Girls' Night In
By: Centris
Mouse sauntered into the Diner like she owned the
place, earning an annoyed glance from Cecil. She headed straight for Dot's
vid-window strewn 'working booth' without waiting for the maitre'd's
assistance, which then earned her a look-that-could-kill from Cecil. She
flopped down unceremoniously opposite her friend, who hadn't yet gotten around
to looking up from her current project.
"What's processin', Sugah?"
"Mm."
Mouse rolled her eyes slightly. "So how's
life been treatin' ya?"
"Fine."
"So where's Bob at?"
"Game."
"Where's Matrix? AndrAIa? Enzo?"
"With Bob. With Matrix. At school."
As far as Mouse could tell, Dot hardly even
realized she was talking to someone. The girl really needed to relax. Suddenly
the Diner doors opened and AndrAIa trotted in, making her way to the others
with her usual grace. Cecil, Mouse noted, obviously didn't seem to have a
problem with her. Finicky thing, he was. AndrAIa grinned and slid into the
booth next to Mouse. "Hey, Mouse. How's things?"
Mouse tipped her head in Dot's direction.
"Ms. Command.com there hasn't said a sentence with more than two words in
it in the last second, as far as I can tell."
Dot didn't look up from her keypads, but she did
grin at the good-natured remark. AndrAIa shook her head, laughed, and elbowed
Mouse to get her attention. "Watch. I learned this trick from Bob and
Enzo." With that she reached across the table and flipped the datapad
closed, nearly shutting it on Dot's fingertips. Before Dot could reach for it
again, AndrAIa had slid it off the table and into her lap. Dot glared a
protest.
Mouse nodded, looking impressed. "I'll keep
that in mind, Sugah." She turned back to Dot. "Now look, honey, you
haven't taken a break all cycle. You're gonna send yourself to an early
deletion if ya don't stop to rest every now and again." Dot opened her
mouth to protest, and Mouse cut her off again. "And sleepin' don't count!
I'm talkin' real R&R here!"
Dot sighed, finally getting a chance to speak.
"But Mouse, I've got these accounts and there's some shipments coming in
and Gavin's stopping by later to see about dredging the Saucy Mare 1..."
At this point, Bob and Matrix finally arrived.
Changed by Web and circumstances they both might be, but at this point they had
an unmistakeably juvenile 'We So Bad' look about them. AndrAIa rolled her eyes,
but grinned as Matrix sat down beside her, even though the booth was getting
pretty crowded. Bob sat down opposite, slinging one arm comfortably around
Dot's shoulders. Almost in unison, the two arrivals said, "Where's your
organizer?"
AndrAIa and Mouse laughed, the former holding the
slim black datapad up for a moment. Dot made a surprisingly quick grab for it,
but was stopped on two fronts by a slightly quicker Bob and a masterful
appliance hand-off by AndrAIa. Cecil smiled his debonairist as he bore the
organizer away from the table. Mouse smirked. "We got ya now, honey."
Dot sighed, but smiled. "You guys are
awful."
"Look who's talkin'," Mouse shot back.
"You really should take breaks more often,
Dot. I know there's a lot of work just now with getting Mainframe running
smoothly again, but still..." Bob turned a puppyish look on his partner,
then looked at the sprites across the table. "I know...let's take an
evening off and have some fun. We could go jetbowling or something, maybe a
circuit race or...." He trailed off, realizing that at least two of the
females present were giving him what could be called slightly disgusted looks.
"What!?"
After exchanging a look with AndrAIa, Mouse
replied, "Sugah, that is not what that poor girl needs."
"And just what does the poor girl need?"
Dot chimed in dryly.
"I think what you need, honey, is a girl's
night in."
Matrix and Bob looked at eachother, confused. Dot
started to shake her head, but looked hesitant.
AndrAIa piped up, "Mouse, you're exactly
right. Dot, we're going to have a girl's night in, and you're going to like it.
Say, Bob, can we have your apartment for the evening?"
"WHAT!?"
Mouse rolled her eyes. "Well we can't let her
be anywhere near the Diner, Sugah."
AndrAIa nodded agreement. "Look, it's just
for the night. You can stay here with Matrix! And you could go jetbowling, and
hang out with Enzo Minor, and spend all evening without us around to make you
be sensible and all..."
The guys looked pretty close to caving, presented
with that argument.
