A Little More to Love (Prelude to GTFO)

"I got great news babes!" Byron Way's message popped onto the screen of Neffydd's mobile com. "I'll be able to come to the potluck on Monday!"

"You mean tomorrow?" Neffydd typed back. She hadn't even thought about the weekly potluck yet. She had been mightily distracted by enjoying her weekend off. There had been absolutely nothing to do and it was rather relaxing. This meant work... so she got right to contacting her circle of friends.

Monday Neffydd awoke early, due to falling asleep at some extremely early hour and started preparing for the onslaught of food related event planning. There is a complex mathematical formula for what time to tell each set of her friends to be there so that they all arrive in the same hour.

She also had to bring Sebbock to school to get some papers signed. So she ushered Sullens and Sebbock onto the public transit carriage and braced for a ride where she had to artfully answer every question Sebbock could think of.

About late morning, when all of the prep work had been done; Warder Sullens came into the kitchens, mobile com in hand, with a story of things that Aine had been telling people then showed Neffydd the display.

"Oh, for the luv of... tell her to message me!" The rest of the afternoon was spent cooking and burying the hatchet with her ex-lover, Shael. The trouble didn't come so much from the hatchet burying as finding the damn thing first.

She had actually just gotten the painful, 3 year long ordeal smoothed over and ready to organize into digestible chunks when the message popped in: "I'm on my way, babes." Great... Byron was not a favorite person, but tolerable in small doses.

"OKies." She sent to Byron; then opened another solid message to Shael.

"Wanna come to our weekly potluck?" She pecked out on the smooth surface of her mobile, "There's gonna be a bunch of people here and we can pick on my 'boyfriend'... That's always good for entertainment."

"I haven't got transport." Came Shael's reply. "I don't live in the city anymore."

"Yeah, I know..." Mutual friends of theirs had felt the need, over the past years, to tell Neffydd everything that went wrong in Shael's life... Neffydd found it annoying, really. "Let's see if one of my friends has the time to help us. Would you come if you had a ride?"

"I could be persuaded..." She replied quickly, "I would have to bring the lil monster along."

"Of course! I couldn't bear to be the one to tell her she couldn't see her boys! lol..."

Neffydd thought of Jaeredd first. Maybe he'd be willing to drive if Neffydd put some gas in the tank...? She messaged him and he replied right away that "Of course!" he would help get Shael to the party.

The plans were set, Byron arrived then Jaeredd and Neffydd left with Jaeredd to get Shael and her minion. Thirty minutes later, after driving up to the northern suburban part of the sprawling city and back, Neffydd walked into her party going, full blown, without her.

Neffydd loved that her parties were so well planned that they could go on without her having to micro-manage them.

The night proceeded smoothly with pot roast and drinks had by all. Some people left after dinner and there were just a few left to drink and be merry.

Somewhere toward the end of the night, Shael noticed that the eggnog that they had been adding butterscotch Schnapps to had high fructose corn syrup in it and winced. That was one of the human inventions that she detested the most.

"Like you have to worry about it." Byron goaded her. His feet were possessively in her lap as they had been for most of the night. "You aren't fat."

"No," Shael agreed with him, a bit defensively, "I know I'm a skinny girl. But I don't want to be the girl who used to be skinny but isn't any longer because she did nothing to keep healthy."

"That's a good bit of reasoning..." Jaeredd started but Byron cut him off.

"It's like you and Neffydd..." Byron told Shael matter-of-factually. The absolute dead silence of the room created and emotional event horizon that even Byron could sense. He looked around the kitchen to every pained face and smiled. He thought he was finally getting his fifteen minutes from these people!

Jaeredd broke the momentary silence by issuing a warning: "Dude..." He said gently, "I wouldn't finish that thought out loud."

"No, it's OK." Byron assured him. "Just let me finish."

This statement was greeted by the room practically exploding with astonished reprimands from slightly drunken fae-folk. "No!", "Oh, migod!", "Do not say the next thing."... even Shael's ten year old girl child was screaming: "Shut up! Don't call Neffydd FAT!"

