This response to the "downpour" prompt turned out to be longer than what's generally seen, so I'm taking Amethyst's advice from long ago & putting it in its own thread. ========== It started with Fiona staggering along a wall of the main courtyard of Gatchamania.net. Flash followed a short distance behind. Then came Felix and Fatima. The Zappas -- Moon Unit, Dweezil. Ahmet, and Diva Muffin -- were next. In fact, dozens of Fennecs were making their way through the site while in the same condition. Most of them stayed near the walls, stopping to lean against the solid support from time to time. Others dropped to their bellies and crawled along, desperately trying to hold on to the floor. "Okay, Becky, what do you call --" "Sorry, Amethyst, I don't get it." "But I haven't --" "I thought I'd keep you from wasting your breath." Becky Rock and Amethyst were walking along the main courtyard of the Gatchamania.net site. Even though Becky's inability to understand a joke was well-known, the rest of the Gatchamania membership tried telling her a joke now and then -- maybe a miracle would happen and Becky would not have to have a joke explained to her. Amethyst just realized that this was not the day for miracles. Becky came to a sudden stop and cast her gaze off to the side. She carefully headed over toward the nearest wall. "Beau," she said gently, "are you okay?" A Fennec looked up at her and almost fell over. He eased himself onto his belly and looked up at her with bleary eyes. He couldn't hold his head steady. Becky reached down and carefully took him into her arms. "You poor thing." she cooed to him, "You look like you're having a rough time." Beau looked into her eyes and belched. Becky grimaced and turned her nose away while tears gushed from her burning eyes. "Ugh!" she cried, "You're lit ! Did you get hold of some fermented berries?" "I can smell him over here." Amethyst said from a couple of steps behind, "He's been hitting some hard stuff!" She saw something out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see a severely lurching Fennec stumble and fall onto his side. "Akeno!" she cried, "Not you, too!" "Ohhhhhh....." Akeno moaned. Even though he was on his side, he moved his legs as though he was still upright and walking. Amethyst rushed over to him. She could smell the alcohol radiating from his small body. As she gingerly scooped him into her arms, Amethyst thought, I've heard of booze hounds, but a booze FOX?!? The two Gatchamaniacs looked around. Similar scenes were playing out around the main courtyard with assorted members scooping up Fennecs in distress. "Maybe we should --" Becky started "Let Cep know." Amethyst finished. A couple of hours later, several of the more active members sat around a meeting room table set up on the patio of the Fennec Room. The lighting had been reduced in order to keep from intensifying the foxes' hangover headaches. The areas off the patio looked like a refugee camp. Fennecs were lying on their sides, on their bellies, or curled up with their noses tucked under the tips of their tails. A number of the regular membership tended to them, gently petting them, coaxing them to eat and take some fluids now and then. Several pitchers of room-temperature tea with cinnamon and honey or peppermint tea as well as tiny, shallow cups were spread across the table. Most of the members had a Fennec either lying on the table before them or in their laps -- much of the attention went toward coaxing the Fennecs to drink tea and maybe eat a bit of ground beef, chicken, or saltines. (Daniella, however, didn't need to exert much effort because Stavros gladly accepted the yogurt she spoon-fed him.) Gary of the Gatchageeks tapped a few keys on his laptop computer. Ahmet was stretched out on the table at Gary's right, looking like road kill. The solid tan Fennec hadn't glared at anyone since this incident began. "Okay." Gary said as he looked up from the screen. Ahmet lifted his head just long enough to show Gary a pained expression. "Sorry." Gary replied in a softer tone. "Cep checked the rum supply; not a drop is missing." "So where'd they get the booze?" Amethyst asked. Akeno had curled up in her lap and tried to sleep off his queasiness. "I put the 'geeks on checking the security footage, thinking that we might get some answers." Gary answered. "Or at least figure out how they keep escaping from the Fennec Room." Becky chimed in. An annoyed snort came from Becky's lap. "Hey," she said to Beau, "if you guys would've stayed in here, you wouldn't feel so crappy now." "At least the kits didn't find the stuff." ElectricWhite said as she held a cup near Flash's face. The elderly fox slowly drank. "I'd feel awful if Kat got an upset widdle tummy." Chris said as she watched the kit chase her tail on the table in front of her. Kat stopped what she was doing, walked over to Ahmet, and stood before him. He opened an eye, lifted his head, and sighed. As soon as his breath hit her face, Kat jumped back. She launched into a sneezing, snorting fit that knocked her on her rear end several times as she scampered back to Chris. The woman snatched Kat off the table and had a tissue ready to daub the kit's watering eyes. And, luckily, the tissue was in position to catch one final, sinus-slamming sneeze. "Now this is why you should stay away from liquor." Chris whispered into Kat's ear. "Looks like Kritter's got critters!" EW proclaimed in as much of a hushed tone as she could and still be heard. Kritter was pushing a stroller that was made for people with several dogs -- it was, basically, a covered playpen on wheels that allowed an owner to take the pooches for a leisurely stroll without getting tangled in leashes. Inside the stroller was -- eight? ten? a dozen? -- kits. A couple sat quietly, looking out through the mesh; a couple others were trying to push through the mesh with their front paws; still others bounced around, play-fighting with each other. Daniella set an empty spoon down on the table. Stavros tipped his head, giving her a questioning look. "How are things going?" Daniella asked Kritter. Stavros started tapping her hand with his right paw. She glanced down and realized what he was telling her. She picked up the spoon, retrieved some yogurt, and presented the spoon to the Fennec. Stavros resumed licking up the yogurt. "Everyone's been holding out, but the kits seem to be a little overexcited -- they've all missed a nap." Kritter reported. Instead of nursing one or two adult Fennecs' hangovers, several members volunteered to do another important -- and, maybe, more difficult -- task: keep the kits busy so the adults could recover in peace. If humans find it hard to deal with toddlers and small children during a hangover.... "Anyway," Kritter said, "I just stopped by to pick up some T-O-Y-S for the K-I-T-S." She left the stroller by the table and went off for a hidden closet. The casual observer might have thought Kritter was being silly for spelling certain words in front of baby animals. But then, the casual observer probably wouldn't know how smart a fox can be. Shortly after they were born, the Fennec babies learned what "toy" means; and when "toy" was used in the same sentence as "kit", then fun was about to happen. Plus, a normal Fennec kit has the same energy level as five human toddlers hopped up on energy drinks. Nobody was courageous enough to find out how much more energetic a stroller full of kits could be if they were expecting fun toys. "We've narrowed it down to a storage area." Gary announced as his fingers flew over the keyboard. "I've sent Grant and G'Elaine to check it out....I can't find anything that says what's supposed to be in there, so I've sent a message to Cep to see if he'll let us know about that..." Kritter returned carrying a bag of toys and a bleary-eyed Fennec named Keegan. "Tell me how," she said in a tone that was a blend of amazement and exasperation, "he managed to get into a place that's locked tight !" She set Keegan onto the table and returned to the stroller. The kits had already figured out what was in the bag -- they had become screaming blurs by the time Kritter reached the stroller. She hurried out with the stroller, leaving a room full of grumbling adult Fennecs. Chris had to struggle to keep hold of Kat. The little fox was determined to catch up with the others to see why they were so excited. Meanwhile, Keegan went over to the only spot on the table without an adult Fennec and sat down. He fixed his gaze on Chris and smacked his lips a few times as if to say, "Do you mind? My mouth's really dry." Chris sighed, filled a little cup, and placed it in front of Keegan. He began lapping up the tea. Kat took a few, cautious steps toward the newcomer, and sniffed the air. She let out a disgusted snort and stomped back over to Chris. She curled up and took a sulking nap. Meanwhile, two Gatchageeks -- one dressed as the Owl and the other as the Swan -- were in the storage area Gary had mentioned. Grant and G'Elaine had split up and were going along one corridor in a storage area. Security footage showed a good number of Fennecs headed toward this area, but they slipped out of the cameras' sight without revealing which room they had entered. So the two Gatchageeks went along the corridor, opening door after door, hoping to stumble upon the source of the massive Fennec bender. G'Elaine came to her fifth door. She punched in the override code on the keypad beside the door. A moment passed before she heard the "click" that indicated the door was unlocked. She opened the door and was bodyslammed by the odor. "Found it!" she sputtered. "I could smell it where I was at!" Grant called as he ran over to G'Elaine. Once he got there, he sent a quick