Mouse grinned. "Done. Dot, get to work. We'll
be back when you close up the Diner." Cecil was apparently listening, for
he returned the datapad to his boss.
Bob sighed and stood up reluctantly. "I'd
better go home and pick things up a bit." He stole a quick kiss from Dot
and headed for the door.
"Don't even," Dot told Mouse, Matrix,
AndrAIa and Cecil firmly.
Sly grins turned speculative, then the four chimed
in unison, "Awwwwww!"
Bob poked his head back through the Diner doors.
"When are you all going to stop doing that?!"
The guilty parties shrugged and beamed
unapologetically, then scattered to prepare for the evening ahead.
***
Mouse and Bob returned to the Diner at closing
time, leaving AndrAIa behind to finish staking out the apartment. A wary Bob
was presented to big and little Enzo, and Dot was dragged away from her final
vid-window calls and escorted to Kits Sector. Mouse grinned as they zipped
along. "Sugah, you are gonna love this."
***
AndrAIa greeted them cheerfully. "Hey, I just
finished nuking dinner! Come on, Bob's got satellite ixTV and they just started
showing Dawson's Datastream!"
The three settled comfortably on and around Bob's
sofa, each with a tray of food. Mouse glanced around at the decor, then poked
Dot in the side lightly, causing the woman to nearly choke on a chip. "Hey
Dot, this place could use a woman's touch, eh?"
AndrAIa giggled as Dot blushed and coughed, still
trying to swallow the previous chip. Mouse grinned and turned back to the ixTV.
A few moments later a piece of ice hit her squarely in the back of her neck and
slid down her back. "Crash!"
Dot beamed sweetly, pretending to be absorbed in
the show. It didn't last long though, as Mouse pulled a bolster from the sofa
and hit Dot squarely in the face. Dot sputtered indignantly, retaliating with a
swat of her own, which sent Mouse reeling back against AndrAIa. The sprite
pushed Mouse onto the floor irritably.
"Stop it, you're blocking the show!"
Dot took the opportunity to tackle Mouse and smack
her with another pillow. Unfortunately this sent a chip from Dot's abandoned
plate sailing towards AndrAIa, pinging delicately off her forehead. With a
provoked hiss, AndrAIa grabbed another pillow and joined in the melee.
***
Matrix set down a notation on the jetbowling
scorecard and voiced the question that had been plaguing him and Bob all
evening. "Soooo...what do you think they're doing?"
Bob snorted, watching the jetball ricochet down
the alley. "User only knows."
Small Enzo nodded, tugging at the buckles on his
jetbowling shoes. "Hah. Girly stuff. Whatever it is, I bet it's so
boring!"
With a slight frown at the three pins left
standing, Bob made his way back to the others. "Probably all sitting
around drinking tea or something."
Enzo nodded, trying to heft a jetball much larger
than he could handle. "Yeah! Sitting around acting all prissy and girly,
talking about hairbows and stuff!"
***
The three sprites lay flopped around the floor of
Bob's living room, surrounded by pillow-fluff, crushed chips and a few
half-melted ice cubes...the warzone after a pillow-fight to the deletion.
"Well...we missed the show." said
AndrAIa, giggling intermittedly.
Dot grinned from her spot on the sofa, legs draped
over the sofa-back, the rest of her hanging upside-down off the sofa edge.
"Aw, who cares. That was worth it."
Mouse flicked a bit of disembodied pillow at Dot
and laughed. "Now you're gettin' the hang of this. You have a mean
right-hook, honey."
Dot smirked, shaking her head a bit to get her
upside-down hair out of her face. "Did you figure that out from the pillow
fight, or did Bob tell you that?"
Mouse blinked. "You mean you punched
him!?"
"Yeah, he called me basic. Once."
Mouse burst out laughing. "I knew you two
were made for each other!" She pulled a bit of chip out of the carpet,
looked at it for a moment, then blew on it and popped it into her mouth.
"Whew! Just look at the mess in here!"
AndrAIa was happily splashing a puddle of
partly-melted ice in the carpet. "Eh, we can clean it up later. This is a
party, remember? So...what's next?"
Mouse struggled to her feet and grinned.
"Let's make some cookie dough."
***
The three relocated to the kitchen. AndrAIa and
Mouse deferred to Dot to prepare the food, since she at least had some
experience with cooking from running the Diner. The other two perched on the
counter, tossing Dot the ingredients as she needed them.
