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Other stuff

The haze inside made shapes. Winking shapes, leering shapes, beckoning shapes. He followed them further inward, hoping that the place wouldn't be as dirty inside as he imagined. It was. He sighed.

He didn't even want to be in here. His "friends" had dragged him in, telling him lies: "You'll have a blast!" "They're not as bad as you think." That sort of lie. Happy birthday, he told himself sardonically.

And the woman pawing him was far too old for the little girl impression she tried to give. She wasn't nearly as attractive as she wanted to be. None of them were. He brushed her off with a gesture.

(In the hidden booth in back, she looked up and frowned. This was her place. She had power here. Lust was one of her attributes still, even in places where love was absent. Someone was here without either, in her temple, and that was unacceptable. The fact that he didn't know it was hers meant nothing to her. He still had to pay for the insult. A slow smile crept across her features. It had been a long time since she'd remembered what it was to be a goddess.)

He sat down, surrounded by his friends. "Lighten up," they kept telling him. "Live a little!" So many cliches. How could they have done this to him? They knew how much he hated this, this pretense of passion. It would have to end soon. Eventually, they'd all go back home. He thought longingly of the expensive bottle of scotch he had waiting for him there.

(She stood up, gathering her resources. The others, when offended, had retaliated in simple ways, turning the offenders into spiders, flowers, deer. They had always liked transformation. She, however, was subtler. And crueler.)

Though now that he thought of it, this might not be such a bad trip after all. There was a woman in the back of the room that even from this distance made his pulse race. She looked more refined, somehow, than the other women about, and more sensual. He started toward her across the crowded room.

(She looked up, startled. He had seen her! While pondering torments, she had let her invisibility slip, and he had been drawn in like a fish in a net. Well. This would do as a punishment. He would fall in love, she would spurn him, and he would spend the rest of his days wondering why. He would pine away into nothingness. They all did.)