[Diamond18]

Diamond had eaten her fill, and stood up to assess how the room had change since last she’d been paying attention (the food was so scrumdilliumptious that it had engrossed her completely for the entirety of her meal). The answer to her visual enquiry was: not much. The Phantom had stopped dancing and disappeared (so like a phantom!) and his partner had swooned to the floor. Well! Diamond thought, If that’s the effect he has on people, maybe I’d rather not… This soliloquy was rather moot, of course, since the being in question was gone, but Diamond rarely let moot points or dead horses faze her. A few people had arrived most unfashionably late, and Lush was stammering incoherently at the all but disserted or inertly inebriated bar.

Diamond decided that, since she wasn’t really tired after her relaxing house-cleaning and refreshing meal, she would instead curl up with a good book until things should start swinging again. Therefore, she returned to the couch, swatted H-I’s feet away again, and settled down to read David Copperfield before it was unfashionably overdue at the library. She noticed a sweat stain on the cover, undoubtedly from where it had come in contact with the head of the polite but busy Mithadan. She wiped the smudge away with the corner of her denim jacket, then opened up the book and murmured sentimentally, “Gosh, I love this book. If only I had time to read it, in time. Prioritize, that’s what I’ve got to do with my time. No more refreshing BD threads to see if someone’s posted lately, while my life languishes. Harrumph. At least, not until Estelyn gets back and starts the sequel…”

After a while she stopped muttering to herself, and began to read. It was a long book, and would keep her occupied for many a studious hour.