Chen's tinkling laughter echoes up and down the causeway. It's not, you have to understand she's not laughing [i]at[/i] the Scales of Meaning, but there's just so much tension and, well, Chen might have had variations of this dream since she first had a maid wait on her in Ys when she was seven and none of them, not a single one of them had a demon telling the audience that her services could be bought for 18 kilo dollar volts or whatever gibberish the Scales of Meaning had just said. And so being confronted with that after, well, after everything was just a little too much. 

It's not that laughter is going to convince anyone of anything, but it is the sort of thing that takes one aback. Especially the kind of bright, happy, tension relieving laugher that Chen's feeling. The kind that lets her shoulders relax and causes her to shudder in Rose's arms and snuggle in tighter to avoid falling over. That may be a response that the Scales of Meaning has never seen in all her years. Or maybe it is and Chen's underestimating her, but either way she doesn't much care. 

So Chen laughs and hiccups (because those never went away and laughing just makes them even worse!) and tries to get a hold of herself. And it's in that moment that she understands a little bit about these demons. She understands a little more why Rose might have been so tentative and why she might like it so much for it to be safe for her to to just become small and be told exactly what to do as silly as she can be. Rose understands the value in that, the freedom, the joy of just letting go and enjoying yourself without worrying about the cost or the consequences or any other silly things like that. But the demons don't. They don't even understand what was being offered, not really. 

Oh...they don't understand. Oh, oh gosh. She was going to have to...to say it out loud w-wasn't she? A bright blush rises to Chen's face. 

"You um...ha, haha...you're not paying for, um, for maid services from us. That's um, we're not offering you a trade or a negotiation or barter or um, that's not why Petal asked if you want us to...to dress up as maids and c-c-clean you." Chen falls into a squeak there and needs a moment to compose herself. 

"We'd do that because it's um, like, really hot, and cute, and um kind of embarrassing but like in a way that makes me feel all tingly inside and um, I always wanted to do something like that with my girlfriend, I mean, you know if she was into it, but um Petal seemed pretty into it and like she'd have a lot of fun and even added her own um twist to it you know? Or well, you don't know that's the problem. The problem is that you don't know what we mean. But like, we're trying to offer you a little taste of that feeling that you can't find anywhere else, of being cared for and cared about! Of being teased and waited on and having someone dress up all special just for you. You can't [i]buy[/i] that because it comes from the heart, silly! We have to offer it freely because we really care about you for some reason, even if it's just wanting you to stop hurting so much and to, to understand things a little better!" And Chen stamps her foot for emphasis before going back into it. "And well, that's a really nice and special and important thing to offer someone and you have to ask if someone actually wants it and is okay with it before you do it. Otherwise it's um, you know, it's kinda weird and maybe mean to just start teasing people and doing stuff to them if they're not okay with it. So...um...so we want to um get dressed up as, as maids and help you...that is...we're asking if you...um...if you [i]want[/i] us to and oh, oh suns!"

It's at that point that Chen can't keep up with herself and her blush becomes terminal. Instead of continuing on speaking, she buries her face in Rose's chest and squeaks and shakes a little and is just kind of hoping that nobody else nearby is listening to any of this at all but also she's kind of nuzzling into you Rose like she does when she wants to play more privately and gosh she's really hoping the Pyre understand this even a little bit and says yes, the poor thing! Rose, your Chen needs you to bring this one home, help the Pyre understand what she's missing!

[Chen will spend a string on Rose to trigger her Dream Mirror.]