Title: Mission Souvlaki (1/2) Authors: Cousin Shelley and Arletta Asbury Faction: Cousins Time: Evening Date: Wednesday, July 11, 2001 Directly after "A Chaos of Cousins (1/1)" Disclaimers: All participants used with permission As the Cousinly meeting was breaking up, Tok looked over at Shelley and said, "We need to talk." Shelley looked appropriately scared enough that Tok was pleased. "Arletta? Could you stay as well?" "Sure," replied Arletta. "A WAD of money? In one restaurant???" Tok exploded, looking at Shelley as the last of the other Cousins left and the door closed. "On *HIS* credit card??? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" "I ... uhhh ... well, see ...." "It was for research ... into the vitamin U thing," Arletta added helpfully. "Yes!" Shelley nearly shouted, shooting a grateful look at Arletta. "Research! We had to find the vitamin U!" Tok relaxed a little. "Research? Okay, I guess we can smooth that over as a necessary expenditure. He's still gonna be *upset* though," she sighed, thinking of the CERK dungeons and the unpleasant possibility of ending up as lunch. Holding her head, she wondered just when Jess would get the Cousinly Treasure-trove of Analgesics restocked. "Maybe he was Nick already, when Jess mentioned it?" Tser asked Tok. "He might not know." "We can hope," Tok sighed back. "Are there any other surprises on the card we'll need to explain away?" Tser asked. "N-n-no," Shelley lied. Arletta glared at her, but said nothing. "Okay, then let's forget it ... for *now*." Tok gave Shelley a meaningful glare. "Now, let's have the card." Shelley slowly and unwillingly surrendered the credit card to Tok's waiting hand. "Okay, any theories about why the vitamin U didn't work?" "Maybe he didn't get enough of it into his system," Arletta replied. "The concentration in the souvlaki was *extremely* weak. Also, once someone is deficient in something, it can take a long while and repeated supplements to build the supply back up. Sometimes this never occurs, and the person would need to take supplements the rest of their lives. Or unlives, as the case may be." "You mean, we have to get him to eat MORE souvlaki?" Tser cried. "No, we just CAN'T do that to him!" "I agree," Tok said quietly. "There must be another way." "What if we found out which ingredient in the souvlaki contains the vitamin? Then maybe we could somehow add it to blood?" "That's a good idea. At the very least, maybe we could flavor it with blood." "Make it a bit more to his liking. Stop tormenting him by making him eat. Good!" "Shelley and Arletta, you two are in charge of this. Find that ingredient, and I don't care how you do it!" Tok said. she thought to herself. "Ummmm?" Shelley said timidly. "Yes?" "We'll, uhhhh, need to *finance* this research?" Tok did not look pleased. Tser just looked terrified. Shelley reached out and took the credit card back with a smile. ---------------------------- ******************* Thursday Morning July 12th, 2001 ******************* "We get to ATTACK again!" Shelley gleefully told Arletta. "They didn't say we HAD to attack ...." "But how else do we get the information?" "We could just ask?" Shelley never even heard Arletta's suggestion. "We'll need ... let's see ... rope, and, uhh ... interrogation stuff ... and ...." "Interrogation *stuff*?" "Well, how else will we find out the ingredients?" "I'll figure something out ... just drop the interrogation stuff, okay?" "Okay," Shelley said dejectedly. "But can we shoot 'em with Ribena filled water pistols?" "Maybe...let's go shopping." "YIIIIPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Shelley shouted. ----------------------------------------------------- "Shelley, NO!" Arletta cried in vain. Shelley had truly lost her mind now, she was convinced. No sane person acted like *this*. "We NEEEEEEED them," Shelley protested, signing the charge slip. "They'll never know ... they'll think it's attack supplies. TRUST ME." Arletta knew better than to trust Shelley, but there wasn't a lot she could do about it besides try to reason with her. Or just whine a lot and hope it sunk in. "Why in the *world* do we need new bedspreads and curtains?" "For our rooms!" "Well, I *could* go with a new chair after that plaid atrocity," Arletta shuddered. "The plaid," Shelley agreed with a shudder of her own. "I know! New bedroom suites! NON-plaid ones!!" For some reason, *this* purchase didn't have Arletta quite so upset. The plaid in their rooms *had* been awful to endure, producing almost instant headaches. "And maybe we could get some new matching lamps ...." Shelley gleefully went on. "AAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGG! Next you'll be wanting matching microwaves!" As soon as she said it, she knew she would regret it. "YES! Now you're getting it! Microwaves! And ... uhhh ... Computers! And new phones!" Shelley was off again, roaming stores with a borrowed and very misused credit card. At least they had their attack supplies already ... three water pistols made to look like real guns, several bottles of ribena to fill them with, and three almost-GSS outfits. Arletta headed off in the direction of the headache medicines. ----------------------------------------------------- Continued in "Mission Souvlaki (2/2)"