Over this din, Byron managed to force out his statement. "Shael, you are skinny and hot; but even though Neffydd is heavier, that just means there's more of her to love."

More ice-cold, shocked silence as a few people moved to block Neffyd's access to weapons. The silence was broken, finally, by a child's pained groan. "Did he just call my mom fat?" Sebbock, the socially disinclined, asked. Even an Autistic child could see it.... ouch. Neffyd broke into hysterical laughter.

Neffydd looked to Shael, who had gone pale with emotional mortification. Neffydd jerked her head toward the front of the house then looked at the time display on her mobile comm. Shael nodded and looked at her mobile too.

"Oh, Jeeze... I didn't realize it was that late!" Shael exclaimed. "I was supposed to get my kid in bed hours ago!"

They asked Jaeredd to bring Shael and her daughter home then all headed for the door but Byron slipped in between Neffydd and Shael to block Shael's progression.

"Can I get your number and maybe FaceBook?" Neffydd's mouth dropped open and a slow anger started to burn as Sutek snickered and Jaeredd coughed/gagged at Byron's audacious request.

Shael was able to extricate herself from Byron's lecherous grasp and they finally made it to the parking lot piled into Jaeredd's vehicle.

"Thanks, for driving... we needed to get the hell outta there before I cut him." Neffydd told Jaeredd.

"Yeah, I kinda figured." Jaeredd replied. "I couldn't believe his audacity!"

For the remainder of the trip, and even after Shael and her young one were dropped off, the conversation was about processing the utter shock of the out right disrespect.

When Jaeredd and Neffydd returned to The Lair, she looked about the lounge and Byron was nowhere to be seen.

"Did the Shit Head leave?" She asked of no one in particular.

"Oh, shit..." Sutek's bird-like features set in a look of apprehension, "That's never good."

"No, he's still here." Sullens replied. Byron re-entered the lounge just then. Out of difference to her strong sense of polite manners, Neffydd endured about half an hour of idiotic babbling before Byron finally tweaked the last nerve.

"I'm hungry..." Byron announced, as if anyone in the room cared at that point.

"OK," Neffydd replied, "There's plenty of left-overs and the beef is still hot.."

"I'll just go get my sandwich from the car." Byron left, returning shortly with a sub-shop take-out baggie, a brief case, a small suitcase and a EatherCom mobile terminal carry case. Neffydd had finally been insulted enough.

"How do you think you have made me feel tonight?" Neffydd demanded. "Hitting on my Ex, insulting me to get into her good graces, hounding her for her contacts while I stood right next to you..." Neffydd's voice was getting louder and louder as she vented her emotions.

"I didn't mean-" Byron's eyes were wide.

"BULL SHIT!" She interrupted him. "You knew exactly what you were doing and you kept doing it. Six people screaming at you to not say something isn't a subtle hint that you could possibly miss, you ass..." Neffydd got up out of her seat and headed toward her sleeping chambers. "You know what? I've become too emotional. I'm going to bed."

Neffydd stormed into her room, slammed her door and threw herself belly down onto the comfy bed. A few moments passed where she could hear murmuring coming from the lounge, then a knock on the door.

"Neffydd?" Sutek's muffled voice came from the other side of the solid wooden partition. "Are you really going to bed?" He opened the door a crack, just in case she was still in a mood to harm people.

"I don't feel like starting an incident."Her reply was muffled by her soft pillows and blankets.

"Well, then i guess we'll just have to move the party in here..." They proceeded to drink and talk. After a while Sullens came in to inform them that Byron had left for his home and they all wound down for the night.

Tomoe Is An Adult! ... Or Is She?

"What do you ant to do for your birthday party?" Neffydd asked her sister, Tomoe Oda, with a huge grin.

Tomoe swiveled her seat to glare at her older sister. Neffydd loved annoying her and this was the perfect opportunity.