"Sugar?"
"Sugah!"
"Vanilla?"
"'Nilla!"
"Flour?"
"Flar...oops!" A fine white cloud
drifted up from the broken flour-bag, now resting in the middle of the kitchen
floor.
AndrAIa hopped down from the counter to salvage
what was still left in the bag. "Here, Dot."
Dot shook the last dregs of flour into the mixing
bowl. "I hope this is enough...I wonder if we could just use some from off
of the floor...?"
Mouse shook her head. "No way, honey. Bob
don't strike me as the type to have a kitchen floor clean enough to eat off
of."
"Point." Dot conceded as AndrAIa climbed
back onto the counter. "Well, I guess this'll have to do."
AndrAIa brushed flour from her boots. "It's
not like it matters."
Dot frowned slightly as she measured water into
the mix. "But if there's not enough flour, it won't cook right!"
Mouse and AndrAIa stared.
"What?!"
Mouse blinked. "You mean you thought we were
gonna cook it?" AndrAIa burst into giggles.
"I have a lot to learn." Dot said,
digging the mixing spoon into the dough and eying it suspiciously.
"Just try it. You'll like it."
Dot did. And she did.
AndrAIa glared. "Hey, leave some for
us!"
***
Three sets of floury boot-prints led back to the
living room. Dot, Mouse and AndrAIa sat sprawled before the ixTV screen again,
spoons in hand and the bowl of cookie dough between them.
"Dot, cut that out! You're stealing it
all!" AndrAIa spoon-dueled for a moment before wrestlng the last bit of
dough from her sister-by-association's grasp.
"I get to lick the bowl!" Mouse called,
getting up for a moment as the episode of Adobe 5-0 playing on the ixTV came to
an end. She returned with a deck of punchcards. "Let's play poker!"
Dot grinned, taking the punchcards and shuffling
them expertly. "What are we playing for?"
Mouse looked around the room for a moment,
thoughtfully. "Well...Bob's got a candy-dish of USBs on the java
table...well, they were on the table." She picked her way across the room
to the overturned table, retrieving the dish and the candies. "Here we
are. Wait...where'd you get all the units?"
Dot beamed. "Bob's sock-drawer. Come on, we
can play with both. Five-punchcard stud, I'm dealer."
"Well as long as they ain't my units."
Mouse split the USBs and units among them. AndrAIa immediately popped a USB
into her mouth.
"Hey, stop eating the bets! If ya wanna eat,
eat the ones in the bowl. The ones I put in the piles are the fuzzy ones that
got all mashed in the floor."
"Ech." AndrAIa made a face, then took
the cards Dot dealt to her and fanned them out, eying them professionally.
***
Bob, Matrix and Enzo started to make their way
back to the Diner for the night.
"Can I have the top bunk? Can I, can I?"
Enzo skipped along ahead of the other two, babbling all the way. Matrix shook
his head incredulously, asking Bob in a quiet aside, "Was I really that
bad?"
Bob smirked. "No. Worse."
Matrix grunted good-naturedly, then added,
"Maybe we should go check on the girls. See if they're all right and
all."
Bob looked sorely tempted, but shook his head.
"We really shouldn't. I mean...not without a really good reason."
Matrix nodded, looking sly. "Ah. A really
good reason..." They followed little Enzo into the Diner.
***
"Five aces from two wilds. I win again!"
Dot pulled the ante towards her, adding the spoils to her already-large pile.
Mouse grumbled.
"Iffen I didn't know you better, I'd think
you were cheatin'."
AndrAIa shrugged fatalistically and palmed a few
USBs from Dot's pile of winnings, eating them.
Dot wrinkled her nose. "I'm just lucky with
the wild cards, is all." She slapped AndrAIa's hand lightly as the sprite
reached for more USBs. "Andre, eat your own!"
"I already did. All I have left is
units."
Mouse grinned and pushed her own USBs to AndrAIa.
"Well, we've been playin' this for awhile now anyways. And Dot's obviously
the expert. Let's think of somethin' new."
Dot pulled a few pieces of pillow filling out of
her hair and started sorting the units into a separate pile. "So what's
next?"
AndrAIa grinned. "Well we can't have a party
and not play dress-up."
Mouse nodded. "Yeah, let's do it! Let's all
trade clothing formats! That'll be fun!"
