On the other side of the garden, Eternia watched Elizabeth leave the house. The vampire had her pale features hidden beneath a veil.
'Flaring your teeth at a victim already?' she thought grimly when she saw her new roommate talk to Sol. 'I've got an eye on you.'
She absentmindedly reached for a muffin.

Maybe she should have had an eye on the muffins instead, for once again a furry paw shot out of a bush and emptied the plate. Eternia's hand met only empty air.

"Now what the...!" Eternia grunted angrily. "Am I imagining things now?! There were muffins on this plate!"

"Hey!" she shouted over to Elizabeth and Sol. "Has one of you guys seen where the muffins went?"
"Muffins?" Elizabeth seemed thouroughly confused.
"I haven't been at the buffet lately." Sol added. "No idea who ate them."
"Hm. Must be my imagination then..."

"Hey, as I see the party is in full swing already!" Arion said with a smile when he walked up to Nareen's group. While greeting everyone his eyes didn't leave the necromancer.
"Hello Arion! Great that you made it to our party!" Nareen joined the chorus of welcomes.
"Now that we have a celebrity at our party we'll surely make it into the newspaper, first page." This time Tamara raised both eyebrows, chuckling silently.
"Celebrity?" Nareen was confused. "Huh?"

"Have you still not looked up who he is?" Tamara shook her head. "Eternia teased you more than enough about it, didn't she?"
"Uhm..."
"Arion is the singer of a very, very famous band, Nareen."
"Oh, is he? Now that's nice!"

Arion pretended not to have heard the women and eyed the Christmas tree.
"Hm. This isn't good."
"What's the problem, Arion? Don't you like our tree?"
"Yes, I do, but it's in the way. We thought we could give a little Christmas concert for you and your friends, but..."

Wati stepped forward. "Maybe if we moved the tree a bit? There's plenty of space behind the buffet and it'd still look good."
"Do you think we can handle that?" asked Arion.
"But of course! Sol, would you come over for a moment, please?"
"Coming!"
"Err... now just wait a second..." Nareen paled. Three men shoving their precious tree around? She feared for the glass baubles.

"Where do you want it?" Sol asked after Wati explained the task to him.
"Let's bring it over there."
"Okay."
"At the count of three, everyone!" commanded Arion. "1... 2... 3... Heave ho!"

Together they lifted the tree. It rocked alarmingly, glass baubles clinged against each other and the branches rustled.

"Ack! What're you doing there?!" shouted Eternia. "Our tree! Be careful!"
"Just making space for a little concert, dear." Arion winked at her and she promptly shut up.

Nareen and Eternia held their breath until the tree finally stood at its new place behind the buffet. Nareen let out a long sigh of relief. None of the ornaments had fallen.

"Well, that doesn't look bad at all, right?" Arion said smugly.
Eternia had to agree. "Thanks everyone... err... I guess."

"Alright, now that we have some space for the audience nothing can stop us!" Arion laughed.
"Uhm, well..." said Eternia, "Where's the rest of your band?"
"I'm afraid the bassist spends Christmas with his parents and the drummer is ill, but our lead guitarist promised to come!"

Dolltopia Archive 44 <-- # --> Dolltopia Archive 46