At first it seemed that the room was dark, but then the Gatchageeks realized that the boxes in there were stacked so high and so closely together that they were blocking the light from the ceiling lamps. "Ladies first?" G'Elaine rolled her eyes and started in. But she couldn't fit between the boxes. She turned and tried to go in sideways. But she couldn't fit that way, either -- she was just too curvy. "Looks like you're gonna have to be the hero." she said as she stepped out of the way. Grant turned sideways and just managed to squeeze between the boxes. He wasn't sure exactly how far in he'd gone before he noticed the puddle on the floor. He stopped. Then he noticed something was dripping from above. Grant managed to look up to see a box had fallen and was precariously balanced over his head. He decided that a bottle or two inside that box had broken and soaked through the cardboard. At that moment the cardboard gave way; the drip turned into a quick downpour. Even though his helmet and visor protected him, Gary closed his eyes and held his breath as booze and broken glass came down on him. "Soooo..." G'Elaine finally said once things stopped falling on Grant's head, "do you think we should go report to Gary now?" "Well," ElectricWhite said to Flash as she held a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle 20-year bourbon, "I've gotta admit that you guys have a taste for the high-end stuff." "Are you sure all the cartons have this bourbon?" Gary asked. "As far as we could tell." Grant replied, "They were packed in the room pretty tight." "And," G'Elaine added, "we figured there's between 65 and 70 cases, including the broken one." EW's eyes narrowed at this. There was something about that...she couldn't quite recall... "Well, at least we know what the Fennecs were drinking. Now we just need to figure out how they got in there." EW let out a gasp -- she remembered. "And what the heck is stolen bourbon doing here ?" 'WHAT?!?" the rest of the members cried. Then they took a few moments to soothe the hungover Fennecs who let out yelps of pain at the outburst. Gary's fingers danced over the computer keys. "She's right." he finally said, "In the first part of 2014, 195 bottles of Pappy Van Winkle 20-year bourbon was stolen from Buffalo Trace Distillery in Kentucky. It's worth about $26,000.00." "Cep wouldn't keep stolen goods, would he?" Becky asked. "He's a pirate," Amethyst replied, "but he's an honest pirate." "Then why is all that bourbon here?" Daniella chimed in. "Cep trusts us." EW replied, "Apparently, somebody's abusing that trust." "That may be," Gary said, "but I think we'd better focus on a more immediate problem -- if we don't find a way to keep these Fennecs out of trouble, we're gonna need a 12-step program for them!"

I bet it's Greek yoghurt that Stavros is getting! He's the healthy-living little fennec among those addicts out there!

If you can call getting smashed on high-end bourbon "healthy living"...

LOL ... that's right, Kat, don't follow in the footsteps of those lushes!

I wonder if Jason's in involved? Or is it the Chief's stash for official parties? I see my being joke-challenged is becoming legendary.

I can't wait to read what happens next EW... Who's behind this, how did the poor fennecs get into the booze and will they get over their hangovers quickly?