| The Fellowship of the Binge Chapter #5= - Happy Hatchday - All Characters are © their players 2003. LOTB © Kuga 2003 Special thanks to Blue, Spike, Caleb, Trick, Wolfy, Tang, Siyahamba, Starfig, Lupine, Eric, Bibok, Xylen, Oz and Tombfyre for special help given in this chapter J Dancing In The Moonlight (By King Harvest; c. 1973) Edited by Tombfyre and reviewed by Caleb. --- - - - - Making his way casually towards the castle, Ben happily bobbed up and down through the long green grass of the Devonshire fields. He rounded a corner, revealing a beautiful snapshot view of Dartmouth; its age-old seaside heritage and its sweeping surrounding countryside. Bobbing along to a tune he was making up, he wistfully thought of the day he had in store for his friend and host Blue the dragon. Approaching the castle entrance, he looked around; looking for any sign of the numerous furs he had invited to come to Blue’s surprise birthday bash. He soon found them all standing next to the castle entrance all talking amongst themselves, some munching away on snacks. Quite a number of furs, it was a good job really Blue had the space in his home to place them all. Ben, although understandable nervous, rounded them up and set off back to Blue Rock - Kuga was frantically and comically trying to handle the cooking of a good old English cooked breakfast with bacon, eggs, hash browns and oatcakes. He kept dropping eggs, burning the bacon and splashing syrup. He flipped a pancake and quickly popped in some slow cooking toast. His talent lay in gardening (or so he liked to think), not cooking. - After asking the ensemble large (they were by no means small) to keep quiet, Ben opened the door and let them. They quickly wiped their feet and set to work. Ben simply hoped the racket being made by the mostly fat furs wouldn’t wake the sleeping dragon blissfully snoring upstairs. Lupine dashed in to the kitchen and immediately set to correcting the cooking, kindly relieving the distressed Kuga. Some of the furs made a neat pile of presents and gifts (including a special card from non other than Fanimal, who was regrettably unable to come) in the corner of the sitting room. Trick whipped the roos off the couch and set about laying a large table for the group. Kuga ran out and quickly trimmed the hedge (with his own teeth) so they could have the barbeque outside later. Roddy teased some of the fatter furs in to working by whisking up chocolate treats and blackmailing them with it. Dishes clanged, bodies bumped, mouths watered and backs were stretched. Finally, the bubbly group were prepared to give Blue a party like no other. - Upstairs, quietly sleeping, Blue turned over, dreaming of a lovely summer’s day flying through Hanchurch woods, catching the wind with his wings, soaring above the treetops. Blue landed slowly on the ground, his claws, grasping the topsoil, flexing his wings and taking a deep breath. He smelt some very odd things; olive oil, maple syrup, and freshly cut plants. He stirred, realising his was asleep. His window was open, letting a cool draft in; he roared a yawn, wobbling his face to wake up. He slung on a dressing gown and briskly walked downstairs, a slight spring in his step. Rubbing his eyes, he strolled in to the kitchen, getting a fresh drink. He walked through the door to the living room. “SURPRISE!!!” Blue staggered back, almost dropping his drink but spilling it all over himself anyway. Starfig later said his face was worth a thousand words. His breath caught in his throat, Blue staggered back, his heart skipping several beats, clenching his chest, leaning against the doorframe, gasping. He looked absolutely flabbergasted - not to mention frightened. Ben and Kuga stepped forward clapping with the rest, who were launching party poppers and blowing kazoos. “Happy Hatchday Blue.” They said, hugging his large frame on either side. “Hah oh thank you, you…cheeky little conniving scoundrels!!!” Blue said, ruffling Ben’s hair and twanging Kuga’s ‘hair’ spikes. “I take it you organised this did you?” They just shrugged, feigning innocence. “Consider this a gift of our thanks to you from me and Kuga, Blue.” Ben said. He smiled happily back at them. He stepped forward and greeted his friends, some of whom he had not seen in a while. Ben and Kuga stood to one side, resting arms around each other. The grin on Blue’s face said it all. From what he had gathered, Blue had been living a lonely life of late, his mind focused on helping those around him, constantly thinking of ways to further the safety, security and prosperity. He was totally committed to learning all he could in the magical arts, but he was just one of those people who would lose