Power Politics
Directly continued from the last post - Rodney and Seth get to meet Kimmy in their temporary stay in the afterlife while Simfield is moved between computers.
For future reference, I'd just assume that anything involving any of the villains - nevermind all of them - is very likely to have at least some bad language. *rolls eyes*
~~~~~~~~~
Rodney and Seth turned from where Mzyra had just disappeared to look at their new accommodation.
"Guess we'd better look around," Rodney stated and Seth shrugged in agreement.
The first door led into the kitchen, which looked very... kitchen-y. There was a fridge, cooker, counters and a table with four chairs. It wasn't huge, but it was... normal. Surprisingly so. Around the corner of it there was another door with stairs leading down to a dark basement, where Mzyra had sent the unveiled and apparently frozen potential villains before.
Back out in the entrance way, another door led to a larger living room with a TV, bookcase, two sofas, a desk with a computer and sliding glass doors to the outside, where there was a bench and things.
"Does this seem suspiciously normal to you?" Rodney asked Seth as he walked in to look out through the glass doors.
"She did say she wasn't torturing us..." Seth said slowly as he looked around the room.
"Yes, but she labelled us 'bad guys' - I expected something a little more... I don't know, dark? Hopeless? Painful?"
"It doesn't seem much like punishment. Unless normality is a kind of punishment. Maybe it could be..." Seth mused thoughtfully.
"Whatever, it seems way too suspicious to me. I think she's going to suddenly appear out of nowhere and take us somewhere far worse and this will just be a comparison to show us how much better things could have been," Rodney frowned.
"Boredom and loneliness can be a kind of torture," another voice put in from the doorway and the two guys turned to see Kimmy leaning against the frame. "Not my method of choice, but then I don't see so much of that happening here now. So, who are you two then?" she asked, looking them up and down with a distinct tone of being entirely unimpressed.
They glanced at each other before Seth started, "I'm Seth Jayapalan."
Kimmy raised an interested eyebrow with the beginnings of a smile. "Jayapalan? Who were your parents?"
Seth gave her a wary look, "Nery Jayapalan and Marina Ryman."
Now she really was smiling, but it wasn't a nice one. "Ah, I have a nephew here, do I?" she said, walking over to him and circling around him interestedly, still surveying him. "What are you in for?"
"Murder," Seth said reluctantly, clearly uncomfortable with the way she was inspecting him.
"Anyone I know?"
"Er, eight of the simselves, Juan Harris, Zack Landry and," he paused for a second, "Nicola and Alvin Ryman."
Kimmy stopped in surprise for a second, but she was still smiling. "You killed Nicola?" she sounded almost a little impressed. "Why would you kill Nicola? Of all my siblings she was by far the least annoying and self-righteous."
"She was the legacy heiress," Seth shrugged.
"Was Marina alive when you did all that?"
"Er, she was when I killed them, but people didn't find out until just after she died... Why?" he asked reluctantly.
"I was just wondering if she knew that her own son had killed so many people, especially after she gave me so much crap even before I killed Terry. I'd love to have seen her face when she found out - she must be so angry and ashamed. Probably hates your guts," she laughed, before turning to Rodney and leaving Seth looking slightly alarmed. "So who are you?"
Rodney leant back against the glass doors so she couldn't circle him too, "I'm Rodney Jalowitz, Simfield's Mayor."
"And what are you in for?" she asked sceptically.
Rodney hesitated as he realised that this might be a rare occasion when it might be wise to play up his crimes, rather than down. "I killed those simselves too."
"You mean you didn't even do that alone?" she asked turning back to Seth, who looked up blankly, clearly not listening.
"It still averages out at four people each," Rodney said defensively. "More than you've done."
"So why did you two kill them?" Kimmy asked, looking between them.
Seth looked up again, still not entirely paying attention. "Er, I was trying to end the legacy altogether. Killing Nicola and everything didn't work, so I thought that maybe if the simselves were gone..."
"Okay," Kimmy acknowledged. "You?"
Rodney hesitated, "Er..."
Kimmy tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes at him. "It was all his idea, wasn't it? You were just the guy holding his stuff while he did it, weren't you?" she said, starting to patronise him a bit.
"No-" he started to insist, but with not as much conviction in his voice as he wanted.
"So what else have you done? Blonde bitch out there doesn't chuck people in here for being accomplices, they go somewhere else. You must have done something else."
