"... What's the meaning of life?"
	A grey-haired teen looked up from his laptop, his green eyes snapping to focus after so long of staring at the brightly-lit screen. "Hmm?" he hummed.
	The young boy looked up from his hot cocoa, hazel eyes gazing owlishly through his large glasses, before he brushed some of his mousey-brown hair from his eyes. "I was just thinking about, well, the meaning of life. The Universe. Well, everything really... What really is the meaning of life?"
	Looking upward, the teen, Loid, asked "The meaning of life the neverending pursuit of a purpose, or the meaning of everything as told by Douglas Adams?"
	The smaller boy, Niccol, stared at him blankly. "Who's Douglas Adams?
	Rubbing his head Loid amended "Nevermind."
	The two of them took stock of their surroundings as silence met them again. Cobblestone streets and quaint wooden structures surrounded them, from where they sat at a park-table near the small-time Tatsumarii bakery. Well, it wasn't actually the bakery. But it did look surprisingly similar. Heck, the wood really almost looked like stone from a distance. Somewhere near the almost-hotel, a group of people were standing around, setting up machines far too advanced for the age this scene would be set in. Not that anyone would see them.
	Niccol set down his drink and pulled off his glasses to clean them; a move mirrored in his current company. They both set their glasses back on their noses, ready to get back into the topic at hand.
	"The meaning of life..." Loid mumbled, contemplating the question in his head. "Humans' constant search for a purpose to their being."
	Looking away, Niccol said "I tried asking the Doctor, but he just told me all this garble that I didn't understand."
	Loid tried to place which 'doctor' the boy was talking about. Glancing beyond the cobblestone and wood to the dark, carpet and plasterboard room beyond, he glimpsed a whole cast of people who probably should have been there (like Niccol) or probably came to plea re-casting (like himself). Immediately green eyes fell on an ageing man scarfing donuts at a poorly designed foldaway table. "That doctor?" Loid pointed him out.
	"Yeah, that's him." Niccol confirmed. "Usually when I see him he's running from security. They probably haven't noticed him this time yet." he mused as an afterthought.
	The concept of not noticing a moderately old man with a mouth full of donuts in a lab-coat didn't quite fit in Loid's mind. After all, he himself was having to force himself to stop staring. "Well," the teen mused, "he may have some good theories, but I don't think even he knows for sure. No-one does."
	"No-one does what?" came a deep voice, peering in from behind some of the scenery.
	Both boys looked up to see a tanned, well-built Aisian male, just leaving his teenhood. Settling himself down on a spare chair with a coffee in hand, the Prince of Dalaam from a previous production eagerly waited to get in on this conversation.
	Niccol immediately asked "What's the meaning of life?"
	"Does this refer to the human desire to find a purpose for being, or the version told by Monty Python?"
	As with the other reference, the small boy showed off just how young he was, and how old the teenagers really were, asking "What's Monty Python?"
	Smiling awkwardly, Poo amended "Don't worry about it. I think I know what you're asking."
	Carefully, Loid watched the exchange, as Poo leaned back on the chair, considering the question. Seeing an escape from a question as awkward as 'where do babies come from' with a child of an awkward age, he snatched up his laptop and hid behind it again.
	Coming up with a response, Poo leaned down to level himself with the child, "Well, if you think about it, if we knew the answer, no-one would search for it anymore, and we wouldn't need to ask. If we don't know the answer then no-one can really know, and so it would be pointless to ask. All we can hope is that the next person we ask knows the answer."
	Frowning, Niccol countered "But we don't know the answer."
	"Then why ask?" Poo finished.
	The boy opened his mouth to speak, but caught himself, and started trying to formulate a response that wouldn't open into a giant cycle.
	Having not been able to completely remove his interest from the discussion, Loid peered at the Prince from behind his technological hidey-hole. "Hey now, that was just mean."
	With a mischievous smirk, Poo pointed out "But its true."
	Ignoring this, Loid leaned over to the boy and patted his arm, "Don't listen to him," he said reassuringly, "he's just toying with you because he doesn't know the answer either."
	The smirk became a pout, "Hey," Poo complained.
	Loid looked up at him, having stolen that cheeky look, "But its true."
	"Yes," Poo admitted, "but I did raise a good point."
	Raising an eyebrow the grey-haired boy countered "Not really, its just an intellectual way of saying 'Don't ask questions'. But how are people going to find the answers if they don't ask the questions? It defies human curiosity."
	The Prince tapped his chin "Okay, but how does asking other people asking the question help you find an answer?"
	Loid responded "One mind is limited to his own thoughts. Combining minds allows them to communicate and gather other ideas, and build on them. Even the spiritual lot do that, don't they?"
	Poo nodded, "Of course. The 'spirtual lot' as you so kindly put it also search beyond the reaches of the human mind, delving into divination of the Earth and the Cosmos to see what answers are held there."
	"Its not like we don't do that," Loid pointed out, "We don't use the same methods, but science is always searching for the answer, through life on Earth and the possibilities in the stars!"
	Smirking, Poo reminded him "And you're no closer to the answer."
	"And neither are you." Loid added.
	"Um," Niccol piped up.
	The two teenagers looked at the boy, who had taken time to finish his cocoa while they argued. They all noticed that they would need to clear from the bakery, as people began mulling around the town square, and they cleared themselves to the plasterboard room beyond.
	Setting his mug on the foldaway table and picking up a donut, Niccol said "I still don't know any more about the meaning of life, but you two have given me something to think about."
	Blinking, the two teens asked "Oh?"
	Niccol nodded, "I don't know if you both realised this, but you're looking in the same places, for the same answer to the same question. And even though both of you said about teamwork and how you both use it to find the answer, did it never occur to you to work with the people with different methods? I mean if you're only using science, or you're only using divination, you're still limited to those methods."
	Loid and Poo looked at each other.
	"So I've decided I shouldn't really ask after all," Niccol finished, "Because at this rate we won't be finding it in this lifetime." he added and grinned, scuttling onto the set to take his place.
	The two teenagers watched him go, feeling a little odd.
	"Did we just get shown up by a seven-year-old?" Loid asked.
	"I do believe so, yes." Poo responded.
	The two of the stood there, feeling awkward as the scene played out on the set in front of them.
	Suddenly Poo scoffed, shaking his head "Ahh, what are we listening to him for? I bet he doesn't even know how this production ends!"
	Lightening up, Loid nodded, "Yeah, what does he know?"
	The two walked off separately, chuckling to themselves, as they thought how close they'd come to listening to a kid about the meaning of life, unaware that the one with the answer was hiding out somewhere in the scenery, frosting caked around his moustache.

~~End.