Well, This Day Was a complete Waste of Makeup by Cousin Kezia Cousins used with permission Time: Tuesday 9th November, starts around 5pm. Place: CERK and the Hive. Cousin Kezia was pulling clothing out of the wardrobe and then putting them back again, in a flurry of activity - and talking to herself. "No, no, no, I wore the royal purple velour last War to the Ravenette's party. I can't *possibly* wear it twice in a row in front of Janette.... The shot purple silk - looks too much like the purple velour.... The mint green Indian, or maybe the dusky purple Indian embroidered outfit - didn't McLisa mention something about an embroidered Indian two-piece outfit? It would never do for us to be wearing near identical outfits! Black - bah! Everybody and their Uncle will be wearing black. I want to be different - but elegantly so. Ah yes! The perfect outfit, at last!" So saying, she pulled out a bottle green crushed velvet mid-calf length tailored dress with a row of tiny buttons all the way down the front. "Hmmm, let's see, The bronze low heeled slippers with the black lace sides, and, of course, my black pearls - multi-strand necklace, dropper earrings, white gold and pearl ring and Tahitian black pearl and silver bracelet. I do so love my pearls!" Her further thoughts on the subject were interrupted by a timid knocking on the door. Kezia happily opened it to see a very nervous looking Cousin Bean standing there. "Hi, Bean! Have you decided what to wear to the Hive tonight? I think I've finally found the perfect outfit, one fit for Janette... why, what on earth is wrong? Don't tell me - the party's been cancelled?" she ended in consternation. Bean took a big deep breath and replied "No, not cancelled. It's just.... during the last war, when Janette was in LaCroix's body, she made them all wear designer clothing. So Cerberus wants us all to dress down this time round. And please don't shot the messenger!" she concluded almost pleadingly. Much to her astonishment, Kezia laughed. "Of course, I won't shot the messenger - I don't do such things! The message sender... maybe... Well, that certainly relieves my mind about worrying what Janette will think of my outfit. You know - I should *never* have started watching that BBC style show... it's making me so obsessed with my outfits you'd think I was a regular little Ravenette. No, I'm not one - just a Cousin who likes her clothes and wants to look her best. Hmmm... dress down... Hope they don't want grunge, I don't *do* grunge, don't even own a pair of jeans." "Just dress down is fine," Bean informed her, relieved that her fellow Cousin wasn't screaming the place down or going into hysterics. "See you later - I have a special job to do for Tok!" Kezia turned to her wardrobe, and once again started pulling outfits in and out, still talking to herself.... Shortly before 9pm that night, she joined the other Cousins waiting in reception for the cars. Dress down was relative in her case - black bootleg slacks, black suede ankle boots with kitten heels, red v-neck top with three quarter length sleeves and a tailored soft pink jacket, with a dusky pink scarf draped around her neck were completed by pink pearl stud earrings, delicate silver rings on every finger, and a spectacular silver Chinese dragon pendant around her neck. "Kezia, if that's your idea of dress down, I'd hate to see you all dressed up," another Cousin commented. She chuckled. "You should have seen me, pulling everything out of the wardrobe, twice.... But I just don't *do* total dress down. It's not me! And the General does expect us to be true to ourselves - and to follow his excellent sartorial taste. I wonder - did he learn it from Janette, or was it the other way around...." Later that night, at the Hive. Kezia was enjoying herself - her outfit had won an approving comment from Janette, the stunning Chinese pendant was the envy of more than one attendee, and - the Hive stocked one of her all-time favourite drinks, mead! Not to mention a decent selection of vegetarian dishes. There was only one problem - the clock was ticking (literally, out in the kitchen in a container full of ants), and all the Cousins knew it. Busy talking to someone she'd met in the last war, she was suddenly startled by a vibration, apparently coming from her little black evening bag. "Excuse me, I think my bag's vibrating!" It was her mobile phone, set to vibrate at 11.30 as a signal. Smiling brightly, Kezia apologised for the interruption and carried on the conversation, only to yawn loudly a few moments later. "Sorry about that - only flew in from Heathrow yesterday. Guess the jetlag's caught up with me." Over the next twenty minutes or so, her yawns increased, and she even nodded off in her chair when she sat down beside a fellow Cousin. Apologising loudly to all concerned for her jetlag, she was shepherded back to the car for the journey back to CERK. "Kezia, you were brilliant - I really thought you were dozing off there!" "Actually, I was - I was fine until I started to yawn, and then, well, you know how contagious yawns are... But I figured since my English accent is so noticeable, that no-one would be suspicious of me dropping off at only 11.30-ish in the evening. And of course, it's understood that all faction members are supposed to look out for their fellow faction members in public places, so that got the rest of you away too." "Yeah, now to wait for those ants to put in an appearance." "You know, I have a friend from Yorkshire - very broad, her accent - and she once totally threw me by talking about her 'anty' - turned out that was as in 'anty and uncle'...." Kezia related. Laughing at the play on words, the Cousins traipsed back into CERK. Kezia, for one, was just glad that today had not been a total waste of make-up, to paraphrase one of her favourite one-line quotes.