.

"Aww, don't give up!" Japi encouraged her little chime spirit.

No! That's not it, Nina explained. I came back to ask for your help, and Anna's too, if she was still here. She went on to tell Japi about her failed attempts at finding adventure and discribed her "fake encounters" like with the windmill-dragon. So you see, she said as she brought her story to a close, I need your help to find something to quest for, so I can go on my adventure. Nina looked at the ground. I really don't mean to be leaving you again.

"You won't leave me this time," Japi insisted. "I'm coming with you."

I can't ask you to do that! Nina exclaimed.

"You're not," Japi countered. "I'm telling you that I'm going, whether you ask me to or not."

But what about all your kids! They won't be able to contact you while you're out adventuring with me will they?

"Of course they will silly!" Japi told the chime spirit, laughing. "I'll still have my mirror!"

But, Nina started. Are you sure? I mean, I don't even know where I'm going yet, let alone how dangerous it might be!

"Which is precicely why I am going!" replied Japi. "I can't have my good friend go off all alone! And besides, of course you know where WE'RE going!"

And where's that?

"To find your sister, of course!"

~~

It was decided. Nina's quest would be to find her sister, Anna, and Japi was coming with her, whether she liked it, or not!  

[FemStranger]

Days passed, and what seemed like forever, but finally Anna noticed a change in the music of the chime. She knew--something Japi did not--that it meant there was a spirit nearby. She left the bench where she had been waiting and approached the chime. Her eyes widened as she saw what she had hoped for; a beautiful whispy chime spirit. He was a shimmering combination of shades of purple and white flowers. Anna stood there stunned. He noticed her, and turned.

Hello, he said, his voice calm and beautiful. I am Johan. And you are?

Anna, she mumbled nervously. My name is Anna.

You are a chime spirit, yes? he asked her.

Yes, she replied, fumbling around in her mind for other things to say. I made that chime, she blurted out. She immediately realized that it sounded like bragging and blushed. Johan didn't seem fazed.

It is beautiful, he said. Do you mind if I stay with it, and with you?

This time Anna blushed even more brightly. Of course! She was happy it was going so well, but there seemed to be something odd. She had to be sure he was the one for her.

Anna wasn't ready to go home yet.

~~

The Anna and Johan adventures continue on in Johan's journal. ^-^