"I don't know..." Tomoe said gruffly. "Nothing."

"Nope!" Neffydd's voice was almost unbearably sweet. "We should have a party! It's your twenty first, after all..."

"Ugh!" She groaned. "OK, will there be drinking?"

Neffydd looked at her younger sister as if she were trying to grow wings by glaring at things.

"Of course there'll be drinking!" Neffydd's brain just couldn't absorb some of the maligned thinking Tomoe was capable of. "... twenty first birthday without drinking..." She muttered as she walked from the room tossing a few solid state messages to her friends.

The weekend went quickly. Neffydd had to spend Saturday at The Pit but she had Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Monday off.

Sunday all the fun started.
First off: Neffydd's friend, the Incubus Warder Llushos, stopped by early to wish Tomoe a Happy Birthday and spend some quality time.

Neffydd was just finishing off Tomoe's Birthday cake, a triple-tiered double chocolate affair with Chocolate-Maple butter cream frosting that Neffydd had whipped a little Irish cream into for flavoring. The icing was lathered on thick between the layers and around the outside then a layer of thin-rolled white fondant was laid over it all, moulded to the shape of the cake and painted green. Then Tomoe decided that she wanted green and red spider webs and spirals all over it. Neffydd sighed and started painting.

Llushos showed up just in time to help create an inventive cover for the garish monstrosity of a confection and put it up for the party later.

After Neffydd and Llushos diverted them selves with quality, in-depth conversation and a luncheon at The Gem, he left to tend his herds (as all Warders are wont to do.)

The landlord she had spoken to about an appointment to view a new lair called to postpone so Neffydd returned to her bed suite for a nap.

She woke with just the right amount of time to ready herself for the party. Shower, lotion, powder, scent, clothes, make-up, hair... good thing she wasn't going out tonight! The party would be right here, in the lair. While she readied herself she convinced her sister to put on some of Neffydd's prettier clothes. Once Tomoe was in girl clothes instead of her usual boyish garb she decided to have Neffydd apply a few layers of make-up for the special occasion.

The Night Elf, Jaeredd, was first to arrive coming to the lair's lazy lounge as soon as it was dark enough for him to be out and about.

Neffydd's old friend and love apart, the centaur Gulzar Rux left a static voice message for Tomoe, that made her pale blue eyes well with tears. He recounted a few good times they had and professed his undieing brotherly love for her.

A few more people showed up and some more contacted them by voice or solid on Neffydd's com.

Tomoe maintained her dignity while getting completely sloshed and having the time of her life. They danced and drank and ate... Teri gifted her a handmade ring while chanMaelgwyn pooled their cash for a set of matching rings/earrings/necklace all with spiders and webs molded on. Jaeredd brought out pumpkin flavored fudge from a local grocer and a bottle of butterscotch schnapps. Tomoe squealed appropriate thanks for every gift and made use of every one at once.

Soon people started to filter out. Their favorite drinking vid was playing in the background and both Neffydd and Tomoe had drunk themselves to a stupor. Naps were in order.

All-in-all...? It was a wonderful night.

The Night The Lights Went Out...

Clickclickclick, taptaptap,click,clack,click, tappitta-tappitta-tap... Neffydd's talloned fingers were tapping along, with unprecidented speed, as her mind raced to pour out the ending to one of her eppic stories.

clickitta-tap-taptaptap... WHIRRrrrrrrr... BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! whirrRRRR!

The monthly generator test had gone off without a snag... except...

"What the..." Neffydd muttered as she toggled the switch on her aether-com. "Oh... You have got to be kidding me!"

"What?" Andure, her ancient gnome of a co-worker asked as he, too toggled the power on his unit.

"It's not re-connecting." She growled while glaring at the offencive device.

"Oh..." He turned his back on and waited... and waited... and waited... "Mine either." He finally announced.

Neffydd unplugged her unit's power and aethernet connection, held the power button to the count of twenty, replugged everything, toggled it on... and nothing. DAMMMMMIT!

