VAQS: Chain of Command (1/1) By: Sarah Howell, Tab Carlson,Teri Delong and a passel of Vaqs Place: Vachon's Church, shopping center Day/Time: Tuesday afternoon, concurrent with the end of NA: Dawn of the Undead Previously in the Vaquera Saga..... Vachon's attention was drawn upward to the quivering form of a Vaq clinging to the rafters. "Wow," he said drolly. "That's gotta be some kind of record." =========== "Record, maybe," Marilyn whimpered from the rafter, her fingers digging hard into the old wood, "but could someone please help me down?" "As the lady requests," Vachon let himself float upwards, arms out and ready in case her grip slipped. As soon as he came up under her and got his arms solidly around her, he told her to let go. "You have to be kidding." "You want down, don't you?" Silence, then, "Yeah, ok." She relinquished her hold on the rafter and settled easily into Vachon's grasp. He floated to the floor with her and set her on her feet. "All better?" "Yes," she straightened herself a bit, trying to regain some composure, "thanks." She finally looked up to see just how *far* up she'd been. "Wow, that *was* a record, wasn't it?" "Hey, since we know it's War now," Melissa began, leaving Teri to surreptitiously slip her cell phone deep into a pocket, hopefully never to be seen again, "who's gonna lead us?" Everyone looked at one another, the silence only broken by a stifled sneeze. Naia frowned and cupped her hands in an attempt to keep her newly acquired 'bunnies' from blowing away. "Well, weren't you one of the Seconds last time?" Teri spoke up while looking at Tab. "Yeah. I can help again, but I'm not sure about leading everyone." "Why not?" "Oh, wait! I have an idea!" Tab's grin and enthusiasm was exaggerated in her attempt to take the heat off of her. "Let's play Spin-the-Vachon and see who he lands on....or points to, I mean." "I am *not* a bottle." "Noticed that a long time ago, but thanks for the info." Tab reached out and took Vachon by the elbows so she could lead him into a clear space between pews. "Now close your eyes. This'll kinda be like pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. Just spin around and point when we say stop." A less than enthusiastic stare greeted her from over his shoulder. It seemed too late, however, since all the ladies had circled up around him in anticipation. "Fine. But I only do this once. Understand?" "Fine, fine. One time. Yup. Got it. Now close your eyes." Javier complied, sighing dramatically to emphasize his 'suffering'. "Ok, now start turning around." Feeling quite like an idiot, Vachon began turning in a circle, careful not to let himself stumble to one side or the other...though surely eager arms waited for just such an ocassion. "Aaaaannnnnd, stop!" He stopped and raised one arm, index finger pointing to... Sarah H's eyes couldn't get any wider. "Me?" She squeaked. Javier opened his eyes. "You." "Me?" She repeated. "You," Tab confirmed and started to move off towards the steps into the loft. "Oh no you don't." Sarah H reached out and snagged the woman, holding her in place before she could get away. "This is your doing. *You* are going to be my second. And you too." The newly acquired Madre swiveled her gaze around to land on Teri, who looked very much like a deer in headlights. "Me?" "Oh, yeah. You too. If you'd learn how to use your phone, we all would've known about this War earlier." "Bu..bu....bu...." stammered Teri. "But I'm not.....But you ALL have......" She wasn't doing a very good job at weaseling her way out of this. "It's not even my phone!" she finally wailed. "My niece insisted I bring hers with me so she could reach me at the horse show!" Nobody seemed to be one bit sympathetic. "I HATE cell phones....." She pouted hopefully at Vachon, looking for a rescue here. The MasterSlacker just raised an eyebrow and blinked at her. Teri sighed and quit protesting. Stupid, evil phone. She couldn't even get it to work and it still got her in trouble. "And as my first VaqMadre command, let's clean!" ========== It had taken quite some time, but finally the Church had been cleared of enough cobwebs and dust to allow the more sensitive members of the Vaqueras to breathe in relative ease, yet still retain its sense of Doom and Gloom (tm). Naia had claimed a couple of dust-bunnies as pets and was busily cooing to them while she cradled them in her hand. The newly crowned VaqMadre, once known as Sarah H, looked around the room and cleared her throat. This was going to be an unpleasant job but