Rodney had never really tried to convince somebody he was a terrible person before. It was odd. "I blackmailed my way into political office, I'm blackmailing or bribing half the people in town and I'll have soon stolen enough money to buy my own island if I wanted to."
This didn't impress Kimmy. "So you're a bureaucrat," she sneered and turned away, rolling her eyes. Rodney scowled at her in turn. "Right! There is a hierarchy here: I am at the top, you-" she pointed at Seth, "are second, and you" she sneered again as she pointed at Rodney whose scowl was getting deeper, "are the bottom rung. There's only one bedroom here, so-"
"There's only one bedroom?" Seth cut her off. "Does Mzyra know?" Kimmy shrugged. "Mzyra?!" Seth half-shouted out.
There was a somewhat comedic ping and the blonde appeared in front of the TV. "Hi! 'Sup? Oooh, tense in here, isn't it?" she observed, looking at Rodney and Kimmy especially, all while smiling pleasantly.
"Kimmy says there's only one bedroom here," Seth frowned.
"Ah. Yes. That."
"Is that the problem with this house then?" Rodney asked her, deadpan.
"Erm, no, not as such. The thing is, this house has only had one occupant before and since you guys are only here for a short time, it's not really worth adding more rooms just for a few days. When you all actually die, you'll get more," she explained happily.
"So what are we meant to do in the meantime?" Rodney frowned.
"Sofas!" Mzyra indicated at the two in the room. "Three people - one bed, two sofas. You'll be fine. Anything else?" Nobody said anything, so the blonde disappeared with a 'poof' and a cloud of steam.
"I can't believe that's the person in charge of our whole universe..." Seth mused quietly.
"I can," Rodney stated. "I think I'm beginning to understand where you come from."
"As I was saying," Kimmy interjected, "the bedroom's mine."
"Why do you get it?" Rodney scowled again. "Though I guess, since you're the only girl, we can give it to you-"
"Give?!" Kimmy exclaimed and walked slowly and menacingly right into Rodney's personal space until they were only a couple of inches apart and she leaned right up to his face. "You're not giving anything; I am taking that room, whether you like it or not, because I am better than you." Rodney struggled not to say anything in retort as she turned and walked back to the centre of the room. "Now, as the hierarchy goes, fauxhawk here gets the three-person sofa, and bureaucrat gets the two."
"What?!" Rodney shouted. "You can't just elect yourself leader and order us around!"
"Well I have, but fine: you want to be leader? Fight me for it," she challenged openly.
Rodney hesitated, "I'm not going to fight a woman."
"Then you concede," Kimmy stated.
"No! I could beat you in a fight."
"Claiming to have the ability doesn't count for anything if you don't use it," Kimmy bit back. "Here, I'll make it easier for you," she said before punching him round the face.
Rodney stumbled back a little and raised an arm slowly as his anger overcame his restraint, but Kimmy was quicker, grabbing him by the arm, flipping him on to his back, rolling him onto his front and then forcing the arm up his back and digging her knee into his spine. "Trained for the military, bitch," she spat at him.
"Seth?" he struggled out through gritted teeth.
"Er," Seth started slowly from where he was still standing and staring, "I think I'm gonna go check what we've got in the fridge..."
Kimmy laughed and looked back down at Rodney, "Have we got the hierarchy established now, bureaucrat?" Rodney just muttered darkly into the carpet. Kimmy twisted his arm some more, "Have we?"
"Yes, okay?! Would you get off of me already?!" he shouted back.
Kimmy laughed again and stood up, but kicked him in the ribs before leaving and going back upstairs.
Rodney stood up angrily and marched into the kitchen where Seth was surveying the food situation. "Some f---ing help you are!" Seth didn't respond. "Are you just going to stand for that?!"
Seth glanced at him from behind the fridge door, "For her kicking your ass? Um, well yeah, probably."
Rodney glared at him, "For her just taking charge!"
"Well given the fact that I'm not the one officially in charge when we're alive, I'm not all that bothered," he shrugged. "And I really don't think you want to make an enemy of her, though it may be a bit late for that," he said, raising an eyebrow.
"We outnumber her! If you'd just helped-"
"I don't fight girls," Seth interjected.
"Well firstly, if we worked together we might not even have to fight, just incapacitate her. And secondly, how many of your victims were women?!"
"... eight..." he murmured.
"Two thirds of the people you killed were female and you aren't even willing to fight someone who's willing to punch you in the face?!" Rodney shouted in exasperation.