themselves in helping others and sometimes forget to look after himself. He certainly deserved a good Hatchday bash for what he had done. According to Bibok, there wasn’t a single person present who he hadn’t helped in some small way - he was as kind as he was benevolent. Blue looked so happy, so invigorated, so pleased. It had probably been a great many years since he had been treated as kind as this, by anyone around here. Blue happily unwrapped the many gifts and presents, receiving a large amount of cards sending him birthday greetings (they couldn’t find cards that read ‘Happy Hatchday’). He sat down in the middle of the room, wearing a green paper party hat, still wearing his dressing gown and grinning from ear to ear, thoroughly enjoying himself. He gleefully returned each gift with a thankful hug and a kind word or three. Just before they all sat down for breakfast, Blue cornered his two close friends, looked them straight in the eye and hugged them, whispering a heartfelt ‘Thank you’. - The day passed in a fantastic wave of glorious sunshine and immense joy and laughter. The meals seemed to blur in to one constant binging session in between all of the talking. They moved outside for lunch, where Lupine was already whipping up a wonderful smelling barbeque with a tight fitting apron on. Kuga even received several nods of approval from some of the guests about the well-kept state of the large garden that slowly ended with a line of flower fields. There wasn’t really much to do, except eat, drink and be merry – which all of the guests seemed to be rather good at. Of course, when one eats over a long period of time and mind is focused on something else (like talking) one eats a lot more and notices it less. This everyone did and the results showed extremely well on the tuxedos, waistcoats, jackets and tops they all wore. The sun rose to its peak and let off a fabulous spell of weather, encouraging the heat to increase and swell, just like the appetites of the guests. Of course, this resulted in the party group abstaining from wearing a goodly portion of clothes, and all were treated to magnificent views of bloated bellies and sagging stomachs. After dinner (or at least after the main course), Lupine scooted off quietly, secretly whipping something up while the others polished off the remainders. Just as the sun was hitting the horizon over the hills, a beautiful twilight was made and a pleasant cross lighting provided illumination. Blue, sitting in his rather small chair (it had fitted him fine just the other day), rolled his stomach scales in his hands, happily content and enjoying the fine atmosphere of the party. Lupine came out, nodding to Kuga who started to sing the following verse: Happy Hatchday to you, Happy Hatchday to you, Happy 19th Hatchday to Blue, Happy Hatchday to you! Lupine waddled around in to view bearing a large wide silver platter carrying his special Chocolate Flavoured Pancakes. Each Pancake was a letter, and the pan-‘cake’ bore the inscription “Happy nineteenth Hatchday Blue!” so you can imagine that it was quite a lot of pancakes. Lupine carefully laid the delicacy in front of Blue, giving him a large knife to ceremoniously cut the cake. “Make a wish!” someone shouted from the back of the table. Blue thought for a moment, looked over at Ben and Kuga, eyeing them thoughtfully, then took a deep breath, sniffing the food at the same time and blew a tremendous ‘whoosh’, blowing all nineteen candles out instantaneously. Some of the closer guests thought about going to the hospital with smoke inhalation. He happily dug in, sharing a small slice with all who wanted some. Before the modest wolf could waddle off in to a corner, Blue caught up to him and gave him a good old ‘thank you’ hug, patting him on the back. The moon was out and it was nice and bright. In fact, because it was such a clear sky they witnessed a fantastic sunset, watching the sun turn the sky into a fabulous wide spread hot orange, with pale blue framing the edges. The company moved on to the lawn, not being bothered about the light dew that was falling. Blue had of course planned to be letting off some fireworks, as he always did, and set about getting them ready. Ben shouted to the group that all of the food needing clearing up – so they had either come and bin it or eat it. Trick sat his flabby frame down at one end of the table, tied a napkin around his furry throat and raised his voice: “Do we have a challenge for eating the green chilly?” he shouted “Aye” Kuga replied, turning away from his conversation and coming over to the table, squishing his rump on to the large picnic bench. Wolfy came over and, raising his paw yelled ‘GO!’ In a total fury Trick and Kuga munched down the green chilli. Naturally, it was quite hot but fortunately there were plenty of drinks on hand. Kuga guzzled a few glasses of water while Trick spiced up a slice of pizza with the chilli, sipping at some milk. Even before 5 minutes was up, Kuga was struggling – not with being able to eat the food, but with the heat. Trick was having a whale of a time and happily consumed bits of this and that while putting the chilli on – he was really on a roll. “Too hot to handle eh Kugie?” Trick said, grinning. Kuga spat out his last mouthful and dived for the water jug, necking it all. It didn’t help, his mouth was burning and his insides felt like they were frying. Clenching at his sloshing stomach, he roared out in agony, guzzling down the nearest lemonade. Wolfy noticed Trick’s sly face and nudged him in the shoulder, looking at him reprovingly. “What?” Wolfy just nodded over at the helpless Hadrosaur. “Oh alright…HEY Kuga! Try drinking some milk.” Trick called to him, tossing him a pint of the white stuff. He cut open the bottle with his thumb spike and eagerly gulped it down. After 3 more pints, he was finally cooled. He sat on the grass, huffing, his jaw open and tongue out. “Urgh” he moaned, rubbing at his swollen sloshing stomach. Trick came over and patted him on the back. “Y’alright?” “I will be, once tongue re-solidifies. How did you know milk would cool it down?” “Ah well I love green chilli, so if you eat a lot of it you come to know that sorta stuff.” “How much did you eat just?” Kuga asked, pointing to his tight stomach. “Enough.” He said, pulling a wink at him. He looked up at the sky, seeing the moon, partially covered by clouds. He put his arm around Kuga and helped the iguanodon rub his cooling belly. He yawned and his hat popped off. “Hehe, you’ve got a big fat head!” Kuga said, giving it a loving rub (all dinosaurs, especially this one, loved getting and giving head rubs). “Why thank you.” He said and howled up at the moon jovially. The moon started to uncover herself from its silvery thin blanket and revealed her iridescent beauty. The pair gazed up at the moon, resting their full bodies on the slightly damp turf. Trick’s stomach started doing some howling of its own. Kuga glanced down at him. “Not hungry already are you?” “Erm, well…I…I guess I must be…” he said, giving his gut a poke, feeling that it was quite full and didn’t really understand how it had suddenly come up with the want to have more. “Must be the weather…” Kuga said, shrugging it off as Trick’s body playing tricks on him. - Carrying a plateful of finger food and a small envelope, Ben walked over to Blue who was chatting with Lupine, eating some of his pancake cake. “Erm, Kuga and I had been thinking for weeks what to get you for your birthday, and we couldn’t think of anything until we came up with this.” He passed the envelope to Blue who opened it with his syrup-covered claws. He read the note inside then looked at the attached piece of card. “This card entitles you to one 15” x 10” watercolour picture of yourself by Starfig.” Blue read out. He took out the card and wafted it in his hand, looking Ben in the face. “I-I hope you like it.” “Ah Ben – it’s…it’s perfect! But I will accept this on one condition, you two have to be in it, alright?” “Sure.” He said with a smile. - “I don’t think Kuga would appreciate being drawn in his current state though.” He continued as Starfig arranged his artist’s desk, propping his table and lights while he motioned for them to move this way and that. “Oh, how so?” Starfig asked Just then Kuga came waddling over, clasping at his stomach trying to stop it from sloshing about. It bounced with every footfall and he looked ever so disgruntled. He sat down heavily on the other side of Blue, almost making Ben bounce off the other end. Starfig chuckled to himself and sat down at his desk once he had turned on the sidelights. He got out his pencil and flipped open his pad. Tang and Oz watched from over his shoulder, munching away on some muffins. Blue put an arm around each of them and hugged them, wobbling Kuga’s gut. He wasn’t impressed. Starfig began by working a rough outline of the three friends, beginning with Ben on his right. “Gee your quick.” Tang said, dropping crumbs everywhere. “Tang if you insist on talking with your mouth full of food over my painting which is going to be framed for Blue then you’ll spend the rest of the evening squashed between the two panes in this frame.” Starfig reproved, glancing up at his subjects through his black-framed glasses. “You can do that?” “I’ll have Oz put in with you…” he said. “Kuga – smile! Be happy!” Starfig called, finishing