Dot looked dubious for a moment, then nodded.
"Okay, I'm game. Mouse..."
"Yeah?"
"Hand over the units."
Little Enzo had been more-or-less safely tucked
in, and the other two males in the party had gathered in the kitchen. No amount
of convincing, cajoling or threatening the java machine had made it work, and
so they were a bit cranky at being forced to settle with the instant stuff.
However, neither had had the nerve to ask Cecil for help.
"They'd better not be having java right
now," Bob said bitterly, peering into his java mug.
Matrix grunted and shrugged.
"If we were in my apartment I could've made
the java machine work."
Matrix shrugged and grunted.
"They better not be having fun without
us."
Matrix sighed, stirring the powdery instant java
with his index finger. "Bob, if we go check on them will you shut
up?"
Bob brightened. "Of course! All right...we'd
better think of an excuse..."
****
"Are you two finished changing yet?!"
AndrAIa yelled from the living room. "You need to come help me pick out
the mp3s!"
"Just a second, Sugah! Dot doesn't have quite
enough-"
"MOUSE!"
"-to fill out my clothes that well. Andre,
could you see if Bob's got any socks layin' around...oh, never mind, here's
some. Just bring a bit of the pillow stuffin' in here, please."
"MOUSE!"
"Oh hush up, honey, you never looked
better."
Mouse tottered out of Bob's bathroom wearing Dot's
body armor. "Here, lemme pick out some music...oooh! Garth Brooks...didn't
think Bob was that much of a country boy...Dot, come out here and help!"
"This is so embarassing..." Dot stepped
out of the bathroom and followed Mouse, weighted down by the mercenary's
combat-style boots and clanking metallicly all the way. "User above,
Mouse, how do you move in this stuff?"
"I could ask you the same thing. How in the
Net do you fight in this getup? These heels are murder!" Mouse reeled
slightly to one side, arms flialing for balance.
AndrAIa giggled and loaded a few more mp3s into
the player. "Get over here and pick out some songs, Dot."
Dot shuffled to the player, aiming a glare at the
reeling Mouse. "I thought maybe this stuff was just made to look like
metal, but nooooo..." She shrugged her shoulders a few times
experimentally. "How do you keep these...shoulder armor thingies...from
catching on stuff?"
Mouse shrugged, finding relative safety perched on
the sofa. "Practice? Anyway, you're shorter, honey. They don't come right
up to my cheekbones on me."
Dot pushed a few mp3s into the machine and
grinned. "Mouse, I have an entirely new respect for you now."
"Ditto."
'Friends in Low Places' blared through the
apartment, set on the highest possible volume and bass. AndrAIa clapped her
hands cheerfully and headed for the bathroom. "Okay, I get to trade
clothes now. Dot?"
"Hmm?"
"You dropped a sock."
***
Bob and Matrix zipped along towards Kits Sector.
Bob had toyed briefly with the idea of portalling right into the apartment, but
Matrix of all people had pointed out that that would be beyond rude.
"So we just say that you forgot your
toothbrush, right?" Matrrix went over the details of their alibi.
"Right. We just make sure they're all right,
and then we leave."
"Right. Just see what they're up to, and
leave."
"Right."
The two zipped along in silence for a moment, then
Bob laughed sheepishly. "What are we so worried about? We know they're
fine. And it's not like they're trashing the place, or having some wild party
without us..."
Matrix chuckled. "Think we should go back to
the Diner then?"
A long pause, then, "Nah."
***
"AIN'T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH! AIN'T NO
RIVER WIDE ENOUGH!..."
AndrAIa winced. "Agh, Mouse, you couldn't
carry a tune in a bucket."
Mouse looked hurt for a moment, then shrugged.
"Well I never said I could, darlin'...anyway, you know Dot's the singer
among us.
Dot glowered slightly. "How do you
know?"
"That little number you did for Enzo's
party."
"And how do you know about that?!"
AndrAIa grinned, adjusting Mouse's armored top.
"Mike got some footage. It's in the archives."
"I'm gonna delete that crashing TV
set..."
"TO KEEP ME FROM YOU-OU!"
"You know....they say that this is the same
stuff that Users listen to," AndrAIa said in a scary-story voice.
Mouse snorted. "Well some of it sure don't
make any sense as far as Mainframe goes. Wouldn't surprise me if mp3s are
Users' faults."