"It's not the same," Seth said quietly. "And besides, it was you she hit, not me. What would I gain from helping you? The only thing it's affected so far is the sleeping situation and there's only one room to gain anyway. Unless you're going to tell me I'd get that, there's nothing in that for me. And you'd probably have to have the bedroom anyway because she'd probably beat you up in your sleep if you were in the same room."
"But what about-"
Seth turned to him and narrowed his eyes. "Don't you dare try and pull that 'friends' bullshit on me, Rodney Jalowitz; neither of us have any real friends and if the situation was reversed you sure as hell wouldn't be helping me." They stared at each other for a few seconds before Rodney rolled his eyes and went to the freezer to get something cold for his cheek where Kimmy hit him. "Anyway, it's not like it's for long and whoever dies for real first can do what they want."
"What an incentive," Rodney said sarcastically, pulling out an icepack. "Not that we'll know..."
"Knowing all this is a bitch," Seth muttered. "We know where we're going to end up and even if we could do anything to change it and wanted to, we won't be able to remember in order to do so. It's not fair." Rodney murmured his agreement. "Mzyra?" Seth called out again.
Another ping and she was there. "Hi guys!" she spotted Rodney sat with the icepack "Ah, Kimmy hit you, huh?"
"We were just saying how unfair this is," Seth said.
"Because you won't let us do anything about it," Rodney glared.
"Oh, would you become all nice and helpful and everything?" Mzyra asked with wide eyes but a disbelieving smile. "Let me ask you this: Juan Harris: Are you sorry?" They looked at her blankly. "You killed him," she said at Seth, "and you tried, are trying, to make his life as difficult as possible. Are you sorry?" They both eventually looked away. "Exactly. You can't even lie about it, because it's obvious. And you should be choosing to do the right thing because it's right and because you want to, not because you're going to suffer if you don't - though you will."
"So what if, for some reason, we became a lot better after we go back? Would it change anything?" Seth asked.
"Weeeeeeeeeeeell...." Mzyra mused. "I would like you more and you would have my sympathy, and probably that of my simself friends."
"Fantastic," Rodney said with deep sarcasm.
"It's worth more than you'd think," she smiled. "You, for instance, Rodney: a lot of my friends don't like you right now and you don't even want to know what they've suggested doing to you!" she laughed.
"But you wouldn't do it if it's torture," Rodney said suspiciously.
"Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh, I wouldn't say that exactly..." she said with a glint in her eye again.
"Hang on, shouldn't you be like the pinnacle of morality?" Seth frowned.
"Not if I'm willing to accept that some people are better than I am. I'd ask you if you'd heard of abuse of power, but I know for a fact that both of you have, especially Rodney. I try not to be unnecessarily cruel," she mused, "but then you two have been unnecessarily cruel before, so I daresay you'd understand, wouldn't you?"
"Urgh, this world sucks," Seth groaned with his face in his hands.
"Aww, honeykitten," she said sympathetically, rubbing his shoulder, as they both stared at her. "Oh, sorry, I do the whole pet-name thing a lot, either when I'm being very sympathetic or when I'm being very patronising. So I expect you'll get it a lot I'm afraid, one way or another."
"Can we elect a new person to be in charge of this universe?" Rodney asked angrily.
"Um, I suppose you could get another simself in charge," she mused. "You know, if you want somebody who wanted to put you in a crocodile pit or a cupboard full of tarantulas in charge of the place. I expect some of the other sims would vote for that."
Rodney stared at her, open-mouthed. "I can't believe how unfair the universe is!"
"Well of course! If it were fair, you wouldn't be Mayor of Simfield right now, would you?" she smiled. "Life is unfair and is treating you both rather better than you deserve lately. Death is unfair and is going to screw you both over a bit. So it all balances up in the end."
They both groaned in response. Then Seth had a thought, "Are we going to see any of our deceased family members before we go back?"
"We're avoiding that for now," Mzyra said. "There are many reunions and things that need to happen, but since everyone's come at once we can't handle them all properly. They can wait until people officially die. Besides, do you really want to see your parents, Seth? I believe your mother has rather a bone to pick with you over something or other..."
"I retract any expression of interest," he sighed.
"Well done. Anyway, I best be off. Don't worry too much about Kimmy; she has a boyfriend here - though not in this house obviously - and he'll keep her distracted for periods of time. Just... don't try to fight her Rodney, you really won't win." Rodney grumbled his assent and the blonde disappeared again.
