(morning of the discovery, and as far as I can tell, Noni's birthday party)

*********************

C'nis rolled over in the bed, to avoid the bright sunlight streaming in from 
the slightly cracked door. His movement disturbed one of the empty bottles
on the floor, which promptly fell over and began rolling. 

"Oh, gods..." he fished around on the floor, trying to find the errant bottle
without opening his eyes. Right now, the pain of sunlight would be far too
much to handle.

"It's all gone, lover,"  a sleepy voice murmured from under the sheets. C'nis'
hand froze, a cold hand working down his back. He had absolutely no
memory of the night before, when did he take a girl to bed? He tried to 
remember, but the half-images he dredged up could easily have been from
months or years ago. Moreover, it didn't do a thing to alleviate the pounding
in his head or the taste of death in his mouth.

Damn, who was she? "Mornin'," he rasped back. "Have a pleasant night?"

"Ohh, of course I did." A giggle followed. "You were pissed drunk, though.
If you're that good when you're not all there, I'd love to see you when you
are."

Thank the gods for instinct, he thought ruefully. Had to keep the reputation
going, if nothing else. "Ahh...yes. I didn't mean to sleep this late, though...
Gods!" He managed to roll out of bed and stagger to the bathroom before
heaving uncontrollably. 

"Are you all right?" He looked up to see blonde hair and blue eyes...nope,
no clue at all as to who she was. He cleaned up as best he could, then led her
back to the bedroom, started slowly to dress. Even the half-light was 
painful. "I'm afraid you've just seen me at my worst. Please, forgive."

Whoever is was tilted her head at him. "Just as long as I get a chance to
see what you're like when you're sober. You remember how to get a hold 
of me..." She started to dress rapidly. 

"Of course." He hadn't a clue, but he wasn't going to admit *that*. He stopped
her for a quick peck before ushering her out, closing his eyes against the
glare of the sun.

Okay, so who was she? What had he done? Well, the smell and rumpled
condition of the bed made no mistake about what they had been doing.
It was a shame that if he was going to have fun, he should at least have 
remembered it. R'ven was diving head first into the bottle though, and who 
was he to hold back? Just like old times. Hell, even the man's clothes were
the same garish nightmare he often wore. 

Thinking of nightmares, the bed was not the only thing in the old
apartment that was shabby, was it? Everything was covered in dust. It
would be quite a job to clean up, unless he could somehow bribe one or
two of the unjoined to help him out...his mind warmed to the plan as he 
grabbed clothes.

First things first, scrub himself and Liupeth at the lake, then charm a few
of the less, er, jaded individuals of the warren to do some cleaning, then
perhaps an appraisal of the condition of his things...the furniture was the
best he could obtain of course, but he had left them for so long-

"Oww!!" He jerked his foot up and extracted the metal pick. Oh yes, one
of his wax tools. He *had* been working on a ring model, hadn't he?
He would have to come up with a few designs to enhance the raw 
amethysts he planned to lap. So much to do.

*Come on Liupeth, it's time for a good scrubbing and oiling.*

<Thought you'd never ask. Did you get sweaty last night, pray tell?>

*I guess so...you don't remember hearing her name, did you?*...

***************************

Just a short one to let you all know I'm still here :) 
Allen Veazey
wolf@dbtech.net
	
	"I'm not really bad, I'm just drawn that way."
			--Jessica Rabbit