his outline and adjusting the lighting on Ben’s side. Kuga frowned, folding his arms and rolling his eyes, he feigned a grin, making him look quite funny. Oz sniggered behind him, almost choking on his blueberry muffin. “Come on, smile properly!” Starfig implored, getting out his brush. Lupine patted his head, crumpling his party hat, which he then took off him. “HEY give it me back!” Kuga demanded. “Ah ah ah!” Lupine teased, waggling his hat in front of his face, “Smilers wear a crown, losers wear a frown!” He said, pointing at Kuga’s grumpy face. Kuga didn’t budge but said through clenched teeth: “I would so love to hurt you right now…” “As long as you…” he pointed at his mouth and motioned “smile!” pulling the most ridiculous smile you’d ever seen and holding it. Blue and Ben cracked up, desperately trying to keep straight faces. Starfig chuckled as well, having to put his brush down so not to ruin the backwash. Kuga’s lips quivered and his breathing became erratic, his face slowly contorted as stuttered spurts of laughter weaved through his clenched jaw. Finally letting go, Kuga burst out laughing, leaning back on the bench, causing it to tip and all three of them went flying, landing feet and tails in the air to the amusement of all. - “Hear ye, hear ye! Who here will accept my spaghetti binging challenge?” Eric called out in old English, obviously a bit tipsy from a tad too much cookie dough. “To what food is the challenge attributed to?” called back Siyahamba. “Devour one whole bucket of this here spaghetti!” “I accept your challenge!” A small round of applause met the challenger; as the rest had too much food in their hands to do other than belch. Alden whispered to his son, “Whom do you think will win?” “Siyahamba of course - Eric’s too full on cookie dough.” Roddy answered knowingly. “Oh? And I wonder why that is…” Alden teased, giving him one of those ‘I-know-what-you’ve-been-up-to’ only fathers seem to manage. Roddy squirmed and giggled. “Sorry.” “Well why don’t we give Eric a bit more of a fair chance and slip him some of this son.” Alden suggested, discreetly pulling out a small glass vial. “What’s this?” “Just a little something to….” Just then Spike looked up at the pair, walking their way. He nodded at them but walked past. The magician lowered his voice and his eyes became less focused, “…to say ‘thank you’.” He said with a grin. Sceptically taking the vial, Roddy put it in between one of his fat rolls and waddled over to the buckets that Lupine was preparing. Spike stood up on the barbeque cover wall and was looked up, his eyes closed to the full moon. He seemed to be basking in its rays, or waiting for something. He let his arms raise and spread like some sort of angel. The moon’s rays caught him and slowly began to work their magic on the half-dragon/half jackal. His draconic features started to disappear, his scales turning slowly in to fur and his wings simply evaporated in to his thickly padded back. He was becoming full jackal. Roddy looked around, Eric was busy telling Siya just how much he was about to put him to shame. “Running a bit short?” he asked the wolf, who was trying to get the buckets full. He nodded, sighing. “Here, let me help.” Roddy offered. He got out the potion and pretended to use it to cast a spell to conjure up more food. He poured the potion out at exactly the same time as he produced the spaghetti (although he only poured it in to one). “Right…” Roddy said popping the bottle in between his fat rolls, using it as a shelf, “Let’s get on with the show!” He picked up the bucket with the potion in and set off to give it to Siyahamba. “Nifty little hiding place you got there.” “Thanks, I made it myself.” “I like it…Hey Spiky! Come on!” Lupine called over to the transforming scalie. Spike opened his eyes and looked his new self over, nodding approvingly as he poked himself here and there. “Not bad…” he mused to himself. He hopped down from the wall and huddled over to the competitors. Ben, Kuga and Blue had joined as well. Eric sat down with his large bucket of spaghetti opposite from Siya. “Rules are as follows,” Blue said, “All buckets must be clean of all spaghetti strands, all buckets must be free from pepperoni and all other meats, cheese strands and sauce may be left if in small enough quantities, all food must be eaten by said opponents only and by themselves.” Eric and Siya nodded. “Paws at the ready!” Blue called. Both raised their paw over the bucket, eyeing each other up. “Binge!” The two land mammals dug away at their buckets, scoffing down the spaghetti. It was covered in cheese and a thick red sauce. Eric soon found that the cheese was sticking to his paws and the