She had been one, ONE, sentence from finishing.

"I think I'll go on my break," Andure announced, "When I get back it should be fixed."

Yes! Neffydd thought to herself Because these things regularly fix themselves in your absence!

Thirty minutes passed, Neffydd tried to reset both units to no avail. Andure got back and the coms were not magically fixed. Big surprise... So he called the support tech desk. The support tech, being a generally helpful fellow, told the duo that in order to repair their units they would have to reset them.

Neffydd wanted to rip her glossy brown hair out. Neffydd pulled plugs and pushed power buttons, again, instead. She had been on the tech's end of the line before, she knew that this was just a step to really getting somewhere.

This step was not working so the support tech called an on-site repair tech, who promptly told everyone that The Pit's central communications hub was not important enough to warrant a night visit and she would be there in the morning, good night.

This did not fly very well. This reasoning had no wings at all.

But wait! There's more!

The Night Supervisor called into the office, "Can you look something up for me?" She asked in her usual, harried voice, "My connection's not working." Then the fourth floor, and the third floor, and the peace officer desk... calling in to report the disconnection.

Andure placed another, more urgent call to the support tech desk. The support tech was absolutely delighted to contact the surly repair tech. The repair tech called in again, requesting to speak the the Night Supervisor again, thinking that we were over exaggerating the severity just to get her to repair our computers. Boy... was she set straight!

While this was taking place, Andure and Neffydd devised a plan. She would take an auxiliary desk at a console that had no external line and was half way across The Pit, while he would man the phones and public address system. In the case of an emergency, Andure would page, overhead, and Neffydd would use the terminal to enter the information so all the pagers would go off.

This was a silly work-around, for an extreme circumstance, so Neffydd logged into the remote terminal and chatted with a passing fellow about the "crisis".

While she was chatting, Andure started paging: "Code Two! Code Two!" Neffydd swiveled her seat to face the terminal, inputted the information and sent it to the appropriate pagers before her fellow could finish his chatter.

"Wow!" he said, wide-eyed, "Good thing you thought of this!"

Yes, the buddy system relay worked. A person got their proper care.

Thankyougoodnight!

On the go... Or: How to shoe-horn this in?

"What are you writing tonight?" The message buzzed in on her new mobile com. "More fiction? Maybe your blog??" her Moon Elf friend, Jaeredd's excitement was almost palpable.

"I'm not sure..." She tapped out on the smooth silicate screen. Then she thought to look in her apps appropriation list for her blogging program. She installed the appropriate app and was typing this entry by the time the public transport carriage pulled into the shiny, efficient new transfer station.

Lots of people didn't like the change to the new station; but Neffydd was of the opinion that their dislike was more due to the completely inane way the powers that be had re-arranged the transit schedules to be the most inconvenient possible and less that there was a brand-spanking-new building to house the chaos that used to reside in (& almost completely clog,) an intersection a few blocks down the street.

Neffydd skittered off the first bus and hopped onto the next, slipping her transfer voucher into the automated conductor machine then finding a harmless-looking college student to sit next to.

She opened up her solid context messaging applet to continue her conversation.

"I should really get the whole crazy weekend into the blog..." She told him. "But that will take more than one post."

Trying to fit one weekend in a single blog post when it barely fit in the four or five day weekend was beginning to become insane. Neffydd decided that she would have to either split her weekends into each day, or major events to save the trouble of having a league-long post every other week.

However... Having this new Blogger app was going to help immensely. With this new mobile com she was able to do more and more on the way to work, during that hour-long ride. She had an app for her document editor, she could access her eathernet mail, she could post on her FFN account and do the prerequisite goofing off all from her com.

Maybe she would be able to shoe-horn a bit more in...?

Fair Fun, Flair Faun

"Aunt Aine... Can I come to your house too?" Mini asked into Neffydd's mobile com. Aine had offered to bring the boys to her new rental house for an over-night and Mini had begged her mother to go too. Neffydd put in Aine's extension and handed the com to Mini.

