Title: Party Time (1/1) Authors: Cousin Shelley and Arletta Asbury Faction: Cousins Time: Sunday Afternoon and Evening Date: Sunday, July 15, 2001 Disclaimers: All participants used with permission **************** Sunday Afternoon **************** Tser was walking around CERK snickering to herself occasionally, carrying a can of paint thinner, paint brush, and seam ripper. One would, at first glance, assume she was insane. However, upon further inspection and a conversation with her one would be assured of the fact. She did, after all, volunteer as one Head of Cerberus for the War. She was carrying the paint thinner and seam ripper to do away with the last bits of plaid left around Cousinly HQ. Some furniture had been unfixable and was therefore replaced, but most was restained and no trace of plaid remained. She was snickering every time she thought of "Like Kissin' Yer Sister", the artwork which had been sent to the Vaqueras. She saw LaCroix and Cousin Tok rounding the corner. Every time she encountered LaCroix (or at least his physical aspect) this War, she felt a flutter of dread... more than just the dread of interacting with a 2,000 year old vampiric Roman general. She never knew *who* he would be. She looked for any sign as to whether he was himself or not, but Tok gave her a slight shake of the head, indicating it was Not LaCroix. Tser sighed inwardly, but *tried* to remain stoic on the outside. "There is a bit of -- plaid on your cheek," LaCroix said distastefully, staring at Tserisa. Accent. Janette. "Errrrrrm," Tser said and squirmed. Now she was going to be self-conscious of her clothes all the time. Despite how hard she tried, Tser really was fashion-challenged. "I am going to retire to LaCroix's suite," Janette said. "It will, perhaps, be desirable for all of us if we try to keep things simple." "We have a party to attend later," Tok said. "We're sort of all going." "I have no problem with that; I can find the things I need on my own." "I mean, you too," Tok said, and shifted. Should she say please? Janette just looked at the Cousinly Leader for a moment, then back at Tserisa, who was trying to rub the plaid paint off her cheek and avoiding eye contact. "Very well," she said. "I will attend, and I will choose clothing for the Cousins to wear." "Yes Sir -- er, Ma'am, er," Tser said. Janette nodded and turned, heading off to LaCroix's penthouse, leaving the Cousinly Leaders alone. "At least she'll be respectful of LaCroix," Tok said. "She won't do anything to embarrass him. Since we're a reflection of him, she probably won't do anything to embarrass us either." "She looked at my clothes!" Tser whimpered. "She probably thinks I'm a slob! Look! Blue black and red black! I never should've worn this skirt." Tok frowned. "I hardly think your style's the worst of our problems," she said. "We have to deal with yet another switch." "I'm getting used to it," Tser admitted. "I better go put this stuff away." She trotted off down the hall, glancing down at her clothes and muttering. ***************************************** "This will be fun!" Shelley said to Arletta. "I wish you would change your mind and come with us." "I've just got a bad feeling about this ... are you sure *you* want to go?" "Yeah, it'll be fine. They can't possibly know the attack was us ... after all, we had no motive as far as they know. Besides, I want to see how they cleaned the place up," she snickered. "What about Perry?" "Perry?" "Yeah, we don't really need him here, maybe you should take him home to the hive?" "He and Tiger have become such good friends, she really seems to be getting out of her depression over her sister. I'm glad he was here. But you're right, it's time to take him home." ------------------------------------- Shelley crouched down next to the Golden Retriever and whispered in his ear. "Would you like to go home, boy? Back to the hive?" Perry wagged his tail and licked her face. Laughing, she said, "I guess that means yes!" -------------------------------------- A few minutes later Perry found Tiger in the lobby of CERK. He wanted to play chase the yarn-ball with her one last time before he left. -------------------------------------- ************** Sunday Evening ************** As the cousins assembled in the lobby of CERK, Shelley looked around for Perry. She found him in a corner, wagging his tail at something. As she moved closer, she could see it was Tiger there, sitting with him. "Here Perry, here boy ... time to go!" She called out to the dog. Tiger stretched up her neck, and Perry leaned down. The two animals touched noses in a farewell greeting, and Perry got up and ambled over to Shelley. He wagged his tail as if to tell her he was now ready to leave. The two walked over to the group of cousins waiting by the door. Shelley pulled uncomfortably on her stylish dress that Janette in LaCroix's body had insisted she wear. She had insisted she be allowed to dress *all* cousins going to the party, in fact. However, Shelley for one, was quite fashion- challenged. Her idea of dressing up included black jeans instead of blue and a t-shirt with designs. NOT a gown as she had on at the moment. Celeste on the other hand, was admiring her dress with a thrill usually only reserved for shopping. "I love it, Janette!" she said to LaCroix's body. Janette in LaCroix himself (herself?) was dressed in a stylish Armani suit. While LaCroix normally dressed well, this particular evening he was fashionable in every sense of the word. "Are we going in the limo?" asked Tok. Tser smiled and pointed to the vehicle pulling up outside. "I'm bringing Perry with me," Shelley said, eying the vamp-kitties. "Is that okay?" Hearing his name, Perry wagged his tail and sat down beside Shelley. "I think the vamp-kitties can behave for the short drive," Tok said, giving a meaningful glare at Gandalf. Merlin, Tirian, and Toshi usually behaved, but the oversized gray vamp-kittie had a mind of his own. LaCroix's face twisted into disbelief as Janette watched Perry, Gandalf and the others climb into the limo. "We are riding with the dogs and cats?" she asked, aghast. "Just one dog," Shelley assured her, and climbed in after them and Tser, who was used to being covered in contrasting pet hair, did so as well. ---------------------------------------- Driving over to the UF Mansion in the limo, Shelley had plenty of time to think over her plans. If she let the dog off in plain sight, then the UF'ers would know she had been the one to take him. Then they just might decide to retaliate for that attack. This was *not* good. She decided they would need to let him off before they actually got there. "What if they recognize me from the attack?" Brandi worried from the back seat. "You look different without a Hazmat suit on, don't worry," said Tser reassuringly. "I wonder if I'll get to see the skunks... I kind of miss them." Tok frowned at Tser. "Miss them? From my experience in the UF's skunk corral, they're doing fine," she grumbled. "Unfortunately." Tser was about to say something anti-speciesist, when Shelley interrupted, snickering. "I wonder if the room is still black and white?" "I wonder what they did to my mural," Deborah said wistfully. "They were cute skunks," Tser said and pouted out the window. A look of horror crossed Cousine Celeste's face as she suddenly realized she was attending the UF party with half of the team that had attacked that faction a few short days ago. She began busily plotting on how to distance herself from any trouble that might arise. Shelley had the limo driver pull over about a block from the mansion. Calling Perry with a soft whistle, she leaned over and scratched behind his ears. Janette in LaCroix gave her a scalding look as dog hair attached itself to Shelley's dress. "Thank you Perry, thank you so much. You've helped Tiger deal with her sister's death so well, and you've given her a new friend." Perry's tail wagged, and he cocked his head to the side as if he understood. "The Hive is a block that way," Shelley continued, pointing and opening the door. "Can you find your way?" "Woof!" Perry agreed. "Good boy!" Shelley scratched a little more behind his ears before he left. As the dog flew out into the night, Shelley very softly said, "come back and visit anytime." ---------------------------------------------- Driving up to the front of the mansion, the cousins piled out, this time NOT in Hazmat suits. Tser, Brandi, Deborah, and Shelley all exchanged grins, remembering their last visit. Celeste edged away from the happy little group with a worried expression on her face. "Time to go in and check it out!" Shelley said, leading the way up to the front door and ringing the bell. -----------------------------------------------