Fight For Your Right To Party (or The Cousins Arrive At The Raven) by Cousin Tok Friday evening, July 6th, 2001 shortly before 7 PM and the party Tok fixed a glare at her computer. "I hate things that beep at me," she muttered. What the hell did the silly thing want now? The notice on her screen read "Party at the Raven - Friday - 7 PM. Cousins and Lacroix are attending." At that moment, her phone gave a quick chirp that indicated an internal call. Caller ID showed it was Jess, the Cousinly receptionist. "Yes, Jess ... what is it?" Tok listened a moment. "He wants to what?" She shook her head. "Sponsor. A. Swapmeet?" Suddenly, an outraged bellow came through the phone in a voice that both was and wasn't Lacroix's. "OI! Ya bleedin' cat!" Tok dropped the phone and ran for the door, but Gandalf streaked through it with Lacroix in close pursuit. The vamp-kitty had most of a flyer for a swapmeet in his mouth. Gandalf hit the top of Tok's monitor (behind her) as Lacroix stopped in front of her. "Make 'im give tha' back!" She briefly considered her position between the agitated, fluffed-up vamp-kitty and the extremely annoyed and possibly deranged Lacroix. "Um ... s-s-sir ... could we leave the, um, swapmeet business until later?" Tok gulped and swivelled the monitor around so he could see the notice still on the screen. Gandalf hissed and jumped to the floor as she did so. "We need to get ready for the party at the Raven. We *did* RSVP and all ..." Lacroix stared at it a moment. "Roight, the Raven." "Why don't you go upstairs and change clothes," Tok suggested, eying the drops of rat blood and she didn't want to know what else on the formerly immaculate Armani suit. "We don't want to offend Janette and the Ravenettes, do we?" She gingerly ushered him out of the office and guided him to the elevator in the lobby as she continued talking. "I'll make sure the rest of the Cousins are prepared by the time you get back down. We'll have to leave as soon as we can if we want to be on time. I'll have the limo meet us at the main door. Yes sir, you're absolutely roight ... um, right." Tok supposed that she should have been worried about the eager look on his face when he activated the palm reader that allowed access to the penthouse. She mentally filed that under things-to-worry-about-later and went to roust the rest of the Cousins and get ready herself. * * * * * A short time later, the Cousins and a slightly more presentable Lacroix piled out of the limo in front of the Raven. Shelley and Arletta had insisted on driving themselves in the van; Tok saw them walking toward the door as well. She tapped Tser on the shoulder, drawing her back behind the others. "Keep an eye out for the Ratpackers, okay? If the General's acting strange, maybe Screed is too. Have we heard from any of the other factions?" Tser shrugged. "We've been pretty busy keeping an eye on the General, and then there was that problem with the music this morning. Did you ever find Talon and Maria?" "I think they're up to something. I found a note on Maria's door saying she and Talon would be along later." "You think the bartender can make a Zombie Beachcomber?" The Cousinly co-leaders considered this and then followed the others inside to find out. **************************************** Okay, the Cousins are officially at the Raven party, more-or-less on time. Have fun guys. I apologize for the brevity of Screed-in-Lacroix's dialogue, but I have no talent for Screedspeak and had to fight the urge to make him sound like the kitty-chatter from my cyberkat list or Spike from BtVS. Next! Cousin Tok and the Cousinly kitties tokaara@mindspring.com / AIM Tokaara / ICQ 46441308