Kahli raised her foot, prepared to kick her big boulder away from Agent 42 as he drove his weird little pod through the F.I.N.G.E.R. facility. Sure, the pod was small and cramped, and her boulder would probably just bounce off the wall and then immediately rocket toward him, but certainly that would pack more of a punch than kicking it right at him as it would allow her to employ the use of the return speed aspect of her [skill]. Right?

"Wait, wait, what are you doing, Kahli?!" said Agent 42 with a stressful veracity. "You can't be serious here, are you going to attack me? While I'm driving, Kahli?"

"That's the plan, dillweed," said Kahli with a smirk that cracked the plaster on her face a bit.

"Kahli, I think that when your face gets covered in living wood, it's going to permanently have that smirk on it," said Sahdi coolly.

"Don't give me that lip, Sahdi!" said Kahli. Obviously, she'd struck a nerve, because Sahdi immediately closed her mouth and tried to scrunch it up. Kahli had barely noticed how large Sahdi's lips were before that moment. And large they were.

"Look, will you just let me scan my keyfob into the facility already so we can debrief you two?" said Agent 42. "Please don't try to attack me. There's a whole slew of scrollwork in the debrief that has to get filled out, and if you attack me then there are, like, fifteen other scrolls that have to be filled in order to complete the debrief."

"What if I don't want to complete your stupid tea leaf?" said Kahli, one bad wind away from kicking her big rock, and all too eager to remind everyone of that.

Agent 42 buried his head in his hands. Which was a terrible idea, he should've been paying attention to what was in front of him, because he was piloting a strange, pod shaped automobile, after all. Additionally, as soon as he did so, the pod smashed into the wall and then spun around wildly, filling up with a thick, opaque smoke that smelled like strawberries.

[You're taking damage]

"Holy shit! Holy shit, we're all going to die!!" said Sahdi. Suddenly, she was trying to leave the pod.

It spun and spun, and Kahlie felt a little nauseated, but soon enough the pod seemed to run dry of momentum and was hanging there, wherever it was, in stillness. The smoke still filled the pod - was there no function for air filtering in this wild driving machine?

"This is the most energized I've seen you, Sahdi," said Kahli with another smirk. "Then again, maybe it's because I can barely see you that you're acting out like this. Are you finally feeling less self conscious or something? Is that why you've essentially been a quiet non-entity for so long now, essentially saying and adding absolutely nothing to conversation or combat? Because you're so self conscious or something?"

There was a pause, and then some sniffling that seemed to echo despite their cramped surroundings.

"Yea, well, why don't you kick your rock, Kahli?" whined Sahdi's voice.

"Why do you say it like my rock is something bad, Sahdi? Like, with the inflection and everything it almost sounds like you think that me kicking my rock amounts to some sort of... Oh, I don't know, as if it might amount to some sort of a coping mechanism. Which doesn't make any sense! I kick my rock because it is one of my [skills], and my [skills] are awesome, and I use my awesome [skills] because they make me a winner. So I'm going into this with the idea of being a winner, Sahdi, because that's what I am. I'm here to win."

"Win at what?" said Sahdi with a sob. She was crying?

Kahli stopped her gloating and felt around for Sahdi. Was she even in the pod? Why was she crying? Kahli asked, but Sahdi didn't respond. Things were getting very strange. She needed to know where Sahdi was, she was getting concerned. She didn't want to be in this facility with Agent 42 without at least one other person who was, for better or worse, on her side. Kahli took a big gasp of smoky air, she was struggling to breath, and then she leaned forward to try and look for Sahdi.

And then, her lips bumped up against something. It was soft, and wet. And she realized that it was the rather large lips of none other than Sahdi.

"AAAGH!" Kahli pushed Sahdi away and screamed. "Gross! What is wrong with you, Sahdi?"

"What's wrong with you? Why did you just kiss me?" Sahdi spat.

Stolen story; please report.

"You kissed me Sahdi, and it was totally gross and uncool. Please do not do that." Kahli said.

It was at this moment that much of the smoke seemed to, finally, disappate. And then Kahli and Sahdi both realized something. Apparently, neither of them had kissed one another. What had actually happened was, for whatever reason - perhaps nervousness - Froufrou had leapt from her purse and was writhing in the seat perforation between the two ladies. And they'd each managed to kiss one of Froufrou's tendrils at the same moment, apparently giving one another the impression, at first at least, that they had kissed one another.

"Oh, yuck," said Sahdi. "I mean, what a relief."

"Yea, I'm thrilled we didn't kiss, too," said Kahli definitively. "Also, don't call Froufrou gross. She's putrid, there's a difference."

Froufrou squelched in the affirmative.

But before anyone could balk at was a demonstrably terrible smelling squelch, Kahli and Sahdi both had a thought - a thought that had nothing to do with kissing one another, mistakenly or otherwise.