heat was making it melt all over his front (which was just starting to droop over the lip of the bucket). Siya quickly ditching his paw and dunked his head in, lapping it all up. A small group of furs gathered around and watched eagerly, applauding them on. Siya was lagging behind a bit. “You’re going down!” Eric belched through his cheese-ridden paws As Siya got about half way, Eric moved on to his second of four buckets, grinning up at his opponent. Trick sat down next to Siyahamba and gave him a wink, which was returned. Taking a breath, Siya shrugged, picking up a piece of pepperoni that Lupine had added for extra flavour and put it in his mouth. “You know…” the leopard said, picking up another handful (his snout was getting covered in cheese too much), “I just hope this stuff is cooked properly.” “What do you mean?” Lupine said, slightly offended “Well pepperoni can be harmful if its not cooked properly.” Siya stated. Eric paused for a moment, looking at one of the pieces in his paw. “Yeah…” Trick started, looking over at Eric, whose glasses had a string of cheese going across them. “I hear that the European ones aren’t kept in proper conditions and these tiny parasites grow on the pepperoni before they get sent to the supermarkets…” “Ew…” Siya said, playing up the gross factor. “Hey what’s that?” Trick said, lifting a piece on one side, inspecting it closely. “What, what is that?” Siya said, pulling a disgusted face. They tossed it aside; Lupine inspected it and found nothing wrong with it. Eric’s supporters pushed him on, and he nodded along quickly resuming his efforts. “Anyway if you don’t cook it for long enough then when you eat it they go down in to your belly and they live inside of you and lay their eggs in your digestive track.” “Yuck…” Siya commented, slowing his pace. Eric almost stopped, but was nudged on. “Then they all hatch and live off what you eat. They really thrive off fat furs because they eat so much and they eat and eat and eat and breed and multiply till there’s thousands and millions of these…” Trick glanced over to Eric and motioned with his claws, “…tiny little crawling parasites crawling around of inside of your gut and then when there’s too many of them to feed they start to eat you slowly from the inside out…” Trick finished. Eric’s face seemed to be contorting. Siyahamba paused, his hand covered in cheese strands. “Trick, shh, we’re eating…” Siya loudly whispered to his comrade. Eric’s paw covered his mouth and his belly made a contorting sound and he quickly ran off to the nearest empty bucket, throwing up. Blue pointed hesitantly at the cheetah, “Disqualified!” Trick jumped up and howled to the full moon. “Yahoo!” he roared “Hey that’s cheating!” Lupine said, positive that his meal was of the absolute top quality. “Yeah Lupine, I second that!” Kuga said, putting his paw on Lupine’s shoulder (making him bow a bit with the extra weight), “There’s no way that his meal would be like that – and besides you’ve got it wrong, it’s the far east pepperoni that’s like that.” “Oh, is it?” Trick said, trying to look innocent. “The moon must be affecting me again…” he said, brushing the mess of his coat. Lupine rolled his eyes and turned to clear up the mess. Trick elbowed the leopard in the stomach, who quickly closed his eyes and covered his mouth, motioning ‘stop’ with his chubby paw. - “I feel like a bit of good old music…anyone up for some light entertainment?” Caleb called out, whisking his trusty violin from its case. “Somehow, as amusing as your 300 lb frame is, I don’t think it could be classed as light.” Trick teased sarcastically. “Oh oh! I know – do you mind if I get my saxophone out?” Spike excitedly begged “Hehe sure Spike. Any other takers?” “Hey mate I got me didgeridoo…” “Hey yeah, I can play the piano!” Ben offered “Alrighty then, need a hand getting it out here?” “Please!” And so the four entertainers got ready to swing the rest of the evening out. Blue lit up his fireworks and they began to spark off in brilliant colours, blue, green, platinum, cinnamon (Roddy’s favourite) and many many more. Some were simple ‘shoot and explode’ type ones while others were progressive and layered. The furs eagerly lay back on their rumps, admiring the fine spectacle before them, although some were a little disgruntled that their stomachs obscured some of the larger and finer displays. While the others pulled out Kuga’s piano for Ben to play on (he had kindly agreed to let him use it), Oz put up a ‘mighty fine’ prologue with deep resonant blasts from his colloquial instrument, according to Hafler. Bibok sat near the fireworks, following his own tendencies so that Blue could simply sit back and