Aine showed up a few hours later, her children in tow, to gather the children and some more of her stuff. They soon departed, leaving Neffydd, Warder Sullens and Tomoe to wallow in the silence.

"What are we going to do?" Neffydd asked Sullens.

"I don't know..." Sullens shrugged.

"You know..." A slow grin spread across Neffydd's face, "We have no minions and there's a free show at the fair tonight."

"You wanna do that?"

"Yessssss..." Neffydd's grin widened and she turned to Tomoe. "You wanna go too?"

"I haven't got the money." Tomoe shrugged.

"I can cover you." Neffydd was practically bouncing now, "You should come!"

"OK!" Tomoe grinned, "Let me get showered and stuff."

Two hours later they were showered, painted, dressed and stepping off the public conveyance into the fair. They paid the troll and walked through the turn-style, grabbed a map from the information booth and planned their route through the people clogged maze of buildings, temporary structures and pavilions.

They grabbed milk from the Dairy Products building and drank it while staring at a huge sculpture made entirely of butter. They then crossed the court to find out what was in the Center Of Progress. The CoP had many different vendors hawking so many different things that Neffydd's head started spinning. They bought a couple large slices of fudge and went back outside to sit and eat some.

After they had eaten enough of the rich fudge to get a slight sugar buzz they headed off toward the next attraction.

"I gotta pee!" Tomoe whined.

"Geeze! You're as bad as the minions!" Neffydd teased.

They entered the Theater Museum and found the first floor bathroom. The wait was surprisingly short and the bathroom was pretty clean for something that must have been used a million times that week. It was over-hot... but not too hot to use the room and cooler than outside so no one was complaining.

Neffydd and Tomoe reunited with Sullens in the hall just outside the lavatory.

"Everyone done?" Sullens asked and received nods from the girls. "Where are we going next?"

"Horticulture Building!!" Neffydd answered excitedly. "Mmmmmaple..."

"O.K...." Sullens agreed suspiciously. He was beginning to think his Life-Mate was going into crowd-shock, but was hesitant to suggest a time-out.

They whisked down the crowded walkway and into the Horticulture Building. They had been on the lookout for places to capture an image and now they were confronted with the perfect shot.

Right between the center entrances was a huge sand sculpture with the Fair logo carved into it. Warder Sullens and Neffydd stood before the huge mound of carved earth and Tomoe captured the obligatory double image.

They whisked through the building glancing at random interesting things and dodging slow-moving creatures as Neffydd pulled them further toward her goal.

Finally they were standing in front of the Maple Products booth deeply inhaling the rich scent of boiled tree sap.

"What should we get?" Tomoe asked, knowing her sister would want something.

"You just said you're thirsty," Neffydd reminded her, "You wanna try the Maple Iced Tea with me?"

"Sure! That sounds good..." Tomoe trailed off since her a-typically hyper sister had already turned away to consult Sullens.

"Will you buy us a tea and a bag of Spun Maple Sugar?" She was bouncing in her excitement now.

"I suppose..." Sullens sighed and rolled his eyes, then slipped up to the counter to place their order.

"We should have just waited to buy the fudge here." Neffydd remarked and when her sister shrugged she added, "There's Maple fudge." There was Maple everything in the sizable booth. Ice cream, candy, cookies, candles, tea, coffee, dog treats...

Sullens returned with a bag of Spun sugar twice the size of his head and a covered cup full of thick dark liquid and nubs of ice. They each took an introductory swig and reveled in the perfect blend of strong black tea and buttery-sweet maple.

"Lets go outside to drink this." He suggested to them. "It's nicer out there."

They walked out the large door beside the Maple Booth and Tomoe suggested that they visit the Log Cabin. The Cabin was closed for the day, already, but they enjoyed the shade of the porch and looked in through the windows.

