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The creature didn’t move

I stopped in front of it

It just sat there

I bent over and reached out a hand, which I ad a little But that was probably a result of the evening’s entertainment Because whether due to the apron or the eyelashes or the fact that I was high as hell, I wasn’tactually

"Oh, thank you!" sohtly as the eyelash slid back into place, and I snatched my hand back

Someone else cursed, "Damn it, woman!"

"Well, as I supposed to do?" the first voice asked It was female, and she sounded peevish "Anyway, it doesn’t matter She can obviously hear us"

"Yes, of course she can!" theto be rude, ith her hurt and scared and nobody even getting the dear any dry clothesShe could catch her death"

"Then she’d fit in here just fine," the reatest warrior Or, you know, anywhere on the list But there was one thing I did know One thing I knew verydamnedwell

I bent closer And in the shiny white surface of the bucket I saw the reflection of the light over the table, a blurry i as the stairwell And a pair of big blue eyes, beaht me," the wo a little, but er "You You’re not a hohost"

A pleasant, lined face with aoff a bit of green steaht in one," she said, apparently thrilled

"No, she isn’t!" the other voice crabbed And an old gent in a blue uniforold epaulettes poked partway out of the clock "We’re both And the word is homunculus," he told me, officiously

"It h I always thought that fully sexist After all, I’m better at it than hihost

"You are not!" His great gray sideburns quivered indignantly

"Aood hands" She flexed one ostentatiously And set an eyelash back on, wo to be subtle"

"Subtle? You’re five hundred pounds and built like a tank!"

She rolled her eyes "I bet you used to get all the girls"

I sat down again

"What are you?" I asked, looking back and forth between the two of theestured at her metal hulk of a body

She looked down "It’s not very pretty, is it?"

"It gets the job done," the old man told her severely

"Well, yes, but" She looked back up at h," my host’s irritated voice came from behind me

I turned around slowly, because too-fastso well foranother pan of water Or maybe the same one, only it had been washed out and a toas draped over his ar with a bar of rose-scented soap

"In case you want to clean up," he said stiffly

I felt like pointing out that it would take more than a pan of water for that, likeit, and just getting my face clean would be nice

Of course, I could have done that at the sink, just like he could have emptied the pan there Maybe he was fastidious, and didn’t want to wash off forest gunk in the sa on another reason

I deliberately didn’t look at the stairs "Thank you," I said, and sat at the table again

"Your friend will be fine," he said, after ahow he knew "And once he is, youwell, you need to be going"

I ignored that, because I wasn’t up to a fight right now And because I wasn’t going anywhere I settled for washing my face while he stood around aardly

I decided it was kind of nice not to be the one doing that, for a change

There was a shiny silver kettle on the stove I sahen I ashing the back of my filthy neck "I’d like some tea," I told him, because I would And because it would stall for a while

He looked like he was debating telling host spoke up "Some of the peppermint, dear It’s wonderful for nerves"

"Don’t help me," he snapped But he went to otten dinner, however o that had been "And there’s some shortbread," she added "I think it’s in the--"