Seth sighed and looked around. "Do you think they've got any alcohol here? I could do with a drink or ten..."
For future reference, I'd just assume that anything involving any of the villains - nevermind all of them - is very likely to have at least some bad language. *rolls eyes*
~~~~~~~~~
Rodney and Seth turned from where Mzyra had just disappeared to look at their new accommodation.
"Guess we'd better look around," Rodney stated and Seth shrugged in agreement.
The first door led into the kitchen, which looked very... kitchen-y. There was a fridge, cooker, counters and a table with four chairs. It wasn't huge, but it was... normal. Surprisingly so. Around the corner of it there was another door with stairs leading down to a dark basement, where Mzyra had sent the unveiled and apparently frozen potential villains before.
Back out in the entrance way, another door led to a larger living room with a TV, bookcase, two sofas, a desk with a computer and sliding glass doors to the outside, where there was a bench and things.
"Does this seem suspiciously normal to you?" Rodney asked Seth as he walked in to look out through the glass doors.
"She did say she wasn't torturing us..." Seth said slowly as he looked around the room.
"Yes, but she labelled us 'bad guys' - I expected something a little more... I don't know, dark? Hopeless? Painful?"
"It doesn't seem much like punishment. Unless normality is a kind of punishment. Maybe it could be..." Seth mused thoughtfully.
"Whatever, it seems way too suspicious to me. I think she's going to suddenly appear out of nowhere and take us somewhere far worse and this will just be a comparison to show us how much better things could have been," Rodney frowned.
"Boredom and loneliness can be a kind of torture," another voice put in from the doorway and the two guys turned to see Kimmy leaning against the frame. "Not my method of choice, but then I don't see so much of that happening here now. So, who are you two then?" she asked, looking them up and down with a distinct tone of being entirely unimpressed.
They glanced at each other before Seth started, "I'm Seth Jayapalan."
Kimmy raised an interested eyebrow with the beginnings of a smile. "Jayapalan? Who were your parents?"
Seth gave her a wary look, "Nery Jayapalan and Marina Ryman."
Now she really was smiling, but it wasn't a nice one. "Ah, I have a nephew here, do I?" she said, walking over to him and circling around him interestedly, still surveying him. "What are you in for?"
"Murder," Seth said reluctantly, clearly uncomfortable with the way she was inspecting him.
"Anyone I know?"
"Er, eight of the simselves, Juan Harris, Zack Landry and," he paused for a second, "Nicola and Alvin Ryman."
Kimmy stopped in surprise for a second, but she was still smiling. "You killed Nicola?" she sounded almost a little impressed. "Why would you kill Nicola? Of all my siblings she was by far the least annoying and self-righteous."
"She was the legacy heiress," Seth shrugged.
"Was Marina alive when you did all that?"
"Er, she was when I killed them, but people didn't find out until just after she died... Why?" he asked reluctantly.
"I was just wondering if she knew that her own son had killed so many people, especially after she gave me so much crap even before I killed Terry. I'd love to have seen her face when she found out - she must be so angry and ashamed. Probably hates your guts," she laughed, before turning to Rodney and leaving Seth looking slightly alarmed. "So who are you?"
Rodney leant back against the glass doors so she couldn't circle him too, "I'm Rodney Jalowitz, Simfield's Mayor."
"And what are you in for?" she asked sceptically.
Rodney hesitated as he realised that this might be a rare occasion when it might be wise to play up his crimes, rather than down. "I killed those simselves too."
"You mean you didn't even do that alone?" she asked turning back to Seth, who looked up blankly, clearly not listening.
"It still averages out at four people each," Rodney said defensively. "More than you've done."
"So why did you two kill them?" Kimmy asked, looking between them.
Seth looked up again, still not entirely paying attention. "Er, I was trying to end the legacy altogether. Killing Nicola and everything didn't work, so I thought that maybe if the simselves were gone..."
"Okay," Kimmy acknowledged. "You?"
Rodney hesitated, "Er..."
Kimmy tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes at him. "It was all his idea, wasn't it? You were just the guy holding his stuff while he did it, weren't you?" she said, starting to patronise him a bit.
"No-" he started to insist, but with not as much conviction in his voice as he wanted.
"So what else have you done? Blonde bitch out there doesn't chuck people in here for being accomplices, they go somewhere else. You must have done something else."
Rodney had never really tried to convince somebody he was a terrible person before. It was odd. "I blackmailed my way into political office, I'm blackmailing or bribing half the people in town and I'll have soon stolen enough money to buy my own island if I wanted to."
