Plus ca Change: Part 2d
by Tom MacCarrol
Disclaimers: *LOTS* See Parts 1a or 2a Many scenes inspired by the "Welcome to the Hellmouth" ep.- my fav. Remember there's a second half to the French saying used as the title... Text in ///// \\\'s is from the sound system of the club.

They circled around the fringe of the mob of dancers, headed for extreme stage left.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// {lyric} (Lead) Can you see me?/ Look inside, see /

(backing) Whaaa....Whooooo.......Ahhhhhh.../

(Lead) what's inside my head./

(backing) what's inside my head./

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The odd thing was, the closer they got to the restroom area, the better Anne felt. By the time they entered the 'fresher she felt totally normal again.

A few moments later, they were standing at adjacent sinks. The sound of an announcer's voice penetrated from outside, much dimmed by the solid masonry of even the interior walls. /////`"Live from the stage at the Brass Monkey....Curly Whirly!!"

Loud cheering followed, even through the wall.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

"Okay now?" Liz asked, taking advantage of the chance to check her presentation in the least cracked mirror.

"Now. Thought I was gonna hurl there for a little while. Must have just been nerves. I'm okay, and ready to party."

"You *really* need to get out more. It's not that big a deal. Oh drat! It is turning into one, looks like a junior mountain under construction..."

//////"We're gonna take a short break now, but don't go anywhere, we'll be right back in just a few..." Applause and screams at almost the level of the amplified singer's voice followed.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

"No big. I've got some stuff with me that covers while it nukes 'em. Just a sec." Anne dug into her bag, rooting for the little jar of creme.

Of course, what popped out was the stake. It hit the floor and bounced three or four times with a ringing clatter, loud now that the crowd noise had died down, then rolled to a stop against Liz's foot. She bent down to retrieve it, then stood a moment looking oddly at the unfamiliar item.

"You dropped your...umm. Are you building a really little log cabin or something?"

"Um no, it's ...it's, for self defense..." Anne stammered out the first thing she could think of, practically snatching away the object in question in her rush to get it out of sight.

"Primitive much? What, you think you're some kind of barbarian warrior? I prefer a more modern approach." Liz showed her friend a small metallic case clipped to her belt. "Personal Emergency Transponder. Pull the pin and it sends an alarm signal via satellite uplink, even from the middle of nowhere."

"And until the cavalry arrives," she took a cylinder half the volume of the stake out of her bag. "Tranq spray canister. It's full Starship Security strength. Range is about seven meters, and all you have to do is hit 'em in the face with the stream. Even if they don't inhale, enough gets in through the eyes and mucous membranes to drop a drug-crazed psycho in seconds."

Embarrassed, Anne stuck to her story, "I still prefer the simple, reliable approach. No batteries to worry about, and it can't go off by accident."

"To each their own, I suppose. As if it mattered, after all this is River Valley, what kind of creep could we run into around here? But maybe I'm starting to understand what you and Bass see in each other."

Laughing, the two of them exited back onto the floor. And stopped almost at once. Liz actually cringed.

With the band on its break, the management was running a 'cyborg bop.' Rhythmic, amelodic, sounds chased themselves from channel to channel across the sound system while multi-colored strobes slashed across the floor. The dance form associated with this called for repetitive, stylized movements with the body held stiffly rigid.

This, combined with the light and sound, produced garishly distorted impressions- scenes from a madman's inner nightmare. Some people loved it.

"I really hate this." Liz whined.

"Me too. Upstairs? Where we won't have to look?"

Instead of answering, Liz just groped her way to the nearest stairs leading to the balcony level. Anne followed, trying hard to ignore the snakepit scene below.

They'd stopped to buy herbal tea at the serving bar upstairs, and were looking for a place to sit when Liz spotted friends in the crowd.

"Hey guys! Hold up." she called to them, then to Anne, "It's Chris and Lou. Good people, I'll introduce you and we can all hang out together until the band comes back."

They slid into seats facing the couple and Liz rattled on.

"Guys, this is Anne, she transferred in last term. Anne, Chris is in our year; she and I go back years and have Chem together, but I think the only place you two overlap is gym."

"Along with a cast of thousands. Nice meeting you."

"...Lou is a year ahead of us, but don't hold it against him, he's really an okay guy..."

"Gee thanks. What a build up. I hang out with these people 'cause most of the ones in my class left the factory before getting their brains installed. I think I've seen you crossing the quad now and then."

"If you saw me, I missed you totally."

"Lou,", Liz went on, "you and Chris have been going together for what, geez, almost a year now?"

"Just about exactly. This is sort of a pre-anniversary party, as distinct from a post-anniversary party, or just any other weekend."

"Well, maybe we should leave you two to it..?"

"No Liz, Lou and I are celebrating, the more the better."

"As long as we're not intruding.."

The four of them chatted for a few more minutes then the cyborg nonsense stopped, leaving most of the room dark. A voice boomed out,///////// "Once again, the Brass Monkey welcomes... Curly. Whirly!" \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ The lights came up, amid deafening cheers, to reveal the band assembled onstage.

The lead singer asked,////// "HEY! How's everybody doin'?"\\\\ Wild cheers and shreiks from all sides was all the answer that could be heard. /////"Glad to see you're all feeling happy tonight, 'cause we're JUST FINE."\\\\\ A series of high-power cords began the lead-in to the song by that name.

By unspoken agreement, the four of them abandoned the table, joining over a hundred others moving to the dance floor.

Anne was having an absolute blast. While she wasn't up on too many of the local moves, one of the few plusses of going to a dozen schools (on as many different worlds) in the last ten years, had been that she'd built up a store of many different styles, almost all of which were unknown here. The trick was to walk the line between being exotic and being out of touch.

Tonight, for once, that line seemed a kilometer wide, she could make no false step. Even was attracting favorable notice from the male population. Unusual, but nice. "I could get very used to this.", she thought as their group went to take a rest break. By now they'd added three more guys and another gal, names that few past Anne without sticking.

The enlarged party took over a much larger table, near the railing where the upper level jutted out over the dance floor. Anne sat facing the main enterance, across from Chris and Lou. One of the new guys, (Walt?) had gone on a snack run, a sugar boost was definitely in order. Anne could see that the congestion near the door when she'd come in was pretty much gone. Not too many folks were still coming in, and very few were leaving just yet. She had a totally unobstructed view of the moment that Br. Gerrard entered, scanning the crowd like he was looking for something. Or someone.


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