Deep, Deep In the Mines

Year 17XX, Underground

Just guard this bridge. That will be your duty. It's an important job and I need someone to do it, you want something to do, it's a perfect match. These were all things Parsee had been told the first she'd met Lady Satori in the underground. Maybe they were even true. One thing that hadn't been said though was how...isolated the bridge was. It was in a cave outside of the city. A deep, underground cave where few people on either side even tried to cross. Parsee had seen MAYBE three humans trying to get across in two hundred years. A few youkai had tried to cross as well, getting sent back to Hell after a few stern words.

Lady Satori also hadn't mentioned how BORING this was job was though. There really wasn't a lot she HAD said about it, just to keep people from crossing unless they had permission. Which nobody ever had. So nobody ever crossed. Hardly anyone even came. Sometimes creatures would pass by; she'd even seen an odd girl in a bucket pass by once. Fortunately, she snuck into town once or twice a year to hang out with a really buff oni who lived there and tried to get Parsee to take up weightlifting. Even those visits were woefully short though; rumor had it Satori had a variety of horrifying attack beasts around her manor to punish people. Parsee shuddered a bit at the thought.

A gentle skittering noise drew her attention back to the present. A little too large to be a bug, not the right kind of footsteps for a rodent, too small for a human or youkai. She waited a few more moments, but the noise had ceased, allowing her to go back to musing over how bored she was. After about a minute of trying to decide whether or not she'd try sneaking into town again, Parsee was once more interrupted by the odd sound.

"Halt! Who goes there?" she shouted. "I'm the bridge princess and nobody crosses my bridge without permission!"

Parsee prepared a spell, ready to blast whoever came close. Oddly though, the next sound she heard was footsteps running on her bridge. She turned quickly to see a young girl in a brown dress running back and forth on the bridge.

"H-hey! You can't be on that bridge!" Parsee shrieked.

The playing girl stopped and ran over to Parsee, giggling with each step.

"Apparently I can, because I snuck right past you!" the girl snickered.

"Well, I have you now!" Parsee countered, grabbing the girl's collar.

"And now what? Do I go to jail or something?"

Parsee paused, considering the question. What COULD she do now that she had a...was prisoner even the right word for it? Parsee scoffed and let go, walking to the mouth of the bridge.

"No, you can go. Just...just don't try sneaking past me again!" Parsee warned. "I've got my eye on you!"

The girl giggled and blinked. "And I've got my eyes on you!"

"Eyes?" Parsee wondered, looking closely. A few more sets of eyes suddenly started blinking on the girl's forehead, causing Parsee to shriek and jump back, manifesting one of her mirror images.

"Woah, that's freaky," the new Parsee said.

"Woah, that's awesome!" the girl said, running around the two Parsees. "Can you teach me to do that?"

"Um...no," Parsee answered. "I'm still not sure how I do it yet."

"Oh. Well, it's pretty cool," the girl said, not bothered at all. "Well, I gotta run. I'm getting hungry and you're too neat to eat."

"Oh, thank you!" Parsee chirped. "Hey, wait! Eat?!"

But her protest came too late. The young girl was already gone. The new Parsee helped Parsee up and shrugged.

"Well, that was odd. She didn't even give us her name."