Neffydd spotted a preparedness shelter and her eyes lit up. She dashed over and ducked into the small building, but was disappointed with the sad displays. Her country-dwelling compatriots had better stuff in their living rooms. Sullens followed her around the small, quiet room and back out into the westerning sunlight.

As they stood in the trampled grass between the Log Cabin and the Preparedness shelter high-flying motion caught Tomoe's eye.

"What's over there?" She pointed at the air behind the Preparedness shelter and a bungee-corded bench with two people strapped into it bounced into view.

"I dunno!" Neffydd spun on her toes and started to walk around the building toward the odd sight. "Let's see!"

They watched as the ride slowed and was caught by a Giant who secured it to it's scaffolding dock. He helped the people out of their harnessing then beckoned and secured the next couple.

They quickly tired of watching the people bobbing on their strings and set off down the parkway bordering the midway.

Neffydd was in the middle of the midway crowds when the panic attack hit. The lights were too bright, the barkers too loud, the people too close and touching her as they passed in every direction. The air was too hot and clung thickly in her throat as she tried desperately to get enough air into her lungs. Smells assaulted her nose and mouth, attacking her delicate senses as she dragged air in through both.

Warder Sullens grabbed the back of her shirt and she shook him off as she tried to get out of the crowd as quickly as possible without trampling anyone. If there had been room to spread her wings she would have violated the no-fly moratorium just to escape. Sheer will-power kept her mind from diving into a completely blind panic.

Off to the side, behind a few food vendors Neffydd spotted a clearing next to the huge wall of the Dairy Products Building. She cut through the heavy foot traffic and almost ran toward the clearing.

"Are you OK?" Tomoe asked as she caught up to Neffydd and Sullens.

"I will be..." Neffydd managed to gasp out as she exerted a conscious effort to slow her breathing. "Just gotta sit..."

"Well," Sullens inserted, "There's a leged against the wall over there."

They each took seats on the ledge, then Sullens got hungry and went in search of a snack. He came back carrying a large cup filled with fries, gravy and melted cheese in one hand and a bottle of cold water in the other.

After their quick snack they decided that it was time to head back for the show. They cut through the Dairy Products Building again, exiting the opposing side. There they stood for a few moments, gaping at the site. It the hour or so since they had left the entire court had filled to capacity and spilled over onto the other common spaces that had line-of-sight to the stage and even some that didn't.

After a bit of a huddle, the trio decided that they could head back over to the commons where they had eaten their fudge earlier to watch the show.

They cut through the court again where there were brownies, pixies and centaurs posted to keep traffic moving along the main thoroughfare, then cut across the intersecting pathway and into the small, elevated grotto. There was an open space right in front of the tertiary projection screen so they settled into the crabby grass to watch the show.

Not too long after they sat down, the show's hosts greeted the eager fans. They introduced themselves, talked for a short while then introduced Theory of a Deadman.

The band took a little longer to actually get to playing but when they did, the show was outstanding. Their format was engaging, with interaction fun for the crowd; the filling monologue was kept to a minimum and the regional favorites were sprinkled liberally into the set list at a fairly even spacing.

For the last few songs Neffydd and Tomoe dragged Sullens closer to the stage pit. (As 'closer' as they could get at least.) They were hopping and singing along in ecstatic enjoyment, much to the consternation of the surrounding attendees. The girls didn't care if they looked like idiots, they were there to have fun and enjoy the live music. If people had issue with that they could suck it.

The show wound down and the trio made their way back to their transport. They rode the bus downtown and transferred to their next bus. At the downtown depot they met up with their neighbor and they all went back to the Houshold to drink a bit & unwind.

Alll, in all, it was an awesome trip to the fair.

Sky High

A pervasive hissing sound invaded Neffydd's long, pointed ears, ruining her calm.

She and her friend Jatos Cobode were floating above were the city sat nestled in a lush green valley, sending urban tendrils into the wilderness like a brick and technology zucchini plant, (with a secret evil plan.) The air was warm, the breeze light and the sun was sparkling gayly off the small lake casting splotches of light and Shadow on the skin of Jatos' dirigible.