This didn't impress Kimmy. "So you're a bureaucrat," she sneered and turned away, rolling her eyes. Rodney scowled at her in turn. "Right! There is a hierarchy here: I am at the top, you-" she pointed at Seth, "are second, and you" she sneered again as she pointed at Rodney whose scowl was getting deeper, "are the bottom rung. There's only one bedroom here, so-"
"There's only one bedroom?" Seth cut her off. "Does Mzyra know?" Kimmy shrugged. "Mzyra?!" Seth half-shouted out.
There was a somewhat comedic ping and the blonde appeared in front of the TV. "Hi! 'Sup? Oooh, tense in here, isn't it?" she observed, looking at Rodney and Kimmy especially, all while smiling pleasantly.
"Kimmy says there's only one bedroom here," Seth frowned.
"Ah. Yes. That."
"Is that the problem with this house then?" Rodney asked her, deadpan.
"Erm, no, not as such. The thing is, this house has only had one occupant before and since you guys are only here for a short time, it's not really worth adding more rooms just for a few days. When you all actually die, you'll get more," she explained happily.
"So what are we meant to do in the meantime?" Rodney frowned.
"Sofas!" Mzyra indicated at the two in the room. "Three people - one bed, two sofas. You'll be fine. Anything else?" Nobody said anything, so the blonde disappeared with a 'poof' and a cloud of steam.
"I can't believe that's the person in charge of our whole universe..." Seth mused quietly.
"I can," Rodney stated. "I think I'm beginning to understand where you come from."
"As I was saying," Kimmy interjected, "the bedroom's mine."
"Why do you get it?" Rodney scowled again. "Though I guess, since you're the only girl, we can give it to you-"
"Give?!" Kimmy exclaimed and walked slowly and menacingly right into Rodney's personal space until they were only a couple of inches apart and she leaned right up to his face. "You're not giving anything; I am taking that room, whether you like it or not, because I am better than you." Rodney struggled not to say anything in retort as she turned and walked back to the centre of the room. "Now, as the hierarchy goes, fauxhawk here gets the three-person sofa, and bureaucrat gets the two."
"What?!" Rodney shouted. "You can't just elect yourself leader and order us around!"
"Well I have, but fine: you want to be leader? Fight me for it," she challenged openly.
Rodney hesitated, "I'm not going to fight a woman."
"Then you concede," Kimmy stated.
"No! I could beat you in a fight."
"Claiming to have the ability doesn't count for anything if you don't use it," Kimmy bit back. "Here, I'll make it easier for you," she said before punching him round the face.
Rodney stumbled back a little and raised an arm slowly as his anger overcame his restraint, but Kimmy was quicker, grabbing him by the arm, flipping him on to his back, rolling him onto his front and then forcing the arm up his back and digging her knee into his spine. "Trained for the military, bitch," she spat at him.
"Seth?" he struggled out through gritted teeth.
"Er," Seth started slowly from where he was still standing and staring, "I think I'm gonna go check what we've got in the fridge..."
Kimmy laughed and looked back down at Rodney, "Have we got the hierarchy established now, bureaucrat?" Rodney just muttered darkly into the carpet. Kimmy twisted his arm some more, "Have we?"
"Yes, okay?! Would you get off of me already?!" he shouted back.
Kimmy laughed again and stood up, but kicked him in the ribs before leaving and going back upstairs.
Rodney stood up angrily and marched into the kitchen where Seth was surveying the food situation. "Some f---ing help you are!" Seth didn't respond. "Are you just going to stand for that?!"
Seth glanced at him from behind the fridge door, "For her kicking your ass? Um, well yeah, probably."
Rodney glared at him, "For her just taking charge!"
"Well given the fact that I'm not the one officially in charge when we're alive, I'm not all that bothered," he shrugged. "And I really don't think you want to make an enemy of her, though it may be a bit late for that," he said, raising an eyebrow.
"We outnumber her! If you'd just helped-"
"I don't fight girls," Seth interjected.
"Well firstly, if we worked together we might not even have to fight, just incapacitate her. And secondly, how many of your victims were women?!"
"... eight..." he murmured.
"Two thirds of the people you killed were female and you aren't even willing to fight someone who's willing to punch you in the face?!" Rodney shouted in exasperation.
