Kahli watched in horror as Agent 42's head rolled across the grease-stained tile floor aimlessly, severed from his corpse near flawlessly save for a few tears of skin.

"Well?" grumbled the agent, looking at Kahli with frustration befitting someone who seemed to be slowly but surely slipping out of her [skill]'s grasp. Was [Tale Teller] going to fail Kahli? "What do you have to say for yourself, miss?"

Kahli took a deep breath, smelling an especially strong squelch from Froufrou. And then, she smiled the widest grin she could manage, feeling it crack the plaster on her face. "Oh, well, Agent 42's just got a rare skin condition is all."

"A rare skin condition?" the agent looked over again to Agent 42's severed head. "You expect me to believe that Agent 42's head just popped off because of a skin condition?"

----------------------------------------

Kahli, Kahli, Kahli. It's good to perceive your eternal presence here in the void yet again.

Kahli immediately felt a furling yearning of internal frustration. Why did this obnoxious big jellyfish have to show up every time she froze time? What's more, the jellyfish seemed to be getting bigger. How was that possible? Even worse, Kahli was really starting to wonder about this jellyfish's mental capacities.

You're wondering about my mental capacities? Are you thinking that I'm stupid or something? thought-balked the jellyfish.

I hate that you can read my thoughts, said Kahli. Anyway, I was wondering if you were a bit foolish, I guess you could say-

Yes, I guess you could say that, Kahli. I guess you could.

Kahli stood there in the darkness of the infinite void in relative silence for a moment. Of course, even but a moment of silence in the void was unbearably loud. It seemed almost like the sound of nothing had its own sound, a sound of static and feedback, of endless crackling that echoed in on itself over and over and over again terribly...

I was wondering if you were foolish because you said 'yet again,' as in, you alluded to the fact that I've come and left this void before. Except, if time is immaterial, and my presence is eternal, shouldn't that mean that I never left the void at all? You're not being consistent in what you say, you, you big jellyfish.

Kahli, I must continue to stress to you that I am not truly a big jellyfish, for what I truly am is a being here in this void with you that has by choice taken the shape of a jellyfish in order to not frighten or preturb you. Indeed, there is plenty here in the void by the way of thoughts and experiences that can serve to frighten and preturb you in plentiful amounts, and I am making the benevolent decision not to be one of those things. I assure you, were I to instead decide to show you my true form, you would surely perish from fright.

Perish from fright? Kahli felt angry. Not only does that sound ridiculous, because I'm not a coward, but I don't think any of this is really relevant. I'm thinking you're trying to distract me from the fact that you said something stupid.

Kahli, what I said was not stupid. Time can be infinite and finite at the same time, remember from our previous talks on different types of infinity? Sure, the void is always there, and always here, and you are always here in the void. That is for certain. But, at the same time, that is not your conscious experience, as we've covered previously. So, how can we account for this? Different types and permeations of infinities, of course.

Kahli sighed internally, because it was impossible to sigh externally. The jellyfish was clearly preparing to launch into one of its awful, captive diatribes.

Imagine, if you will, a shape. Any shape.

Kahli, unfortunately, felt compelled enough to comply and imagine a cube.

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Now, imagine that shape suddenly transformed into a vertical cylinder.

Kahli was so over this - why did this stupid jellyfish make her picture a different shape, if it was just going to have her imagine a cylinder?

All in due time, Kahli. Now, imagine that the vertical cylinder is horizontal.

Once again, another useless instruction. This was all making Kahli feel extremely mentally weary. It almost seemed like she was losing some sort of energy, but she wasn't really sure why or how, and it didn't seem that the majority of her system was operating while she was in this void state, so she felt almost stuck listening to the jellyfish.

Now, imagine that the cylinder stretches out a far, far distance. So far, you can't see the end. And then, imagine that there is not end. That is the infinity of the void.

Kahli felt dreary.

Now, pick out a point on that cylinder. Any point. There are an endless amount of points, but at the same time, if you pick any of those points, then that is an individual point, isn't it? So. That is your perception of the void, and your experience, versus your presence in the void all eternal.

Kahli was over this. Look, whatever, I don't care.

You don't care? Don't you want to understand infinity? Don't you want to understand time itself and the machinations it has within your world? Don't you need to understand the ramifications of your skill?

Yea, that's something that really makes no sense to me. How is this skill [Seismic Sense]? Sure, I can sense things with my big foot, but why is it seismic? How is any of this relating to that? That's what I want to understand, not any of this inconsequential nonsense you keep babbling on about endlessly, talking about imagining shapes and types of infinities. What an absurd waste of my energy! I should be focusing on my available timelines and decided which one to pick. Which, before you think one more obnoxious thing at me, that's exactly what I'm going to do!

But Kahli, I-

Kahli was so over this jellyfish. She looked down at her big left foot, looking was in fact all she could do at this point in the void, and she focused on the first of the three glowing scenarios presented to her. It was time to check her timelines.

[Scenario one]

The agent glared at Kahli. "You expect me to believe that Agent 42's head just popped off because of a skin condition?"

"Well, yes, that and a terrible venerial disease. He'll tell you about it himself."

"He'll tell me about it?" The agent looked confused and incredulous. "How exactly will he tell me about it? His head's popped right off!"

"Hey, I fixed your robot, lady," said the mechanic agent with a grin. He walked Unit 5a23 over. "He's good as new!"

"Oh, hi there Unit 5a23, glad to see you're back to normal." Kahli smiled at her cold, metal companion.

Unit 5a23 shot down to all fours. "Woof, woof, I am your robot dog companion! Please take me for a walk at your earliest convenience, I have a small bladder, and will not hesitate to relieve myself upon your linens. Woof, woof!"

"What in Theseosus' glorious pincers have you done to him, sir?" asked Kahli with a grimace. "He's not supposed to think he's a dog!"

"Well, his identity module was totally fried," replied the mechanic. "The best fit that I had was one for the Fidobot 8000. Usually it doesn't matter if we switch out those modules, because they can easily get overwritten by memories."

"Oh, well, that makes sense, his memory is totally fried."

"Bark, bark! I am your friendly doggie!"

"Can you idiots listen to me for a second?" interjected the agent. "A man's severed head is lying on the floor and I'm supposed to believe that it's because of a skin condition? And then you're just going to ignore me over a stupid robot? And I'm supposed to just sit by and allow all this idiocy? And to believe what you tell me?"

"You know what?" Kahli stood up; she wasn't a coward. She summoned a rock under her big left foot. "I don't care what you think. I'm done wasting my energy trying to convince you that Agent 42 isn't dead. Do you want the truth? He's dead. Dead as hell. He smashed his pod into a wall and had his leg resting on the dash, and the bone shot through from his leg and killed him. He's dead, dead, dead, and he always will be. Are you happy?" Kahli felt triumphant. She wasn't going to waste her energy being scared of this agent.

However, the agent didn't seem greatly impacted by this situation, either. Instead, they just stood there, and then quietly whispered something into a small shell they produced from a handbag.

Before Kahli could even think, she felt a wretched pain splitting through her mind as she flattened against the floor. She glance up for a second to see an enormous mech prepared to stomp her into a pancake.

[You died]

[End scenario]

Kahli was back in the void.

Well, that certainly was an interesting one, replied the jellyfish. The question is, do you think the pattern you've observed will folllow through once again? Will it be the third timeline that you choose? And, if that is the case, why not go ahead and observe the third timeline? Why even consider a second timeline, of which you have never once selected?

Kahli sighed inwardly yet again. The real question is, when are you going to shut the hell up and let me think?