She opened her large blue eyes, then squinted up at the ovoid, cloth covered framework.

"FUCK!" She cursed, "The dirigible has sprung a leak again!"

Her Encantado companion glanced up at the floatation device. The vehicle wasn't actually that big, being a pleasure craft and not a commercial carrier. It could comfortably hold eight people.

Jatos shook his head and bent down to rummage through the repair kit. He handed Neffydd a patch for the inner gas envelopes, a container of cleaning wipes and some rubber glue, then went to the controls to control their decent.

Neffydd grabbed a satchel out of a bench cupboard and stuffed the patching materials into it along with a knife and extra lacing for the access flap.

"I told you not to name the damn thing Titanya," She grumbled at Jatos as she leaned over the rail and spread her wings to hoist herself aloft. "But Nooooo..."

She threw her leg over the edge and pushed off the air craft, pumping her wings firmly downward a few times to gain altitude before matching the decent of the over-grown balloon.

She heard Jatos chuckling as she grabbed hold of the guy wires strung along the framework, folded her wings and swung onto the dirigible.

"You're lucky I'm here!" She screamed at him.

"Why do you think I always ask you!?" He yelled back, still laughing.

Don't drug an Elf... We don't like it.

Neffydd's body was shaking as she tried to stand. This wasn't a normal hang-over... this was way worse.

"Sullens?" she croaked through her abused throat, "Baby, get Tomoe to help? I can't stand."

"OK," came his worried reply, "We'll be right there."

The night before had started out as normal as a night at their home can be. Friends from out of town had stopped in for dinner and a board game before taking their kids home early. Neffydd and one of her best friends, Taechi, a Fairy met at the shop where Taechi worked and walked down the street a couple doors to the bar/bbq joint on the corner where they were well known because some of their friends worked there.

There was a wonderful band playing lively jazz tunes, people were dancing and smiling, drinking and enjoying the night. People came and people went, friends and strangers alike chit-chatted with them as they smiled and flirted.

A couple hours into the evening they headed out to walk the three blocks to Neffydd's bank to get cash for another round. On the way out Teachi spotted the guy she'd been crushing on for a while and started gushing about him. On the way back to the bank they cooked up a rather simple plan. They would buy their beer and talk to the guy.

They bought their round and walked outside to the bench the guy was sitting on, talking to a friend of his. The friend seemed to be very drunk and was acting belligerent and got in Taechi's face when she tried to talk to her crush. Neffydd did what she was best at, distracting the drunkard and defusing his temper. They nursed their beers to death and got another round, the drunkard paid. Taechi's crush rejected her and Neffydd decided it was time to depart at 11:30.

Taechi called her Naga friend who pulls a rickshaw, he whisked them home for a nominal fee, wished them good night and slithered away. Neffydd started to feel sick.

Warder Sullens thought that Neffydd feeling ill was from the alcohol, (and Neffydd didn't question his fine medical opinion,) so he made a sandwich for her & Taechi to help counter the effects.

They ate, watched a show and Sullens poured Neffydd into bed. Neffydd could barely remember the sandwich, much less the show or the bed when she woke to be sick, over and over again.

Tomoe and Sullens pulled Neffydd back to her suite then Sullens called the hospital who recommended that Neffydd be brought in for evaluation. He arranged transport and they waited through a few more waved of sickness for their friend to arrive.

At the hospital a pretty vampire put an IV in Neffydd's arm, drew blood for testing and hooked in a fluid bag. They waited for the testing results and a gnome came to administer a vial of medication to combat the nausea.

The verdict came in, Neffydd had been drugged. Her body was already burning through it so there was nothing that they could do that wouldn't make her worse, beside the fluids and the nausea med. They gave her a prescription for the medication she could take at home and sent her away in a medical transport.

Needless to say there will be a new creature inhabiting The Pit of Hell if Neffydd's friends ever find out who drugged her.