[Diamond18]

Vogonwë pulled the stopper out of the curious looking bottle of Hair Off the Cat that Bit You, and sniffed at it daintily. “Hmmm...smells...minty...but with a touch of hazelnut,” he commented.

Pimpi held her breath as she watched him take a sip. She half expected him to spit it out or clutch at his throat with screams of burning pain and torment, so odd and suspicious did the Dwarf and his dragon appear to her. They smacked of...adventures...

Vogonwë smacked his lips together and took another sip. “It’s really quite good!” he declared. “Tastes like the special tea the Blue Faerie made when I visited her hidden enclave as a young lad. Fresh, and...minty.”

“Can I try some?” Pimpi requested, overcoming her suspicions at the suggestion of a tasty drink.

“No! I mean, uh, no darling. You don’t have that same...uh...problem that I do. It might be harmful for one of your excellent health,” Vogonwë said nervously, clutching the bottle to the grey-brown fabric of his shirt.

“Oh,” Pimpi said with a sigh, and turned her dewy sapphire eyes on him with a bat of her eyelashes.

Vogonwë was strangely unmoved by the pitiful expression in those lovely eyes, and he replaced the stopper on the bottle. He was beginning to contemplate what words rhymed with minty, hazelnut, and fresh, when the little black cat began to paw at his leg.

“Berugheera has hairballs,” Pimpi said.

“Hissssss, mreeeeeow,” Vogonwë said to the cat, and it slunk away with an injured expression.

Pimpi was going to express her shocked horror and displeasure at his behavior, but something diverted her attention. Namely, the fact that her half-eaten apple was beginning to brown. This bothered her immensely, and with a wrinkle of her little button nose, she tossed the fruit over her shoulder into the gurgling water of the fountain.

[ January 13, 2003: Message edited by: Diamond18 ]