Dot shrugged as Mouse's song ended and the next
was a slower, sweeter number. "Oh, I don't know...some of it's very
pretty..." She just listened for a moment, then glared down at herself and
sighed. "Oh cursors...think I should get the socks again?"
AndrAIa shook her head, then winced and untangled
a strand of hair from the metal shoulder-pads. "You look great, Dot! Maybe
you should get your own outfit like that."
"I...don't think so. Bob would probably
delete me."
AndrAIa giggled. "Oh, I don't know about
that." She stomped out to the living room, her usual grace gone astray due
to the fact that she was wearing Mouse's boots. "The playlist is almost
over, I'm gonna put a few more mp3s on. Oof! Crash it...Mouse, how do you move
in this stuff?"
Mouse rolled her eyes. "Prac-tice." She
leaned out the bathroom door, fidgeting with Dot's Command.com headset.
"Hey Dot?"
"Hmm?"
"Is it true that if I turn this thing on, all
of Mainframe can hear what I'm sayin'?"
Dot was looking into the mirror distractedly.
"Mmm-hmm."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah...oh! Oh no, Mouse! Give that
back!"
"Awww, sugah, I just wanna give it a
try!"
"Mouse, don't you dare..." Dot tried to
grab for the headset, but the taller woman held it out of her reach easily.
***
"Almost there." Bob commented, a bit
redundantly.
"Yep. Almost there." Matrix echoed, as
Bob's apartment building showed up around the next curve.
"You know, maybe we shouldn't do this...I
mean....we know they're all right and-"
A familiar molasses drawl cut him off, echoing
throughout Mainframe from the pinnacle speakers back at the Principle Office.
*Attention citizens of Mainframe! Megabyte's
mother was a null and his father smelt of cyberberries!*
Another familar voice, sounding further away:
*Wait...wouldn't it be 'His father was a null, and
his'-*
And one more...
*Crash it, Mouse, give that back or I'll delete
the-!*
The broadcast was lost in a crackle of static.
Bob looked at Matrix. Matrix looked at Bob.
"Uh...oh..."
***
Dot grabbed the headset and pulled out the power
source, then handed the appliance back to Mouse. "Well if you're going to
dress like me, you may as well take the headset too...but cursors, Phong is
gonna delete me for that!"
Mouse fastened the headset and smirked, pleased
with herself. "Aww, I was just havin' a bit of fun. I bet ol' Phong got a
good laugh outta that."
Dot sighed and flexed her elbow a few times,
testing out AndrAIa's armband. "Well I hope so. Andre, this thing's
ingenius. Decoration, and freedom of movement."
"Yeah, that's my favorite accessory."
AndrAIa flipped the top shut on the mp3 player decisively. "There, I put
in some U2...what a silly name...but such nice songs."
Mouse headed out to the living room herself.
"You know, I could get used to this. Your armor's actually really
comfortable, Dot!"
"You can't keep it!" Dot replied, still
in the bathroom.
AndrAIa rolled her eyes slightly, skipping a few
tracks on the player. "You don't have to stay in there. It's just us here,
you know, and it's not like you look bad in my clothing. Oh wow, this
song sounds like something Bob would sing to you, Dot."
"Stop it, you're embarassing me! And
sorry...I'm just so...not used to...er...wearing something this..."
"You should try it more often, it's awful
liberating."
"These boots are incredible, Andre, but I
don't think I can walk in them very well..."
Mouse tottered towards the bathroom. "Honey,
you are not gonna stay in there all night worryin' about showing your
tummy!"
"Okay, okay! Just gimme a second! How do you
fasten this starfish...oh, there it goes..."
"Wait...do you hear something?" AndrAIa
tilted her head towards the door.
"What?" Dot stepped out of the bathroom,
trying to catch what was going on.
AndrAIa's eyes widened. "Someone's coming!
Quick, lock the door!"
***
Dot was the closest. Valiantly she sprinted across
the hallway and threw herself at the door. Unfortunately, she'd been right
about AndrAIa's boots, and halfway to the door she lost her balance and
tripped, heading for a full-out sprawl on the hard tiling of the foyer. Mouse
and AndrAIa watched in helpless horror. Dot closed her eyes and prepared for
impact.
It never came. Or more accurately, it came in the
form of strong arms around her waist, hauling her back to her feet.
"Oof! What is it with you Matrixes and
tackling people?"
