whether she was actually bored, or just very good at acting. Even having known her all his life, he hadn't been able to quite figure her out yet.
With a hiss, the slot in the door suddenly widened, lurching forward as it grew. It swallowed them both. Whole.

The sun shone hazily down on the two.
"Ugh."
"It smells like that dead rat the old man found rotting beneath the floor boards that one time." muttered Kiri.
"Worse. Is this the world?"
"I'm afraid not, old chaps."
A patched and dirty figure crouched over the two, crooked teeth in a crooked smile under a crooked nose. Moana shuddered.
"So where are we then?" Kiri asked, a little sharply.
"Kiri!"
"Mo-oana!" Kiri whined, in close approximation of his tone.
He gave her a look, gesturing wildly with his eyes. Finally he muttered something about asking politely and being nice and stuff. Kiri managed to deflect him with a baffled look before turning back to their second, genuine stranger.
"Well?" she asked.
"This is the Netherworld."
"The what-a-world?"
"Netherworld. Neither here nor there, y'see?"
"Huh. So where's the world?"
"A good long ways from here, I should think."
Kiri sighed but Moana raised an eyebrow.
"You /should/ think. So what /do/ you think?"
"Ah, a clever one."
"I'm clever!" Kiri said.
The man shrugged.
"Didn't mean nothing by it."
"Aha!" Moana interrupted again. "Then you /did/ mean something." he smiled smugly, nodding to Kiri. "A double negative," he explained.
"I reckon you're so sharp you'll cut yourself." the man muttered, obviously growing weary