someone had to do it. It was War Time, after all. Sacrifices had to be made. War Premises had to be mulled over. Duties had to be done. Food and supplies had to be procured for a church full of women and a vampire. "Ladies!" As soon as the word was out of her mouth, the VaqMadre knew this was a mistake. "I'm no lady," said Teri, grinning evilly. "Me neither," Naia helpfully chimed in. "Alright," the VaqMadre sighed. "Let me try this again. Ladies and - er - Non-Ladies?" The Vaqueras quieted down and listened expectantly. "I know we only just got here last night and we're tired and all from the cleaning, but we *desperately* need food and supplies and large quanities of caffeine. Who wants to volunteer for this arduous task?" "We have tons of caffeine," piped up Lynne. "All that coffee and cappuchino in the kitchen..." "Yeah, like Teri is gonna come off any of that," mutttered Tricia. "A Dark Perk turning loose of her coffee? Ain't gonna happen." "Hey! I share!" "Alright! Alright!" came the new VaqMadre's voice, cutting off a squabble before it could get started. "There ARE other forms of liquid caffeine, you know. Not everyone drinks coffee." The Vaqs with perkly tendencies blink-blinked at such blasphemy, but everyone stayed shushed. It sure hadn't taken Sarah long to get the hang of being Boss. "Now, as I said, we need volunteers. Who's going with me?" There was a brief...very brief....moment of silence before everyone started talking at once. Eventually, it was determined that half of the Vaqueras would stay with Vachon and the other half would fetch the needed supplies. Everyone was unsure who got the better of the split; shopping for War was gobs of fun, but the simple joy of being away from home and luxuriating in the ambience of the Church was quite another thing altogether. Especially when you had a 500 yr old vampire who couldn't go anywhere until the sun went down. ------ The sight of six women on Triumphs was enough to daunt the bravest of men, let alone the patrons of the local grocery store. After doing a quick head and bike count, the VaqMadre led Marilyn, Tab, and Sarah M. and Melissa toward the store, picking up a previous conversation they'd been having about the Premise. Tricia lingered behind to dust off the spider decal on her bike but quickly caught up with the rest of the group. "The only rock I care to find is a good band," shrugged Tab. "Or the kind that fits on my finger," Melissa agreed. "What??" she cried as the others all turned to stare at her. "If nothing else, we could always use it to hire a Merc." "So what do we need?" The VaqMadre asked, whipping out a pen and paper. "Peanut M&Ms. Good tool for divination." answered Marilyn. As an afterthought, she added, "And they're chocolate." "Chocolate. Very good. And pop. Need pop. *Lots* of it." "Duct tape," said Tricia. "Everything can be handled with duct tape." "And WD-40." "WD-40?" "If it moves and shouldn't, duct tape it. If it should move and doesn't, grease it up!" "And if you can't duc' it, fmphfpmh--" quipped Teri, muttering through the hand that Tab slapped over her mouth just in time. "PG-13; keep it clean!" admonished the VaqSecond. "I'm *tired* of cleaning, been cleaning all day!" whined the second VaqSecond, pulling Tab's hand away. The VaqMadre whirled around and frowned at Teri. "Where did *you* come from? We left you at the church!" "I brought my truck," answered the VaqSecond #2. "I got to thinking after you left, how are you going to get all this stuff home on the bikes?" "SADDLEBAGS!!" came the chorused reply. "Oh." Teri hung her head sheepishly. "Okay." And with that she vanished as quickly as she'd come in. The other Vaqueras blinked bewilderedly at each other. "Maybe she didn't want to have somebody else trying to be a potty mouth so early in the War?" suggested Marilyn helpfully. "Toilet paper!" exclaimed Tab, going back to their list of needs and causing everyone to groan and poke her good-aturedly. "Whaaaaaaaat?" She whined plaintifully through a grin. "A deck of cards," suggested Sarah M. "Drinks!" Melissa grinned maniacally. "And ingredients to make *better* drinks!" "Why don't we split up," Tab said, noticing that the VaqMadre was looking more than a little overwhelmed. "We'll each take an aisle and cover the whole store that way." "Sounds like a plan. Everyone pick an aisle and have at it! Let's not go too overboard with the cash, though - we may need to hire a Merc later on." ====== http://javs.4all.cc __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com