WAR: Cousins: We're All Mad Here
By Cousin Tserisa (tserisa at gmail dot com)
Others used with permission.
Time:  Early afternoon, Monday, Nov. 8; following "Cerberus grows a new head"

* * *

Cousin Tserisa trotted into the stable aboard Lavalianna and slid to
the ground.  She began to untack the beast in the Cousinly Stables and
gave her a quick currying. Clouds of dust rose from her dun-grey coat.

"I'll give you a proper grooming soon, when I have more time," Tser
soothed the protesting burro, who didn't seem to be interesting in a
grooming at all.  "In about two weeks," she added under her breath as
she rubbed vigorously.

The Head of Cerberus had been visiting her utterly mad sister in a
Toronto insane asylum. She felt obligated to do so, since she had been
partly responsible for driving her insane in the last War, with
Post-Its.

To be completely honest with herself, however, Tser had actually
visited in hopes of breaking her sis out so that she could use the
Faction-Hopping DieHard for nefarious War purposes, but an astute
orderly had dashed such hopes.  Tser had only just sawed through the
leather straps and was lowering a salivating, thrashing ex-Cousinly
Receptionist through a window and onto the burro below when she heard
a yell behind her, "Don't move!"

Tser had turned, her sister dangling by a sheet and babbling about
various invoices, to find a white-coated employee of the asylum
brandishing a hypodermic at her.

"I've got a sedative and I know how to use it!" the man exclaimed,
somewhat hysterically.

"You'd best do so," Tser said dryly. "You're looking a little tense."

"I mean it! Drop that patient!"

"I really would rather not," the Cousin said, frowning. "She may be
insane, but I'm fond of her."

Then the orderly lunged.  Tser leaped through the window, passing her
sister on the way down (who informed her in a low mock-dub voice,
"Dootsis versus Hedora the Smog Monster"), and landed astride
Lavalianna, who bucked once and took off at a bumpy gallop.

"I'll come back for you, sis!" Tser exclaimed over her shoulder to the
pendulant Die-Hard. "In about two weeks!"

The orderly shook his needle defiantly. "Cuuuurse yoooooou!"

Now Tser trudged into the lobby from her adventure, looking only
slightly worse for wear.  Her too-long locks (four inches, can you
believe it?) stuck out at odd angles, askew from her riding helmet.
(Tser always wears a riding helmet, even in fiction.)  She looked over
at the Receptionist's desk, where Bonnie was happily immersed in her
Post-Iting.

"Has Arletta been notified of her new position yet?" Tser asked
Bonnie, seeing that the woman's cheerful demeanor had not yet been
crushed utterly by the weight of her job.

"I think so," the Receptionist replied, glancing over a station
encrusted with variously colored sticky notes. "Ah, yes, here. I noted
a little past noon that she'd been ushered away by Tok and returned in
a state of confusion. So I'm guessing so."

"Thanks," Tser said, and nodded, then turned to head to Tok's office.

She was glad she'd missed that. She hated to be the bearer of bad news.

She knocked on the office's door and stuck her head in, seeing a
veritable sea of empty Diet Pepsi cans littering the various surfaces
in the room.  The recycling bin already stood full and unable to take
any more aluminum.  Tok had left a note (not sticky) near the computer
saying she would be resting up for Will's Toronto Tour later that
afternoon.

"A tour!" Tser said, happily. "That'll be fun. And, uh, maybe we can
look for that rock while we're out and about.  Yeah."  Ahhh, sweet
justification.

Tser took the elevator up to her room and hopped in the shower, after
evicting a glaring Cousine Moses from the tub.  The lizard slinked
onto the bed and stuck her thick pink tongue out at her so-called
owner a few times.

Tserisa was already beginning to regret not having accepted that sedative.

###

--
+---------------------------------------+
  (\      /)  Tserisa
   \\    //
    )\__/(    http://velvetdragon.com/
    |(oO)|    http://intolerators.com/
     \||/
     (OO)                            Ts
+-vVv------vVv--------------------------+