SCREEEEEEEEECH! "MINE! MINE! I GON GO TELL MY MOM-MA!! MOM
MAAAA, MYAL TOO MY CAAARRR..."
"MO-OM, HE WASNT EVEN THINKING ABOUT IT UNTIL I PICKED IT UP..."
"ALEX, YOURE OLDER THAN HE IS; GIVE HIM THE CAR AND FIND ANOTHER
ONE TO PLAY WITH!!"
THUMP!! "WHHHHAAAAAAAAAH! MAMYALHIME..."
Warning in her tone..."ALE-EX..."
KA-THUMP!!! "MOOOOOO-OOOOOOM!!!!! ANDY JUST BIT ME, AN I WASNT
DOIN NOTHIN..." the injured party appears at the office door, cradling his
ravaged appendage and wearing a pout.
"Riiiight. Here, let me look...oh, jeez, you can barely even see it—he didnt even
break the skin! Youre fine, Alex. Now go play. And be nice to your brother!
DREW, STOP BITING ALEX!! YOU KNOW BETTER THAN THAT, LITTLE MAN!!"
BOOM!!!!! SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH! "MOM, I DIDNT DO IT!!! ANDY
TRIPPED..."
The younger of the two boys runs into the office and clings to our heroine tearfully,
a stream of childish babble pouring from his lips. After assessing the extent of the
damage..."TELL ME ANOTHER ONE, ALEX. NOW LEAVE DREW ALONE
BEFORE I KILL YOU; AND YOU DONT WANNA BE DEAD!!!!...you okay, sweetie?"
getting a nod in return, "alright, go play now, and no biting," and, temporarily
soothed, the child runs off again. "Oh-kay, Mom-ma..."
"BUT, MO-OM..."
"NOT ANOTHER WORD! I NEED TO GET THIS DONE!!! OUT!!"
Pouting even more at the injustice of his life,..."O-kaaay,....."
Three minutes and several more angry screechs later (and Im surprised it took him
that long
"MO-OM, CAN I GET..."
"ALEXANDER MICHAEL!!!! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU TO KNOCK!!!
OUT!!! OUT NOW!!!! AND STOP TORTURING ANDREW!!!!"
"BUT MO-OM...,"
"I SAID OUT!!! AND I MEAN NOW!!!!!!!"
Two minutes after that, from the top of the basement stairs...
"HEY, INTERNET QUEEN! WHATS FOR DINNER??"
"I HAVE NO IDEA! ORDER A PIZZA! IM BUSY RIGHT NOW!"
In a semi-facetiously sarcastic, sorta pleading voice..."IF YOU WERE A GOOD
WIFE, YOUD COME UP AND ORDER IT FOR ME...BUT NOOOO..."
Frustrated..."JEEEEESUS, MIKE; YOURE A BIG BOY, YOURE MODERATELY
EDUCATED, CANT YOU DO IT YOURSELF? Its not like you ever get anything but
double cheese/double pepperoni, anyway..."
Smug..."YOU KNOW YOU LOVE ME, BABY..."
Muttering..."not right now, I dont...SURE, FINE, WHATEVER. GIMMIE A
MINUTE..."
Fifteen minutes later, calm is restored, pizza is on the way and our heroine is back at
work. As a bonus, her muse has finally decided to favor her with his fickle
presence, draping his miniaturized black velvet panther body across the top of her
monitor and licking a paw with lazy purpose...
Hey, Shadow. Whats shakin?
"Dont you hey me. Where the hell have you been?"
Playing with my toys. And arent we the snarky one this evening?
No trace of apology there. Typical; just typical. If it werent for the fact that he was
occasionally useful..."I think I have the right to be, since you decided to leave me
hanging out here on my own, which is just plain rude. Ive been dying a slow and
painful death, Ill have you know! Youre supposed to be my muse, Sascha. Youre
supposed to be providing me with inspiration, not schtumping your MS5KD 24/7,"
the whole tirade carries an air of offended dignity to it.
Which, of course, is completely ignored by the party its being directed at. You
mean thats not inspiration? he asks with a smug lift of his brow. I guess Ill
just have to work harder, then.
"Dont. Start. Just dont," the last thing she wanted was to give him an excuse, so she
gets to business instead. "What I needed was an idea for a HAT/EOTH scene."
But thats Vics department. Why did you need me?
"Because Vic and the others are still not speaking to me after the Mr. XXX fiasco," on
cue, the aforementioned glare their displeasure at her, signalling again that she had
better find a way to fix that particular situation soon. "Like Im not paying for it
every single day anyway," she mutters, thinking about the shelved RR waiting for a
miraculous rise from the dead by Dr. Ruthless. She then heaves a disgusted sigh,
"yeeeee-ikes, what a mess."