***
Mouse spoke first. "Well hey there, fellas.
Fancy meeting you here."
Dot was beginning to blush rather spectacularly,
being caught mid-spill by Bob and sensing that particularly due to the
clothing-format swap, things could only get more awkward from there.
"Hey, Dot! We just wanted to make sure things
were all right and...I forgot my toothbrush so Matrix and I
de...cided...to...uh...well...er." Bob stuttered to a standstill.
Dot tried to avoid looking at her rescuer.
"Uhm..."
Bob swallowed hard, face taking on a purplish
tinge. "Soooo."
Matrix, Mouse and AndrAIa looked on, amused nudges
between them. Matrix interjected slyly, "Am I allowed to see my own sister
looking like that?"
AndrAIa slapped his arm. "You see me
looking like that all the time!"
"Yeah, but you're not...you know. My
sister."
Bob and Dot were still enjoying a rather awkward
moment. Bob found his voice first. "Uhm...you look really nice, Dot."
"Th...anks. Uhm...I better...go...er..."
Mouse finally took pity on her friend and rescued
her, pulling her out of a rather reluctant Bob's arms. "Go on, honey, we
need to change back soon anyways." As Dot skittered gratefully back
towards the bathroom, Mouse snapped her fingers in front of Bob's face,
smirking. "What's wrong, Sugah, never seen a girl dressed up before?"
Bob blinked. "Not her. Not like that.
Wow..."
Mouse shrugged and stepped strategically in front
of the entrance to the living room. "So. What was it you boys really came
here for?"
Bob was already flustered, but at the questioning,
Matrix joined him. "We...we....er...Bob forgot his toothbrush. Yeah."
"Yeah right," AndrAIa snorted, then
grinned. "Whatever you say. Well, show's over, so maybe you'd better be
leaving."
"I need to get my toothbrush..." Bob
mumbled, taking a step towards the bathroom. His path was immediately blocked
by Mouse.
AndrAIa slipped by. "I'll just get it for
you, Bob."
Bob blushed, realizing where he had been
heading...or more accurately, who he would run into if he kept going towards
where he was heading. "Oh...right. Good idea."
A few whispers on conversation could be heard from
the bathroom, then AndrAIa emerged with the toothbrush, trailed by a tentative
Dot, who was now wearing an oversized and very garish Hawaiian-style shirt over
AndrAIa's pants.
Bob took the offered toothbrush, still staring at
Dot. "That's my vacation shirt."
Dot smiled, toying with the hem of the shirt.
"Uhm...sorry, it's the first thing Andre found..." AndrAIa grumped
slightly at being blamed. "The colors are very...interesting."
"You can have it, if you like it..." Bob
said brightly.
Mouse left her post to stage-whisper to Dot,
"Honey, I think you could ask that boy for just about anything right now
and he'd let you have it."
Dot elbowed Mouse to shut her up and grinned sheepishly,
blushing again. She tilted her shoulders slightly. "I'll think about it,
Bob."
It took the concerted effort of all of those
present to shuffle Bob out the door again. AndrAIa slid the bolt home as soon
as they'd called their good-byes. "Well. That was entertainment." She
winked dramatically at Dot, who might have blushed again if she had gotten
around to stopping the first blush yet.
Mouse smirked with delight. "Oh, now that
is good blackmail material." She ducked as Dot aimed a half-hearted punch
at her. "Come on, y'all, let's get changed back around and then we can
compare jammies."
Dot and AndrAIa glanced at each other sidelong,
then stifled giggles in unison. Mouse shrugged fatalistically. "So I like
the word 'jammies'. Stop laughin' at me or I'll wait until you're logged off
and then I'll..."
AndrAIa and Dot quickly stopped laughing and
hurried into the bathroom.
***
AndrAIa tapped a fingertip against her lips
thoughtfully. "Pink bunnies...Dot, that just doesn't seem...you."
Dot glared valiantly, flannel-clad arms folded
across her chest. "You leave my bunnies alone, thankyaverymuch."
"Well, you could make fun of my jammies, if
you like," the other woman offered generously.
Dot blinked warily, then giggled. "How? Blue
silk with fish on them. It's nothing but you. It's so predictable."
Mouse cast about the carpet and found a slightly
fuzzed USB. She blew on it thoughtfully and popped it into her mouth. "You
laugh at me for saying 'jammies', and those are you clothing formats?
