“The first thing I used the mirror for was actually talking to maw-mouth victims. I can get coherent words and not just screams out of ‘em. They’d still rather be dead but while that’s not an option ‘stuck in a maw-mouth and also listening to audiobooks’ is marginally preferable to not also listening to audiobooks.”

"That's very sweet of you but also definitely not something Chantal should've been counting on."

“Oh for sure! Nobody should have been counting on my showing up at all before it happened. Anyone who decides to eat the overwhelmingly increased risk of death instead of the relatively small risk of getting maw-mouthed and stay home, under normal circumstances, is valid. This I have learned from talking to people who have been eaten by maw-mouths.”

"Well, if you want to use your fancy mirror to try to talk to Chantal, I... have no idea whether she'd appreciate that, or exists, or can talk. Have fun finding out!"

“If she doesn’t want to be talked to I can quit talking to her. Can I have a surname?”

"Myers."

“Thanks. I don’t know if it’s necessary but I’ve always used as complete a name as I can get. The school’s founder didn’t require the ‘sir’ in front of his name, though.”

"Is someone who needs you to call them 'sir' before they'll answer the phone really worth talking to?" she says, already wandering off with her food.

“Wouldn’t know, haven’t met one!” she calls.

And inside her pocket dimension, she pulls out another mirror and says, “Chantal Myers.”

There's nothing to see, where Chantal Myers is. The kind of nothing that can't be accurately depicted by mere darkness, though darkness may be the best the mirror can do.

She's also not answering, but it's hard to say whether that's because she can't or doesn't feel like it or hasn't noticed or maybe even isn't there at all.

“Chantal Myyyyyyers from Torooooonto.”

There's a sound, sort of like an orchestra of eldritch wind instruments, whispering and whistling and humming and howling and piping and singing and making other less nameable sounds.

It seems to be mimicking the tune and cadence of her singsong back at her.

…Hey Backchannel do you have any input into this.

Those sounds feel familiar but she's not sure what they mean! She's very curious where they're coming from; she hasn't heard a human voice in a long time, and didn't think she ever would again.

…Okay what music is someone from the past and also Toronto going to recognize. Queen is pretty universal, right? And given Chantal’s likely mental states,

“Pressure. Pushing down on me, pushing down on you…”

(She’d better add Freddy Mercury to the list of people to check if they’re actually dead or just Suffering.)

The eldritch orchestra sings along. It even adds in some of the instrumentals.

When she finishes “Under Pressure” she gets started on “We Will Rock You,” keeping her mind’s ear firmly on Backchannel.

It's fun to sing along! She wants to know who's singing. She wants to remember how the sounds fit together into meanings; she remembers she used to like playing with those correspondences, the puzzle of symbol and sound. Her curiosity is free from urgency. She's experimenting with her voices, trying to fit them closer around her memory of music and the sound of the mysterious voice, trying to come up with fun embellishments. It's nice to have something to sing with besides herself.

Kareen pauses between songs to introduce herself—she’ll probably have to do that again later but that’s fine—oh, hey, maybe the alphabet song will help.

Ka-reen, what a pretty sound. Several of her voices take up mimicking the 'reen' at various extended lengths and with various levels of accuracy.

The alphabet song is fun and lively! It reminds her of childhood. After the song is over she sings back a song she wrote about childhood; it's sweet and melancholy, fading into a long, serene outro representing the happily-ever-after of leaving that life behind and moving into this one.

(Someone with less spook tolerance than Kareen might have trouble listening to this song.)

Oh, it’s sweet! Kareen just listens the first time, but if Chantal wants they can sing it together a second time.

(Chantal seems like she has a good thing going! She needs more company, obviously, but she doesn’t seem to be suffering horribly, and the Void doesn’t seem like the kind of place where you physically exist enough to age. Peaceful immortality that you didn’t have to hurt anyone else to get. Chef’s kiss.)

She hadn't considered the human voice as a possible instrument for this one, but it works surprisingly well! Now she's experimenting with trying to make some of her voices sound more human, to get a similar effect. Results are mixed.

If Chantal wants inspiration for more voices, Kareen strokes her fingernails together, producing a high and chiming trill. 

She immediately mimics it seven different ways.

Gorgeous! Hmm, how does Chantal feel about Beethoven, everyone knows some Beethoven, right.