relax, working his own brand of magic by casting a small charm on them that allowed them to make small shapes in the air. The first fur to recognise them was actually Hafler with his keen vision, spotting a fiery Tang up in the sky. Soon most of the group were trying to pick shapes or figures out of them. “Hey look - it’s Blue!” called Lupine, pointing with a cream-covered finger to the figure. “Oh ho! There am I with my glasses!” Starfig approvingly called. Calls of praise and rounds of applause filled the air after each successive one, except when a very frumpy looking Eric appeared and the group burst out in to laughing. This was followed by Siyahamba, proudly displaying his very low hanging girth. “Hey look everyone, there’s mr fatty himself!” called Trick “Nah, he looks more like a Santa Clause with an overly stuffed paunch.” Said Wolfy “From now on you shall refer to me as ‘Siyahamba – Lord of the Binge!” Siya joked, comparing his gut to his alter ego’s – it gave an audible rumble. “Hey, Lord of the Binge – your stomach’s hungry again…” Trick stated. - Caleb soon had a good little ensemble going, Oz provided a good deep base, Spike was the counter-melody, Ben provided the ostinato on the piano with broken drone chords while Caleb himself played the melody. While Bibok paused to get a few hundred bites to eat and after having played a few tunes, Spike suggested a song. “How about ‘Dancing in the moonlight’?” “Sure – you wanna sing it?” “Me? Sing?” “Yeah, you suggested it, besides I don’t know the words.” “Alright then, let me get the music out then.” He handed out the sheets he had in his rucksack (he was currently learning to play it on his sax), Oz opted out for a break so he could ‘water his throat down’. Ben started a catchy ostinato up, adding a bit of his own flavour to it, his foot occasionally resting on the sustaining peddle, his free leg side to side. Spike couldn’t resist the urge to start tapping to the beat. The jackal cleared his throat and hoped for the best: “We get it on most every night When that old moon gets so big and bright It's a supernatural delight Everybody was dancin' in the moonlight Everybody here is out of sight They don't bark, and they don't bite They keep things loose, they keep things light Everybody was dancin' in the moonlight Dancin' in the moonlight Everybody's feelin' warm and right It's such a fine and natural sight Everybody's dancin' in the moonlight We like our fun and we never fight You can't dance and stay uptight It's a supernatural delight Everybody was dancin' in the moonlight Dancin' in the moonlight Everybody's feelin' warm and right It's such a fine and natural sight Everybody's dancin' in the moonlight!” Here, Caleb went off an a fury of quick tremolos to fill the short gap, showing off his amazing ability to work a violin. Spike bounced his head as the time for the vocals to return continued, he opened his maw and continued with vigour: ”Everybody here is out of sight They don't bark, and they don't bite They keep things loose, they keep things light Everybody was dancin' in the moonlight Dancin' in the moonlight Everybody's feelin' warm and right It's such a fine and natural sight Everybody's dancin' in the moonlight Dancin' in the moonlight Everybody's feelin' warm and right It's such a fine and natural sight Everybody's dancin' in the moonlight Dancin' in the moonlight Everybody's feelin' warm and right It's such a fine and natural sight Everybody's dancin' in the moonlight!” The music repeated and faded, Spike slowly trailing off his voice. Ben and Caleb stopped exactly at the same time, alternately providing contrasting heights of pitch to bring the piece to a loud zenith. The group loudly applauded Spike’s valiant effort and congratulated the others also. They formed a quick line and bowed cheerily to their audience. - Oz quickly peeked out from behind the hedge wear Bibok had been sitting to light the fireworks. He made a funny kangaroo ‘click’ noise and Tang bounced out from around the corner. The dragonroo gave Oz a quick foot up on to the extraordinary stack of fireworks. He picked a green one up and showed it Tang. “No no, the big one, big one!” Oz picked up a big red one, slightly curved around like one of those twisty balloons you can get at parties. “Ah!!” Tang gasped, and motioned for him to come down quickly. Oz bounced around the hedge and under the drinks marquee. Tang glanced around quickly, a cheeky look on his face and quickly chomped on a large marshmallow. Tang pulled out a match he had snatched from Lupine when he had lit Blue’s cake earlier. He lit the fuse at the bottom of the pyrotechnic. “Done.” He said cheerily “You’re supposed to stick it in