A tall, blond, Nordic demi-god steps up behind her and gives her a reassuring hug,
oblivious to the trios lustfully jealous stares. "Dont worry, Shadow. Well find a way
to fix it. I promise," he follows up the statement with a kiss on the top of Shadows
head.
"Thanks, Hal," she allows herself a moment to relax into her latest acquisitions
comforting embrace, then gets back to business when she sees her muse also
scowling from his perch with glowing green eyes. "Anyway, theyre not talking and
I owe Suze a fic. So I needed you about 20 minutes ago to help me start this puppy."
Needed? As in past tense? the tiny black velvet ears perk up at the inferrence
that his services might not be required now. His sweet FoxSlut was waiting for him.
"You got it, Skippy-cat. Im on a roll right now. But dont even think about going
anywhere just yet. This things gonna need your twisted touch. Im sure the Surly
Ones taking very good care of him," she adds slyly, knowing how much it irritates
her muse to be reminded of the chemistry between two of his favorite toys.
Hed better not be or Im gonna eat him, is the darkly muttered reply. As
predicted, Shadow hadnt been able to let go of the Skinner-clone, but no one could
have predicted the amazingly perfect way the big guy had fit into the household. Or
the way his FoxSlut had thrown himself at the others feet at first sight. The only
reason the very butch A.D hadnt gotten himself eaten so far was because the
normally cool muse had an unacknowledged jones for him as well. Hmmm, maybe
a threesome wouldnt be a bad idea...hed have to talk to Vic—seeing as how his
double was the resident expert, or maybe Hal—since he was also an expert and
already had a Fox of his own (and therefore probably wouldnt be interested in
FoxSlut; then again, that tongue thing could corrupt the Pope...).
Hes startled out of his musings by a deeply wicked chuckle from Shadow. "Yeah,
right; tell me another one. By the way, the latest chapter of LFTA is up," she says
slyly.
Bus-ted. Damn, he thought hed covered his tracks better on that...Dont. Start,
he growls testily. Deciding hed be better off earning his keep, he peers over the
edge of the monitor and starts reading. Then, disturbed by the decidedly RL
content, he asks, Um, Shadow...are you sure you want to do it this way?
She grins evilly. "Ye-up. Why?"
Cause this is pretty..., he hesitates a moment, mindful of the explosion about to
come, MarySue-ish. As a matter of fact, this is your life. He hates to point out
the obvious, but tact isnt necessarily his strong suit—making authors melt into a pool
of rampant lust is.
The explosion never comes. Instead, his mistress sounds well-pleased with herself. "I
know."
What!? In his surprise, the muse reverts to human form; leaving him not
only about six inches high, but also naked—save for an emerald studded collar, a
treasured present from the late Dr. Ruthless. "But Shadow, you never, ever do
MarySues. E-ver. You never even discuss the subject since your talk with Ori."
The grin reaches Grinch-like proportions, "I know." She hands the stunned muse
sitting cross-legged on her monitor a sticky note, "but in the aftermath of last week,
I started thinking about the January Challenge and decided to give it a shot. The
worst I can do is fall flat on my face, right?"
The muse looks up from the pink piece of paper and whistles in amazement. "Youre
not asking for much, are you? When and where did you come up with this?"
"At work on Thursday. Whatcha think?"
"That youre certifiable. This is gonna be a bitch to pull off, by the by."
"That, dear muse of mine, is where you come in. Keep reading."
So he does..."well, it looks like youve got everything locked down tight here. Tell
me again what the hell you need me for?"
"Inspiration, Sascha, inspiration. So you might as well settle down and get to work.
Comprenez-vous?"
Taking his mistress advice to heart, the muse morphs back into feline form and
resumes lounging on the monitor. Youre the boss. Ive seen your job, and I dont
want it. It was gonna be a looooong night...
Pleased with the instant capitulance, our heroine rubs her hands together gleefully.
"Damn straight you don't. Now, let me seeeee—ah, yes, here we go..."
..."Tai, you know I love Mac; but are you sure this is necessary?" Vic eyed the steel
bar, with attached padded leather cuffs and suspended chest-high, dubiously. "I
mean, couldnt we just take him out, get him a great meal, a cheesy card and a sappy
present; then take him home and screw him till he cant walk for a week?"...
The End, for now...evil, arent I? Yes, your Ori-ness there is more...be patient!
Apology Snippet
by Shadowfox
In the chilly basement office of a modest suburban home, we find an intense young
fan-fic author pounding away on her computer keyboard; cranking out her latest
submission for one of the six or so lists she is subscribed to. Her face is a mask of
concentration as she tries to tune out a cacophony of background noise that begins
with two young male voices, ages 4 & 8, screaming at each other in childish offense
of whatever slight one of them has inflicted on the other, and ends with the voice of
their father yelling down to our heroine something about dinner... 