"It's not the same," Seth said quietly. "And besides, it was you she hit, not me. What would I gain from helping you? The only thing it's affected so far is the sleeping situation and there's only one room to gain anyway. Unless you're going to tell me I'd get that, there's nothing in that for me. And you'd probably have to have the bedroom anyway because she'd probably beat you up in your sleep if you were in the same room."
"But what about-"
Seth turned to him and narrowed his eyes. "Don't you dare try and pull that 'friends' bullshit on me, Rodney Jalowitz; neither of us have any real friends and if the situation was reversed you sure as hell wouldn't be helping me." They stared at each other for a few seconds before Rodney rolled his eyes and went to the freezer to get something cold for his cheek where Kimmy hit him. "Anyway, it's not like it's for long and whoever dies for real first can do what they want."
"What an incentive," Rodney said sarcastically, pulling out an icepack. "Not that we'll know..."
"Knowing all this is a bitch," Seth muttered. "We know where we're going to end up and even if we could do anything to change it and wanted to, we won't be able to remember in order to do so. It's not fair." Rodney murmured his agreement. "Mzyra?" Seth called out again.
Another ping and she was there. "Hi guys!" she spotted Rodney sat with the icepack "Ah, Kimmy hit you, huh?"
"We were just saying how unfair this is," Seth said.
"Because you won't let us do anything about it," Rodney glared.
"Oh, would you become all nice and helpful and everything?" Mzyra asked with wide eyes but a disbelieving smile. "Let me ask you this: Juan Harris: Are you sorry?" They looked at her blankly. "You killed him," she said at Seth, "and you tried, are trying, to make his life as difficult as possible. Are you sorry?" They both eventually looked away. "Exactly. You can't even lie about it, because it's obvious. And you should be choosing to do the right thing because it's right and because you want to, not because you're going to suffer if you don't - though you will."
"So what if, for some reason, we became a lot better after we go back? Would it change anything?" Seth asked.
"Weeeeeeeeeeeell...." Mzyra mused. "I would like you more and you would have my sympathy, and probably that of my simself friends."
"Fantastic," Rodney said with deep sarcasm.
"It's worth more than you'd think," she smiled. "You, for instance, Rodney: a lot of my friends don't like you right now and you don't even want to know what they've suggested doing to you!" she laughed.
"But you wouldn't do it if it's torture," Rodney said suspiciously.
"Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh, I wouldn't say that exactly..." she said with a glint in her eye again.
"Hang on, shouldn't you be like the pinnacle of morality?" Seth frowned.
"Not if I'm willing to accept that some people are better than I am. I'd ask you if you'd heard of abuse of power, but I know for a fact that both of you have, especially Rodney. I try not to be unnecessarily cruel," she mused, "but then you two have been unnecessarily cruel before, so I daresay you'd understand, wouldn't you?"
"Urgh, this world sucks," Seth groaned with his face in his hands.
"Aww, honeykitten," she said sympathetically, rubbing his shoulder, as they both stared at her. "Oh, sorry, I do the whole pet-name thing a lot, either when I'm being very sympathetic or when I'm being very patronising. So I expect you'll get it a lot I'm afraid, one way or another."
"Can we elect a new person to be in charge of this universe?" Rodney asked angrily.
"Um, I suppose you could get another simself in charge," she mused. "You know, if you want somebody who wanted to put you in a crocodile pit or a cupboard full of tarantulas in charge of the place. I expect some of the other sims would vote for that."
Rodney stared at her, open-mouthed. "I can't believe how unfair the universe is!"
"Well of course! If it were fair, you wouldn't be Mayor of Simfield right now, would you?" she smiled. "Life is unfair and is treating you both rather better than you deserve lately. Death is unfair and is going to screw you both over a bit. So it all balances up in the end."
They both groaned in response. Then Seth had a thought, "Are we going to see any of our deceased family members before we go back?"
"We're avoiding that for now," Mzyra said. "There are many reunions and things that need to happen, but since everyone's come at once we can't handle them all properly. They can wait until people officially die. Besides, do you really want to see your parents, Seth? I believe your mother has rather a bone to pick with you over something or other..."
"I retract any expression of interest," he sighed.
"Well done. Anyway, I best be off. Don't worry too much about Kimmy; she has a boyfriend here - though not in this house obviously - and he'll keep her distracted for periods of time. Just... don't try to fight her Rodney, you really won't win." Rodney grumbled his assent and the blonde disappeared again.
Seth sighed and looked around. "Do you think they've got any alcohol here? I could do with a drink or ten..."