You hypocrites." She smiled comfortably.
"They're my night things," Dot said
haughtily. "Not jammies."
AndrAIa flopped down on the sofa. "So what
shall we do now? We ate, we had a pillow fight, we played dress-up, we listened
to music..."
"Truth or Dare?" Mouse suggested.
"No, no...
***Author's Note: If you want to read a real
crazy as all get-out totally rockin' Truth-or-Dare fic, go to a minor glitch
and read the green jell-o fic. It's so good, I'm not gonna even try to equal
it. ***
Pranks?" AndrAIa suggested.
"Done that. Jetbowling after all?"
"No, it'd be closed by now..."
"Dot, what do you want t...oh. She logged
off," Mouse chuckled. "I guess she's worn out."
AndrAIa grinned. "Oh, she's so darling all
curled up on the floor like that! Think we should wake her up again?"
Mouse shrugged, sprawling out on the sofa.
"Nah. We got a lot of good girls' stuff done. Maybe we should all log off
for a bit."
AndrAIa shrugged, then righted the coffee table
and curled up on top of it. Mouse tossed her a blanket. "There you go...hey...you
okay, kid?"
AndrAIa beamed. "I sleep with my eyes open.
You know. Like fish." She eyed the hacker solemnly for a moment, then
giggled at Mouse's confused expression. "No, only kidding. Good
night."
"Night." Mouse muttered back, and the
apartment grew quiet for the first time in a very long while.
***
Dot was wakened late the next morning by a
wavering off-key duet coming from the kitchen.
"Sisters, sisters, never were there such
devoted sisters..."
Mouse and AndrAIa were mincing across the kitchen,
tossing several objects that appeared to be clothing formats into the air, and
performing a series of clumsy pirouettes and leaps between catches. When Dot
walked wearily in, all the mysterious formats were suddenly snatched from the
air and hidden behind backs. Mouse smirked. AndrAIa beamed in a sugary fashion.
Dot raised an eyebrow, curiosity overcoming just-woke-upedness.
"What in the Net are you doing?"
AndrAIa grinned, and answered question for question.
"Soooo, Dot...do you think Bob's a boxer man or a briefs man?" Mouse
chortled, sidling towards the fridge.
Dot blushed. "Uh...guys, I don't know,
why?"
"Oh, come on, Dot! Just guess! If you don't
know already..."AndrAIa insisted.
"Boxers?" Dot replied quickly. Mouse
whooped with glee.
"Good guess, honey!" Suddenly it was
apparent what the two had been choreographing with. Mouse and AndrAIa resumed
their impromptu dance around the kitchen, tossing Bob's boxer formats around in
time with the music. Dot tried to be irritated with their antics, but ended up
collapsing into giggles. "And now for the big finale!" Mouse cried.
AndrAIa skidded in front of Mouse. "Looord
help the mister, who comes between me and my sister!"
Mouse pushed AndrAIa out of the way good-naturedly.
"And Loooord help the sister who comes between me and my man!"
They hummed a few final measures in unison,
dramatically tossing the formats into the freezer. Mouse slammed the freezer
door on the last note. AndrAIa advised the now freezer-dwelling boxers calmly,
"Staaaaay frosty."
Mouse grinned widely. "So. What'll we have
for breakfast?"
"Fish Stix?" supplied AndrAIa hopefully.
The others glowered. AndrAIa gave in. "Okay, fine...pancakes."
"No more flour, remember?" Dot pointed
out, then prodded at the flour-strewn middle of the kitchen with her toe.
"Well, except for this."
"Not even." Mouse replied hastily, then
cast about the kitchen. "Wonder what's in the fridge..."
***
"Cheesecake." Mouse called from the
kitchen.
"Here!" Dot caught the wedge as it flew
out of the kitchen door.
"Olives...those are for me." The olive
jar followed the cheesecake. Dot barely managed to keep it off the floor.
"Uhm...rice."
No replies.
"Movin' on. Strawberries?"
"Here!" Dot and AndrAIa replied in
unison. The box of strawberries sailed out of the kitchen. AndrAIa made the
catch.
"I'm gonna want some of those too. Oooh.
Caramels! Don't see those in Mainframe much. Here..." Mouse lobbed the bag
into the living room. Both Dot and AndrAIa scrambled for it, missing the bag of
crackers that followed. The crackers scattered.