the ground!” Oz declared, pushing the firework towards Tang. “It is in the ground!” He said, pushing it back over to Oz “OUTSIDE!” he shouted “This was your idea!” Tang yelled frantically. The firework suddenly sparked up and the marquee was engulfed in light, bursting in to the air, making the pair of roos fall to the ground (Tang squealing like a girl). It erupted from under the marquee, setting it on fire slightly. It exploded from its outer covering, a large red dragon spilling forth – the audience applauded loudly. It turned around on its side, wings shining forth, slowly heading back for the field. Blue was over talking to Bibok, oblivious to the mayhem. When the crowd realised that the fiery dragon was about to hit them they scattered like angry bees, fleeing in every direction – the dragon was that of an ancient type that the wise and powerful (especially roos) fear above all else – a Tombfyre of the Macro proportions. “Blue!” Ben warned, tapping him on the shoulder. The pyrotechnic mystical creature came ever closer, its maw wide open. “Blue watch out for the dragon!” “Dragon? Nonsense! There isn’t a dragon around here except me for a hundred MILES!” he said, shouting his last word as Ben pounced on him, bringing him crashing to the floor, the dragon dangerously swooping by and flying right on. The fallen spectators looked up, watching the dragon glide towards the edges of the ocean. BANG! The dragon erupted in a magnificent display of huge explosions and stupendous bangs, causing all to gawk and applaud. Fur singed, Oz looked grinned and nodded. “Let’s get another one!” Suddenly they were both squished and flattened to the floor by an awesome weight. It was Bibok, he had sat on them. He grabbed each one by their ear and pulled them from under each buttock. They made pathetic little grunts and slowly turned to see who was butt-smooshing them. “Oz the Aussie and Tang the Dragonroo.” He sighed. “I might have known…” Kuga and Ben were soon assisted in the clearing up by two certain roos who had to wash all of the dishes. - The night wore on, and it came time for the guests to go home. Blue asked Ben and Kuga to join him in biding goodbye to their guests. It was indeed a testament to Blue’s character and deeply rooted kindness that so many furs and friends had turned out to wish him many happy returns. Although Ben didn’t know them all personally, he shook hands (or paws) with Alden the cat, Bibok the dawg, Caleb the fox, Eric the cheetah, Hafler the dragon, Lupine the wolf, Oz the roo, Spike the jackal-dragon, Roddy the catmunk, Siyahamba the leopard, Starfig the teapot-devil, Tang the dragonroo (who had returned with Oz from their little trip), Trick the coyote and Wolfy the wolf. He got a hug from Bibok, Lupine and Starfig, who he knew best. Kuga got in the way of some of the larger furs from departing, as he was finding it difficult to balance on two legs with such a full stomach from 17 hours of feasting. Blue waved the last of his friends off at about 2 am. Ben was slowly falling asleep on his feet, and as Lyfe would have described him, looked like a walking zombie. Blue helped them clear the last of the dishes away and put the platters back in the fridges for them to eat on later in the week. Kuga was helping by finding a home for those dishes that wouldn’t fit on the shelves. Blue paused over one particular cake, a red white cheesecake with 5 inward facing stemmed red cream leaves with little cream spikes, the whole cake being about 2 inches thick with a hole through the middle. It was had been left accidentally in one corner of the kitchen, untouched. It was the cake Ben had brought with him when he first came to Devon as a thank you present, but he had said it was old and probably way past its sell by date. He had left it in the fridge all the same and had hoped that someone would eat it tonight, but it hadn’t. His stomach gurgled quietly at the cake, even though he had eaten enough food to last him several days. His paw hovered over it as he went to put it in to the fridge. His paw touched it and immediately his stomach belched with hunger. He dropped the dish on to the kitchen counter, shivering. “I had better go to bed – I expect Ben’s waiting for his mattress to fall asleep on.” Kuga said, fingering his chubby belly, informing Blue. When he didn’t get a reply, he turned around. “Blue, are you alright?” Kuga asked, resting a paw on his shoulder. He didn’t answer for some time, his gaze transfixed on the cake. “I am now…” he replied ominously, shutting the cake in to a locked cupboard on the top shelf. Blue just nodded. Kuga sighed and went to bed. - - |
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