I wave Bob and Connie off into the night and drag Slacker onto the dance floor.

"Come on, time to work off some of those nachos."

"Where am I going to put my backpack?"

"Under the table, for heaven's sake. No one is going to take your playstation. Why would they want to?"

"Fine .I'll dance with you, but I had a much better view from the buffet."

"One dance. And if I catch you ogling those little girls I'll set the houseplants on you."

"They're not so little. . . "

I fix Slacker a look and start to dance. He's not very good, which suits me fine.

"You dance like a spaz."

"Look who's talking, rock boy."

Soon we're giggling and trying to out-gesture each other on the floor. The vampire dancers raise their delicate eyebrows, but they don't seem to mind our clutziness, probably because it makes them look even better.

"I'm gonna dip you."

"What? Oh, hell!"

I'm actually enjoying dancing. I make a mental note to buy one of those dance games for the Playstation tomorrow. The only bad thing is that working up a sweat means I'll have to take a shower.

Man, it's late, and I have to work at Sex on a Stick tomorrow. I'd skip it, but I can't pay my cable bill without cash.

Oh well, there's no law says you have to be coherent to sell penis popsicles. The demographic's been pretty carefully researched. They kind of sell themselves.

I keep dancing.

I'm hiding behind one of Penny's pot plants, intimidated by the dancing feet and a little worried about Clovis. He went to find Jilli and Am nearly an hour ago.

And you know something? I distinctly had the impression that Miracleman was the Mayor from the way Am talked about him. She's always been a sucker for power-- silly bint.

Perhaps if I can hitch a ride on one of the penguins?

Slacker gives me a good spin and I find myself heading waaaaay across the floor. I lean against a table for a moment to recover only to see that tiny, evil bear hiding behind a, um, fern.

"Edward? What's up?"

staying safe. waiting for clovis

"Clovis? You mean to tell me that some great jesus cloven-hooved hell-beast is coming to my housewarming?"

Edward looks puzzled, and begins rolling up the hem of her skirt.

clovis? my clovis? the devilbunny?

"Devilbunny? How big is he?"

Edward raises her tiny paw to the crown of her own head, which cracks me up.

"Devil bunny! Okay. I thought he was something else."

Edward glances nervously at the crowd of dancers, any one of whom could easily kick her across the room without realizing.

"Say, Edward, would you like to go to the sun room? I have snacks and videos."

Edward thinks a minute, then nods and holds her arms out to be lifted. She is so cute, she could probably get away with murder. I choose not to think about that too much.

I take Edward into the sun room where a crowd of small creatures, including some human children, are watching Sleepy Hollow. I place Edward on a tiny velvet cushion and head back to the action.

Sheesh. Devilbunny. What next?

Waking up... Too much partying... Too much alcohol... Stupid sun in eyes...

Lost pronouns and articles somewhere last night. Crawl out of bed and make some coffee. Sit down at desk and notice computer is already on. Penguin must have already gone on-line this morning. Browser window still open, start reading thread. Wow, there sure were a lot of posts in this one. Wonder what's up? Continue reading... And reading... And reading...

Close browser window and shut down machine. Open cabinet door under kitchen sink and coax trembling penguin out from inside. Head across the street to park with bird. Find biggest patch of dandelions available and plop down. Sigh...

Between classes I take my bag lunch and head to the dandelion patch. DX is there, lying face down. I can tell he's breathing because of the dandelion seeds floating about. He sighs.

"I know what you mean." I sit down and start munching on my apple.

I look up. It's one of the Knuts. I drag myself up.

"Remember that afternoon we were all up the river by the old fortress, and you and Hec and I were all sitting in the meadow, listening to tunes. Those were good times. God, I need a beer."

I pack a basket and head down to the park. There's a frazzled-looking group starting to assemble in the dandelion patch.

I open the basket. "Fried chicken? Potato salad? Chill pills?"

"Remember that afternoon we were all up the river by the old fortress, and you and Hec and I were all sitting in the meadow, listening to tunes. Those were good times. God, I need a beer."

I pull two bottles of Dogtown Porter from my Bottomless Beer Caddy. Never empty, always cold. I pop the top and offer it to DX.

"I remember. Emmylou and Tom. Willow and the Penguin. Er, I don't mean any of that in a slashy way."

Susan arrives with a pic-a-nick basket. "Fried chicken? Potato salad? Chill pills?" I politely decline the fried chicken and toss my applecore towards the edge of the meadow.

"Got any peace, love and harmony in there?"

Bob wanders from room to room, obviously looking for something.

"Now what?" I'm working on a messy plot outline and I don't need another distraction. At least he finally put clothes on.

"Can't you hear that?"

"Normal human hearing here, creature of the night. What?"

"Lots of people. Arguing with each other."

"Nope, sorry. Somebody's TV is probably up loud. You know, the city's quiet again, Aeshma's gone. Why don't you hit the tunnels, go find some trouble to get in?"

He gives me a distracted pout. "Are you throwing me out?"

"No, just pointing out that you haven't been anywhere except with me for days now."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

I honestly don't know why I'm saying this, in the face of that grin. "I'm saying it because my poor human joints and muscles need a break. Sure, I'm willing to die with a smile on my face, but can't we put that off till next week or something? I've got a deadline."

"Fine," he sniffs. "I can tell when I'm not loved."

He huffed out, as if I couldn't see the grin on his face. Sheesh.