"Oops." Dot proclaimed, trying to
wrestle the caramels away from AndrAIa.
"Hey Dre! Fish stix!" Mouse called.
AndrAIa left the caramels to Dot and caught the flying fish-stix box happily.
"Now this is brefix." said Dot
contentedly and muffledly, between caramels and mouthfuls of cheesecake.
***
Mouse and AndrAIa watched in a sort of morbid
fascination as the effects of a caramel-and-cheesecake breakfast swept over
Dot. First, she behaved as she always did, if a bit more laid back. Gradually,
as the sugar coursed through her systems, her talking got faster and faster,
words stringing themselves into hardly intelligible sentences. She fairly
seemed to dance about the room. The others had a rare glimpse of a striking
behavioural resemblance to Enzo before she suddenly collapsed on the floor in
the foyer, curled around herself, and tumbled into a deep, though slightly
fitful, sleep.
AndrAIa looked at Mouse. Mouse looked at AndrAIa.
They both started giggling.
"We shoulda warned her." Mouse
commented. "All-sugah breakfasts are dangerous things."
AndrAIa shrugged and stretched meticulously.
"Well...you learn something new every day."
A knock on the door interrupted the discussion
before Mouse made any attempts at philosophy. "Dre, what time is it?"
AndrAIa made a face, getting to her feet.
"Later than we thought it was. That's Bob now, I guess he wants his
apartment back.
Mouse clicked on her icon and changed into a
casual clothing format. AndrAIa followed her lead and sadly abandoned her fish
pyjamas for her usual outfit. They gazed at Dot as they stepped over her to
answer the door.
"Should we change her too?" AndrAIa
wondered aloud, ignoring the fact that upon getting no response for many nanos,
Bob was attempting to jimmy the apartment door open.
"Nah." Mouse replied. "Maybe she
can charm Bob out of deleting us for messing up his apartment if she's wearing
those jammies, even if she is only semi-conscious."
AndrAIa smirked. "Well maybe if it's charmed
we want, we should put her in one of my formats again..."
Mouse considered the idea at length. She
considered it at so much length that Bob eventually melted the lock on the door
and pushed his way in.
"What's going on with you tw-- *oof*!"
He staggered over the small round ball that was Dot, still curled contentedly
on the floor.
"I don't wanna ride the pony..." the
small round ball muttered. Dot flopped over on her back, one arm flung across
her eyes. She didn't wake up.
Bob gaped. "What did you do to her!?"
Mouse shrugged one shoulder. "Nothin' much.
But isn't she cute, all asleep like that?"
"Well...yeeeah..." Bob said slowly, a
sappy look creeping across his face.
"We might need you to help us get her back to
the Diner." AndrAIa suggested brightly, earning a 'nicely done' look from
Mouse as Bob leaned down and scooped up the unresisting and rather floppy
sugarshocked sprite. Dot opened one eye and regarded her rescuer balefully for
a moment, then smiled in a childlike fashion.
"Puppy..." she crooned, before falling
back asleep again, snuggled up against Bob's chest. The Guardian blushed a nice
light shade of lilac.
"Uhm...let's go, then."
***
Dot had been unresistingly tucked into her own
bed, Cecil had been advised (by AndrAIa of course) to keep an eye on the Diner
and the Madame, and the survivors of the previous evening were bidding Bob
farewell.
"Um...we used up all your flour,"
AndrAIa told him.
"And we might have left a few pillows out of
place," Mouse added.
Bob was preparing a portal home. He shrugged nonchalantly.
"It's all right. I'm glad you made her take a break."
"Well then. We'd better go check on her. Stay
frosty!" Mouse called.
AndrAIa elbowed the mercenary in the ribs, then
doubled over in a flurry of giggles. Gasping with mirth, she managed, "We
know the boxers will..." Mouse tried to keep a straight face, then snorted
with the effort and started to laugh as well. Bob turned to eye them
suspiciously. Mouse waved him away.
Once the Guardian had departed, Mouse and AndrAIa
dashed for the lower floor of the Diner. Shakes, shouts, and a few glasses of
very cold water brought Mainframe's Command.com out of her sugar-induced
collapse. Dot blinked blearily, trying to figure out where she was.
"Wha....where....how..."
"Dot, honey..." Mouse drawled, sporting
her best act-now-ask-later face, "We better run."
END