"Why is Agent 42 being so quiet?" they said in unison.

Kahli leaned forward and looked over to the driver's seat. Then, she gasped. Apparently, as soon as the pod had crashed, Agent 42 had met an untimely devise. See, he'd been driving with his left foot resting on the dashboard of the pod, which, along with being unhygenic, sent bones from his leg on impact right through his forehead, piercing into his cranium and killing him almost instantly. Blood was splattered all over him, as were bits of his leg tendon. It was a wretched sight.

"Oh wowie." Kahli took a deep breath of putrid air, and then she hacked a little. Then, she shrugged. This would make it a lot easier to get out of the pod, she figured. She reached over and grabbed Agent 42's keyfob, which had a small, stuffed rabbit hanging off the keyring. "Huh, that's kind of cute." Then, she pressed a button on the fob. The pod immeidately started beeping and honking. She pressed another button, and the seats started massaging their backs.

"You can leave this setting on, Kahli, it feels nice," said Sahdi.

Froufrou squelched in agreeance.

Kahli pressed yet another button on the fob - there sure were a lot of buttons on the tricky, little gizmo - and this time the ceiling of the pod slid slowly yet satisfyingly open.

"Wow, I didn't know this thing was a convertible pod," said Sahdi, impressed.

"Yes, well, at least we can climb out the top to escape," said Kahli. "Honestly, I'm glad Agent 42 died. He was a bit of a smart aleck, and plus, I was worried we were going to get captured or something. Now we can just escape."

Sahdi looked at Kahli like she didn't have any living wood on her body, or some other apt comparison for having a tauman body that seemed so out of the ordinary as much as to be impossible.

"What?" Kahli frowned. She didn't like the way Sahdi looked at her - ever. Maybe it was because she didn't like Sahdi, maybe it was because she didn't like how it made her feel when Sahdi looked at her. Kahli couldn't be sure.

"Just escape?" Sahdi gave Kahli another look. Her eyes were large, and they glowed more than most peoples' eyes seemed to, Kahli noted. "Are you sure about that? How exactly are we supposed to just escape if we're stuck in a situation wherein it looks like we killed a F.I.N.G.E.R. agent? What would they do to us, if somebody else from their organization saw this right now and decided to press us on it? I mean, you've got a new system, but you seem pretty powerful. What if they came to the conclusion that you killed him? What do you think they'd do to us?"

Kahli snickered. "Maybe they'd give us the finger."

"Kahli, what's gotten into you? You're not acting like yourself. Usually you take things seriously."

"What are you talking about? I'm taking this whole situation veeeery seriously, miss I-live-for-my-hair."

Froufrou squelched doubtfully.

Sahdi looked around the pod, finally finding a small, split open canister. "Hey, I think this was what filled the pod with smoke!" Sahdi inspected it further. "It says it's... Oh, shit. Kahli, I know why you're acting this way."

It took a while to get Kahli on the right track, but Sahdi was eventually able to tell her that she'd just inhaled a pod full of Guffawing Gas. This was a special kind of gas that was developed to help EMTs through serious situations, however, it was only supposed to be used in minor amounts. Apparently, Agent 42 had some, and the pod's wrecking had gnashed the whole damn thing open. It was fast acting and fast decaying, so she'd be back to normal soon, thankfully.

"Then why are you acting so... Rational, Sahdi?" Kahli asked.

"I have anosmia," she replied matter-of-factly.

"B-but what about Froufrou's squelches?" said Kahli incredulously, holding her stinky pet up to Sahdi's face.

"It was all an act," Sahdi said shamefully. "I find my lack of smell sensing well... I find it incredibly embarassing."

"But then, how do you know when she squelches?" Kahli asked in confusion.

"Because your face scrunches up in the same way every time you smell her squelches, Kahli."

Kahli nodded with understanding. Suddenly, she didn't necessarily hate Sahdi as much as she had. She still hated her a good bit, of course, and what hatred that had disappated had been mostly replaced by new hatred for deceiving her,. But still, this did somewhat alter Kahli's opinion of Sahdi.

"Regardless, Sahdi - and I do hate to say this - I think you have a point. I think the agents of F.I.N.G.E.R. will think we killed Agent 42 if we don't do something about this situation. I'm sure they're very organized, they definitely seem it."

"We? Kahli, I was saying that they'll think you killed-"

"But don't worry, Sahdi, I know what to do to protect us. We'll just convince everyone that he's not dead, and that he's right here, and that we're talking to him, and that he's talking to them, too." Kahli smirked.

"What?" Sahdi looked confused. "That's impossible, Kahli."

Kahli just kept on smirking. Sahdi, obivously, didn't know about all of her [skills].